Preface from the translator:
1. Some statistics. In the first decade of the 2000s, Joplin flourished and developed at a rapid pace. The streets were densely built up, and it seemed that every meter of land was working with full dedication. The official population of the city is a little more than 50 thousand people, in fact, more than 200 thousand Americans lived and worked there. The Russian-speaking community of the city, formed in the 90s, numbered about 250 people.
The Joplin tornado was the strongest and deadliest in hundreds of years. Only mountains of rubbish remained from the huge buildings. Ron Richard, the senator of the "city with the wind", flew around the affected area, was forced to admit that the tornado "walked along the ground like a lawn mower on tall grass." In 38 minutes, the top layer of the earth was literally ground, and this terrible greasy trail was clearly visible from the air.
2. The terrible facts described in the newspaper "Russian America" (I cite them as an example so that readers understand what a MIRACLE the events described in the article are):
“The story of 18-year-old Joplin school graduate Will Norton, who was caught by a tornado on his way home after graduation, has spread all over the world. The deadly tornado flipped Norton's Hummer several times and lifted the teenager into the air through the retractable roof. The father did his best to keep his son, grabbing him with both hands, but the elements turned out to be stronger … Norton was found on the fifth day after the tornado, in a pond, not far from home … He dreamed of becoming a pilot, already flew on an airplane, and he had two million subscribers on YouTube.
During the tornado, the manager of Pizza Hot in Joplin, Chris Lucas, took 15 pizzeria customers and four workers to the safest place - a huge freezer. Himself as much as he could - he held back the doors of the pizzeria from the onslaught of the elements. The daredevil was blown away by the wind. Chris's last words were: “Honey, I love you. I'll bring you a hot pizza!.. "Chris's friend was expecting a baby."
Promotional video:
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On May 22, 2011, in the city of Joplin (Missouri, USA), where 50 789 people lived, a tornado of the maximum danger category - EF-5, swept through. The powerful force a mile wide (1609.34 meters) left 158 dead and 1,150 wounded. The damage was estimated at $ 3 billion.
When the storm died down and the stunned people began to get out from under the rubble that had not so long ago been their homes, their former lives, strange stories began to seep through the horror of losses. Stories of Hope. Stories about Butterfly People.
A tornado hit on Sunday, destroying nearly 1,000 homes and turning the neighborhood into mush. Enterprises were destroyed. It seemed as if there was a war in the city. It was a battle won by the evil forces of nature.
The surviving cousins of the 2011 tornado are Laige Grigsby and Mason Lillard. The photo was published in 2016 in the Joplin Globe magazine
On that terrible day, his cousin and sister - 14-year-old Laige Grigsby and 10-year-old Mason Lillard - were lucky enough to stay alive. Rescuers retrieved Laige from under a pile of rubble in a hardware store. Doctors at West Freeman Hospital were so sure of the teenager's death that they even sent him to the morgue. And the attending physician Lillard believed that she was literally on the verge of death. If the piece of metal that pierced the girl's body deviated from its trajectory by even an inch, she would no longer be alive. A few centimeters from the puncture line, there was a spine on one side and a liver on the other.
When the tornado started, the children were sitting in their grandparents' truck. The wind, the speed of which inside the funnel reached 321.839 km / h, lifted the vehicle into the air and threw it across the entire parking lot from a height of over 100 meters. Grigsby fell out of the car, and Lillard was pinned in the cockpit. At that moment, both of them saw the same thing - people with wings.
As Lillard lay in the wreckage of the vehicle, a hand touched her shoulder. At first the girl thought it was Grigsby, but, opening his eyes, a child who went to church and never lied, saw two butterflies with the faces and bodies of people. One of them had brown hair, the other was blonde. “It was a very calming sight,” Lillard told the Joplin Globe several years later.
Brother and sister are not the only ones who have seen butterfly people. On the pages of The St. Louis Post”was published a story of a mother and daughter. The mother ran for cover, holding her baby tightly. When the wind knocked them down and they fell to the ground, the mother saw how the tornado pulled the car into its funnel, and then, lifting it into the air, threw it in their direction. The mother covered her daughter with her body, trying to save her from death. However, nothing happened. It seemed as if the car had disappeared without reaching the people. When the woman finally dared to look around, her daughter said: "Haven't you seen butterfly people?" The child even described their faces. It turned out that the heavenly creatures carried people by air to safety.
The stories did not end there. More and more residents of the affected city - and they were always children - told the same thing: how they saw people with wings similar to the wings of butterflies. During the storm, butterfly people stood or flew over the children, protecting them from falling debris.
In the news on Yahoo! there was such a plot: when the wind picked up and began to throw the car in which the man and his daughter were sitting in the air, the little girl was not afraid, because beautiful butterflies were sitting in the car with them.
And another four-year-old claimed that two large butterflies held his dad's car when the tornado wanted to pick it up.
Another four-year-old boy, who was found by rescuers in a field almost 10 kilometers from the house, said that angels caught him in the sky, who then gently lowered the child to the ground.
Reports of encounters with angels are not uncommon. But this case of the appearance of angels, who appeared in the form of human butterflies, who saved children from trouble in Joplin, is unique. Now it is one of the symbols of the city, even now, six years later, it has not recovered from the tragedy. At the intersection of Main Street and 15th Street, you can now see a mural titled "The Butterfly Effect: Dreams Take Flight" - a sign of hope that this will not happen again and everything will be fine.
PS from our site: We wish happiness and prosperity to every home and every family. Happy Holidays. Let the good forces always protect the most precious thing that you have - the close people you love, and especially your children, both small and large.
Source: mysteriousuniverse.org
Translation by Elena Muravyova for neveroyatno.info