The Butterfly People of Joplin, Missouri

An EF5 tornado tore through Joplin, Missouri, on 22 May 2011. The tornado, a mile wide, killed 158 people in this town of 50,789 and injured 1,150; insurance damage claims reached toward $3 billion. When the storm was gone, and dazed residents started to shift through the rubble of what was once their lives, stories, strange stories began to seep through the horror. Stories of hope. Stories of the Butterfly People. 

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch recounted the story of a mother running for shelter while holding her young daughter. The wind knocked them to the ground, and the mother saw the twister lift a car and shoot it toward them. The mother cradled her daughter, trying to protect her from the impact, an impact that never occurred. When she looked up, her daughter said, “Didn’t you see the butterfly people?” Then went on to tell her mother she could see these butterfly entities carrying people through the sky. 

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