11/30/1954 • 5 views
Woman in Alabama Reportedly Struck by Meteorite While Sleeping, 1954
On November 30, 1954, a small meteorite is said to have crashed through a house in Sylacauga, Alabama, striking a sleeping woman and injuring her; the incident became one of the few well-documented cases of a human struck by a space rock.
The event drew intense public and scientific attention for several reasons. Documented meteorite falls that result in verified human injury are exceptionally rare. The Sylacauga fall was investigated by local law enforcement, state officials, and later by experts in meteoritics. The rock was recovered and examined; it is classified as an ordinary chondrite, a common type of stony meteorite. Multiple contemporary newspaper reports, later summaries in meteoritical literature, and museum records corroborate the basic sequence: a meteoroid entered the atmosphere, fragmented, produced audible effects on the ground, and a resulting fragment penetrated a residence and struck a sleeping occupant.
Details and subsequent disputes: Accounts from the time contain some inconsistencies and have been retold with variations. Exact dimensions and mass of the fragment cited in various sources differ (reports mention sizes and masses ranging from a few hundred grams to about a kilogram). Some press accounts emphasized sensational elements, while later scientific summaries focus on physical description and classification. There were also legal and ownership disputes over the meteorite: some reports describe that the property owner and the injured woman differed over possession; eventually, portions of the meteorite entered museum collections and private hands, and pieces are today cataloged in institutional collections.
Scientific significance: For meteoriticists, the Sylacauga fall is significant because it is a well-documented witnessed fall with physical recovery of the material and an unusual human injury. The recovered specimen allowed classification and laboratory study, contributing to the corpus of known chondritic meteorites. The case is often cited in literature and popular accounts as one of very few authenticated incidents in which a meteorite struck a person.
Context and cautions: Contemporary reporting sometimes conflated local names (Sylacauga versus Oak Grove) and varied in the spelling of individuals’ names; modern summaries typically use the name Sylacauga and the name Ann Hodges. Secondary retellings occasionally embellish circumstances; this summary sticks to elements corroborated by multiple sources: a meteorite fell on November 30, 1954, in the Sylacauga area, a fragment entered a home and struck a sleeping woman who was injured, and the rock was recovered and studied. Where details differ across sources—exact mass, precise legal resolution, or minor eyewitness descriptions—those specifics are not asserted here as single facts.
Legacy: The Sylacauga incident remains a noted entry in both scientific and popular histories of meteorites because it combines a witnessed fall, physical recovery, and human injury. Fragments attributed to the fall are held in museum collections and are referenced in meteoritical catalogs. The event continues to be cited as an example of the rarity of direct human impacts by extraterrestrial rocks and as an instructive case in how communities, media, and scientists respond to unusual natural events.