I'm Laura Norton, and this is one strange thing.

The show where we search the nation's news archives for stories that can't quite be explained.

Thank you. This week, we start with storms.

The serious kind, rolling thunder, torrential rain, wind tearing through tree branches.

And then there's the lightning, flashing across skies and striking earth, trees, power lines. Transformers popping and crackling. Forest fires. Lightning can do

a lot of damage, especially when it strikes people. Being struck by lightning is certainly rare,

so much so that we pull out that well-worn comparison when we want to prove how unlikely

something else is. But it does happen, and the results can vary incredibly widely. Some victims are left with lasting effects, burns, pain, memory loss, broken bones.

Many are knocked unconscious by the initial strike, and that can trigger a heart attack or seizures.

According to ABC News, although 9 out of 10 lightning strike victims survive, many

need CPR to restart their hearts. We've gotten pretty serious here. Sorry about that, but it's

important to express how very dangerous a lightning strike can be. Effects can be long-lasting and debilitating.

But that said, not every strike is serious. Some folks do seem to escape unscathed. There are even

those who are hit more than once and live to tell the tale.

Though scientists have discounted the idea that a person could be a human lightning rod,

that is, that they could somehow attract electricity, there are many recorded instances of people

who've been struck again and again. Even Martha Stewart, yes, that Martha Stewart,

has been hit three times. According to Martha Stewart magazine, she was in her own home on at

least two of those occasions. On one occasion, she was washing dishes at her sink during a storm,

and lightning struck her well.

The electricity traveled up the metal pipes and straight into Martha's soapy hands.

She told S.F.Gate, quote,

...