After A Strange Object Crashed Through This Man's Roof, His Whole Life Changed Overnight

Summoning the courage to search the home he lives in with his three children, Josua sees nothing else amiss initially. All seems fine – well, aside from the hole in the roof of his veranda, of course. No one seems to have been hurt and the other homes appear to have survived unscathed. So he moves through his house, checking that everything’s intact.

Relaxing a little, the 33-year-old moves through the house, his misgivings about the eerie events of a few minutes earlier likely receding with every step. Perhaps he thought it was an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, even a military incident of some kind. But that rumbling was other-worldly. Could there even be a man-made explanation for a sound like that?

So far, everything seems as it should be in the Sumateran home. Surely, relief’s flooding through Josua by now, even with the hole in the roof. Maybe something fell from a neighboring home? As Josua completes his search of the interior, he moves into the garden. And that’s where he finds something, shall we say, out of the ordinary.

There, not far from the edge of the tin veranda, is another hole. But this time, it’s in the ground. Josua’s pretty sure that it’s new and moves closer to investigate. The soil’s unusually warm to the touch. The 33-year-old begins to dig. And dig. And about six inches down, he comes across something that’ll change his life. But probably not in the way you’d think.

After digging down into the soil, Josua found himself in contact with something solid and warm. Removing it from the ground, he was astonished to see a fully formed rock, slightly the worse for wear. He immediately knew what’d happened, aside from it going through his roof. Yes, the 33-year-old was convinced that this thing had caused not only the damage to his veranda but also the unholy noise heard earlier.

Now, no one’s sure whether or not Josua himself retold the story, or whether it was the curious villagers who came by to see what had occurred. Regardless, a few weeks after the 33-year-old made his discovery, he became something of a celebrity. The local, national and even international press covered the strange goings on in the sky over Sumatera that August. And the coffin-maker, it seems, had conducted some remarkable business during those intervening weeks.

It seems that Josua’s unusual tale had, through social media, garnered some interest from overseas. The press reported that his find was so strange, so out there, that it was considered incredibly rare. And as a result, it was worth a lot of money – we’re talking seven figures here. Experts were consulted, gram weights calculated and components considered. So Josua, the press said, was now a millionaire.

But what could possibly have done so much damage and so much good at the same time as scaring the bejesus out of an entire village? Josua was almost certain he already knew. And so were the Facebook members who saw his find. As the 33-year-old informed Indonesian newspaper Kompas, “It is impossible someone deliberately threw it or dropped it from above.” In Josua’s mind, the thing that had ripped a hole in his veranda roof had come from much further away than that.

Josua continued, “I strongly suspect that this rock is indeed an object from the sky that many people call a meteorite.” He then went on to describe the events of that day, adding, “The sound was so loud that parts of the house were shaking… [And then] I saw that the tin roof of the house had broken.”

Of course, Josua eventually tracked down the source of the commotion. “When I lifted it, the stone was still warm and I brought it into the house,” he recalled. The object weighed around 4.6 pounds, and the 33-year-old believed he had his hands on something very special. He immediately shared a video and images of his discovery on Facebook. And with that begins the twisting tale of what happens when you find a meteor.

Showing off a pock-marked rock with a black interior and white speckles, Josua’s Facebook post led to some very interesting conversations on the other side of the world. Long story short, just from seeing the pictures, an interested party set off on a mission to buy themselves a meteor. The deal was done, and it seems that the coffin maker had done very well for himself indeed. In the process, a very happy collector also had a new piece to cherish.

It seems that Josua’s meteor was in fact the real deal. And not only was it real, but it also dated back over 4.5 billion years. That’s longer than Earth’s existed. The space rock was also made up of a very rare type of planetary debris. All told, the media said, it was worth in excess of a million dollars. But neither Josua nor the buyer, an American based in Bali, would confirm precisely how much money changed hands. So how did the press arrive at a seven-figure sum? Good question.

The value of meteors appears to be a complex thing. The figure’s generally calculated by the gram and can be anything from 50 cents to $1,000 a gram. And what dictates the price is the make-up of the meteor itself. Josua’s meteor, now known as Kolang, is indeed a rare specimen. It contains a mineral known as carbonaceous chondrite, a building block of our own solar system that’s remained largely unchanged for billions of years. Until it falls through a roof in Indonesia, that is.

These sorts of meteors can also contain early forms of the amino acids that eventually led to life on Earth. As such, they may hold significant academic as well as monetary value. But the press was mainly interested in the latter, of course. And boy, did they go to town on Josua’s literal windfall. Rockfall? Anyway, as far as they were concerned, the coffin maker was all set for early retirement. Because by the media’s calculations, he’d made three decades’ salary simply by selling the Kolang meteor.

Now as we mentioned, pricing up something as complicated as a meteor can be tricky. And given that neither Josua nor the buyer has ever disclosed the sum agreed on, working it out purely from images wouldn’t be easy, either. But the media came up with a sure-fire way to put a value on the Kolang meteor. Luckily for them, it turned out to be worth every single second they’d spent on the story.

Once the press had completed their calculations, they arrived at a value somewhere in the region of $1.4m. Which is amazing, right? Imagine having over a million dollars’ worth of space debris literally fall into your property. And then to find a buyer who just happens to be looking at Facebook and willing to travel during a pandemic? It seems almost unbelievable doesn’t it? Well, there’s a reason for that…

So, while the international press was announcing to anyone who would listen that Josua had become a millionaire, the meteor itself quietly made its way to America. First via Bali-based intermediary Jared Collins, who bought the stone directly from Josua. Collins then passed it to fellow American Jay Piatek. And he now has it safely stored away in Arizona, at the Centre for Meteorite Studies. Now, we haven’t brought you all this way only to tell you that it wasn’t really a meteorite. It was. And a fairly big one. It wasn’t the rock that was the problem…

Not that we wouldn’t forgive you for thinking that the rock was a hoax. For a start, it’s incredibly unusual for meteors to land on populated areas such as Sumatera. Instead, if they survive their journey through the atmosphere, they have a tendency to fall in the ocean or on desert terrain. So for one to fly through Josua’s roof was indeed remarkable. But none of what follows has anything to do with Josua or the meteorite. The hoax here was perpetrated – over and over – by the media. Right? We didn’t see it coming, either. Strap in, it’s going to get a bit weird.

So, it turns out that we, as the general public, probably know very little about meteors. We’re talking actual facts here. And, as it turns out, neither does the media. They are, after all, made up of the general public. It’s this, shall we say, lack of knowledge that led to an incredibly large, if slightly odd and entirely unnecessary, hoax. One that was perpetrated on all of us, but particularly on Josua.

Josua, as it turns out, is not a millionaire. Not even close. And even though he still won’t, or possibly can’t, disclose the sum given for the Kalong meteor, he does draw a very stark comparison. Talking to Vice about the entire meteor extravaganza, he revealed, that what he was paid came nowhere near seven-figures. “I only repaired the kitchen in the house, I am still an ordinary person, still like before, continuing the coffin business my parents started.” So how did the media come up with such a bizarre figure?

Well, it seems as though, rather than say, asking someone who might know about these things, the press apparently went to that bastion of knowledge known as eBay. No, you read that right: eBay apparently has lots of meteors listed. So, they found some fragments that also fell that day, which happened to be listed at around $860 per gram. Then they just multiplied it up to the weight of meteor Josua found. Hence $1.8m and the idea that Josua could retire. But the hoax doesn’t end quite there.

As well as taking as read that eBay sellers are up on the current price per gram, per ingredient of every meteor they list, the media made another serious error. And it’s one they’ve been making for years. Decades even. It may be that they too are the victims of a hoax, though, one perpetrated by science itself. You’d think, wouldn’t you, that meteors have inherent value. Because, you know, they’re from space. And the bigger the better, surely?

Well, as it turns out, coming from space isn’t that rare after all. And, in fact, most meteors that survive the atmosphere are little more than space rubbish. Did you know that? We certainly didn’t. We’ve thought for years that meteors are worth something simply because we’ve been told, by the media, that they apparently are. But according to a researcher at the same university that currently houses the Kalong meteor, the bigger they are, the less they’re worth. Come on science: what the actual what?

Talking to the BBC, Laurence Garvie said, “When I read that figure, I had to laugh.” Thanks, Laurence. Explaining his reaction, he added, “I’ve seen this story so many times before. Someone finds a meteorite and they look on eBay and think it’s worth millions because they see small fragments sold for a large amount.” But that price tag, he believes, has more to do with sentimental meteor hunters than anything else.

“People are fascinated by owning something that’s older than the Earth, something that’s from space,” the professor continued. “So you might have people willing to pay a few hundred or thousand dollars for a small piece. But no one would pay millions for a larger boulder.” And here’s the kicker. Garvie actually studied the Kolan meteor, and in his opinion it’s “an extra-terrestrial mudball.” So what does that do to its actual value? You’ve probably already guessed that it’s not good.

“It’s dominated by a bit of iron, oxygen, magnesium, aluminium and calcium – that’s probably worth one dollar, two if I’m generous,” Garvie said. This is why you talk to experts, the media. This. Is. Why. Anyhoops, there’s also another reason the media really should get their facts straight before publishing. And that’s because claiming a person is super-rich when they aren’t can cause some, ahem, unforeseen issues.

According to the Vice piece, the tall tale got so big that no one believed Josua wasn’t a millionaire. Even though he continued to work two jobs, everyone thought he was just being humble. Or lying about the meteor in the first place. None of which is particularly helpful in a I-still-have-to-live-here kind of a way. And all because no one knew that most meteors are worthless to anyone who isn’t a scientist. And even then, you’d be hard pressed to retire on the proceeds. But that doesn’t mean that all meteors are worthless. So how do you find one of the valuable ones, then?

For any would-be meteor hunters out there, the first step – as we’ve clearly seen – is to lower your expectations. The same month that Josua found his meteor, Brazil also witnessed a meteor shower. And one of the resultant space rocks sold for $20,000. Not retirement money, not 30 times your salary, but not bad, either. Next, pay attention to the fairly regular meteor showers we’re treated to throughout the year. If you hear any reports of shooting stars or bright lights, then you might be in for a treat.

But you don’t necessarily have to wait for a fresh meteor to land near you. They’ve been hitting the planet for eons and can be found fairly easily if you know where to look. Check for reports of known falls and take a long walk in the area. Also bring a magnet. They tend to have high iron concentrations, so a magnet’s a great way to spot potential space debris. So what if we told you that the place to look could be right under your nose?

No, really! For years, Michigan farmer David Mazurek had used the same 22.5-pound rock to hold open the shed door on his Edmore farm. But after witnessing a meteor shower in the state – and having seen other people cashing in on debris that had fallen from the sky – Mazurek started to wonder just how significant his extra-large doorstop might be. And what he discovered was shocking – especially when he found out the value of his rock.

Before Mazurek bought his farm in 1988, the property’s owner gave him a tour around the land. And when they reached the farm’s shed, the former noticed something out of the ordinary: there was an unusual rock holding the door open.

Mazurek couldn’t help himself: he had to ask what kind of rock he was looking at. What’s more, according to Central Michigan University News in 2018, the farmer responded, simply, “A meteorite.” You see, the farmer knew the rock had come from space – or so he said – because he had watched it fall from the sky long ago.

The farmer recalled the night it had happened in the 1930s, in fact. Indeed, he said that he and his father had watched as the rock had fallen from the sky and onto their land. According to CMU News, he had recalled to Mazurek at the time, “It made a heck of a noise when it hit.” But the farmer and his father had waited until morning light to see what had actually landed.

So when the new day arrived, the farmer’s father dug up the meteorite from the crater that its impact had created. And even though it had sat out on the farmland overnight, the rock was apparently still warm to the touch when they found it. And you know the rest! Yep, the meteorite found its use as a farm shed doorstop. It may, then, have appeared pretty mundane by this point – but either way, the farmer offered it to Mazurek with the property that he had just purchased.

Little did Mazurek know, though, that he had just inherited something very special indeed. But how rare are meteorites? Well for starters, plenty of the space rocks have been discovered on Earth – almost 40,000, in fact. And experts estimate that around 500 meteorites fall onto our planet each year – but that less than ten end up in human hands. Pretty rare then, hey?

And luckily for Mazurek, the meteorite found on his farm fell into an even more exclusive category. That rock counted as a recovered fall, meaning that someone witnessed the meteorite dropping from the sky and then successfully found it afterward. And as far as experts know, only 1,100 such cases exist. Shame it was being used as a doorstop then!

But, this all changed in January 2018. At that time, Mazurek noticed that other Michigan meteorites had made the news. More specifically, an in-state meteor shower had dropped multiple pieces of space debris, and he found out that some locals were getting cash by selling the meteorites that they had collected.

And, according to CMU News, the headlines made Mazurek think. He recalled, “I said, ‘Wait a minute. I wonder how much mine is worth.’” So, he got in touch with a friend who had studied geology at CMU. And they pointed Mazurek to Mona Sirbescu, a faculty member in the College of Science and Engineering.

But while Mazurek probably looked forward to the meeting with excitement, Sirbescu went into the appointment with skepticism – but for a good reason. You see, in her nearly two decades with CMU, she’d had many people approach her and ask her to inspect suspected meteorites. And as she told CMU News, “For 18 years, the answer has been categorically. ‘No.’”

However, when Mazurek showed Sirbescu his supposed meteorite, she said that she “could tell right away that this was something special.” And yet of course, she’d need science to back up her suspicions. So she took the rock in for testing to see what materials comprised the mass.

With the help of X-ray fluorescence equipment, Sirbescu analyzed the rock and found that it contained 88 percent iron and 12 percent nickel. It’s rare to find the latter metal on Earth, although it is a common element in iron meteorites. And with that, the geology professor knew that Mazurek had a genuine piece of space rock.

Not only that, but Sirbescu also gave Mazurek an estimation as to the value of his more than 22-pound meteorite – the sixth-largest ever to be found in Michigan. Amazingly, she predicted that it could bring in up to $100,000. Yes, she told CMU News, “It’s the most valuable specimen I have ever held in my life, monetarily and scientifically.”

To be extra sure that the rock really was that valuable, though, Sirbescu sliced a piece from Mazurek’s meteorite. She then polished the sample and mailed it off to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., so that geologist Catherine Corrigan could corroborate her finding. And the latter quickly confirmed Sirbescu’s notion about the extra-large chunk of rock. What’s more, she added that it made sense for it to be used as a doorstop – as it had been, of course.

As Corrigan told the Huffington Post in 2018, “The fact that it was used as a doorstop is actually not at all uncommon. Iron meteorites are heavy – pure, iron nickel metal – and tend to be great for such things.” On the other hand, she noted that such exposure to the elements meant that the meteorite wasn’t as well-preserved as it would have been in a museum container designed to prevent oxidation.

The Smithsonian stood as one potential buyer, in fact; after all, they could display the hefty meteorite in one of their museums, you see. Regardless, Sirbescu said that the institution would keep the slice that she had sent over for analysis. And they also promised to continue referring to the rock as the Edmore meteorite.

Perhaps the Smithsonian’s desire to purchase depended on the results of their further analysis, though. Indeed, it turned out that they, too, had cut off a piece of their slice and sent it to University of California, Los Angeles, professor emeritus John Wasson – who, according to CMU News, is considered to be the “guru of iron meteorites.”

For his part, Wasson would look further into the meteorite’s composition to decipher its chemical components. And if the meteorite contained rare elements, it could become more valuable for Mazurek. Indeed, it would make it an even more desirable buy for any museums or collectors who are interested in space debris.

Even without a final destination for the meteorite, however, Mazurek and Sirbescu did know some things about its future. For starters, the former farm owner promised to donate ten percent of the sale price of his meteorite to CMU. And by doing this, he hopes to provide future funding for students in Earth and atmospheric science fields.

At this point in time, though, it’s unclear whether or not Mazurek has successfully sold his meteorite – or how much exactly he received for his find if he did trade it on. But for some people, his story might ignite a desire to try and uncover a space rock of their own. And who knows: maybe one day you, too, might own something that’s out of this world.