Have you ever been electrocuted?

V

vokazu

Legend
I've been electrocuted twice in my life, and I wonder how I survived both of them.

The first one was when I was about 6. At that time students take turn to ring the bell for our school. So one day it was my turn, and I had to climb a chair to reach the switch for the bell. I vaguely remember that somehow the switch was located very close to a lamp holder and the lamp holder didn't have a lamp in it. It was so hard for me to reach the bell switch even with me standing on the tip of my toes, so somehow my hand touched the empty lamp socket. When I touched it I was very shocked. A very powerful vibration shook my whole body violently, and I quickly moved my hand away from the lamp holder. Miraculously I was still standing on the chair and I was ok.

The second one happened maybe one or two years after the first one. I was curious what would happen if I touch a hot electric iron using my metal ballpoint refill. The electric iron we had at that time was a really old one that looked really dodgy. The electric iron was plugged in the power outlet and was hot. I held the ballpoint refill with my fingers and touched the hot electric iron with it. A violent vibration jolted my whole body and that electric shock actually lifted me off the ground, lol. My feet was in the air and then back on the ground again soon after.

Those electrocutions felt so violent, hot and scary!!!!!!
 
Sentinel said:
I was struck twice by lightning.

At the same spot.
Click to expand...
Do you think our close encounter with electric current made us skinny and never gain a lot of weight? Maybe the electric current made us born again after a brief death so that we keep looking young and handsome?
 
Sentinel said:
I was struck twice by lightning.

At the same spot.
Click to expand...
I wonder if lightning strike feels different to household electricity electrocution? Did you fall down? Did you feel hot?! Were you shaken by this strong vibration? Did you get burn marks?

Edit: found this on the web: Victims of direct lightning strikes are rarely electrocuted and usually sustain only minor burns. The reasons why (and the actual cause of death, when it occurs) are complicated, but, here goes: In the United States 88% of people struck directly by lightning survive.
 
vokazu said:
I wonder if lightning strike feels different to household electricity electrocution? Did you fall down? Did you feel hot?! Were you shaken by this strong vibration? Did you get burn marks?

Edit: found this on the web: Victims of direct lightning strikes are rarely electrocuted and usually sustain only minor burns. The reasons why (and the actual cause of death, when it occurs) are complicated, but, here goes: In the United States 88% of people struck directly by lightning survive.
Click to expand...
I got supernatural powers, specifically the ability to post high quantity of low quality posts in this forum.

The second time I was struck I was granted a boon that I would never get banned.
 
Does this count? Got zapped in high school numerous times with one of these devices:

1400443_ecommfullsize.jpg
 
When I was just a kid in the late 1800s, the term electrocute was coined- a portmanteau of electro and execute- to execute by electricity, and that's what I learned in high school.
so, according to that original definition, my English teacher insisted that electrocution always resulted in death.
Since then, the term has been "watered down" to include severe injury. I don't recall any extreme shocks, but once I was walking past a palm tree that was struck by lightning
and, with a great, cracking boom, turned into a black stump.
 
Bagumbawalla said:
When I was just a kid in the late 1800s, the term electrocute was coined- a portmanteau of electro and execute- to execute by electricity, and that's what I learned in high school.
so, according to that original definition, my English teacher insisted that electrocution always resulted in death.
Since then, the term has been "watered down" to include severe injury. I don't recall any extreme shocks, but once I was walking past a palm tree that was struck by lightning
and, with a great, cracking boom, turned into a black stump.
Click to expand...
I plan to contact Noah Webster to further expand the definition to include “electric elocution” as an alternate definition of electrocution
 
When i was around 10 i was playing in a Friends House, It was a squat House, cables came out of the walls with no electric tape covering them, while we were playing my arm touched one of the cables and i felt It all through my body, i was a bit numbed, but it wasnt as bad as your case, another time, when i was younger, i lived with my grandma, her mother had just passed away so they put me in her room, i was like 8 or 9, and i had a room for myself for the first time, so i was alone, and there was a lamp, and i had some school scissors, i was just curious about what would happen if i cut the cable from the lamp, to be honest i dont remember if the lamp was on or off, but i did cut the cable and a Big spark came off, i wasnt electrocuted, but i got a bit scared, then i just went to sleep, i vagely remember but when my grandma found out she was like what the hell did you do that for? Lol
 
TheSlicer said:
When i was around 10 i was playing in a Friends House, It was a squat House, cables came out of the walls with no electric tape covering them, while we were playing my arm touched one of the cables and i felt It all through my body, i was a bit numbed, but it wasnt as bad as your case, another time, when i was younger, i lived with my grandma, her mother had just passed away so they put me in her room, i was like 8 or 9, and i had a room for myself for the first time, so i was alone, and there was a lamp, and i had some school scissors, i was just curious about what would happen if i cut the cable from the lamp, to be honest i dont remember if the lamp was on or off, but i did cut the cable and a Big spark came off, i wasnt electrocuted, but i got a bit scared, then i just went to sleep, i vagely remember but when my grandma found out she was like what the hell did you do that for? Lol
Click to expand...
Kids are curious creatures, lol.
 
i also know people that have been electrocuted messing around with their tube guitar amplifiers, and i do mean death, i have a very nice fender but i would never put a finger under the chasis or in the tube sockets, those things carry big voltage, they are really like old technology but hey, its worth a little risk for the big tone they give
 
TheSlicer said:
i also know people that have been electrocuted messing around with their tube guitar amplifiers, and i do mean death, i have a very nice fender but i would never put a finger under the chasis or in the tube socket
Click to expand...

I had a tube amp. Never tinkered with it because I had no knowledge of it.
Still not clear how the tube amp voltage would be fatal and any different than than the wall outlet I touched.
The wall outlet just gave me a momentary shock. No injury at all.
 
Last edited:
Better_Call_Raul said:
I had a tube amp. Never tinkered with it because I have no knowledge of it.
Still not clear how the voltage would be fatal and any different than than the wall outlet I touched.
The wall outlet just gave me a momentary shock. No injury at all.
Click to expand...
Yeah i dont know about electricity either, its just something that gives a lot of respect because you dont see It and It can kill you, in tube amps i think its because of the Big power trasformers, they keep the voltage even hours after being pluged out, there are many things inside the chasis that keep the electricity too, so better to give it to a pro, overall they are more expensive to mantain, im not sure if its worth it but theres something about them besides the sound that is very appealing, maybe some nonsense romanticism, lol, anyway, as i dont understand electric circuits, i just keep my hands off them, even if you understand them theres always some risk, what happened to you looks very similar to what happened to me with the cables from the wall, the reason we didnt get fried is probably that they werent conducting enough voltage, probably a lamp socket has much more as they have to light a bulb, but there are probably another factors, any electrician in the room? Lol
 
Better_Call_Raul said:
You can get hurt even when the amp is not plugged in? That is very scary.

shudder.gif
Click to expand...
Yeah but only if you touch inside the chasis or the tube sockets, thats the danger, amp has been shut down for hours and a Guy thinks, oh i can just open the chasis and start to move things around to see if it sounds better, thankfully nowadays its well known that thats not a good idea if you dont really know what youre doing.
 
TheSlicer said:
Yeah i dont know about electricity either, its just something that gives a lot of respect because you dont see It and It can kill you, in tube amps i think its because of the Big power trasformers, they keep the voltage even hours after being pluged out, there are many things inside the chasis that keep the electricity too, so better to give it to a pro, overall they are more expensive to mantain, im not sure if its worth it but theres something about them besides the sound that is very appealing, maybe some nonsense romanticism, lol, anyway, as i dont understand electric circuits, i just keep my hands off them, even if you understand them theres always some risk, what happened to you looks very similar to what happened to me with the cables from the wall, the reason we didnt get fried is probably that they werent conducting enough voltage, probably a lamp socket has much more as they have to light a bulb, but there are probably another factors, any electrician in the room? Lol
Click to expand...
@Better_Call_Raul

No, it’s not the big power transformers that hold on to the charge after you’ve turned off the amp. Transformers don’t do that. Amps undoubtedly have large capacitors that will store a hefty charge that can zap you after the amp is turned off
 
Only Vokazu the brave survived 2 electrocutions and lived to tell. Being the ultimate expert on electricity and South Africa, he can maybe prevent the collapse of the electricity grid and save state owned enterprises from bankruptcy.
 
Sudacafan said:
Interesting. Until now, all the experiences posted in this thread are from people who survived.
Click to expand...

It was actually 4 times, the other 2 occasions I was told afterwards when in the hospital bed don't count as it was due to an unfortunate incident with a Tesla and the other with a De Lorean
 
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