Imagine Being Hit By A Meteorite And Surviving!

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Categories:: Suggested Articles North American 1950's
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It's only ever happened on one occasion in modern history, and that incident occurred on November 30th, back in 1954 when an Alabama woman named Mrs. Hulett Hodges became the first known person in history to be struck by a meteorite and survive! She was sleeping on a couch at the time of impact. The meteorite measuring seven inches in length, crashed through her roof leaving a three-foot hole. It bounced off her radio, before striking her on the hip.
 
Mrs. Hodges was not permanently injured but suffered a nasty bruise along her hip and leg. The U.S Air Force flew to Alabama and took the nine-pound object back to Washington. However, the Hodges demanded that the rock be returned so their family could keep it as a souvenir. Interestingly, Ancient Chinese records tell of people being injured or killed by falling meteorites and in 1911, a dog in Egypt was killed by a meteorite.
 
 

The meteorite itself is a chondrite meteorite composed of iron and nickel.  It is estimated to be around 4.5 billion years old.  Eventually by the time Mrs Hodges got the meteorite back she was fed up of the whole affair and she gifted it to the Alabama Museum of Natural History.

The incident had brought her fame and she didn’t appreciate it as she was a very private person.  It even caused issues in her marriage as her husband, Eugene, was interested in making money off the meteorite but couldn’t find a buyer.  The couple eventually divorced in 1964, and sadly Mrs Hodges died of kidney failure in a nursing home in 1972.  Will anyone ever be hit again and live to tell the tale?

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