Where can I find THOROUGH information about Roy Sullivan, the man who
was struck by lightning a record 7 times during his life.  I have
found plenty of sites on the Web about him.  Nothing has more than a
paragraph and skin deep description.  I am looking for a real
biography of the man.  Deep information.  If you can really provide
that, I would pay $30.  However, I must tell you that I will not
accept something that provides the same basic overviews that I have
already found in my general searching.

---

Request for Question Clarification by gnovos-ga on 02 Jun 2002 19:37 PDT

There was an hour or two hour long special on the man some time back
on one of the science channels.  I'm pretty sure I can find you where
to find a tape of this if this is the kind of answer you will accept.

There's an 18-post thread found in Google Groups concering Roy
Sullivan (though it sometimes goes off on a tangent...)  Pretty
interesting reading.  Now that I'm facinated by this guy, I'm going to
have to follow the info trail of anybody who can answer this question!
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&safe=off&threadm=3b76ede2_3%40Newsfeeds.com&rnum=10&prev=/&frame=on

carwfloc-ga

Most resources trace back their data on former Park Ranger Roy C.
"Dooms" Sullivan of Virgina to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Quote "Lightning" by Ron Hipschman:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/weather/weather.html
"According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Sullivan bas the
dubious distinction of being the most lightning-struck person ever
recorded. Between 1942 and his death in 1983, Roy Sullivan was struck
by lightning seven times. The first lightning strike shot through
Sullivan's leg and knocked his big toenail off. In 1969, a second
strike burned off his eyebrows and knocked him unconscious. Another
strike just a year later, left his shoulder seared. In 1972 his hair
was set on fire and Roy had to dump a bucket of water over his head to
cool off. In 1973, another bolt ripped through his hat and hit him on
the head, set his hair on fire again, threw him out of his truck and
knocked his left shoe off. A sixth strike in 1976 left him with an
injured ankle. The last lightning bolt to hit Roy Sullivan sent him to
the hospital with chest and stomach burns in 1977."

LA Weekly has to say this:
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/99/13/books-rugoff.shtml
"Then, in 1983, the man who owns the Guinness record for having
survived the most lightning strikes took his own life, reportedly
after suffering a lover's broken heart."

Hi Dumbo22-ga,

I am going to post a comment instead of an answer as I could not find
a biography, however here is what I have found about Former Park
Ranger Roy "Dooms" Sullivan:

"According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Sullivan has the
dubious
distinction of being the most lightning-struck person ever recorded. 
Between 1942 and his death in 1983, Roy Sullivan was struck by
lightning
seven times. The first lightning strike shot through Sullivan's leg
and
knocked his big toenail off. In 1969, a second strike burned off his 
eyebrows and knocked him unconscious. Another strike just a year
later,
left his shoulder seared. In 1972 his hair was set on fire and Roy had
to
dump a bucket of water over his head to cool off. In 1973, another
bolt
ripped through his hat and hit him on the head, set his hair on fire
again,
threw him out of his truck and knocked his left shoe off. A sixth
strike in
1976 left him with an injured ankle. The last lightning bolt to hit
Roy
Sullivan sent him to the hospital with chest and stomach burns in
1977.
Sullivan could never offer any explanation for this strange and
unwelcome
electrical attraction. "

[ http://216.239.35.100/search?q=cache:WNrL2M2qTZQC:www.pinegrovebiblechurch.org/TastyBites_weird_fact.htm+Roy+sullivan+hit+by+lightning+7&hl=en
]

"One of those shows about lightning, Discovery or somesuch, had a
short segment about him and his life with lightning. I believe they
interviewed his daughter who held the famous ranger hat he wore with
the burn mark in the top for the
camera.  She said that he just couldn't handle it anymore." 

[ http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Roy+sullivan+hit+by+lightning+7&hl=en&lr=&selm=5Iod7.1195%244M3.194762%40dfiatx1-snr1.gtei.net&rnum=6
]

"Roy Cleveland Sullivan, a retired forest ranger from Waynesboro,
Virginia, was known as the Human Lightning Rod because he was struck
by lightning seven times in the course of his thirty-six-year career.
The first strike, in 1942, caused the loss of a big toenail.
Twenty-seven years later a second bolt burned his eyebrows off. The
following year, in 1970, a third bolt seared his left shoulder. After
Sullivan's hair was set afire by a forth strike in 1972, he began
hauling a bucket of water around with him in his car. He was driving
on August 7, 1973, as a bolt came out of a small, low-lying cloud, hit
him on the head through the hat, set his hair on fire again, knocked
him ten feet out of his car, went through both legs and knocked his
shoe off. Sullivan poured the bucket of water over his head to cool
off. Sullivan was struck for the sixth time on June 5, 1976, hurting
his ankle. The seventh blow from above hit Sullivan on June 25, 1977,
while he was fishing. He required hospitalization for stomach and
chest burns on that occasion. Though he was never able to explain his
peculiar attraction for lightning, Sullivan once said that he could
actually see the bolts as they headed for him. At 3 A.M. on the
morning of September 28, 1983, Sullivan, aged seventy-one, took his
own life with a bullet. Two of his Ranger hats, burned through the
crown by lightning blasts, now reside in Guinness World Exhibit Halls
in New York City and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, proof that
lightning DOES strike the same place twice. "

[ http://216.239.35.100/search?q=cache:9eBpN5VGysgC:www.qsl.net/w5www/coincidence.html+Roy+sullivan+hit+by+lightning+7&hl=en
]

"He was struck by lightning no fewer than seven times in his lifetime.
His seventh strike put him in the Guinness Book of World Records. Roy
was born on February 7, 1912, and his chart shows a prominence of
"lightning planets." His Uranus and Mercury are conjunct in Aquarius,
with both making a trine to Mars, which is located in Mercury's sign
of Gemini."

[ http://www.stariq.com/pagetemplate/article.asp?PageID=1895 ]

"Roy Cleveland Sullivan was a Forest Ranger in Virginia who had an
incredible attraction to lightning... or rather it had an attraction
to him. Over his 36-year career as a ranger, Sullivan was struck by
lightning seven times - and survived each jolt, but not unscathed.
When struck for the first time in 1942, he suffered the loss of a nail
on his big toe. Twenty-seven years passed before he was struck again,
this time by a bolt that singed his eyebrows off. The next year, in
1970, another strike burned Sullivan's left shoulder. Now it looked as
though lightning had it out for poor Roy, and people were starting to
call him The Human Lightning Rod. He didn't disappoint them. Lightning
zapped him again in 1972, setting his hair on fire and convincing him
to keep a container of water in his car, just in case. The water came
in handy in 1973 when, seemly just to taunt Sullivan, a low-hanging
cloud shot a bolt of lightning at his head, blasting him out of his
car, setting his hair on fire and knocking off a shoe. The sixth
strike in 1976 injured his ankle, and the seventh strike in 1977, got
him when he was fishing, and put him in the hospital for treatment of
chest and stomach burns. Lightning may not have been able to kill Roy
Sullivan, but perhaps the threat of it did. He took his own life in
1983. Two of his lightning-singed ranger hats are on display at
Guinness World Exhibit Halls."

[ http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa072400a.htm ]

He used to live in a mobile home surrounded by a dozen lightning rods.

[ http://www.inwit.com/inwit/writings/lightning.html ]

"You're referring to the late Roy C. Sullivan, a ranger at Shenandoah
National Park in western Virginia, who was struck by lightning seven
times
over 34 years. Sullivan said he would notice an aroma of sulfur, his
hair would
bristle, and within three seconds it would get him. He described the
sensation
as "like being cooked inside your skin." He never knew why it
happened."

"Sullivan's first time was on a lookout tower in 1942, when he lost a
big toe
nail. He was hit again while driving a truck in 1969 (lost eyebrows);
in his
front yard in 1970 (left shoulder seared); at a ranger station in 1972
(hair
set on fire); while standing beside his car in 1973 (legs seared and
hair set
on fire again); at a campground in 1976 (ankle injured); and while
fishing in
1977 (chest and stomach burned). But it never killed him. He did that
himself
on Sept. 28, 1983, with a pistol. Reportedly he was rejected in love."

[ http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&threadm=trans-ya023180001212961145500001%40ssbunews.ih.lucent.com&rnum=8&prev=/groups%3Fq%3D%2522roy%2Bsullivan%2522%2Blightning%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26selm%3Dtrans-ya023180001212961145500001%2540ssbunews.ih.lucent.com%26rnum%3D8
]

Extra information: 

Roy Sullivan Astrology Horoscope [
http://www.stariq.com/PageTemplate/t1.asp?pageid=1896 ]

Search terms used:

Roy sullivan hit by lightning 7: [
://www.google.com/search?q=Roy+sullivan+hit+by+lightning+7 ]

movie "roy sullivan": [
://www.google.com/search?q=movie+%22roy+sullivan%22&hl=en&lr= ]

"roy sullivan" biography: [
://www.google.com/search?q=%22roy+sullivan%22+biography&hl=en&lr=&start=10&sa=N
]

Best wishes,

mistajon-ga

Brief Obituary from U.P.I. 


September 29, 1983
DOOMS, Va. 


Roy Sullivan, a retired park ranger who was struck by lightning seven
times and survived, is dead, reportedly of a self-inflicted gunshot
wound. He was 71. Sullivan's sons said their mother said the former
Shenandoah National Park ranger shot himself, The Waynesboro
News-Virginian reported.

Investigators at the Augusta County sheriff's office, however, said
the cause of Sullivan's death Wednesday was still undetermined. His
body was taken to the State Medical Examiner's Office in Roanoke.

The 1983 Guinness Book of World Records described Sullivan, who began
his 36-year career with the National Park Service in 1940, as ''the
only living man in the world to be struck by lightning seven times.''

Sullivan' appeared several times on national television -- once with a
hat that had been burned by lightning.

Hello,

As an experienced searcher on the web,I would agree the online
information about this guy ia really scanty.The most detailed
reporting about him that I can find is in St. Petersburg Times on
07/23/1989.In the long article entitled "LIGHTNING, NATURE'S STRIKE
FORCE "(3900 words),the author named him as "THE KING OF LIGHTNING
SURVIVORS" and wrote as follows:

Roy Sullivan, a park ranger from Dooms, Va., was struck seven times
and lived to tell about it.

Why him? 

``Lordy, I wish I knew,`` he once told a reporter. ``It's awful. I
don't believe God is after me. If He was, the first bolt would have
been enough.``

Six strikes hit him in Shenandoah National Park, where Sullivan worked
most of his life. The first visited him in a lookout tower in 1942,
blasting off one of his big toenails. The second came calling in 1969,
while he drove along a mountain road, and burned away his eyebrows.
The third came in 1970, as he walked across his front yard, and burned
his shoulders. The fourth, in 1972, caught him standing in a ranger
station and burned off his hair. IT GETS WORSE

After strike four, Sullivan began to believe that an unseen force was
trying to destroy him. He became convinced that strike five, when it
came, might kill him. For months, whenever he was caught in a storm
while driving his truck, he would pull over and lie down on the front
seat, shivering until the threat passed.

On Aug. 7, 1973, while out on regular patrol, he saw a storm cloud
forming and drove away. The cloud, as he later recounted, seemed to
follow him. When he thought he had outrun it, he decided it was safe
to leave his truck.

``I actually saw the lightning shoot out of the cloud this time,`` he
said, ``and it was coming straight for me.``

This one set his hair on fire, traveled down his left arm and left
leg, knocked off his shoe - but did not untie the lace - and then
crossed over to his right leg just below the knee. Still conscious, he
staggered back to the truck and poured a five-gallon can of water over
his head.

``Thank God it's all over,`` he said afterward. 

Wrong. The sixth bolt came in 1974, while he was checking a
campground. The seventh found him in 1977, while he was fishing. THERE
WERE ALSO SIDE EFFECTS ON HIS SOCIAL LIFE

``Naturally, people avoid me,`` Sullivan told a reporter. ``I was
walking with the chief ranger one day, and lightning struck way off,
and he said, `I'll see you later, Roy.``'

In 1983, Sullivan died at age 71, reportedly of a self-inflicted
gunshot wound over troubles unrelated to lightning.

It was a family affair..., or perhaps his wife got in the way of a
record 8 strikes for old Roy!

He wife was also struck once, when a sudden storm welled up as she
and her husband were out hanging wash on the back yard clothesline.
Roy was struck for the seventh time on June 25th, 1977.

http://www.pd.org/topos/perforations/perf8/bigdeath2.html

The LSESSI (Lightning Strike and Electrical Shock Survivors
International) seems to be a pretty authoritative site when it comes
to lightning strikes...maybe someone there could point you to some
further information?

http://www.mindspring.com/~lightningstrike/index.htm

Not an exaustive bio, but interesting tidbits.  According to the
December 15, 2000 edition of "Current Science", "he lost his big
toenail in a 1942 strike and his eyebrows in 1969, and had his hair
set on fire twice." (Found it on microfiche, no link.)

According to the final bullet in
http://www.ifyougolf.com/features/lightning/incidents/ (final bullet),
he's listed in the Guiness book of World Records.  "The first
lightning strike shot through Sullivan's leg and knocked his big
toenail off. In 1969, a second strike burned off his eyebrows and
knocked him unconscious. Another strike just a year later, left his
shoulder seared. In 1972 his hair was set on fire and Roy had to dump
a bucket of water over his head to cool off. In 1973, another bolt
ripped through his hat and hit him on the head, set his hair on fire
again, threw him out of his truck and knocked his left shoe off. A
sixth strike in 1976 left him with an injured ankle. The last
lightning bolt to hit Roy Sullivan sent him to the hospital with chest
and stomach burns in 1977."  The same segment also tells us he died at
his own hands.

According to and April, 1992 edtion of "Current Health 2", he
described the experience by saying, "It's like being cooked inside
your skin."

The L.A. Times (Orange County Edition) has this line:

"Nor do we envy 'Sparky' Sullivan. That's Roy Sullivan, the former
Virginia park ranger struck by lightning seven times. Sullivan
committed suicide in 1983 after apparently being smitten by love and
striking out."

Here's a pretty interesting article by an astrologer, who thinks that
the planets that Roy Sullivan was born under has a significance to his
electrical personality:

"Roy Sullivan is a prime example. He was struck by lightning no fewer
than seven times in his lifetime. His seventh strike put him in the
Guinness Book of World Records. Roy was born on February 7, 1912, and
his chart shows a prominence of "lightning planets." His Uranus and
Mercury are conjunct in Aquarius, with both making a trine to Mars,
which is located in Mercury's sign of Gemini."

The link is : http://www.stariq.com/pagetemplate/article.asp?PageID=1895

-Rebekah