SUMMARY A 3-year study from 1962 to 1965 on the effects of lightning on livestock was reported. Gross lesions in many cases were minimal. In 75 detailed necropsies of lightning fatalities, singed hair and skin were the most significant lesions caused by lightning. Localized subcutaneous hyperemia and hemorrhage frequently associated with singed hair were often found. Lightning victims had fluid and poorly clotted blood in their veins. Bloat developed rapidly after death. Distension of abdominal viscera had forced blood from these organs into the portal venous system, eventually causing congestion and apparent hemorrhage of the superficial lymph nodes of the head and neck and the central nervous system.