Man Struck by Lightning for the Sixth Time

There comes a point in everyone's lives that you have to admit there are things you just can't do. I'm going out on a limb here to say that Melvin Roberts's un-doable thing is going outside, ever. Monday, the South Carolina man was attempting to cover his lawnmower as a shower moved in; he woke up in an ambulance after his neighbors found him unconscious on his lawn.

Roberts suffered burns and blisters on his legs and feet -- mild scrapes compared to the last strike, in 2007, which put him in a wheelchair for more than a year.

That bolt hit while he was outside covering up his chickens.

"I went to cover my chickens up, and I believe it was clear," he told the station. "But when I woke up, I was all bloody and burned and confused and had my little chickens lying with their feet up."

All the strikes have forced Roberts to quit his job as a heavy equipment operator. He said he will finally think twice before heading out in stormy weather.

"I ain't saying be afraid of it, but I'm going to have to learn to give it a little respect," he said.

The human lightning rod thinks that all the strikes might be cosmic punishment for being something of a heartbreaking chick magnet.

"I've been married five times and I've been hit by lightning five times," he said. "(My wife) says this is the sixth time. I'm not leaving my wife, so I'm going to have to try to do something different."

Link | Image: IRO/TV