An Alabama lady made historical past 70 years in the past Saturday when she survived an in depth come across with a work of falling house particles.Ann Hodges, 34, was once snoozing on her sofa in Oak Grove, close to Sylacauga, on Nov. 30, 1954, when she was once struck within the thigh via a meteorite that had crashed via her roof and ricocheted off her hi fi.Observers in Talladega County that day reported seeing a fireball within the sky and listening to an explosion, in keeping with the Encyclopedia of Alabama. The town’s police leader and mayor had been summoned to Hodges’ space, the place they took ownership of the gap rock.
Ann Hodges holds the meteorite that fell via her roof and hit her in Oak Grove. (Alabama Museum of Herbal Historical past)Alabama Museum of Herbal HistoryHodges was the middle of a short-lived media hurricane as the primary particular person identified to have survived being struck via a meteorite. She gave the impression on the preferred quiz display “I’ve Were given a Secret.” Existence mag revealed a short lived article with a photograph of her damage underneath the headline, “A large bruiser from the sky.”The article was once became over to the Air Pressure after which the Smithsonian Establishment sooner than returning to Alabama, the place it was once the topic of a criminal battle between Ann and Hewlett Hodges — her partner — and their landlord over who owned it.The case was once settled, with the 8.5 lbs. meteorite going into Ann Hodges’ ownership. She donated it to the Alabama Museum of Herbal Historical past on the College of Alabama, the place it’s on everlasting show.Hodges didn’t ask for or obtain any make the most of her donation, in keeping with a 2022 College of Alabama article. She died in 1972.The meteorite is assumed to be 4.5 billion years outdated and most probably broke off from an asteroid orbiting the solar between Mars and Jupiter sooner than taking its plunge to Earth.
