Ever hit by a lightning?! [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

chiasaur11

2009-09-11, 11:08 PM

Yes. I was charged with 1.21 jiggawatts and all of my family problems were solved.

Is that what caused Hitler's dinosaur army?

President RoboLincoln had a heck of a lot of trouble with that.

Also: No. Got some shocks from lightbulbs, wall sockets, and novelty pens, and had a truck run over my toe, but nothing that'd get you out of gym.

Starscream

2009-09-11, 11:28 PM

Not me, but several close members of my family. All at once.

My dad and three of my uncles were canoeing back in the 80s in Pennsylvania. It started to thunder and lightning, and they decided that being on a river in aluminum boats was not the best place for them.

So they pull over and as they are waiting for the rain to let up lightning strikes the tree they were standing two feet away from. Gave them all some nasty electric shocks.

Yeah, they should have known better than to stand under a tree. But this was in the middle of a national forest; if you weren't on the water you were by a tree.

RS14

2009-09-11, 11:47 PM

Not me personally, no. I do know two people who survived the same ground-strike recently, though.

We were all backpacking through Kings Canyon a few weeks ago, and one of the other groups was approaching a pass as a thunderstorm moved overhead. They spread out a bit and huddled on their camping pads; eventually one bolt struck "about 10ft away," briefly stunning one leader and delivering a shock to the foot of one student. Fortunately, no serious injuries were sustained. They aborted their ascent through the pass and spent the next week doing day trips around the trail-head.

Edit: Crimmy, what experience?

Perenelle

2009-09-12, 09:32 AM

nope. and hopefully I never will.
though I have ran around my yard in a pretty bad thunderstorm once, but It was only for about 3 seconds and then I ran into a shed :smalltongue:

Serpentine

2009-09-12, 10:22 AM

Nope, but I've heard of a horse that did. My sister's boyfriend's parents had a horse called Frosty (cuz it was grey-white, and on frosty mornings they couldn't see it). They... borrowed, I guess, someone else's horse to keep Frosty company. Then a storm came over. The other horse was standing under the only large tree in the field. It was comprehensively toasted.
Frosty just stood in a corner shivering for some weeks afterwards, and they had to bring in a bulldozer to bury the body.

Catch

2009-09-12, 10:31 AM

I've been electrocuted. Does that count? :smallconfused:

While worming my way under a cramped computer desk and wiggling out the plug for my PC from the power strip, I bumped my thumb into the grounding pin while the prongs were still connected.

Eon

2009-09-12, 10:31 AM

no but if you want i could go stick my tongue in an electrical outlet...

Kurien

2009-09-12, 10:35 AM

Thankfully, never. But I have seen a Youtube video recently of a person being zapped.

Ichneumon

2009-09-12, 10:41 AM

The chance of being it by lightning are bigger than winning the jackpot with a lottery.

Perenelle

2009-09-12, 10:55 AM

no but if you want i could go stick my tongue in an electrical outlet...

:smalleek: please dont.

Ichneumon

2009-09-12, 11:06 AM

:smalleek: please dont.

Actually, because of how most (European, at least, don't know for other continental outlets) outlets work, you have a 50% chance of nothing happening if you stick your tongue in 1 of the holes. Of course, 50% is an aweful lot considering you are risking your life.

Eon

2009-09-12, 11:13 AM

:smalleek: please dont.

don't worry. I still have things i want to do in life.

The Vorpal Tribble

2009-09-12, 11:27 AM

I install and troubleshoot tv satellites alongside my magazine and one day was grounding the system right as a storm was rolling up. Lightening strikes a mile down, my arm snaps back, and my wrench I was tightening connections with goes flying.

It's several minutes before it stops tingling.

:smalleek: please dont.
Or at least set up your video camera first.

Elfin

2009-09-12, 11:35 AM

Never, nor have any of my relations.
Sorry to disappoint.

Renegade Paladin

2009-09-12, 12:19 PM

I've been electrocuted. Does that count? :smallconfused:
No you haven't. I deduce this by observing that you're alive to type this statement, and electrocution is specifically death by electric shock. :smalltongue:

Anyway, yeah. I wasn't struck directly, but I was too close to the gutter downspout when our barn was struck once. The facial muscles on the right side of my face are partially paralyzed as a result. I can consciously manipulate them, but involuntary facial expressions only appear on the left side of my face.

LurkerInPlayground

2009-09-12, 12:25 PM

Well, this experience has just made me curious:

Have you ever been hit by a lightning/Been near a lightningbolt when it struck?

By "being hit", I mean your house, treehouse, yourself, etc.
For some reason, I recall an old childhood friend of mine nearly getting hit by one.

The bolt came down in an open field and forked before striking him.

I'm inclined to think it was a false memory.

Hell Puppi

2009-09-12, 12:31 PM

Back when I went to high school in Texas, I had to walk a ways to get to my bus stop and as it was in the country a bit, I was the only person there.

It was raining but I didn't think anything of it until a lightning bolt hit abut 30 feet from where I was standing. I don't remember what it hit, exactly. I turned around and went home :smalleek:

Trog

2009-09-12, 12:33 PM

Yup. It burned up my winning lottery ticket unfortunately.

Player_Zero

2009-09-12, 12:48 PM

The chance of being it by lightning are bigger than winning the jackpot with a lottery.

Hmm... 1 in 14 million for the lottery per day.
Apparently the odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 700,000 per year according to some American organisation.

(1 - (1 - 1/1.4*10^7)^365) will give you the chance of not winning the lottery in a year if you play every day. Which is apparently one in 38,356.66.

So yes, you're almost twenty times more likely to win the lottery if you play one ticket every day than you are to be struck by lightning. Though this may only account for hopitalisations... In which can these odds only apply if you're in hospital once a year.

J.Gellert

2009-09-12, 01:23 PM

I've never been hit by lightning but I just read about a couple interesting cases a couple hours ago...

...in my forensic medicine university book. :smallannoyed: Not my favorite subject to have to study.

chiasaur11

2009-09-12, 01:27 PM

The chance of being it by lightning are bigger than winning the jackpot with a lottery.

Which reminds me of a great moment in the Justice League comic that tied into the show.

The Flash and the Atom are traveling through time.

"Relax. The odds of a time travel accident are lower than being hit by lightning."

"Ray? I've been hit by lightning."

"Okay. It's less likely than winning the lottery."

"Ray, I've won the lottery."

CrimsonAngel

2009-09-12, 01:31 PM

No, but with my luck I'll be struck 473 times in a row.

Giggling Ghast

2009-09-12, 01:33 PM

Several times.

We're talking D&D Lightning Bolts, right?

J.Gellert

2009-09-12, 01:34 PM

Several times.

We're talking D&D Lightning Bolts, right?

I think the original poster is referring to Call Lightning instead :smalltongue:

Jack Squat

2009-09-12, 01:41 PM

I haven't been hit, but it's come close. First time was while riding in a car with my family at Sanibel Island, FL. It hit the telephone pole we were driving under. All I remember is a loud bang. I was 10 or so at the time, so I don't really remember it fully (actually, I didn't remember it at all until my brother brought it up; I remember seeing a bolt of electricity coming out of the transformer up on the line.

The other time was this past 4th of July weekend. I was on Lake Mitchell in Alabama. We (my girlfriend, her sister, her sister's fiance , his mom, and another friend) were staying at a lake house. Us 'kids' were about to go out on the boat when it started raining. We went under the covered portion of the dock, and waited for about 5 minutes. The mom came out and told us we may as well get inside, it's not blowing over for awhile.

I like watching storms, I find them calming, so as soon as the typhoon-like rain and the lightning came down, I sat in the covered deck and watched, partially because the power was out and there was nothing better to do. Everyone else was inside.

Well, one strike hit about 75 yards off from where I was watching. I felt the concussion and heard four deafening bangs - as if someone rapidly let off four high-caliber rifle rounds. I jumped back in my chair, then went inside - ears still ringing- and say that that strike was pretty close. I walk back outside and smell charred wood. After about five minutes when I realized that no one else was coming out, I went inside and sat on the couch, looking out the window at the storm.

Seventh Dwarf

2009-09-12, 04:01 PM

First time - Standing in a concrete block building at the top of a hill, ankle deep in water, leaning up against a metal door, watching literally green clouds roll in. Lightning hit the metal roof, went through the door and shocked me. The shock was pretty mild, no more than what you would get from getting shocked with 110 in the States.

Second time/near miss - standing on a ridge top in Rocky Mountain National Park (Colorado USA) watching lightning strike the other mountain tops. Heard a loud buzzing/scratching sound in my ears. I turned to the guy I was hiking with and both of us had our hair standing straight up. We ran down behind a rock just as the bolt hit. We felt the concussion.

Third time/near miss - Flying home from Delaware when lightning hit the plane. There was a really bright light that flashed through the cabin, followed by flickering cabin lights for a brief second. The pilot came on the intercom just a few seconds later and said we had been hit by lightning, but no damage had occurred to the plane (and I thought that planes were Faraday cages!). The flight attendant told me this was the second time it had happened to her in her 10 years of flying.

For some reason, no one wants to play golf with me when the thunder clouds roll in.

Kobold-Bard

2009-09-12, 04:21 PM

Never hit, but when I was nine me and my family were walking through the Lake District and the heavens opened. Trudging back soaked through we heard the thunder. A bolt struck about 2 inches in front of me, I immediately s*** myself (being nine and all).

My dad (being the wonderful parent he is :smalltongue:) told me it was the metal buckles on my coat that had attacted it and I was freaking out the entire way back in case they did it again.

Berserk Monk

2009-09-12, 06:47 PM

Does being crammed in an elevator with Zeus and Thor count?

Crimmy

2009-09-12, 06:54 PM

↑ I don't think so...
But it could count as a shock, at most.

Never hit, but when I was nine me and my family were walking through the Lake District and the heavens opened. Trudging back soaked through we heard the thunder. A bolt struck about 2 inches in front of me, I immediately s*** myself (being nine and all).

My dad (being the wonderful parent he is :smalltongue:) told me it was the metal buckles on my coat that had attacted it and I was freaking out the entire way back in case they did it again.

I'm sorry to say your dad was wrong... Mythbusters proved those thoughts wrong.

But that must have been one hell of an experience!!

Linkavitch

2009-09-12, 07:03 PM

no but if you want i could go stick my tongue in an electrical outlet...

Do It, Do It!

i have been accidentally electrocuted a couple of times, but nothing serious.

charl

2009-09-13, 02:08 AM

I was in a sailboat once that was hit by lightning. It was bright and loud.

Catch

2009-09-13, 11:23 AM

No you haven't. I deduce this by observing that you're alive to type this statement, and electrocution is specifically death by electric shock. :smalltongue:

Yes, yes, "electrocution" is a portmanteau of "electrical execution," but words evolve. Let's not have a dictionary fight. I'll accede that many sources cite "electrocution" as literally, "death by electricity," while others include injury or just a simple shock.

Point is, it's easier to say "I was electrocuted" than "I received a high-voltage electric shock that was sudden, painful, and remarkably stupid of me."

Darius Midnite

2009-09-13, 11:47 AM

Once when I was biking in the open field, returning home from a friend, cumulonimbus were forming above me and a deep rumbling followed them. So there I was, not a tree, power line or anything in sight that might absorb a potential thunder bolt. Me and my titanium bike were both getting concerned. The first lightning came not far from me, though I didn't see where it struck, others just danced across the sky. Then a bright light followed by a deafening roar came from behind me, the impact knocked me off my bike. Though I wasn't hit, for which I'm thankful, it was a close call. *Shudders* I returned home without any more major occurrences.

Uber_Drow

2009-09-15, 06:19 PM

I got very close to being hit while waiting for a friend in a storm...I was next to a flag pole...

bosssmiley

2009-09-16, 10:21 AM

Yes. I am so morally reprehensible and of such dissipated character I have been struck by lightning no less than 17 times. :smallbiggrin:
(I am also a big, fat liar)

Telonius

2009-09-16, 10:50 AM

Yes, I've been hit just once, in a parking lot. Gave me a minor burn on my arm and put a hole in my shirt. I didn't feel anything right when it happened, and fortunately there wasn't enough damage to even call the doctor about it.

I was very disappointed that I didn't get a single super-power as a result of it. :smallfrown:

Kcalehc

2009-09-16, 11:26 AM

Personally no. Electric shocks a-plenty*, but no lightning strikes.

Someone I went to high school got hit one summer vacation. He never came back to school - he was not dead but in a permanent vegetative state; I don't know how he has fared since.

*Electric fence, once on the hand ("it's not electric, look..!") once accross the back trying to go under; Van de Graaf accident (hint: don't touch somethign conducting to ground while also touching the generator!); 3KV accross the chest in a school science experiment accident (note: turn power off before trying to change the resistor); and finally licking the contacts on a brand new 9V battery - feel free to try this one at home :smallbiggrin:

Slippery Bogle

2009-09-16, 08:31 PM

Fortunately, I've never had the spectacular occasion to be struck by lightning myself.

Though, if you ever visit this man (http://14.media.tumblr.com/KkuUd7RSJo9l5r8z0McoC9a2o1_400.jpg), I'm sure he will be obliged to describe it to you.

grubblybubbly

2009-09-17, 01:30 PM

Gullara

2009-09-18, 01:27 PM

I was playing Neverwinter Nights 2 and a wizard hit me with a lightning spell. Does that count?:smallbiggrin:

Crimmy

2009-09-18, 03:31 PM

I was playing Neverwinter Nights 2 and a wizard hit me with a lightning spell. Does that count?:smallbiggrin:

This was said in the first page. I think...

@Telonius: Daaaaaaamn.
And here I thought you would be Thunderboy itP.

PJ the Epic

2009-09-19, 07:12 PM

Yah, a couple times actually.

The first time, the lightning struck the lightning rod on our house. The cabinets open and the glasses at the table (we were eating dinner) shattered from the thunder.

The next time, I was in a field hiking with some people I know. It was kind of rainy, and we were coming back down from the top of a mountain into a valley. Suddenly, we all got this really bitter metallic taste in our mouthes, and the back of your neck starts to feel really, well, wierd, for lack of a better word. The guy in the back knew what was happening, and screamed "HIT THE DECK!!" as loud as I've ever heard someone scream, and we all dropped. A few seconds latter, and this massive bolt of white light shoots down and strikes a tree maybe half a mile from us. The thunder then stuck about half a second later, and deafend us all (I think that's how it's spelled?).

It was quite fun:smallbiggrin:

Extra_Crispy

2009-09-22, 07:36 AM

No never hit by lightning. But does 140k volts from a powerline count?

Spiryt

2009-09-22, 07:41 AM

But does 140k volts from a powerline count?

Now you username kinda gains a meaning. :smallamused:

:smallwink:

Inhuman Bot

2009-09-23, 12:35 AM

I haven't been hit by it myself, but it was rather close.

A few years back, during a rather severe storm, I was heading back to one of my friends' house.

There was visable lightning strikes, but they were so far off that we were only minorly concerned. We got back, then I was about to go home, when lightning struck maybe a 20 or 30 feet in front of me. Fortuneately, it struck the road, so it could've been worse.

Probably the scareiest moment of my life.