Bethany Lott

According to WATE-TV, a young couple hiking in the western North Carolina mountains were struck by tragedy when lightening struck them both. The young woman, Bethany Lott, passed away as a result of the strike, while her boyfriend, Richard Butler, was injured. The most tragic part of all is that Butler was moments away from proposing to Lott as the lightening struck.

“Everything went black. I was spun 180 degrees, thrown several feet back. My legs turned to jelly, my shoes were smoking and the bottom of my feet felt like they were on fire,” says Butler of the incident. Sadly, it was Lott that took the direct hit. Butler commented, “[I] crawled to her, rolled her over, they say she was gone automatically, but I tried CPR for probably 15 minutes.”

Following the accident, Butler spoke of Lott’s love for the outdoors. He said, “I picked that spot because she actually said she would like to get married there. She absolutely loved the outdoors. Her last words, about 30 seconds before it struck us. She turned to me and said, ‘God baby look at it, isn’t it beautiful?’” Butler had a ring with him and was prepared to propose just before the lightning struck. Butler said, “I’ve tried to be mad at God, but I can’t do it. I feel like it is my obligation to her to be as happy as I can be and be as productive with the rest of my life as can be and do as much good as she would’ve done.”