It was 65 years ago today that a woman in Sylacauga was hit by a meteorite...a rare but not unique incident.
The Associated Press lead sentence in their 1954 story:
SYLACAUGA, Ala., Nov. 30 (AP) -- A meteorite crashed through the roof of a house today and slightly injured Mrs. Hewlett Hodges.
The article in the Alabama encyclopedia includes this:
Sylacauga Chief of Police W. D. Ashcraft and Sylacauga mayor Ed Howard responded to the call from the Hodges's residence. They had Ann Hodges examined by physician Moody Jacobs, who determined that although her hip and hand were swollen and painful, there was no serious damage. (He later checked her into the hospital for several days to spare her from all the excitement.) Ashcraft and Howard showed the rock to geologist George Swindel, who was conducting fieldwork in the area. He tentatively identified the object as a meteorite. That evening they turned the meteorite over to officers from Maxwell Field, Montgomery, who took it to Air Force intelligence authorities for analysis. Air Force specialists identified it as a meteorite and sent it to curators at the Smithsonian Institution, who, delighted with their windfall, declined to send it back to Alabama. Not until Alabama congressman Kenneth Roberts intervened was the meteorite finally returned to the state, where it soon became the focus of a highly public legal battle.
The rock ended up at the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Tuscaloosa, where it remains today.
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