Ever been struck by lighting?

dheffley

My dad was one of those old country men who worked hard and didn't seem to be afraid of anything. He was tough, and always would do "what had to be done". I've seen him pull snakes from under the house. Run into a burning house to pull people to safety. Attack and disarm a mentally ill man who was shooting at everyone in town. He even broke a branch out of a tree and beat a rabid coyote to death that showed up during a fishing trip. But, when I was 11 years old, he was struck by lighting while moving the tractor to the barn during a thunder storm. He was in a coma for three days, and when he came out of it, he fought like a wild man until they could get him sedated. He told everyone that he didn't remember getting hit, thought he was only out for a few minutes, and basically did not recall a thing about it. That's at least what he said. But, for ten years after that, he could hear thunder in the distance, and he would go on full alert! If someone was on the phone, or in the bath, he would throw a fit until they stopped. I remember going to sleep one night with a thunder storm rumbling. He was sitting one the couch with his eyes wide open looking like he was ready to pounce on something. The next morning he was still sitting in the same place with the same look on his face. It had stormed all night, and he had never closed his eyes. 25 years later, we were at the hospital when my mother was having surgery. A storm came up, and I offered to fetch his truck for him so he wouldn't have to go out in the storm. He told me that was a long time ago, and he didn't worry about it now. I asked him, "then why were you so jumpy back then." He said the shock from the strike makes you imagine strange things for a while. I tried to get him to go into it, but he refused and told me polite folks didn't talk about things like that. He's gone now, but it still bothers me. Does anyone out there know what he was referring to?

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Save, research, then buy the best.Join the NRA, NOW!Teach them young, teach them safe, teach them forever, but most of all, teach them to VOTE![This message has been edited by dheffley (edited 10-04-2001).]

metz

I believe you are referring to "lightning", I have been struck with and by "lighting" on several occaisions(and several women). No lightning yet (knock on wood). I have heard several tales from lightning and severe electrical shock people. Does some wierd * to some and nothing to others. I hate being bit by electricity, try with all my being to avoid it. I don't know anything about visions other than I got zapped by my TIG welder once and saw what I would call a flash blind spot for the rest of the day. Wasn't from the arc though, I had my helmet on. It can make you see things and can paralize you, wicked stuff man. Avoid it if you can!Andy

Lightning

I tried to strike myself once. Strange thing......I cut my hand and broke my mirror.

Nate

I never been directally hit but came really close. I was in second grade, so that was 13 or 14 years ago. Was out playing in the road with a friend and lighting hit a tree on one side of the road went over our heads and hit a telephone pole. Knocked me off my bike and I hit the road with no shirt on skining my back. The shock killed a bunch of electronics in our house and the neighbors. TV's, wells, answering machines, and VCR's...But my friend and I were fine other then my scraped back. Guess we were pretty lucky

Homer J Simpson

I have realtives who saw ball lightning. It goes in so fast that there isn't even a mark on the wall. Just a ball of fire going in and leaping into a buried pipe.Thought they were nuts until I saw it. It looks like a flying bowling ball on fire.I do know an MIT man who studied this, and according to him, it is possible. But I can't check his math. Too busy.

rsnyder55

Ball lightning used to show up in the rigging of the old sailing ships. Used to freak the sailors out because they thought they were spirits.Sometimes it faded away, sometimes it went off in a big flash.I was struck by lightning in Ohio on our farm. If you ever feel all the hair on your body starting to stand up, jump into the lowest spot you can find.[This message has been edited by rsnyder55 (edited 10-05-2001).]

BlueTic

I was 2 houses away from 3 freinds that were struck by lightning in 74. A little Texas storm blew in for about 20 min and killed 2 of my good freinds. I had just been to the house they were at and we were all standing/ roughhousing under a big elm tree in the yard. I went over to another guys house and just sat down to watch the TV when we here this huge boom that shook the windows and knocked out the power.About 30 seconds later Robert (who was still under the tree with the other 2)came banging on the door and yelling that Joe and Eddie were hit by lightning. We laughed and thought he was joking untill we noticed he could not hear us. We ran over to Joe's house and they were laying on the ground. Joe was struck in the head and Eddie was struck in the chest. Eddie never made it to the hospital, and Joe lasted about 12 hours. Robert had been sitting in a lawn chair and was knocked over backwards. He got up and ran over to the house we were at.He talked about it very little over that summer, but I know he hated storms from then on. The tree died within 2 years and Robert told me one time after that, that storms still scared the sh-- out of him, but the nightmares stopped about the time the tree died.I was 16 then, and most likely will never forget that day.....

gunpaq

Some people laugh at me when ever a storm comes up as I will always make haste for cover. Never been hit directly but have been zapped many times and don't like it. Got zapped the first time when I was 9 years old cultivating corn and a second time same year walking in from the barn. Saw ball lightning make a 90 degree turn through the hallway of our house when a tree outside was hit. Got zapped several other times in the 1970,s and 1980,s while working outdoors surveying and doing forestry work. This summer I watched in amazement from the safety of my truck as my betterhalf's grandson played baseball with his team during the approach and passing of a thunder storm. The coach said they would not cancell the game because of a thunder storm and seemed to think that I was too cautious and overacting. Atleast I was smart enough to get out of the rain.

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concealedG36

I was never struck directly, but I got zapped twice. First time I was out in the rain as a kid, I was washing my bike (I figured the rain was like an automatic car wash!). Lightning hit about 150 yards from me and I was standing in a puddle of water, it felt like I stuck my hand in an elec outlet. The second time I was on the phone during a vicious thunderstorm (which I'll never do again). Ligtning hit the transformer on the pole right in front of our house. Blew the phone out of my hand and shocked me, also blew out the computer, refrigerator, electric fish scaler (my dad was in the garage cleaning fish) and some other electronic stuff. I could hear a buzzing/humming sound for a few hours after that one.

j2k22

Came pretty close one time, brought on by my own curiosity ( remeber that cat...?).Was climbing to the summit of a peak in New Mexico, aporx 8000 ft. From the top, I could see a dark storm moving in, about 20 miles out. Thought that it might be fun to see the pyrotechnics close-up, so I found a little hollow under a 10-foot high rock, and pulled some logs over the pit to create a shelter.Noticed that there were alot of dead/burned trees up there, so kinda figgered that there would be some action. As the leading edge of the storm arrived, I bolted into the hollow and waited with a certain sense of foreboding; maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all! Too late to change plans at that point. My desire for an interesting show was fulfilled. Forks of vivid lightning started striking all over that peak. It was loud and bright up there! Suddenly I got that tingling throughout my body, and all my hairs stood up. I heard a violent ripping noise, and the explosion of sound was simultaneous with a brilliant flash, as the bolt struck a tree less than ten feet from my position. To say that I was "energized" by the event would be an understatement. Mercifully, the storm then passed off the peak and away, leaving me wet, scared and exhilarated. I scampered down that mountain as fast as I could move after that, figuring that I had used up about all the luck I was going to get that day!

concealedG36

J2K22, I can only imagine what must have been going through your mind at that time. My guess is that it went something like this:If I ever get out of here I am NEVER going to do something this stupid again. What the hell was I thinking? Oh my God, my hair is standing up on my head! Holy Crap that was loud! Am I still alive? I swear I'll never do this again......

Pelican

Had a cousin got struck many years ago. Got burns on his feet and wound up with a permanent stammer or studder to his speech.

j2k22

Concealed- you are pretty close to recreating my thoughts. However, the "never again" commitment only applied to lightning storms. Nearly bought it again during a major rockfall in a narrow canyon 5 years later, brought on once more by my own damphool stupidity. Not a good idea to use a narrow dead-end canyon for a sounding board for your chanting. Another lesson learnt the hard way. This one required a direct request for Divine intervention. Fortunately, the line was open, and He was in a good mood that day.

Lowrider

A buddy of mine who was a medic in Viet Nam tended to four soldiers who got struck by lightning while unloading a truckload of 55 gal. drums of oil. They were using a cradle slung between two metal poles. Four guys carrying a drum, a guy on each end of each pole, when lightning struck the drum.It killed all four dudes. My buddy told me that all four of them were instantly swelled-up twice their normal size and were bright purple. He said they looked like the lightning had burst every blood vessel in their bodies.Now that's pretty grim.

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She was only a fisherman's daughter,But when she saw my rod she reeled.