Tons of falling space rocks sounds really scary, but how many people are struck and killed by meteorites each year? In the last 100 years? The answer to both questions is zero. In fact, there is only one case of a human being hit by a meteorite in the 20th and 21st centuries - and she lived! The unlucky victim was Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama. In 1954, she was lying on the couch taking a nap when a softball-sized rock broke through the roof, punched through the ceiling, bounced off her radio, and hit her on her left side. Despite minor injuries and one heck of a bruise, Hodges lived to tell the tale. The space rock, now known as the Hodges Meteorite, is owned by the Smithsonian Institution.
Murderous Meteorites in History
May 1, 1860, New Concord, Ohio: Farmers around the area heard loud noises and witnessed meteorites raining down from the sky. This was one of the most widely witnessed meteorite falls in history and people immediately crowded around the many impacting rocks. When they dug them out of the ground, they still felt warm to the touch. A rumor started that one stray rock fell and killed a colt. Whether or not it's true, the New Concord Meteorite is still known as the "Colt Killer."
On June 30, 1908, a meteor exploded above the ground in remote Siberia, Russia. The shock of the blast, called the Tunguska Event, flattened an entire forest of trees and killed a herd of reindeer. If this had happened over a major city, it would have completely destroyed it.
Residents of Trujillo, Venezuela, saw strange lights and heard sonic booms in the sky the night of Oct. 15, 1972. The next morning, they found a cow in their fields dead from a crushing blow. Three mysterious rocks lay nearby weighing, in total, nearly 110 pounds. They turned out to be meteorites, now known as Valera. Later, the villagers ate the cow.
The Car Killer
On Oct. 9, 1992, a large meteor flashed across the sky over the eastern United States, and then broke into several glowing, green fireballs. One crashed into a Chevy Malibu in Peekskill, New York. The owner had just bought the car for $300. After the impact, she sold the 27-pound Peekskill Meteorite to scientists for $50,000 and the car to a museum for $25,000.
As people headed to work the morning of Feb. 15, 2013, in Chelyabinsk, Russia, a fireball glowing brighter than the noonday sun streaked across the sky. It was an exploding meteor. When the glare subsided, a long churning smoke cloud hung in the air. 90 seconds later, the shock wave of the explosion knocked people over, smashed out windows in the town and shook buildings.
Fortunately, meteors are almost always about the size of a grain of sand. The likelihood of a meteorite surviving its fiery plunge through the atmosphere and hitting land, your country, your city and you is incredibly small. That's what makes rocks from space some of the rarest substances on Earth.
About The Author
Dean Regas is the Astronomer at the Cincinnati Observatory, author of 100 Things to See in the Night Sky, and co-host of the podcast Looking Up. He can be reached at dean@cincinnatiobservatory.org
Flashback SOTT Focus: Meteorites, Asteroids, and Comets: Damages, Disasters, Injuries, Deaths, and Very Close Calls
Astronomy books and papers far too numerous to cite offer the assurance that "no one has ever been killed by a meteorite." (John S. Lewis, University of Arizona) ©Julian Baum Over the past few...Likewise, enter into a search < "Charles Fort" damned facts site:gutenberg > and you will find him detailing how -as of around 1910? the MSM/PTB/Official-Stories-Gang REFUSED to accept that rocks from space fell to earth until around 1828. THAT is why the facts LKJ references in the above article are STILL NOT CONSIDERED IN THIS PUFF PIECE.
R.C.