Roy Sullivan has been struck by lightning 7 times and lived to tell his story. Sullivan was born in 1912 and started working at the Shenandoah National Park in 1936. During his lifetime, he found himself in the most unluckiest of circumstances and was struck by lightning multiple times. This earned him many names including "The Human Lightning Rod," "Spark Ranger," and others. To this day, Roy still holds the Guinness World Record for the highest number of occasions struck by lightning and is perhaps known as the most famous park ranger whom ever lived. Read his incredible story here.

1. THE HUMAN
LIGHTNING
ROD
The Incredible Story of Roy Sullivan

2. Sullivan was born in 1912 and started
working at the Shenandoah National Park in
1936.
During his lifetime he was struck by
lightning a recorded 7 times and survived.
Roy also said that when he was a child
helping his father in the field, lightning
struck the blade of his scythe. Since this
was not officially documented, it was not
counted.
Photo Credit: Roy C. Sullivan
(Anonymous/U.S. Dept. of the Interior/AP)
STRUCK BY
LIGHTNING 7
TIMES....OR WAS
IT 8?
THE HIGHLY VISIBLE BURN MARK LEFT ON ROY'S RANGER HAT

3. IN 1942 ROY WAS HIDING FROM A THUNDERSTORM
IN A FIRE LOOKOUT TOWER
It was recently built and had no lightning rod. The tower was hit 7-8 times and
lightning was bouncing all over the place. Roy decided to leave the tower at the
fear that he was going to be struck. Ironically, as soon as he left the tower,
lightning struck him.
“It burned a half-inch strip all the way down my right leg, and knocked my big toe
off,” he said. “My boot was full of blood, and it ran out through a hole in the sole.”
1ST STRIKE

4. Commonly, vehicles act as Faraday Cages,
directing the electric current around the
car body and into the ground. But Roy had
both car windows open while driving
through a storm. The lightning struck a
tree on one side of the road bouncing off to
the tree across. Unbelievably, at this exact
moment, Roy's park truck was in the
middle of the two trees.
It knocked him unconscious, burned off his
eyebrows, eyelashes, and most of his hair.
To add, his truck kept rolling until it came
to a stop at the very edge of a cliff.
HIT AGAIN IN
1969
2ND STRIKE

5. JUST ONE YEAR
LATER
In 1970, Roy was standing in his front yard when lightning struck a
power transformer on top of a pole and bounced to hit him.
Luckily, this time, his only injury was a sear on the left shoulder.
3RD STRIKE

6. TWO YEARS
LATER...IN 1972
Roy was working inside a ranger station
in Shenandoah National Park when a
lightning bolt came through the window
and lit his hair on fire.
“There was a gentle rain, but no thunder,
until just one big clap, the loudest thing I
ever heard,” he said. “When my ears
stopped ringing, I heard something
sizzling. It was my hair on fire. The flames
were up six inches.”
He rushed to the restroom and used wet
paper towels to put out the flames.
4TH STRIKE

7. FEAR OF DEATH
After his 4th strike, Roy developed a fear of death. He
became increasingly cautious if he was driving while caught
in a storm and would pull over and lie down on the front
seat while the storm passed.
He began carrying a can of water with him in case his hair
was set on fire. An occurrence that, unfortunately, came
true just one year later.

8. IN 1973 ROY WAS DRIVING THROUGH A
NATIONAL FORREST WHEN HE SAW A STORM
CLOUD APPROACHING
Although Roy turned around and drove the opposite way, he remembers the cloud
somehow following him. Thinking he was finally safe to leave the car, he stepped
out, but was struck by a lightning bolt for the 5th time.
“I actually saw the lightning shoot out of the cloud this time,” he said, “and it was coming
straight for me.”
The lightning lit his hair on fire and knocked off his shoe, but not untying the lace. It
arced down his left arm and leg. Sullivan got back into his truck and used the bucket
of water he carried with him to put out the fire on his head.
5TH STRIKE

9. “GOD SPARED ME FOR SOME
GOOD PURPOSE,” SAID
SULLIVAN AFTER THE 5TH
STRIKE “IT’S BETWEEN GOD
AND ME, AND NOBODY BUT US
WILL EVER KNOW.”

10. SULLIVAN HAD
FOUR WIVES
In 1932 he married Martha Herring. Their only
son passed away in 1996. In 1943 he married
Madeline Shifflett and then Vinda Blackwell in
1953.
In 1962, when Roy was 50 years old, he married
Patricia Morris who was 19 at the time. They
went on to have 3 children.
PERSONAL LIFE

11. THE LAST STRAW
In 1976 Roy was walking down the Sawmill Shelter Trail when lightning struck him
for the 6th time. This was a place about a mile from where he was struck his 2nd time
just four years ago. Sullivan recalled that lightning seemed to follow him. When it
struck him, it hurt his ankle. This was the last straw, he quit his job 5 months later.
Roy and Pat moved to a town called Dooms. He parked their house trailer on a plot of land
and equipped it and the surrounding six trees with lightning rods going seven feet under
the ground.
Unfortunately, even after taking all the extra precautions, Sullivan was struck again
just a year later.
6TH STRIKE

12. ...he smelled sulfur and saw the hair on his
arms rise. This is the moment lightning
struck for the last time. It hit the top of his
head setting his hair on fire. He received
burns to his chest and stomach leaving
holes in his clothes and hearing loss in one
ear.
As he stumbled to his car, unimaginably, a
bear attacked him taking his lunch and
trout.
IN 1977 ROY
WAS FISHING
TROUT WHEN...
7TH STRIKE

13. PAT TOOK HIM TO THE
HOSPITAL
A reporter for the Waynesboro News Virginian interviewed him. Roy told him about
how he hit the bear in the nose with a tree branch to frighten him away. Unbelievably,
he explained that this was the 22nd time he battled a bear. Roy also told the reporter
his take on why he gets struck by lightning:
“Some people are allergic to flowers, but I’m allergic to lightning. It’s funny stuff.”
To another reporter, he explained that “some chemical, some mineral” made him a
magnet for lightning. And then he said...
PREMONITION

14. “I HAVE A
FEELING, I’M
GOING TO BE
STRUCK AGAIN
SOMEDAY.”

15. The story goes that at 3am on Sept 28,
1983 Roy took his own life by shooting
himself in the head, through a pillow,
while laying next to his wife.
Pat did not hear the gunshot and only
noticed Roy's passing when she woke
up. He was transferred to a hospital
around 9am.
ROY DID GET
STRUCK AGAIN,
BUT IT WASN'T
BY LIGHTNING
THE FINAL BLOW

16. Randy Fisher, the officer at the scene, said about Pat: “She was a
very sound sleeper. The speculation on her part was that he’d been
very depressed. She woke up in bed, and he was dead.”
There's some speculation that Sullivan killed himself of a broken
heart due to unreturned love. There is some speculation that he
wasn't the one who pulled that trigger. Roy's younger sister Ruth
believed that Pat murdered him.
Officer Phillip Broadfoot said: “The family doesn’t want it to be
suicide. It’s hard for people to accept. You’ve got to put a lot of faith
and trust in folks responding to the scene. If it hadn’t been Roy
Sullivan who’d been struck by lightning seven times, I don’t think we’d
be having this conversation.”

17. ...Roy Sullivan still holds the Guinness
World Record for the highest number of
occasions struck by lightning and is
perhaps known as the most famous park
ranger whom ever lived.
He rests in Augusta County, Virginia
with a heartwarming sign on his
tombstone which reads:
"We loved you, but God loved you more."
TO THIS DAY...

18. https://www.scoopnest.com/user/Interior/627196
310450479104
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Sullivan
http://www.weatherimagery.com/blog/lightning-
facts/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/66863/meet-man-
struck-lightning-7-times
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magaz
ine/inside-the-life-of-the-man-known-as-the-
spark-ranger/2013/08/15/947cf2d8-ea40-11e2-
8f22-de4bd2a2bd39_story.html?
utm_term=.a1387a333449
http://sapienplus.com/roy-cleveland-sullivan/
www.findagrave.com
Thank you to our sources:

19. THANK YOU.
We hope you enjoyed
this incredible story.
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