Sylacauga meteorite hit woman - November 30, 1954

On this day in 1954, a meteorite hit and bruised a woman in Alabama.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class. It's a production of I
Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves. Welcome to This Day
in History Class, a show that will convince you that
history can be fascinating even when you expect it not
to be. Today is November. The day was November nineteen

(00:25):
fifty four. The Silicaga Media Right, also known as the
Hodges Media Right, crashed into the home of Aunt Elizabeth
Fowler Hodges and hit her that day. People in eastern
Alabama reported seeing a fireball and a trail of smoke.
People in Georgia and Mississippi also reported seeing the meteor

(00:46):
Usually meteor rites crashed into an ocean or into a
remote area on Earth, but this afternoon Hodges was taking
a nap on her couch in her Silicaga, Alabama house.
Around midday, the meteor RTE crashed through the roof of
her home, smashed a hole in her living room ceiling,
hit a radio, then bounced off of her hip. The

(01:07):
meteor RTE weighed eight and a half pounds or about
three point nine kilograms, and it was seven inches or
eighteen centimeters long. So many people showed up at Hodge's
house that her husband, Eugene had difficulty getting inside. Physician
Moody Jacob's examined Hodge's injuries, her hip and hand for swollen,

(01:28):
but she did not sustain any major injuries. She just
developed a bruise on her hip in her leg. Jacobs
sent Hodges to the hospital so she could avoid all
the commotion. People in the area said that they heard
an explosion and saw a cloud that accompanied it. A
government geologist working at a nearby Corey was sent to

(01:48):
hodges residence and determined that the object was a meteorite.
The meteor rite was taken to Maxwell Air Force Base
in Montgomery. After Air Force specialists identified the object as
a meteor right as well, they sent it to curators
at the Smithsonian Institution. The meteor righte was eventually sent
back to Alabama, but because the Hodges were renting from

(02:10):
their landowner, Bertie Guy, and precedents said that the meteor
rite belonged to the landowner, Guy sued the Hodges for
a possession of the meteorite. The Hodges threatened to counter
through Guy for her injuries, so Guy back down and
let the Hodges have the claim to the meteor right
and the dispute was settled. Out of court. Hodge's husband, Eugene,

(02:30):
thought they could make a lot of money off of
the meteor Righte, and he turned down an offer that
he thought was too low from the Smithsonian Institution. The
press continued to cover Hodges and her unusual story. The
day after Hodges was hit, a farmer named Julius K.
McKinney found a piece of the meteor Righte. That fragment

(02:51):
is housed at the Smithsonian Institution. Hodges and her husband
separated in nineteen sixty four, and they said that the
commotion the meteorite caused could a tributed to the split.
Hodges is the first person in modern history who is
confirmed to have been struck by a meteorite. The Silicago
media right is on display at the Alabama Museum of
Natural History in Tuscaloosa, where Hodges donated it after the

(03:14):
monetary offers dried up. Hodges dot in nineteen seventy two
of kidney failure. I'm Jeff Coote, and hopefully you know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
If you've seen any good history memes lately, you can
send them to us on social media at t D
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(03:38):
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Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you again tomorrow.

(03:58):
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