Struck by a Meteorite: The Tragic Story of Ann Hodges

On November 30, 1954, in Sylacauga, Alabama, a four-and-a-half-billion-year-old rock crashed through Ann Hodges's roof, ricocheted off her radio, and struck her while she napped on the couch. Out of more than 50,000 meteorites found on Earth, only one is known to have definitively hit a human being. This episode tells the deeply human and tragic story of the one person the universe randomly targeted, and the earthly chaos that did far more damage than the rock itself.We break down the brittle chondrite that shattered over Sylacauga, the trauma that scrambled Ann's memory of the impact, and the storm of greed that followed. The Air Force confiscated the rock fearing Soviet technology, the mayor wanted it for a museum, and her landlord Birdie Guy sued for ownership citing ancient property law. By the time Ann could legally sell it, the public had moved on and she let it go for just $25.Why a stony chondrite meteorite shattered instead of staying intactHow Cold War paranoia led the military to seize the rockThe bizarre legal battle over who owned a fallen space rockHow a year-long lawsuit destroyed a potential life-changing windfallThe lasting psychological toll that altered Ann's life and health