Fatal Imprint: The Granville Lightning Strike of 1874
On June 9, 1874, in Granville, Alfred Hodge, 62, was repairing a fence with Clarence Johnson, 19, when a thunderstorm rolled in. Hodge took shelter beneath a tree while Johnson raised his axe to cut away a limb. At that very instant, lightning struck.
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| Alfred Hodge's Gravestone Granville, Massachusetts |
The jolt was so fierce it drove the axe blade and its handle deep into the ground. Hodge was killed instantly. Witnesses said the “electric fluid” entered through his eyes and mouth, traveled through his entire body, and exited through his big toe—leaving a small, burned hole about the size of a pea in his boot as grim evidence of its path.
Most chilling of all, the lightning appeared to leave an image on Hodge’s side—an imprint of the very tree under which he stood, as if nature itself had captured his final moment.
Clarence Johnson survived but was badly burned and temporarily left unable to use his limbs. It's interesting to note that Clarence's grandfather was born on June 9, 1794.
— A Southwick Time Machine Original from the Archives
Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
James Clarence Johnson - he went by Clarence.
Clarence later married Alfred Hodge's sister's daughter. He once worked at the local drum factory.
Clarence's grandfather married his cousin. Their daughter, Clarence's mother, died the same year he was born.