- Roy Sullivan
Roy Cleveland Sullivan (
February 7 ,1912 –September 28 ,1983 )Cite web
url=http://www.astrologyweekly.com/natal-charts/roy-sullivan-lightning-strikes.php
title=Astrology Weekly: Roy Sullivan
accessdate = 2006-12-04]
Cite web
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406E5D61F38F933A0575AC0A965948260
title=The New York Times Archives: Roy Sullivan
accessdate = 2006-12-01
year=1983] was a U.S.
park ranger inShenandoah National Park inVirginia .Cite web
url=http://www.straightdope.com/columns/061201.html
title=The Straight Dope: Have people actually survived being hit by lightning multiple times?
accessdate = 2006-12-01
year=2006
author=Cecil Adams] Sullivan was hit by
lightning on seven different occasions and survived all of them. In his lifetime he gained "Human Lightning Rod" as a nickname.Cite web
url=http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa072400a.htm
title= The REAL X-Men
accessdate = 2006-12-01
work = About Paranormal Phenomena
author=Stephen Wagner] On September 28, 1983, Sullivan died at age 71, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, reportedly distraught over an unrequited love.
Cite web
url=http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL2689325320070926?sp=true
title=Guinness -- weird, wonderful and wacky abound
accessdate=2007-09-29
publisher=Reuters
year=2007
author=Majendie, Paul
format=Online] Two of his ranger hats are on display at two Guinness World Exhibit Halls in
New York City andSouth Carolina . There is a road side plaque on Tanner's Ridge inPage County, Virginia that talks about Sullivan.Fact|date=April 2007The seven lightning strikes
# 1942: Sullivan was hit for the first time when he was in a
fire lookout tower . The lightning bolt struck him in the leg and he lost a nail on his big toe.
# 1969: The second bolt hit him in his truck when he was driving on a mountain road. It knocked him unconscious and burned his eyebrows.
# 1970: The third strike burned his left shoulder while in his front yard.
# 1972: The next hit happened in a ranger station. The strike set his hair on fire. After that, he began to carry a pitcher of water with him.
#August 7 ,1973 : A lightning bolt hit Sullivan on the head, blasted him out of his car, and again set his hair on fire.
#June 5 ,1974 : Sullivan was struck by the sixth bolt in a campground, injuring his ankle. It was reported that he saw a cloud, thought that it was following him, tried to run away, but was still struck.
#June 25 ,1977 : The seventh and final lightning bolt hit him when he was fishing. Sullivan was hospitalized for burns on his chest and stomach.According to
National Geographic 's [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_lightningfacts.html Flash Facts About Lightning] , the odds of being struck in a lifetime is three-thousand to one. If the different events of "being struck by lightning" werestatistically independent , the chances of being struck seven times in a lifetime are about one to sixteen-septillion (sixteen followed by 24 zeros; 16,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). However, this number heavily relies on the assumption that the odds of being struck are valid uniformly across theUnited States , which does not take into account the local weather or Sullivan's possible predisposition to thunderstorm sites due to his work as a park ranger.References
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