Dang. That looked painful.
Had a strike about 50 or so yards in front of me once while hunting. Mid afternoon, hardly anything in the sky above. I don’t recall a flash, just a mesquite tree exploding in front of me. My ears took the brunt of it.
#25 That was no lightning.
That was an alien hunting you.
When I was thirteen, my family was camping in Arches National Monument (later made into a National Park) in our pickup camper. I had a sudden need to go visit the restroom. I got out and was walking to the restrooms when my hair started standing up on my head and I started smelling a strong smell of ozone all around me. A bolt of lightning suddenly struck an eight foot or so tall rock outcropping about ten feet of so from me. The sound was incredibly loud. I did not need to go to the restroom any more. . . I had to go back to the camper and change my shorts.
My ears were ringing for several hours afterwards, once I regained the ability to hear anything at all. My parents and sister were trying to ask me what happened and I couldn’t hear what they were saying. All I could hear was a high-pitched whining sound and muffled rumble in my ears. I could sort of hear what I was saying. . .
I was almost my full height at that age, so I am glad there was some higher ground for the lightning to strike rather than my near six foot high head!