Flash, bang, and blood: Hiker tells harrowing lightning tale

Sacramento, Calif. — There was no rain, no rumbling, no sign of danger before the blinding flash and deafening bang of a lightning bolt threw Mathias Steinhuber to the ground, tore off his clothes and burned a gaping hole in his shoe.The 31-year-old Austrian teacher, an avid hiker, had just reached the 9,000-foot summit of a Northern California mountain range ahead of his companions when he raised his arms for a picture and was struck in the back of the head. The electricity shot through h