Overview of Lore 310: Thunderstruck
Aaron Mahnke explores humanity’s long, uneasy relationship with lightning and electricity: from ancient thunder gods and folk beliefs to bizarre modern cases of people who seemed to become “electrified.” The episode blends folklore, reported phenomena, and historical oddities to ask a simple question: why does electricity so often feel supernatural?
Core Themes
- Lightning as divine language: Across cultures, lightning was seen as a sign from the gods, an omen, a punishment, or a message.
- Electricity as mystery: Even after scientific explanations, electricity still inspires awe because it’s invisible, powerful, and hard to fully grasp.
- Folklore vs. explanation: The episode repeatedly contrasts supernatural interpretations with skepticism, hoaxes, confirmation bias, and possible medical causes.
- Real people, strange claims: Some lightning survivors and unusual cases seem to show lasting physical or psychological effects that blur the line between myth and reality.
Folklore and Myths About Lightning
Gods of thunder around the world
Mahnke highlights how many cultures independently created thunder-and-lightning deities:
- Zeus in Greek mythology
- Jupiter in Roman mythology
- Adad in Mesopotamia
- Indra in Hindu tradition
- Thor in Norse mythology
He also notes that the Greeks and Romans used lightning for divination:
- Seraenomancy / brontomancy-style lightning reading interpreted direction and strike patterns as omens.
Lightning birds and sky creatures
Not all cultures linked lightning to gods. Some tied it to birds:
- Xhosa traditions describe the Impundulu (lightning bird), a dangerous creature associated with storms, blood, and kidnapping.
- Several Native North American traditions tell of the Thunderbird, whose wingbeats make thunder and whose eyes shoot lightning.
- In Sioux tradition, dreaming of the Thunderbird can mark a person for the sacred role of a heyoka (often translated as a holy contrarian or sacred clown).
Strange Effects of Lightning Strikes
Mahnke then moves into folklore and historical beliefs about what happens when lightning hits something or someone:
- Lightning-struck wine was said by Seneca to cause madness and death.
- Lightning-struck venomous animals were believed by Increase Mather to lose their poison.
- In Chinese legend, lightning striking a stream could cause it to disappear and make ginseng grow.
- French and Flemish folk belief held that lightning-struck wood placed under a bed could protect a house.
He also notes a darker tradition:
- In the high Andes of Peru, lightning-struck people were sometimes believed to be chosen as healers.
Real-Life “Electrified” People
Greta Alexander
A 1961 lightning strike survivor from Illinois who later claimed psychic abilities and became a minor media personality, using her story for TV, radio, and product sales.
Other self-reported survivors
The episode cites accounts from lightning victims who claimed:
- heightened intuition
- foreknowledge of lies or danger
- occasional ESP-like experiences
Mahnke presents these claims cautiously, noting that survival itself is far more likely than supernatural change.
Ongoing strange side effects
Some survivors report feeling permanently “charged”:
- batteries die around them
- watches lose time
- electronics malfunction
- lights flicker
- symptoms get worse during emotional intensity
The skeptical explanation is confirmation bias, but the stories remain persistent and uncanny.
The “Electric Girl” of Beauvigny
One of the most memorable cases is Angélique Cottin, the French teen known as the Electric Girl of Beauvigny.
Reported phenomena
Witnesses claimed she could:
- repel chairs, tools, and papers
- make objects vibrate or levitate
- shock people on contact
- react strangely to magnets
- show stronger effects at night and when standing on the ground
Investigation and skepticism
- Local adults initially suspected witchcraft or possession.
- Doctors and scientists studied her and found the claims dramatic but difficult to verify.
- A Paris committee pushed her into exhaustive testing, including bizarre and ethically troubling experiments.
- Under stress, fear, and exhaustion, the effects reportedly disappeared.
- The committee concluded she was likely a fraud.
Mahnke leaves the case unresolved, noting that the story is either an elaborate hoax or one of the strangest unexplained episodes in 19th-century folklore.
The Clinton Prison “Human Magnets” Case
The episode ends with a grounded but still bizarre 1920 case at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.
What happened
- 32 inmates became ill with botulism after eating contaminated canned salmon.
- They suffered weakness, balance problems, speech issues, and drooping eyelids.
- Doctors also observed strange electrical effects:
- paper sticking to hands
- static buildup
- light bulbs sparking
- compasses moving
- hair crackling when touched
Explanation
The true cause was botulism, not supernatural electricity:
- botulinum toxin damaged their nervous systems
- symptoms faded as they recovered
But the electrical effects were never fully explained, and the case remains one of the episode’s most mysterious examples.
Main Takeaways
- Electricity has inspired mythic thinking in nearly every culture.
- Lightning has long been treated as a sign of divine power, warning, punishment, or blessing.
- Many “electrified person” stories sit in the space between folklore, psychology, hoax, and genuine mystery.
- Even when science explains much of electricity, the human impulse to turn it into story remains strong.
Closing Thought
The episode’s larger point is that electricity is both ordinary and uncanny: it powers modern life, yet still feels like magic. Whether through thunder gods, lightning birds, psychic survivors, or prison “human magnets,” Thunderstruck shows how often people have tried to explain the unexplainable by making it myth.