Roy C. Sullivan

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Roy Cleveland Sullivan (born February 7, 1912 in Green County , USA , † September 28, 1983 ) was a forest worker in Shenandoah National Park in Waynesboro ( Virginia ). Sullivan gained worldwide fame for the fact that he was struck by lightning seven times during his lifetime and survived each of these strikes.

He died under mysterious circumstances at the age of 71. Officially, he committed young woman with a gun in the bed next to his 30 years of suicide , what these will, however, have noticed until hours later.

The seven lightning strikes

Six of the seven lightning strikes occurred while he was working in Shenandoah National Park , the place where Sullivan worked for much of his life.

  • 1942: Sullivan is struck by lightning for the first time while inside a fire watch tower. Lightning strikes his leg and he loses the nail of a big toe.
  • 1969: While driving a truck on a mountain road, lightning seared his eyebrows and he passed out.
  • 1970: Lightning strikes his left shoulder while he is in his front yard.
  • 1972: Lightning sets his hair on fire. After that he always carries a pot of water with him.
  • 1973: On August 7th he was on patrol through the national park area in his car when a thunderstorm was brewing. When the thunderstorm seems to be over, he leaves the car and is struck by lightning. His hair catches on fire again. Sullivan later told a reporter that he felt like the cloud was following him.
  • 1976: On June 5, Sullivan was struck by lightning in the heel while patrolling a campsite .
  • 1977: On June 25, he was on a fishing trip when he was last struck by lightning. He is hospitalized with burn wounds on his stomach and chest.

Trivia

Sullivan, nicknamed “The Human Lightning Rod”, is also in the Guinness Book of Records with his experiences .

The chance of being struck by lightning seven times is 1 in 16 quadrillion (one 16 followed by 24 zeros - 16,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). However, it should be noted that no risk factors were taken into account in this information. In the case of Sullivan, these are due to his many years of professional activity in the open air and in his place of residence - Virginia has an average of around 40 thunderstorm days a year.

literature

  • Manfred Dworschak: Lottery of Destruction . In: Der Spiegel . No. 26 , 2007 ( online report from World Conference of Lightning Survivors).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kringiel, Daniel: Spiegel Online: Record Unlucky Roy Sullivan, When Lightning Strikes You Eight Times , Spiegel Online . September 9, 2013. Accessed March 1, 2016. 
personal data
SURNAME Sullivan, Roy C.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sullivan, Roy Cleveland
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Survivor of seven lightning strikes
DATE OF BIRTH February 7, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Green County , USA
DATE OF DEATH September 28, 1983