Chappell abuzz with talk of meteorites?
Rebecca Sharman/Sun-Telegraph

This object, presumed to be a meteorite, was discovered in the yard of a rural residency north of Chappell last week. A piece of the rock has been submitted to the Colorado Meteorite Recovery Team in Lakewood, Colo. for verification.

What appears to be a rare phenomenon has set
the small community of Chappell abuzz with excitement.
Two of the town's rural residents have discovered
what is presumed to be a meteorite in their own
front yard, a find that if confirmed valid by experts,
is said to be a once in a lifetime discovery.
"We're so excited," said Donna Akeson of the find.
"We have heard that if it is a meteorite that this
happens once in every 100 years." Akeson discovered
what appears to be a meteorite the afternoon
of Thursday, July 22 while going about airing out the
house following a thunderstorm the night before.
"I went to open the window to get some air
circulating in the house when I saw it just
laying there about four-feet from the house in the front yard,"
she said. Akeson and husband, Bert,
live eight and one-half miles north of Chappell.

Akeson said she knew right away that it was a meteorite
because she had done a little research prior to
stumbling upon the find. "It's funny, I had just done
some reading on meteor rocks so I knew
immediately what it was,"she said. "It's kind of
interesting to know that I read about it and
then found one."

Akeson believes that the object fell from
the sky during a thunderstorm that hit the
Chappell area around 9 p.m. Wednesday, July 21.
Though the only one who seems to have known that
something unusual had occurred was the couple's dog,
Flossee.

"I was sitting on the couch around 9 p.m. Wednesday
night when I heard a crack of thunder accompanied
by a bright flash," Akeson said. "At first
I didn't think much about it but then my dog jumped
off my lap and took off on a dead run for the kitchen....to
hide in her basket. Apparently she (dog) knew something
serious had just happened and got scared."

Due to Flossee's strange reaction, this is when Akeson
estimated the time the rock landed on her property.

The object fell at such a momentum that it hit
a tree in the Akeson's yard, damaging the bark and
leaving a trail of leaves three to four-foot wide
in its wake. The rock is about the size of a
cantaloupe and estimated to weigh around six pounds.

Five days after the find, the rock is now in the
safe keeping of the Deuel County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Jeff Ortgies said the office has submitted
a quarter-size piece of the rock for testing to the
Colorado Meteorite Recovery Team in Lakewood, Colo.,
and is awaiting official confirmation as to whether
or not the community of Chappell can indeed stake
claim to its first reported meteorite.

"It brings real excitement to the community
to see something like this," Akeson said. "It's really
just a funny thing, and we're happy that we had
an idea of what it is so other people can see it
and enjoy it."

The Akeson's hope to share their discovery further
with the community displaying it at the Deuel
County Fair in August.

Once test results are received back from the Colorado
Meteorite Recovery Team, the Sidney Sun-Telegraph
will run a follow-up article based on the findings.

[meteorite-list] New Nebraska meteorite a mystrey

Matt Morgan
Wed Oct 6 00:07:51 EDT 2004

Yes, I received a piece of BASALT

Matt Morgan

-----Original Message-----
From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
[mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com] On Behalf Of
Mikestockj
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2004 9:10 PM
To: dfreeman at fascination.com; 
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] New Nebraska meteorite a mystrey

Hi Dave
I would posted it some time ago but have been

 having a hard time posting to the list. 

Just needed to post as plain text. The photo

 sure doesn't look like fresh fall.

Looks like Matt Morgan was sent a piece....any comment Matt?