The odds of something like this happening to anyone are infinitesimally small, so it’s not the sort of thing you’d worry about—but it actually happened, and the woman who lived through it survived, mostly by luck. From Scientific American:
A woman in Canada narrowly missed being struck by a meteorite that crashed through her roof and landed on her pillow.
Ruth Hamilton, a resident of Golden, British Columbia, was asleep in her bed on the night of Oct. 3 when she was jolted awake by an explosive bang, as something plummeted through the roof and showered her with debris, Hamilton told Victoria News on Oct. 8.
She jumped out of bed and turned on the light, discovering a rock lying nestled between her pillows, right next to the spot where her head had been moments earlier. The object was about the size of a fist and weighed about 2.8 pounds (1.3 kilograms), The New York Times reported on Thursday (Oct. 14).
The cop Hamilton called to investigate suspected that the rock might be debris from a nearby construction project, but, when called, a representative of the construction company said there was no blasting that night. However, he did note that there was “a bright light in the sky that had exploded and caused some booms.” It then became clear that the rock on Hamilton’s pillow was not from this world.
Hamilton was luckier than Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, who was also wakened by a meteor falling into her house in 1954. It hit her, bruising her badly, after coming through the ceiling of her house and bouncing off a radio console.
Scientists have not yet gotten their hands on the meteor, but Hamilton has sent it to Western University in Ontario for study.
"We’re trying to reconstruct what the path was through the sky as it arrived," Phil McCausland, a geophysicist at Western University, said. "Because it’s scientifically even more valuable if we can reconstruct what the orbit was before it hit the Earth. It gives us an idea of where it came from."
The research team is pleading with people in the area to come forward with any other pieces of evidence of a meteorite impact.
They are seeking videos from anyone who may have recorded the fall of the meteor. Because it’s a rock that is older than the Earth, it may contain clues about the origin of the Solar System.
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From inkstainedwretch:
Frank Pedraza posted this comment in ShowerCap’s recommended post on our most recent week of chaos. Funny as heck but, sadly, all too true.
Highlighted by Mnbmj56:
This comment by Captain Frogbert posted in Greg Dworkin’s Abbreviated Pundit Roundup this morning.
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