CHICORA — Last week’s violent meteor that exploded over Russia may cause some Butler County residents to remember a much less destructive celestial event that took place in the county.

Although not nearly as devastating as the space rock that shattered 4,000 windows and injured 1,200 people in Russia on Feb. 15, the Chicora meteor caused a stir when it entered Earth’s atmosphere June 24, 1938.

However, little information about the incident exists.

Pat Collins, administrator of the Butler County Historical Society, said the society has a folder on the incident, but not much is known and few information requests are made about it.

“I don’t think that there is a lot of information about it,” Collins said.

However, a detailed report of the incident presented to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, co-authored by Frank Preston of Butler Township as well as E.P. Henderson and James R. Randolph, provides some insight.

At about 6 p.m. on June 24, 1938, a large fireball and explosion rocked a portion of southwestern Pennsylvania.

The meteor exploded about 12 miles above the Earth. Its sound could be heard as far south as Pittsburgh, where there were reports of windows shaking. In Butler, the sound was described as similar to thunder. In Chicora, it sounded like an airplane. In Kaylor, just over the Butler-Armstrong county line, the sound was reported as a hiss.

Rumors spread of an exploded powder magazine in West Winfield or exploded oil tanks in Petrolia.

Sightings of the meteor extended as far south as Ninevah, Washington County, to as far north as Titusville, Crawford County. People in parts of western Ohio also witnessed the meteor.

The next day, a Chicora farmer who had heard the meteor the day before searched for the cause of the sound. He found two pieces of it, one smaller than a man’s fist and the other half that size, in the area where he kept his chickens.

The farmer reported no light flash or sounds similar to thunder, but had said that it sounded like an airplane and was followed by a wind gust.

In 1940, two more pieces of the meteor were discovered. The actual point of impact of these objects never was found.

No injuries were reported. According to the report, a cow was said to have had its hide torn to the point that it required a veterinarian’s care. Other reports say the cow was killed.

The meteor was estimated to be traveling at 45,000 feet per second, about 30,682 mph, when it hit the earth’s atmosphere. By the time it hit the earth, the speed was closer to 680 mph.

The meteor is one of only eight that have been found in the state. Before breaking up, it may have weighed in excess of 500 tons.

Scientific studies showed that the meteor was made up mostly of stone and contained a small amount of metal.

According to the report, if the meteor had contained a large amount of metal, it likely would have stayed mostly intact and would have caused untold destruction. Few people in the Pittsburgh area would have survived.

“It is difficult to imagine the havoc it would have produced,” the report said.

The remains of the meteor are at the Smithsonian and at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh.

The full report can be accessed at http://hdl.handle.net/10088/16375.