Strike 1
The first documented lightning strike of Sullivan occurred in April of 1942. He was hiding from a thunderstorm in a newly built fire lookout tower. Since the tower was newly built, a lightning rod was yet to be installed. During the storm, Roy said the tower was hit seven or eight times. Inside the tower, he says that “fire was jumping all over the place”. Sullivan ran out of the tower and just a few feet away received what he considered to be his worst lightning strike. It burned a half-inch strip all along his right leg, hit his toe, took off his toenail, and left a hole in his shoe.Strike 2
Sullivan managed to make it 27 years before he was hit again in July 1969. Unusually, he was hit while in his truck and driving on a mountain road (the metal body of a vehicle normally protects people in cases such as this by acting as a Faraday cage). Sullivan says that lightning struck two trees on one side of the road, then jumped to another tree on the other side. Unfortunately, his truck was in the middle, with both windows rolled down. The strike knocked Sullivan unconscious and burned off his eyebrows and eyelashes, and set his hair on fire. The uncontrolled truck kept moving and nearly ran off a cliff edge.Strike 3
In 1970, Sullivan was off-duty when he was in his front yard. He was tending to his garden when lightning hit a nearby power transformer then from there jumped to his left shoulder. Sullivan was knocked to the ground and received some minor burns.
Strike 4
In 1972, Sullivan was hit for the fourth time and sat on fire while working inside a ranger station in Shenandoah National Park. It set his hair on fire so he tried to smother the flames with his jacket. “There was a gentle rain, but no thunder, until just one big clap, the loudest thing I ever heard,” he said. “When my ears stopped ringing, I heard something sizzling. It was my hair on fire. The flames were up six inches.” He then rushed to the restroom, and used a wet towel to extinguish the flames. From that day forth, Sullivan always carried a pitcher of water with him in case his hair was set on fire.Strike 5
On August 7, 1973, while he was out on patrol in the park, Sullivan saw a storm cloud forming and drove away quickly trying to outrun the storm. But the cloud, he said later, seemed to be followinghim. When he finally thought he had outrun it, he decided it was safe to leave his truck. Big mistake. Soon after, he was struck by a lightning bolt. Sullivan stated that he actually saw the bolt that hit him. The lightning set his hair on fire, moved down his left arm and left leg and knocked off his shoe.
Strike 6
The next strike, on June 5, 1976, Sullivan injured his ankle. Sullivan was walking along a park trail when he saw a cloud, thought that it was following him, tried to run away, but was struck anyway. This was the final straw for ole Roy, so he retired five months later.Strike 7
On Saturday morning, June 25, 1977, Sullivan was doing some trout fishing when lightning found him for the final time. The lightning hit the top of his head, set his hair on fire, traveled down, and burnt his chest and stomach. This bolt of lightning also caused Roy to lose hearing in one ear. Also, to top off "Lucky" number seven, Sullivan ran into a black bear on the way back to his car.
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| Image: Josh Pincus |
I wish I had a happy ending to the Roy "Human Lightning Rod" Sullivan story, but I don't. On the morning of September 28, 1983, at the age of 71, Sullivan died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound over an unrequited love.
I hope you have enjoyed the blog post today and remember "when thunder roars, go indoors"
-Vortex Crew
Resources:
Lakeland Ledger - May 2, 1972
"The New York Times Archives: Roy Sullivan". September 30, 1983
