Saturday, May 31, 2008

The Rain Boy

dancing in the fountain


In late 1983, Don Decker, an unemployed 20 year old, was released from the local jail to attend his grandfather's funeral. He had lived with him, and after the burial he was taken in by a family on Ann Street in Stroudsburg.

Young Don didn't have many talents, but the one he did have was a doozy. "I can make it rain," he told police officers. Could he ever - in his home, in jail, in front of friends, strangers, and the police. At his whim, jets of water would rain down from no apparent source. He also could drop the temperature of a room to freezing cold in a heartbeat.

Some of the splashdowns were witnessed and verified by the local gendarmes, including Stroud Area Regional Police Chief John Baujan and former Stroudsburg cop Richard Wolbert.

A friend of his, Pam Scarfano, tried to get him under control by putting a crucifix around his neck. It left a burn mark on him before he could tear it off. Then, a year to the day after his grandfather's death, the rainmaker suddenly lost his power.

Parapsychologists still haven't figured out the cause of his short-lived ability to call down rain, but Decker always thought it was his grandfather's spirit channeling through him.

The Ann Street house he performed his rain dance in has been demolished - for a church parking lot. Now there's an exorcism for you! His watery feats have been shown on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries and the French TV series 30 Most Mysterious Mysteries.

Rain, rain, go away...

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

(it is not whom)
we human make the rain or command it is only our GOD the KING and INCARNATE the MESSIAH... but in un explain situation some of us can accidentally or by GOD's will can predict the rain will drops'.. but i believe none of the living's can make it'.. but what ever it or maybe part of un normal sequence or mysteries hope it can't affect our faith in the LORD our savior and GOD... jfdg of RP..

Anonymous said...

yeah you are scared so you explain the epic occurence with babbling about god... it is sad

Ron Ieraci said...

Hey guys - whatever caused the rain boy phenomena, whether it be paranormal or supernatural, comes from the same realm.

Anonymous said...

hey you guys should believe this! it was in our local newspaper (poconorecord.com) i live near stroudsburg and actually know people who know him. its true wheter you wanan believe it or not

Ron Ieraci said...

Actually, anon, this is one of the blog's few tales that is completely substantiated to be true; the question isn't what happened, but why it happened.

Anonymous said...

Well I know this comment is coming rather late but I just watched this show on SyFy and I'm extremely skeptical of this claim. This man was obviously abused and may be mentally unstable; which is often the case with people who were abused.

Its funny how all of these "witnesses" never thought to record, take a photo, or get a sample of said 'rain'. Sadly people are untruthful as much as others want to believe they aren't, only to validate their own misguided beliefs. IMO.

Also you seem to misunderstand what Supernatural and Paranormal mean. Paranormal is anything that happens in Nature beyond scientific explanation, but some thing that can be explained just not at this point in time. Where as Supernatural implies that there was some sort of divine intervention: that sentient being(s) are above our Natural system and can there for manipulate our surroundings.

So no, this particular instance (which I feel is hoaxed) would fall under the Supernatural category.

jameeman said...

I'm hard-pressed to believe that a police officer, still in the employ of Stroudsberg P.D., and the warden of the Jail wherein he was incarcerated, would fabricate their
Claims. These are not "friends of," or "lived next door," tear are law enforcement officers with much to lose and little to gain.

Anonymous said...

I looked it up and Chief John Baujan is still working as an officer in stroudsburg pa

Anonymous said...

I too just watched this event on paranormal witness. There were just too many credible witnesses. Remember skeptic...that in 1983 there were no cell phones that capture photos, any camera would have been rendered immediately damaged by any type of water. And I also think, that they were so afraid...they didn't think of documention, they were thinking..WTF?...and how do we stop this!
To think we have all the answers to everything in this universe is just plain ignorance. Get a good education in quantum physics and then tell me that all things can be answered. This was not a hoax.
There is the 'known'...the 'unknown'...and the unknowable. What we humans don't know, could fill the universe. Dont be so cynical as to think you know it all. You just plain do not. IMO

Anonymous said...

I was very interested in this when I saw it on Paranormal Witness, too because I had a friend, now deceased, who had something similar in Phoenix, AZ in 93 or so. He didn't make it rain but it rained on him in his apartment for several hours. This was NOT pipes leaking, etc. the rain came from nothing, just below the ceiling and followed him no matter where he went. The apartment was totally flooded. There was a long history of strange phenomenon surrounding him, some I witnessed, some witnessed by other investigators, family and clergy.
The accounts I'm reading about Don Decker online are conflicting and although I'm not going to believe it true without more investigation I certainly will not label it a hoax since I have seen something similar with my own eyes.

Anonymous said...

I come from the Kieffer Line and Bob is my grandfather. The topic of rainboy is a hush hush situation. It was a lot worse then how they describe from what my grandfather tells me. There were also kids there. My mom was one of them, they left them out for annomity I believe. I justed wanted to put it out that this actually happened. There was no hoax. People involved are still scared of what happened that day.

Anonymous said...

From everything I know about...well about what I know about the spiritual realm, I'm almost 100% sure this was some type of posession by evil spirits/demons/whatever (take your pick, they're all the same thing & mean the same thing).

Unknown said...

It was 1983, no one had cell phones to whip out and take pictures. The big thing was disposable cameras. You took pictures and brought the whole camera in to get your pictures developed.

Eric said...

Don lived with my family when I was around 12 yrs old in deer run trailer park. The things you hear they were real. I have seen him do things like making it rain many times. He was a friend to me. i was sad to see him leave.