HOLY CRAP..............man you're lucky. I've not heard of that. Graphite is a GREAT conductor, and I wonder if that is what happened.
Also........a few years ago there was an ad in the fishing magazines for a Berkely Lightning rod. As the story goes, the guy fishing was using one of those and he was struck by lightening. Funny thing, the rod absorbed most of the strike and he was OK. THE picture of the rod was really interesting.
Later,
Geo