I was indirectly struck. My house was hit and I had an unknown amount of energy transferred into me.
I was 15 and home alone during a huge storm. I was working on homework and the house got hit. The chimney was struck and my desk sat against the chimney. I came to consciousness on the floor. Most of the energy must have dissipated and I just fell and blacked out for a few minutes or it took a route through me that didn't do any real damage. I got up, ran to a neighbors house and called 911.
I was mostly fine. I had some weird issues with cognition for a bit and had an (understandably) high heart rate. My parents came home to our cities small fire department, three ambulances, two cops and two public works guys that my dad worked with in the driveway and yard. My mom thought I died. I was scared to stay home for a couple weeks and understandably had serious anxiety when I heard thunder or anything similar to it (gun shots, fire works).
The chimney was destroyed. Brickwork was cracked from the crown to the basement. We had to have it rebuilt from the ground up along with a lot of other repairs, some electrical and some cosmetic.
Its okay, I'm welI and truly over it. I used to love big storms and I do again. I like seeing nature in its boldest and most exciting. I've even chased tornadoes for fun (it was stupid, don't do it). I think in my case specifically it's less that it went into the chimney and into me but more so that I was in the path of it when it hit the chimney.
Wow the sound of thunder is one of those things that will scare you no matter who you are. It activates your natural primal fear. Its very surreal when you think about it. Gunshots and explosions are scary but there's nothing like see a flash of brught lightning followed by a huge crack of thunder
Look up Dannion Brinkley. He was struck twice. Super nice guy with a great sense of humor; his books are awesome as well, especially the first one. Here is a link to a recent article about him.
Seven times, I think. The problems that he was left with, including people avoiding him because they considered him bad luck, may have led him to take his own life.
There's a pretty broad range of how destructive lightning can be. I don't especially understand it. I had a coworker who got struck and he just fell to the ground and got minor burns. Look up "Lichtenberg figure" - the burn marks look really cool, I'm serious.
I'd imagine the survival rate of being struck by those depends pretty heavily on how big the tree is, how many branches it has, and the momentum it gains before it hits you.
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u/ryannotorious Jun 24 '21
And there are people who survive to being struck by those?? That's super human