Stores of being struck by lightning are rare, but many can be really bizarre, too. The average
American has about a 1 in 5,000 chance of being struck by lightning. Those are pretty
good odds, but for those unfortunate ones, it didn't turn out so great. Not only did
they win the worst lottery possible, but in these specific cases, it happened in weird
ways, making it even rarer. From multiple lightning strikes to surviving thanks to a
music player, you might have a hard time believing some of these stories. So, get your rubber
boots on, cause I'm Mike with List25 and here are 25 Bizarre Stories Of Being Struck By
Lightning.
25.
In 1980, Edwin Robinson, a 62-year-old living
in Falmouth, Maine, was struck by lightning. While it's, of course, unique to be struck
by lightning, it's even more bizarre that it restored his eyesight. That's right. Robinson
was left blind from a car accident nine years prior. The lightning strike partially cured
his blindness.
24. While fishing in Ponce Inlet, Florida, 55-year-old
James Church was struck by lightning and sent flying 6 feet away into a metal railing. The
strange part was that it was only lightly drizzling. After 9 hours of surgery, he survived,
but he lost 2 fingers and part of his small and large intestines, along with burst eardrums.
23. While cleaning her teeth, a lightning strike
hit Natasha Timarovic in the mouth. The current ran through her body and exited out of her
anus, leaving behind severe burns. Normally, when struck by lightning, the current goes
down to a person's feet, but she was wearing rubber soles. So, instead, the current went
out the other direction.
22. In 1986, fifteen-year-old Jennifer Mann was
reading Stephen King's The Shining when something terrifying happened, and it wasn't in his
book. A bolt of lightning ripped through her wall and set her bed on fire. Fortunately,
she only suffered ringing ears and a tingling jaw. But, she probably thought twice about
the books she reads.
21. Most people think you can only get struck
by lightning during a storm. If only that were true for an 11-year-old girl living in
Pennsylvania in 2011. The girl was struck by lighting even with the sun shining. Apparently,
the bolt came from a storm miles away. They're called "bolts from the blue" and are a very
rare but dangerous phenomenon.
20. After running out to save his pumpkins from
a bad storm, Winston Kemp, 24, was heading back toward his house and a bright blast came
from his neighbor's house. Other than being startled, he didn't think much of it except
when the pain started. He got blisters on his arms and was in so much pain he called
in sick to work. Turns out, he was hit by "ground lightning." What's even more bizarre
is the electricity left behind a big fractal scar.
19. 62-year-old Melvin Roberts claims to have
been struck by lightning 11 times in his life. He's been struck in the sunshine, driving
a bulldozer, and twice while mowing the lawn, but many are skeptical of his claims despite
him showing medical records of injuries consistent with lighting strike burns.
18. A couple in Western Germany were kissing in
their car while parked near the busy A44 motorway. To get some privacy, they decided to head
into the woods. Ignoring the oncoming storm, they eventually got spooked when a lightning
bolt struck close by. Scared and naked, they ran through the rain until a police officer
found them shivering in the bushes.
17. While we should probably take this story with
a grain of salt; it still is quite a bizarre story. A Tennessee farmer named Thomas Young
was dying of cancer in 1932. While laying in a hammock, lightning struck the wires and
went through Young himself and out the bottom of his shoes. His face was left disfigured,
but his cancer was entirely gone.
16. A story in the New York Times in 1874 described
a bizarre storm in Baltimore where flashes of lightning hit the nearby train tracks and
took on the form of fireballs moving along the tracks. It cast a "lurid blue glare" in
quick succession of each other.
15. Roy Sullivan had been struck so many times
by lightning, his unofficial nickname was "The Spark Ranger." He was a park ranger at
Shenandoah National Park and while no one had seen him struck by lighting, he was able
to prove it enough to convince the Guinness Book of World Records to give him the "Most
lighting strikes survived" title. From 1948 to 1977, he had been struck by lightning seven
times. Oddly enough, it wasn't a lightning bolt that killed him, but a self-inflicted
gunshot wound.
14. When Sophie Frost and her boyfriend tried
to take shelter from a storm under a tree, she got struck by lightning. Fortunately for
her, she had her iPod. Doctors believe the wire was able to divert 300,000 volts of electricity
from hitting her vital organs. She suffered burns from her chest to her legs. She got
the iPod as a present from her grandmother only four days before.
13. Many people are terrified by the number 13,
including Stephen King. In this case, their fear may be valid. In 2010, a 13-year-old
boy at the Lowestoft Seafront Air Festival was struck by lightning at 13:13, and it was
Friday the 13th. Fortunately, the boy was expected to make a full recovery.
12. Of all the things to be worried about when
you're diving in the ocean, getting hit by lightning is unlikely one of them. Unfortunately
for a 36-year-old diver off of Deerfield Beach, that's exactly what happened. He had just
surfaced to get back to his boat when lightning struck his air tank. His crew brought him
back to the beach to give him CPR, but he didn't make it.
11. In Kinshasa, Congo in 1998, a strange and
tragic thing happened during a soccer game. A lightning bolt struck and killed an entire
soccer team while they were playing. 11 people died and 30 more reported having injuries.
The local population attributed the event to witchcraft.
10. Of all places, you might think the shower
would be a safe place from lightning strikes. Sadly, for 12-year-old Alice Svensson of Sweden,
this wasn't the case. Lightning hit the house and traveled through the pipes to the shower
where she was holding the metal shower hose. She had pain in her arm, but luckily that
was the extent of her injuries.
9. Meteorologists know everything there is to
know about lightning, but the last thing they want is to get up close and personal with
it. Walking over to a metal window frame, Brad Sussman placed his hand on it and then
he flew back 18 feet and landed on his back. The lightning blast blew a hole through his
porch's roof.
8. 29-year-old Ante Djindji of Croatia may be
the unlikeliest man alive. While taking a quick toilet break on the road, he was struck
by lightning on the penis and knocked unconscious. Fortunately, he came out of the ordeal with
only burns on his chest and arms.
7. Synesthesia is a unique phenomenon where people
see colors with musical notes and can see auras around people. Sometimes words can evoke
tastes or sounds can evoke touch. In this case, a 20-year-old girl named AB had synesthesia,
but when she got struck by lightning, it took on new and weird forms, including seeing gold,
silver, and colors that were "not even real colors."
6. While in flight over Moscow, a ball of lightning
burned through the hull of a passenger airplane and flew over the heads of the passengers.
No one was injured, but the radar and equipment were damaged. Needless to say, the pilots
turned around to make an emergency landing.
5. Wrestling legend Ric Flair described a time
he was struck by lightning, and it's pretty unreal. While getting off a plane, he felt
a pressure boom. Lightning hit his umbrella, and it flew out of his hand. Tragically, it
hit the guy five-feet behind him in the eye and killed him. Flair said he stood petrified.
4. U.S. Attorney N. Graves Thomas, a criminal
lawyer known for representing notorious clients, like police killers, drug smugglers, and white-collar
crimes, stood on his boat during a thunderstorm, raised his hands, and declared, "Here I am."
Shortly afterward, a lightning bolt struck him dead.
3. James Otis Jr. had once been known for his
ardent support of the American Revolution from England but relatively fell into obscurity.
What's even more bizarre is his statement to his sister, "My dear sister, I hope, when
God Almighty in his righteous providence shall take me out of time into eternity that it
will be by a flash of lightning." His wish was granted in 1783 when a dark cloud appeared
over the sky and a lightning bolt struck him dead.
2. In 1908, Baptist minister Rev. T. H. Feagin
was preaching a sermon one Sunday morning, and when he went down to greet his congregation
and shake their hands, a lightning bolt shot into the church and killed him instantly.
1. As a teen couple went to go grab burgers hand-in-hand,
they suddenly felt like something was hitting them in the head. Dylan woke up curled in
a ball three feet away from his girlfriend, Lexie. The lightning bolt hit Dylan in the
head and the electricity shot through their arms and out of Lexie's foot. A doctor told
them holding hands saved their lives.
Bonus fact: The NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning got their name from Tampa being the lightning
capital of North America (Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela is the lightning capital of the
world).
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