(Image: Prometheus Books)
ON 30 November 1954, 34-year-old Ann Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama, was taking an afternoon nap on her living-room sofa when a 4-kilogram meteorite smashed through her ceiling, bounced off her radio and struck her on the left hip. The grapefruit-sized swelling it left eventually healed, but Hodges was left traumatised. Ironically, her home was opposite the Comet Drive-in Theater, decorated with a neon sign showing a piece of cosmic rubble streaking through space.
This tale, quoted by Jeff Kanipe in his fascinating book The Cosmic Connection, provides a timely reminder that while we go about our…
