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N.C. man got hit by lightning - then mauled by a bear
charlotteobserver.com ^ | June 22, 2010 | PAUL A. SPECHT

Posted on 06/22/2010 3:39:37 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY

Some guys have all the luck.

And then there's Rick Oliver, who might be one of the unluckiest men in the state, if not the world.

Oliver was mauled by a bear in his otherwise peaceful front yard a few weeks ago.

"It was like getting struck by lightning," he said.

Turns out, Oliver might be one of the few people in the world capable of accurately making the bear-lightning analogy.

And for Oliver, 51, the two incidents seem to go hand in hand.

Ever since he was struck by lightning in 2006, Oliver says, he's had trouble sleeping.

On restless nights, he tends to piddle about his farm, checking on his chickens, working on his tractors and, as he was in the wee hours of June 3, fixing up his Chevy Malibu.

About 2 a.m., he heard a distant rustling on his 17-acre spread, which is off Yates Mill Pond Road in an unincorporated sliver of Wake County between Cary and Raleigh.

As he turned to investigate, he was dealt a heavy blow. "I heard this strange huffing," Oliver said. "And the next thing I know I had been run over and stepped on by a bear."

(Excerpt) Read more at charlotteobserver.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: bearattack; napl; oliver; wtfiiwnc
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1 posted on 06/22/2010 3:39:38 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
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To: Free ThinkerNY
"Turns out, Oliver might be one of the few people in the world capable of accurately making the bear-lightning analogy."

LOL

2 posted on 06/22/2010 3:41:35 PM PDT by americanophile (November can't come fast enough....)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Wasn’t there a Dan Ackroyd/John Candy movie where this happened?


3 posted on 06/22/2010 3:41:56 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: Free ThinkerNY

The author says that he’s unlucky because so few people have been struck by lightning and mauled by a bear. I’d say he’s lucky because so few have survived both. In fact, one would suggest that one of the reasons there are so few such instances of people suffering both calamities is that one of those calamities will do you in.


4 posted on 06/22/2010 3:44:30 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Free ThinkerNY

About the only thing this guy didn’t do is walk around with a slab of bacon on his back to get attacked by this bear!lol


5 posted on 06/22/2010 3:47:17 PM PDT by Dem Guard (Throw the trash out on November 2nd!)
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To: Free ThinkerNY; Slings and Arrows

I just hate it when that happens!


6 posted on 06/22/2010 3:47:52 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Free ThinkerNY

7 posted on 06/22/2010 3:48:04 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet - Visualize)
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To: nickcarraway

Uncle Buck.


8 posted on 06/22/2010 3:48:30 PM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (drain the swamp! ( then napalm it and pave it over ))
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To: Free ThinkerNY

We’ve had a black bear visiting our yard over the last few years. It keeps taking out our bird feeder.


9 posted on 06/22/2010 3:49:22 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: KoRn
"A hard day calls for a hard lemonade"


10 posted on 06/22/2010 3:49:42 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Free ThinkerNY

11 posted on 06/22/2010 3:50:06 PM PDT by Godzilla (3-7-77)
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To: nickcarraway

“The Great Outdoors” had the guy who had been hit repeatedly by lightning, and John Candy got run over by the bear.


12 posted on 06/22/2010 3:50:18 PM PDT by digger48
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To: WOBBLY BOB

no, it was ‘the great outdoors’.


13 posted on 06/22/2010 3:50:46 PM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

14 posted on 06/22/2010 3:52:12 PM PDT by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

I never would have imagined there would be bears down in the flat lands where this guy was attacked. I wonder if there are many bears in that area.


15 posted on 06/22/2010 3:53:27 PM PDT by KoRn (Department of Homeland Security, Certified - "Right Wing Extremist")
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Obviously, the man was having a really bad day.


16 posted on 06/22/2010 3:56:12 PM PDT by dforest
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Note to self: stay as far away from this man as possible. NC—>CA seems a safe distance away.


17 posted on 06/22/2010 3:56:14 PM PDT by raj bhatia
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To: Free ThinkerNY

This is just down the road from me. Yikes!


18 posted on 06/22/2010 3:57:45 PM PDT by coop71 (Being a redhead means never having to say you're sorry...)
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To: Free ThinkerNY

Deosn’t seem too hard to figure out - the bear likes his food well done.


19 posted on 06/22/2010 3:58:17 PM PDT by 70times7 (Serving Free Republics' warped and obscure humor needs since 1999!)
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To: Free ThinkerNY
Between 2005 and 2009, only nine people were killed by bears in the United States, according to the N.C Wildlife Resources Commission.

Compare that to the 141 people who were killed by dogs during the same period, and you get the idea.

I'm surprised to learn that about 28 people per year are killed by dogs in the U.S. Seems high.

MM (in TX)

20 posted on 06/22/2010 3:58:49 PM PDT by MississippiMan (http://gogmagogblog.wordpress.com/)
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