What happened here? Meteor?

[The Insurance Guy]

This was a post on Facebook. I don’t know the person other than that.

What do you think happened here?




My brother, Joseph Tomes and I did a back country hunt on an island 9 miles off the coast of the Michigan mainland. The trip was supposed to be 8 days, but we were pulled off early for a "I cant believe this happened" incident, and bad weather approaching...

I'm by no means an expert in this field, but just before this incident my brother saw a streak through the sky, while on the phone with his wife, 200 yards from our campsite. The following morning we spoke to the neighboring spike camp, who mentioned the saw a streak through the sky before they heard the explosion.

From inside the shelter, this is what I saw....

I was laying on my ultralight cot, trying to get signal on my phone to text my kids and wife after finishing a peak refuel meal. I hiked 15 miles throughout the entire day, and had a fire going on my seek outside titanium wood burner.

With no warning, something caused ab huge explosion and blew fire, ash and coals all over me. My wood burner was on its side, and the ground cover in my shelter was on fire. The hot coals and wood were all over me, my cot, sleeping bag and all my gear. The interior of the tent immediately filled with smoke, because the stove pipe was knocked off of the wood burner.

Joe Tomes was outside, near my shelter when it happened and ran over to help, not knowing what just occurred.

After exiting the shelter, putting the fire out, and trying to determine what happened. We found my wood burner on its side with excessive unrepairable damage, and a backpack stove canister with a large dent in the top with the bottom blown off. The fuel canister was 3' behind the back right corner of the wood stove, the same place I always put it after using it to heat a meal.

Here is the wood stove, hole in the tent, stove pipe and fuel canister with damage, also indicating a heavy blow from the top down. I believe one of the rocks I had on my wood stove was blown off and hit the fuel canister, causing it to rupture, and fill my tent with flammable vapors. I cannot explain the damage to my stove, except it was a meteor.

I was laying 10" from the stove upon impact...
We looked that night, and the following morning for any indication of a meteor, but could not find anything due to the coals and ash on the ground, and the existing vine like ground cover. It may have fragmented on impact. There was also a small dent on the fuel canister, possibly caused from the meteor fragmenting.

Let me know what you think....











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DUKFVR]

Dang! Glad you weren't hurt.

[wytex]

Looks like a backdraft to me. Stove pipe was restricted in draw and flow and built up back pressure.
Have seen it happen in wood stoves if you don't clean the flue. It can blow the door open and the fire out the door. Lightweight stove might just collapse under the pressure.

Just a thought anyway. Meteor hit sounds highly unlikely. I have no clue really, lol.

[twright]

Hole in tent appears to but cut with an edge. IDK about the rest. I find it odd no photos in the field of the site. Skeptical to say the least.

[Bigfootwolff]

I am always skeptical, and wonder when I read stories like this if someone created a story (assuming it is untrue) that sounds believable, and then puts it on social media to see how quickly the story spreads. Thus the person gets some type of thrill by sitting back and watching his story explode across the internet as it creates countless discussions while the hoax is shared/liked over multiple social media sites, almost like a pyromaniac likes to start a small fire and then sit back and watch as it grows and causes increasingly more and more damage.

Assuming it is true, I would think a glowing hot meteor would have likely caused more noticeable damage, unless it was the size of a small BB, which is a possibility. I wonder if the damage could have been initiated by a leak in the butane stove apparatus, not the tank itself, and the subsequent ignition of the leaking gas caused the explosion and ensuing damage. If it was a meteor, that guy needs to book a trip to Vegas and play the lottery, as the odds have definitely swung in his favor.

[AgHntr10]

Looks like a backdraft to me. Stove pipe was restricted in draw and flow and built up back pressure.
Have seen it happen in wood stoves if you don't clean the flue. It can blow the door open and the fire out the door. Lightweight stove might just collapse under the pressure.

Just a thought anyway. Meteor hit sounds highly unlikely. I have no clue really, lol.

This seems way more likely than a meteor strike.

[Man]

Dang! Glad you weren't hurt.

agreed..copy and pasting can't get dangerous quickly.

[jfk47]

I would think a meteor strike would leave some type of an impression in the ground, regardless of how large or small it was.

[flywise]

This seems way more likely than a meteor strike.

[tward1604]

There has only ever been one confirmed person hit by a meteorite from what I can remember. that would be pretty close if it were a meteorite!.

[RockTippedStick]

He stated he had rocks placed on top of the stove. Some rocks when heated quickly can explode. That is my guess.

[wytex]

He stated he had rocks placed on top of the stove. Some rocks when heated quickly can explode. That is my guess.

Missed that part and your are right, pick the wrong rocks for your fire ring even and it gets interesting.

[mrc]

Just a Bigfoot throwing rocks at him.

[91cavgt]

I’m not seeing any particular, sharp crease where a small meteorite would have impacted. Not to mention, a meteorite that would end up being small enough to do damage but not kill the guy would be very small, like smaller than a quarter. If a meteorite big enough to make the hole in the roof of that tent were to have hit, that stove more than likely would have exploded. Plus, if someone saw a shooting star going overhead, the trajectory would not have taken it into the tent. Most shooting stars that we see are several miles above us. So if someone was close to the tent when they saw the shooting star, if it was in fact a meteorite that hit the tent, it would appear as though the shooting star were in fact still in the sky as it was coming almost straight towards the witness.

Needless to say, I’m not buying that it was a meteorite.

[WARDEN]

The stove pipe and stove appear to be bent from several blows at least. JMO