A Brief History
On November 30, 1954, an incredibly unlikely and rare instance of an object from space striking a living human in the United States occurred, perhaps the only verified occurrence in American history when a grapefruit sized meteorite slammed through the roof of an Alabama house and struck a woman sleeping on her couch. (What a wake up!)
Digging Deeper
Providing one of the best “It happened to me” stories of all time, the chondrite meteor weighing 5.56 kilograms (over 12 pounds) had created a giant fireball visible from 3 states as it hurtled through the Earth’s atmosphere before crashing through the wooden roof and into the hapless woman. The part that hit the woman was about 8.5 pounds.
Elizabeth Hodges, born in 1920 (died 1972) was struck and injured in her left side, but not seriously hurt. Her good fortune in not being hurt beyond large bruises was due to the space rock going through the roof and smashing a console radio before hitting the woman.
Known as the Sylacauga Meteorite or the Hodges Meteorite, the rock consisted of ordinary chondrite, a common type of meteorite. Oddly enough, Hodges lived in Oak Grove, Alabama, and not in the nearby Sylacauga that gave the meteorite its name.
The Sylacauga police chief confiscated the extra-terrestrial object and turned it over to the US Air Force. Hodges and her landlord, Bertie Gray, both claimed ownership of the meteorite, and eager collectors offered $5000 for it. Hodges paid Gray $500 for the undisputed rights to the meteorite, but interest had waned by this time and no substantial buyers could be found. In 1956 Hodges donated the rock to the Alabama Museum of Natural History, leaving her with only an amazing tale to tell.
Another lucky local man, Julius McKinney, an African-American farmer, found the second biggest part (3.7 pounds) of the meteorite, and sold it to the Smithsonian Institution for enough money to buy a house and car!
Only a few other cases exist of people being hit by meteorites, with a friar in Milan killed by one in 1677. Another known meteor strike occurred in Uganda in 1992 when a boy was hit by a small (3 gram) meteorite, but not injured due to the object being slowed by striking trees first. In Russia in 2013 a meteor blew up in air over Chelyabinsk and injured over 1000 people from flying glass and other debris caused by the explosion, but probably not by any meteor fragments.
Despite the rarity of meteorites striking humans, I would not be terribly shocked if an over-reactive government required people to wear protective helmets when outdoors. Question for students (and subscribers): I would also not be surprised if someone out there today is wearing a helmet for just that reason, or am I being cynical? Tell us your favorite meteorite story in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Stewart, Melissa. National Geographic Readers: Meteors. National Geographic Children’s Books, 2015.