This is a true story.

When I was around 10 my Uncle and my Dad had taken me fishing in one of the reservoirs of KY, I think it was Rough River but I'm not sure anymore. Anyway, we had made our way pretty far back up in a tree shrouded creek and it began to cloud over. It kept getting darker and darker and finally my Dad said, "We need to get out of here." We cranked up the motor and made our way out of the creek and by this time the clouds were really bearing down on us, the wind started to blow and thunder was heard in the distance.

As we exited the creek there was a sandy point to the starboard and right on the tip of it was an old dead tree that was a good 50 ft tall with just the main limbs left on it. As we passed it I said to myself, "I wonder what it would be like if lighting hit that tree?" No sooner than the thought hit me, lightning struck that tree. It was like God said "Well, I'll show you!" It blew pieces of that tree all around us and even in the boat. I was facing the back of the boat and my dad was driving (tiller steer) and he said my eyes got as big as dinner plates. He made a hard left and gunned the engine towards the shore where there were houses up along the bank. We hit that bank, jumped out of the boat and ran for the cover of those houses like we'd come ashore on Normandy in a hail of gunfire. Many years before, my Uncle's father had taken refuge under a tree during a lightning storm and the tree was struck and he had ended up in a mental institution for the rest of his life so the effects of lightning strikes were well known to us. The wind and rain lasted for about 10 minutes and then the sun came out like nothing had ever happened.

That was one of the the strangest and scariest things that ever happened to me and for a long time I cringed every time I thought something bad because I was afraid it would happen again. I really started wondering about whether ESP was real that day!

Mike