Life is imbued with lots of amazing stories, some of which would either make you laugh, cry, or cringe. Major Walter Summerford who got hit four times by lightning is indeed a case that would make you cringe.
The National Severe Storms Laboratory reveals that the possibility of you being hit by lightning throughout your life is an estimated 1 in 13,000. Hence, it is close to not even happening at all in a several million cases. Lightning bolts surging through an individual’s body can measure up to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit – about five time’s the heat of the sun’s surface!
The event can produce a very devastating effect in the life of any individual. However, the case of a lightning strike in the rate of mortality is considerably minimal. But people who are able to escape a bad hit to survive a lightning attack are often left with neurological and profound cardiovascular complications.
Despite the low mortality rate of lightning strike on humans, former British officer, Major Walter Summerfold who partook in battling enemies during the First World War against the Germans was never lucky with lightning strikes. While his colleagues were busy giving their German enemies hell and dodging bullets at the war front, Walter Summerford got a shocking hit from the sky.
He got struck by lightning!
Walter was on his horse galloping through a field in Belgium when he got lit with the first lightning strike. The deadly impact threw him off his horse, and left him paralyzed from his waist down.
After being forced to retire early based on his condition, he commenced a new life in Vancouver, Canada. He grew passionate with multiple amazing outdoor activities at his new residence. And then went fishing at a local river shore in 1924.
Walter Summerford chose to while out a bit under a tree which turned out to be the wrong tree at the time! Without any prior notice, he got hit by a lightning bolt which struck the tree. The lightning surged through him, and left him paralyzed completely on the right side of his body.
But luckily, he survived the attack!
In fact, he regained his two legs after about two years, and spent a lot of time putting them to use.
In 1930, Walter Summerford decided to exercise his feet through a park. It was a warm summer day that ushered in a warm unexpected end to the former British officer. The sky grew dark with gloomy clouds that seemed all too familiar for Walter, and for the third time in a very rare situation, a lightning bolt rumbled down from the sky and charged directly at him with intense force that sent he paralyzed totally.
And after battling with the complications resulted from the unfortunate situation, for two years, Walter Summerford died. He died in 1932.
It was meant to be the end of unexpected lightning strikes to the good embattled late Walter. His family, friends, and sympathizers gather around to mourn his passing, while being buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver.
Though he is finally gone, think again, they say Mother Nature is fickle, but we should quickly add that she is equally forgetful. The odds were defied in 1936.
Four years after passing on, Walter rested quietly in his grave when the sky gave way for one more lightning strike. And out of the numerous places it could hit on the planet, it chose to hit right through the gravestone of the late officer!
The very bizarre lightning occurrences that resonate the life of Walter Summerford had given way to multiple research over the years. Benjamin Franklin performed the first scientific study, however despite the huge advancement witnessed in technology to provide more in-depth answers on research questions, a lot are however still left unanswered. For instance, how a thundercloud charges and how a spark of lightning is triggered.
And with even so much unprovided answers to uncovered mysteries, we may say that Walter Summerfold who got hit by lightning three times in a lifetime and once after death – every six years between 1918 and 1936 – we can easily affirm that he was one of the unfortunate people in the history of mankind.
