The Spark Ranger

[00:00:01] Only thing scarier than thunder is lightning itself. It makes sense, too, seeing how thunder cant really exist without lightning. And lightning doesnt just hurt. That stuff kills. A single strike can make you go into cardiac arrest the moment it hits you. But hey, maybe youll get lucky and youll get on unscathed. All that is assuming that the potential for irreversible brain damage doesnt bother you. Its a good thing that the odds of getting struck by lightning are like one in 15,300. Cause if that weren't the case, I'd be scared of a light drizzle outside if it meant getting assaulted by 300 million volt of pure pain. But anyway, this story doesn't really relate to the intricacies of thunder, lightning, or even the dangers of such. No, I just want to talk about one particular poor SAP who was on the receiving end of the might of Zeus. Roy Sullivan. Look, I call this guy a poor SAP with all the respect in my body. Cause the man is anything but that. Throughout his life, our dear mister Sullivan was struck not once, not twice, but seven times. [00:01:00] Now look, I don't know what this guy did to deserve seven lightning strikes in his life, but I hope that whoever had beef with him was satisfied at least by the third time around. Anyway, let me get. Let me tell you a little bit more about what this guy had to go through. So without further ado, here's the story of Roy Sullivan and his lightning curse. [00:01:20] Hey, I'm Angelo, the dude whose voice you're listening to right now. And this is Rambler's history, my special little corner where I ramble on about all sorts of stories from our planet's existence. [00:01:31] So before I get into Mister Sullivan's seven run ins with near death, y'all need to understand something about this guy's life up to this point. You see, at age 28, in 1940, Sullivan became part of the Shenandoah National Parks fire patrol in Virginia. He was tasked with monitoring a 40 miles area within the southern area of the park, along with two other rangers. But theyre unimportant. Remember that statistic from earlier? One in 15,300 chance of getting struck by lightning? Well, in Virginia, a place with 35 to 45 days per year, with thunderstorms, those odds start to get a bit worse. And being a park ranger in the storm filled state, constantly out and about, things start looking pretty grim for our friend Roy here. [00:02:14] So it was after two years after becoming a park ranger, when the first strike happened. In 1942, while running from a burning, fire looking tower, he was struck by lightning. [00:02:27] The first strike burnt a half inch strip all along his right leg, hit his toe, and left a hole in his chute. [00:02:34] So what happened here was that he was just hiding out from a thunderstorm in the fire lookout tower, when suddenly the tower itself was struck around seven to eight times, which is foreboding and maybe foreshadowing Sullivan's curse. I don't know. The tower then burst into flames, forcing Sullivan to escape. But just a few feet away from where he got out of the tower, he was struck by lightning. And then all that happened. Now, after a whopping 17 years later, in 1969, he was struck again by lightning, this time while driving on a mountain road in his truck. This time, he was a bit more unlucky, since the truck, the truck's metal body should have acted as a Faraday cage, traveling everything that was inside being safe from the lightning. However, the lightning hit nearby trees and then apparently deflected through an open window of the truck and into and into Sullivan. The strike knocked Sullivan unconscious, burning off his eyebrows and his eyelashes, and it set his hair on fire, and you're gonna see that repeating a lot. The truck kept moving since the guy's unconscious, and it didn't stop until it went near a cliff edge. Luckily, it stopped on time. [00:03:45] A year later, in 1970, the third strike happened where Sullivan was out in his own front lawn, and he got struck. The lightning hit a nearby power transformer, and from there, it jumped into his left shoulder, searing it. [00:03:59] Later on, in 1972, the fourth strike came in. This time, Sullivan was struck again while he was working inside a ranger station in the national park. It set his hair on fire, and he tried to smother the flames with his jacket. But when that didn't work, he ran to the bathroom and tried to put his head under the water tap, but when it didn't fit, he used a wet towel instead. [00:04:20] So while Sullivan was never quite the fearful person, after this fourth strike, he gained a newfound fear of death. And, I mean, who wouldn't, if I was him, do the same? He thought that some force was trying to destroy him, thought that somehow he attracted lightning. Even if he stood in a crowd of people, he would do things like lying down inside the front of his truck if he was on the road and it was thundering. And he would carry a bucket of water at all times with him in case his hair was set on fire, which seemed to happen a lot. [00:04:48] The fifth strike happened in 1973. While on patrol in his park, Sullivan was struck once more by lightning in what seems to be a more cruel and sinister incident. [00:04:58] On his patrol at the park, Solomon saw a storm cloud forming in the distance, so he drove away quickly in the hopes of avoiding it. However, he later said in an interview that the cloud appeared to be following him. Soon after he was safe, he exited his truck. But he was mistaken. [00:05:15] Soon after, he was struck by a lightning bolt, a bolt which he later says he actually saw hit him. The bolt moved down his left arm and his left leg, knocking off his shoe, before crossing over to his right leg just below the knee. Despite all that, the still conscious Sullivan crawled back into his truck and poured the can of water, which he always kept there, over his head, which once again was on fire. [00:05:41] Three years later after that no doubt frightening encounter, a similar thing happened in 1976. [00:05:48] The 6th strike injured his ankle. He saw a cloud, thought it was following him, and tried to run away. But he was struck again. And as you can imagine, his hair once again caught on fire. [00:05:59] By the way, if you search up pictures of Roy Sullivan, youll see he doesnt have a lot of hair, and that kind of makes sense after listening to this. [00:06:08] Finally, weve reached the last lightning strike. This also happens to be my favorite one. [00:06:14] In 1977, while fishing in a freshwater pool, Sullivan was struck for the 7th time in his life. The lightning hit the top of his head, set his hair on fire, traveled down and burnt his chest and stomach. [00:06:29] Yet this is the crazy part. A still conscious, yet very annoyed Sullivan turned calmly to his car. [00:06:38] But youll never guess what happened next. [00:06:40] Some random bear. Yes, a bear had the audacity to approach this man and try to steal his trout from the fishing line. [00:06:49] Now, I don't know about you, but if I. If I just saw a man get struck by lightning and then stand back up with no reaction, my first thought probably wouldn't be to start causing problems with him by stealing his fish. So Sullivan, not having any of this nonsense, grabbed a tree branch that was nearby and started hitting the bear, despite the fact that his hair was still on fire, which is crazy to me, he claimed this was the 22nd time he hit a bear with a stick in his lifetime. [00:07:17] And those are the seven strikes, by the way. Most of these strikes were documented by the superintendent of the Shenandoah National park. So if you ever want to check them out for yourself in more detail, it's there to see. [00:07:29] Unfortunately, this story doesn't really have a happy ending for our protagonist. These events would go on to have a significant toll on Sullivans life and mental health. People would avoid him thinking he was cursed. Like his boss and his wife. He even believed that some greater force was out to get him. And after a while, all that paranoia and fear messes with your head. And so on the morning of September 28, 1983, Sullivan was found dead in his bedroom with a gunshot wound in his head. [00:07:56] He was 71 years old. [00:08:00] Honestly, even though his story ended in tragedy, what he endured and went through is still something incredible. His story is one of countless challenges. But with every challenge he faced, he displayed immense courage. [00:08:12] His experiences help us better understand human perseverance and what were capable of in the face of danger. As a park ranger, its natural to assume that he was really well versed in natures survival. But I mean, nothing can really prepare you for getting struck by lightning, much less seven times. [00:08:28] Despite it all, Roy took a headfirst, sometimes a bit too often, and kept pushing with each strike that came his way. I think there's plenty to admire about that. [00:08:38] So, yeah, that was the story of Roy Sullivan, the man who was later called the human lightning rod. And more fittingly in my opinion, the Spark ranger. [00:08:48] This guy was really fun to look into. And, I mean, his story was one that I'd never heard of before. So I really hope you enjoyed. [00:08:55] Anyways, it's been a pleasure. I'll be back soon with another great story, so bye now.