An Advantage in Being Struck by Lightning

      Edwin E. Robinson, 62 of Falmouth, Maine was bald, blind, and deaf. His baldness, I presume, was natural, but his other disabilities were the result of a brain injury in 1971, when the truck he was driving jacknifed on an icy bridge. He wore a hearing aid and learned Braille. Then, on 4 June 1980, something happened. He was looking for a pet chicken in his back yard during a thunderstorm, and was struck by lightning.

    Much to his amazement, when he came to, he found he could see the wall plaque which his granddaughters had given him. After that, his sight and his hearing gradually improved.  The two granddaughters had been born after his accident, and for the first time he was able to see them. His ophthalmologist confirmed the effect, but was unable to provide an explanation. One presumes the lightning bolt rejiggled his brain back to the way it was before the accident.

    Later that month he travelled to New York to make a guest appearance on ABC's Good Morning, America. That same day his scalp began to feel funny. He ran his hand over it, and it felt like whiskers growing on the top of his head. A week later the hair was still growing. His family doctor also confirmed it, but again, could provide no explanation.

Reference: I got this information from the journal of the now defunct Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained, Pursuit 13(3): p 119 (Summer 1980) and 13(4):  p 177 (Fall 1980). However, the original reports came from a United Press International dispatch in The Star-Ledger (NJ), 10 June, 1980, and an AP dispatch in the same newspaper of 4 July 1980.