Lightning bolt traveled down the trunk ripping off the bark.SUMMERTOWN, Tenn. - Something about the heavens has always fascinated Kevin Kessell, which is why he was staring up at the sky Saturday afternoon when a powerful line of thunderstorms rolled through.
"I'm a meteorite dealer. I own a business on the Internet called meteorites plus," he explains.
Kevin isn't just fascinated by the sky, he makes a living off it by selling meteorite fragments and jewelry made of meteorites. You can imagine then what the 52-year-old must have though around 2p.m. when he heard a loud bang in his backyard.
"I couldn't believe it. I could actually see something unusual from the fence line," Kevin says.
"I saw some smoke coming up after it hit," he added.
Unfortunately for this meteorite dealer, what hit his backyard wasn't a falling rock but a falling bolt of lightning. Kevin though, had his Sony tape recorder rolling the entire time.
"I was just hoping I'd catch something unusual," Kevin says about the strike.
Almost as incredible as the fact that Kevin had his camera rolling when the lightning struck is the fact that the old Oak tree is still standing.
"As the lightning bolt traveled down the trunk here you could actually see the individual bolt paths," he said looking at the tree.
Aside from some torn bark, there wasn't any other damage to Kevin's backyard.
