What It's Like to Be Struck by Lightning

[csziggy]

1. Both my great great grandfather and my father were struck by lightning

Both survived without serious injury.

My father was standing on top of a sand dredge, saw a flash and next thing he knew he was flat on his back on the upper deck of the dredge. He had a small spot on his head where the hair was burned off, but no burn on the skin. We were really lucky that he fell on the deck - if he had fallen into the pond that was being dredged he might have drowned since he was working alone.

My great great grandfather had just come in from picking up his mail, slit open an envelope and was standing at his sink with the knife resting on the handle of the pump. Lightning struck the house, traveled through the wiring, came out through a picture frame, and jumped across the room, striking him. Apparently the connection of the knife on the pump grounded him.

My family has the painting with the damaged picture frame. My grandmother had the letter he'd been holding, which was blown to pieces apparently, but I am not sure if it is still in existence. Grandmother talked about getting it conserved and attaching it to the back of the painting when she wrote about the day her grandfather was struck by lightning.

The picture frame was originally wood covered with gesso with a layer of gilding. Now there is a hole burned through the wood where the lightning came through on a nail holding the hanging wire. The gold leaf has turned a strange silver gray over most of the frame with a few traces of the original gold showing. The painting is a generic Hudson River Valley style and I'm not sure if it has ever been removed from the original, damaged frame.