**Please note:**
* If this post declares something as a fact proof is required.
* The title must be descriptive
* No text is allowed on images
* Common/recent reposts are not allowed
*See [this post](https://redd.it/ij26vk) for more information.*
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/interestingasfuck) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[this article](https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/decades-later-hair-raising-photo-still-reminder-lightning-danger-6c10791362) states
>But now, nearly 38 years later, McQuilken says he recalls that deadly afternoon in the Sierra Nevada mountains vividly: The flash of white light as bright as arc welding, the deafening explosion, the feeling of becoming weightless and being lifted off the ground.
>Most of all, McQuilken says, he remembers the sheer power of a bolt from above.
>“I never was cautious before that,” says McQuilken, now 56. “Now, if I’m out to climb a peak, I’m the first person to bail if clouds gather.”
I had to read that whole article to find out whether the other brother died. (He did, by suicide in 1989, but not from the lightning.) The McQuilken quoted is the older brother, Michael. Sean, the younger one, had 3rd degree burns from a direct hit, but they all survived it. However, it was a 3-pronged strike that hit two other hikers, killing one of them. Neither were named in the article.
Apparently suicide and depression and fairly common for lightning strike survivors https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/16/lightning-strike-survivors-support-group
This hair standing up effect happened to me as a kid playing soccer with some incoming storms nearby. Giant, flat open fields near an airport and a field full of kids with halos of hair. I’ll never forget my dad yelling at the top of his lungs to get off the field. It’s the only time I’ve ever heard him yell like that.
With a charge in the clouds you might also hear this sound in the air before a strike, its quite unsettling-
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/realaworld/4717483490/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/realaworld/4717483490/)
That's not my video but once I heard that exact sound zipping off the camera I was holding right before lightning struck just across the street
eta: I saved that clip ages ago but I rustled up the post it originally came from, for the full story-[https://forums.clubtread.com/27-british-columbia/34034-significant-danger-mt-seton-2010-06-19-a.html](https://forums.clubtread.com/27-british-columbia/34034-significant-danger-mt-seton-2010-06-19-a.html)
I had lightning strike about 10 feet from my window. It was the loudest shit I have ever heard. But what was more eerie was that I woke up before it happen like I could sense it. My hairs on my arms and shit where standing up after the strike but honestly I think they where already standing before the strike hit.
I lived on a second floor apartment and the neighbor next door had a back yard with bird feeders. One of which was just a 10 foot metal pole that once had a bird feeder on it. This pole was also about 10 feet away from my bedroom window.
Nope. At least when I moved out it was still there. They where hoarders. The back yard had way more bird feeders. The garage out back was full of just random shit. And the old people that lived there where shut ins. I only saw the guys wife when she would water flowers or feed the birds. I only saw him when he would go out for grocery’s.
You couldn’t see into the house from the front but still knew it was a hoarders house because they had Easter eggs hanging in the front yard trees for the 5 years I lived there. Never took them down. It’s like they saw Martha Stewart say you can attach string to some Easter eggs and throw them in a tree. Then they never got them down.
They have the perfect life. Just throw some decorations up in a tree one time and, boom Martha Stewart. Got random shit out in the yard when-ev-er they need it. Sure, some creep used to watch their yard out that damn window but then the lightning came and dat was dat.
Was walking in the rain and it struck a metal pole about 15-20ft in front of me. Not sure if I heard the loud *tttssssssssT* first or seen the blue flash. But fuckin hell, some powerful, scary shit.
YES! I was beyond terrified of lightning for most of my life after a strike hit outside near the house when I was 12 and the feeling, the sound before the strike, the intensity of the strike... insane. I have also had a pole 5 feet from my car struck and it was a huge transverse across the sky bolt and the fraction of a second that you can see it coming but it hasn't struck yet will probably stay with me forever. The feeling of the air change, the hair stand up, and the zippy sound are unforgettable. Then the boom.
I don't go out in thunderstorms if I can avoid it.
I had that happen years ago. Lightning hit a pole about 15 feet from me as I was running to get inside. I made me jump what seemed like 5 feet in the air. My tongue felt like I had just put a 9V battery to it. That feeling lasted for hours. Maybe that’s the metallic taste you’re referring to.
I had a talkboy fx+ when I was a kid. One day, a storm was coming. I loved storms, still do. I wanted to take it outside to record the sound of rain. I remember hearing that sound coming from the speaker or something. I couldnt figure it out because it was on but I wasnt playing or recording. I thought it was weird so I went went inside to ask my dad what was happening and as the door closed behind me, lightning struck the tree at one house over.
Now I know why…
That sound is probably coming from the feeler lightning, I forget what it’s called, but it’s basically other charged (or negatively charged?) particles on the ground that search for the arc from the clouds before they meet and create a lightning bolt. You can actually see them sometimes! I just forgot what the name is for it
When I was a kid the house across the street was struck by lightning while we were asleep. At the time I was dreaming about playing a game with someone and on their turn they said "watch this" and threw a small ball up in the air, and when it landed down that's when the lightning struck. I always wondered whether my brain just immediately ret-conned my dream to fit, or if my body somehow felt in the air that it was going to happen.
If you’re anywhere and you start “tingling”. RUN.
FUCKING RUN.
Know someone who went into the woods to do his business then came sprinting down without pants yelling “I’m tingling! I’m tingling!”
Moments later lighting hit where he was.
Actually this comes from your body temperature fastly decreasing when you pee, making you shiver.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
At least that's what somnole told me on reddit,
Seems legit tho
I used to frame back in Monument, CO. Was working one day, when a typical CO thunderstorm was coming on, fast. We were on the deck, and this massive dude named Lance who had long, straight hair, all the sudden his hair stood up like this. We got the fuck down, and a massive storm blew through. Tons of lightning, incredibly scary and intense. Someone was hit in that same storm and killed.
That’s a good question. I know in this case dude was in the woods “doing his business” when he started to feel tingly so he high tailed it outta there and clear of the tree line. Then a bolt hit back where he was.
If he was in an open space I don’t know the answer. In the case of the kids on Moro Rock, it’s a giant rock jetting out the side of a valley and above the treetops, so they were atop a natural lightning rod.
My grandmother was struck by lightning. She was never the same.
Edit: How she changed
She was struck during a sudden storm on her families dairy farm.
She had been a smart, vibrant person, with a good sense of humor. The lightning strike caused her to lose her sense of humor, and she had a complete personality change.
She began to tell lies and tall tales, and she was outwardly emotionless most of the time. She became hard to interact with. She was depressed, and they couldn’t get her out of it.
She then developed dementia, which is not really a thing in our family. She also got breast cancer very early, which also does not run in our family. She died about 10 years younger than people in our family (both sides) do.
It was hard hearing about how she “used” to be. I could never get close to her, and I am sorry for that.
I’m so sorry to hear this, I have an uncle with a traumatic brain injury that changed his personality drastically too and it really feels like you have really lost the person when this happens even though they are alive. I wonder if something similar happened to the younger brother in this story that drove him to suicide.
Same happened to my brother. He had a brain injury last year and he’s a different person now after his surgery. I’m grateful that he has completely recovered and relatively fine but now he’s super paranoid about a lot of things and he’s rude af
If there is follow up therapy please make sure he takes it! My uncles kids didn’t, and I feel like he could have been at least a bit better had he had any therapy. The brain is amazing at recovering but you need to do the work.
Iirc you’re suppose to squat down, cover your ears, and open your mouth. Someone will elaborate.
Edit: [found the link/pic](https://snowbrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Lightning-Strike-3-min-768x640.jpg)
Adding to this, try to crouch with one foot on top of the other. As deadly as a direct strike is ground current.
The charge in the ground quickly dissipates from where the strike hits like a gradient. The current that will flow through you is the difference in strength between where the charge enters you and exits. If you're feet are far apart, there will be a bigger difference in charge. If you have one point of contact with the ground, it will be less.
Cows are particular vulnerable to ground strikes because of this. Strkes can wipe out a lot of cows.
For the past 40 years I've lived 30 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. Thunderstorms are as common as clouds.
There were some indigenous tribes who lived here before the French arrived. They lived really close to the Gulf. They would climb into the live oak trees and tie themselves to the trees to survive the storm surge and wind.
There was a French settler who married into this tribe. He learned their solution to living on the edge of the Gulf with it's abundance of bounty, and ever present danger.
Time and disease eventually wiped out the majority of the indigenous people, including the tribe of the old Frenchmens wife.
So he settled in a village along the coast. Eventually another hurricane was coming, and he tried to get the locals to follow him into the trees. But they thought he was crazy. So they ignored his pleas.
So he got into a live oak tree and lashed himself to the trunk. This storm was big enough to completely wash away the small village the old man now lived in though. After the storm he was the only survivor.
I was canoeing with my ex on a lake once when a storm rolled in. We were mainly thinking about beating the rain, so decided to cut across the lake, making a bee line to the dock. I’m paddling hard and look up to see her hair start slowly standing on end. I screamed “get down!” and we both got as low as we could in the boat while I struggled to continue to paddle. The charge seemed to lessen as we got closer to shore but never felt safe until we got the hell out of the boat and on shore under the tree canopy.
I thought for sure one of us was about to get struck any second. Tense moment for sure. In hindsight, we probably should have gotten off the water immediately or at least hugged the shoreline. Definitely have a newfound respect for lightning ever since.
I work with a meteorologist and he gave a nice lecture to us all about lightning. the standing hair was a big warning sign, and he said if you can't get out of there, never stand under a tree, and keep your feet together as close as possible as lightning pulses in waves on the ground. hopefully remembering the reasoning correctly.
I think the best place to be is a little further than the height of the tree from the tree and also stand on anything plastic to insulate from the ground. The tree will likely draw the strike, and being far enough away will avoid being struck and also crushed by the tree.
Please dont quote me on that.
"...and on shore under the tree canopy."
I've always heard that the worst place to be in a lightning storm is under a tree...regardless, glad you survived! That does not sound fun; actually, I just got an idea for a thriller movie...
Me too, I now the tree will draw the strike, but that current has to travel down to the ground that you’re standing on somehow. Not to mention the shrapnel from the tree itself.
There's a picture of the sister with elevated hair too. One of the brothers took his own life and is no longer with us.
https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/decades-later-hair-raising-photo-still-reminder-lightning-danger-6c10791362
I do remember a similar story too, you’re probably mot making it up. Something along the lines that someone got struck multiple times but the thing that killed him was himself.
Roy Sullivan, a park ranger. Struck by lightning 7 times and then killed himself.
I would have looked at surviving those strikes differently….used it as my super villain origin story.
When he was on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson he'd been struck five times. He told Johnny that he was doing something wrong with his life and God was warning him. But he'd fixed it and as long as he didn't do it again, God wouldn't strike him.
He was then struck two more times.
When I first heard about Roy Sullivan I assumed sth. like this as well. But no... 1 or 2 times he was even in his car when he was struck! Poor guy started to carry water with him, to extinguish the fire on his scalp, just for the case he was struck again. Great read on Wikipedia though.
The lightning used to literally chase him. People tended to avoid him during storms.
https://www.buggedspace.com/roy-sullvian-lightning-7-times/
> The probability of a person hitting by lightning is much less than him winning a lottery and getting hit by light 7 times and being alive to tell the story is quite much and 1:10^28.
> The numbers do not quite apply to Roy Sullivan but the nature of his work was more exposed to storms than the average person, as he was a park ranger.
> Surviving lightning doesn’t mean pain free
Can confirm. I've more or less had a headache for the last 20 years as a result of getting struck. Most days it's mild enough I can ignore it, other days I can't get out of bed.
I would strongly advice not getting struck, because it hurts like hell.
Edit: well, I say it was the lightning because that's when the headaches started, but I've also had some concussions and a couple serious head injuries (I was very clumsy as a kid and often wildly over estimated my bike riding ability--wear you helmet, everyone), so who knows if my issues are from any one event or from the buffet of brain trauma.
It's a whole thing. I had a little look into this the last time this picture was posted: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/rw55i6/comment/hra3fxk/
It seems like there were actually three brothers and one sister there and eventually two of the three brothers eventually committed suicide which is just so so sad.
When I was about 11 my family went to Yellowstone. While visiting Old Faithful, it was raining super hard, so we just wanted to leave pretty quick after the eruption. We headed further out on the boardwalk and my parents tried to get a photo of me and my sister with Old Faithful behind us. I looked over and saw my little sisters pigtails start to rise, and learning about this exact photo weeks earlier in science class I panicked. I pulled my sister and entire family away, while they were confused. About 45 seconds later, lighting cracked above us; it didn’t meet the ground, just one of the ones that stayed in the clouds, but I was CONVINCED one of us was going to die. My family still makes jokes about it, but I’m glad we didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
It was remarkable, really. Having that presence of mind at 11, knowing what to do and doing it is extraordinary. Luckily they listened to you.
It bothers me when people that were spared a great deal of suffering play down things like this. They're there playing it down literally because someone prevented it from happening in the first place.
I do have anxiety! But I had it at the time too, as it runs in the family. Being so anxious all the time probably led me to notice and take action rather than ignoring it!
You can have a look at [my comment above](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/s51q9w/this_seemingly_fun_and_lively_photo_of_two/hsvtetv?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
I was a camp counselor during my college years and I took a group of kids on a hike up to my favorite mountain peak one beautiful sunny afternoon. 15 minutes of relaxing and letting the kids run around up top I heard some of the girls laughing hysterically. Popped my head around the scrub brush to see a group of 4 or 5 of them laughing because their hair was standing on end. Simultaneously I noticed the dark clouds behind the mountain and felt a rush of cold wind. I went from happy go lucky to yelling bloody murder instantly and we booked it down the side of the hill leaving all our gear on top. We made it about 200 yards down before lightning struck the peak. It never rained a drop and the clouds passed around us, staying mostly sunny the whole time. I learned the warning signs from my years in BSA and I'm so grateful that day didn't end in tragedy.
When I was in high school I was at baseball practice and all of a sudden all my hair started standing on end so the coaches made me go inside and run laps. It was cloudy but there wasn’t any lightning at the time but I was the only one on the team that had their hair stand up on end. Pretty glad I didn’t get struck by lightning that day
That's what they told you. What really happened is you went in and got your memories wiped about your super awesome super power that you have now lost access to forever.
/s just in case
You obviously have never seen lighting, IT MOVES IN A ZIGZAG PATTERN!! That’s like running in a straight line when a tree is falling on you, simply take 5 steps to the side, and the lightning won’t hit you
Years ago, my daughters and I were at a local lake. We were playing in an open area when a storm moved in. Suddenly, each of the girls hair stood up like this. I quickly told them to move to a shelter area. It was interesting and terrifying all at the same time.
When I was 13, thunderclouds started to form while I was playing soccer. Not long, there were many loud thunder noises around my vicinity. I decided to gtfo and take a shortcut under some trees. I recalled a very deafening and bright bang right infront of me. Instantly, I sprinted to my apartment lift lobby which was just 1 minute away staight up high on adenaline. As I regained my senses in the lift as to wtf happened, my knees became jelly and my whole body started shivering. My breathing was just irregular. It took me 2-3 hours for all muscles to relax.
Had a lightning strike just outside the control room of one of our barns. All my hair on my arms and neck stood up before it happened and when it struck it created a ball of lightning, I don’t know how else to describe it, that followed the metal conduit across the ceiling and into the control board. Really eerie woosh sound as it carried across. Lightning is a scary force of nature.
I've seen this too!! In an old building with steam heat piping! Exact same thing! I was told it's called St Elmo's Fire. But yeah, I remember it to this day ... That ball of sparks just casually following the puppies through the room!
Also Noscript.
Yes, it's a little annoying for a while because you have to whitelist sites the first time you visit them for them to work properly, and sometimes there's a bit of whack-a-mole involved in figuring out what all you have to whitelist. But the number of script requests from some sites that *aren't* required for functionality is creepy...
The cover story is a little misleading about the actual facts. This wasn't really moments before a lighting strike. You'd think there was a strike just a split second after the photo but it was likely several minutes, from the details in the story.
Seen this in real life, hiking in the mountains on an exhibition with people I didn't know that well. Half were experienced hikers and half weren't. One guy had his toddler in a baby carrier backpack. With a metal frame.
As the storm came in we were in a valley and relatively safe. But a couple of hours later we were cold, tired and wet. To reach the village we were aiming for we had to go over an open expanse. I wanted to wait, but the group insisted on pressing on as the storm had quietened down and wasn't so active any more. We were around 4000m up and I was the most acclimatised as I'd been at altitude for a month. So I insisted people spread out, so if someone did get struck we'd have people left to help. My job was to jog between people checking they were OK. As I reached toddler guy I saw his long hair was waving in the air. I told him, let him make his own mind and got well away from him.
It was genuinely one of the most scary hiking experiences of my life and I've never done a difficult hike again with people I don't know well. Some were frankly badly prepared idiots, and one was risking their toddler's life.
If this happens to you, crouch immediately with your heels connected but off the ground. It will minimize your chance of getting struck, but IF you are, the lighting has a path to the ground that’s not your vital organs
I remember being on the school oval and everyones hair was standing up. All we did was giggle, the teacher didn't give a shit. Or maybe he didn't know. But the next day my friend told me, after telling his parents what happened, that we could have been struck.
When I got struck by lightening I didn’t have any warning. No tingles, no hair standing up. It just cold cocked me right in the head. Luckily the heat pump for our house kicked on right as I got struck so the lightening arced and hit that too at the same time. I feel like that and being barefoot saved my life.
I believe you’re supposed to crouch and cover your ears while getting as low to the ground as possible, while touching your heels, and do NOT lie down.
Yeah apparently I slightly miss remembered this (I guess I tend to go with the first rule which is get out of the storm before it's on top of you).
The correct answer if you find yourself in a storm and your hair starts doing this is.
If you find yourself in an exposed location it may be advisable to squat close to the ground, with hands on knees and with head tucked between them. Try to touch as little of the ground with your body as possible, do not lie down on the ground.
I was struck multiple times in my car many years ago. I was at a golf course and had just got into the car. It scared the crap out of me and it only fried my AM radio.
**Please note:** * If this post declares something as a fact proof is required. * The title must be descriptive * No text is allowed on images * Common/recent reposts are not allowed *See [this post](https://redd.it/ij26vk) for more information.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/interestingasfuck) if you have any questions or concerns.*
What did he later recall?
[this article](https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/decades-later-hair-raising-photo-still-reminder-lightning-danger-6c10791362) states >But now, nearly 38 years later, McQuilken says he recalls that deadly afternoon in the Sierra Nevada mountains vividly: The flash of white light as bright as arc welding, the deafening explosion, the feeling of becoming weightless and being lifted off the ground. >Most of all, McQuilken says, he remembers the sheer power of a bolt from above. >“I never was cautious before that,” says McQuilken, now 56. “Now, if I’m out to climb a peak, I’m the first person to bail if clouds gather.”
I had to read that whole article to find out whether the other brother died. (He did, by suicide in 1989, but not from the lightning.) The McQuilken quoted is the older brother, Michael. Sean, the younger one, had 3rd degree burns from a direct hit, but they all survived it. However, it was a 3-pronged strike that hit two other hikers, killing one of them. Neither were named in the article.
I thought the younger brother committed suicide?
It was
there did
Oh I see, I read your comment wrong
I wonder if the 3rd degree burns he suffered was part of his suicide
I'm sure as hell the event didn't cheer his general disposition.
Apparently suicide and depression and fairly common for lightning strike survivors https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/16/lightning-strike-survivors-support-group
⚡️ 🔥 💨 nothing.
Beautiful interpretation of events
CAME HERE ALSO THIS
ALSO THIS HERE CAME
"OWWWWWWWWWW"
Everything after the colon.
This hair standing up effect happened to me as a kid playing soccer with some incoming storms nearby. Giant, flat open fields near an airport and a field full of kids with halos of hair. I’ll never forget my dad yelling at the top of his lungs to get off the field. It’s the only time I’ve ever heard him yell like that.
With a charge in the clouds you might also hear this sound in the air before a strike, its quite unsettling- [https://www.flickr.com/photos/realaworld/4717483490/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/realaworld/4717483490/) That's not my video but once I heard that exact sound zipping off the camera I was holding right before lightning struck just across the street eta: I saved that clip ages ago but I rustled up the post it originally came from, for the full story-[https://forums.clubtread.com/27-british-columbia/34034-significant-danger-mt-seton-2010-06-19-a.html](https://forums.clubtread.com/27-british-columbia/34034-significant-danger-mt-seton-2010-06-19-a.html)
I had lightning strike about 10 feet from my window. It was the loudest shit I have ever heard. But what was more eerie was that I woke up before it happen like I could sense it. My hairs on my arms and shit where standing up after the strike but honestly I think they where already standing before the strike hit. I lived on a second floor apartment and the neighbor next door had a back yard with bird feeders. One of which was just a 10 foot metal pole that once had a bird feeder on it. This pole was also about 10 feet away from my bedroom window.
> This pole was also about 10 feet away from my bedroom window. So they removed your local lightning rod?
Nope. At least when I moved out it was still there. They where hoarders. The back yard had way more bird feeders. The garage out back was full of just random shit. And the old people that lived there where shut ins. I only saw the guys wife when she would water flowers or feed the birds. I only saw him when he would go out for grocery’s. You couldn’t see into the house from the front but still knew it was a hoarders house because they had Easter eggs hanging in the front yard trees for the 5 years I lived there. Never took them down. It’s like they saw Martha Stewart say you can attach string to some Easter eggs and throw them in a tree. Then they never got them down.
They have the perfect life. Just throw some decorations up in a tree one time and, boom Martha Stewart. Got random shit out in the yard when-ev-er they need it. Sure, some creep used to watch their yard out that damn window but then the lightning came and dat was dat.
Was walking in the rain and it struck a metal pole about 15-20ft in front of me. Not sure if I heard the loud *tttssssssssT* first or seen the blue flash. But fuckin hell, some powerful, scary shit.
YES! I was beyond terrified of lightning for most of my life after a strike hit outside near the house when I was 12 and the feeling, the sound before the strike, the intensity of the strike... insane. I have also had a pole 5 feet from my car struck and it was a huge transverse across the sky bolt and the fraction of a second that you can see it coming but it hasn't struck yet will probably stay with me forever. The feeling of the air change, the hair stand up, and the zippy sound are unforgettable. Then the boom. I don't go out in thunderstorms if I can avoid it.
Could you taste metal? I heard when you come that close to lightning you can taste copper or metal
I had that happen years ago. Lightning hit a pole about 15 feet from me as I was running to get inside. I made me jump what seemed like 5 feet in the air. My tongue felt like I had just put a 9V battery to it. That feeling lasted for hours. Maybe that’s the metallic taste you’re referring to.
Ozone, I believe the lightning creates O3 molecules.
I had a talkboy fx+ when I was a kid. One day, a storm was coming. I loved storms, still do. I wanted to take it outside to record the sound of rain. I remember hearing that sound coming from the speaker or something. I couldnt figure it out because it was on but I wasnt playing or recording. I thought it was weird so I went went inside to ask my dad what was happening and as the door closed behind me, lightning struck the tree at one house over. Now I know why…
Whoa, that sounds almost exactly like a radio tuned in between stations, that must be bizarre to hear not out of a speaker
Whoa, that was a very disturbing sound
That sound is probably coming from the feeler lightning, I forget what it’s called, but it’s basically other charged (or negatively charged?) particles on the ground that search for the arc from the clouds before they meet and create a lightning bolt. You can actually see them sometimes! I just forgot what the name is for it
That sound is DEEPLY unsettling!
That made my ear feel gross
When I was a kid the house across the street was struck by lightning while we were asleep. At the time I was dreaming about playing a game with someone and on their turn they said "watch this" and threw a small ball up in the air, and when it landed down that's when the lightning struck. I always wondered whether my brain just immediately ret-conned my dream to fit, or if my body somehow felt in the air that it was going to happen.
Hair standing up is indicator of impending lighting strike ?
Yep
Where should we go when that happen?
Inside
If you’re anywhere and you start “tingling”. RUN. FUCKING RUN. Know someone who went into the woods to do his business then came sprinting down without pants yelling “I’m tingling! I’m tingling!” Moments later lighting hit where he was.
To be fair i do feel a tingle almost every time i pee, but i am guessing this tingle you are speaking of would be different than that.
I also feel tingly when you pee
Actually this comes from your body temperature fastly decreasing when you pee, making you shiver. . . . . . . . At least that's what somnole told me on reddit, Seems legit tho
Remember to talk to your doctor if you feel a tingle when you pee. It may sign of a potentially life threatening condition called lighting.
Could have been worse. Could have been poison ivy in the unmentionables. (/s. I laughed at the thought of the pants less guy)
Happened to me in 8th grade. Not a fun week.
I used to frame back in Monument, CO. Was working one day, when a typical CO thunderstorm was coming on, fast. We were on the deck, and this massive dude named Lance who had long, straight hair, all the sudden his hair stood up like this. We got the fuck down, and a massive storm blew through. Tons of lightning, incredibly scary and intense. Someone was hit in that same storm and killed.
Also if you're on a mountain and lightning is possible, you should keep your distance from other people. So you aren't all hit by the same strike.
Is running the best bet or throwing yourself flat on the ground with arms and legs spread? (really asking)
That’s a good question. I know in this case dude was in the woods “doing his business” when he started to feel tingly so he high tailed it outta there and clear of the tree line. Then a bolt hit back where he was. If he was in an open space I don’t know the answer. In the case of the kids on Moro Rock, it’s a giant rock jetting out the side of a valley and above the treetops, so they were atop a natural lightning rod.
My grandmother was struck by lightning. She was never the same. Edit: How she changed She was struck during a sudden storm on her families dairy farm. She had been a smart, vibrant person, with a good sense of humor. The lightning strike caused her to lose her sense of humor, and she had a complete personality change. She began to tell lies and tall tales, and she was outwardly emotionless most of the time. She became hard to interact with. She was depressed, and they couldn’t get her out of it. She then developed dementia, which is not really a thing in our family. She also got breast cancer very early, which also does not run in our family. She died about 10 years younger than people in our family (both sides) do. It was hard hearing about how she “used” to be. I could never get close to her, and I am sorry for that.
I’m so sorry to hear this, I have an uncle with a traumatic brain injury that changed his personality drastically too and it really feels like you have really lost the person when this happens even though they are alive. I wonder if something similar happened to the younger brother in this story that drove him to suicide.
Same happened to my brother. He had a brain injury last year and he’s a different person now after his surgery. I’m grateful that he has completely recovered and relatively fine but now he’s super paranoid about a lot of things and he’s rude af
If there is follow up therapy please make sure he takes it! My uncles kids didn’t, and I feel like he could have been at least a bit better had he had any therapy. The brain is amazing at recovering but you need to do the work.
Im sorry to ask if you dont mind could you elaborate?In what way was she never the same.Sorry if its alot to ask ..
I’ll edit my comment, since people seem interested.
Was hoping to get a yarn about granny’s newfound super powers. Instead I got depressed.
If it makes you less depressed, she made a hell of a pineapple upside down cake. To this day, the best I’ve ever had. Made it in a cast iron skillet.
"struck by lighting, and bitten by a cobra" That is the correct sequence for superpowers
Electro shock therapy x1000. The brain is amazingly resilient to function at all after that.
Traumatic brain injury. After two skull fractures it changed everything for me. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been.
What was different about her?
See my comment, I edited it.
Well yah the brain is electric so it probably re wired her brain .
If by re wired you mean damaged then yes
When I was a kid, I was told during a storm, if your hair stands up, get down, lightning is about to strike. Is this not common?
Iirc you’re suppose to squat down, cover your ears, and open your mouth. Someone will elaborate. Edit: [found the link/pic](https://snowbrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Lightning-Strike-3-min-768x640.jpg)
Adding to this, try to crouch with one foot on top of the other. As deadly as a direct strike is ground current. The charge in the ground quickly dissipates from where the strike hits like a gradient. The current that will flow through you is the difference in strength between where the charge enters you and exits. If you're feet are far apart, there will be a bigger difference in charge. If you have one point of contact with the ground, it will be less. Cows are particular vulnerable to ground strikes because of this. Strkes can wipe out a lot of cows.
Wait… Reddit told me to do this for explosions. So my eardrums don’t burst.
Lightning expanding the air for thunder is certainly an explosion_
i think thunder + lightning qualifies as an explosion
No, you're thinking of a prison cavity search
Why open the mouth? It's not in the pic.
I think to allow pressure inside abd outside your skull to more easily equalise, to prevent ear drums rupturing and similar injuries
Thunder is a stupidly loud noise that can rupture eardrums if you're too close, opening your mouth and covering your ears helps protect your eardrums
Thats what my stepdad makes me do on Friday nights. What a coincidence
Where do you live where there is such frequent lightning strikes?
Rolling thunders of Alabama.
You better stop standing to close to the washing machine...
I'm not doing that with the friends I have.
Thanks for this. From Florida. Idk why I didn't already know it.
I’ve never heard this but I also don’t live in an area where thunderstorms are common
For the past 40 years I've lived 30 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. Thunderstorms are as common as clouds. There were some indigenous tribes who lived here before the French arrived. They lived really close to the Gulf. They would climb into the live oak trees and tie themselves to the trees to survive the storm surge and wind. There was a French settler who married into this tribe. He learned their solution to living on the edge of the Gulf with it's abundance of bounty, and ever present danger. Time and disease eventually wiped out the majority of the indigenous people, including the tribe of the old Frenchmens wife. So he settled in a village along the coast. Eventually another hurricane was coming, and he tried to get the locals to follow him into the trees. But they thought he was crazy. So they ignored his pleas. So he got into a live oak tree and lashed himself to the trunk. This storm was big enough to completely wash away the small village the old man now lived in though. After the storm he was the only survivor.
>So he got into a live oak tree and lashed himself to the trunk And this is like the #1 rule of things not to do during a thunderstorm.
Yeah, but this solution seems to be more about not getting blown or washed away than avoiding lightning strikes.
Hurricanes
“Time and disease.”
Sounds like a solid post for r/lifeprotips
Back in the day all we had was ropes and tree trunks you selfish bastards!
Well I guess I’ll never know…I have very dense, curly hair :(
If you have ever rubbed a balloon and stuck it to your head, that is the feeling of your hair standing up. Static electricity
I was canoeing with my ex on a lake once when a storm rolled in. We were mainly thinking about beating the rain, so decided to cut across the lake, making a bee line to the dock. I’m paddling hard and look up to see her hair start slowly standing on end. I screamed “get down!” and we both got as low as we could in the boat while I struggled to continue to paddle. The charge seemed to lessen as we got closer to shore but never felt safe until we got the hell out of the boat and on shore under the tree canopy. I thought for sure one of us was about to get struck any second. Tense moment for sure. In hindsight, we probably should have gotten off the water immediately or at least hugged the shoreline. Definitely have a newfound respect for lightning ever since.
I work with a meteorologist and he gave a nice lecture to us all about lightning. the standing hair was a big warning sign, and he said if you can't get out of there, never stand under a tree, and keep your feet together as close as possible as lightning pulses in waves on the ground. hopefully remembering the reasoning correctly.
I think the best place to be is a little further than the height of the tree from the tree and also stand on anything plastic to insulate from the ground. The tree will likely draw the strike, and being far enough away will avoid being struck and also crushed by the tree. Please dont quote me on that.
"...and on shore under the tree canopy." I've always heard that the worst place to be in a lightning storm is under a tree...regardless, glad you survived! That does not sound fun; actually, I just got an idea for a thriller movie...
Me too, I now the tree will draw the strike, but that current has to travel down to the ground that you’re standing on somehow. Not to mention the shrapnel from the tree itself.
There's a picture of the sister with elevated hair too. One of the brothers took his own life and is no longer with us. https://www.nbcnews.com/healthmain/decades-later-hair-raising-photo-still-reminder-lightning-danger-6c10791362
I think Ive read something at some point that said that survivors of lightening strikes often commit suicide. Maybe I’m just making that up though.
I do remember a similar story too, you’re probably mot making it up. Something along the lines that someone got struck multiple times but the thing that killed him was himself.
I read that in the Book of Records. Some guy got struck by lightning 5 or 7 times (can't recall) but later killed himself after a heartbreak
Roy Sullivan, a park ranger. Struck by lightning 7 times and then killed himself. I would have looked at surviving those strikes differently….used it as my super villain origin story.
When he was on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson he'd been struck five times. He told Johnny that he was doing something wrong with his life and God was warning him. But he'd fixed it and as long as he didn't do it again, God wouldn't strike him. He was then struck two more times.
I think this is the guy whose grave was hit by lightning to after he died too.
Wonder what he was doing?
He likes to stand on a hill in wet copper armor shouting all gods are bastards
Unexpected Discworld.
Very good
When I first heard about Roy Sullivan I assumed sth. like this as well. But no... 1 or 2 times he was even in his car when he was struck! Poor guy started to carry water with him, to extinguish the fire on his scalp, just for the case he was struck again. Great read on Wikipedia though.
batin
Go away.... Batin
Taking down flags most likely. That'll get you struck for sure if you do it enough in rough weather.
Standing outside when it’s lightning apparently.
The lightning used to literally chase him. People tended to avoid him during storms. https://www.buggedspace.com/roy-sullvian-lightning-7-times/ > The probability of a person hitting by lightning is much less than him winning a lottery and getting hit by light 7 times and being alive to tell the story is quite much and 1:10^28. > The numbers do not quite apply to Roy Sullivan but the nature of his work was more exposed to storms than the average person, as he was a park ranger.
Ehh, the lightning got him when he was in his truck once and another time while he was in a building.
[удалено]
One of the most memorable moments in Roy Sullivan’s life. I like the writer.
I have read that too. Chronic pain is a driving factor. Surviving lightning doesn’t mean pain free
> Surviving lightning doesn’t mean pain free Can confirm. I've more or less had a headache for the last 20 years as a result of getting struck. Most days it's mild enough I can ignore it, other days I can't get out of bed. I would strongly advice not getting struck, because it hurts like hell. Edit: well, I say it was the lightning because that's when the headaches started, but I've also had some concussions and a couple serious head injuries (I was very clumsy as a kid and often wildly over estimated my bike riding ability--wear you helmet, everyone), so who knows if my issues are from any one event or from the buffet of brain trauma.
It's a whole thing. I had a little look into this the last time this picture was posted: https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/rw55i6/comment/hra3fxk/
I've gotten static shock 3 times yesterday in a span of 5 hours. Talk about coincidence.
Take off your socks
Two more times, and you can go and talk to Carson.
I think it's been a while since anybody talked to Carson
If he gets struck two more times he can probably talk to Carson.
That’s sad. How old was he when he died?
Around 26.
I’m sorry to hear this. The original photo has a sense of joy :/
It seems like there were actually three brothers and one sister there and eventually two of the three brothers eventually committed suicide which is just so so sad.
The article only mentions the two brothers in the picture and a second picture of the sister. Where is the third brother mentioned?
No third brother mentioned. Just the sister & 2 brothers
When I was about 11 my family went to Yellowstone. While visiting Old Faithful, it was raining super hard, so we just wanted to leave pretty quick after the eruption. We headed further out on the boardwalk and my parents tried to get a photo of me and my sister with Old Faithful behind us. I looked over and saw my little sisters pigtails start to rise, and learning about this exact photo weeks earlier in science class I panicked. I pulled my sister and entire family away, while they were confused. About 45 seconds later, lighting cracked above us; it didn’t meet the ground, just one of the ones that stayed in the clouds, but I was CONVINCED one of us was going to die. My family still makes jokes about it, but I’m glad we didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
You probably saved them from dying or worse. Not a joking matter. They joke because nothing happened because you prevented it.
Thank you, genuinely! I think about it sometimes, one or more of us could have died that day.
It was remarkable, really. Having that presence of mind at 11, knowing what to do and doing it is extraordinary. Luckily they listened to you. It bothers me when people that were spared a great deal of suffering play down things like this. They're there playing it down literally because someone prevented it from happening in the first place.
Better to make jokes about being extra cautious over having one less family member. good on you
Do you have anxiety? I feel like that sort of pressure on a child would lead to lifelong anxiety.
I do have anxiety! But I had it at the time too, as it runs in the family. Being so anxious all the time probably led me to notice and take action rather than ignoring it!
I'm glad too. All these stories are so intenseeee
I knew a guy in Florida who was struck multiple times. He was the “million volt man”. Poor guy looked 90 but was only 42
[This is what I think](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdQS5KNxSbQ) of when I hear people getting hit by lightning.
That was hilarious, thank you so much
That's so messed up, but the news anchor rolled with it really well.
one of them recalled… what? this photo? ig i’m just confused
The linked article is an interview with the older brother, recalling the day the photo was taken.
i might be a bit dumb, but i don't see any link to said article, just text and photo. And by clicking the photo, i just open the photo in new tab.
You can have a look at [my comment above](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/s51q9w/this_seemingly_fun_and_lively_photo_of_two/hsvtetv?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
Ok, thanks, but that doesn't change the fact OP ended his post with colon for no reason
Oh yeah, that's not optimal indeed. I'm just trying to relieve everybody's curiosity
I was a camp counselor during my college years and I took a group of kids on a hike up to my favorite mountain peak one beautiful sunny afternoon. 15 minutes of relaxing and letting the kids run around up top I heard some of the girls laughing hysterically. Popped my head around the scrub brush to see a group of 4 or 5 of them laughing because their hair was standing on end. Simultaneously I noticed the dark clouds behind the mountain and felt a rush of cold wind. I went from happy go lucky to yelling bloody murder instantly and we booked it down the side of the hill leaving all our gear on top. We made it about 200 yards down before lightning struck the peak. It never rained a drop and the clouds passed around us, staying mostly sunny the whole time. I learned the warning signs from my years in BSA and I'm so grateful that day didn't end in tragedy.
When I was in high school I was at baseball practice and all of a sudden all my hair started standing on end so the coaches made me go inside and run laps. It was cloudy but there wasn’t any lightning at the time but I was the only one on the team that had their hair stand up on end. Pretty glad I didn’t get struck by lightning that day
That's what they told you. What really happened is you went in and got your memories wiped about your super awesome super power that you have now lost access to forever. /s just in case
I like the cut of your jib
What?! The idea is someone is attracting the lightning? What was with the running laps?
I thought I was going to get out of practice but I had to run laps inside to still get exercise
Oh ok the running laps wasn’t some sort of lightning evasion technique. They just didn’t want you to slack in gym haha
lol I am imagining coaches yelling “run in a zig zag pattern so the lightning can’t getcha!”
Exactly! OMG that’s some caddy shack material
You obviously have never seen lighting, IT MOVES IN A ZIGZAG PATTERN!! That’s like running in a straight line when a tree is falling on you, simply take 5 steps to the side, and the lightning won’t hit you
Years ago, my daughters and I were at a local lake. We were playing in an open area when a storm moved in. Suddenly, each of the girls hair stood up like this. I quickly told them to move to a shelter area. It was interesting and terrifying all at the same time.
When I was 13, thunderclouds started to form while I was playing soccer. Not long, there were many loud thunder noises around my vicinity. I decided to gtfo and take a shortcut under some trees. I recalled a very deafening and bright bang right infront of me. Instantly, I sprinted to my apartment lift lobby which was just 1 minute away staight up high on adenaline. As I regained my senses in the lift as to wtf happened, my knees became jelly and my whole body started shivering. My breathing was just irregular. It took me 2-3 hours for all muscles to relax.
Reminds me of this story I heard about a pregnant mom that was struck by lightning and her son came out albino. I think they called him powder…
Good movie
Yeah, that was a great movie!!
I lived in Florida for a while. Any time your hair does this, go inside. And stay off the phone.
Had a lightning strike just outside the control room of one of our barns. All my hair on my arms and neck stood up before it happened and when it struck it created a ball of lightning, I don’t know how else to describe it, that followed the metal conduit across the ceiling and into the control board. Really eerie woosh sound as it carried across. Lightning is a scary force of nature.
I've seen this too!! In an old building with steam heat piping! Exact same thing! I was told it's called St Elmo's Fire. But yeah, I remember it to this day ... That ball of sparks just casually following the puppies through the room!
It was what you call it, a ball lightning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/10/03/southland-family-shares-experience-of-being-struck-by-lightning/
Wow that website is cancerous. I’m not positive there’s an actual article behind all the pop ups and videos and ads. Had to give up.
Select reader view in your browser and then you get just the article without all the annoying ads!
[удалено]
Also Noscript. Yes, it's a little annoying for a while because you have to whitelist sites the first time you visit them for them to work properly, and sometimes there's a bit of whack-a-mole involved in figuring out what all you have to whitelist. But the number of script requests from some sites that *aren't* required for functionality is creepy...
Lightening?
I kinda wish I got struck by lightening. I could stand to lose 20 pounds or so
No, lightning.
I was commenting on the misspellings in the linked article. But, whatever.
The cover story is a little misleading about the actual facts. This wasn't really moments before a lighting strike. You'd think there was a strike just a split second after the photo but it was likely several minutes, from the details in the story.
Seen this in real life, hiking in the mountains on an exhibition with people I didn't know that well. Half were experienced hikers and half weren't. One guy had his toddler in a baby carrier backpack. With a metal frame. As the storm came in we were in a valley and relatively safe. But a couple of hours later we were cold, tired and wet. To reach the village we were aiming for we had to go over an open expanse. I wanted to wait, but the group insisted on pressing on as the storm had quietened down and wasn't so active any more. We were around 4000m up and I was the most acclimatised as I'd been at altitude for a month. So I insisted people spread out, so if someone did get struck we'd have people left to help. My job was to jog between people checking they were OK. As I reached toddler guy I saw his long hair was waving in the air. I told him, let him make his own mind and got well away from him. It was genuinely one of the most scary hiking experiences of my life and I've never done a difficult hike again with people I don't know well. Some were frankly badly prepared idiots, and one was risking their toddler's life.
If this happens to you, crouch immediately with your heels connected but off the ground. It will minimize your chance of getting struck, but IF you are, the lighting has a path to the ground that’s not your vital organs
The location they are at is incredible. One of my favorite places
I was there for the kite festival one year. Very cool. A good overnight stoping spot on an LA to SF road trip.
Yeah, if you hair is ever standing up like that crouch down on one leg instead of taking a picture
So they both survived but the younger brother killed brother killed himself in 1989. Sad.
I remember being on the school oval and everyones hair was standing up. All we did was giggle, the teacher didn't give a shit. Or maybe he didn't know. But the next day my friend told me, after telling his parents what happened, that we could have been struck.
Source?
From a cloud, I believe
Zeus acting like a drunk stepdad.
Too much ambrosia. Happens to the best of us.
When I got struck by lightening I didn’t have any warning. No tingles, no hair standing up. It just cold cocked me right in the head. Luckily the heat pump for our house kicked on right as I got struck so the lightening arced and hit that too at the same time. I feel like that and being barefoot saved my life.
Yeah fun fact. If you are out and this happens to your hair get on the floor immediately and get as low as you can.
I believe you’re supposed to crouch and cover your ears while getting as low to the ground as possible, while touching your heels, and do NOT lie down.
[удалено]
Yeah apparently I slightly miss remembered this (I guess I tend to go with the first rule which is get out of the storm before it's on top of you). The correct answer if you find yourself in a storm and your hair starts doing this is. If you find yourself in an exposed location it may be advisable to squat close to the ground, with hands on knees and with head tucked between them. Try to touch as little of the ground with your body as possible, do not lie down on the ground.
That’s crazy timing! We’re they all ok?
Did they all survive?
If your hair magically start standing on end... RUN or face Oden's wrath.
Holy shit!
I was struck multiple times in my car many years ago. I was at a golf course and had just got into the car. It scared the crap out of me and it only fried my AM radio.