My Dad's Stories About Lightning

The lightning outside reminded me of some stories that my dad told me about being struck by lightning.

One of those stories happened when my dad was a kid. He was riding his horse to town and it started pouring rain. So, he took shelter under a very tall tree. Then, lightning struck that tree. He said that was because lighting will strike the highest point, and that tree must have been the tallest tree around.

Another story that my dad told me about lightning also happened when he was a kid. He was playing a bugle in the hallway of his house. He was struck by lightning. The bugle flew out a window at one end of the hallway, and my dad landed in a bathroom at the other end of the hallway.

Another story that my dad told about lightning happened when he was an adult. He took about 40 kids on a canoe trip that started in Ely, Minnesota. The trip involved canoeing, fishing, and swimming in some crystal clear lakes. It involved portaging into Canada.

–One of the kids was on an island across the lake from the island where the rest of us were camped. Rain started pouring down, and my dad paddled a canoe across the lake to bring the kid back to the island where the rest of us were camped.

–My father reached out toward the kid to help him get into the canoe when lightning struck right between their hands, knocked the kid backward several feet and knocked my dad out of the canoe.

Another story that my dad told me about lightning was about a preacher who was fishing in a boat with some buddies in the middle of a lake. Rain started pouring down. The preacher stood up in the boat and said “God, take me now!” And God did.