Worst Case Scenario with Abi Clarke and Julia Stenton - Day 5 - Roy Sullivan

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

Settle in as Abi tells Julia the story of Guiness World Record holder Roy Sullivan. A man who defied the odds by surviving not one, but seven lightning strikes. From the initial to final strike was mere luck or something extraordinary that allowed him to survive?Send in tales of survival from your own worst case scenario to [e-mail] and follow the podcast on Instagram @wcspodTheme tune by the brilliant Crizard who can be found on Instagram @crizards Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get attacked by an angry shark Stuck up a mountain in the dark Pushed off the top of a big landmark Hit by lightning in your local park Caught in the downpour of acid rain Struck by meteorora train A proton beam passing through your brain Attacked by that angry shark again

Hear how they survive Trappled by a herd of buffalo Chaste with an axe by your new friend Joe Buried alive in a pile of snow It's the worst case and It's a big day today, Julia. Yeah. You know Loudrop?

I'm familiar, yeah. You familiar. So for anyone listening, Loudrop is our producer, Neil's dog. He's the best. And the podcast mascot. Yeah. Named after a footballer from...

Denmark. A Denmark footballer. And as we've got to know... A Danish footballer. I don't name the footballer. Dog. Sure. Yeah.

But as we've got to know him. Yeah. We've been aware that he's been going through a puppy stage. He's been working that curly girl method. Yeah. I'm really worried that this is going to be a survival story about Loudrop and I don't think I'm emotionally prepared for this. Well, this week, Loudrop did face the worst case scenario. Oh, no.

Loudrop had his first haircut. Oh my God. What do you down to my dog? This is what happens when you let a man choose the haircut. Oh my God, I'm so sorry, Laudra. Tell me who did this to you. Bring him up, bring him up. He looks like he's wearing half the mascot outfit of a different dog.

Oh, my God. Oh my God. His head looks so big. Laudra, what happened to you? He's like a supermodel in the 90s. He looks... Look at you. The lollipop head is back.

He looks like. like he's gone swimming and he didn't want to get his hair well. Um, so Lardrop's now nude. Um, it's actually inappropriate, I think. I mean, I know it's hot, but Jesus Christ, this is. But it's the way, I don't know. Somebody get him a jumper. No one ever trust Neil to take the dog to the groomers again, because I don't know

what he asked for. Oh, I was not prepared for this. It's the tail. It's the ears for me It's the enormous ears The head and the tail look like They belong to different dogs Yeah, they do

And then... Yeah And the head, look at the hair Oh my goodness What did you do to him, Neil? He's got a great set of pins on him I never noticed that before Yeah, he's got long legs

Hasn't it? Can we just say, since we met Neil and Loudrop's, you've been growing Loudrop's hair out It's been a big thing It was all like We're not allowed to cut his hair yet we have to let it fully grow up to keep his curls and then you go and do this and the curls were

what was it all for oh my goodness um in the shock of our lost loud drop we still love it there's new beast that's come in um we we forgot to to plug oh yeah even say what podcast this was but i mean you clicked on it you should know yeah we tell stories people survive. Yes, this is worst case scenario, story where we tell survival stories of people who've found them. The story where we tell stories.

Yeah, story. Oh, fuck. Loudra, what have been done to you? Don't blade Loudrop. You're better than that. This is worst case scenario. I've suffered a loss, Julia. I've suffered a loss.

He was a beautiful dog. No, he just looks like a boo dog. oh you've stripped him you've embarrassed him now he stripped him of all he was his gorgeous locks anyway please follow us give us a follow the podcast

at WCS pod socials we post pictures from the stories if you want to see what everybody looks like which obviously you do that's all I care about and also just some videos sometimes yeah oh please give us a review that really helps and we just like to read praise

We've had some lovely one so far. We really need words of affirmation. So, yeah, give us a review, follow, tell a friend. That's very powerful as well. This has gone on too long. Should we get on with it? Yeah. Okay, are you feeling okay?

My heart rate is just about coming down to normal. Take as long as you need. I'm just going to take a big drink of tequila. I've had a day longer than you to recover. So I understand. So we take a moan. and let's get this good stuff oh this is going to be great wait for this this is going to be oh yeah go on oh wow that was a lot junior that was just the tequila as it was pouring I was thinking

that is a lot you know what it tastes good when do you mix her in that if I burst into tears halfway through we know why I've just remembered the dog. Okay. Deep breath, everybody. Today, I am going to be telling the survival story of Roy Cleveland Sullivan. Ooh.

I don't know. Just really want some more musical stings in this podcast. Get the chrisals back. Okay. Instantly, can I just say my instant, whenever I hear three names, I always think serial killer.

Because that's how they distinguish, isn't it? In case there are more like, Because there are probably loads of John Gacy's. And so they use the middle name so that you, so that those poor John Gacy's aren't like, I'd like the serial killer. So every time I hear three names. Someone was like, I'm John Gacy.

I'd still be like, like the serial killer. So, Julia, around the world, approximately 2,000 people are struck by lightning every year. A struck by lightning story. Yeah, okay, so did you know? The British Medical Journal places the odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime in the UK at one in 10 million. I didn't know that, surprisingly. So really, really rare in the UK of greater odds of winning the jackpot on the national lottery because that is one in four million.

Really? Yeah. But in the US, the odds are higher. It's one in 15,300. That's too many. Yeah. Yeah, like a lot of people get struck by lightning in America but apparently only like 10% die, 90% survive.

That's still quite high, isn't it? But the probability of being struck twice by lightning in a lifetime is one in nine million in the US, right? So that is very rare. Yeah. It's also a myth though that lightning never strikes in the same spot twice because the Empire State Building is struck on an average of 23 times a year. Yeah, but doesn't that have a massive rod sticking out?

out of it. Isn't that like that's why you don't hold an umbrella when you're outside and it's raining? Yeah but I think that's like literally safety I think because it gets struck so much it has oh they have to channel it yeah oh oh I didn't know that okay so you've heard of storm you've heard of the flash yeah oh sorry no from X-Men you mean the character right yeah I've heard of stars you've heard of Thor you've heard of Shazam hmm have you no what is that oh no I've seen a poster for it there's a poster yeah it is a for hearing, but have you heard of the human lightning conductor? Well, did you just make it up?

No, because today I'm telling the story, like I said, of Roy Cleveland-Sullivan-Sullivan, the Guinness World Record Holder for Most Lightning Strikes survived. Yes. I love it already. Okay, so Roy Cleveland-Sullivan was born on February 7th, 1912 in Virginia, Virginia, United States. He was a US park ranger. Okay, can I just say, I looked up how to pronounce everything today. That's disappointing. But I have forgotten.

I'm way prefer it when you get it wrong. Let me just. Oh, you're cheating now. No, I'm not having this. We're not allowing this on the podcast. Cut that out, Neil. No, no, no. Shame her for this. What, for doing my research? I'm sorry. You are cheating. Okay. He was a. U.S. Park Ranger in Shenandoah, national... You know what's going to happen now?

You're going to copy the way she says it every single time. Yeah. In Virginia, which made him considerably more exposed to storms than the average person. It made lightning strikes a form of occupational hazard. But although Virginia has an average of 35 to 45 thunderstorms a year... She said confidently. Have not proofread this. This is...

Woo, I am riding, I am riding by the skin of my pets. Did that, by the skin of your pants? What was the saying? By the seat of your pants. Skin of my teeth, seat at my pants. Yeah. Did that. My pants, Ed Gein.

Get that on a t-shirt. Did that sentence just trail off? No. It had too many words in. Oh. But I made it work. Okay. Where was I?

She's editing with her mind. I'm editing with my mind on Margarita. Great. Piss. So, Virginia, not even in the top 10 hotspots, yeah? Yeah. Despite this, lightning managed to strike Sullivan in the same basic geographic location seven times between 1942 and 1977.

Even though he was struck seven times, he never even went to the emergency room. What? Yeah. A single lightning bolt can reach up to 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which is roughly half the temperature of the sun's surface. This intense heat can burn tissue, cause lung damage and painfully expand the chest by the force of rapidly expanding heated air.

So you get hit by lightning, your body gets really hot, so the air inside your body heats up and makes, and obviously hot air expands. Yeah, so it can make forcefully expand your chest. God. Can you burst, do you reckon? Anything could happen. Yeah.

Because I've done no research. We could just make it up. I did this this morning. It bursts open like a party popper and a stream has come out. You just pop immediately. Great. Or melt.

Technically, Sullivan claimed to have had an early brush with lightning as a child when it struck a scythe. Yeah. He was using to help his dad cut wheat. But since there is no proof of this, that alleged eighth strike is not counted within his world record.

Oh. You know, you've got to have that British world record person with the clipboard there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They weren't there. After the fourth one, the Guinnessville record guy, he probably just hangs around with him,

just like follows him around every day. Well, actually, I do have who took record of it. Oh, okay. So with the sole exception of his alleged first encounter with the lightning ball, all strike episodes were documented by the superintendent of Shenandoah National Park are Taylor Hoskins.

Oh, look at that. He really must have been like, another one. Yeah, come on. For real? Let's begin with strike number one. April 1942. Nothing fun was happening, just the Second World War. Sure, yeah.

Sullivan was working in Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains and his job had been going great for two years, right? He loved being outdoors, he was a good ranger and many who knew him found his rugged, Jean Hackman-esque appearance to be endearing. Okay, keep talking. I didn't know who that was.

I think he also kind of looks like Anthembourg. Hopkins. Popkins. Popkins. Who's Anthony Popkins? Did I say? I got distracting because I said Anthony and I was like that's not actually, it's just Anthony. And then you gave him a little, I'm having a bad thing. I'm having a bad thing. I quite like Anthony Popkins. It's quite cute. Well he got hit by lightning and he pops. Right. Sullivan was in a recently built fire lookout tower watching over the land he was responsible for when a thunderstorm rolled in out of nowhere. He knew

it was a problem from the moment he heard the first crack of thunder because the tower he was in, unlike the Empire State Building, did not have a lightning rod installed. A lightning rod is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike

by conducting it into the ground through a wire instead of passing through the structure. They need to start a fire. Great. was electrocution. They need to install one on this lad. Yeah.

Well, he was the human lightning. The structure had already been hit several times, so Sullivan decides to flee, afraid his life was in danger. But as soon as he left the tower, the lightning hit him directly on his right leg. His big toenail blew straight off. Oh.

And he was left with severe burns all over his leg, a bloody boot and a hole burned into its soul. Sullivan would always remember this as one of his absolute worst experiences with lightning, but of course, it was not his last. Oh, yeah, it's bad that he can rank them, isn't it? Yeah. He's like, ah, yeah, this is about number two.

Losing a toenail, it has got to be one of the most disgusting things. It was gone. Oh, it's, that's worse than losing the... No, I haven't, but I've seen people who have. Why? When? Where were you? I, like, at school, people who are more advent, you know, like playing... Oh, my God.

Sports and stuff. I'm surprised you... Don't ballet dancers lose their toenails. I mean... Thanks for thinking I'm that high level, Julie. You talk as if you're in the fucking Royal Ballet. Talk of Midlands amateur dramatics. Like, it's a pretty high level. Okay, second strike.

July, 1916. Neil Armstrong is taking one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind, and Sullivan is driving a truck down a mountain road through, you guessed it, another thunderstorm. Get inside. Well, he is. He's in a car. So usually the metal body of a vehicle protects people from lightning strikes by acting as a Faraday cage, which is an enclosure of conductive metal.

No? Oh, she was so close. She was so close. It's an enclosure of conductive material, like metal, but he had both side windows open. Oh, come on. So we had both side windows open,

and at the exact moment... It got him through the window. And the exact moment he was driving by, a nearby tree was hit by lightning, with the bolt then being redirected to another tree across the road and through his windows. It ping-ponged off a tree and got him through the window.

window, that is insane. Yeah, he was knocked unconscious for about 15 minutes while his truck continued moving forward, but luckily it stopped just at the edge of a cliff. Fuck off. This is, this is number two. This is number two. When he came to, his eyebrows and eyelashes were gone and his hair was, in some reports on fire, in others just like burn almost completely off. He's essentially got too close to them on fire. That's it. That's, that's, that's, that's this happened? Yeah, he's just had a wax. He should be dead. Well, this event

was later recreated in the 2008 film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in which Mr. Dawes, played by Ted Manson, repeatedly claims that he's been hit by lightning seven times in his youth. Oh my God, look at that. Look at that. And one of the flashbacks

is the car driving and getting through the window. Okay, so after that, the strikes, they pick up the pace a little bit. He gets a taste for it. They're getting into it now. As soon as it starts raining, he's like,

oh, just popping out. They know where he's at. Just a year later, this time, in July 1970, Sullivan was standing in his front yard when lightning hit a nearby power transformer and from there jumped to his left shoulder, searing it.

So that was actually his bottom ranked. That was the least painful, upsetting experience. So so far, we've got... Just a burnt shoulder that one. The shoulder. the toe is still top rank. To is still top rank at the moment. And then singed hair.

Weird that singed hair isn't bottom. Well, it did knock him out for 15 minutes. Oh yeah, that's probably quite some bad brain. And he nearly went off a cliff. Oh, yeah. Not a lot to add to the survival kit so far. Maybe keeping your windows up. Yeah.

That would be... Well, so would you say... Some rubber shoes? At this point, at this point, what would be your advice to him? Stay inside. Stay inside. Go inside. Well, he tried that.

When it starts raining. when you hear thunder, stay the fuck inside. Go home. Maybe. Well, he tried that. In 1972, he was working indoors in the ranger station. Stop it! No. This is like final destination. Death will find you. Lightning will find you. Lightning will get him. Well, he's the human lightning conductor. Okay. This is a real curse. He was working indoors in the ranger station on a rainy day when suddenly he heard a loud noise. A bolt entered the building through a window and set his hair on fire.

It's really quite awful. I don't know why that's so funny. It's so, this is the thing. I think it's kind of so cartoon-like to just have your hair set on fire. This is truly traumatic for his man. I was sure that was really traumatic. This is his fourth strike.

That is really funny. And so we hold the deepest respect. I'm so sorry, I hope it grew back, but my God. It's fine, as a ranger, you wear a lot of hats. He rushed to the restroom, but could not fit under the water tap. This man is just having the worst time. Is he on his own? Yeah, I don't know.

Apart from that one guy with the clipboard, just taking note of all. And he, as an official, he can't jump in. He can't. He's got to be impartial, hasn't it? Yeah. Well, originally, actually, he tried to smother the flames with his jacket. that didn't work, went to the bathroom, couldn't fit under the tap, so we used a wet towel instead. So that's your first thing, maybe.

Think how long all of that takes? And his head is burning the whole time. Yeah. But something for the survival kit, a wet towel. A wet towel. Okay. So, by then, Sullivan had already been nicknamed the Spark Ranger. Oh, that's great. That's so, that's so much better than the human conductor. The human conductor. Because that makes him sound like a train enthusiast. The human lightning rod Which just sounds like a dick That just sounds like penis

I mean maybe he liked that one Big rod Maybe that's what he called Maybe that's what he called his penis Yeah the rod Oh the human lightning conductor The rod is the rod is better I'm sparky

And this is the human lightning conductor I'm sparky this is the rod Copper Pupes Sparky and the rod That's a crime fighting duo I want to see. Spucky and the Rod. Okay.

Keep it mature. Keep it respectful. Right. Okay. And although he had never been a fearful man, after the fourth strike, he began to believe that some force was out to destroy him.

Yeah, that'd do it four times. And he acquired a fear of death. I've personally always had that. Yeah, I mean, four. It took him four times. to be like... It's pretty scary. Death would be scary.

Death would be bad? Yeah. For months, here's what he started to do to try and avoid it happening again. For months, whenever he was caught in a storm while driving his truck, he would pull over and lie down on the front seat until the storm had passed.

He also began to... Roll those windows up. To put the windows up. But also lying down, so even if it goes through the windows, can't go on. Oh, okay. He also began to believe that he would somehow attract lightning, even if he stood

in a crowd of people. But my favourite survival technique of the podcast so far is he started carrying round a jug of water in case he needed to douse his body. Oh no! After yet another lightning strike.

Oh, I thought you were going to tell me like an old wife's tale that like if you hold a jug of water, the spirits that speak to the lightning. Just to put the far out. Oh, that's sad. It's a shame he didn't have anything with a lid. But, yeah, a joke seems impractical.

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opposite direction. The clouds, however, somehow seemed to to be following him. Just when Sullivan thought he had lost the cloud, he got out of his truck, and he was once again struck by lightning. Curiously, for the first time, Sullivan recalled catching a glimpse of the bolt coming at him. You'd be like, this is it, this is over.

If you can see the bolt coming at you, you're done. This is the same as like a woman coming out in a horror film of like hiding in the wardrobe, you get away with it and then you come out. Just stay in the car. He recalled catching a glimpse, of the bot coming at him, he suffered body burns and one of his shoes was knocked off, but still conscious.

I mean, that's inconvenient if nothing else. I hate when that happens. My shoes all the way over there. How did Cinderella manage? That is annoying. And his socks going to get all wet. Nightmare. But still conscious, he was able to crawl to his vehicle, grab his jug of water,

and use it to... Didn't have it on him, though? No, no, it was in the car. Okay. And use it to put out the fire on his head. Poor head. It's like I just keep picturing the guy from Hercules. Yes, I was too, Hades.

Yeah. That was the fifth time. Two more to go. I can't believe it. What, do you know the, am I spoiling it? Do you know the odds of him getting hit seven times? There can't be a number big enough, surely. Well, like I said, getting hit twice was one in nine million.

Yeah. I've no idea what he was. Seven is. The sixth time was enough to make him finally retire from the US Park Service after 36 years and moved to the ironically named town of Dooms.

Virginia with his wife. He's a lucky, lucky guy. Yeah. This time... Got himself a wife though, so... He got himself multiple wives. Oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah. There is nothing sexier than man.

He's not like his third at this point. They heard about the rod. I mean, that... Can't keep that a secret for long, can you? That's been lightning hard. You'll feel sparks, baby. Oh. Oh. Electric.

Yeah. So he moved. Lightning followed him. This time the lightning bolt struck him in the ankle as he was walking down the sawmill shelter trail and it was reported that he saw a cloud thought that it was following him tried to run away but was struck anyway and his hair also once again caught fire

shave it by this point just shave it off I can't believe he has any left do a loud drop let's just go men struggle enough with hair loss and this guy that's a real kicking the teeth to all the bald guys out there isn't it right real yeah like all those people with the receding hair line like this bitch yeah so this one hit his ankle this one hit his ankle and yet his hair still caught fire I have a question

Yes Is it a burn his rod? No I've moved on from his rod About six inches Oh okay interesting Okay When you get struck by lightning

I've seen some pictures Yeah When you get struck by lightning Isn't it true that you get like a cool Burn Yeah do you want to see his Yes please So I was thinking on his ankle

Did he get a cute little Probably this is his back oh okay not as cool oh wow the top is yeah like a tree yeah not as cool sorry now I was looking at this like quite horrible looking scar down the bat down the side oh I'm sorry he's only even started by lightning seven times no I know like fair play but um but the top is very cool

it's like a tree like yeah it goes out like a branches on a tree so he's got seven of those has it probably I don't know most of them are on his head if you also wanted to see his back you can find the pictures from this episode on our Instagram at WCS pod where were we

so number six the hair's gone he was hit only a mile away from the site where he had been hit the second time four years earlier within a mile of each other he takes even more precautions once he's moved and equips several trees around his new home with lightning

rods going seven feet into the ground but if you're counting along the lightning wasn't done with him yet there is one more to go the final strike was the worst of all no this one's number one um it happened in june 1977 the year robin williams began his career with minor roles here we go in the film can i do it till i need glasses can i is that one film can i do it till i need glasses can i do it dot dot dot till i need glasses question mark and the television shows the richard prior show and laugh in if you have listened to previous episodes you'll know exactly what abby's talking about with her robin williams references if not go back and listen i think everyone should mark life with robin's references i had no idea he was such a prominent figure for you he is now

there we go um sullivan meanwhile okay back to sullivan back to sullivan um he was fishing trout in a freshwater pool when he smelled sulphur. He felt the hairs on his arms stand up and at that moment a lightning bolt hit him directly on the top of his head setting his hair on fire.

Oh God! At least he's by a river. Dunk it in. It says here for the third time but it's definitely happened more than three times. This strike, this final strike was the most devastating as he suffered burns in the chest and the digestive tract up to the stomach and hearing loss in one ear. Yikes. So you think you kind of can't get worse, right? I just have a quick question.

Okay. Was he fishing in a storm? Because he's holding a fishing rod. Isn't that just like, hey lightning, come and get me? I'm not sure. A lot of these is like lightning just rolled in real quick. So I think he was just already outfishing. Then it starts to rain. And then you're going to kind of like ah fuck better get yeah better get back and then boom top of the head um okay because also they say don't be near a body of water don't they when it yeah it was a pretty bad situation yeah for someone who is prone to getting you'd think as soon as it starts raining he's like you know what fishing's off today lads we're going in this guy he loves the outdoors and it's a shame he needs to get indoors i know he's not safe indoors either no clearly do you know what i'd be

bed bound if I was him. I wouldn't leave my bed. Well, that sounds miserable. Um, so he's been, he's been struck on the top of the head, outfishing for trout. Um, do you think he could get any worse, Julia? Um, as you're asking me that question, Abby, I think it probably does. How do you think he could get worse? Uh, I don't know, all of his hair is on fire, pubes as well. I don't know. How about a bear attack? Stop it. No, Sully, get inside. Get inside and lock the door. Oh, have a big sleep, for God's sake.

Stick on a Robin Williams film. He's doing them now. Yes. Okay. I don't want to blame the victim. Sully's really started to piss me off. He's just trying to live his life. I know, and I feel so bad for him.

He just trying to do his hobbies. So, as he turned to him. Throw a bear in, why not? Throw a bear in. He needed a finale. Sure. You know what I mean?

Yeah. It was getting a bit samey. Yeah, don't have the bear. It was all right, hair on fire, hair on fire. Yeah. Bear. Good God. Right, tell me about the fucking bear.

That doesn't be really good. Um, sorry, as he turned his car, recovering from the shock. Oh, so he's been hit? Yeah, so he's got hit by the lightning. Yeah. He's recovering from the shock. He's trying to get back to his car. Hair's presumably a blaze.

A blaze. If we know. Bear. And then just bear out of the blue. Bear approaches trying to steal the trout he's been fishing. Sullivan had the strength and courage to strike the bear, square in the face. with a big tree branch and successfully drove it away.

To be fair, I'm surprised the bear didn't clock the hair on fire and was like, do you know what? This one's not worth it. Well, it says, successfully drive it away, despite the fact his hair was on fire. Bear was like, I actually prefer mine raw. I'm more of a sushi guy. This one looks a bit well done for me.

Yeah, I don't want char-grilled human, thanks. I ask for medium rat, Jesus Christ. So the bear runs away. As it turned out, besides his long history with lightning strikes, Sullivan also had plenty of experience dealing with hungry bears gained from his service as a park ranger and claimed that this was his 22nd time he hit a bear with a stick in his lifetime.

What a stat. What a stat. How many times have you hit a bear with a stick in your lifetime? Exactly zero. But do you know what? It's that surprising. Isn't it? I'm so outdoorsy. It's, is this, what?

So, with Sully, we could have gone either, the multiple times he survived bear attacks. He's survived more bear attacks than he has lightning strikes, and he's been struck by lightning seven times. Who is this guy? To be fair, it doesn't say all 22 times was a bear attack, maybe he was just going around,

hitting bears. Just punching bears. Maybe he was starting the fight. Sully's got a death wish, for sure. Oh, bear He's just nutting bears Yeah, just with his head Come at me

On fire Oh Wow, okay If he was right I obviously I believe him I'm just gonna say that now Make that clear

I believe Sullivan I believe every man That tells me He's hit a bed If he was a kid in school He's Jay from the in betweeners You're like You're full of shit mate

you're absolutely like yeah I've got 22 girlfriends they all go to different schools but I definitely have them yeah bullshit like I just I feel sorry for him because no one should

The whole time We're really we're really respecting the trauma Sure The suffering But what the fuck go inside Like come on Get a different hobby He's dealing with it well though

Put the fishing rod down He survived all of it Yeah What a life I'm worn out listening to it He puts bag rails to shame Yeah, right. He'd hit Bear Grills in the face with a stick.

How many times does Bear Grills hit a bear? I don't know, I'd like to know. I'd actually have stats on that. Yeah, me too. Get in touch, Bear. Unfortunately. Oh, no. Okay, so this is where it actually gets a bit sad.

So in this case, what didn't kill him didn't really make him stronger. Because as well as physical pain and the fear he lived with, because he literally thought clouds were following him and something was out to get him, he endured loneliness and sadness due to people in the community. avoiding being near him. Bears also weren't a fan. Yeah, he can't even get... Maybe every time he was trying to...

Oh, that dig was trying to make friends... Maybe he was like, hey, bear, do you want to come do some fishing? Like, and then the bear took it the wrong way. I really believe he was the antagonist. The aggressor. The aggressor. Yeah, so due to his situation,

people in the community avoided being near. him out of worry of being electrocuted with him, especially during rainy season. Reportedly, on one occasion, as he was walking with the Chief Park Ranger, they could hear a thunderstorm in the distance. The Park Ranger just push him out of the way. And that was enough for the chief to suddenly just turn at Sullivan and say, well, I'll see you later. Isn't he the safest person to be stood next to? Isn't it like when you go on holiday with

your sister and all the mosquitoes eat her. Yeah. Isn't, don't you want him around? He's literally the conductor. I know because I think it can pass through like with the trees. If you're holding hands. Just don't know what answer them? No, but like, you know the trees bounced.

Oh, okay. Because it goes in because I, the reason I found the story is I found a more recent story in The Guardian about Guy surviving Lightning. Abby reads the Guardian. My mum reads the Guardian and then she sends me the links. And like Lightning went in his head and then Al,

his hand, I think, and then I think it landed on the ground by his wife. So it kind of travels and goes out of your body. So even if it goes into his body, it doesn't mean it'll go into the ground. It could go out and bounce onto someone else. So when he gets struck, he really needs to be like... Yeah, because that's thing, like, you are a conductor, but you can't say where it exits. Right. I'm with you. So it could bounce. Yeah. Imagine if the chief was running away and he just pointed at him. Yeah. Really used the power. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah if you're going to be a superhero with a shit superpower you might as a super villain make it work for you um and that's how julia would yeah if she ever got bitten by a radioactive spider use it i'm taking you

all down for bad i can't speak what words okay okay um well in fact bonus strike uh not included in his seven but sullivan's wife was also struck by lightning once while she was hanging up clothes in the backyard with him for once despite standing next her Sullivan escaped unscathed took his wife that time she left him I don't know he had a moral poor wives and I only found

that out like an hour ago and I didn't need to do the research lonely but well this is the thing so he was lonely but he did have a wife and he had four children and a large extended family that's nice according to his obituary oh okay the inexplicable way lightning seemed to seek out Sullivan is still not

understood. It's likely that he was just very unlucky and spent a lot of time in the mountains, which increased his chances of being struck by lightning. He also had a lot of bad karma for him and all those bears. There are some who suggest that his bad luck could have been related to some genetic or even psychological factor, but Richard Kitthill, head of the National Lightning Safety Institute, told the publication outside of Lightning, it is entirely capricious what does that mean Abby random

very good it's just like so random and unpredictable man's attempts to fit lightning into a convenient box with codes and standards to describe its behaviour are at best a guess

so I did mention an obituary Sullivan lived until he was 71 years old but unfortunately he then took his own life. On the morning of September 28th, 1983, he was found dead on his bed, he'd shot himself in the head

with a shotgun for reasons that are still a basis of a controversy. Some say he took his own life due to unrequited love. Others speculate. His wife Pat killed him. I know. It's the beginning

of a possible murder story. Or others believe he was just tired of constantly looking over his shoulders. I mean, that must be really horrible. Like, anxious. All day every day. And like a genuine reason to be anxious. Yeah.

Like we're walking around anxious because, oh, did I leave the oven on? Yeah, exactly. But this, like, good God. After seven times, you'd be like, well, this is just a yearly event now. But when's it going to happen? He did have a good six years. Without. Without. Before we died. That's nice. He still holds the Guinness World record for the highest number of occasions struck by lightning.

And two of his Ranger hats are on display at two Guinness World Exhibit Halls in New York City and South Carolina. There's another couple of places to add to our, so we've got Falmouth to see the boat, the Robertson Boat, South Carolina. He was described to have always loved the outdoors. He was a brilliant park ranger. and his remains lie at Edgewood Cemetery, Augusta County, Virginia, his tombstone reading, we loved you, but God loved you more. I'd argue, God had a weird way of showing it. And that is the mad seven survivals of Roy Cleveland Sullivan, the human lightning conductor.

Fair play. Slash rod slash spark ranger. Sparky. Sparky boy. So a sad end, but an incredible lifetime. My God. And there's so many pictures of him, yeah, just with his hats. And he never went to the emergency room once. Just a jug of water. That's crazy. Wouldn't you go afterwards just for a checkup? I know. You'd hurt, yeah. Surely. Because like that probably would, having read other lightning stories, it probably would have had an effect on his mental health. And also it sounds like one of them, burnt his insides. Yeah, his digestive tract. So you'd want someone looking at that. I guess he was just too busy with the bear. These country folk, they're hardy.

So what are you adding to the survival kit? Truly, I don't know. A jug of water, I guess. You've got a jug of water, you've got a wet flannel, you've got a big stick, I guess. Well, are we defending ourselves some lightning or bears? Well, we're defending ourselves generally. Anything you could happen is going to go outdoors.

Well, I feel like we'll probably do a bear attack at some point. So let's stick to the lightning for this one. So I'm going either. I think I'm going big jug. Because that did come in handy. He did use it. Or the flannel, yeah. Or a hat or a flannel.

Yeah, but did the hat do anything? The hat never helped. Yeah. Maybe a razor to shave his head. I don't know. I just get rid of the hair all together. Maybe he had like a real cone head. I guess a jug of water.

Okay, Abby, you ready for some listener stories? I'm so ready. So if you have a story where you've survived the worst case scenario, please send your stories to help at WCSpod.com. And we'll read them out. Yeah, that's how it works. That's all we do with it. Okay, this one's from Anna.

Anna says, hi Abby and Julia. Hi, Anna. I was in St. Lucia, fancy. Hi, brow. With my boyfriend at the time. So either that's gone very well or very badly. My dad, his girlfriend, oh sorry, my boyfriend at the time. My dad, his girlfriend at the time.

Wow, these relationships ain't lasted. And we went out for dinner. We were the only people in the restaurant, apart from the stand. I hate that. Do you? Yeah, true. And they listen to all your conversations. And their whole time they're like,

when are they going to fucking leave? Because they want to go home. Yeah. Three men with balaclavas ran in. With guns. Oh my God. One came to my dad and held the gun to his head and asked for money. My dad said he didn't have any in brackets.

He later told me he wasn't going to part with it. Oh my God. Slightly risky decision. What would you do in that? obviously you just hand over everything you got. Yeah. I don't have any cash anyway. Yeah. Have you got an eyes et al? Contactless.

They then went away to battle with the cashier. Also, surely go straight to the cashier. Don't mess with the... I don't know, maybe. Maybe he was a real fancy looking guy. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. They're holidaying in St. Lucia. Yes, good point. Very good point. They were also dripping in diamonds.

That didn't help. They went away to battle with the cashier. and then one of them came and held the gun at my head. Oh my God. And asked if I had any money. And then asked my dad if I had any money. He answered for me because I was just shaking my head, no. He's like, no, we're not giving any of our money over.

Shut up. Yeah. As if we're keeping all the money with the young woman. I've got, like, the dad's like, I've got no money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's all with her. Madness. She's only worth anything if we marry her off into rich family.

And it doesn't sound like that's what happens. My now ex had his eyes shut the whole time. That would have been my approach. Because apparently he was just waiting for them to shoot me. Oh my God. Whilst my dad was thinking about telling us to jump off the balcony, whilst he kept them there so the three of us could be saved. That's nice.

What a dad move. Well, he was thinking about it. He didn't do it. No. We could all think about it. Say after the fact, well, I was thinking of being the hero. I was really thinking of saving you. Didn't do it, but fine.

But then the money was with me, so I thought actually better to save. Yeah. Me. I wanted to get the hell out of there, but we had to wait for the police to come, which also happened to be three ununiformed guys with guns. Oh, my God. So that was another scare. Triggering.

Meanwhile, my dad's ex. Oh, so we were right. Oh, she's gone. Both of them are gone. And did she say her ex? She said, yeah, she said her ex had his eyes shut the whole time. Maybe that's why. No, maybe.

She really's throwing for the man he was. Yeah. My dad's ex wanted to help and started cleaning up all the blood, forgetting it was needed for evidence. That's what my mum would do. Do you think so? Yeah. Can't have this here. Can't leave that there.

She's just like, just how can I help? Yeah. What can I do? Oh. So, we went. to the police station the next day and they said we were lucky the robbers must have been amateurs because normally they would

just shoot you for the jewellery. Oh my God. Yeah. I refused to leave the hotel after that and my dad went back the next day to check all the stuff are okay. Aw. Probably feeling guilty that he didn't step in and save the day like he'd thought like he'd thought about. Yeah.

I still get flashbacks and this was more this was more or less 20 years ago. That's horrifying. That is horrifying. A gun to your head. just must be the scariest thing. Oh my God. I honestly don't know how you deal with that. I would close my eyes.

Yeah, I'd be doing what the boyfriend was doing. I really would have done what the boyfriend had done. Yeah. That's what I do when a plane takes off. I just close my eyes. Do you? I'm just wait for inevitable death. Oh, God.

You're a laugh to be next to, aren't you? Okay, next one. This was from Bethany. Hi, Abby and Julia. I went on holiday to France with my friend, her parents, brother. her parents her brother and his friend so she's on their family holiday right she's a plus one my friend's family are an active bunch and had arranged to go on a canoeing trip one of the days are you fun of a canoe no no okay but i've done it yeah oh oh okay didn't enjoy it though

nearly died yeah okay is every experience is every experience you didn't enjoy a near-death experience. No, no, that one really was. Oh, okay. So, please, go on. Sorry, Bethany. Sorry, Bethany. We'll get to you. This is my listener story. We were, me and my family went on holiday. I don't know where. It was obviously in the UK. And my brother and sister wanted to go sea kayaking. So actually it was a kayak, not a canoe. Oh, I don't want to know then. No, I'm telling you. Okay. So we went sea kayaking and I was like, I don't want to do that because I'm scared of the sea. and then it got to the day and like the alternative

was sitting in a cafe with my parents and I didn't even like drink coffee at the time so I was just like that sounds rubbish and so I had major foamow of my brother and sister going out so I was like okay it's in a boat I don't have to be in the sea I'm in a boat so that's fine

so then we went out turned out real crazy waves that day like really bad weather in these sea kayaks and we were going through caves and the waves were so high we were literally hitting our head on the top of the case. Oh no. Like really, like terrifying.

Like I thought I was going to drown. Yeah. Get out of the cave. Then someone has, in the other group, um, hit their head on like the cliff or the rocks or whatever and is bleeding. Who is running this? Yeah. My sister has to get out of her kayak and swim over because they need help.

Oh. And I'm like, Emily, don't get in the water. There's blood in the water. sharks are on their way. I was like, get out of the fucking water. And then like... The sharks on the coast of Cornwall. Yeah, and then I think like my brother has to get in the boat,

like, they have to like get this person back. Yeah. And I'm just left out and seeing this, but I'm in the kayak on my own in these crazy ways. This story really reflects well on your brother and sister. Yeah, not on me as well. I was like, this blood in the water. I'm not going anywhere.

Like probably, yeah, I can't remember if it was like a cliff jumper or part of the kayak group. So it's a near-death experience for this other person? Yeah, no, not for me. Okay, right. I was fine. I was going to say, when do you get hit on the head in this story?

But, um, yeah, okay, I remembered it as a better story it was, but it was really traumatic at the time. No, that sounds horrible. And I was just like,

I knew this was a bad idea. Yeah. Why am I here? And then we had to all go back in. I just couldn't get, but leave my sister went in the water. Yeah, that's so brave. And like had to swim back

with her boat rather than, yeah, it was really scary. Wow. Anyway, Bethany. So Bethany. Top that. So she's on holiday with her friend's family.

they're canoeing, they're an active family. The dad says, let's go this way. It's not the way they tell you, but the rapids are cool. Which I feel like, let's get the red flags out for that one. Because anybody who's like, it's not the way they tell you, but I think I know better, is the start of every survival story or death story. Yeah. Dad don't come out of this one well.

No. To get to the rapids, we had to go through a concerningly narrow tunnel in the bridge. Anything small. Like, you know how people go pot-holing? What, like a cave? Like a cave? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that stressed me out when you told me that part of the story. I just remember my sister had to get in the water as well because she had to swim that guy's boat as well. She was taking like two boats. We were children as well. She had to take two boats. She must have a very, she must be a very strong swimmer.

She was a strong swimmer, actually. Good for her. Well done, Emily. So that... How about Emily? Though Emily has a stupid survival story that I'll get her told. Oh, great. I can't wait.

okay so they're going through a concerningly narrow tunnel um in the bridge but her dad was confident it was possible i'd be like where are your credentials clive like come on yeah but when it's someone else's dad you can't say no can you yeah for sure you're just like someone else's parents yeah you know when like they're telling off your friend and you're around oh my god yeah the worst possible experience so awkward and then did you ever have a friend who'd like get you involved oh my god oh my god my god my best friend growing up i was so backing out of the room i was like i guess i'll see you at school bye oh smart i used to get dragged into so many god how what did you do well my best friend growing up was like

more more adventurous than me not hard yeah exactly i'm more than adventurous than you and um so she get in trouble quite a lot and i used to be around her house quite a lot okay and so her parents doesn't equal badly bad well yeah but but then her parents would get would tell her for stuff and then she'd be like and then they would both both the parents and her would be like Julia what do you think? Did you her parents pull that like I bet Julia doesn't do that all the time yeah yeah why can't you be more like Julia yeah my mom did that with my friend Lauren when I would have blindly done whatever she'd told me to do so the joke was really on that okay so they go through this narrow bridge um so we push her brother and his friend away

they make it through. I take issue with the order that they send people through this on this story. So just to clarify what they're going through. So they're going through a very narrow, narrow tunnel. Tunnel. Yeah, so like low, they're in a canoe.

Indoor. Not indoors, but yeah, it's covered. Yes. So they send through the brother and his friend first, then they send through the mum and the dad. Yeah, well, she's not related to them. They're like, leave the kid we don't love. With their daughter

Who's friends of them? So no, they're in pairs. Oh, yeah, I see. So the mum and the dad go through, they capsize. Yeah. And then the two girls set off and also capsize

and then get the canoe wedged in the tunnel and lose all of their personal belongings. No. Yeah, which I'm... A canoe is a leisurely. That's not white water kind of. Exactly. The picnic.

Hmm. I mean, I'm concerned that she's underwater and doesn't have gills. Like, let's get up. The sandwich is a soggy. Her phone! We've lost the hummus. No. I don't remember much about going in and under the water.

But as I'm writing this now, I obviously pop back up somehow. I just remember her mum pulling me out as I floated. passed and her dad panicking looking for me as I was going under a lot. None of us spoke French so we had to just scream cub jack, cub jack at people to try and get them to ring the company to come and save us. As you can imagine at this point we all just wanted to drive home but the company made us carry the boats back like a walk of shame. So they should. I've never done anything like that again. I'm scarred for life. I bet that dad was so embarrassed. Imagine he's not talking that is a silent car journey home oh my gosh for sure who i thought they were going to get

stuck under the boat that's always my fear of boats capsizing yeah yeah yeah me too drowning that's my fear yeah yeah yeah but like either getting sucked under by a boat or getting trapped under the boat yes it's very scary yeah yeah yeah yeah okay if you have a story of survival please send Emily Clark. Emily Clark, I want to hear that one. You want to hear your skiing story. Yes, please send it to help. I got too confident.

Send those to help at WCSpod.com. Yes, please. Thank you. And that's it for this week. That's it. Yeah. Thanks for listening. Please come back again next week. Yeah.

Julie's telling a story next week. It's a horrifying one, isn't Julia? It's pretty bad. But then we'll be back with more lightning rods the next week. Okay, thank you for listening. Hope you survive another week. Bye.

Get attacked by an angry shark. Struck up a mountain in the dark. Pushed up the top of a big landmark. Hit by lightning in your local park. Gord in the downpour of acid rain. Struck by meteorore a train. A proton beam passes through your brain. Attacked by that angry shark again.

Hear how they survive. Trappled by a herd of buffalo. Chaited with an axe by your new friend Joe Bered alive in a pile of snow It's the worst case scenario