# Exploding Bellies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 1999, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-bellies/1853 "1999-07-03T05:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-bellies/1853/21 "1999-07-08T15:59:00Z")
Tipiwoo: > [@](#): > > I have seen several birds dead around church sites where rice was thrown several days before… Which is where the cats found them scarfing down the rice. Seriously, considering how long people in this country have been throwing rice at newlyweds, don’t you think that someone would have noticed large numbers of dead birds surrounding churches sometime _before_ it became a UL in the 1970’s? Think of the local Italian parish where they were cranking out four to six weddings every Saturday in the late 1960’s as the first boomers grew up (or the same location at the end of WWII when the first boomers were being (pro)created). Those places would have been hip dip in dead birds by the end of June each summer. (And why is it that Southeast Asia, Louisiana, and East Texas do not have a serious dead bird removal problem at the time of the rice harvests?) I suspect that the dead-birds-after-weddings that you saw were simply coincidence–or there are often dead birds around tall buildings and you have simply noticed them more after you know a wedding has taken place. * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 1999, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-bellies/1853/22 "1999-07-08T16:10:00Z")
My theory on the whole rice/dead birds UL is that it was created by church caretakers, so they wouldn’t have to clean up all that god-awful rice after every wedding. It backfired on them though, when some bright spark thought to substitute birdseed. Now instead of cleaning up rice, they have to clean up bird poop! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 1999, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-bellies/1853/23 "1999-07-09T05:11:00Z")
zayada, S’Allright. S’Allright? * * * \>\>while contemplating the navel of the universe, I wondered, is it an innie or outie?\<\< —The dragon observes [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exploding-bellies/1853.md?page=1)