Today I Learned of Roy Sullivan: The Man Who Holds the Guinness World Record for Being Struck by Lightning
Did you know you can be struck by lightning from a storm as far as 16 kilometers away? I didn’t, but if there is one person out there who knew that it was Roy Sullivan. Over the course of his life, Roy, who died in 1983 at the age of 71 earned several nicknames including “Human Lightning Rod” and “Spark Ranger,” and for good reason! He was struck by lightning a total of seven times. Roy first was struck by lightning in 1942 when he was hiding inside of a fire lookout tower from a storm (he was a park ranger at Shenandoah National Park in the US). He ended up running outside after the tower was struck a few times, it was then that he himself was struck! This lightning strike ended up leaving a hole in his shoe and burning a portion of his leg. The likelihood statistically of being hit by lightning is 1/700000 or 0.000143%, so Roy was already pretty unlucky after having been struck this time. His bad luck continued and by 1972 Roy had been struck a total of 4 times (Source). It was after this that Sullivan was quoted as saying “I have never been a fearful man, but I have to tell you the truth. When I hear it thunder now, I feel a little shaky.” At this point the likelihood of Roy being struck those 4 times was about 0.000000000000000416%.
Roy’s bad luck did not end there, oh no, he was struck again in 1973, in what is a most interesting story. Roy was out on patrol when he saw a storm cloud forming. He tried to drive away from it, but he claims the cloud was following him! Thinking he out-ran the cloud he finally got out of his truck and was struck (sneaky cloud). Clouds continued to be out to get poor Roy as in June of 1976 he again noticed a Cloud “following” him, tried to run away but was struck by lightning again!
Sullivan’s death did not come as a result of a lightning strike, but rather a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. I can’t exactly blame him, I don’t know if I could live with the fear of being struck by lightning every time I went outside. There is only a 0.00000000000000000000000000124 % chance of being hit by lightning 7 times!
RIP Roy Sullivan.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Sullivan
http://mentalfloss.com/article/66863/meet-man-struck-lightning-7-times
http://www.avclub.com/article/park-ranger-roy-sullivan-was-struck-lightning-seve-232615
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_lightningfacts.html
That is unbelievable! 7 times... you have to wonder if the lightning messed him a bit and thus the gun shot... I have never understood why 1 lightning strikes kills some people and others get struck multiple times with almost no significant injuries...
There was also a time where he was missed being struck but his wife ended up getting hit! As for why it sometimes kills and sometimes not...It has to do with how well grounded the person is. The better grounded you are the more current and it can stop your heart. If you aren't well grounded the lightning wont "go through you" but rather just stay more on the exterior.
And they say lighting don't strike twice... who they kiddin.
Apparently it follows you around and hunts you down!
I have heard people say that of ball lightening which is still a controversial topic (i.e. whether it does actually exist or not.)
I don't know enough about it. I don't know of any studies claiming it's fake. Hmm maybe I will investigate.
I haven't read about it recently so I may be misinformed but it is a fascinating topic - particularly if you listen to some of the other reports of ball lightening. They almost seem to attribute conscious behaviour to it as well as some paranormal qualities. Depending on it's electromagnetic qualities it is feasible that it could induce hallucinations and other psychological effects in a similar manner to TMS therapy.
The tail of the distribution at work! :D
Being so lucky to die from a self-inflicted gun shot? Nature is sometimes soooo nasty!
He was certainly a statistical freak show! This poor man, you can't get any more unlucky then this!
Is his name Duncan MacLeod by any chance? All jokes aside... Wow! I can't even imagine the odds of that happening, unless there is some elements in play that caused that.
I think he pissed off Thor.
Haha good one!
You know someone is standing in a puddle holding a golf club over his head in an attempt to break this record... Maybe it's a kardashian?
Hopefully also taunting the clouds, "You're pussies, you couldn't even take Roy Sullivan down, you're weak, bring it on!"
woah! And I thought I've had some bad days in life LOL
That's sad. After it has happened twice I think you must start to believe you are cursed! I wonder if it is possible that the lightening strikes caused some sort of neurological damage that may have resulted ultimately in his suicide? Also did he have any kind of metallic implants that may have made him a better conductor than average compared to most other people. Either way seems like tremendously bad luck.
After that many strikes that would make sense. The poor man truly suffered.
Yes. I think one would develop a near pathological fear of storms and rain. It would be impossible to live somewhere like here in England where it rains really frequently.
That's nothing. I got struck by lightning like 22 times in 60 seconds before I did this...
They wouldn't even let him into places because of this.
If you want to get struck by lightning the best place to go is a golf course in Florida on a Sunday late afternoon. Or was that the most dangerous place ... lol
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I have only been struck by thunder, but it has happened many times.
It was slightly different than ACDC portrays it!
LOL!
I can imagine!
I would feel cursed poor man
I imagine he did. Such an awful set of life circumstances!