Washington Headlines Wednesday August 4 6:47 AM ET Lightning Strikes Puget Sound - (SEATTLE) -- The National Weather Service says conditions in the Seattle area could bring more thunderstorms like the suddenly violent one that hit Puget Sound. Yesterday afternoon's storm knocked out power to tens-of-thousands of area residents and generated more than a thousand lightning strikes. One Pierce County man was knocked out when he was struck by a thunderbolt as he worked on his boat on Lake Tapps. Another lightning victim was struck while he sat under a tree at the University of Washington. Neither man was seriously injured. Copyright © 1996-1999 Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! Headlines Wednesday August 18, 6:24 PM Golfer Killed By Lightning One man has been killed and another injured after being struck by lightning on a golf course. The pair were playing golf at Chigwell Golf Course, near Hainault, north east London when the tragedy happened. "Two male golfers, one in his 40s and the other in his 50s, were both struck by lightning," said a London ambulance spokesman. "One was taken to King George's Hospital in Ilford but the older man, who was from Kent, was pronounced dead at the scene." No-one at the golf course was prepared to comment on the accident. The injured man suffered shock and would be allowed home shortly, a hospital spokeswoman said. Copyright © 1999 Press Association Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Press Association Limited Yahoo! News Thursday September 9 12:38 PM ET Lightning Storm Hits San Francisco SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A rare, spectacular lightning storm flashed through the Bay area, bringing hail, rain and power outages. At its peak Wednesday night, the storm cut power to about 55,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers. That figure was down to 9,400 by early today, utility spokeswoman Maureen Bogues said. For about 12 hours, the storm touched off hundreds of lightning strikes from San Francisco to the Santa Cruz Mountains, 60 miles south. Trees and power poles were set on fire, making it dangerous for crews to fix electricity failures affecting spots from the Oregon line to Bakersfield, 400 miles away. One lightning bolt nicked a chimney in San Francisco and another in San Jose split a tree, part of which fell onto a house. No injuries were reported. ``This is spectacular,'' National Weather Service meteorologist Jeff Kopps said. ``It's just phenomenal.'' Kopps estimated there hadn't been such a lightning storm in the area in more than 20 years. Copyright © 1996-1999 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Yahoo! News San Francisco Headlines Wednesday September 22 11:54 AM EDT Update:Thunder And Lightning Wake Up Bay Area Residents The National Weather Service says showers and scattered thunderstorms that awakened many Bay area residents shortly after midnight will continue to plague commuters through 9 a.m. today. Forecasters say the heaviest activity on this last day of summer will affect the northern part of the area from San Francisco to Santa Rosa and could include dangerous lightning, rain and gusty winds. Scattered showers and thunderstorms could continue into the evening with pea-sized pellets of hail pelting some counties. A spokeswoman for Pacific Gas and Electric says a power outage that began at about 3 a.m. left 13,000 customers in the North Bay, especially Sebastopol, without electricity. She says 550 customers in the East Bay and 500 in Los Altos are also without power this morning. She says the outages may have been caused by lightning. Power is expected to be restored to Los Altos by 10 a.m. The California Highway Patrol was reporting no major accidents but reminds drivers to slow down to better cope with slick roads. High temperatures today will be in the 60s and 70s. Copyright © 1996-1999 KPIX. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of KPIX. Yahoo! Headlines Thursday September 23, 7:23 PM Women In Park Killed By Lightning - Police Lightning killed two young women whose bodies have been found in London's Hyde Park, Scotland Yard has confirmed. The bodies were spotted by an Army officer exercising his horse just after 7am and a large area of the park was sealed off as police forensic teams were brought in. The two, both Oriental and in their 20s, were found close to a tree following hours of storms which lashed the capital on Wednesday and overnight, with frequent flashes of lightning. Post-mortem examinations showed both women died after being struck by lightning. A Yard spokeswoman said the deaths were "no longer being treated as suspicious but being treated as sudden death". Neither of the victims has been named as their next of kin have yet to be informed of the tragedy. The bodies were discovered lying close together on either side of a tree on a section of relatively clear ground, about 200 yards from the busy rush-hour traffic on Serpentine Road, just north of the Rose Gardens entrance. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Trotter, in charge of crime in central London, said: "They appear to be of Far Eastern origin. They were lying on the grass and clothed." Copyright © 1999 Press Association Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Press Association Limited Lightning bolt kills Indonesian international trade director Seen in The Nando Times on 11 March 1997 JAKARTA - A lightning bolt has killed Indonesia's director general of international trade, Anang Fuad Rivai, who was playing golf in Batam island, south of Singapore, a report said Monday. Rivai, 60, was struck by lightning while playing on the greens of the South Link Country Club in Batam on Sunday afternoon and he died at a nearby hospital about an hour later, the official Antara news agency said. The deputy governor of the Riau province which covers the island, Rustam Abrus, who was playing with Rivai was also struck, suffered serious injuries and lost consciousness. He was first rushed to the same hospital in Batam before he was moved to a private hospital in Singapore. Rivai was in Batam to attend a two-day Indonesia-Malaysia meeting on crossborder trade that was to start on Monday. The meeting did not take place on Monday, the Antara news agency said. ©John Brown Publishing/ Fortean Times 1996 All rights reserved The Journal of strange phenomena Lightning Rips Through Home Reported by J. Milton Seen in North Devon Journal on Thurs 26 Oct 1995 A BOLT of lightning has torn through a house causing damage that will cause thousands of pounds. Pictures fell off the wall, a television blew up and pockets of fire broke out when the bolt hit the home in Ilfracombe yesterday morning. Eye witnesses saw a fireball racing up the Bristol Channel flying over the town, finally earthing on the corner of the house. Householder Jacqueline Windett had to be treated for shock hours after the strike. She was in the downstairs bedroom of the three-storey house when she heard an "almighty bang". The bolt struck the back of Irene House, Chambercombe Road, at 7am blowing a hole in the roof. The family dog, which was being fed downstairs at the time, was sent flying across the room as a result of the blast. Husband Kenneth Windett, 55, was feeding the dog before setting off for work when the bolt struck. "The dog flew from one end of the room to the other and just turned turtle with his legs in the air," he said. The Journal of strange phenomena Lightning burned holes in victims toes Reported by Mark Bowen Seen in The Electronic Telegraph on 4/7/96 TEN people hit by a single lightning strike had small holes burned into the tips of their toes in a pattern of injury never before recorded. The holes, about the size of a match-head, were on each toe and at one inch intervals around the soles of the victims' feet. Doctors said they were probably caused as the electricity from the lightning left their body. The highly characteristic nature of the injuries - which doctors have named "tip-toe signs" - may lead to a better understanding of how powerful electrical discharges affect the body. The injuries were found by a plastic surgeon who examined a group of children and adults among 17 people hit by lightning last September in what is thought to be Britain's biggest multiple lightning strike. They were sheltering under a tree when rain interrupted a schoolboy football match at Aylesford, Kent. Fahmy Saad Fahmy, who was then registrar in plastic surgery at the burns unit in St Andrew's Hospital, Billericay, Essex, examined 11 of the victims. Their injuries included cardiac arrest, paralysis of the legs, burns, ear drum rupture, confusion and psychological trauma. All recovered, but the most striking feature was that 10 of the 11 had the small holes on their feet. Mr Fahmy, now at Bradford Royal Infirmary, said the exact mechanism of the unusual injuries was not fully understood but he said that lightning probably affected small peripheral nerves and blood vessels. He said: "It was the only common feature of the injuries suffered and may be a characteristic sign of lightning injuries. It has never been recorded, but may be an injury which has been overlooked." One of the victims, Jackie Hunt, of Penenden Heath, Kent, said: "They were round dots, darker in the centre, on the tips of the toes and round the sides of the feet. They went quite deep and were fairly painful. "I was in my hospital bed when they took photographs of them. I don't think the hospital staff had seen anything like it before." The Journal of strange phenomena Record lightning strike left strange marks on skin Reported by Glenn Rowe Seen in The Times on 12 Feb 1996 BY JEREMY LAURANCE HEALTH CORRESPONDENT VICTIMS of the world's biggest multiple lightning strike were left with odd skin markings and have shown strange psychological effects since they were injured five months ago. Seventeen people were hit during a pre-season football tournament at Aylesford, Kent. Fourteen of the group were traced by St Andrew's Hospital in Billericay, Essex, the biggest burns unit in Britain. Details of their widely differing injuries were presented to an international meeting in Hong Kong on Saturday. Jim Frame, consultant plastic surgeon at St Andrew's, said: "It was just like Star Wars whoof and their football kit evaporated. There was nothing left." Mr Frame said some of those hit walked away while others suffered heart attacks and had to be resuscitated on the pitch. Many had burns and some had damage to their eyes and difficulty walking. Some later suffered panic attacks, mood swings and depression and one became psychotic. "It is like receiving a huge dose of ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) when a major shock goes through the brain." Among the curious symptoms the medical team had found were miniature haemorrhages on the ends of the toes of those caught in the strike, which they named the tip-toe sign. "It is the first time that has been described," Mr Frame said. Chris and Jackie Hunt and their two sons had their clothes burnt off their backs and suffered a temporary personality change as one million volts of electricity passed through their bodies. Speaking for the first time since the incident, Mr Hunt, who coaches a local boys' football team, said: "There was a sudden downpour. The referee told us to run for shelter so we made for the edge of the pitch near a tree where our kit was. I was holding a large fishing umbrella and the lightning struck the top of it. It travelled through me to the ground and because there was a lot of water on the ground everyone got hit." Mr Hunt, 35, a papermill engineer, said he felt locked to the ground and then felt himself falling. He was uncon scious for 20 minutes. Mrs Hunt, 36, and their son Thomas, 9, went stiff and fell to the ground and eight-year-old son Matthew had a heart attack. He had 17 per cent burns to his back where his football kit had melted. All the family had small burn holes in the soles of their feet.Mr Hunt's hands, where he had been holding the umbrella, were unhurt. Mrs Hunt was paralysed from the waist down for two hours after the strike and had curious symmetrical marks on the skin beneath each breast, possibly because she was wearing an underwired bra. Jill Webb, a junior doctor at St Andrew's who studied the effects of the strike on the family, said lightning tended to travel across the surface of the body, rather than through it. "That is why people don't get killed. Only if it breaches the skin can it cause internal damage, burning muscle and internal organs." About five people a year are struck by lightning in Britain. Dr Webb said the best advice in a thunderstorm was to move away from a high point and lie down. "You don't want to be the tallest object in the area," she said. The safest place to be is inside a car, sitting away from the sides so the charge travels over the surface and through the tyres to the ground. Tyres are good conductors, especially on wet roads. Oddly Enough News - updated 1:37 PM ET Nov 20 Reuters Monday November 20 8:53 AM ET Soccer Players Stunned by Lightning TIRANA (Reuters) - Five Albanian first division players were taken to a hospital with severe dizziness and breathing difficulties after lightning struck a metal crane close to their water-logged stadium. Flamurtari Vlore were leading Luftetari Gjirokaster 1-0 at the weekend when several players in very wet areas of the pitch fell to their knees and held their heads in their hands. Team doctors rushed on to the pitch, television pictures showed. Two Luftetari players were unable to speak and had severe breathing difficulties. Goalkeeper Erion Kristidhi lost his hearing. The match was abandoned and will be replayed Wednesday. Copyright © 2000 Yahoo! Inc., and Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 10:48:53 +0000 Subject: Lightning kills 14 sheep From http://www.shetlandtoday.co.uk/ Lightning kills 14 sheep Yell might have had a chance to enter the Guinness Book of Records this week. Unfortunately the evidence was buried before it could be verified. During the storms on Monday night lightning struck a flock of sheep belonging to Mr. Will Odie of Burravoe, Yell. The single stroke of lightning left 14 sheep dead - a world record. However Mr. Odie, who is deaf in one ear slept through the whole drama. The following morning he buried the sheep. A spokesperson for the Guinness Book of Records confirmed that 14 sheep with one bolt of lightning was indeed a world record. However the record could not be entered into the famous book as they have no category for "number of sheep struck by lightning", and also it would have to be officially verified. It was too late for official verification, for the unfortunate evidence had already been laid to rest. Mr. Odie was reported to be simply relieved that it was the sheep and not himself. Subject: BALL LIGHTNING SUSPECTED IN KITCHEN MISCHIEF Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 09:37:55 -0500 COPIED FROM: The Columbus Dispatch Date: Saturday, April 22, 2000 Section: NEWS Page: 10B Byline: John Switzer Source: Dispatch Columnist Column: Weather BALL LIGHTNING SUSPECTED IN KITCHEN MISCHIEF Earlier this month, while a thunderstorm was hammering Upper Arlington about 4:20 one afternoon, some people saw strange balls of fire floating through the air. Afterward, Emma McClenaghan called me, wondering whether what she had seen was ball lightning. "I was sitting in a chair in the family room when I heard thunder," McClenaghan said. "I turned around and in my kitchen I saw the big ball of flame." After a short while it disappeared. "It took out three phones, the garage door opener and the light in my oven," she said. "A neighbor behind me saw the ball drifting down Lane Avenue. The woman next door saw one in her house. "In back of me they had quite of bit of damage" to an awning, doormat and the electrical system. Those neighbors thought the lightning left the house by way of a dog chain attached to the building and then stripped some bark off a tree. Other neighbors had problems with their computers after the storm. The Handy Weather Answer Book says: "Ball lightning is one of nature's most mysterious phenomena. Usually seen during violent thunderstorms, the spheres of glowing light are typically the size of bowling balls or basketballs. "They can last from a few seconds to many minutes. The spheres can simply vanish into thin air, but can also pass through window glass and screens, leaving burn marks behind. "Not every scientist is convinced the phenomenon even exists. But there are numerous credible reports of balls of fire floating through the air, often after nearby lightning strikes. They usually do not cause much damage and even seem playful. They have been known to roll down the aisles of airliners or pass through an open window into a startled resident's bedroom." Ken Reeves, a meteorologist for AccuWeather, said he believes strange things can happen during intense lightning strikes. Whether the effect is ball lightning or not, he cannot say. "The way the electric impulses can dance or move can give many illusions, one of which is what a number of people refer to as ball lightning," he said. "I've never seen it myself, but it's hard to doubt the description of those who have seen something." [mid air quickenings- bad idea. or, but how did they get their sword past the metal detectors?] Subject: Airplane is struck by lightning Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 21:30:39 -0400 http://www.telegram.com/news/page_one/lightning.html Philadelphia-to-Worcester US Airways flight arrives safely Tuesday, August 15, 2000 By Emilie Astell Telegram & Gazette Staff Worcester, Massachusetts Barbara Kirkpatrick was dozing yesterday morning aboard a US Airways Express flight from Philadelphia to Worcester Regional Airport when a bolt of lightning hit the turboprop in midair. The lightning tore a small hole in the plane's fuselage, but the aircraft, with more than 30 people aboard, landed safely at its scheduled 11 a.m. arrival time. "I was dozing and saw a flash," Ms. Kirkpatrick, of Portland, Maine, said while waiting for her baggage at the airport terminal. "I didn't know what it was. I was just scared." Ms. Kirkpatrick and two of her three sisters were returning from their first family reunion, held Wednesday on Sanibel Island, Fla. One of the sisters, Jan Raslavsky, also of Portland, said they met in Philadelphia for the flight to Fort Myers, Fla. From there they went to the Gulf Coast island. Ms. Raslavsky described the lightning as "a flash right over the wing." Immediately after it struck, she said, passengers felt a great deal of turbulence as the plane continued on its course. Afterward, she said, the pilot told passengers over the public address system that the plane would land in about 45 minutes. A third sister, Maria Ferrante, of Worcester, recalled seeing a ball of orange flash on the front left side of the plane. The flash was accompanied by a sound similar to a gunshot, she said. The fourth sister, Cynthia Ferranto, of Washington, D.C., did not travel to Worcester. The plane landed in a driving rain as emergency rescue, fire and police personnel awaited its arrival. Passengers picked up their baggage and left the terminal. Jonathan Schoen, 13, of Arlington, said a "big bang" followed the lightning, which he thought hit the propeller. He and his sister, Kara, and their parents, Kirk and Lorraine Schoen, were returning from a trip to San Francisco. They planned to drive from Worcester to their home. The Dash 8 aircraft, which left Philadelphia at 9:40 a.m., holds 37 passengers, according to Barbara E. Platt, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport. Most of the seats on Flight 3686 were occupied, she said. Because of the hole in the fuselage, the plane probably will be flown without passengers to another airfield for repairs, according to US Airways spokesman Rick Weintraub. Passengers waiting for the return flight to Philadelphia queued up at the ticket booth in the main terminal, learning at the counter that they would be bused to Manchester, N.H., or Providence. "Nobody in this line knows what's happening," said Joseph Hannigan, who waited along with a dozen other passengers. He had planned to take a connecting flight from Philadelphia to Tampa. Mr. Weintraub said an airline maintenance crew was checking the aircraft for damage. While lightning does occasionally hit an airplane, he said, it is unusual. [no Q on holy ground] Thu, 24 Aug 2000 13:25:24 -0700 (PDT) BVM plaque spared by lightning bolt Victoria (BC) Times-Colonist | 24 August 2000 Bolt burns cottage RAMARA TOWNSHIP, Ont.--A plaque of the Virgin Mary is all that's left of a three-bedroom central Ontario cottage, following a fire believed ignited by a lightning bolt. Neighbour Rod Myles said he heard lightning strike at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. "It sounded like a sonic boom," he said, as it ripped through a nearby tree and tore a trench 30 centimetres deep into the ground leading to the empty cottage. Firefighters and hydro workers were called out but no one realized that the cottage next door was smouldering on the inside. Eventually a bedroom burst into flames and a neighbour spotted the blaze around 5:30 a.m. But it was too late. "She burned to a crisp," said owner Pedro Figueiredo of Toronto. The only victim of the blaze was a mother raccoon. Her yearling was treated for smoke inhalation and released. http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20000828/382101.h tml National Post | 28 August 2000 Camper survives lightning strike Kept right on talking Aaron Sands Ottawa Citizen OTTAWA - Before leaving for a camping trip on Friday, the cover of the latest Canadian Geographic caught Linda Russell's eye: "Struck By Lightning: Surviving nature's high-voltage fury." It seemed a captivating story, but she was in a rush and decided to read it after the weekend. There was no need. She wound up living the tale. Ms. Russell, a 51-year-old management consultant, and her husband, John Bishop, drove to Lac LaPeche, nestled in the Gatineau Hills, on Friday evening. They canoed to their heavily treed campsite and settled in for a relaxing weekend. On Saturday afternoon, as Ms. Russell and Mr. Bishop sat eating the spaghetti they had cooked, a heavy rain developed, along with thunder and lightning. Ms. Russell was digging a trench to divert the torrents of rain from their eating area when lightning struck. "I walked over to the tree and picked up the stick," Ms. Russell said. "I thought the storm had passed at that point. I was wrong," she said. "I felt the most brilliant, most intense white light come over me. I was a part of it. It was incredibly intense." Despite the power of the blast, Ms. Russell remained conscious. She said it seemed to last about 10 seconds -- enough time for reflection. "I knew I was being hit by lightning," she said. "I think I even said out loud, 'I'm being hit by lightning.' I didn't hear any sound. I was just in the light ... I had two thoughts, two scary thoughts: 'Am I going to live?' and 'I want to get out of here, but I can't.' I wanted to move away from it, but I couldn't. I was grasped by this incredibly strong force. And then it ended. I remember falling backward on to m back." Mr. Bishop's ears were ringing from the blast, but his vision was fine and he could only watch in helpless horror. "I thought with that kind of jolt, she'd be knocked unconscious at the least," Mr. Bishop said. "But she kept on talking, like she always does. She's always gabbing and not even this could stop her. "She was literally smoking and you could feel the heat coming off of her," Mr. Bishop said. "It smelled almost like an electrical fire." As she lay there, looking at the dark sky, Ms. Russell began to worry. "It felt like my left side had been blown off," she said. "I was happy when my husband told me I still had an arm and a leg there. I couldn't feel a thing. I was really worried my brain had been fried, so I started doing some mathematics to prove to myself that it wasn't." As she counted her heartbeats for comfort, Mr. Bishop ran to get assistance from some neighbouring campers. With no phone around, the man in a nearby tent jumped in his kayak and paddled the half-hour back to the park entrance, called an ambulance and raced back to the site in a motorboat. There, he and Mr. Bishop made a stretcher out of some canoe paddles and carried Ms. Russell on to the boat. Back at home yesterday, Ms. Russell smiled as she held up what was left of the clothes she wore that day: a black sock with a large hole in the bottom where the lightning apparently entered her body; shorts, a golf shirt, a sweatshirt and a rubber raincoat, all blackened and punctured by holes. She didn't seem bothered by the first-degree burns that now cover her torso. She pointed to one, under her left arm, where the markings resembled a lightning bolt, and she laughed. "I'm sore everywhere, but my brain works, I'm alive and I am very happy," Ms. Russell said. "I can't believe I'm not dead." FT97 21 Strange Deaths The Wife of a former High Court Judge died after being hit by a piece of rock shattered by a bolt of lightning. Sir John Leonard and his wife Doreen, 71, were touring round Crusader forts in northern Cyprus last October. They were standing on a rock looking down at a castle neat Famagusta when the lightning struck. Sir John was knocked out by flying rock while his wife suffered a hairline fracture in an upper vertebra. She was imediately flown home and hospitalised in Redhill. She seemed to be making a good recovery, but on the day she was due to return home to Merstham, Surrey, she collapsed and died from a blood clot on her lung caused by her immobility. FT106 10 Shocking Strike: A seven year old male camel was killed by a bolt of lightning as horrified visitors looked on during a heavy storm at Knowsley Safari Park on Merseyside. /Nottingham Evening Post 29 Aug 1997/ FT 110 22 Six elephants were killed by one lightning bolt as they huddled together shletering from a storm in the Kruger National PArk in South Africa. "It was a particularly heavy storm. We don't usually get that kind of lightning," said a park spokesman. /D.Telegraph, 7 Nov 1997/ FT 115 12 When Lightning Strikes Back The Mystery of hill walkers and climbers- often young and healthy- found dead with no apparent cause may have been solved. Dr Michael Cherington and colleagues from the lightning Data Center in Denver, Colorado, studied the case of four golfers sheltering under a tree when it was struck by lightning. One suffered superficial burns, another two were knocked unconscious but were otherwise unhurt, while the fourth, a 32-year-old man, collapsed with a heart attack. A doctor who happened to be nearby gave him artificial resuscitation before the man was taken to hospital, but he died without regaining consciousness 18 days later. There was not a mark on him. Usually lightning deaths are a result of a direct strike, side flash or ground current, all of which leave signs of injury. In a letter to the medical journal the /LAncet/, the Denver experts suggested that unexplained hill walker deaths are the result of near-miss lightning strikes generating a huge magnetic pulse. Lightning bolts generate currents of 100,000 amps or more, which can produce intense magnetic fields up to a metre around the point of impact. "The lightning may induce loop current within the human torso without evidence of current entering the body" according to the experts. "If these currents occur during a vulnerable part of the cardiac cycle, they could cause asystole [stopped heart beat] or ventricular fibrillation [an often fatal abnormal heart rhythm." Weather forecasters advise that the most important thing to remember when caught in a thunderstorm is not to be the tallest object around. If you're in the open, lie down; and dont shelter under a tree. /Independent, D. Mail, Guardian, 12 June 1998./ On 7 June, John Morrison, a 47-year-old oil rig captain, and his wife Linda, 41, witnessed two lightning strikes as they parked their ride-on lawnmowers in the garage of their detached house in Lower Southrepps, Norfolk. The first blasted a hole in the roof of their house, melting insulation and scattering tiles across the garden. The second hit the ground 6in (15cm) from Mr Morrison, leaving a hole in the garage roof and illuminating the garage with bright blue rings which set the toolbox aglow. Mr Morrison's computer and four phone lines were put out of action and water poured into the house from a ruptured copper pipe. The cream cotton sweater he was wearing- about £20 from Next- had been a snug fit, but after the lightning it hung loosely off him, its sleeves stretching over his hands. Scientists were baffled by this elongation: an electric field could have caused some of the fibres to stretch, although this was thought to be unlikely. /D.Mail 10 June 1998/ Seventeen people were injured by a single lightning bolt as they sheltered under a tree during a junior football match in Aylesford, Kent, on 2 September 1995. It was thought to be Britain's biggest multiple lightning strike. MAny were thrown several feet into the air. Fourteen of the group were treated by St Andrew's Hospital in Billericay, essex, the biggest burns unit in Britain. Injuries included cardiac arrest, paralysis of the legs, ear drum rupture, spinal cord damage, double vision, confusion, amnesia, psychological trauma and psychosis. All 17 eventually recovered. Ten of the victims had a distinctive pattern (never before recorded) of miniature haemorrhages or small burn holes, about the size of a match head. These were on each toe and at one-inch (2.5cm) intervals around the soles of the feet. "They were quite deep and fairly painful," said one victim, Jackie Hunt. The phenomenon was dubbed 'tip-toe signs'. /Sunday Telegraph, 3 sept 1995; Times, 12 Feb; Independent, Guardian, D.Telegraph, 4 July 1996/ FT116 10 Shock Ending A horse was killed by lightning when two tornadoes swept across Suffolk in mid June. Scrumpy Jack, a 12 year old gelding, died in a paddock in Hollesley. The following month, eight elephants found dead inside the Xishuangbanna nature reserve in the Chinese province of Yunnan were believed to have been killed by lightning. /Times 17 June; Halifax evening courier 28 July; sunday Telegraph 2 August 1998/ FT118 26 Strange Deaths A young saudi man, camping with two friends, was killed instantly when he took a call from a friend on his mobile phone during a storm and the phone was struck by lightning. /Johannesburg Citizen, 4 Sept 1998/ FT118 7 This Just In Football Teams Strike It Unlucky All eleven members of a soccer team were killed by lightning during a match in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 25 October, while the other team remained untouched, prompting suspicions of witchcraft. All the dead, from the home team of Bena Tshadi village in the province of Eastern Kasai, were aged between 20 and 35, and 30 other people received burns, but none of the latter injuries were believed to be life threatening. The opposing players from nearby Basangana village were said to have escaped injury. The score was 1-1 when the lightning struck. According to the uncorroborated report in the Kinshasa daily, /L'Avenir/, "the exact nature of the lightning has divided the population in this region, known for its use of fetishes in football." This is the /Associated Press/ version (/29 Oct 1998/); according to /REuters/ it was the visiting team that were struck down and the home team who were unscathed. On the Same day, viewers watching the last twelve minutes of the televised Castle Premiership football match between the Moroka Swallows and the Jomo Cosmos int he George Gogh Stadium, Johannesburg, saw a group of players collapse suddenly after being struck by lightning. It was the first time in the history of South African Soccer that a game was cancelled because of lightning. Jomo Cosmos were leading 2-0. Three Swallows players- Jaconia Cibi, Peter Matitse and Benjamin Njemo- were knocked unconscious; lesser injuries were sustained by Joseph Rapelego, Phumiani Dindi, Martial Chimbousou and Andrew Rabutla. Some of the latter were Cosmos players and one was the referee, which seemed to rule out witchcraft in this case. There were no fatalities, though Cibi was in critical condition for a while. He was grateful to "God and my ancestors for saving my life... I do not even want to entertain the idea that it could have been a muti-related act." /Johannesburg Star 26+27 Oct 1998/ FT119 7 Asking For it On 21 August, Josh Rempel was struck by lightning while standing beside a tree in a park. It left a hole in his baseball cap and singed his hair; he spent the afternoon in hospital while his heart was monitored. The day before, the 16-year-old from Calgary in Canada discussed religion with his mother, ending the conversation by sayind "May God strike me down with lightning" to express his atheism. "I believe in a higher being now," he said afterwards. "I was spared." /Victoria (BC) Times-Colonist 22 Aug 1998/ FT125 11 Interrupted service A freak thunderbolt wrecked most of the television sets in Thixendale, East Yorkshire, which claimed to be the last village in Britain to receive a picture when a service was intruduced 18 months ago. /D.Telegraph 13 May 1999/ FT128 12 Three Strikes A Texas teacher is the third member of her family to be hit by lightning. debbie Holland's mother-in-law was in a coma for weeks after being struck by lightning as a child. Then Holland's husband was hit and tossed 60ft (18m) in the air. Finally, Holland herself was hit, throwing her 20ft (6m). /AP 21 Mar 1999/ FT130 25 Two Thai women, Sunee WHitworth (39) and her friend Anuban Bell (24) whose bodies were found beneath a tree in Hyde Park, London, at 7am on 23 September, had been struck and killed by a bolt of lightning, after the metal in one of their under-ired bras acted as a conductor. They were found lying close together on the grass under a damaged maple tree off the Serpentine Road, at the southeast corner of the park near the rose garden entrance. A brick on the ground between the bodies had been fragmented into dust by the lightning. It was thought the women, wives of Englishmen living in London, had been struck during the storm the previous afternoon. About five people are killed by lightning in Britain every year. /Times, Guardian, d.Telegraph, 24 Sept, 28 Oct 1999/ A Married Man and his secretary were killed by lightning while making love in a rubber dinghy in the middle of a lake near Osnabruck in Germany. Tomas gormann, 32, and Maria Tlek, 22, were found by a forestry worker next day still locked in a naked embrace. Store chief Gormann's wife, Jan, 36, said: "This was God's intervention." /Sun, 21 June 1999/ FT136:15 Struck Off:The house of Klara and Kare Svarstad in Bremander was struck by lightning four times last year. Twice their house started to burn, but the flames were extinguished. Bremanger, on the Atlantic coast, is probably the most lightning-prone village in Norway. There are 11 houses, and all have been struck by lightning at least once in the last 35 years. A nearby power line is blamed for attracting thunderstorms. /Sydsvenskan (Sweden) 23 Feb 2000/ FT141 08 Lethal Zap: 19 prize Jersey cattle, all in calf, were killed by lightning at Longley Farm, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, on 27 May. They were huddled together against a wall as electricity sped though the wet ground. Cows can only stand about 40 watts and can be killed by a shock lower than humans can feel. /Huddersfield examiner, 31 May 2000/ FT142 08 Slogan Confirmed: Nick Baldwin, executive director of the electricity generating firm PowerGen, whose slogan is "Power, whatever the weather", was struck by lightning after being caught in a storm in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, and spent three days in intensive care. /Middlesborough Eve Gazette, 30 sept; D.Telegraph, 2 Oct 2000/ Lightning is a fortean phenomenon all by itself. lightning strikes what it will, where it will. It has killed XXXX people in XXXX between XXXX and XXXX. Fortean Times often features stories about those who survive lightning strikes- others are not so lucky. advice to watchers- dont hide under trees, carry an umberella, or wear an underwired bra. ladies under tree bra shock report, burn marks on other lady, which suggests a possible reason for the Watcher symbol having the shape it does. A possible reason for Immortals staying secret so long despite such spectacular light shows around every fight can be found in http://www.uic.edu:80/~macooper/psycho.html Behavioral Consequences of Lightning and Electrical Injury Immediate manifestations in survivors of lightning and electrical injuries include altered consciousness, confusion, disorientation, and amnesia. Perhaps being that close to a quickening, an event involving multiple lightning strikes and magnetic fields powerful enough to lift buildings, induces amnesia in most people and therefore they dont remember the Immortal being at the center of the storm. 'a street full of people and no one saw a thing'#dodgy film quote# alternatively perhaps any reports are dismissed as being a result of disorientation brought on by the electrical activity. other stuff Maybe the light show that surrounds a Quickening is even helpful to camouflage the origins of the energy. I guess if everythings is exploding around you and lightning is about to fry you then you dont stop to take notes on what was happening just before the storm. http://www.uic.edu:80/~macooper/ltnfacts.htm /miracle cures after lightning strikes/ Among the claims of positive effects of lightning strike (and sometimes electrical injury) are the cures for persons who have been blind, deaf, or had serious illnesses. A few years ago there was a very well-publicized case of an elderly gentleman who was cured of his blindness and deafness by a lightning strike. Those of us who were consulted on this knew that these were hysterical complaints suffered as a result of a truck accident many years before but forbade the press to quote us out of respect for the gentleman. /post Q arousal, since Immortals dont take damage./ I have had one call from another gentleman who asked if lightning could cause "hyper sexuality" because after his lightning injury he could not seem to get enough sex. While there is a neurological injury that can cause hypersexuality, more commonly lightning and electrical injury causes impotence, as a result of either direct nerve or spinal cord injury or depression. There is one published claim of improved intelligence on psychological testing after a prolonged cardiac arrest in a pediatric patient. A woman in southern Illinois became psychic after suffering a lightning strike while asleep in bed. Reportedly, her powers have been used by police agencies in locating missing persons and solving cases. /transfer of power/ FT115 10 STRUCK OUT Greta Alexander from Illinois, who has died aged 66, claimed a lightning strike gave her psychic powers. she gained national attention for helping police find missing people and bodies. she said she could visualise the past, see the future, and describe events happening 100 miles away. /AP 19 July 1998/ Among the myths about negative effects is the "crispy critter" myth.(3) This is the belief that the victim struck by lightning bursts into flames or is reduced to a pile of ashes. In reality, lightning often flashes over the outside of a victim, sometimes blowing off the clothes but leaving few external signs of injury and few, if any, burns. /Q hard on the clothes/