It was some years back that I remember hearing about individuals who had been struck by lightning once or multiple times exhibiting bizarre lifelong effects. These were allegedly effects beyond physical ailments which you might logically expect and were more like permanent electrical auras which interfered with objects around them and would disable computers or cause compasses to go haywire. I’ve always been reluctant to believe this but a friend of mine recently insists that she was struck by a ball of lightning as a child and had problems like these for years. I’ve never observed them myself, so truthfully I’m still reluctant to believe it.
There’s no such thing as an aura, at least in the metaphysical sense. It’s a fantasy concept. If you know anyone who claims to have an electrical aura, have them tested in a reputable lab. Also have a magician present to help detect fraud.
Consider the word aura is instead “aura” (so NOT metaphysical) and equate it more to a magnetic field which extends outside of the physical boundary of a magnet.
Actually yes, we do have electrical “auras”. Some animals like sharks even hunt by detecting the electromagnetic fields generated by their prey. They just aren’t as powerful or as magical in effect as the woo-woo types like to believe.
if it was something you heard years ago and didn’t have printed articles that might be hard to track down.
you have an excellent opportunity though, you have a current friend. walk up behind them with a compass and see what happens. take a cheap mp3 player up behind them and see if it acts up. i understand you might not want to take your expensive computer near them just in case. ask them how they can live with no credit cards.
I missed being struck by lightning by a few yards in 2006. All I got was temporary hearing loss and some minor cuts from flying wood and concrete. Although a computer monitor about 50 yards away did have some cool wavy effects on it. It was an old CRT and before we degaussed it, it had lines on it similar to if you had waved a magnet across the surface.
Being struck by lightning can lead to highly variable long-term effects, however the most common long-term effect of being struck by lightning is that you start tomove much faster. Prominent examples of this effect include Barry Allen (and several family members and friends), Billy Batson (and several family members and friends) and Donald Blake. All these individuals were struck by lightning and started moving much faster than normal. In the Blake and Batson cases other long-term effects were also observed, such as greatly increased size and strength and altered facial appearance and prolonged, directional loss of contact with the ground.
More seriously though, here is a previous thread on people who think they stop watches. No matter hat the supposed cause, there is no evidence that anybody stops watches or electrical equipment for anything but the most mundane reasons.
Lightning isn’t magic. It’s an electrical charge. It dissipates within microseconds. While it can do a lot of damage in those few microseconds, it doesn’t hang around, so it can’t have any lingering effects on machinery.
The claim of breaking computers and watches is really a case of where the people making the claim really need to present some evidence. There’s no way to debunk it aside from simply pointing out that there is no evidence for it and no plausible mechanism. Machinery stops working all the time. Complex machinery often stops working for no apparent reason. We’ve all had computers die on us out of the blue. The people making the claim really have to present some evidence that they have had more computers die than the average person.
In terms of making compasses go haywire, that should simple enough to test. Buy a cheap compass and ask your friend to make it go haywire. You should be able to prove that claim for under 20 bucks. Once you can do so, apply to JREF and pick up your million dollar prize. Sounds like a good return on an investment of $20 and 15 minutes of your time. I;m sure your friend will be willing to go along with this.
Unless of course the ability mysteriously ceases to manifest when skeptics are nearby. These things often do.
Heck, any magician can do that. Just wave his hand over the compass. It helps to say some hocus-pocus words. It also helps to conceal a tiny magnet in your palm.
Between the two, I’d say the magnet has more effect than the hocus-pocus.
Veteran Doper GusNSpot has been struck by lightning a bunch of times. He was even the sub-subject of a Cecil article. Maybe we can get him to pop in here and share his amazing electrical powers!
In 1996 I put up a ‘proto-blog’ where anyone could post their unusual experiences.
I found that the vast majority of entries were complaints and questions from these “Electric Humans:” people who supposedly crash computers, cannot own cellphones, and drain watch batteries. Go read:
Aaaaaand… I just got interviewed by the crew from the show “William Shatner’s Weird or What?” The topic of course was the above. That, as well as the people who claim to turn off streetlights as they pass beneath. I’ve used up my 15min of fame, and now I’m using up yours. Well, we’ll see if they actually use the footage.
I’ve been hit by lightning twice ana;lhljkah;haslkjasd I’ve never had any so;alkhg;lgh;oawrt of electrical weird;hjagdh;ladhness happen around me. Well, no;ahilfgljihagihret that I’ve noticed, anyway.
