Man Becomes Instant Millionaire When A Meteorite Hits His Home

A rock from outer space landing on your property and resulting in millions in your bank account sounds more unlikely that a lottery win, but one lucky man has found himself in the fortunate position. 

Josua Hutagalung is a 33-year-old coffin maker based in Kolang, North Sumatra, Indonesia, who has become a millionaire overnight. A meteorite came crashing into his garden at the beginning of August and he later had to dig it out as it had been lodged in 5.9 inches.

Hutagalung was clearly lucky that his house wasn’t hit by this incredibly fast-moving rock. However, his luck continued when the meteorite was valued.

The video below shows the rock that was recovered from Hutagalung’s garden:

Josua told local media company, Kompas:

When I lifted it, the stone was still warm and I brought it into the house. The sound was so loud that parts of the house were shaking too. And after I searched, I saw that the tin roof of the house had broken.

The meteorite is made up of carbonaceous chondrite and this makes it a very rare sample. Typically these samples sell at £645 per gram and given that Hutagalung has a 2.1kg meteorite it was very valuable.

Josua has now sold part of the rock for what is believed to be over a million pounds, with this newfound wealth he plans to retire and build a church. He also said that he had longed for a daughter and that he hoped that this would be a sign that he could have one.

My phone lit up with crazy offers for me to jump on a plane and buy the meteorite. It was in the middle of the Covid crisis and frankly it was a toss-up between buying the rock for myself or working with scientists and collectors in the US.

I carried as much money as I could muster and went to find Josua, who turned out to be a canny negotiator.

It seems that Hutagalung will now get to enjoy a lengthy retirement while collectors and scientists investigate the large meteorite sample.