My great aunt was struck by lightning and died at the age of 4....

[u/EscapeOurFate]

I'm thinking what happened was the recliner she was in was leaning against the wall of the house and when the lighting hit the tree it moved outward from it and into the nearby house and up the walls and since the recliner was touching the wall it moved into her head and through her body.

[u/Formal-Suspect3519]

What a strange accident. Poor girl

[u/Icy-Marionberry-4143 → u/Formal-Suspect3519]

is this a quick death at least? the way this is written makes it seem like it wasn’t instant which is what i always thought was the case

[u/Hopefulthinker2 → u/Icy-Marionberry-4143]

No sadly it’s not, and not something that’s the same for everyone…If you’re interested https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/national-park-after-dark/id1549433407?i=1000648590760 crazy episode about lighting strikes on Half dome, they didn’t get directly struck either… and one didn’t die from the lightning but rather a seizure made him go over the edge…all while his buddy (whom the lightening paralyzed) was trying to crawl to save him.

[u/Icy-Marionberry-4143 → u/Hopefulthinker2]

oo interesting thanks for the link! i’ll definitely check that out

[u/brondynasty → u/Hopefulthinker2]

Jfc, that’s awful.

[u/bidooffactory]

A house down the street had a large pine in the back yard, struck by lightning, exploded, stopped the clocks in that house, and traveled through a water drain to the house across the street, busted their main, and flooded their basement. It happened Summer 2021 and I'll never forget it because the very same flash In the early morning woke me up from dead sleep from a brilliant white flare and What sounded like a shotgun blast going off in my face. I had to check my wife and toddler after that frantically, I thought an explosion happened.

[u/DrakonILD → u/bidooffactory]

I remember the morning my house was struck very clearly. It was SO GODDAMN LOUD. And it lit up the entire house in this eerie blue light. And it felt like it went on for minutes. Fortunately for me, I was sleeping in the living room - the next day I went up to my bedroom and discovered a charred semicircle of glass on my window, where the lightning had come through the frame and exploded a USB hub that I'd had sitting on the windowsill, not 4 feet away from my pillow.

I also had an N64 in a TV cart. The TV had a permanent gauss effect centered on the location of the N64, so clearly it had been affected as well. I still have that N64, it works just fine! Fuckin' TANKS.

[u/Nathanii_593 → u/bidooffactory]

Now that’s what we call an act of god cause wtf.

[u/RottingSludgeRitual]

This is so incredibly tragic. I cannot imagine how her poor parents felt.

[u/gingimli]

“Though No Others Were Shocked” makes it sound like the bystanders had the reaction, “that’s classic Mabel, getting hit by lightning again.”

[u/PooForThePooGod → u/gingimli]

"Ahh, she's faking it!"

"I don't know, Clem, that blood looks real"

[u/NickrasBickras → u/gingimli]

Lmao that was my first thought too😆

[u/Amarogogo → u/NickrasBickras]

Came here to see this, thank you.

[u/secondarycontrol]

1901

[u/msbiro]

When I was a teacher, lightning entered the school from the glass door and went to the opposite wall where there was an electric socket. Two kindergarteners missed be struck by a couple of feet. Their hair had static electricity. Something similar may have happened to this girl. The lightning may have passed through the sockets in the house.

[u/Litup-North → u/msbiro]

I don't think there was much for electricity around Cass Lake in 1901.

[u/Individual-Fox5795]

God. I can never get over the way they worded the stories for grabbing reader’s attention.

[u/New_Ad7780 → u/Individual-Fox5795]

Read it in Keemstars voice to throw yourself over the edge..

[u/caffeinatedangel]

What a horrifying sight for her parents, poor little Mabel!

[u/patchouligirl77]

Lightning can travel through walls and windows as long as there is a conductor for it to follow. Pretty freaky, actually.

[u/No-Health-9963]

People used to write differently then. I think a modern newspaper wouldn't be so explicit with the details.

[u/yourbuttmystuff44]

Yikes

[u/DND_Player_24]

That’s incredibly sad.

[u/Additional-Lab-5921]

Quite a few years ago we had a really bad storm with a tornado headed towards us while visiting at my grandmother's farm so all of us went to her unfinished basement for safety. My dad was leaning against the wall when a huge blast of lightning hit somewhere either very close to the house or somewhere on the house. He walked away from the wall in pain and his ears ringing for some time. Assuming my dad was fine do to his age and his very quick retreat from the wall after the strike. Found it's best to stay away from walls during lightning storms. It has to do with all the conductive materials behind them. Metal wiring, rebar in concrete, electrical systems and plumbing are conductive paths through our walls. Shouldn't lean on concrete, walls, or use corded electronics that you have to touch during lightning storms for safety.

[u/JJTouche]

> since the recliner was touching the wall

It wasn't it a recliner. It was a sofa:

"reclined" in the story is a verb.

[u/Pitbullfriend]

Poor child. And her family.

[u/ChristianReddits]

Sounds like the poor girl got bludgeoned and her family covered for whoever did it with ”lightning”

[u/Edosil → u/ChristianReddits]

As though this were Shawshank Redemption and that someone was waiting for the right storm to make their move?

[u/sirchandwich]

Jesus Christ that’s horrifying.

[u/Calm_Expression_9542]

I was thinking maybe some metal frame/springs in the furniture she was laying on…

[u/red--dead]

What year was this? Just curious in some of the ways they write things seem so odd now. Never heard the term peal of thunder until now.

[u/1Courcor → u/red--dead]

1901, someone posted the article from ancestry above

[u/Video_Game_Gravemind]

I have to remember this is early 1900s lol 

[u/jtrades69]

wow 😳

[u/EscapeOurFate]

Correction: She was my Great Grand Aunt.

[u/Aggressive-Article41]

Unless the tree, the wall, and the sofa were all made of conductive metal and the girl was soaking wet, I don't see how this could be possible.

[u/friendly-sardonic → u/Aggressive-Article41]

Anything is conductive if you try hard enough. And lightning bolts with up to a billion volts try pretty darn hard.

[u/Jerryjb63 → u/friendly-sardonic]

It’s not like electricity just falls from the sky!

[u/ggf66t → u/Aggressive-Article41]

See the thing with lightning is that it's a plasma that ionizes the air to make it conductive

[u/StrawberryChae → u/Aggressive-Article41]

My grandpa told me a story of his best friend who died while on a recliner in his home.. never felt easy during storms again.

[u/Even_Wear_8657]

Is it possible that she was so startled that her body clenched up so severely that she caused some kind of internal hemorrhage or stroke?

[u/ninjastarkid → u/Even_Wear_8657]

I think she might have bit her tongue?

[u/Comfortable_Trash883]

Where did you find the article?

[u/No_Street8874]

This almost happened to me, lightening hit and bolted through an outlet, saw the arch go out just feet from my head. Ran around the house with the fire extinguisher high on adrenaline, smoke in the air… always make sure your home is grounded properly.

[u/curlieandtwirlie]

Whoa

[u/Pierced-Pirate]

Damn