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The Hodges Meteorite is the only documented extraterrestrial object to have struck a human being. It was a grapefruit-sized fragment of the Sylacauga Meteorite[1] which fell on November 30, 1954. It crashed through the roof of a frame house in Oak Grove, Alabama, bounced off a large wooden console radio, destroying it, and hit Ann Elizabeth Hodges (1923-1972) who was napping on a couch. The 31 year old woman was badly bruised on one side of her body but able to walk. The event received worldwide publicity.
Coincidentally, the house where the meteorite landed was opposite the Comet Drive-In Theatre[2].
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The United States Air Force sent a helicopter to take the meteorite. Eugene Hodges, the husband of the woman who was struck, hired a lawyer to get it back. The Hodgeses' landlord also claimed it, wanting to sell it to cover the damage to the house. There were offers of up to 5,000 U.S. dollars for the meteorite. By the time it was returned to the Hodgeses, over a year later, public attention had diminished and they were unable to find a buyer willing to pay much money.
Mrs. Hodges was uncomfortable with the public attention and the stress of the dispute over ownership of the meteorite. Against her husband's wishes, she donated it to the Alabama Museum of Natural History where it is on display at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa[1].
It is an 8.51 pounds (3.86 kg) fragment of Sylacauga meteorite, an ordinary chondrite meteorite, type H4[1].