# Most recent human to be killed by a meteorite/object from space? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 17, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580 "2015-09-17T18:25:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/1 "2015-09-17T18:25:58Z")
What is the most recent, reliably documented case of a human to be killed by the impact - or the consequences of an impact - of a meteorite? Have there been any cases? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/2 "2015-09-17T18:35:15Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > What is the most recent, reliably documented case of a human to be killed by the impact - or the consequences of an impact - of a meteorite? Have there been any cases? [Maybe, in 1677.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylacauga_%28meteorite%29) Could be true, might not. Otherwise, I don’t know of any deaths. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/3 "2015-09-17T18:49:35Z")
The only human strike I’m aware of is [Ann Hodges](http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/02/130220-russia-meteorite-ann-hodges-science-space-hit/) of Alabama who was hit while laying on her couch back in 1954. While injured, she did survive. ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/4 "2015-09-17T19:05:42Z")
According to this article there are a number of documented cases: [1997JIMO...25..222G Page 222](http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/full/seri/JIMO./0025//0000222.000.html) . The latest one seems to have been in Yugoslavia in 1929. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/5 "2015-09-17T20:16:14Z")
More recent meteorites haven’t killed people, but they’ve taken it out on cars: Peekskill, 1992 [http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap021118.html](http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap021118.html) > **[Peekskill meteorite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peekskill_meteorite)** > > The Peekskill meteorite is among the most historic meteorite events on record. Sixteen separate video recordings document the meteorite burning through the Earth's atmosphere in October 1992, whereupon it struck a parked car in Peekskill, New York, United States. The Peekskill meteorite is an H6 monomict breccia; its filigreed texture is the result of the shocking and heating following the impact of two asteroids in outer space. The meteorite is of the stony variety and approximate The meteorite ... [http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/17/it-came-from-the-sky-the-meteorite-that-mangled-the-malibu-vertical-dek-when-marie-kanpp-s-teenage-daughter-told-her-i-think-a-meteorite-hit-my-car-she-was-telling-the-truth-michael-daly-reports.html](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/17/it-came-from-the-sky-the-meteorite-that-mangled-the-malibu-vertical-dek-when-marie-kanpp-s-teenage-daughter-told-her-i-think-a-meteorite-hit-my-car-she-was-telling-the-truth-michael-daly-reports.html) Ann Arbor, MI 1997 [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=24337](http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=24337) Park Forest, Ill. 2003 [http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=18106](http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?code=18106) Quebec, 2013 > **[Quebec, Canada - Meteorite Hits Car? 21MAY2013](https://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2013/05/quebec-canada-meteorite-hits-car.html)** > > A blog about meteors, meteorites, fireballs, bolides, meteorites, meteor showers, comets. Make a meteor sighting report on this website. Thank you. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/b-P0JDXluj8/hqdefault.jpg "Meteorite hits car in Quebec, 21 May 2013") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-P0JDXluj8) Kettering, Ohio, 2014 [http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/kettering-man-meteorite-broke-my-buick/nf7Yg/](http://www.whio.com/news/news/local/kettering-man-meteorite-broke-my-buick/nf7Yg/) Here’s a listing of meteorite strikes on people and objects [http://imca.cc/old\_site/metstruck.html](http://imca.cc/old_site/metstruck.html) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/6 "2015-09-17T20:25:39Z")
According to that last site, one man died of fright in 2003 in India, a cow was killed in Venezurla in 1972, and a fisherman in Thailand was struck in 1981. The page lists several animals killed and people struck, but lists no clear deaths back to 1800. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/7 "2015-09-18T01:44:50Z")
The most recent humans to be killed by an object impacting the Earth from space were [Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, and Laurel Clark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster), in 2003. It was not, however, a meteor. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/8 "2015-09-18T02:12:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The most recent humans to be killed by an object impacting the Earth from space were [Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, and Laurel Clark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster), in 2003. It was not, however, a meteor. Yeah, but they were the objects from space! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/9 "2015-09-18T02:20:42Z")
Apparently, two people died in the Tunguska event. > **[The Tunguska event | CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/the-tunguska-event-1.742329)** > > On June 30, 1908, an enormous detonation left an indelible mark near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in the Siberian region of Russia. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/10 "2015-09-18T02:32:41Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Apparently, two people died in the Tunguska event. > > [The Tunguska event | CBC News](http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/the-tunguska-event-1.742329) IIRC, it was from the fire, not by the impact. But still, they wouldn’t have died if not for the event. Herd of reindeer died, too. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/11 "2015-09-18T12:58:05Z")
Won’t someone think of the trees? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-recent-human-to-be-killed-by-a-meteorite-object-from-space/731580/12 "2015-09-18T15:42:33Z")
That recent event in Russia that was caught on 50,000 dash cams? I didn’t hear of any fatalities, but the damage was so widespread, the social services so poor, and and paranoia about controlling the media so overwhelming, it ouldn’t surprise me if there were some covered-up deaths.