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Maine church steeple lightning strike caught on camera

Carl Bouley, who caught video of the St. Gerard Catholic Church lightning strike, said the steeple was struck by lightning once before on his birthday.

By Ben Hooper
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GRAND ISLE, Maine, May 28 (UPI) -- A Maine student shooting video during of a rainstorm captured the moment a lightning bolt struck the church steeple he was facing.

Carl Bouley, 16, a student at Madawaska High School, was filming the rain Wednesday outside his home in Grand Isle when a bolt of lightning struck the steeple at St. Gerard Catholic Church.

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The timing of Bouley's camera pan was perfect to capture the bolt of light and the ensuing fireball.

"As soon as I pointed the camera to the ground and back up, it happened," Bouley told the Bangor Daily News.

Bouley, who posted the video to YouTube, said he has a previous connection with lightning and the church steeple.

"In 2007, on my birthday, it was hit by lightning, too," Bouley said. "When I saw the conditions with the atmosphere were the same yesterday, I figured, 'Why not try to record it [and] if it happens, it happens.'"

The student said firefighters examined the church after the strike.

"From what we can tell there was no damage," he said. "We checked it with the thermal camera."

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