A 19-year-old woman is recovering after being struck by lightning while scrolling through Instagram in her home, in what doctors say could have been a fatal accident.
Lisa Henderson was sitting inside with her phone plugged into a charger when lightning struck her house. She described hearing a loud pop and experiencing an intense electric jolt. “It felt like I stuck a fork in a light socket,” Henderson told WHNT News 19. “I couldn’t comprehend things, and I started crying for five minutes.”
Despite being indoors — where lightning strikes are extremely rare — Henderson was injured by the surge, which entered through the electrical system. She felt a stinging sensation from her fingers upward, followed by disorientation and temporary memory loss.
Her fiancé quickly called emergency services, and Henderson was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance. Though she struggled to recall her own name during the ride, she was later released with minor injuries. Nurses told her she was “lucky to be alive,” as the electric current did not reach her heart.
In a moment of instinct, Henderson says she threw her phone during the strike, possibly preventing more serious injury. “If I would’ve kept it, I could’ve been electrocuted even more than I was,” she said.
Surprisingly, this isn’t her first encounter with lightning — Henderson says she was also struck as a child. She later shared her experience in a TikTok video, joking about becoming a news story, although the clip has not gone viral.
The incident is a rare but powerful reminder of how lightning can travel through household wiring and electronics, especially during storms. Safety experts advise unplugging devices and staying away from electronic appliances during lightning activity, even indoors.
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