On November 30th 1954 Ann Hodges had her afternoon nap ruined in the most astronomical way possible
Roughly 4 billion years before November 30th 1954 a lone meteoroid began the journey it was destined for when it broke away from its unknown home asteroid deep in outer space. Much larger at the time, the meteoroid shrank as it approached Planet Earth. Or more specifically, as it approached Sylacauga, Alabama. Around noon (CST) on November 30th 1954 in Sylacauga, Alabama, a few days after Thanksgiving, 34 year-old housewife Ann Hodges was tired and decided to lay down on her couch and have a nap. Comfy and snug, little did she know what the universe would soon have in store for her.
At 12:46pm (CST) the meteoroid entered the atmosphere of the earth traveling around 20,000 MPH. People in the surrounding area were awed by the fireball as it streaked across the over Alabama. The now meteor was broken apart into at least three main pieces by the friction of the Earth’s atmosphere. One of fragments landed in an uninhabited wooded area just outside of Sylacauga with a loud explosion. A second piece is thought to have exploded in the air leaving only trace amounts to fall harmlessly around nearby Childerburg. The third fragment, a grapefruit-sized roughly 8 pound chunk of space-rock, crashed through the roof of the house Ann Hodges lived. The interstellar traveler, now a meteorite, smashed through the top floor of the house, bounced off a large radio in the living room, and hit the poor napping Ann Hodges in the upper thigh. In an instant she became the first recorded human being to be hit by a meteorite. Hodges and her mother, who was also in the house during the impact, frightened and confused at was had just occurred, called the police and fire department. Although she saw the piece and Ann had a visible bruise on her thigh she had no idea she had just been hit by a meteorite until the authorities showed up with geologists. They quickly confirmed that it was a meteorite that had stuck her. Word spread fast, as locals along with scientists began to flock the impact site. Ann’s husband had no idea of the incident until he returned home from work, and saw the commotion at his house. Ann was taken to the hospital for supervision. She was in pain and had giant bruise on her upper thigh, but the physical injuries were otherwise superficial, and she was released a couple days later.
Spoiling this picture of her bruised thigh. It’s not that graphic or explicit but still
Ann Hodges and the meteorite became relatively famous for the incident. Hodges was rather uncomfortable with the sudden notoriety, and decided to sell the meteorite that hit her. A local farmer who found the fragment that had landed in the woods had sold the piece for $5000 (about $50,000 in 2024) and the Hodges were looking for about the same amount. However Bertie Guy, the Hodges’ landlord, claimed ownership of the meteorite. Guy sued the Hodges for ownership rights on the grounds that because she owned the property the meteorite belong to her. This began a legal fight between the two parties that dragged on over a year. A settlement was finally reached with the Hodges agreeing to pay Bertie Guy $500 for the right to sell the rock. Unfortunately by the time the settlement was complete public interest for the meteorite had completely waned. Unable to find a buyer, the Hodges donated the meteorite to the Alabama Museum of Natural History where it remains to this day. The other piece passed between several owners over the years and is now at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC. Ann Hodges quickly recovered from the physical effects of the meteorite strike. Unfortunately the sudden fame and more so the stress of the subsequent lawsuit had a more lasting negative effect on her mentally. Almost certainly suffering from PTSD, she was never quite the same until she died of liver failure on September 10th 1972.
There have been a few other suspected reports of people getting hit by meteorites, but Ann Hodges was the first and, as of this writing, remains the only confirmed case of a direct strike.