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COLD OPEN DELUXE ✦ Nº 01 / 20

The Man Lightning Would Not Stop Hunting

A park ranger was struck by lightning seven times — and survived every single bolt.

Wikimedia Commons · Maxime Raynal from France · CC BY 2.0

THE RECORD

7

SEPARATE LIGHTNING STRIKES · ALL SURVIVED

Nobody else is close

Roy Sullivan holds the Guinness World Record for being struck by lightning more times than any human on record — seven confirmed strikes, and he walked away from all of them.

THE 'SPARK RANGER'

A ranger in the Blue Ridge Mountains

Sullivan worked in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia. His job kept him outdoors in storms constantly — and lightning, over and over, seemed to find him specifically. Coworkers started keeping their distance.

Wikimedia Commons · G. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0

THE STRIKES

Seven times, seven ways

Each one should have been the last.

1

1942 — hit fleeing a burning lookout tower; lost a toenail

2

1969 — struck in his truck; knocked out, eyebrows burned

3

1970 — hit in his yard; shoulder seared

4

1972 — hair set on fire

5

1973 — hair set on fire AGAIN

6

1976 — ankle injured

7

1977 — struck while fishing

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THE ODDS

The odds of this happening are basically zero.

The chance of being struck by lightning in a given year is tiny. Being struck seven times, and surviving each, sits so far past coincidence that Sullivan became a walking statistical impossibility.

THE LONELINESS OF IT

People stopped standing near him

Understandably, friends and coworkers grew wary of being close to Sullivan during storms — or at all. Being the man lightning hunted was as isolating as it was dangerous.

Wikimedia Commons · David Sands · CC BY-SA 2.0

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THE POINT

Sometimes the universe just picks someone. There's no lesson. Only odds.

Sullivan didn't do anything to deserve it. His story is a reminder that probability, stretched far enough, produces lives that look impossible — and they're still real.

THE RECEIPTS · THIS REALLY HAPPENED

Look it up yourself

WHO

Roy Cleveland Sullivan (1912–1983)

JOB

Park ranger, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

THE STRIKES

Seven, between 1942 and 1977

SURVIVED

Every one

RECORD

Most lightning strikes survived (Guinness)

NICKNAME

The 'Human Lightning Rod'

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DISCUSS

What do you think?

At what point does a run of 'bad luck' stop feeling like luck at all?

If the odds of something are nearly zero, does that make it impossible — or just rare?

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