Posted on 06/18/2025 8:07:59 AM PDT by Red Badger
A Hammerhead Shark. Credit: FOX Weather via Jonathan Marlowe | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel On May 18, 2025, a strange and surprising event unfolded at Splinter City Disc Golf Course in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when a hammerhead shark suddenly fell from the sky during a routine game of disc golf. The incident left players in complete disbelief as they witnessed what seemed like a scene straight out of a bizarre film.
Jonathan Marlowe, who was playing at the time with friends, was at the 11th hole of the course when he looked up and noticed a bald eagle flying overhead. The eagle, known for hunting in coastal areas, appeared to be carrying something in its talons. Initially, Marlowe thought it was a simple fish, a common sight for such birds of prey. But his curiosity soon turned into shock when the bird released its catch, and the object plummeted to the ground with a loud thud.
The object that fell was not a fish, as Marlowe had first assumed, but a hammerhead shark. The shark, recognizable for its distinct hammer-shaped head, was about a meter long, and it crashed to the ground near the 11th hole. The unexpected scene stunned Marlowe and his friends.
“We kept asking ourselves, ‘Did that really just happen?’” Marlowe said in an interview with Garden & Gun. The players were taken aback by the sheer oddity of the moment, unable to comprehend the strange reality they had just witnessed.
The unexpected disc golf hazard was actually a bird’s lost lunch. Credit: FOX Weather via Jonathan Marlowe
The Unusual Chain of Events
According to The New York Post, the origins of the shark’s descent are tied to an interaction between the bald eagle and two crows. Known for engaging in mobbing behavior—where smaller birds harass larger predators—the crows likely pressured the eagle while it was flying with its prey. The eagle, in turn, dropped the shark, sending it crashing to the ground, leaving the disc golfers in a mix of awe and confusion.
The eagle likely took the shark from the ocean about 800 meters away, which made the sight even more surreal. While hammerhead sharks are common in the Atlantic coast waters off South Carolina and Georgia, it is rare to encounter one in such an unusual manner, especially falling from the sky during a game of disc golf. Hammerheads, including the great hammerhead and the scalloped hammerhead, inhabit these waters, often near the shorelines of the southeastern United States.
Despite the rarity of such an encounter, the region is known for its rich marine life, with several species of sharks, including hammerheads, commonly spotted in the area. However, the unusual nature of the shark falling from the sky has made this event a particularly memorable moment for the players, who could not have predicted such an interruption during their casual game.
A disc golfer holds up a baby hammerhead shark dropped from the sky onto the course in South Carolina. Credit: FOX Weather via Jonathan Marlowe
Reactions and Aftermath
In the wake of the incident, Marlowe and his friends were left stunned by the unexpected nature of the event. “It felt like something out of a movie,” Marlowe explained. The shark was left on the ground where it landed, in the hopes that the eagle might return to retrieve its unusual catch.
Although it seemed like a bizarre and improbable occurrence, the players were grateful for the unexpected story they could tell. The moment was captured on photos that soon went viral, turning the strange event into a topic of conversation far beyond the local disc golf community.
Hah. This is particularly funny to me because I once got into an argument about this once.
My high school biology teacher insisted on making the distinction between sharks (Chondrichthyes) and bony fish (Osteichthyes).
In common usage, most people call them “fish” even though sharks’ skeletons are made of cartilage.
Yeah well the person I was arguing with called them mammals, which he was clearly wrong about. In any case, I’m not a marine biologist.
Definitely not mammals, and it doesn’t take a degree in marine biology to know that.
Break it down!
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