'World's unluckiest man' struck by lightning inside home

John Wade Agan, who has a reason to call himself the 'unluckiest guy in the world', said the last thing he remembers was using a corded phone as he leant over a metal sink.

In the last four years, the taxi driver has also reported being robbed at gunpoint in his cab, stabbed in the chest with a butcher's knife and bitten by two venomous snakes at the same time.

His daughter, Misty Agan, 26, said she saw the latest incident first-hand.

She told the St. Petersburg Times newspaper that she heard the phone drop and her dad saying 'Oh!Oh!Oh!' before he fell to the ground shaking.

Her father, who was admitted to Tampa General Hospital on Tuesday evening, said he woke up surrounded by paramedics with a hole burned in his sock.

According to several news reports, the 47-year-old was complaining of soreness and ringing in his ear as he lay in his hospital bed on Wednesday.

Some remain sceptical of the extent of Agan's misfortunes, and have alleged he is either exaggerating in order to receive pain medication or possibly seeking attention.

But two lightning experts said a strike while using a corded house phone is not unusual.

Dr. Mary Ann Cooper, a widely cited expert in the narrow field of lightning injury research, said: "It's certainly possible."