Wiki Wormhole: Park ranger Roy Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times—and lived
With more than 5 million articles, Wikipedia is an invaluable resource, whether you’re throwing a term paper together at the last minute, or fact-checking “Ride The Lightning.” We explore some of Wikipedia’s oddities in our 5,090,063-week series, Wiki Wormhole.
This week’s entry: Roy Sullivan
Roy Sullivan, on the job
What it’s about: They say lightning never strikes twice, but anyone who knows what a lightning rod can tell you is ridiculously untrue. Even so, the odds of a person being struck by lightning twice are astronomical, and the same person being struck seven times beggars belief. But that’s exactly what happened to Roy Cleveland Sullivan, a United States park ranger, who was struck by lightning in 1942, and then six times between 1969 and 1977.
Strangest fact: Simply that he survived all seven. In every instance he was burned or otherwise injured, but …