Excerpt from
THE HANDBOOK FOR LIGHTNING STRIKE SURVIVORS

“One fellow called me stupid. I ain’t stupid. I was fishing at this pond up near Luray when the rain started. I did what the cows did. I went to the nearest tree for cover. Wouldn’t you know it: Me and the cows and the tree get zapped and I’m off my feet, my left side aching. An hour later, the wife comes to get me. I limp over to the truck. ‘Where the hell have you been?’ I asked. She said, ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Woman,’ I told her. ‘Do you want me to die in a thunderstorm?’

She said, ‘It weren’t storming where I was.’ Sure enough, just five miles down the road, nothing but blue sky.

Seeing me in pain, she thought I better go to a hospital, but I felt all right. Just a little sore, and I didn’t have no insurance. That was the first time I got struck. Since then, I’ve been struck four times. I’m not afraid no more. I told my grandson, ‘Your Pa-Pa is Lightning Man. I’m a goddamn superhero.’”

Account by Jimmy A.