Against all odds, the remarkable Roy Sullivan was hit by lightning seven times in his life. Roy was a park ranger working in the Shenandoah National Park when he was first hit by lightning. He was standing in a tower in the middle of a storm when he realized he wasn’t in the safest of places. He decided to make a run for it. “I got just a few feet away from the tower, and then, blam!” he said.
Roy was lightning-free for the next 27 years of his life until one day in 1969. He was driving down a mountain road when a bolt of lightning struck him through the window of his car. Roy passed out, and the truck crashed. The third time was just a year later when Roy was shot into the air after being hit while working in his garden. Amazingly, just a month later, his wife was also struck by lightning. Then in 1972, Roy was struck for the fourth time while working in a campground. This time, his hair was set on fire.
After four strikes, Roy was starting to get national attention and appeared on several TV shows. He was given the nickname the Human Lightning Rod. Just a year later, Roy was hit, once again lighting his hair on fire and once again sending him flying through the air. Roy claimed he had dreamt strike number four and number five before they happened, and when there was no follow-up dream, he decided that God was going to give him a break.
“God spared me for some good purpose….It’s between God and me, and nobody but us will ever know,” he mysteriously said.
Apparently, he was wrong. Roy was struck two more times in his life. The last time was while fishing in 1977. Roy claims that to add insult to injury, he had to fend off a bear trying to steal his fish after the lightning strike.
Lightning striking a person is pretty common and kills 24,000 people a year. But your chance of being struck twice are pretty slim. In English, we say ‘lightning never strikes twice’ to describe the unlikely chance of a bad thing happening more than once. Your chance of being struck by lightning twice are one in 9 million. What do you think your chances of being struck by lightning seven times are? If you guessed a number too high to count, you’re in the right ballpark. Your chances are 1 in one hundred decillion. That’s a one with 35 zeros after it.
100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
So what do you think? Was Roy the luckiest or the unluckiest man in the world?
References:
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/06/strange-tale-man-seemingly-attracted-lightning-seven-times-struck-roy-sullivan/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/inside-the-life-of-the-man-known-as-the-spark-ranger/2013/08/15/947cf2d8-ea40-11e2-8f22-de4bd2a2bd39_story.html
Against all odds, Roy Sullivan was hit by lightning seven times in his life. Roy was working in a National Park when he was first hit. He was in a tower in the middle of a storm. He knew he wasn’t in a safe place. He decided to make a run for it. “I got just a few feet away from the tower, and then, blam!” he said.
Roy was lightning free for the next 27 years of his life until one day in 1969. He was driving down a mountain road when lightning hit him through the window. Roy passed out, and the truck crashed. The third time was just a year later when Roy was shot into the air after being hit while working in his garden. Just a month later, his wife was also hit by lightning. Then in 1972, Roy was hit for the fourth time while working at a campground. This time, his hair was set on fire.
After being hit four times, Roy was on several TV shows. He was given the nickname the Human Lightning Rod. Just a year later, Roy was hit again. And again, his hair was set on fire, and he went flying through the air. Roy said he had dreamt strike number four and number five before they happened. When he didn’t have another dream, he decided that God was going to give him a break.
He was wrong. Roy was hit two more times in his life. The last time was while fishing in 1977. Roy said that to add insult to injury, he had to fight off a bear trying to steal his fish after the lightning hit him.
Lightning hitting a person is pretty common and kills 24,000 people a year. But your chance of being hit twice is pretty low. In English, we say ‘lightning never strikes twice.’ This describes the very small chance of a bad thing happening more than once. Your chance of being hit by lightning twice is one in 9 million. What do you think your chances of being hit by lightning seven times are? If you guessed a number too high to count, you’re in the right ballpark. Your chances are 1 in one hundred decillion. That’s a one with 35 zeros after it.
References:
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/06/strange-tale-man-seemingly-attracted-lightning-seven-times-struck-roy-sullivan/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/inside-the-life-of-the-man-known-as-the-spark-ranger/2013/08/15/947cf2d8-ea40-11e2-8f22-de4bd2a2bd39_story.html
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