Trivia: Woman Struck by Meteorite



Ann Hodges was the only human ever struck by a meteorite and lived to tell about it.

Ann was napping on her couch one fateful day in November 1954 when a grapefruit-sized meterorite crashed through the roof of her house, bounced off a large wooden console radio and struck her in the arm and hip.

The story didn’t end there: the Air Force confiscated the it (actually, they were under orders to confiscate any items from space for fears of a Soviet attack). Then a lawsuit by the landlord followed (everyone wanted to make money by selling it afterwards, including the Hodges). By the time possession of the meteorite was legally settled, people had lost interest and Ann was so fed up with the whole thing that she donated the meteorite - against the wishes of her husband - to the University of Alabama. (Source)


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Posted on May 10, 2008 at 9:01 am by Alex
Category: Daily Trivia



4 Comments to "Trivia: Woman Struck by Meteorite"

  • greenskin
    May 10th, 2008 at 11:56 am

    The rock being held in the pictures is no meteorite. Any expert can tell you that. The visual clue is in the rock’s sides, whick would be pitted and not smooth , from whizing through the Earth’s atmonsphere.
    Which begs the question, did they switch the rock before they gave it back to the lady? If they didn’t switch it maybe it was a hoax or murder attempt.
    (shrugs)

  • TT
    May 10th, 2008 at 8:44 pm

    She wasn’t the only one.

    There have been accounts throughout history of people being struck by something so fast it ripped through the body like a bullet.

  • BettyAnn
    May 10th, 2008 at 11:27 pm

    @greenskin: It is indeed a confirmed meteorite. This happened in the town next to me (Sylacauga, Alabama). I also happened to attend the University of Alabama, so I’ve seen the meteorite in question on several occasions.

    @TT: This is the only confirmed case of a human being stuck by a meteorite.

  • pepsibookcat
    May 14th, 2008 at 10:42 am

    I graduated from the University of Alabama. I’ve seen the meteorite a gazillion times. You can, too. It’s in the natural history museum in Smith Hall.

    http://amnh.ua.edu/about.html

    Visit, and maybe you’ll get to have a paranormal experience with what is purported to be Dr. Smith’s ghost. Heh.

    There’s a cute little museum display all about meteorite, and there sits the meteorite in its case ready to be viewed by classful after classful of elementary school students arriving in school busses each spring to tour the museum.

    Regarding the complaint in another comment: I’m guessing that the reporter/photographer just had her hold any ole rock for the picture because they had already lost secure possession of the original. I can hear it now, “Oh, nobody’ll be able to tell. Just hold this rock for effect. We just need a good picture.”

    Too bad the museum had to take their shrunken head collection off display. It was cool.

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