The Giant Noodle
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 22, 2010
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- Location
- Northern Illinois
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KNOXVILLE (WATE) - A Knoxville man was minutes from proposing to his girlfriend on a hike in Western North Carolina Friday when she was struck and killed by lightning.
"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," Richard Butler said.
For a moment, he said he thought he was the only one hit by the bolt of lightning.
However, it was his girlfriend Bethany Lott, 25, who took the direct hit. She was hiking just a few feet in front of him.
"I crawled to her, rolled her over. They say she was gone automatically, but I tried CPR for probably 15 minutes," Butler says.
He says they were nearly to the top of Max Patch Bald, a place Bethany was taking him for the first time.
The bald is on Max Patch Mountain, 40 miles west of Asheville in the Pisgah National Forest. The Appalachian Trail crosses it.
Friday was supposed to mark the beginning of the couple's life together. Butler had a ring and was planning to propose.
CONTINUED w/ photos: Girlfriend killed by lightning minutes before Knox man's proposal
"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," Richard Butler said.
For a moment, he said he thought he was the only one hit by the bolt of lightning.
However, it was his girlfriend Bethany Lott, 25, who took the direct hit. She was hiking just a few feet in front of him.
"I crawled to her, rolled her over. They say she was gone automatically, but I tried CPR for probably 15 minutes," Butler says.
He says they were nearly to the top of Max Patch Bald, a place Bethany was taking him for the first time.
The bald is on Max Patch Mountain, 40 miles west of Asheville in the Pisgah National Forest. The Appalachian Trail crosses it.
Friday was supposed to mark the beginning of the couple's life together. Butler had a ring and was planning to propose.
CONTINUED w/ photos: Girlfriend killed by lightning minutes before Knox man's proposal