ECONOMY & WORK
MONEY 101
NEWS
PERSONAL FINANCE
NET WORTH
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use DMCA Opt-out of personalized ads
© Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Market Realist is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
MARKETREALIST.COM / NEWS

Man hoped he'd be a millionaire after rare meteorite hits his home. But now, he lives in fear instead

Inititally, reports claimed that it sold for $1.8 million which changed as the the dust cleared up.
UPDATED DEC 17, 2024
Representative image of a meteorite | Cover image source: | Getty Images | Oscar Sánchez Photography
Representative image of a meteorite | Cover image source: | Getty Images | Oscar Sánchez Photography

An Indonesian man supposedly became an instant millionaire after a meteorite crashed through his roof.  A humble coffin maker Josua Hutagalung was working next to his house when the metorite smashed into his living room. While initial reports suggested that the space rock sold for $1.8 million, the BBC later found that the number was a result of miscalculation and the actual amount may not be even close to a million dollars. Following the massive media attention and misreporting, Hutagalung had to spend his days in fear for his life while fending off interview requests.



 

Hutagalung, who lived in a village in Sumatra, was minding his own business when he heard a noise followed by a loud crash coming from his house. He mustered up the courage to go look and found a large unknown object had crashed through his metal roofing and buried itself deep in the floor. 

He told BBC's Indonesian service that when he found the rock it was still warm, which made him think that it was from outer space. Hutagalung then dug up the boulder which weighed about 4.4lb (2kg). 

Representative image showing a meteorite shooting through the sky (Image source: Pexels | Pavel Polyakov)
Representative image showing a meteorite shooting through the sky (Image source: Pexels | Pavel Polyakov)

Since it wasn't a normal occurrence, Hutagalung took to social media to share pictures of the rock, which is when the news began to travel beyond his village and across borders. 

Several collectors got interested but due to COVID-19 restrictions, nobody could get down to Indonesia. Some got in touch with US meteorite enthusiast Jared Collins, who was living in Indonesia.

He met Josua and authenticated the boulder. Soon the space rock and some other pieces of it were sold to a buyer in the US for an undisclosed amount. Some pieces even landed on eBay in the US which triggered speculation over the sale. 

As per the BBC, the $1.8 million estimate came from a miscalculation of the value based on prices put up on eBay. The asking price for a 0.3g rock was $285 and the price for a bigger rock that weighed 33.68g was $29,120. Thus, the average price per gram comes out to be $860. This multiplied by the total weight of the larger boulder gives the estimate of $1.8 million. 



 

"When I read that figure, I had to laugh," Laurence Garvie, a research professor at the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, told the BBC. The expert shared that no collector would pay that much for a meteorite and it may sell in the thousands but definitely not in millions. 

Josua initially told the BBC’s Indonesia service that he sold the large rock for a little over $14,000. However, the intermediary, Collins did not reveal or confirm the price, which means both figures of $1.8 million and $14,000 may not be true. 

In a rare in-person interview, Hutagalung told VICE World News that he had lived in fear for his life as criminals thought he had actually become a millionaire. He shared that he spent days rejecting interview requests as well. 

“I’m afraid my child will be kidnapped because they think I’m already rich, and they will ask for ransom,” he told VICE. He said he was still living in the same home which was still ordinary, indicating that he didn't get a million dollars. If he actually had the money, “I would recruit at least five security guards” for protection, he added.

This article originally appeared 2 months ago.

MORE ON MARKET REALIST
When the show's guitar expert, Jesse Amoroso, cut the item's value by 75% from the asking price, the guest lost his cool.
18 hours ago
Fans argued that the show misattributed the song "Life Is A Highway" to another composer.
19 hours ago
Jennings opened up about keeping "Jeopardy!" the way it was when he was a fan.
21 hours ago
Harvey also mocked the player for an answer that earned his team a second strike.
22 hours ago
When she did find out how precious the painting from her mother was, she could hardly speak.
23 hours ago
The concern among shoppers is growing after a document suggesting the policy change leaked.
1 day ago
The item was unique since there was only one more of the kind in the world.
1 day ago
Apart from being the trivia expert, Jennings has other talents up his sleeve as well.
1 day ago
The guest had no idea that the beloved artifact was a Japanese Bronze Sculpture from Kaneda Kenjiro.
1 day ago
The guest was merely expecting to get double of what she had paid for the book.
2 days ago
Fans were stunned to see the players fail to name one president known for his violent history.
2 days ago
Harvey was elated at the rather suggestive answer and it was what he was looking for.
2 days ago
In a Reddit thread, fans of the show gathered to share their experience of going up against Jennings.
3 days ago
Harrison couldn't believe his eyes when the guitar turned up in his shop.
3 days ago
The Halloween-themed special episode had a lot of sound effects for jump scares.
4 days ago
Harvey couldn't take anymore of the outrageous answers on the show from the same family.
4 days ago
White paid top dollar only to get one special Katana that Harrison didn't want to sell.
4 days ago
The contestant was on a roll once she did get on the stage after a long wait.
5 days ago
Harvey also looked at Mary Beth at the end, and exclaimed that he had a lot more than just hair.
5 days ago
The player put up a show playing the perfect 'Pass the Buck' game to win a car.
6 days ago