Massachusetts church hosted thrift shop, not Pride event, before fire | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY
·3 min read
2

The claim: Church was struck by lightning hours after hosting a Pride event

A June 9 Instagram video shows a church with a burning steeple that crashes to the ground.

"A church in Massachusetts hosted a Pride event and hours later was struck by lightning and burned to the ground," reads on-screen text. "God will not be mocked."

The post received more than 700 likes in a week. Similar versions of the claim have been shared on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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Our rating: False

A member of the church's staff said it hosted a thrift shop the morning of the lightning strike, not a Pride event. Local officials say the church was closed when it was struck.

Church hosted thrift shop, not Pride event

The video shows First Congregational Church of Spencer in Massachusetts, which caught fire June 2 after its steeple was reportedly struck by lightning during a thunderstorm and collapsed, according to CBS News Boston.

However, there's no evidence the church was hosting a Pride event prior to the lightning strike.

The church doesn't mention anything about LGBTQ+ Pride events on its website. Instead, its calendar says it hosted an "Economy Shop" at 9 a.m. that day.

Elizabeth Goyette, an administrative assistant at the church, confirmed this to Lead Stories.

"There was not a same-sex marriage ceremony or a Pride event in or around the church," Goyette said. "The only happenings in the building was the thrift shop, and (it) was open from 9 a.m to 1 p.m."

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Jake Wark, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services, told USA TODAY that fire investigators from the Spencer Fire Department and Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Unit determined the church fire was caused by a lightning strike.

"The fire spread from the steeple to the rest of the wood-framed structure, causing catastrophic damage," Wark said in an email. "It’s worth noting that this was one of at least three structure fires caused by lightning strikes during a day of extremely stormy weather across Massachusetts."

Wark also said the church was unoccupied when lightning struck.

A fire was set at a different church in Somerville, Massachusetts, on June 14 (several days after the social media post in question) after it hosted a Pride worship service, according to NBC Boston. USA TODAY found no reports attributing that fire to a lightning strike, and the church said in a statement that "a fire was set" in the sanctuary.

USA TODAY reached out to Goyette and the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

The claim was also debunked by the Associated Press.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Church didn't host Pride event before lightning strike | Fact check