Science Forums 2

[TheBigDog]

When I was about 15 I was out swimming in someone's pool who was not home when a thunderstorm rolled in. As I went running home the front edge of the storm menaced over and the really big raindrops started to smack down hard on everything. As I was across the street from home a tree in my yard got struck by a lightening bolt. It exploded with bark shooting off in all directions. While the tree didn't fall, it died and we had to bring it down later on.

Across the street our neighbor was in his yard bringing in some stuff from doing yard work. When the bolt struck the tree in my yard he was knocked down and out, and didn't come to for several minutes. He assumes he was hit by the lightening, but showed no physical signs.

The attached picture shows where everything happened. I am the blue x running toward the green x (front door). The red x is where my neighbor woke up. And the yellow x is where the tree used to be that took the hit. The fact that I was in the wide open and it hit on both sides of me is as close as I have come to getting hit by lightening.

And for those really detailed Hypo junkies, the brown circle is where I built one of the treehouses I have pictured in the gallery.

Bill