A Twitch streamer was struck by lightning while sharing a video of himself playing computer games inside his North Carolina home.
Christian Howard, known online as Chrispymate, was shocked by a bolt of lightning during a storm in southern Wake County on July 19.
He was livestreaming when he felt a heavy pressure followed by an electric shock in his ears, where he was wearing earphones partially made out of metal.
‘Bro, I just got struck by lightning,’ Howard, 27, told the stream. ‘I had my earbuds in. A big thing of lightning hit. I felt lightning go through my ears.’
The shock sent a ‘little zap’ into his body and made his vision temporarily go ‘white’, Howard told WRAL News.
He ended the stream shortly after the jolt and immediately went to check on his cats after the incident to ensure that they had not been impacted.
Howard, whose fans were concerned after watching him get shocked on live stream, was not injured in the incident.
The odds of being struck by lightning are one in 15,300, but officials note that certain parts of the US, specifically states along the Gulf Coast, are hotspots for bolts.
Christian Howard, known online as Chrispymate, was shocked by a bolt of lightning during a storm in southern Wake County on July 19 (pictured). He was livestreaming when he felt a heavy pressure followed by an electric shock in his ears
The video game streamer (pictured) says the lightning shock sent a ‘little zap’ into his body and made his vision temporarily go ‘white’
Howard compared the incident to being blasted with sound from the front row of a rock concert.
‘It felt as if you were in the front row and the drummer just hit one good thwack and all the bass just hits you…that went into my ears,’ he told the news outlet.
‘At the same time, if you were to take a gum strip gag toy, and just pull it, you get that little zap. I had both of those sensations. My vision went white, and then I bolted.’
Common side effects of lightning strikes include loss of consciousness, confusion and amnesia, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Howard, luckily, did not suffer any symptoms following the incident, but did claim he felt like he had ‘super strength’ afterwards.
‘I haven’t gone to a full sprint just yet,’ he told Fox Weather. ‘But, I did get super strength the next day. I had the best gym session I’ve ever had.’
Howard said the whole experience was rather ‘intense’ and moving forward plans to take extra precautions ahead of incoming storms.
Although most lightning strikes happen while a person is outside, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns strikes do occur indoors.
Lightning – which is an electrical current – can travel through electrical systems, radios, TVs, and any metal wires or bars in concrete walls or flooring, the CDC says.
Experts say people should avoid using any devices connected to an electrical outlet, including computers, laptops, gaming systems or appliances, during storms.
Americans experience 36.8 million ground strikes annually. Frequency of lightning ground strikes per year, averaged over six years, shows the most activity along the Gulf Coast
Americans experience 36.8 million ground strikes annually, with Florida being hit the most, data published by the University of Wisconsin-Madison last year revealed.
The Miami-Fort Lauderdale area alone had over 120,000 lightning strikes in 2023.
Meteorologists also found that Louisiana had the highest volume of deadly ‘cloud-to-ground’ lightning strikes and ‘Tornado Alley’ also receives its fair share of bolts.
An average of 28 people in the US were killed by lightning every year between 2006 and 2023, the research report found.
According to the National Lightning Safety Council, at least 12 people have already died from lightning strikes in 2025.
