Who lives rent-free in your head and why?

20 comments

  3. Every single person who’s ever told me I’m ugly or fat, for obvious reasons. I think about them constantly every day.

  7. The CRA because they have owed me money for months now and their phone line is trash.

  8. Shirley Jackson

    I read The Lottery in eighth grade and have never got her work out of my head since. At this point it’s just a life long obsession.

  14. [Roy Sullivan,](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Sullivan), a park ranger who was struck by lightning so many times that people would refuse to stand near him outdoors. It just really stuck with me, he was very isolated by his experiences and was both afraid that something was trying to kill him *and* that it was dangerous for others to be in close proximity to him.

    >Sullivan described in detail each of the alleged strike encounters.

    >Sullivan’s first documented lightning strike was in April 1942. He was said to have been hiding from a thunderstorm in a fire lookout tower. The tower was newly built and had no lightning rod at the time; it was said to have been struck seven to eight times. Sullivan described a scene from within the tower, saying that “fire was jumping all over the place”. Sullivan was said to then have run out from the burning tower, just before being struck a few feet away by lightning. It burned a half-inch strip all along his right leg, hit his toe, and left a hole in his shoe.[7]

    >He was hit again in July 1969. Unusually, he was hit while in his truck, driving on a mountain road – the metal body of a vehicle normally protects people from lightning strikes by acting as a Faraday cage. The lightning first hit nearby trees and was deflected into the open window of the truck. The strike knocked Sullivan unconscious, burned off his eyebrows and eyelashes, and set his hair on fire. The uncontrolled truck kept moving until it stopped near a cliff edge.

    >In July 1970, Sullivan was struck while in his front yard. The lightning hit a nearby power transformer and from there jumped to his left shoulder, searing it.

    >In spring 1972, Sullivan was working inside a ranger station in Shenandoah National Park when he was struck again. It set his hair on fire; he tried to smother the flames with his jacket. He then rushed to the restroom, but could not fit under the water tap and so used a wet towel instead.[4] Although he never was a fearful man, after the fourth strike he began to believe that some force was trying to destroy him and he acquired a fear of death. For months, whenever he was caught in a storm while driving his truck, he would pull over and lie down on the front seat until the storm passed. He also began to believe that he would somehow attract lightning even if he stood in a crowd of people, and carried a can of water with him in case his hair was set on fire.[2][8]

    >On August 7, 1973, while he was out on patrol in the park, Sullivan saw a storm cloud forming and drove away quickly. But the cloud, he said later, seemed to be following him. When he finally thought he had outrun it, he decided it was safe to leave his truck. Soon after, he was struck by a lightning bolt. Sullivan stated that he actually saw the bolt that hit him. The lightning moved down his left arm and left leg and knocked off his shoe. It then crossed over to his right leg just below the knee. Still conscious, Sullivan crawled to his truck and poured the can of water, which he always kept there, over his head, which was on fire.[2][8]

    >The next strike, on June 5, 1976, injured his ankle. It was reported that he saw a cloud, thought that it was following him, tried to run away, but was struck anyway. His hair also caught fire.

    >On June 25, 1977, Sullivan was struck while fishing in a freshwater pool. The lightning hit the top of his head, set his hair on fire, traveled down, and burnt his chest and stomach. Sullivan turned to his car when something unexpected occurred – a bear approached the pond and tried to steal trout from his fishing line. Sullivan had the strength and courage to strike the bear with a tree branch, despite the fact that his hair was on fire. He claimed that this was the twenty-second time he hit a bear with a stick in his lifetime.[2]

    >All seven strikes were documented by the superintendent of Shenandoah National Park, R. Taylor Hoskins. Hoskins, however, was never present at any of the reported strikes and was not an active and present superintendent in Shenandoah National Park for many of the times Sullivan was supposedly struck.[9][10] Sullivan himself recalled that the first time he was struck by lightning was not in 1942 but much earlier. When he was a child, he was helping his father to cut wheat in a field, when a thunderbolt struck the blade of his scythe without injuring him. But because he could not prove the fact later, he never claimed it.[4]

  16. My dad, passed away earlier this month, our relationship wasn’t good for the past two years. So now I think I’ll go insane over his deaths

  18. one of the best friends i’ve ever made in my whole life. unfortunately, due to certain circumstances, we no longer keep in contact anymore. i think it’s been about four years since our last conversation. she was a ray of sunshine, and i miss her dearly every single day. i find myself thinking about her a lot.

  19. Richard Simmons. Whenever I don’t wanna do something, he’s just there yelling positive affirmations at me.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like