# Lightnin' Strikes! More Sad, Stupid Deaths
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 21, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949 "2003-07-21T16:55:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/1 "2003-07-21T16:55:25Z")
Now, I am _not_ glad these poor people died—it is very, very sad, and they left behind three children. But for goodness sakes, don’t people know better than this?
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A mother and father who made the mistake of **taking shelter from a storm under a tree** were killed instantly - right before their three youngsters’ eyes. Richard and Lisa Goff died Saturday evening when a thunderstorm with hail, hard rain and a barrage of lightning bolts hit the campground at Crystal Lake, about 60 miles east of Salt Lake City. The parents, both 34, were **sitting on metal chairs** when the bolt came down, the woman’s sister, Lori Ostler, told KUTV-TV of Salt Lake City. The children were expected to be released to their grandparents.
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/2 "2003-07-21T16:58:36Z")
Why weren’t the children hurt too? Who in the hell sits on their ass under sheter and watches their kids get rained on?
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/3 "2003-07-21T17:56:41Z")
> [@](#):
>
> And if you hear it thunder, don’t run under a tree.
Cripes, there are SONGS about how dumb that is!
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/4 "2003-07-21T18:08:56Z")
Could have been worse…
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A father and five mothers…
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/5 "2003-07-21T18:23:45Z")
I don’t think the kids were sitting on aluminum chairs. It sounds like they were under the tree with them, though. Tough break.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/6 "2003-07-21T18:41:00Z")
From a survival of the species viewpoint, the saddest\* part is that this couple managed to reproduce (3 times!) before their untimely end.
- Well, the saddest part is probably the 3 orphaned children, speaking personally.
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### Author:  [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/7 "2003-07-21T19:20:00Z")
And the Darwin Award goes to…
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### Author:  [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/8 "2003-07-21T19:39:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by lieu \*
> \*\*Why weren’t the children hurt too? Who in the hell sits on their ass under sheter and watches their kids get rained on? \*\*
Yes, the children were hurt, too. All three where hospitalized with some first and second degree burns, but were not seriously injured.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/9 "2003-07-21T21:58:37Z")
I knew which story you were talking about before even opening the thread. Really, this story _should_ be a _Simpsons_ episode – remember the Little Miss Springfield winner 🙂 – but that it’s real makes me despair for the species.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/10 "2003-07-21T22:09:26Z")
Just for the record, it’s no more dangerous to sit on a metal chair under a tree in lightning storm than it is to stand under the tree wearing rubber-soled shoes. It’s the being under the tree at all that’s the dumb, dangerous part. The metal chairs had nothing whatosever to do with this accident.
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### Author:  [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/11 "2003-07-21T22:56:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \*
> \*\*Just for the record, it’s no more dangerous to sit on a metal chair under a tree in lightning storm than it is to stand under the tree wearing rubber-soled shoes. It’s the being under the tree at all that’s the dumb, dangerous part. The metal chairs had nothing whatosever to do with this accident. \*\*
Not quite true, although I’ve always wondered why anyone would think 1 inch of rubber would matter to a bolt that just penetrated some incredible amount of air.
When caught in a lightning storm, it is important to keep your feet as close together as possible. Doing so minimizes the voltage drop across your body, which minimizes the current flow. That is why it sucks to be a cow in a lightning storm. I suspect the parents died and the kids survived, because the kids had their feet closer together than the dimensions of the parents’ chairs.
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### Author:  [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2003, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/12 "2003-07-22T01:30:21Z")
Maybe the husband was broaching the subject of getting another wife.
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### Author:  [@im2evil4u](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/im2evil4u)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/13 "2003-07-22T01:42:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I suspect the parents died and the kids survived, because the kids had their feet closer together than the dimensions of the parents’ chairs
It was reported here in NYC that the children were sitting on their parents laps at the time the lightning struck.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/14 "2003-07-22T01:57:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by SlowMindThinking \*
> **When caught in a lightning storm, it is important to keep your feet as close together as possible. Doing so minimizes the voltage drop across your body, which minimizes the current flow. That is why it sucks to be a cow in a lightning storm.**
Gonna have to call bullshit on that one. Got a cite to back you up? I fail to see how the distance between your feet is going to alter the voltage drop across your body significantly in a _vertical_ voltage gradient–the lightning is most likely to strike high up on your body at or near the head, and tend to travel downward, towards ground.
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### Author:  [@drpepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drpepper)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lightnin-strikes-more-sad-stupid-deaths/189949/15 "2003-07-22T02:11:08Z")
Have to dutifully trot out a Homer Simpson quote here.
“…then sheilding myself with a large sheet of aluminum, I took refuge under the _tallest tree I could find_…”