On March 7, 1946, a 10-year-old boy was working in a field in South Africa when a sudden storm changed everything.
The boy was leading a team of oxen while they pulled a heavy plow. He was trying to finish the work before the storm arrived.
Then lightning struck him.
The strike threw him to the ground and left him unable to move. But that was only the beginning.
His oxen continued walking toward him, pulling the heavy plow behind them. He could not get out of their way.
Then another bolt of lightning struck.
This time, it hit the oxen.
The animals were killed, but their sudden fall stopped the plow just inches from the boy’s head.
A Storm Was Approaching
The boy was named Sipho, according to the account of the incident.
That afternoon, he was working in an open field in the Highveld region of South Africa. He was responsible for guiding eight oxen.
The animals were arranged in pairs and worked together to pull a large, heavy plow through the soil.
Sipho walked ahead of them and controlled the lead pair with a rope.
At first, the weather only looked threatening.
The wind became stronger. Dark clouds began gathering overhead. Then Sipho heard thunder in the distance.
Soon, rain began falling.
He tried to make the oxen move faster. But oxen are not fast animals. They continued at their usual pace.
Sipho still hoped he could finish the field before the storm became severe.
But the rain quickly became heavier.
The First Lightning Strike
The storm was getting closer when lightning suddenly flashed across the sky.
Sipho was struck.
The force of the lightning threw him through the air. He landed hard on the wet ground.
For several seconds, everything went black.
When his surroundings slowly came back into focus, Sipho realized that something was seriously wrong.
He was lying on his back.
He tried to move his arms and legs.
Nothing happened.
The lightning had left him temporarily unable to move.
The Oxen Were Coming Toward Him
Sipho soon heard another frightening sound.
Hooves.
His oxen were still moving toward him.
He realized that he had fallen directly in their path.
There was no way to move himself out of the way.
He tried again to make his body move, but he remained helpless on the ground.
The sound of the animals became louder.
The oxen eventually reached him.
But something remarkable happened.
They did not step on him.
One by one, the animals passed around or over his position without crushing him.
Sipho survived the first danger.
But there was still a much bigger threat behind them.
The Plow Was Heading Straight Toward Him
The oxen were pulling a heavy plow.
Even though they avoided Sipho, they continued walking.
That meant the plow was still moving toward him.
Sipho could hear the metal equipment being dragged through the soil.
He could not move.
He watched the plow and its connecting chain approach.
The heavy metal blade was heading directly toward his body.
There was nothing he could do.
Once again, Sipho had to wait.
He expected the plow to hit him.
The Second Lightning Strike
Just before the plow reached him, another intense flash appeared in the sky.
A second lightning strike had occurred.
But this time, the lightning did not hit Sipho.
It struck the oxen.
The animals were killed by the strike and fell to the ground.
Their sudden fall stopped the plow.
It came to a halt only inches from Sipho’s head.
The same storm that had nearly killed him had unexpectedly stopped the machine that was about to crush him.
Sipho Eventually Recovered
Sipho remained on the ground for some time.
Eventually, feeling began returning to his arms and legs.
He was able to move again and survived the lightning strike.
The incident came with a terrible loss. All of the oxen pulling the plow had died.
But Siphosurvived.
He had been struck by lightning and then faced a second life-threatening danger while unable to move.
The second lightning strike killed the animals but also stopped the plow before it reached him.
Can Lightning Really Strike Twice?
The story is a striking example of how unpredictable lightning can be.
The phrase “lightning never strikes twice” is commonly used to describe something extremely unlikely to happen again.
But lightning can, in fact, strike the same place or person more than once.
A lightning strike is dangerous because it involves an enormous electrical discharge. It can cause burns, nervous-system injuries, heart problems and other serious injuries.
Surviving one strike does not make a person immune to another.
In Sipho’s case, the two strikes happened during the same storm and had completely different effects.
The first strike hit him.
The second struck the animals pulling the plow.
A Narrow Escape From a Second Danger
What makes Sipho’s story especially unusual is that the lightning strike was only one part of the danger.
After the first strike, he was unable to move.
The oxen could have trampled him.
They did not.
Then the heavy plow could have run directly over him.
It did not.
The second lightning strike stopped the animals and the plow at almost the last possible moment.
Sipho eventually recovered and returned home.
The animals were not so fortunate.
Conclusion
In 1946, a 10-year-old boy went into a field to finish his work before a storm.
He was struck by lightning and temporarily lost the ability to move.
Then his own oxen approached him while pulling a heavy plow.
The animals somehow avoided stepping on him. But the plow continued toward him.
A second lightning strike then killed the oxen, stopping the plow just inches from his head.
Sipho survived.
His story shows just how unpredictable a lightning storm can be. Sometimes survival can depend on events that are almost impossible to anticipate.
And in this case, lightning really did strike twice.