Ann Hodges was taking a nap on her sofa when she did something that other people just sing about: She caught a falling star. Or to be more accurate, a falling star caught her. It left a big bruise on her hip and turned her into a media celebrity – 70 years ago today.

The “falling star” was an eight-and-a-half-pound meteorite – a cosmic rock that had been orbiting the Sun. It was part of a larger rock that plunged into the atmosphere on November 30th, 1954, creating a streak of light that was visible across three states.

The rock exploded while it was still high in the air. One fragment took aim at a house near the Comet Drive-In Theater in Sylacauga, Alabama. It blasted through the roof, bounced off the floor and a radio, and smacked into Hodges. The story made national headlines, and Life magazine published a picture of Hodges and her bruise.

Reports of meteorites hitting buildings or cars aren’t that rare. Neither are stories of meteorites landing near people. But it is rare for a meteorite to actually hit a person. There are accounts of meteorites killing people in some old records in China and elsewhere, but scientists haven’t confirmed those reports. The Alabama impact was easy to document because scientists could see the bruise, the meteorite, and the hole in the roof.

Today, the meteorite is on display in the Alabama Museum of Natural History – a “falling star” that caught a sleeping person.

Script by Damond Benningfield