Roy Sullivan

Roy Cleveland Sullivan (February 7, 1912 – September 28, 1983) was an American park ranger in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

Roy was born in Greene County, Virginia, on February 7, 1912.

He started working as a ranger in Shenandoah National Park in 1936.

Sullivan was described as a brawny man with a broad, rugged face, who resembled the actor Gene Hackman.

He was said to have been avoided by people during the later years of his life, owing to fears of being struck by lightning, and that saddened him.

He once recalled: "For instance, I was walking with the Chief Ranger one day when lightning struck way off” (in the distance). The Chief said, "I'll see you later".

Between 1942 and 1977, Sullivan was claimed to have been struck by lightning on seven occasions, surviving all of them.

For this reason, he gained the nicknames "Human Lightning Conductor" and "Human Lightning Rod".

Sullivan is recognized by Guinness World Records as the person struck by lightning more recorded times than any other human being.

Sullivan himself recalled that the first time he was struck by lightning was not in 1942 but much earlier.

When he was a child, he was helping his father to cut wheat in a field, when a thunderbolt struck the blade of his scythe without injuring him.

But because he could not prove the fact later, he never claimed it.

Sullivan's wife was also struck once, when a storm suddenly arrived as she was out hanging clothes in their back yard.

Her husband was helping her at the time, but escaped unharmed.

The odds of being struck by lightning for over the period of 80 years have been roughly estimated as 1:10000.

If the lightning strikes were independent events, the probability of being hit seven times would be (1:10000)7 = 1:1028 or 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

These numbers do not quite apply to Sullivan, however, who by the nature of his work and his physical location was exposed to more storms than the average person.

Virginia, where he lived, averages 35 to 45 thunderstorm days per year, most of which fall in June, July, and August.

Between 1959 and 2000, lightning killed 58 people and injured at least 238 people in Virginia.

In the United States, 3,239 people were killed and 13,057 injured by lightning in the same period.

Most of those were males between 20 and 40 years old caught outdoors.

On the morning of September 28, 1983, Sullivan died at the age of 71 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Two of his ranger hats are on display at two Guinness World Exhibit Halls in New York City and South Carolina.

Sullivan described in detail each of the alleged strike encounters.

All seven strikes were documented by the superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, R. Taylor Hoskins.

Hoskins, however, was never present at any of the reported strikes and was not an active and present superintendent in Shenandoah National Park for many of the times Sullivan was supposedly struck.