Have you ever wondered what the probability of being hit by a meteorite? According to a study conducted by Professor Stephen A. Nelson of Tulane University of Louisianawe talk about 1 chance out of 1,600,000an event about 106 times rarer than being struck by lightning. Yet, for Ann Elizabeth Hodgesthis probability has come true!
This story begins at 6.46pm November 30, 1954 to Sylacaugain Alabama (United States): Ann Elizabeth Hodges, 34 years old, is resting on the sofa when, suddenly, a fragment of dark rock breaks through the ceiling of his house, bounces off a wooden radio and the hits on her right side, causing a large hematoma.
Since the United States was at the height of the Cold War, the first hypothesis was thought of Soviet spy device: In reality, shortly after the accident, the Air Force confirmed that the rock fragment actually belonged to a meteorite. More specifically, it was chondrite, which allowed the woman to survive the impact: if the fragment had been made of another material, such as ferrite, the woman would have had little hope of staying alive.
I mean, it seems absurd, but it really happened! And it’s about theonly case documented so far of a person hit directly by a meteorite – and what’s more survived. It must be said, in reality, that throughout history other similar episodes have been reported, from the Milanese friar who was killed by a meteor in 1654 to the man who died in India in 1825, struck by a fragment coming from the sky. But that of Ann Elizabeth Hodges remains the only case that is well documented and of which there is absolute certainty.
According to reconstructions, the larger meteorite split into several parts as it fell towards the earth. A first piece struck the protagonist of this story and was later renamed “Hodges fragment”, a second was found a few kilometers away and is currently kept in the National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC, while the third was never recovered.
And while, on the one hand, identifying the object as a meteorite proved relatively easy, determine ownership of this space object became rather complicated: for about a year, in fact, the owner of the house where Hodges lived, who claimed to be the legitimate owner of the rocky fragment – having fallen onto his property – and Ann Elizabeth Hodges together with her husband, challenged each other in court.
Ultimately, the case was settled out of court: the homeowner got $500, while Ann Hodges got custody of the meteorite. However, failing to find a buyer, the family initially used it as stop doorand then decided to donate it to the Alabama Museum of Natural History, where it is still exhibited.
But, in the end, where did this asteroid come from? Over the years, astronomers have traced back to a possible progenitor body of the fragments, that is, theasteroid 1685 Taurusa NEO (Near-Earth Object) with a diameter of 3.4 km.
