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Thunderstones
Before meteorites were truly and well understood, many people called them “thunderstones,” because they fell to earth with a thunderlike noise (and often during real thunderstorms). However, not all thunderstones were meteorites. It is believed that some were small rocks swept up by high winds and dropped by the storms. Others may have been conglomerates of sand fused by lightning. The Greeks believed that meteorites, or “thunderstones” had mysterious properties and were worn as talismans. On the island of Samos, a person wearing such a stone was invincible to lightning.


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