Woman killed by lightning strike

A young man from Knoxville, USA spoke of his heartbreak today after his girlfriend was killed by a lightning strike as they hiked in Western North Carolina minutes before he was due to propose to her. Richard Butler and his girlfriend Bethany Lott who was 25 were hiking in a mountainous area near Asheville, North Carolina, called Max Patch Bald when they were struck by lightning.

Richard Butler said of the incident, “Everything went black. I was spun 180 degrees, thrown several feet back. My legs turned to jelly. My shoes were smoking and the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire.” For a moment Butler thought it was only him who had been hit by the bolt of lightning, however his girlfriend Bethany who was just a few feet in front of him had taken the direct hit, “I crawled to her, rolled her over. They say she was gone automatically, but I tried CPR for probably 15 minutes,” Butler says.

Speaking about what had happened Butler said his girlfriend had no idea he was about to propose and as they set out for the three-mile hike the weather was fine. He said, ”the lightning came on quick, a matter of a minute. ‘Her final words, she turned and looked at me and said: “Baby, look, isn’t it so beautiful.”

Butler spoke about his girlfriend’s love of nature and how she saw beauty in everything around her, he said “I’ve tried to be mad at God, but I can’t do it. I feel like it is my obligation to her to be as happy as I can be and be as productive with the rest of my life as can be and do as much good as she would’ve done if she could have.”

Picture courtesy of PeWu

US News