$~~~~$ Being hit by lightning is a rare event. Over the course of an 80-year life span, the odds of being hit by lightning are 1 in 3,000, 21 the probability of being struck seven different times. Roy Sullivan, a park ranger in the United States, was struck by lightning more recorded times than any other human being. Over his 36-year career, Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times—and 22 each shock!
$~~~~$ Strikes one, two, and three were pure bad luck, he thought. But after strike four, Sullivan became 23 death and took precautions during lightning strikes. Strike five occurred in 1973 when Sullivan was on patrol. A storm cloud “chased” him until he was struck. The same thing happened again in 1976. Sullivan, while surveying a campground, felt that a cloud was 24 him, and tried all he could to run—but it got him anyway. Finally, on 25 June 1977, a seventh and final bolt struck Sullivan as he was fishing in a pond. “I don’t believe God is after me,” he theorized. “If he was, the first bolt 25 enough. Best I can figure is that I have some chemical, some mineral, in my body that draws lightning. I just wish I knew.”