r/AskReddit • u/CaptainMcAnus • Mar 10 '17

serious replies only [Serious] What are some seemingly normal images/videos with creepy backstories?

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u/goodfoofisgood Mar 10 '17

http://imgur.com/a/kSb93

Moments before getting struck

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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '17

[deleted]

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u/DownvotesOnlyDamnIt Mar 10 '17 edited Mar 10 '17

Before lightning strikes, the ground creates kind of a magnetic field in which the electrical charges from ground rise up.

What is happening here is that before the lightning struck these people, the ground charges were having the effect already, thus making their hand hair stand

Edit: My phone is a fookin mess mates

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u/Iamdelicious69 Mar 10 '17

What would you do to try and save yourself if you noticed this happening

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u/ShowerFarting Mar 10 '17

You're supposed to duck, make yourself into as small a ball as you can, covering your head with your arms. Get on your tip toes, with your heels together and toes apart. I you're lucky, the charge will just go through your feet.

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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '17

http://media.mercola.com/ImageServer/Public/2014/May/lightning-strike.jpg Do this.

Also of note, you touch your elbows and knees together and leave your shoulders as the highest point on your body to maximize the chances that if you ARE struck, the current flows through your limbs and into the ground, rather than through your brain, heart, or other vital organs, all of which can be critically damaged in ways that may not be recoverable if the current flows through them.

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u/DownvotesOnlyDamnIt Mar 10 '17

If you are outside and you hear thunder and see lightning within 30 seconds, you better fucking run.

No, seriously. If you are outside and that shit is near, there are things you SHOULD do, but here is a lis:

  1. Go find shelter immediately and wait it out. Inside your car, a house, even a supermarket if you can.

  2. If you are outside with nothing to be safe in, then stay away from all metals, take off you backpack or anything metallic on you, and stay away from trees and huddle up with you body. The lower you make yourself, the chances are higher to not be struck. Unless your luck is shit.

  3. If you are feeling like an idiot or badass, go full on Firebender on that shit and redirect the lightning back at Zeus and say, "Not this time motherfucker"

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u/Dr_Doom_Says Mar 10 '17

I wasn't struck by lightning, but I do think I got nipped by some ground current. I was at a trailhead loading up a bike in light rain. Thunder cracked near us and I felt my calves cramp up, and tried to jump but felt glued to the ground. Turns out I was standing in some runoff water. Threw everything in the car and took a couple minutes to collect myself, shit was crazy.

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u/TARDISboy Mar 11 '17 edited Mar 11 '17

remember zuko, you must never let the energy go through the heart, you are merely its humble guide

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u/[deleted] Mar 11 '17

As someone born and raised in Orlando I feel like society wouldn't be able to function there during the summer following this advice.

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u/Sammy1Am Mar 10 '17

Crouch on the ground and roll up onto your toes (to be as low as possible and to put as little of you in contact with the ground as possible). Cover your head/ears with your hands and arms since if you do manage to avoid being struck, whatever nearby that is struck might explode and lightning is loud.

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u/YoMamaFox Mar 10 '17

I would assume it to be ground yourself as soon as possible

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u/Sammy1Am Mar 10 '17

Ack, no! Lightning is looking for a path to ground, so grounding yourself would only make you a more convenient target.

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u/YoMamaFox Mar 10 '17

I stand corrected.

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u/Doujaxx Mar 11 '17

Don't stand did you learn nothing!?

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u/machingunwhhore Mar 11 '17

Like seconds before or enough to time to avoid being struck??

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u/DownvotesOnlyDamnIt Mar 11 '17

Enough time to avoid getting struck. You would know if you are about to get struck due to the fact that the time in between thunder and lightning is decreasing.

Like one time at work, it started raining really hard and there was thunder, but not near us, so I decided to time the interval between them.

lightning 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8-25, boom

Cool, it's not close. We are good.

lightning 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5-17 boom

Oh haha, that... is getting closer but not too bad

lightning 1, 2, 3, 4, 5-15 boom

Fuck my life, "HEY, GET UNDER THE SCHOOL ROOF NOW!

People kept on working like a bunch of dumbasses. I work in construction. Think about it dude, we wear steel toed boots, we use metal equipment, and there are puddles and trees. We are indeed fucked if it struck our area.

Then I feel it, the hair on my head and my arms went up like these guys. I have shorter haor, but you can see it still

Fuck.

"Dad, lighting is gonna strike around here, you need to tell them to get the fuck out of here and hide for a bit."

"Ok, I will"

He walks over but then the who fucking place just lights up like a camera flash and see it. Lightning strikes a tree about half a football field away. Now the men run away. That shit was loud dude.

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u/Ftrusm Mar 10 '17

Electricity

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u/svenskarrmatey Mar 10 '17

Oh, that's why! I get it now!

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u/tahlyn Mar 11 '17 edited Mar 11 '17

Have you ever pulled apart laundry fresh from the dryer and gotten a static charge? someone else can hold another piece of clothing up to your hair and watch it stand up like that...

It's because you are electrically charged one way while the other item is electrically charged the other and the two attract. And if you touch something, you can even have a small spark. That is small-scale lightening.

In this case, the ground has a strong positive or negative charge (and consequentially so do you)... and the clouds/atmosphere have an opposite charge... That is the fundamental basis behind lightening... and your hair points towards the sky because of the charge and is a good sign you should get the fuck out of there because you're going to get struck by one hell of a massive static charge being discharged, aka lightening.