# Has anyone ever been hit by a falling penny? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 11, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-hit-by-a-falling-penny/80821 "2001-09-11T04:24:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-hit-by-a-falling-penny/80821/1 "2001-09-11T04:24:16Z")
…thrown off of the Empire State Building or by a bullet hot into the air? ---
**Author:** ![Sultan\_Kinkari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Sultan\_Kinkari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sultan_Kinkari)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-hit-by-a-falling-penny/80821/2 "2001-09-11T04:47:13Z")
_Shot_ ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-hit-by-a-falling-penny/80821/3 "2001-09-11T05:05:48Z")
This is strictly a memory from my early youth/adulthood. I grew up around Wash. DC. I think I remember some jerk dropping a marble or something from the top of the Washington Monument around the 1960’s or 70’s and it lodged in some poor woman’s shoulder. Sorry, but it probably was in Washington Post. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Stewart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Dave\_Stewart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Stewart)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-hit-by-a-falling-penny/80821/4 "2001-09-11T05:32:11Z")
PJ O’Rourke’s book “Give War a Chance” talks about casualties from celebratory bullets being shot into the air after the liberation of Kuwait. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-hit-by-a-falling-penny/80821/5 "2001-09-11T07:19:35Z")
[Would a penny dropped from the Empire State Building kill someone on the ground?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_225.html) by Cecil Adams [This item](http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2000/12/30/ai/) mentions several incidents of people being hit by bullets from guns fired in the air. Some were fatal. I seem to remember that in Romania (or Bulgaria?) it is common practice to fire guns into the air as part of a wedding celebration, and people have been hit by the falling bullets there. ---
**Author:** ![NutWrench](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nutwrench/32/20193_2.png) [@NutWrench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutWrench)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-hit-by-a-falling-penny/80821/6 "2001-09-11T11:48:33Z")
Pennies are not very streamlined, so I’m guessing they don’t have the chance to build up a lot of speed. I believe the marble and bullet stories, though. –Nut ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_the\_Advancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Lance\_the\_Advancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_the_Advancer)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2001, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-hit-by-a-falling-penny/80821/7 "2001-09-11T12:39:31Z")
This is from memory, but on New Year’s in Houston a few years back, some idiot shot a pistol into the air and it hit a guy across town. I’ll find a cite if it’s needed. ---
**Author:** ![Perderabo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Perderabo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perderabo)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2001, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-hit-by-a-falling-penny/80821/8 "2001-09-12T14:42:40Z")
In [Can a bullet fired into the air kill someone when it comes down?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a950414b.html), Cecil retreats a little from the comments in his earlier column. > [@](#): > > In fact, maybe I need to rethink my dismissive comments about the danger of throwing a > penny off the Empire State Building, although I still think the penny’s tumbling in the updrafts would render it harmless.