Thanks Brad from Tennessee.
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Posted on 11/30/2013 8:46:16 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee
On November 30, 1954, a meteorite crashed through the roof of a home in a then-unincorporated area near Sylacauga, Talladega County, striking resident Ann E. Hodges (1923-1972). The area was later incorporated as the town of Oak Grove. Hodges was the first person ever to have been injured by a meteorite, and the event caused a nationwide media sensation and a year-long legal battle. The meteorite, which weighs about eight and one-half pounds, is on permanent display at the Alabama Museum of Natural History at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Hodges was napping on her living-room couch at mid-day when the meteorite came through the ceiling, hit a console radio, and smashed into her hip. Awakened by the pain and noise, she thought the gas space heater had exploded. When she noticed a grapefruit-sized rock lying on the floor and a ragged hole in the roof, she assumed children were the culprits. Her mother, Ida Franklin, rushed outside and saw only a black cloud in the sky. Alabamians in and around the area saw the event from a different perspective, with many reporting that they had seen a fireball in the sky and heard a tremendous explosion that produced a white or brownish cloud. Most assumed it involved an airplane accident. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at encyclopediaofalabama.org ...
I started to comment after reading the excerpt. Glad I clicked the link and read the rest of the story. Any day that I can keep from appearing even dumber than I am is a good day.
Great balls of fire!
What would you have said?
And thus the backdrop for today’s Iron Bowl.
(Oh, and this related Public Service Announcement: the state of Alabama will be closed today from approximately 2-6pm local time. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
My husband found a round rock that he has always thought was a meteorite, how can you tell?
Blew my mind when I later learned it had landed so far north. It must have been much further up in the atmosphere than it appeared at the time.
The bolide that I saw was the one that hit the Chevy in 1992 (the Peekskill meteorite)...not the Alabama one.
They’re 5X heavier than a regular rock, and black.
Is there any unusual perturbation of the Oort cloud going on right now?
Check the rock types in the vicinity. If the sample doesn’t match any of them, have a qualified geologist take a look. Though be careful of State appropriation schemes.
I was about to comment that the rock should rightfully belong to the woman who was hit by it, then I read that it was the actual owner of the house that suffered financial damage. The court eventually awarded ownership to the woman who was hit.
Magnet, magnet, magnet!
If one of those strong little shiny “rare earth” magnets doesn’t stick to it, it’s not a meteorite.
Also, if it is porous, or has gas holes like lava, then it isn’t a meteorite (and a magnet won’t stick.)
The exceptions to these simple rules (actually, just the magnet rule) are so rare that experienced meteorite finders never find a non-iron meteorite in their entire careers.
Got one of those nice roadside markers designating the spot a an “Historic” place. Hell, don't laugh. It's a small town and we get our kicks when we can.
So you were right, at least the court agrees with you.
Yep. If they weed out everything that isn't magnetic, they will never "find"/recognize a carbonaceous chondrite...
I remember when Life did a story about this.
That issue is still up in the attic somewhere.
Lucky lady to live after getting hit like that.
Wonder what became of the meteorite.
I tried a magnet, didn’t stick but I have a larger round thing that the magnet did stick to.
I found the larger one on the Yorktown Virginia battle field so I am pretty sure it is a cannon ball..........
who knows...... :)
That's the type of thing that should be placed "on permanent display at the Alabama Museum of Natural History at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa." But that's just my opinion. :-)
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