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| 04/01/1963 05:00 AM Injured | Harry King | 102.0 | M | Warburton Victoria Australia |
walking in rain | N/A | During the storm,Outside,Raining,Stormy Weather,Umbrella,Walking,Wet | |
| april may of that year. Wet cold dark morning.Walking from house to train. a light rain failing, had umbrella up. skies opened up and rain fell in torents, enveloped in the center of a very bright light | ||||||||
| 12/08/1962 Killed | 81 killed in plane | 0.0 | U | MD USA |
Peter Duffa Daily Pilot |
N/A | Airplane | |
| The most deadly lightning strike ever? On Dec. 8, 1962, a lightning strike sparked a fire in a fuel tank on a Pan Am jet over Maryland, killing all 81 people aboard. Fortunately, today's airplanes are virtually lightning-safe, thanks to design changes made after that. | ||||||||
| 07/12/1962 12:00 PM Killed | man | 0.0 | M | Denver Co USA |
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| In 1962...lightning struck and killed a Denver man...while he was assisting a co-worker with his car. | ||||||||
| 07/07/1961 12:00 PM Killed | Mr. Rooney | 0.0 | M | Fortescue NJ USA |
fishing | fishing,Outside | ||
| 05/29/1961 02:30 PM Injured | Barry W Smith | 101.0 | M | Lewistown MT USA |
riding a horse | Before the storm,Cardiac Arrest,Dry,Horse,Outside,Stormy Weather | ||
| riding a horse in stormy but dry weather | ||||||||
| 09/09/1960 04:00 PM Injured | Thomas Culley | 0.0 | M | NJ USA |
date not accurate | at ymca camp | ||
| FRANKLIN (SOMERSET) Years ago, Thomas Culley was struck by lightning while at a YMCA camp with some friends. He remembers having an out-of-body experience, during which he sat on the sidelines watching friends trying to revive him. Culley remembers hearing God talk to him, telling Culley to go and help his people. While Culley has tried to do that throughout his life, he's taking a bigger step forward in his mission. He will be installed on Sunday as pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Edison. "I had an awakening when I was struck by lightning," he said. "Ever since then, I have done church work for the Lord. I finally gave in and became a minister. I guess it was God's plan for me to be a pastor." Culley worked for AT&T for many years and retired in 1991, but he has never slowed down. He started his own accounting and consulting business and ran a Bible study group while helping his wife out with her ministry. Sharon Culley is pastor of Somerset Presbyterian Church in Somerset. In 2008, he began serving as her assistant. "That was great," said Thomas Culley. "I had all the privileges of being a pastor but none of the responsibilities. I could have just put my feet up on the desk and enjoyed myself, but lo and behold, the Lord had different plans for me." In May, he was asked to become pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, a church with about 25 member families. "Tom is a loving, caring man with a compassionate heart," said Sharon Culley. "I know he has had this calling for a long time." The Culleys met in the late 1970s while both were working for AT&T in Kansas City, Mo. They married in 1983 and transfers brought them to Buffalo, N.Y. and later to Somerset, where they now live. Corporate downsizing forced them to look for alternate careers. In 1987, Sharon Culley, who was raised Roman Catholic but converted to Baptist when she married, became licensed to preach. "I've always known, since I was 9, that one day I wanted to stand behind the altar," she said. "I knew God had something for me do to in his service, but as a Roman Catholic girl, I didn't know what that would be." (2 of 2) Sharon Culley's first solo assignment came in 2004, when she was chosen to head up Somerset Presbyterian Church. Thomas Culley was ordained as a Baptist minister in 2002 and has served as associate pastor of Traveler's Fellowship Baptist Church in Piscataway. This will be his first solo assignment as well. "My husband and I see ourselves as similar to waiters," said Sharon Culley. "We serve people and help guide them through the courses of their lives. The dessert is heaven." The different denominations of their churches make for some interesting comments from people, but it's no big deal to the couple. "A lot of people might think we have theological disagreements but we don't," said Thomas Culley. "We practice our Christianity differently, but that doesn't mean one is right and one is wrong. We have the same Bible and the same Jesus Christ. The only arguments we have are about what to cook for supper or did you take the trash out." They are now busier than ever with their respective ministries, but loving every minute of it. "It's great because we're in the same situation," said Thomas Culley. "If she has to get up at 3 a.m. to go see someone in the hospital, I understand. As leader of a church, you have pressures that people who are not in the ministry wouldn't understand." They also have five grown children and 17 grandchildren. But they make time to spend alone together, with Friday nights designated as date night. "After 6 p.m., both congregations and our children know not to call us unless it's an emergency," said Thomas Culley. | ||||||||
| 09/09/1960 04:00 PM Injured | Cale Yarborough | 0.0 | M | USA |
date not accurate | |||
| NASCAR is a history of great matches often clashes. Richard Petty vs. David Pearson. Petty vs. Bobby Allison. Cale Yarborough vs. the Allison brothers. Darrell Waltrip vs. The Establishment. Dale Earnhardt vs. everyone. NASCAR's roots grew out of the moonshine business. Fights in the pits were part of the culture. Part of the lure of NASCAR was its rough edges. Johnson is the guy in the white hat. But there are no guys in black hats. Besides, NASCAR no longer wants its drivers to criticize one another. The sport has taken politically correct to a point where personalities have the substance of pablum. Johnson is on the verge of becoming the first driver in NASCAR history to win four straight championships. The only other driver to have won three straight was Yarborough. And NASCAR's fans tired of Yarborough, although he and car owner Junior Johnson formed one of the most interesting tandems in the history of the sport. In his youth, Yarborough was struck by lightning and a rattlesnake. A great high school running back, he passed up a scholarship for racing. Of Yarborough, Bobby Allison once said: He pushes the pedal to the floor then turns on the ignition and he doesn't lift until the car blows or he wins. | ||||||||
| 08/22/1960 02:02 PM Killed | Robert & Marjori Shook | 0.0 | M | Bay City MI USA |
crossing street | Outside | ||
| This article is about my parents.. I am the youngest, Jacquelyn.....My siste, Tracey and brother Mike, were standing at the front door and saw my parents struck by the lightning. I contacted the officers who responded to the scene.. One wrote me back, told him his experience with lightning hitting around them. They were awarded medals of valor....We were told the Michigan State did a report on the lightning in the area after the incident.... ROBERT E. and MARJORIE SHOOK - Shook Rites Scheduled for Thursday - Double funeral services will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. for Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Shook, 454 Marian Drive, Linwood, killed by separate bolts of lightning in front of their home on Sunday. The Rev. John R. Hieftje, of Bay City, will officiate at the services at Stapish Funeral Home. Burial will be in Floral Gardens Cemetery where military rites are scheduled for the husband, a Korean War veteran. Shook, 27, and his wife Marjorie, 22, were fatally injured shortly after 2 p.m. when a lightning storm broke upon them. They had started towards their home from the home of neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Chaffee. Mrs. Shook, following about 50 feet behind her husband, was struck in the middle of the gravel road in front of their home. The husband about 50 feet ahead of her, turned towards his wife and was struck by another bolt. Three small children: Tracey 3, Michael 2 and Jacqueline 1, are being cared for by relatives. [ The Bay City Times, Bay City, Michigan August 23, 1960 . Submitted by Melva Taylor] August 22, 1960 - pg 1 ?? Lightning Kills Man and Wife - Two Successive Bolts Fell Linwood Pair - Deaths Orphan 3. The brief violet storm at Linwood, produced a cascade of lightning to kill Robert Shook, 27 and his wife Marjorie 22, in front of their home at 454 Marian Drive., shortly after 2 p.m. Shook, a Bay City Sears, Roebuck mechanic, and his wife had left their three small children alone for a few minutes to cross the street to visit Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Chaffee when the storm struck. The Shooks started to run home, the husband first, when lightning struck Mrs. Shook in the middle of the street just as she threw a plastic raincoat over her head. David Stone, 15, of 462 Marian, saw the tragic accident. After Mrs. Shook was struck down, "The man turned around and looked at her. He was on his own lawn and when he turned around, he got hit. Then the lightning kept coming right in that general area, a dozen or more times." Stones father, Otto, said "My neighbor, Ernie (Ernest D. Cull, 460 Marian Dr., ) saw it happen and he called to me to call an ambulance. He went out the front door, but lightning kept popping right around them, and nobody could get near them. We started out five different times and we got back inside when it busted right in front of us". The elder Stone said no one approached the bodies as the lightning kept ripping down in straight lines until State Trooper Robert Wood arrived five minutes later and began applying artificial respiration to Mrs. Shook "with lightning still hitting around him." Wood was joined by Trooper Fred Willie, who gave artificial respiration to Shook. Both troopers continued the treatment as ambulances arrived, carried the couple to Mercy Hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival. Coroner William F. Stapish said electrical shock was the cause of death. The troopers said the bodies were not marked, but lightning had knocked the shoes off Shook. The Shook children, Tracey 3, Michael 2 and Jacqueline 1, are in the care of an aunt in Pinconning. The Shook's, former Bay Cityans, had lived in the subdivision on the edge of Linwood for more than a year. He was a veteran of the Korean fighting. | ||||||||
| 01/01/1960 12:00 PM Injured | Gretel Ehrlich | 0.0 | F | WY USA |
date not accurate | outside walking dogs | Cardiac Arrest,Dogs,Outside,Walking | |
| An electrifying experience gave Ehrlich a second chance at life Lauren Glaves-Barrett - Contributing Writer Gretel Ehrlich wakes up many mornings in the back of a pickup truck. Its not because shes the victim of a kidnapping, or even a roaming vagabond. In fact, Ehrlich is an award-winning writer and a visiting professor of environmental studies on campus. However, after years of traveling in some of the most remote places, sleeping in the back of a truck for Ehrlich seems more like a luxury than a discomfort. Ehrlich grew up an avid bookworm, always reading and looking at maps about distant lands. From this childhood inquisitiveness, she cultivated an interest in the unique stories of different people and their diverse backgrounds. I have met a lot of people by chance, through going to different places and interacting with them I have a vertical sense of how one relates, how people are shaped by a place and how they shape a place, Ehrlich said. Though she has grown up since her days of youthful fancies, Ehrlich has retained many of her childhood passions well into her adult years. The same places from her daydreams are now permanent memories from her many lengthy travels. Ehrlichs novel Islands, the Universe, Home describes life on her ranch in Wyoming and her powerful love for nature. There was a big pond or lake that I went down to, and I would go through a contemplative ritual at the same three places along the pond at the beginning of spring and its end, Ehrlich said. At the time it was both an internal and external transformative event. Each day I could see small things as they were happening, like the ice coming apart and melting little by little, and coyotes and wolves coming to drink from the pond. It was stunning. By the time Islands, the Universe, Home was published, Ehrlich had already extensively traveled around the world, but none of these experiences compared to being struck by lightning. For Ehrlich, this was her truly life-changing experience. I was on my ranch in Wyoming and the sky was clear over my head, Ehrlich said. I went for a walk with my dogs on this mountain road and I heard distant thunder. I called my dogs and I remember saying youll be okay, and that was all. [My dogs and I] were all hit by lightning. We had been thrown into the air, but we all survived ... It felt like I was dying a slow death. Although Ehrlich lived to tell the tale, her recovery process was far from trouble-free. Immediately after being struck by lightning, Ehrlichs heart completely stopped. Before the end of her recuperation, she suffered two more cardiac arrests. My parents brought me to an excellent hospital in California, but my recovery was not swift, she said. My sympathetic nervous system had been impacted and during the months that followed I would faint and lose consciousness. I had trouble walking, thinking and talking and I lost control of my associative processes I would know what I needed to do, but would have trouble following through. Incredibly, Ehrlich survived the experience and made a full recovery after incredible support from her parents, cardiologist and childhood friends. Her 1995 book, A Match to the Heart: One Womans Story of Being Struck by Lightning, chronicled her astonishing experience and revival. The title was my editors choice. It fit my experience perfectly because it was a match that made my heart stop. [The book teaches that] the unfolding of ones heart when youre nose to nose with death can be painful, and that you have to wonder how you can reignite your life, Ehrlich said. The answer for Ehrlich was nature. Out in the openness of the rough country, she was able to slowly recover and contemplate her life. I would get up early in the isolated place where I was staying, where it was just nature, the mountains and wildlife, Ehrlich said. I would greet the day, letting the place speak to me. I used to write in long hand outside in little notebooks, sitting in front of my cabin to keep it as intimate as possible. Once Ehrlich was back on her feet, she refused to let her brush with death affect the continuation of her adventures into the unknown. By chance, she was offered the opportunity to travel to Greenland and see firsthand the traditional hunting expeditions of Inuit tribes. I met this Inuit couple who invited me to come up to their village and live with them, Ehrlich said. They handed me to their friends further and further up the coast. We went around these great big dog sleds that were over 13 feet long and pulled by dogs. They were completely subsistence hunters and we lived off the ice eating walrus and seals. Ehrlichs various journeys cover a variety of lands and people, but the constant strain among these travels is the connection to the wilderness. This fondness for nature was one of the reasons that brought her to the College in the idyllic Berkshire County. I love taking walks in Hopkins Forest. The setting is a really beautiful area to walk or hike in. The physical isolation here makes the academic environment thrive. Its easy to develop a sense of community here because you can pay attention to your studies. Ehrlich has not only found her niche academically on campus, but she has also settled into her Berkshire surroundings. In many ways, for Ehrlich, the wilderness and even the back of her pickup truck is more like home than the confines of a residential building. | ||||||||
| 07/17/1959 03:50 PM Injured | Rocky Gabaldon | 0.0 | M | Prescott Az USA |
||||
| July 17, 1959 "'I felt like I was buzzing all over when the lightning bolt hit me,' explained Rocky Gabaldon, a Prescott school custodian who was struck by lightning at 3:50 p.m. yesterday. 'But today, I feel okay - with the exception of a headache and a sore toe.'" | ||||||||
| 03/14/1959 11:45 PM Injured | Mrs. Carl Kohls | 0.0 | F | Green Bay Wi USA |
in bathroom | Indoors | ||
| Today in history March 14, 2010 Comments (0) Recommend Print this page E-mail this article Share Type Size A A A March 14, 1959 Mrs. Kohls Hit by Lightning During Storm: Mrs. Carl Kohls, 71, 1439 Smith Street, has a story about an unusual wintertime accident. She reported feeling ill at about midnight Saturday and got out of bed and headed for the first floor bathroom. As she flicked on the electric light switch she was struck in the side of the head by a bolt of lightning, knocking her up against a table in the kitchen. She said she was only semiconscious and remembers lying on the floor about 20 minutes before she was able to awaken her husband asleep in the bedroom. The bathroom door was partly ripped off the hinges and the door panel was loosened. Mrs. Kohls said this morning she had no ill effects except for a bruised head. She did not require hospital treatment. Compiled by the Brown County Libraryr | ||||||||
| 09/08/1958 Killed | Mark, Trudy & Diana Reinhard | 0.0 | F | Big Bear lake Ca USA |
taking shelter in a shed on shoreline | Outside | ||
| Blogs SEARCH You are here: LAT Home > Blogs > The Daily Mirror News/Opinion California | Local National World Business Sports Campaign '08 Science Environment Opinion Arts/Entertainment Entertainment The Guide Arts & Culture The Envelope Living Travel Health Autos Home & Garden Food Image Books Living Green Video Photography Obituaries Crosswords/Sudoku Your Scene Blogs Columnists Print Edition Readers Rep Corrections All Sections Buy, Sell & More Jobs Cars Real Estate Foreclosure Sale Apartments Personals Deals at Local Stores Coupons Newspaper Ads Place an Ad In the Newspaper Online Settings/Services Sign In Register Personalized News E-Mail Newsletters RSS Feeds Help Contact Us L.A. Times Archives Reprint Requests Work for Us Home Delivery Customer Support Subscribe « 1920s movie star Anita Page gets her first three roles, July 8, 1928 | Main | Movie star photo mystery » Accident kills children of ex-football star, Dodgers beat Cardinals, 7-5, September 8, 1958 Tragedy strikes at Big Bear Lake Lightning bolt kills two children as father and brother watch from a distance, unable to help. The family's two-week summer vacation at the cabin in Big Bear was nearly over. Soon they would be heading back home to La Crescenta, where Bob was a manager at Los Angeles Automotive Works and his wife, Betty, was a homemaker. On that morning, Bob took their four children down to the lake while Betty stayed behind at the cabin about three miles away. While Bob and his son, Bob Jr., went out fishing in a boat, the other three children played along the shore: Mark, 7; Trudy, 13; and Diana, 14. In a moment, there was a cloudburst and the three children ran into a shed to get out of the rain. Before Bob and his son could get to shore, a bolt of lightning hit the shed. Mark and Trudy were unconscious and Diana was injured. Bob put the three children into the family station wagon and on the way to Santa Anita Hospital at Lake Arrowhead, he and Harvey Pedersen, a teenager from nearby Fawnskin, gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to two of the youngsters. At the hospital, emergency crews from the Big Bear and Fawnskin fire departments gave the children oxygen. Mark and Trudy were pronounced dead. Although the first day's story said Diana was burned, blinded and partially paralyzed, doctors found her injuries to be far less serious. According to The Times, she suffered only a slight eye injury that would not affect her sight. Her hand, which had been paralyzed, returned to normal, and she hadn't been burned. At the funeral, the Rev. Bernard Traveille of First Baptist Church of La Crescenta urged mourners "not to let our memory enshrine despair." Instead, he said "to have faith, to harbor hope that Mark and Trudy have found a better life and to have confidence in the love of God." Mark Lawrence Reinhard, 7, and his sister Trudy Lee Reinhard, 13, were cremated and their remains were entombed at Grand View Memorial Park. Bob Reinhard, who was named All-American in 1940 and 1941, was captain of the Los Angeles Dons. He was the No. 1 draft choice of the Chicago Cardinals in 1950 but was traded to the Rams in exchange for Bob Shaw, Tom Keane and Gerry Cowhig. He retired in 1951 to pursue a career in engineering. Bob Reinhard Jr. went on to play football for Stanford, where he was a punter, and he was drafted by the Packers in 1970. More information about the problems at Grand View Memorial Park is here. | ||||||||
| 07/28/1958 Killed | boy & man | 0.0 | M | Vacaville CA USA |
N/A | Outside,Taking Shelter,Under Trees | ||
| On this date in The Sun Lightning kills five in storms By Staff Reports In 1958, the San Bernardino Daily Sun ran an Associated Press story in which it was reported that five persons were struck dead and two gravely injured by lightning flashes that bolted from towering thunderheads, as scattered storms swept through Central California. The Solano County Sheriff's office said its officers were investigating the death of three boys found in a field near Vacaville, 60 miles northeast of San Francisco. A sheriff's deputy in nearby Fairfield confirmed that the boys had almost certainly been struck by lightning. The youths were hiking when a storm blew into the area. Their charred remains were found under a tree where they had apparently tried to find shelter. The Weather Bureau blamed a mass of moist air originating near Baja California for the plethora of thunderheads that bombarded the coast, the Central Valley and the Sierra foothills with brilliant displays of lightning. The incessant lightning also caused a number of fires throughout the state. Other victims included a 43-year-old construction worker, who was killed when a bolt of lightning struck his head a mere seconds before he grounded the blade of the grader he was driving, and a 14-year-old boy died after he was struck by lightning near Bass Lake. Two peach pickers were injured near Merced after a lightning bolt hit a tree in which they were working. | ||||||||
| 07/28/1958 Killed | 3 boys | 101.0 | M | Vacaville CA USA |
N/A | During the storm,On a Hill,Outside,Stormy Weather,Under Trees | ||
| VACAVILLE -- When Walter Wren looks at the hill now crowned by the KUIC transmission tower, he sometimes thinks of the three childhood friends he lost there. Now the retired Vacaville teacher and former planning commissioner has asked the Vacaville Community Services Commission to name the hill that separates Vacaville from Lagoon Valley after them. The hill was where he and his friends, Joey Kennedy, Steve Jones and Pat Jones played in the 1950s. The four were Vacaville natives and were in Boy Scouts together. "We played baseball together," Wren said. "Joey and I were best buddies." "When we were kids, it was our playground," Wren said of the many small trails the youths explored. But Wren wasn't with them that day in July 1958 when the three youths went up the hill to play, shortly before a summer storm swept into Vacaville. "A storm came through, the call went out that the boys were missing and we went to find them," Wren said. "We found them up at the top where the transmission tower now stands." The three youths' bodies were found underneath a tree that had been struck by lightning by John Campbell, another of Wren's close boyhood friends. The three made the fatal mistake of sheltering there, Wren said. The idea of getting the hill named after his friends struck Wren a few years ago when Vacaville bought the land as open space to protect its ridgelines from being developed. Wren walked the land, got approval from the boys' family members he could find and then approached the commission Sept. 1. The request took the Community Services Commission by surprise, chairman Curtis Hunt said. "We have procedures for naming buildings, for naming streets, but we don't have any procedures for naming a hill, so need to have staff advise us on that," Hunt said. The city is considering Wren's suggestion, Vacaville Community Services director Don Schatzel said. It would have to get community services commission and city council approval before it becomes reality. "We are still very early in the process," Schatzel said. "We won't be making a decision for some time." As for the possibility of having the hill named after his friends, Wren said, "I would like that." Campbell, now a dentist in Washington, told Wren he would come down for the ceremony if the hill is dedicated. "I have wondered for the last 40 years what they would be doing today," Wren said. "We (Wren and Campbell) had full lives, like the ones they would have had if they had lived." Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net. | ||||||||
| 07/28/1958 12:00 PM Injured | 2 fruit pickers | 0.0 | M | Merced County Cadiz USA |
Outside | |||
| July 28 in Merced County history: Two struck by lightning in freak storm July 28, 1958: Two fruit pickers were hit and severely burned by a bolt of lightning, lights were knocked out, and more than a dozen grass fires were started as a rare, spectacular electrical storm struck Merced County this morning. The fury of the storm alarmed most residents and led one frightened Merced resident to ask the police department if the countryside was being bombed. In the midst of the lighting and thunderclaps, a hundredth of an inch of rain fell in Merced. It was only the fourth time in the last 62 years that rain was recorded here in July. The last previous July rainfall was in 1950, when a hundredth of an inch was measured. The storm lasted from approximately 6 to 7 a.m. and was not as destructive as it sounded, except in a peach orchard on the DePalma Ranch a mile southeast of Ballico, where two pickers were felled, apparently by the same lighting bolt. Witnesses said that one of the victims was standing on a ladder picking peaches when the lightning crashed into his shoulder and coursed through his body and out his right foot. His trousers were shredded, the ladder was splintered and the tree was denuded of both fruit and leaves. As he fell to the ground, unconscious, the lightning arced past four rows of trees and struck another picker. It ripped his pith helmet into small pieces, tore off most of his clothing and shredded his boots. He, too, was rendered unconscious. | ||||||||
| 01/29/1957 Injured | Rufus Bodley & son | 18.0 | M | Hartselle AL USA |
Bobby knocked backwards | N/A | ||
| Jan. 29, 1957-Rufus Bodley and his 18-year-old son, Bobby, were struck by lightning during last nights electrical storm. Bobby was rushed to the Hartselle Hospital where he is in fair condition. Mr. Bodley was knocked backwards about eight or ten feet by the lightning, but was not injured. | ||||||||
| 07/15/1956 03:00 PM Injured | Robin Arthur 1 of 2 | 0.0 | M | TX USA |
hunting on top of hill | Hunting,On a Hill,Outside | ||
| When I was 15 I was hunting in the Texas Panhandle. My friend and I were walking the 'canyons' around the Canadian River. We had topped a small hill when a bolt of lightning struck about 30 feet north of us. We were both knocked done and felt a strong 'shocking' sensation but were apparently unharmed. I am now 69 and still have some problems. After the 'strike' I no longer remember peoples names. I remember their faces and know I am supposed to know who they are; but I don't. I suffer tinnitus in both ears, had migraine headaches for years, bone damage and bone growth (extra knobs on heels, ankles knees), and have moderate nerve damage to hands and feet. I am forgetful of short term things. I have had more than 45 surgical procedures (35 actual surgeries) including three lower back, four neck and two shoulder reconstructions. I am in constant unrelenting pain in shoulder neck and lower back with extreme weakness in the lower back. I require walker to stand straight. My school work went from A's and B's to C's and D's. According to friends I went from pleasant to arrogant and quick tempered. Over many years I have developed patience so that my temper is not displayed. I was considered the most likely to be imprisoned in my high school class (fortunately they were wrong!). All of this was unexplained until I stumbled upon your website today. Perhaps lightning is not the total cause but I feel sure it is a major contributor. while there is not much I can see that will help just knowing a probable cause for the changes may help me understand what happened top me. Thanks for the site James (Robin) Arthur Borger Texas PS - We required no medical treatment and we do realize how lucky we were. A few feet farther north and we may not have had symptoms to complain of! It was in mid July of 1956. We were headed home because we knew not to be out when storms came. It was hot and humid and we could see clouds building rapidly overhead. The very first lightning strike (about 3 PM) was the one that 'got' us. We were atop a hill that had been split into two hills and had a 10" gas pipeline partially exposed and then totally exposed as it traversed the gap between the two hills. Strangely enough the strike was down on the north side of the hill and not at the peak where we were. We were actually running to get off of the hill ASAP. Just like tornados you can't outrun lightning. I do remember that we were both carrying rifles and when the bolt hit we just jerked as if we were in a seizure and then hit ground. We were dazed for a few minutes and then the rain hit and left in a hurry. We never told our parents because we wanted to be able to return and hunt again and they would have said no. Normally supigity ndoesn't run in my genes but this was one time it did. Ironically, when I enlisted in the USAF I became a weather observer and one of the duties was to record lightning strikes. | ||||||||
| 06/14/1955 12:00 PM Killed | 2 dead 48 injured | 0.0 | U | UK |
at Royal Ascot stadium | Outside,Sports Field,Stadium | ||
| From The Times August 5, 2008 Weather Eye: life threatening lightning strikes Paul Simons A lightning bolt struck 91 people at a car racetrack in Norway on Sunday. The lightning hit a stadium and hurled spectators from their seats while others ran in panic. A fleet of ambulances and helicopters ferried the injured to hospitals in Flisa, near the Swedish border, but there were no serious injuries. There have been many instances of open sports stadiums hit by lightning. But, according to a study in the US, the threat from lightning strikes is not just the lightning itself, but also crowd control. In 1998 lightning struck a concert in a stadium in Washington DC, killing one of the audience and setting off mass panic among the crowd that caused more injuries in narrow exit tunnels. Stadiums are now advised to plan for swift mass evacuations. In the UK, one of the worst lightning strikes in a sports arena was at Royal Ascot on July 14, 1955. On a hot and muggy day, a thunderstorm broke during the afternoon and sent crowds rushing for shelter as rain pelted down. Soon afterwards lightning struck a metal fence and, even though no one was struck, the voltage gradient from the lightning ripped through the ground and scythed down crowds packed in and around a nearby marquee. The aftermath looked like a battlefield, as the injured lay on the ground and others wandered around dazed and shocked. Two spectators died and 48 others were injured. Possibly the worlds worst sporting tragedy caused by lightning was in 1998, when an entire football team were killed and 30 others injured during a match in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the most lightning-prone places in the world. | ||||||||
| 08/19/1954 04:00 AM Injured | Samuel Skeen | 102.0 | M | Fort Knox KY USA |
on a rifle range | N/A | Military,Outside,Taste of Copper | |
| I was on the rifle range Aug-19-1954, about 1600 hours (4:00pm) ; when a flash of lightning struck the telephone line nearby that was laying on the ground in front of me. The lightning flashed and hit my helmet knocking me to the ground 15 to 25 feet away from where I was kneeling. A nearby witness, CPL. FRANK L. OLIVERIO, said , " PVT SKEEN was thrown to the ground, and as we came to him he appeared to be dazed and quite shaken up" Pvt JAMES S. HUNT, a friend of mine, who was standing on a hill near my position saw me when I fell to the ground. He ran up to where I was laying on the ground, and he asked me if I was all right, ... " He said I only recognized his voice but not his face ". I was loaded on the back of a jeep and taken to the aid station. I did not remember anything much, from the time the lighting struck the telephone line until I came to on the back of that jeep on the way to aid station. I had no entry or exit wounds, but the skin of my lips pealed off and the skin above my eye brows also pealed off. I had a very heavy taste of copper in my mouth which lasted for about a week . The next morning I had severe muscle spasms all over my body. The worst pain was located in my lower back and my left leg and knee. | ||||||||
| 05/02/1954 Injured | Isaac Lloyd Hollingsworth | 32.0 | M | Springport IN USA |
taking shelter under tree | During the storm,Outside,Taking Shelter,Under Trees | ||
| In Springport do you have a claim to fame? "On May 2, 1954, at 2:20 p.m. I was struck by lightning. I got burnt on my foot and my arm. It burnt my boot off. I can't move my three toes yet on my right foot." What happened? "I was hunting mushrooms back there in the woods. I was under the tallest tree in 25 acres of woods. I seen the light but I didn't hear the thunder. Some people don't believe me. That was weird. It blowed about three feet of the top off (the tree)." So what's the moral to the story? "Don't get under a tree when it's raining." Does severe weather scare you now? "It still does. Lightning especially." Are those overalls your regular uniform? "I wear overalls every day. About the only time you see me cleaned up is on Sunday." | ||||||||
| 05/05/1953 04:00 PM Injured | Edward J Evans | 0.0 | M | Pan Moon Jom Korea |
Indirect,Military,Outside | |||
| In MAY OF 53 WHILE IN A COUNTER BATTERY FIRE FIGHT DURING A MONSOON STORM I WAS STANDING IN WATER UP TO MY SHINS. MY COMMUNICATION RADIO SHORTED OUT FROM THE SEVERE RAIN. THE COMM. UNIT REPLACED MY RADIO (WHICH CONNECTED ME TO THE EXEC. FIRE CENTER) WITH A HAND POWER UNIT SIMILAR IN LOOKS TO A CIVILIAN PHONE. I WAS STRUCK DOWN BY A LIGHTNING STRIKE THAT GOT ME AND ONE OF THE EXEC. OFFICERS. I WAS TOLD BY MY BUDDYS THEY FOUND ME LYING IN THE WATER AND I WAS UNCONSCIOUS FOR A DAY OR TWO I DONT RECALL MUCH ABOUT IT AT ALL. I HAD AND STILL HAVE SEVERE TINNITUS AT THE TIME WHEN I AWOKE I HAD AND AS I RECALL SOMEWHAT OF A MISERABLE HEADACHE. OVER THE YEARS I HAVE HAD SHORT AND LONG TERM MEMORY PROBLEMS. I CANNOT REMEMBER ANY OF MY OFFICERS NAMES NOR MOST OF THE GUYS I FOUGHT WITH. MY HEARING IS FOR ST AND GETS WORSE BY THE YEARS. MY MED RECORDS RECORDED THE STRIKE. THIS WAS THE DARK AGES AND MY TREATMENT WAS BED REST IN MY BUNKER AND I WAS TOLD THEY SHOVED APCs DOWN MY THROAT, THATS ABOUT ALL I REMEMBER. I ALSO HAVE A PROBLEM FORGETTING DIRECTIONS TO PLACES I KNOW VERY WELL. I SOMETIMES MAKE THREE WRONG TURNS GOING TO WHEREVER, WHEN IM WITH MY WIFE SHE REMINDS ME OFTEN. I BELIEVE I HAD A CONCUSSION BUT AT THAT TIME IT WAS BACK IN THE FIGHT AND ALL THAT BULLST. I HAD PDSD BUT AT THAT TIME NO ONE KNEW WHAT IT WAS. I WAS FINALLY DIAGNOSED ONLY A FEW YEARS AGO. WHEN I WAS DISCHARGED IN 54 MY EXAM CONSISTED OF HOLDING A MIRROR UNDER MY NOSE! I COULD NOT REMEMBER ANY OF MY OFFICERS WHEN ON THE SHIP ON MY WAY TO CALIF. IM NOW PUSHING 81 AND I GUESS IT DOS NOT MAKE A HECK OF A DIFFERENCE. SAW YOUR INFO, THOUGHT ID THROW MY TWO CENTS. LIEUT. RET. P.D. EDWARD J. EVANS FORMER SGT. USMC ALSO FORMER CPL. NJNJ AND US ARMY | ||||||||
| 06/06/1949 unknown | 2 inmates | 0.0 | M | Ramsey Prison Farm TX USA |
not sure of date | sitting on water wagon | During the storm,Field,Outside,Prison,Raining,Wet | |
| Lightning sparks prison flashback By Marie Beth Jones The Facts Published July 10, 2006 Rod Fulsom was living with his family at the Ramsey Prison Farm during in what he remembers as the spring of 1949, when the farm was struck by a massive thunder and lightning storm. Since he was at home, rather than at school, he believes it occurred on a Saturday. Lightning struck and killed two inmates who were sitting on the water wagon. His father told him that a driving, blowing rain was pelting down and lightning was striking all around. My Dad had several squads of convicts with the boss for each squad, plus the long-arm men, dog man and his dog boys and dogs, all in an open field, Rod says. Dad was horseback, headed at a run for the water wagon, and was in front of the wagon when the bolt of lightning struck. It killed the men on the wagon seat and knocked the mules to the ground. It also knocked Dads horse down, throwing him in between the mules. The wagon tongue end struck his shin bone and almost broke his leg. He had a terrible looking wound for some time. He recovered from the fall and the blow to his leg, caught his horse and headed everyone toward the compound. Someone came to the office and picked up the state car, a beat-up 1946 Plymouth sedan. The car was back in a short time. I went outside where Dad and other men were standing around the car. The left rear door was open, and inside were the bodies of the two men. Rods recollections also include an incident involving several trailer trucks that carried different items from the main prison unit at Huntsville to the various farms, as well as from farm to farm, and from the farms back to Huntsville. These were not the massive 18-wheelers on the road today but a smaller version, he explains. They were driven by Caucasian trusties who stayed on temporarily at various units. Remember, all units were segregated by race in those days. The drivers were usually troublemakers and were not to be trusted. Each truck had a boss that rode with them on all of their journeys. Ramsey 2 had a huge cotton gin in those days. It was located beside the road that came in from (old) Highway 288, about three-quarters of a mile from the office. When ginning was not going on, this big collection of buildings was not occupied. There was also no gate that you came through from Highway 288. Anyone could drive right into the prison compound without being challenged. It seems that some free-world business person set up a house of ill repute right under the watchful eyes of all concerned, inside the cotton gin. I heard that the Brazoria County sheriff arrested three young ladies and a local man. These ladies were available for the truck drivers, who would let their boss out at the compound and drive back to the gin yard and park their trucks. Someone saw and someone told, so the girls were arrested and the drivers ranked (lost their trusty status) and probably were sent to Retrieve. When the squads were a long way from the main building at noon, they would Johnny eat their lunch in the field. The food was brought out by wagons and mules in large pots with tin military-like trays and cups. They picnicked, Rod said, adding, I have no idea where the term Johnny came from, but when my Dad said, I wont be home for dinner, we are going to Johnny, we all knew what he meant. A water wagon pulled by mules and carrying several wooden barrels of fresh drinking water followed the squads to the fields each day. The water boy would take a bucket and dipper around to each squad and offer water to anyone who was thirsty. He would also build a fire on the turning row and put a large coffeepot on the coals at the right time. When the water was boiling, he would take coffee from a small white sack and put in exactly the right amount, usually two hands full. When the brew almost boiled over, he removed it from the fire, splashed a dash of cold water in the pot to settle the grounds, and you had turning row coffee my Dads favorite. One morning in 1949, as the squads headed to work, Sye Fulsom decided to saddle up and accompany them. I am sure he had a very good reason, Rod says, because he did not enjoy horseback riding that much. They went toward (old) Highway 288 on the main road and then cut south on a long turning row. There were several squads, and Rods father was riding to one side, watching the inmates and all involved, when he caught the movement of one inmate, out of maybe 300, who bent down quickly, picked something up, and put it in his shirt pocket. They continued on, Rod says, and later that morning my Dad rode over to the squad this person was in, talked to the boss, and called the inmate out to one side. The inmate removed his hat and stood in front of my Dad, who was on his horse. Dad told him to empty all of his pockets. He said all he had was a can of Prince Albert smoking tobacco. He removed the can from his shirt pocket and handed it to Dad. Dad pulled out a cigarette paper, took some tobacco from the can and rolled a smoke. He handed the tin back to the inmate, who started to put it back in his pocket. Dad told him to pour the contents on the ground. The man hesitated but did as he was told. All the tobacco came out, and then a brand new K-Bar pocket knife, with a blade on each end fell out. When Dad told me about this, he handed me the knife and told me to try not to lose it. Rod still has the little knife, which he plans to pass on to his son. Marie Beth Jones, a published author and freelance writer based in Angleton, is chairwoman of the Brazoria County Historical Commission | ||||||||
| 04/04/1948 12:00 PM Killed | 2 killed | 0.0 | M | UK |
playing soccer | Military,Outside,Soccer,Sports Field | ||
| Lightning strikes (1948) Two soldiers were killed in April 1948 after being struck by lightning during the Army Challenge Cup final at the Aldershot Military Stadium. The flash hurled all 22 players and the referee to the ground, with eight people being taken to hospital. Two players were killed but, while it was reported that the lightning struck the referee's whistle, the official survived. A spectator told The Guardian: "The whole of both teams fell to the ground as if they had been shot." An army private added in the Daily Mirror: "The referee seemed to have caught the lightning directly - for a moment he was completely covered by the flash." The teams - Royal Armoured Corps, Bovington, and the 121st Training Regiment of the Royal Artillery, Oswestry - agreed to share the cup. | ||||||||
| 07/07/1946 Injured | Joe Weingarten | 0.0 | M | CT USA |
inside | Indirect,Indoors | ||
| It happened in July 1946 in the evening and all I can remember it was in Conn. This was a summer cabin area with small log cabins and a common kitchen in a concrete building. Because of storms we moved into the concrete building. The lightning hit the building and came down the in one corner, rolled across the floor and hit myself and my uncle seating in a chair. We both survived. Sorry no more details. Joe ----Original Message----- From: MrMAC@aol.com [mailto:MrMAC@aol.com] Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 6:01 PM To: michael@struckbylightning.org Subject: When it thunders go indoors I was indoors when struck by lightning. So this does not always work; the building was not properly grounded. The lightning came down a corner traveled across the concrete floor and hit me sitting in a chair. -- Joe Weingarten 14066 Deer Stone Ln Fortville IN 46040 317-598-1026 317-223-5344 cell | ||||||||
| 08/08/1945 Killed | Other officer | 102.0 | M | Mineral Wells TX USA |
in a field | Before the storm,Cardiac Arrest,Dry,Military,Outside | ||
| 08/08/1945 Injured | W J Cichanski & other officer | 102.0 | M | Mineral Wells TX USA |
in a field | N/A | Before the storm,Cardiac Arrest,Dry,Military,Outside | |
| conducting military exercises in field, one cloud in the sky. 2 bolts struck, one between another officer and myself, my hand on his shoulder. it split us apart producing a halo of fire above our heads shatering and flash burning our clothers. It exploded leaving a hole under our feet, killing the other officer instantly. | ||||||||
| 06/06/1945 unknown | Jack Snyder | 0.0 | M | AZ USA |
||||
| Bonnie Henry : Lightning dance Fire crews atop the Rincons saw bolts crash all around, the most exciting show in town Bonnie Henry Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.06.2006 advertisementWe hear the rumble; we see the darkening clouds. We know it's coming: Lightning ¡ª crackling and dancing across a glowering sky. Down below, creatures ¡ª rabbits, coyotes, humans ¡ª scatter for cover. Safely inside our homes, we wait out the storm as bolt after bolt crashes about us. Nothing like a lightning storm in the desert. Unless it's one in the mountains. And few have seen them like Richard Sense. In the summer of 1961, Sense, now 71, supervised a fire crew at Manning Camp, a backcountry ranger station and base camp for firefighters high atop the Rincon Mountains. When the storm clouds gathered, usually in midafternoon, he would take turns with others manning the 100-foot steel lookout tower. Crouched in a space perhaps no larger than 8 by 8 feet, he kept watch for lightning-caused fires. "Sometimes we couldn't get out of the tower until 7 at night," says Sense, recalling the ferocity of those storms. How ferocious? "Sitting in that tower was a real whiz-bang," says Sense. "The tower was a conduit. An electric charge came through. The bolts started rattling at the base. You'd hear a 'clickety-clickety-clickety, click, pop.' The electric charge had nowhere to go, because the tower was grounded." Lightning also put on quite a floor show away from the tower. "I've watched the lightning do a dance around a 100-foot pine tree," says Sense. "It was a brilliant pink." The whole "show," he goes on to say, "might last for about a second. Then the bolt of lightning would either be dispersed through the tree, make a streak down the tree, or could even take out a slice." Once, says Sense, "I saw a slice taken out of a pine tree at Mica Meadow and thrown 30 feet. It was a piece of wood 15 feet high. It stood like a toothpick." After the storms, says Sense, "we took turns walking around the mountaintop, seeing if we could spot any fires. At one lookout point, there was this glow. I took my binoculars down and I was glowing green." Later, he learned that it was St. Elmo's fire, a luminescent corona caused by the ionization of air during a thunderstorm. Jack Snyder, who joined the Manning Camp trail crew on the mountain during the summer of '47, also tells a great lightning tale: "We were sitting around under a Coleman lantern, playing poker, when this ball of lightning came through the lantern and the table. We all jumped back." Snyder also remembers the time he and another fellow climbed the four tallest pine trees around Manning Camp, stapled barbed wire to the trees and ran the bundled strands down the trunks. The wire was then run through a little trench to a stake in a nearby spring. "It seemed to work. The water worked like a lightning rod," says Snyder, 77. Four years after his summer in that lookout tower, Sense had another up-close and personal encounter with lightning in the summer of '65, working on an archaeological project in Hidalgo County, N.M. "A lightning storm came up. I was two miles from my vehicle," says Sense. The land, he adds, "was flat as a board. I was the highest thing." Fearing what was to come, he threw away his watch and his boots with the metal nails in them, shed his belt and buckle, along with his Levi's with the copper rivets, then snuggled into the ground. "I put my head in my arms. I heard the wind rushing by. The sand was stinging. I heard the crack of lightning." And then he passed out. "I was so frightened I think I must have fainted," says Sense. "When I woke up, the storm had passed, and I had a feeling of peace and euphoria like I'd never felt in my life." Incidentally, while lightning still crashes along the range of the Rincons, the old lookout tower is no longer there; it was dismantled sometime during the mid-1980s. Citizens now report most of the fires on the mountain, with helicopters and planes called in after storms. Arizona Daily Star photo illustration ¡ñ Reach columnist Bonnie Henry at 434-4074 or at bhenry@azstarnet.com, or write to 3295 W. Ina Road, Suite 125, Tucson, AZ 85741. ¡ñ Reprints of Bonnie Henry's 1992 book, "Another Tucson," are available for $29.95 from cafepress.com/azstarnet or 1-877-809-1659. The product number is 13596486. | ||||||||
| 08/26/1943 12:00 PM Killed | 7 killed | 14.0 | M | St. James Jamica |
Indoors,School | |||
| 1943: A dark day in history - St James seven slain by lightning Published: Monday | April 6, 2009 Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer WESTERN BUREAU: The terrifying memory of seven children being killed and several others sustaining injuries in a lightning strike continues to haunt two survivors just over 65 years later. For 84-year-old Alvan Slack and John Burns, 74, the date August 26, 1943, is etched in history as a day of horror which separated them from some of their schoolmates. The seven children - all boys - met their tragic death when a bolt of lightning struck the Vaughans-field School, which was housed in the Mission House of the Church in St James. There were 182 students in attendance when the incident occurred. Twelve of them were seriously injured while dozens sustained minor burns. The building was burnt to the ground. Slack recalled that jumped through a window to escape. The school had a single door which was bottlenecked by a stampede. "It all happened so quickly. I remembered on that day, a lot of rain was falling but I have never seen so much rain, not even now. "I remembered hearing very loud thunder and the next thing I knew, powerful lightning hit the school and set it on fire," Slack told The Gleaner. Slack recalls that he had not wanted to return to school after going home for lunch, but his mom had scolded him when she learnt of his plans. "My mother gave me a proper beating and demanded that I go back to school," he said. "But when she heard what happened, she cried and ask me to forgive her because I could've have died when the lightning struck our school." Specific memories of the day of nature's terror are not as fresh for Burns. However, the emotional after-effects are palpable. "All I remembered as a child was how terrified and saddened I was when the incident occurred and in the end realising that some of my friends died," Burns told The Gleaner. Burns, who now lives in the United Kingdom, organised a special 65th memorial earlier this year to honour those who died in Vaughansfield. sheena.gayle@gleanerjm.com The children who lost their lives Alphonso Clarke Owen Bowen Obediah Thompson Benjamin James William Bond Wesley Grizzle Iran Vernon | ||||||||
| 08/25/1943 12:00 PM Killed | 7 kids | 8.0 | U | Flamstead St. James Jamaica |
in a school | Indoors,School | ||
| Survivors at the 1943 burial site where five of the seven children killed were laid to rest. From left former teacher, Alwena Chiscolm-Shaw, 87, and students Joyce Morgan-Lawrence, 71, John Burns, 73, Linval Maxwell, 74, and Mavis Edwards, 78. (Photo:Keril Wright) Flamstead, St James Sixty-five years ago John Burns watched helplessly as seven of his schoolmates from the Vaughansfield Elementary School at Flamstead in St James were electrocuted during a deadly thunderstorm which burnt the school building to the ground. Today he is doing something about it. Burns, who was eight years old at the time of the deadly tragedy - as were most of the victims of what was then the worst such incident on record - is spearheading a memorial celebration in remembrance of the 65th anniversary of the disaster. Burns, now 73, says he remembers the tragedy as if it was only yesterday. "I was one of those that survived unhurt," said Burns who migrated to England 50 years ago. "I still think it's a miracle I survived." Despite his miraculous escape Burns has never forgotten those who were not as lucky and on February 7, he and other survivors as well as relatives and friends of the deceased, will unveil a memorial plaque bearing the names of the seven - Alphonso Clarke, Owen Bowen, Obediah Thompson, Benjamin James, William Bond, Wesley Grizzle and Ira Vernon - who died instantly when lightning struck the school building, on the afternoon of August 25, 1943, setting it on fire. "I decided a long time ago to hold a memorial celebration," added the now retired Burns, who is presently on one of his annual visits to the island. "Twice my life was saved at that school," he explains - once from drowning. "I am so grateful, that's why I am doing this before I pass away." The story of the children's death made all the headlines in the days following the incident that rocked the deep rural farming community and surrounding areas. Headmaster Stanley Scott - now deceased - whose bravery was responsible for saving the lives of many of the children, was hailed as a hero. His widow Mrs Scott and their children are expected to attend the memorial celebration next Thursday as well as former Governor General, Sir Howard Cooke, a long time friend of the old headmaster. "The headmaster was a hero," recalls Burns. " A lot more children would have died if not for him." Newspaper reports at the time praised Scott for his quick thinking and bravery, which saved many of the 182 children who were part of the lower school at Vaughansfield Elementary. "I remembered a gentleman from my district looking up into the heavens and cursing God for killing his son while there were others thanking God for saving their children" remembered Burns. He hopes next Thursday's memorial will serve as a fitting celebration of the lives of the deceased and in ensuring their memory lives on as an integral part of the history of the community and the wider society. | ||||||||
| 07/08/1943 12:00 PM Killed | Leslie Hall Stobbs | 0.0 | M | Bellaire OH USA |
on a farm | Outside | ||
| 07/07/1942 Injured | Ross May & sister | 5.0 | M | Greenwood MS USA |
date not accurate | playing under a tree | Outside,Under Trees,Yard | |
| It was approximately July 1942, in Greenwood, Mississippi, from the best I can figure, about four P. M. Greenwood is in the Mississippi Delta, above Greenville. In the NW quadrant of the state. It is located on a delta formed by the Yazoo and the Mississippi floodplain. The rest of the state is hilly, with exception of this floodplain, and a narrow coastal plain. I can't give you the exact location in Greenwood, as this was many years ago, and my parents are departed this life, as well as my sister, who shared this experience. The electrical storm I refer to was later in my life, in Gulfport, Mississippi. I can give you that story in a separate post if you wish. I like your site. It gives much insight to a common danger. I am 69 years-old now, but when I was about five years of age, my sister and I were struck by lightening. Allow me to explain in more detail. We were playing under a giant magnolia tree, when indications of a thunderstorm appeared, wind, cold drafts, and not-so-distant thunder activity. Our mother had just warned us to come inside when, lingering as kids are prone to do, a bolt of lightening hit the tree, traveled down the trunk and knocked both of us to the ground, in the most devastating display of violence that I have ever felt. Just prior to the bolt, the hair on my head felt like it was standing (it probably was). At the strike, my head felt like it had become very, very, large for my body. I don't remember too much after that, but I do remember lying on the bed, being solaced by our mother. There was no pain, per se, but a most strange violent surge feeling went through my body at the time of the strike. We had burns on our feet, but not bad enough to be hospitalized. Just prior to my sister's death by cancer a couple of years ago, we discussed this event. We hadn't spoken of it since it happened. I told her of the strange feeling of my head being enlarged, (as in a cartoon), and she stated that she, coincidentally, remembered the same strange feeling, but hadn't remembered too much about it until we started to reminisce the happening. I witnessed an genuine electrical storm, additionally, when I was twelve. I will describe it if you wish. It was very amazing. RSVP Harlan Ross May Gulfport, Mississippi (the lightening strike occurred in Greenwood, Mississippi, a couple of hundred miles to the north of Gulfport (the hurricane center of the universe). | ||||||||
| 05/26/1941 12:00 PM unknown | airplane | 0.0 | M | Cologne Germany |
restarts airplane | Airplane,Military | ||
| Decorated WWII gunner dies 8:03 AM Wednesday May 26, 2010 Facebook Twitter Email Print A man who was decorated for his efforts as a rear gunner during World War 2 will be buried in Matamata today. A funeral service for Keith Coleman, who died on May 20, will be held at the Returned Services Association building in Matamata. Mr Coleman, 92, who was born in the Wairau Valley and raised a family in Hawke's Bay, was decorated with a Distinguished Flying Medal for his work in 80 missions with the RAF flying over Europe, the Dominion Post reported. His most memorable mission came in 1941 when both engines of a Wellington bomber froze on a trip back to England from the skies above Cologne, Germany, in 1941. Alone in his rear gun-turret, Mr Coleman awaited the order from pilot Johnny Lancaster to bail out as the frozen plane rapidly lost altitude. The order never came because the aircraft was struck by lightning. "There was a colossal bang and a blinding flash, obviously a lightning strike ... the whole aircraft was aglow," Mr Lancaster later recalled. Both engines kicked back into life and the crew made it safely back to England. Mr Coleman is survived by his wife Clare, three sons and two daughters. - NZPA | ||||||||
| 09/09/1940 unknown | mother | 0.0 | F | Ruston LA USA |
date not accurate | sitting on a toilet | Indoors,Plumbing | |
| It was just this factoid in the paper. More people are killed by lightning than tornadoes in the South, it said. I was instantly reminded by this information of the time I saw lightning caught not in a bottle, but in a toilet at my grandparents' house on Alabama Street in Ruston. It's a lightning story that I challenge readers to top. In fact, nobody can top my lightning story. Consider: It was early autumn in Ruston in the late 1940s. We were all sitting in iron chairs on the front porch on a Sunday afternoon. The old Temple Baptist Church across the street had cleared out. It was almost a clear day, with one little pancake of a cloud shutting out the sun. My young mother, I recall, asked to be excused to go to the bathroom at the end of the house. Shortly after mother excused herself the little pancake of a cloud unleashed a missile of cloud-to-ground lightning. It was an explosion of blue light and a shuddering crash. We all knew the back of the house had been hit by the literal bolt from the blue. Our fears were all for Mother, who was in the bathroom. We could not believe what we saw in the bathroom. Lightning had hit the commode. Porcelain fragments from the toilet were scattered everywhere; some were stuck in the wall like shrapnel. The toilet bowl was destroyed. A geyser of water rose from a hole in the floor. Blue smoke filled the room. But Mother, who was sitting on the toilet when lightning hit it, was miraculously unhurt. Yes, she was hysterical and embarrassed "" her black hair white with porcelain dust "" but unhurt. For the rest of our lives at home, our family was forbidden to be in the bathroom even if there was a hint of a storm on the horizon. Mother had dodged a bullet of lightning that was probably hotter than the sun and as destructive as a howitzer shell. Of course, I Googled lightning for this column. Here are a few facts about lightning: n The odds of an average person living in the USA being struck by lightning once in his lifetime have been estimated to be 1:280,000. n The United States is home to "Lightning Alley," a group of states in the American Southeast that collectively see more lightning strikes per year than any other place in the U.S. The most notable state in lightning alley is Florida. n The saying "lightning never strikes twice in the same place" is false. The Empire State Building is struck by lightning on average 100 times each year and was once struck 15 times in 15 minutes. n Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus in the film "The Passion of the Christ," is reported to have been struck twice by lightning during shooting. The assistant director, Jan Michelini, was struck twice. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3209223.stm). n Golfers Retief Goosen and Lee Trevino have both been struck by lightning while playing. (http://www.golfeurope.com/almanac/players/trevino.htm). n Although commonly associated with close thunderstorms, lightning strikes can occur on a day that seems devoid of clouds. The occurrence is known as "A Bolt From the Blue" and is due to the fact that lightning can strike up to 10 miles from a cloud. Mother was hit by a bolt from the blue. Mother is now a healthy 94 years of age after being struck more or less by the legendary bolt from the blue in her 30s. Mother caught lightning in a toilet, and lived to talk about it. n Wiley Hilburn is a Times columnist and the head of the Journalism Department at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston. Write to him in care of The Times, P.O. Box 30222, Shreveport, LA 71130-0222. Send e-mail to stringer@latech.edu. | ||||||||
| 07/11/1940 12:00 PM Killed | Eugene Martin & 2 others | 16.0 | M | Waterbury CT USA |
taking shelter under tree | N/A | During the storm,Outside,Park,Taking Shelter,Under Trees | |
| Neighbors intend to restore memorial: Monument marked lightning deaths of 3 boys Friday, March 17, 2006 BY ROBYN ADAMS Copyright © 2006 Republican-American WATERBURY -- Some Washington Hill residents are trying to redeem a piece of their neighborhood's history. It began in 1940, when a fierce lightning storm caught Gregory Holmes, Eugene Martin and Francis Carroll off guard and in harm's way at Washington Park. Holmes, 18, was the assistant playground supervisor at the 22.3-acre park in the South End. Carroll, 15, known as "Buddy," and Martin, 16, were his friends. The boys, all of the Washington Hill neighborhood, were killed during the storm. Not long after their deaths, the residents and members of the Washington Park Community Club erected a memorial and plaque in the park in their memory. The memorial, an arch-shaped fountain made of stones, was vandalized in 1964, rendering it useless. But now, the Mohawk Park Civic Club and the Washington Park Community Club, which merged last year, want to bring the memorial back. "We will restore the plaque, concrete, put down pavers and plant shrubs," said Antoinette D'Almeida, club president, Thursday. A story last July reporting concern that the memorial would not be repaired during coming renovations of Washington Park sparked interest from the clubs to take on the project on, D'Almeida said. Since then, she has raised more than $1,000 in donations, recruited a neighborhood mason to do the work and is rounding up volunteers to help with the project. D'Almeida is unsure how much it will cost to complete the project and is seeking additional donations to ensure it is done right . On Thursday, D'Almeida mailed a letter regarding the club's intentions to the Park Board for approval. Jimmy Nemec, park supervisor, does not believe the request will be turned down. "I will totally recommend the board allow the club to do the work in conjunction with the Park Department," Nemec said. "We will oversee it, but it is their project. Everything I've heard so far is nothing but positive." On July 11, 1940, Carroll and Martin were helping Holmes take down swings from the metal A-frame swing set. Around 6 p.m. a fierce electrical storm struck. The boys sought refuge beneath a large oak tree, a few feet from the swing sets, but a bolt of lightning struck the tree. Their bodies were discovered about 30 minutes later. All three had died instantly and could not be revived in spite of the heroic efforts of 13 firemen, six hospital interns, four volunteer nurses and a number of unidentified people who worked nearly two hours to resuscitate the boys. | ||||||||
| 07/11/1940 12:00 PM Killed | Gregory Holmes & 2 others | 18.0 | M | Waterbury CT USA |
taking shelter under tree | During the storm,Outside,Park,Taking Shelter,Under Trees | ||
| Neighbors intend to restore memorial: Monument marked lightning deaths of 3 boys Friday, March 17, 2006 BY ROBYN ADAMS Copyright © 2006 Republican-American WATERBURY -- Some Washington Hill residents are trying to redeem a piece of their neighborhood's history. It began in 1940, when a fierce lightning storm caught Gregory Holmes, Eugene Martin and Francis Carroll off guard and in harm's way at Washington Park. Holmes, 18, was the assistant playground supervisor at the 22.3-acre park in the South End. Carroll, 15, known as "Buddy," and Martin, 16, were his friends. The boys, all of the Washington Hill neighborhood, were killed during the storm. Not long after their deaths, the residents and members of the Washington Park Community Club erected a memorial and plaque in the park in their memory. The memorial, an arch-shaped fountain made of stones, was vandalized in 1964, rendering it useless. But now, the Mohawk Park Civic Club and the Washington Park Community Club, which merged last year, want to bring the memorial back. "We will restore the plaque, concrete, put down pavers and plant shrubs," said Antoinette D'Almeida, club president, Thursday. A story last July reporting concern that the memorial would not be repaired during coming renovations of Washington Park sparked interest from the clubs to take on the project on, D'Almeida said. Since then, she has raised more than $1,000 in donations, recruited a neighborhood mason to do the work and is rounding up volunteers to help with the project. D'Almeida is unsure how much it will cost to complete the project and is seeking additional donations to ensure it is done right . On Thursday, D'Almeida mailed a letter regarding the club's intentions to the Park Board for approval. Jimmy Nemec, park supervisor, does not believe the request will be turned down. "I will totally recommend the board allow the club to do the work in conjunction with the Park Department," Nemec said. "We will oversee it, but it is their project. Everything I've heard so far is nothing but positive." On July 11, 1940, Carroll and Martin were helping Holmes take down swings from the metal A-frame swing set. Around 6 p.m. a fierce electrical storm struck. The boys sought refuge beneath a large oak tree, a few feet from the swing sets, but a bolt of lightning struck the tree. Their bodies were discovered about 30 minutes later. All three had died instantly and could not be revived in spite of the heroic efforts of 13 firemen, six hospital interns, four volunteer nurses and a number of unidentified people who worked nearly two hours to resuscitate the boys. | ||||||||
| 06/06/1939 12:00 PM Killed | Kennedy Atkinson | 0.0 | M | Sierra Vista Az USA |
date not accurate | |||
| Meet Double Adobe quilter Peggy Kennedy Atkinson. Her family homesteaded in the Sulphur Springs Valley, and her grandfather near the San Pedro River in Hereford after separating from his wife. In 1939, he was struck by lightning and died. Peggys parents and her brothers Charlie and Clifford, and sister, Marjory, moved over to take care of the farm until her Uncle Donald would arrive. In 1940, Peggy and brother Charlie attended the little Palominas School, in the same location as the present school. She finished elementary school at Greenway, and then attended the Old Bisbee High. At the age of 9, Peggy began quilting, and has never stopped. She enjoys piecing quilt tops that the Double Adobe quilters then finish and donate to the area hospitals and care centers. Peggy has also played in the band at the Double Adobe quilt shows. | ||||||||
| 03/27/1936 12:00 PM Injured | Mrs Harry Wohlers | 0.0 | F | Avoca NE USA |
on the phone | Indirect,Indoors,Telephone | ||
| Nebraska City, Neb. March 27, 1936, Nebraska Daily News-Press Avoca, Neb. (Special to The News-Press)--It is believed that Mrs. Harry Wohlers, of near here, will recover from injuries she sustained Sunday when lightning struck a telephone pole outside her home southwest of Avoca. Mrs. Wohlers was talking on the telephone during the first electrical storm of spring. Lightning struck the pole and Mrs. Wohlers was knocked unconscious. She fell, breaking her ear drum, when she struck her head on the kitchen sink. A deep gash that required several stitches to close was cut in her head. Mrs. Wohlers was unconscious for several hours but she is recovering now although she is still suffering from nervous shock and her hearing is affected. Copyright 2011 Nebraska City News-Press. Some rights reserved | ||||||||
| 09/13/1933 12:00 PM Killed | Bessie White | 0.0 | F | Union Grove NC USA |
am not pm | touching stove | Indirect,Indoors,Kitchen/Appliance | |
| Memories of family tragedy remain Vicious lightning strike killed mother and changed lived of eight children ADVERTISEMENT By Jim McNally | Statesville R&L Published: September 13, 2008 On the morning of Sept. 13, 1933, Stamie White and his wife, Bessie, rose before their many children, as was the norm, to prepare the family's morning meal in their Union Grove farmhouse. Stamie's job was to stoke the flames and keep the fire ablaze in the wood stove, while Bessie attended to the actual cooking. The sky was calm and the air clear when the middle-aged couple awoke that morning. But within a few minutes of fussing around the stove, Bessie would fall into the arms of her husband, the victim of an odd and apparently rogue lightning bolt. Perhaps some eggs and bacon were at hand's length, maybe some juice and milk had already been arranged for the seven children who still lived in the home. Another daughter was attending college in Boone. As family lore has it, Stamie was standing only 18 inches away from Bessie when the bolt made its way down the stove's exhaust pipe, across its surface and to the eyelet Bessie was fiddling with. Just then Stamie noticed "a large ball of fire rolling around" on top of the iron stove, Rebecca Beaver said about her grandfather. "Then Stamie caught his wife as she fell to the floor." Stamie held her briefly but feared she was already dead. In that instant, Beaver said, the family members' lives "were changed forever." The noise of the thunderclap woke the White children and, as they filed down the staircase, they saw their mother lying on the floor in the glow of the stove's embers. The home's only modern conveniences were electric lights. "They didn't have a telephone or anything else electric," Beaver said. "So Paw Paw ran to a neighbor's house to get some help." While Stamie was gone, the children began to get an understanding of what happened. One of his daughters, Irene Shumaker, was 13 years old on that fateful day. "It was so sad seeing her there," said Shumaker, now 88 and living in Statesville next to her daughter, Rebecca Beaver. Shumaker still has a hint of sadness in her voice when retelling the story. "We just saw her laying there. And I don't care how old you are when you lose your mother; it's a sad day when you do." Her little brother, William, was 8. "That morning, I remember just like it was yesterday," he said from his house in Union Grove, built right across the street from the one in which he grew up. "There were no lunchrooms in schools so they had to make breakfast and lunch and that's what they did every morning." William White recalled how the story of the lightning was relayed by his father, who died in 1969. "Daddy had been talking to Mama about a thunderstorm they heard that morning out in the distance. He told her, 'That must be 20 miles up the road near Wilkesboro.' Then he said another one came that was a little closer." The next thing Stamie White knew, his wife was in his arms. The lightning bolt wasn't done doing its damage either. After apparently hitting the stove's chimney, its charge ran to the wire fence around the house's garden â killing the grass and plants around it â before making its way to the barn where it caused minor structural damage. En route it killed a horse and a cow. The story has a mostly happy ending. All four of the White girls finished college; three had long careers as teachers. The four boys all served honorably in the military during World War II and followed that time with successful ventures. "Daddy held the family together," William and Irene said. Five of the eight White kids are still alive and still remember that day, 75 years ago today, when lightning came out of nowhere and killed their mother. | ||||||||
| 07/02/1932 12:00 PM Killed | 2 eole | 0.0 | U | Rochester Ny USA |
||||
| Weather tested Rochester's mettle during Great Depression DECEMBER 1, 2008 Print this pageE-mail this articleShare "Rushing wind and water, blackness broken by intermittent flashes of lightning and sharp cracking and rolling thunder, two long frightening minutes of deafening roar before the blackness slowly faded into grayness and the world righted itself. This is how yesterday's storm impressed at least one Rochesterian whose home was in its path." Democrat and Chronicle, July 2, 1932 That wasn't just any storm, by the way. It was the only tornado to actually strike within the city limits of Rochester. It also was the start of a remarkable four-year stretch in Rochester weather history. Within four years, the city would experience two other record-setting extremes. "July 1, 1932 marks the date of the big wind in Rochester," the Democrat observed the next day. "All weather events in the city henceforth may be reckoned from yesterday." As the day ended, many Rochesterians considered themselves lucky just to be alive. One resident, while out for a stroll along Austin Street, saw the twister coming and flung himself to the ground. "I'll bet there's a hole where I kissed that ground," he said. A roof of a house just missed hitting him. Franklin Kates, an employee of the New York Central Railroad, was standing in the doorway of the old Otis Street station, chatting with an unidentified visitor from the South. The visitor saw the storm coming and, having experienced tornadoes before, advised taking shelter under desks in the station. "Just (as) they did, the roof crashed in and debris was spread all over the floor." The storm came out of the west, causing extensive damage in Churchville and ripping through Gates before cutting a swath of destruction about an eighth of a mile wide through the northwest part of the city from about 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. Only two people died when they were struck by lightning at Irondequoit Bay, not because of the tornado which seems all the more incredible given the amount of damage the storm caused. In addition to hundreds of trees and wires downed, and scores of automobiles trapped beneath them, 12 buildings were struck by lightning and 40 houses were "unroofed." One photo in the newspaper showed a lot at Lyell Avenue and Rutter Street where 12 garages once stood. They were reduced to "kindling wood." Some of the damage was downright freakish. For example: Harrison Goodbread's garage at 563 Mt. Read Blvd. was lifted from its foundations and deposited in another yard 100 feet away, but his house was untouched. Someone's wash "was hung up to dry on telephone wires between Austin and Warner Streets." Bank notes were flying around on Buffalo Road after the wind hurled a laundry truck into a ditch. "Shirts, collars and other apparel scattered over the countryside." The Meisenzahl brothers' dairy on Wegman Road in Gates received the storm's full fury. Willet's house was struck by lightning, lost much of its roof and was shifted nearly half a foot on its foundations. Edward's house was relatively unscathed, but Edward wasn't. He was bitten in the stomach by a horse that had become crazed with fear as he tried to lead it to safety. Two of the brothers' three barns were destroyed, and the third lost its roof. Two silos were also blown down. Total damage: $30,000. A week later, nearly 50 Gates neighbors and friends converged on the dairy for an old-fashioned "bee" not for a traditional barn-raising, but to help the brothers finish tearing down the ruins. | ||||||||
| 04/11/1931 Killed | Guy Spaulding | 0.0 | M | Baraboo WI USA |
N/A | Field,Horse,Outside | ||
| Guy Spaulding, 53, was killed by lightning as he was working in a field near his home in West Fairfield. Mr. Spaulding was working with a team of horses, seeding grain, and it was believed that the bolt followed down a fence near which he was working. A hired man was working in an adjacent field and saw the horses fall to the ground along with the man, and he summoned help. The horses were unharmed but dazed for over an hour. | ||||||||
| 07/07/1930 12:00 PM Injured | Cash | 102.0 | M | Folly Mills VA USA |
date & time not accurate | inside blockhouse | During the storm,Indirect,Indoors | |
| Folly Mills store attendant survives lightning encounter By Terry Shulman/ contributor terrytcs55@aol.com A gas station attendant named Cash was minding the store one scorching summer afternoon of 1930, when he was jolted into a stunning realization. The clouds were gathering; the sky had grown dark. ADVERTISEMENT A storm was brewing over Folly Mills, but there was no reason to worry, Cash probably thought. He was safe and sound, sheltered from the worsening weather as he was, inside the station's blockhouse. It started to hail. Cash may or may not have known that hail on a summer day indicates a clash of warm and cold weather systems in which tornadoes could occur. So can lightning. Lightning bolts give no advance warning of their arrival. Some 50 yards from the station, a herd of steers huddled under a large tree, seeking a safe place to ride out the worsening hailstorm. It would prove to be a bad choice of trees. Before the charred splinters of bark hit the ground, the bolt had done its worst shattering the big tree and killing four of the steers, who never knew what hit them. Neither did Cash, who was on the ground before he heard the thunderclap. The bolt had traversed the 50-yard distance, entered the filling station and blown Cash clean out of his chair before he had time to deduce that he had been hit by lightning. Unlike the cows, Cash was none the worse for wear. | ||||||||
| 06/06/1930 Killed | 30 men on boat | 101.0 | M | MI USA |
on a drill boat that was struck | Boat,During the storm,Outside | ||
| Local shipwrecks not affected by new provincial regulation By TRACEY TONG Staff Writer Dive sites in the Brockville area of the St. Lawrence River will not be affected by a provincial regulation designed to protect three shipwrecks in Lake Ontario and Lake Superior, the owner of a local dive charter told The Recorder and Times Monday. Recently, a provincial regulation was enacted to protect three Great Lakes shipwrecks - the Edmund Fitzgerald, located in Lake Superior and the Hamilton and the Scourge in Lake Ontario - by requiring any diver to get a special licence from the province before taking the plunge. The regulation comes after relatives of the mariners who died on the ships fought for more than a decade to protect and respect the wrecks as grave sites. Located northwest of Whitefish Point, Michigan, the Edmund Fitzgerald is the grave site of 29 crew members who died when the ship sank during a storm on November 10, 1975. The Hamilton and the Scourge, both located north of Port Dalhousie in Lake Ontario, were U.S. merchant schooners which served during the war of 1812. The ships sank in August 1813, killing 53 of the 72 crew members aboard. "Ultimately, this will not affect any shipwrecks in the Brockville area because none of (the ones here) are designated as heritage sites," said Dive Brockville Adventure Centre owner Helen Fowler. Although all of the wrecks in the area are more than 50 years old - one of the criteria to be designated a heritage site - there are no human remains left at any of the sites, Fowler said. "If there were any human remains in the area, (the wreck) would be considered a grave site," Fowler said. Thirty men died on the J.B. King when the drill boat was struck by lightning and exploded in June 1930, but all the bodies were recovered from the wreck, Fowler said. But although existing wrecks won't be affected by the new regulation, it will affect any new discoveries in the area, Fowler said. A newly discovered wreck site has to be catalogued and documented before divers are allowed to explore it, Fowler said. Fowler has mixed feelings about the regulation. "I agree with the regulation (in that) certain sites should be available with those with good diving experience," she said. "But I'm on the fence, because it is an underwater museum and we want more people, as many people as possible, to see it," she said. "I agree with (the regulation) for the new finds to see if there is any information that we can gather, but I think that afterward it should be accessible to the public the same way things are when they're above ground." Fowler said that it will be extremely difficult to enforce the regulation to protect the three sites. Athough Fowler said that there is "always someone who spoils it for the rest by trying to take things" from the wreck sites, most divers follow the Save Ontario Shipwrecks (SOS) slogan to leave only bubbles and take only memories, said Fowler. Like many dive centres, Dive Brockville Adventure Centre teaches low-impact diving, which encourages divers not to touch the wreck, not to squeeze through tight holes and not to go inside the wreck. "Even bubbles inside the wreck can cause deterioration over a long period of time," Fowler said. While the regulation won't affect dive sites here, local dive groups are working together to preserve the area's sites. This spring, the Upper St. Lawrence Scuba Charter and SOS will put a chain around the Lily Parsons in the Brockville Narrows so divers won't have to use the wreck to pull themselves along, Fowler said. Published in Section A, page 4 in the Tuesday, February 7, 2006 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times. Posted 4:31:42 PM Tuesday, February 7, 2006. | ||||||||
| 05/01/1930 12:00 PM Killed | JL Coker | 70.0 | M | Tishomingo Oklahoma USA |
plowing a field | Farming,Field,Outside | ||
| Capital Democrat May 1, 1930 J L COKER killed by lightning Monday. J L Coker, a widely known and highly respected citized on the Prairie View neighborhood, was struck by lightning and instantly killed Monday afternoon during a storm that visited that community about 3 p.m. Mr Coker and another man were plowing in a field some distance from the house, when the storm came up and they immediately quit work aand the other man ran for the shelter leaving his team in the field. It seems that Mr Coker endeavored to hitch his team to a wagon and the storm hit just as he was preparing to drive home. The lightning bolt hit him as he was in the acto of starting his team and he fell between the horses on to the wagon tongue. The team seemingly was also stunned by the bold, as one of the horses was till on the ground when first seen by Mr Walter Quaid, a neighbor who was passing along the highway after the storm. Mr Quaid immediately phone the officers at Tishomingo and an inquest was held. Mr Coker was 80 (actually 70) years of age and had lived in Johnston co, for many years. he was formerly a resident of the Cope neighborhood. The remains were buried at city cemetery at Tishomingo Thursday afternoon. He survived by his wife and several children. Submitted by Stan Coker sscok@aol.com | ||||||||
| 07/10/1926 Killed | 19 people | 0.0 | M | Picatinny NJ USA |
inside | N/A | Indoors,Military | |
| July 10, 1926. Just another day at Picatinny, New Jersey's Lake Denmark Powder Depot until lightning struck within the facility. The bolt detonated adjacent gunpowder magazines, killing nineteen people and propelling debris for miles in all directions. By the time the smoke cleared, the damage totaled $70 million (in 2002 dollars). Thankfully, lightning never strikes twice, right? Wrong, says Richard Kithil, president and CEO of the Louisville, Colorado-based National Lightning Safety Institute. For example, in 1994, a lightning strike at the Milford ... | ||||||||
| 04/04/1926 Killed | 2 killed when tanker explodes | 0.0 | U | San Luis Obispo CA USA |
date not accurate | |||
| TRIBUNE EXCLUSIVE REPORT: Cleanup coming to SLO tank farm? | By David Sneed dsneed@thetribunenews.com Tribune photo by Jayson Mellom Today, circular berms mark the locations of former tanks. More photos In April 1926, lightning struck the Unocal tank farm in San Luis Obispo, causing a spectacular fire with flames shooting 75 feet in the air, shattering nearby windows and releasing millions of barrels of flaming crude oil that spread across adjacent fields. Witnesses said "the fiery oil, floating on the flooding creek, progressed all the way to the ocean at Avila. ... Skeletons of burned trees lined the creek." Two people were killed. Now, 80 years later, a long-term solution to the environmental problems caused by that disaster and a blueprint for how the strategically located land could be used are near at hand. The site still poses a danger to wildlife because the decades-old oil bubbles to the surface in some areas during hot weather. The oil has decomposed to the point that it poses no threat to humans or the water supply. Chevron, which now owns the tank farm, hopes to have a proposed cleanup plan by next summer. If approved, the 340-acre site would be opened to additional uses, including permanent open space, limited recreation and some commercial development. If all goes well, cleanup work on the site could begin as early as summer 2008, said Chevron spokesman Gonzalo Garcia. "Nearly a century has passed, and we are still dealing with contamination issues," Garcia said. "Its time we got moving on this." Release of the cleanup plan will trigger a full environmental review, including opportunities for public comment and participation, Garcia said. The tank farm is located along San Luis Obispos southern boundary, and city planners have targeted all or part of it for annexation. With the oil pollution at the site and the areas industrial zoning, however, residential development is unlikely. A historic disaster Built in 1910, the Unocal tank farm was a major storage center for oil pumped here from the San Joaquin Valley. It contained six large underground storage reservoirs as well as 21 above-ground steel storage tanks. On April 7, 1926, lightning struck the facility during a storm and sparks ignited two of the large storage reservoirs. Steam generated by the fire caused the full reservoirs to overflow. The oil collected in low spots on the site, where it remains today. At that time, it was one of the nations worst petroleum industry disasters. It was also the first of a list of high-profile Unocal oil spills in San Luis Obispo County. Others occurred in Avila Beach and the Guadalupe oil field. These posed a higher cleanup priority and delayed the tank farm project. In 2003, an interagency task force conducted an ecological risk assessment of the site and determined that the oil has decomposed and moved underground to the point where it poses minimal environmental threat. "Basically, we found that some areas require treatment and some areas do not," said Neil Havlik, San Luis Obispo natural resources director. "There are portions of the property that could be used for urban development, while others the wetlands in particular should remain as they are, even if they are contaminated." Over the years, sediment has covered the oil, which has turned into asphalt-like material. On hot summer days, some of the oil liquefies and bubbles to the surface. This poses the biggest environmental threat, said Melissa Boggs-Blalack, an environmental scientist with the state Department of Fish and Game. Birds and other wildlife could become coated by the black goo. To prevent this, Chevron has erected large nets around the seeps. The nets, as well as the berms from the storage reservoirs, are visible from Tank Farm Road, which bisects the facility. Chevron also uses propane-powered noise guns and reflective tape commonly seen in vineyards to scare wildlife away from the seeps. One of the first priorities of the forthcoming remediation plan is to remove these seeps, Garcia said. "Areas where birds and wildlife can be contaminated will be cleaned up, absolutely," he said. Habitat importance Over the years, the tank farm has evolved into an important habitat area. The earthen reservoirs and other low-lying areas are seasonal wetlands that attract a variety of waterfowl. The wetlands are home to the vernal pool fairy shrimp, a federally listed threatened species, and a rare kind of tar plant. These are the sites most fragile plant and animal, Havlik said. Chevron has earmarked 50 to 60 acres of the tank farm site for light industrial development. This would take place on the western and eastern edges of the property adjacent to similar existing development on land owned by others. None of Chevrons tank farm property has been developed, Garcia said. Potential development areas include the current site of Chevrons office buildings on the west side of the property near Farm Supply Co. and areas adjacent to existing development off Broad Street. Cleanup of the property could also open it to some form of limited public recreation, such as hiking. However, protection of the wetlands and sensitive species should take priority, Havlik said. "It would be some sort of a low-key recreation with an education component," he said. No estimate of the cost of the cleanup is available. Reach David Sneed at 781-7930. | ||||||||
| 10/10/1923 12:00 PM Killed | ballon | 0.0 | U | USA |
in a ballon | N/A | Balloon,Outside | |
| 4 October 2010 Last updated at 14:12 ET Share this pageFacebookTwitterShareEmailPrint Italian coastguards call off search for US balloonists Continue reading the main story The hydrogen balloon went missing in thunderstorms over the Adriatic Gas balloon pilots are 'brave' The Italian coastguard has called off the search for the two missing American balloonists in the Gordon Bennett race. Richard Abruzzo, 47, and Carol Rymer Davis, 65, are feared to have plunged into the Adriatic Sea during a thunderstorm on 29 September. The search-and-rescue operation was stood down at 1100 BST but coastguard boats on routine patrol will still look for debris in the area. Rescue teams had also used CCTV equipment to search the sea bed. Italian coastguard spokesman Lt Massimo Maccheroni said: "We found nothing that could be traced to the balloonists." The pair took off in USA2 from a launch field near Bristol on 25 September along with 19 other teams. To win teams had to travel the furthest distance on one fill of hydrogen. The balloons can be controlled only by releasing gas to go down and throwing out sand to go up. The Italian coastguard last had contact with the pair, who won the race in 2004, at 0800 local time (0700 BST) on Wednesday when they reported bad weather conditions. USA2's last satellite tracker report was received at 0658 BST last Wednesday. Readings from their balloon's tracking device showed it was travelling towards the sea at 80km/h (50mph) before signals stopped. The race was won by the Swiss team made up of Kurt Frieden and Pascal Witpraechtiger in SWI2. It landed near Constanta, Romania on 29 September, having travelled 1,513 miles (2,435.08km). One of the British entries, piloted by Wiltshire-based David Hempleman-Adams and Simon Carey, landed in third place. The Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett Race has been held more than 50 times over a 104-year period. 'Shot down' But there have been years when the gas ballooning distance race has been hit by tragedy - ranging from problems with the weather to cross-border incidents. In 1923 three balloons were struck by lightning and one balloon hit power cables on its descent and the British team had to ditch in the sea. In 1983 Maxie L Anderson and Don Ida were attempting to land in a forest clearing to avoid crossing Czechoslovakian border when they lost their lives. And in 1995 a balloon, flown by Americans Alan Fraenckel and John Stuart-Jervis, was shot down killing both over Belarus. Belarusian authorities forced two other balloons to land and the pilots were fined. | ||||||||
| 10/10/1922 04:30 PM Killed | George Pitman | 0.0 | M | Florence AL USA |
date not accurate | working in a field | Farming,Field,Outside | |
| Where's Bernie? James Pitman admits he kind of gets chills whenever he sees his uncle's grave. "It's hard to explain it," Pitman said. "It looks like it crystallized." That's because the gravestones - there are two of them - have suffered the same misfortune as James' late uncle, George Pitman, who is buried beneath it. George's gravestone is difficult to locate. In fact, you have to look for the one that doesn't have an easily read name among a group of Pitman family members. "There's no name on the tombstone that you can recognize, because it's disintegrated," James said. There's an irony behind the reason for the destruction to the gravestone in the rural cemetery just off Waterloo Road near the Natchez Trace Parkway. But first, the story of George Pitman's final day is intriguing in itself. It started as a day like most days: the Pitman family was working on their farm. On this particular day, a lot of hoeing was under way. "George's brother was with him and they were chopping cotton," James said. He said the brothers were very young men on that fateful day in 1922. An ominous cloud drew overhead, so the brothers decided to leave the field and head to shelter, James said. The difference was, George's brother set his hoe down. George didn't, deciding instead to sneak in just another bit of work. "He reached down to get a bunch of grass and lightning struck and killed him," James said. The tragic story has been told again and again down through the generations. They tried to get George help, but nothing could be done. "My dad could remember Paw laying my uncle up on the back of that wagon," James said. "That was the only transportation they had." James' uncle's life ended there, but the story didn't. George was buried in a family plot, and James' grandfather bought a tombstone. At some point - James has heard it was around the 1920s or 1930s - the tombstone was destroyed - struck by lightning. So, one of George's brothers-in-law bought another tombstone. It was put alongside the first, James said. And it also was struck by lightning. "You can see where they are disintegrated," James said. "It's like they were melted together. It's strange the way those two are joined. Just the whole story - he was struck by lightning, and then two tombstones were - it's so strange." James said one of the family members still has the hoe that George was carrying when the lightning struck. James had heard that for a time his grandmother kept in an upstairs room the hoe, hat and shoes his uncle wore when the tragedy struck. But he's also heard someone else had it. He never found out what was in the room. "Grandmother said if I ever go up there, she'd spank my britches," he said. He knows a girl who went in there, howver, and she told him it was a creepy feeling, as though she were being watched the entire time. It probably was just the visitor's imagination running wild, but it certainly adds to the intrigue of the tragic and bizarre story of the man and gravesite that seem to serve as lightning rods. Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@timesdaily.com. | ||||||||
| 07/07/1922 12:00 PM Injured | Roy Goble | 12.0 | M | Piper KS USA |
date not accurate | Outside | ||
| A longtime Bonner Springs businessman who narrowly survived a lightning strike as a 12-year-old died last month, a day short of his 96th birthday. Roy Scott Goble, who operated Bonner Springs Auto Repair for 20 years, died Oct. 29. Holly Goble provided a biography for her father-in-law that explained the lightning strike, his various forays into business and his views on exercise late in life. When Scott was 12 years old, the story goes, he went fishing with his brother, Larmon, in a creek near their home in Piper. When they came back, it started raining. They dropped the fishing rods and ran to house, which had an area underground for storms. When Scott returned to get the rods, he bent down to pick them up and at the same time, lightning struck. Larmon arrived to find Scott and a dead rooster on the ground. A doctor came on horseback to examine Scott and told the family there was no use giving the boy medicine. But, Scott made it through the night, then another night. The next day, he sat up and asked those around him, What are all you people doing here? During the Great Depression, Scott worked for four years in the Civilian Conservation Corps in Northern Minnesota, earning $4 a month and clothes. Later, he and his brother Larmon would drive an old Model A Ford to Wahlee, Wash., to pick apples for $15 a day. In 1941, Scott came back to the area and married Dorothy Lyons. During World War II, Scott started repairing airplanes at Pratt & Whitney. He went to school with 70 people, two of whom graduated as a classified airplane repair supervisor. One of them was Scott. One job was to run the airplanes at high speeds to test them and know what to repair. Scott and Dorothy owned a small plane and loved to go flying, taking short trips. When the war ended, Scott went on to the auto repair business, opening a shop in what is now the parking lot at Union Bank. Scott ran Bonner Springs Auto Repair for 20 years. It was also known as Scottys Garage, where people liked to come and talk and visit with each other. Scott and Dorothy bought a house in Bonner Springs and lived and raised their children, Stan, Roy, Ed and Mary. After the garage closed, Scott and Dorothy lived the summers in Bonner and the winters in McAllen, Texas, for 15 years. Scott was the minister at the park where they lived. Dorothy taught the women how to make quilts. They gave the quilts to young mothers that couldnt afford blankets otherwise. From 2002-2009, Scott lived at the Nettleton high-rise, where he often could be seen sweeping the sidewalk or trimming the bushes. There, he also walked at least 4 miles a day. When he thought his muscles were warmed up, he would walk backward. He said it worked the opposite muscles and helped him to keep his balance. In 2009, he moved to Manor Care, where he continued to walk the halls both forward and backward. Holly Goble said Scott loved his friends and former clients in Bonner Springs and offered this parting advice, which Scott always told customers at his shop: Dont forget to check your oil. The obituary for Mr. Goble can be found here. FavoritePrint | ||||||||
| 01/01/1919 04:00 PM Injured | Ray Caldwell | 0.0 | M | USA |
playing in world series | Baseball or Softball,Outside | ||
| Raymond Benjamin Caldwell, (April 26, 1888 August 17, 1967), was an American major league pitcher from 1910 to 1921. He was known for throwing the spitball, and he was one of the seventeen pitchers allowed to continue throwing the pitch after it was outlawed in 1920. Caldwell was notorious during his playing career for his addiction to alcohol and partying, he possessed a self-destructive streak that many of his contemporaries believed stopped him from reaching his potential. In 1924, Miller Huggins wrote: 'Caldwell was one of the best pitchers that ever lived, but he was one of those characters that keep a manager in a constant worry. If he had possessed a sense of responsibility and balance, Ray Caldwell would have gone down in history as one of the greatest of all pitchers.'[1] Yet, despite his achievements on the field and his antics off it, Caldwell is perhaps best remembered for being struck by lightning whilst playing for the Cleveland Indians against the Philadelphia Athletics in 1919; remarkably, despite being knocked unconscious, he refused to leave the game, having pitched 8.2 innings, and went on to record the final out for the win. Contents [hide] 1 Early life 2 Playing career 3 See also 4 Note 5 References 6 External links | ||||||||
| 08/15/1918 Killed | John Gonsalves Curvinho | 0.0 | M | Provincetown Massachusettes USA |
in a dory coming back from fishing | Boat,fishing,On Water,Outside | ||
| Advocate Archives This weeks look back into the Advocate Archives reveals a severe lightning storm in 1918 that claimed the life of one fisherman; local yachtsmen in 1939 sail their Eskimo boats to victory over Wellfleet yachters; a great blue heron takes a ride on the Boston ferry in 1951 and gets a new home on the North Shore. Aug. 15, 1918 Lightning Kills Man, Damages Homes The worse electrical storm of the summer was experienced here Friday. One man was killed and one dwelling was struck by lightning and several home grounds were visited by the electric element with nerve-shattering effects to occupants attending. The rumbling of the thunder peals became audible about 11:50 a.m. From that time until 12:50 noon, the aerial discharges grew gradually in intensity and frequency, and at about 1 p.m., the first of a series of deafening crashes announced the striking of a lightning bolt. That bolt hit and demolished the big flag-pole that stood beside the rear veranda of Kwituwury cottage, cutting off the staff some four feet above the surface of the ground and scattering the severed part in chips over a wide area of surrounding ground. Lightning is said to have entered and escaped through open doors or windows at Francis cottage, occupied by Harold Di Polo and family, of New York, doing no damage to building, or fittings, but momentarily shocking Mr. Di Polo as he sat at the dinner table; passed through the roof of the Phipps hill cottage, east end, downward through an open fireplace, near which a party of four inmates was standing, and, following some metal piping, went down into the earth. Lightning struck the dwelling of John W. Lyle, No. 252 Bradford St., and wrought damage of $100, or more, it is stated, to glass, woodwork, etc., and started a fire which was extinguished by William Francis and others, using water. The one fatality occurred in harbor, or near the entrance to same, John Gonsalves Curvinho, one of two fishermen who were returning from the fishing ground, being instantly killed, while his partner, on the opposite side of the dory, escaped injury to person or garments except for a slight scorching of oil clothes. | ||||||||
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