The lightning hit the top of his head, set his hair on fire, traveled down, and burnt his chest and stomach. On Saturday morning, June 25, 1977, Sullivan was struck while fishing in a freshwater pool.It was reported that he saw a cloud, thought that it was following him, tried to run away, but was struck anyway. The next strike, on June 5, 1976, injured his ankle.Still conscious, Sullivan crawled to his truck and poured the can of water, which he always kept there, over his head, which was on fire. It then crossed over to his right leg just below the knee. The lightning moved down his left arm and left leg and knocked off his shoe. Sullivan stated that he actually saw the bolt that hit him. Soon after, he was struck by a lightning bolt. When he finally thought he had outrun it, he decided it was safe to leave his truck. But the cloud, he said later, seemed to be following him. On August 7, 1973, while he was out on patrol in the park, Sullivan saw a storm cloud forming and drove away quickly.He also began to believe that he would somehow attract lightning even if he stood in a crowd of people, and carried a can of water with him in case his hair was set on fire. For months, whenever he was caught in a storm while driving his truck, he would pull over and lie down on the front seat until the storm passed. Although he never was a fearful man, after the fourth strike he began to believe that some force was trying to destroy him and he acquired a fear of death. He then rushed to the restroom, but could not fit under the water tap and so used a wet towel instead. It set his hair on fire he tried to smother the flames with his jacket.
In spring 1972, Sullivan was working inside a ranger station in Shenandoah National Park when he was struck again.The lightning hit a nearby power transformer and from there jumped to his left shoulder, searing it. In July 1970, Sullivan was struck while in his front yard.The uncontrolled truck kept moving until it stopped near a cliff edge. The strike knocked Sullivan unconscious and burned off his eyebrows and eyelashes, and set his hair on fire. The lightning first hit nearby trees and was deflected into the open window of the truck. Unusually, he was hit while in his truck, driving on a mountain road – the metal body of a vehicle normally protects people from lightning strikes by acting as a Faraday cage. It burned a half-inch strip all along his right leg, hit his toe, and left a hole in his shoe. Sullivan ran out and was struck a few feet away.
Inside the tower, "fire was jumping all over the place". The tower was newly built and had no lightning rod at the time it was hit seven or eight times. He was hiding from a thunderstorm in a fire lookout tower.