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by sebzim4500 1462 days ago
Do you know a lot of people who stand on top of tall towers during storms?

Otherwise, unless you know tens of thousands of people there is very little chance of knowing multiple people who have been struck by lightning.

2 comments

I also know two people, my mother and a leader at my boyscout camp. Both wearing rubber-soled shoes and survived without needing hospitalization.

Maybe birthday paradox or something similar at play? Only 64 commenters but appears more common than your belief would indicate.

I bet if you are a regular golfer you would know more, and if you spend 100% of your time in a concrete jungle you would know less.

The rubber soles don't mean much, though. The electric current just passed through kilometers of insulation (air). It doesn't care about 2 cm of rubber.
It's the kind of story you're going to hear and remember. Lots of rare things are not notable, nothing you would tell a story about. Also, people could be counting near misses as being "hit by lightning"