Jessica Lynch was shooting video of a rain storm and was suddenly struck by lightning, capturing it all on video. Luckily she wasn’t injured, just a bit shook up.

From what i understand, it went through my left hand holding the camera, crossed my back and exited out of my right hand holding onto the metal railing. No entry or exit wounds, just a really good zap!

via Flickr Blog


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{ 65 comments… read them below or add one }

John July 11, 2008 at 6:40 am

Holy crap! This is unreal. Glad she is okay, but that was actually quite scary.

roberto July 11, 2008 at 1:07 pm

its fake

julian July 11, 2008 at 5:55 pm

i hate the people that think that everithing is a FAKE, you are so subnormal that nothing interedting happen to you

yosh July 11, 2008 at 6:04 pm

fake but funny aniway

mcd July 11, 2008 at 7:55 pm

this is either fake or remarkable

supreme July 11, 2008 at 8:39 pm

its remarkable

Jesus July 12, 2008 at 4:10 am

Man, thats a lucky girl, but shouldn't the cam have stopped working or something?
or at least some distortion on the video? after all its a magnetic tape. Im not saying its fake, its just the second thing i thought after watching the video

freakmx0 July 12, 2008 at 10:53 am

It's real. When the lightning strikes, the entire place is iluminated, even trees in the distance, only a real lightning can do that. I saw a lightning stritke at 15 meters of distance. My laptop not even blinking.

bob barker July 12, 2008 at 1:24 pm

its photoshoped, i can tell by the pixels and seeing quite a few shops in my time

Ryan Olson July 12, 2008 at 1:26 pm

I don't think it struck her but close to her. If you look at 3-2 seconds at the end there is sparking and glowing in fron tof her she probably caught and arc and not the full brunt of the hit I would like to know what camera she was using though to take a direct lighting strike and keep going.

Spank July 12, 2008 at 1:28 pm

No, your prom date was fake. This actually happened.

juliansux July 12, 2008 at 1:34 pm

YOU are fake!

sam July 12, 2008 at 1:36 pm

It looks like the strike was at least 25 feet away..

Bob July 12, 2008 at 1:40 pm

It's

REAL

A Paradis July 12, 2008 at 1:41 pm

Should I say this? I had also a technical-lightning problem this week, and more, my horoscope had predicted it to me. And that is because of this breakage, the electric power failed and I saw my new computer screen that was totally black, one second I went as far as thinking it was in fault, but I saw after that the light didn't work either, and if I said troubleshooting I be troubleshooting this is after that event that inspired me

sergius July 12, 2008 at 1:45 pm

That is quite an experience!
Many people will think its a fake and I don't blame them, after all we've been fooled so many times.
I'm glad the woman is fine though!

lightning July 12, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Qev July 12, 2008 at 1:51 pm

I'd guess that she wasn't -directly- hit by the lightning strike, but rather got some of the charge induced in the railing. From the small burst of flame visible after the strike, it looks like it might have hit a nearby tree. Still, one heck of a close call! :)

Jason July 12, 2008 at 1:57 pm

MY HOBBY:
Insisting that real life items are photoshopped

Hardly Impressed July 12, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Would have to agree that it's fake. Think about this… lightning can generate heat up to 54,000F and travel 60k m/s. If she REALLY got struck by something that hot and moving that fast and traveled the path she claims, there would definitely be entry and/or exit or the camera would have blown out. The strike was actually below her, see the last four seconds of the vid at the bottom of the picture. She was just hit with the discharge of the strike running through the ground and to the metal she was holding.

fffff July 12, 2008 at 2:04 pm

what the hell was that even english?

Anton July 12, 2008 at 2:05 pm

This is clearly fake. “From what i understand, it went through my left hand…” There would be no guessing. It BURNS. There has been no person struck by a lightning that was not left with burn damage.

poke smot July 12, 2008 at 2:07 pm

IT DIDN”T HIT HER! WOULDN'T THE CAMERA GET MESSED UP IF LIGHTENING HIT HER OR CLOSE TO HER?! yea i think so. i've seen what lightening striking a pool can do to someone standing 20 feet away. she sounded so stupid in the video

Lopekal July 12, 2008 at 2:13 pm

i think he faked posting that comment.

Smoke me a Kipper July 12, 2008 at 2:17 pm

it's a near miss, looks like it hit a clothes line.

AJ July 12, 2008 at 2:23 pm

it's completely fake considering it's just a small pop when real lightning BOOMS for miles

Darren July 12, 2008 at 2:24 pm

I don't think it's fake but the lightning didn't strike her directly. I looks like it struck a few hundred feet in the distance. Still scary though.

n1 July 12, 2008 at 2:32 pm

if you step through each frame you can see that the light source is some distance away from the person recording the video. note the shadows.

Michael July 12, 2008 at 2:34 pm

It's not fake, but she didn't get a direct hit by the lightning…. you can even see where the lightning hits the ground quite far away, and causes a small fire. All around the lightning there is a strong electric field, which can give you a shock, especially if you are holding on to earthed metal, such as a metal railing.

A full on lightning strike reaches tens of thousands of degrees – you will get entry and exit wounds!!

enunna July 12, 2008 at 2:43 pm

It's not fake, but I don't think it struck her. It hit the ground in front of her – you can see it glowing for a bit. she screams and the camera shakes because she was scared shitless. If it hit the camera like she says it would be a lot more intense and more likely destroy it.

highvolt July 12, 2008 at 3:03 pm

She's ok because this didn't seem to be a direct strike. In a dense forest area, the lightning path will spread out to several trees. You can even see a second spot at the end of the movie. She is very lucky to be alive.
PS: Anyone hit by lightning should see a doctor as soon as possible. Some people die the day after because your muscles can built op toxins from the electric current which your kidneys cannot handle at once.

Rev.St.Huck July 12, 2008 at 3:47 pm

Uhhh….you're standing outside in a storm with a piece of electronic equipment in one hand and holding onto a metal handrail with the other. They're reserving a place for you in the Darwin Awards Hall of Fame.

JJG July 12, 2008 at 4:00 pm

Luckily the strike was able to ground out through her arms without traveling the length of her body. That would kill her for sure. I'm wondering if the brief moment at about 3.5 seconds was the initial transfer of static electricity up to the cloud which enabled the strike to happen. I'm wondering if that had even been caught on video before.

Ben McDougal July 12, 2008 at 4:03 pm

Lightning passing from hand to the other can cause cardiac arrest. I don't doubt there was lightning nearby and she might of gotten a tingle or good shake up, but not struck directly.

Powder July 12, 2008 at 4:11 pm

Have you seen the movie Powder?

The Red Monkey July 12, 2008 at 4:31 pm

I laughed when I watched it, since we know she's ok its ok to laugh. It was a “shocking” video though.

The Red Monkey July 12, 2008 at 4:32 pm

Thunder booms for miles. Lightening just pops since its an electrical arc.

hb July 12, 2008 at 4:40 pm

thats called thunder retard

onceoff July 12, 2008 at 4:55 pm

That's not actually true at all. Lightening leaves a fern-like “burn” pattern on the skin that is uniquely characteristic of a lightening strike. Additionally, if entry and exit wounds are apparently, they reveal nothing about the direction of nature of the strike. If burns are present, they are frequently deep tissue (muscle, subcutaneous fat, etc.) burns that are not apparent on the surface. The primary danger from a lightening strike is probably the disruption of heart electrical activity…burns won't kill you in a matter of seconds, but your heart stopping certainly will.

JOE July 12, 2008 at 5:22 pm

HOW MUCH DID SHE PAID FOR THAT ELECTRIC BILL!!!!

Qev July 12, 2008 at 5:48 pm

Lightning doesn't particularly care what you're holding onto, really, unless you've got a grip on a radio tower or something. It isn't attracted to electronics, or umbrellas, or metal railings. Consider that it's an electric arc that's traveled through several kilometers of non-conducting air to reach the ground; what makes up the last few meters isn't particularly important to the process. :)

Tom O July 12, 2008 at 6:24 pm

ITS FAKE

are you F*##ing kidding me?

that orange light is the light bulb cooling off

J. Grant July 12, 2008 at 7:18 pm

Just curious – what kind of camera?

John Savage July 12, 2008 at 7:22 pm

OMG is right dude! Wow she had an angel watching over her for sure.
http://www.FireMe.To/udi

singinguitargirl July 12, 2008 at 7:42 pm

Yes! That caught me as well! That first flicker going the other direction! That blew my mind: ghostly, like CAPTURING that “set-up” that is not commonly seen.

singinguitargirl July 12, 2008 at 7:45 pm

That's what amazed me as well. Like she captured that “set up” that's so unlikely to get to see.

Stroke July 12, 2008 at 8:33 pm

From the full description on Flickr page of the author:

“No entry or exit wounds, as i was not directly struck, i got just a really good zap from one of the “finger arcs” that happen when lightning hits. “

http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_love_the_slow_lo...

x12yanx July 12, 2008 at 11:40 pm

FAKE…lol…”Lightning heats nearby air to about 10,000 °C (18,000 °F) nearly instantly, which is almost twice the temperature of the Sun’s surface. The heating creates a shock wave that is heard as thunder.[13]” – wiki. its obvious she created a high voltage discharge herself in a bad video and posting it on the internet with a cool title XD u guys r ***** to think lightening would only shock you like a wall outlet.

Jvoles July 13, 2008 at 4:35 am

I think your right, if it hit her, it would have at least knocked her out, and would have screwed up the camera. You can see the tree in front of her glowing with embers from the strike.

mgabrys July 13, 2008 at 8:14 am

Lightning rods. They're metal. They've been around a while. Go golf in a thunderstorm and leave me your ipod in your will.

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