The fear of lightning, one of the most common phobias, sends roughly ten percent of folks sprinting for cover when a storm rolls in. While many dread a bolt from the sky, the actual odds are surprisingly low – about a one‑in‑3,000 chance of being struck over a lifetime and roughly one‑in‑700,000 in any given year.^[1] Still, certain factors – like living in lightning‑rich regions of the Southeast or simply spending a lot of time outdoors – can bump those numbers up. For most of us, the statistics are reassuring, unless you happen to share the bizarre luck of the ten people who made history by getting zapped more than once.

10 people who – Jim Lamey: Twice In His House

Even the safest advice – stay indoors during a thunderstorm – didn’t keep Jim Lamey completely out of harm’s way. In 2009, while taking a shower at his Pennsylvania home, a bolt slammed into the house, traveled through the water pipes, and gave Jim a jolt that threw him out of the tub. His son, nearby, pulled him to safety just in time to prevent a drowning.

Six years later, Jim suffered a second strike, this time while washing dishes. The lightning surged through the sink, knocked him unconscious, and he awoke later seated in a chair with a painful stomach, bewildered about how he got there. Both incidents left him with burn scars but no lasting injuries.

Alexander Mandon: Four Times In Six Months

Alexander Mandon’s lightning saga began while he served in the Colombian army, where he was struck three separate times. After his discharge, fate wasn’t done with him – a fourth bolt hit him in 2013. The most peculiar part of his story is the “cure” prescribed by his town doctor: bury him with his head protruding from the ground for two hours so the earth could absorb the lingering electricity.

Unfortunately, the doctor mixed up the instructions, having Alexander lie down instead of stay upright while underground. The odd remedy sparked more headlines than the strikes themselves, and one can only hope he got a refund for the mishap.

Bob Edwards: Three Times, Twice On The Same Road

Bob Edwards of North Carolina endured three lightning blows, two of which occurred on the exact same stretch of road. The third incident unfolded in 2012 when he left a restaurant and headed to his truck. The strike knocked him down, and he had to crawl back to the eatery, where a little girl spotted him and alerted her father for help.

Bob describes the sensation as a hammer smashing his chest. Afterward, he wrestled with ringing ears, blurred vision, and a metallic taste. The earlier strike on that road in 1997 required three revivals, and a 2009 hit in South Carolina added to his tally. Though he escaped lasting physical harm, he now copes with PTSD that has strained his career and relationships.

Bill Cowern: Twice

Physics Girl’s father, Bill Cowern, first felt lightning’s wrath at age twelve. While swimming in a lake with friends, a bolt struck the far side of the water, sending a tingling charge through the surface. He and his pals fled the water, but on his way home through a pine stand, a nearby tree was hit, knocking Bill unconscious for about an hour and a half.

Decades later, a storm forced Bill indoors to work in his garage. Another lightning‑hit tree sent a surge through the ground, jolting him as he bent over. The muscle spasm forced his body to straighten, but once again he escaped permanent damage.

Walter Summerford: Three Times In Life, Once In Death

Walter Summerford’s lightning legend began in 1918 when, as a British major serving in World War I, a bolt knocked him off his horse. After the war he moved to Vancouver, where a 1924 fishing trip ended with a nearby tree struck, sending electricity through the ground into his body. In 1930, a stroll through a park resulted in his third strike, leaving him paralyzed.

Two years later, Walter passed away and was buried. Yet the stormy drama continued: four years after his interment, lightning cracked his gravestone, marking a post‑mortem fourth strike.

Casey Wagner: Twice In A Split Second

Texas rodeo clown Casey Wagner was enjoying the annual “Rednecks with Paychecks” shindig in Saint Jo when a storm rolled overhead. Seeking shelter with friends, he stood near a tree when lightning struck – not once, but twice, within a heartbeat. He likened the sound to two shotguns firing back‑to‑back.

The rapid double‑zap was a stark reminder to avoid trees during thunderstorms. Fortunately, Casey walked away with his life intact.

Michael Cannon: Three Times

Alabama native Michael Cannon has endured three lightning encounters. At sixteen, he and his dad were erecting a fence when a bolt struck the structure about half a mile away, traveled down the fence, and hit Michael – a sight he describes as literally watching a ball of electricity descend.

The second strike occurred while he was working beneath a truck, with the charge traveling through damp ground to reach him. The third happened in a friend’s barn, where he was examining an old car; the bolt fried his hands, singed the hair off his knuckles, and rendered him unconscious.

Beth Peterson: Twice

Army specialist turned author Beth Peterson chronicled her harrowing experience in Life After Lightning. Her first strike came in July 1992 at Fort Benning, Georgia, when a bolt hit her head‑on while she was walking outdoors. She claims the encounter led to a near‑death experience where a divine voice offered her a choice between staying in heaven or returning to Earth with pain, but the chance to help others.

Exactly a year later, she was struck again while still in Georgia. The second bolt caused severe injuries: all ten of her toes were amputated, she now battles debilitating headaches, and she suffers panic attacks whenever storms loom.

Roy Sullivan: Seven Times

Roy Sullivan holds the Guinness World Record for the most lightning strikes survived – seven in total. As a park ranger in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, his job kept him outdoors, increasing his exposure. One spectacular strike even set his hair ablaze.

After the third bolt, Roy grew convinced the clouds were chasing him, prompting a frantic run that still ended with a strike. Though he survived all seven, he tragically died in 1983 from a self‑inflicted gunshot wound, unrelated to his lightning history and reportedly spurred by unrequited love.

Melvyn Roberts: 11 Times

South Carolina’s Melvyn Roberts made headlines when he reported six lightning strikes by 2011 and five more by 2015, totaling eleven. His encounters ranged from sitting on a porch to being jolted twice while riding a lawnmower. His wife now stays well clear during storms, joking that “someone has to call for emergency.”

Roberts’ medical dossier is stacked high, and he’s become something of a local celebrity among physicians. He describes the sensation as being cooked from the inside out. The repeated assaults have left him with lingering headaches, speech difficulties, nerve damage, and memory loss, even affecting recollection of his children’s early years.

Kevin Klatman, a stand‑up comedian, writer, and host of the popular podcast I Hate the Internet, has featured Roberts in his shows.

Welcome to a deep dive into the world of the 10 mysterious disappearances that have left historians, investigators, and curious minds scratching their heads. From legendary aviators to massive steamships, these ten transport marvels vanished without a trace, sparking endless speculation and intrigue.

1 Waratah

The SS Waratah was a grand steamship that ferried passengers between Europe and Australia, boasting capacity for 700 travelers and 100 first‑class cabins. In 1909, during its homeward journey, the vessel was sighted at Durban, South Africa, before it was slated to call at Cape Town. After leaving Durban, the ship never arrived at its next port, and its fate remains a mystery. Researchers point to the rough weather encountered on the Durban‑to‑Cape Town leg as a possible cause of a catastrophic sinking, but no wreckage has ever been located. The disappearance of the SS Waratah continues to haunt maritime historians.

2 Malaysian Airlines Flight 370

In 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 departed for Beijing with 239 souls aboard. Roughly an hour after take‑off, the aircraft inexplicably lost contact with air‑traffic control, and no distress signals were emitted. Radar data later revealed that the plane deviated westward, contrary to its intended northeasterly track. Despite extensive multinational search efforts across the Indian Ocean, only scant debris has ever been recovered, and the main fuselage remains undiscovered. The continued mystery surrounding MH370 exemplifies one of the most perplexing modern aviation losses.

3 SS Arctic

The American vessel SS Arctic collided with a French iron steamer in 1854. While neither ship sank immediately, the impact caused massive casualties, with roughly 350 lives lost. Notably, no women or children survived aboard the Arctic. After the collision, the damaged American ship attempted to reach shore but never succeeded; it ultimately sank during the return attempt. A monument in Brooklyn now commemorates the tragedy, preserving the memory of those who perished in this early maritime disaster.

4 Flying Tiger Line Flight 739

On a fateful night in 1962, the chartered Lockheed Constellation of Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 vanished en route to the Philippines, carrying over 90 passengers. The aircraft never issued a distress call, suggesting a rapid, catastrophic event. A ship sailing beneath the flight path reported a luminous flash in the sky, interpreted by the crew as an explosion. Conspiracy theories have floated around possible hijacking or sabotage, yet no concrete evidence has surfaced. The loss of all aboard cements Flight 739’s place among the most baffling aviation mysteries.

5 USS Capelin

The USS Capelin, a World War II‑era submarine, earned distinction by sinking a Japanese cargo ship on its inaugural patrol. Following a brief repair stop in Darwin, Australia, the sub set out on a second patrol. Shortly after departure, the vessel vanished without trace. Minefields laid along its projected route are suspected as the likely cause, though no definitive proof exists. All 76 crew members were lost, and the wreckage remains undiscovered, leaving the Capelin shrouded in mystery.

6 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571

In 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 embarked on a routine journey to Chile with 45 passengers and crew. The aircraft crashed high in the Andes, killing several occupants instantly. The survivors faced a brutal ordeal lasting 72 days, enduring freezing temperatures, scant supplies, and a deadly avalanche that claimed eight more lives. Desperation forced the remaining survivors to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. Ultimately, only 16 individuals emerged from the ordeal, their story becoming an emblem of human endurance amid tragedy.

7 SY Aurora

The steam yacht SY Aurora began life as a whaling vessel before earning fame on five Antarctic expeditions. Renowned for braving some of the planet’s harshest seas, the ship proved its mettle time and again. In 1917, while transporting a cargo of coal to Chile, the Aurora vanished without a trace. Many historians suspect the disappearance was linked to wartime hazards of World I, yet the exact cause remains unconfirmed. The loss of this once‑indomitable craft adds another layer to the saga of vanished vessels.

8 Stardust

British South American Airways’ aircraft Stardust disappeared over the Andes in 1947. Minutes before vanishing, the pilot transmitted a cryptic Morse‑code signal reading “STENDEC,” fueling speculation ranging from UFO abduction to technical malfunction. Decades later, climbers uncovered wreckage on a remote mountain peak, along with skeletal remains of several passengers. Researchers now believe the crash triggered an avalanche that buried the aircraft beneath snow, delaying its discovery for over half a century.

9 Madagascar

The merchant vessel Madagascar set sail from Melbourne bound for London in 1853, carrying 110 passengers, wool, rice, and two tons of gold. Just before departure, three passengers were arrested, leading to speculation that criminal elements may have been aboard. Some theories suggest a mutiny or robbery resulting in the murder of the remaining travelers, while others propose a catastrophic maritime accident. To this day, the ultimate fate of the Madagascar remains unresolved, adding a tantalizing mystery to its already dramatic pre‑voyage events.

10 Amelia Earhart’s Plane

Our final and perhaps most iconic case is the disappearance of Amelia Earhart’s Lockheed Electra in 1937. On a daring attempt to circumnavigate the globe, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan vanished somewhere over the vast Pacific. exhaustive search efforts failed to locate any trace, spawning countless theories about their fate. In 2017, a controversial hypothesis emerged, suggesting the duo survived a crash on the Marshall Islands and were captured by Japanese forces—a claim based on a 1937 photograph showing a barge towing an unidentified aircraft, allegedly featuring Noonan and the back of a woman presumed to be Earhart. Though largely discredited, the theory underscores the enduring fascination with this historic disappearance.

Most UFO sightings involve a single observer, which makes it tough to convince skeptics that the event wasn’t just a trick of the mind. Yet, there are cases where several people have simultaneously witnessed the phenomenon, and that completely shifts the narrative. Below we count down the top 10 little‑known multi‑witness UFO incidents that have left both the public and investigators baffled.

10 Hudson Valley Sightings

Why the top 10 little sightings matter

As the Fourth of July fireworks began to light up the Hudson Valley sky in late June 1983, a low‑drone hum cut through the celebratory blasts, heralding the arrival of a massive disc‑shaped object described as “about the width of sixteen or seventeen houses!”

The craft hovered silently above the crowd; the humming ceased, and the disc hung in the air, unnervingly still. Minutes later the hum returned, and the object shot away at extraordinary speed.

This episode was one of many sightings recorded in the valley during the early 1980s, but it stood out because of the sheer number of eyewitnesses who reported the event.

On March 24, 1983, a surge of reports about strange lights and a mysterious craft in Yorktown overwhelmed the town’s switchboard. The Taconic Parkway became a traffic jam of stunned drivers who stopped their cars to stare skyward at the presumed UFO gliding overhead.

9 Arthur Kill River Incident

During the night of July 14‑15, 2001, a group of at least fifteen onlookers reported golden‑orange lights forming a V‑shaped pattern over the Arthur Kill River along the New Jersey Turnpike. Witnesses debated whether the lights were separate objects or part of a single, larger V‑shaped craft.

Other observers described a more scattered arrangement, noting that the lights faded one by one into the darkness. Newark Airport was contacted, but radar revealed nothing unusual, and the National Weather Service confirmed clear skies that evening.

Veronica Bagley managed to record the phenomenon on video, while Patty Ercallino called the experience “very peaceful, very serene, and very beautiful,” even suggesting it might have been a “miracle.”

8 The Cosford Incident

UFO researcher Nick Pope reported that over a hundred individuals saw an unidentified craft on the night of March 30‑31, 1993, across western England. Many of those who reported the sighting were police officers or military personnel, and Pope investigated the case while serving with the British Ministry of Defence.

The majority described a triangular object moving at a breakneck pace. One policeman, accompanying a scout group on the Quantock Hills in Somerset, likened the craft to “two Concordes flying side by side and joined together.” Additional reports came from Cornwall, Devon, the West Midlands, and two RAF bases—Shawbury and Cosford—yet neither base detected the craft on radar. Pope deemed the incident of “considerable defence significance” and urged further inquiry.

7 Ellsworth Air Force Base Sighting

On the evening of August 5, 1953, a sizable group of military personnel at Ellsworth Air Force Base, along with 45 nearby residents, observed a bizarre aerial event. The first report came just after 8:00 PM from Mrs. Kellian, a volunteer with the Ground Observer Corps, who saw a vivid red glow high in the clear night sky.

Following protocol, she immediately relayed the sighting to the base’s radar operator. The object was picked up on radar, heading straight for the base, prompting an F‑84 jet on patrol to investigate.

When the F‑84 approached within five kilometres, the UFO accelerated away. A second F‑84 pilot also visualized the disc, but both aircraft experienced strange malfunctions and could not keep pace, ultimately returning to base.

6 Exeter

Norman Muscarello was hitchhiking home near Exeter, New Hampshire, in the early hours of September 3, 1965, when he spotted a bright light racing toward him. He dove onto the roadside to avoid being struck, only for the object to swerve away at the last second, prompting him to flee the area.

Earlier, Officer Eugene Bertrand had encountered a frightened woman in a parked car who claimed a “flying object” was chasing her. Bertrand, assuming she was mistaken, dismissed her concerns and continued his patrol.

Around 3:00 AM Muscarello arrived at the Exeter Police Station, where Bertrand later joined him to investigate the reported sighting. Both men returned to the same stretch of Route 150, where the craft reappeared, approached them, and then vanished, leading to a flood of additional reports.

5 The Greifswald Lights

Beginning in early August 1990, residents along the Baltic Sea coast reported strange spherical lights. By August 24, the phenomenon had moved inland, with townspeople in Greifswald, eastern Germany, observing the luminous spheres hovering motionlessly for roughly thirty minutes.

The event appeared to involve two distinct clusters. The first formed a circle that remained largely still, moving only as a single unit. The second cluster arranged itself in a Y‑shape, with the lights moving independently of one another.

Both the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and mainstream scientists have been unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the Greifswald lights, leaving the case one of the most thoroughly documented yet unresolved sightings.

4 Fort Beaufort

Bennie Smit, a farmer near Fort Beaufort in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, was convinced that he and his workers had witnessed a secret military craft on June 26, 1972, rather than an extraterrestrial vessel.

When the workers gathered in a shed, they reported a strange object hovering above a field. Smit inspected the scene himself and, believing the craft to be a top‑secret aircraft, opened fire with his .303 rifle. The bullets struck the object but caused no apparent damage.

Local police arrived just in time to see the craft land. The UFO resembled an oil drum with three distinct legs. Sergeant Kitching also fired at the object, prompting it to shift colors—from black to green, then yellow, and finally a pale white—before it lifted off, emitting a whirring sound.

The whirring grew louder as the craft ascended, then faded as it vanished from view.

3 Sighting Over Houston Goes Viral Online

On August 11, 2014, hundreds of Houstonians observed a circle of lights hovering in the evening sky. Photographs quickly spread across social media, and video footage later showed the lights moving independently rather than forming a static circle.

Dr. Carolyn Sumners of the Houston Museum of Natural Science warned against jumping to alien conclusions, urging investigators to consider alternative explanations before attributing the phenomenon to extraterrestrials.

Witnesses offered varied theories: some believed the lights were alien, while others suspected a government drone or reflections from a nearby football stadium.

2 Mass UFO Sighting During Baseball Game

During a 2013 minor‑league baseball game between the Vancouver Canadians and the Everett AquaSox, the crowd’s attention was diverted to a strange triangular object with illuminated edges hovering over the field.

Initial speculation ranged from a remote‑control helicopter to a possible government drone, but a local newspaper suggested the most likely source was a remote‑controlled device.

Weeks later, it was revealed that the sighting was a marketing stunt designed to promote a new planetarium theater at Vancouver’s H.R. MacMillan Space Center, explaining why the city recorded an unusually high number of UFO reports that year.

1 The Trindade UFO Incident

In October 1957, the Brazilian Navy established a scientific research station on the remote island of Trindade. By January 1958, the garrison began reporting a series of bizarre UFO encounters.

On New Year’s Day, the entire base witnessed a bright light sweeping across the sky. The following evening, a luminous object circled one of the navy ships for ten minutes, executing rapid, precise maneuvers.

On January 6, Commander Carlos A. Bacellar launched a weather balloon, only to see its telemetry cease as the balloon was seemingly “sucked” into a cloud and vanished. Minutes later the balloon re‑emerged, stripped of its instruments, while a silver object emerged from the same cloud.

On January 16, the crew of a navy vessel off Trindade observed a bright object moving directly over the ship toward the island. Photographs captured by an onboard observer were promptly released to the press, cementing the incident’s place in UFO history.