No two scars are alike, and each one has their own story. Though all scars are different, some people have the same story behind their similar scars, creating a bond between them that only they can understand.

This is certainly the case for the few people who have survived lightning strikes.

Lightning strikes leave markings shaped like ferns that are called Lichtenberg figures or “lightning flowers.” The markings are believed to be the result of burst capillaries. As the lightning electricity flows through a person’s body, it may burst the blood vessels near the skin and leave this unique scar.

The odds of being struck by lightning are around one in ten million, so very few people have these scars. Lightning bolts can carry as much as 100 million volts of electricity, meaning they often result in death.

Some victims of lightning strikes are left with organ damage or a “flashover effect” where the electricity passes over their skin leaving them with the temporary markings in these photos. The Royal Meteorological Society hypothesizes that these markings are results from when the electrons of the passing lightning bolt are “driven into the epidermis and radiate outward from successive points in a fractal pattern of repeated bifurcations.”

Social media users have expressed amazement at these photos and the people in them.

“It probably hurt like hell, but it’s amazing,” one user wrote, another adding, “Holy smoke, these people look like they are very lucky to be alive. I wonder if they bought a lottery ticket after surviving that.”

“These fern marks are not permanent,” a third user wrote. “They go away after a few months. My cousin was struck by lightning, and this happened to her. A miracle they survived.”

Thank goodness they aren’t permanent!

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