Everything about the story you're going to read is amazing. It involves rodeo clowns, not one but two lightning strikes, and an offroad event called "Rednecks with Paychecks." It may be the greatest thing I have ever had the pleasure to report.
CBS DFW has the scoop on 31-year-old Casey Wagner, who was working as a rodeo clown at the Rednecks with Paychecks event on Saturday in Saint Jo, Texas, where hundreds of people show up to go offroading in Jeeps, trucks and ATVs. But North Texas was hit with some pretty nasty lightning storms on Saturday, causing Wagner to search for shelter from the storm.
The storm apparently had other ideas in mind. While standing near a tree about five feet from a friend, Wagner was hit by lightning, and then hit again by more lightning. As you can imagine, it hurt — a lot — and Wagner is lucky to even be alive.
“What I remember is just a loud boom and it dropped me to my knees and then it hit me again,” Wagner said. “When I got hit, it was just two big ol’ flashes and then sparks went everywhere.”
Wagner said he felt electricity shoot up through his right boot and into his body.
The electricity swept across his chest, then out his near his left wrist.
“I had discoloration where it would have popped out,” he said.
Wagner got so zapped that his doctors and nurses said his plastic poncho had a static charge. But in spite of an irregular heartbeat at first and some temporary lost feeling in his leg and arm, Wagner was well enough to be released from the hospital with no serious damage.
Wagner told the TV station that he does plan on going back to Rednecks with Paychecks next year, but only if the skies are clear.