The Unbelievable with Dan Aykroyd - Season 3 Episode 07- Dodging Death
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00:00Viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
00:08Imagine surviving a coma, only to wake up at your own funeral.
00:15To the astonishment and terror of everyone there, Essie sits up out of her coffin and smiles.
00:21She tries to walk towards her own parents. They flee as though she's a ghost or a zombie.
00:27Or facing off against an apex predator and living to tell the tale.
00:32Suddenly he's slammed from the side. His mask is torn from his face.
00:36Then very quickly, the shark goes in for another bite.
00:40How about free-falling 7,000 feet and landing on the unlikeliest lifesaver?
00:45Fate has thrown her another curveball.
00:48She has landed directly on top of a huge colony of fire ants.
00:53These fire ants attack and bite and sting Joan by the thousands.
00:59And the pain is relentless.
01:03These are the stories of near-death experiences so shocking.
01:07They're truly unbelievable.
01:08There are many ways to cheat death, good luck, great timing,
01:26or something even more unbelievable that happens to one lovesick man in Russia.
01:31It's 2023 in Russia, and a man only known as Arthur is heartbroken.
01:42And he's decided to drown his sorrows in a long, all-night pub crawl.
01:49At the end of the night, he wanders into a stranger's apartment on the 19th floor
01:54and ends up on the balcony.
01:56He then leans back and flips right over the railing.
02:06Street cameras capture this.
02:09A very fast blur zipping past the camera as he plummets towards the street.
02:13Debris shoots skyward as he buries himself into the top of an SUV.
02:23And you think to yourself, this is the end.
02:26This guy's done.
02:27Instead, they find something more surprising.
02:31Arthur is not only standing by his own willpower, but he's singing,
02:36and he ends up singing in the ambulance all the way to the emergency room.
02:40First responders are all shocked.
02:42How did he survive a 200-foot fall?
02:45There are a surprising number of recorded cases of very drunken people surviving horrible accidents.
02:51Essentially, their bodies are so loose.
02:53They don't brace for impact, and sometimes they actually experience less trauma.
02:58Incredibly, he only has a concussion and some spinal compression fractures.
03:03He is extremely lucky that he landed on that car with enough force to be able to crumple it
03:09to make the SUV absorb the impact.
03:13He survived something that absolutely would have killed a more sober man.
03:20Surviving a 19-story fall seems impossible.
03:24Yet it's a walk in the park compared to a high-altitude descent
03:27that is truly the stuff of nightmares.
03:29It's Christmas Eve, 1971, and Julianne Kopka, a German-Peruvian high school student,
03:41is flying with her mother in a rickety passenger plane over the jungles of Peru.
03:47The plane is packed for two reasons.
03:50One, it's the holidays, but perhaps more importantly,
03:52because the airline's other two aircraft have crashed recently,
03:55and this is the only one left functioning.
03:57The first 30 to 40 minutes of the flight are pretty uneventful,
04:02but when the plane heads into a severe thunderstorm,
04:06things go bad pretty quickly.
04:09Lightning strikes the wing of the plane.
04:12Sparks fly and crack.
04:14Julianne hears her mother say out loud,
04:17this is the end.
04:19As the engines fail, the plane begins to nosedive,
04:22and for Julianne, everything goes black.
04:25Suddenly, she is falling out of the sky,
04:31still attached to a bank of seats.
04:33The G-forces and the violent spinning cause her to pass out again.
04:43Julianne wakes up on the jungle floor,
04:45injured, very confused, but somehow still alive.
04:49She's suffered a massive concussion.
04:52When she tries to stand,
04:54she immediately passes out.
04:56Not to mention the fact she has a horrible gaping wound,
04:59and she's losing blood.
05:00How she survived the landing is still a mystery,
05:03but one of the theories is
05:05the spinning of the row of seats
05:07acted kind of like a helicopter,
05:09where it provided enough lift
05:11just to slow her down,
05:13so when she hit the jungle,
05:14she wasn't killed on impact.
05:15The other theory that's posited
05:18is that the bottom of the seat that she was in
05:20took the majority of the impact,
05:22and as she continued to fall through the canopy
05:24and fall through the leaves and through the branches,
05:26that continued to slow down her descent
05:28until she ultimately hit the jungle floor.
05:33Julianne wanders the crash site,
05:35which is now littered with bodies,
05:36and she notices a corpse with lady's shoes.
05:39It could possibly be her mother,
05:42but at this point, her thinking is so scattered,
05:44it's just hard for her to really absorb anything.
05:47Dazed or not, Julianne knows one thing.
05:51She has to find help.
05:53She remembers something that her father,
05:55a field biologist, once told her.
05:58Follow the water.
05:59Even the tiniest streams will lead to bigger streams,
06:03and those will lead to rivers,
06:04and that's where the people will be.
06:06She's trying to take in her surroundings,
06:09but she has no clue where to find water
06:11until she hears a unique call of a bird she knows
06:16called a crested chicken,
06:17and she remembers they live near rivers.
06:22Her path to the river is long and perilous,
06:25swarming with panthers, snakes,
06:27and other fearsome predators.
06:29But the biggest threat comes from a much smaller creature,
06:33now making a home out of the horrific gash in her arm,
06:37maggots.
06:37If maggots are appearing,
06:39that means that the tissue around the wound has died,
06:42gangrene potentially setting in,
06:44and that could be fatal.
06:46Despite her body breaking down,
06:48Julianne keeps moving,
06:49drawn by the one thing that cuts through the silence.
06:55For three days, she tracks the sound of the bird.
06:59And sure enough,
07:04it leads her to a stream.
07:06The stream offers a glimmer of hope,
07:09but with each passing day,
07:10doubt creeps in.
07:13A week has passed since her plane crashed,
07:15and occasionally she'll hear
07:16a plane hovering above her.
07:18She'll scream for search and rescue,
07:20but the jungle canopy is so thick
07:22that they don't hear her.
07:24Then, amid the endless hum of the jungle,
07:27a new sound emerges.
07:30She hears the sound of running water.
07:33She's found the river,
07:35just like her father told her she would.
07:38She's too weak to swim,
07:39so her only real option
07:41is to float down the river
07:42on logs or anything else that will carry her.
07:46While she's drifting down the river,
07:47there are crocodiles
07:48that see her floating.
07:51Luckily, they end up leaving her alone
07:52and letting her continue to drift on.
07:54Eventually, she comes across a small riverboat
07:59docked by a cabin,
08:00which gives her an idea.
08:03Julianne remembers as a child
08:04they had a dog
08:05that also had a wound
08:06that became infested with maggots.
08:08Her dad would grab some diesel fuel
08:09to clean all the maggots out.
08:11With the outboard motor fuel,
08:12she also does the same.
08:15And the maggots immediately rush to the surface
08:17and leave the wound.
08:20Exhausted and malnourished,
08:21Julianne passes out in the cabin,
08:24her first shelter
08:25since she fell from the sky
08:27ten days ago.
08:29When Julianne awakes,
08:31she's startled
08:31because she sees three lumber workers
08:34standing over her.
08:35They are completely shocked
08:37and terrified by her appearance.
08:39She is emaciated,
08:40she's filthy,
08:41and her eyes are blood red
08:44from the concussion.
08:45They scream and run away.
08:47It turns out there actually is
08:49a local legend
08:50about a water demon
08:52with big, fiery red eyes.
08:54They think that she's coming to get them.
08:58Julianne convinces them
09:00that she's not a demon,
09:01but the survivor of a plane crash.
09:03And they take her
09:04to the neighboring town
09:05to get help.
09:06After spending 11 days
09:08in the jungle,
09:09Julianne finally reunites
09:11with her father.
09:12The voice in her head
09:14which told her,
09:15follow the water
09:16and you'll find the people.
09:19By chance,
09:20famed film director
09:21Werner Herzog
09:22was supposed to be
09:23on that plane with Julianne,
09:25but he was bumped.
09:26Decades later,
09:27he returns with her
09:28to the jungle
09:29to retrace
09:30this incredible tale
09:31of survival.
09:34Rock climbing
09:35is full of risks,
09:37but sometimes
09:37the most terrifying part
09:39isn't the fall.
09:40Take, for instance,
09:41the experience of one man
09:43on Japan's Mount Futago.
09:45in 2022.
09:52The climber shudders
09:54as a black blur
09:55shoots past him.
09:57That blur
09:58is a vicious
09:59Japanese black bear.
10:05There's a myriad
10:06of ways he could die.
10:07He's got no ropes.
10:09The bear could knock him
10:10off this cliff
10:11some 3,000 feet up,
10:13or he could slip
10:15as he tries to escape.
10:16There's also
10:17the unpleasant prospect
10:19of being mauled
10:20and killed
10:21by this female
10:22because Japanese black bear
10:25are notoriously aggressive.
10:31Black bears are
10:32an apex predator.
10:33They're a formidable animal,
10:35and to fight off
10:36and to fight off a black bear
10:36even on flat ground
10:38is almost
10:39an impossible task.
10:42Imagine hanging
10:42off of a cliff.
10:44And to add to the peril,
10:45a bear can climb
10:46a mountain
10:47much faster
10:48than a person can.
10:50Just when he thinks
10:51it can't get any worse,
10:53an unexpected visitor
10:54shows up.
10:55In the middle
10:57of the mayhem,
10:57he notices
10:58there's a little bear cub
10:59in the distance.
11:00This is by far
11:01the worst case scenario
11:02when it comes
11:03to bear attacks
11:04because 70%
11:05of people
11:05that lose their lives
11:07from bear attacks
11:07are from a very
11:09angry mother
11:09defending their cubs.
11:12Luckily,
11:13the climber
11:13has a secret weapon.
11:15He happens
11:16to know karate.
11:17So when the bear
11:18lunges at him,
11:19he actually throws
11:21some powerful
11:21kicks and punches.
11:22One of those kicks
11:25lands hard enough
11:26that it rattles her
11:28and she retreats.
11:35When you add up
11:36all the factors,
11:37this guy is extremely
11:39lucky to survive
11:40the situation.
11:42Completely out of breath
11:44and panicked,
11:45the climber
11:45finally makes his way
11:47back up the mountain
11:48knowing that today
11:49he just barely survived
11:51filming his own
11:52death on a GoPro.
11:57Karate might come
11:58in handy
11:58against angry bears
11:59on a mountain,
12:00but it's not going
12:02to save you
12:02underwater.
12:05By 22 years old,
12:06Australian Rodney Fox
12:07is already
12:08a spearfishing legend.
12:10In 1963,
12:11he's determined
12:11to hold on
12:12to his local title.
12:14He is free diving
12:15without a tank,
12:16taking deep breaths
12:18and combing the reefs
12:19off of Aldinga Beach
12:21in search of exotic fish.
12:23What Rodney doesn't realize
12:25is that he is also
12:27being hunted.
12:30Suddenly,
12:30he's slammed
12:31from the side.
12:33His spear gun
12:33is knocked from his hand,
12:34his mask is torn
12:35from his face.
12:37His first thought
12:38is that he's been
12:39struck by a submarine.
12:41Rodney isn't sure
12:42what's happening,
12:43but what he does know
12:44is that he's moving
12:45through the water
12:45faster than he's ever
12:47moved in his life.
12:48Rodney feels
12:50an intense pressure
12:51from his hip
12:51to above his shoulder
12:53and all the air
12:55is just suddenly
12:55expelled from his lungs.
12:57Then very quickly,
12:59he realizes
13:00that he's in the mouth
13:01of a great white shark.
13:05He's weakened
13:06by the loss of blood
13:06and also the lack of air,
13:08so he reaches
13:08for his diver's knife
13:09and begins jabbing
13:10the shark near his eyes
13:11and near his gills.
13:14Incredibly,
13:14he actually feels
13:15the shark letting him go.
13:16Most would try
13:19to flee from the shark,
13:20but quick-thinking Rodney
13:21goes on the offensive.
13:24Rodney rushes
13:25toward the shark
13:25and bear hugs it,
13:27wrapping his bloody arms
13:29around its great
13:30sandpapery belly.
13:32This is similar
13:33to a tactic
13:34used by seals
13:35when they're attacked
13:37by great white sharks.
13:38They crowd close
13:39to its midsection
13:40to stay away
13:41from its deadly jaws.
13:43Now the shark
13:44wants to get rid of Rodney,
13:45so it shakes him off
13:47and once free,
13:49Rodney is going
13:50for the surface.
13:52He looks down
13:53as he's kicking his way
13:54to the surface
13:54and through the bloody murk
13:56of the water,
13:57he can see the shark
13:58is coming at him.
13:59The shark goes in
14:01for another bite,
14:02but to Rodney's surprise,
14:04the shark doesn't bite him,
14:05it goes for the bag of fish
14:07that he has speared.
14:08This may sound
14:09like a lucky break,
14:11but the bag of fish
14:12is still attached to him.
14:13Rodney's hands
14:15are too torn up
14:16to trigger the release
14:17on his bag
14:18of speared fish
14:20attached to his dive belt.
14:22So when the shark
14:23takes off,
14:24Rodney is dragged
14:25by the bag
14:26back down
14:27toward the ocean floor.
14:29By some last-minute miracle,
14:31the line snaps on its own,
14:33and Rodney is free
14:34to swim
14:35toward the surface.
14:38Rodney breaks the surface
14:40and begins to gulp air,
14:41and he sees that a boat
14:42is bearing down on him.
14:44And it turns out
14:45that the blood
14:45that is pouring out of Rodney
14:46has created essentially
14:48a die marker
14:49to locate him.
14:50As Rodney is pulled
14:51onto the boat,
14:52the only thing
14:53holding him together
14:54is his wetsuit.
14:55He is in terrible condition.
14:58There's this giant bite mark
14:59going from his shoulder
15:00all the way down
15:01to his hip,
15:02and his organs
15:03are hanging out.
15:05Every rib
15:06on the left side
15:07of his body
15:07is cracked,
15:09and his lung
15:10is punctured.
15:11It takes almost
15:12500 stitches
15:14to put Rodney
15:15back together again,
15:16but he survives
15:17and fights his way back
15:18to a full recovery.
15:21Rodney's massive scar
15:22becomes the stuff
15:23of spearfishing legend.
15:24Some say the encounter
15:25inspired Peter Benchley
15:26when he was writing
15:27the book Jaws.
15:29Now in his 80s,
15:31Fox still chases sharks,
15:32but with a camera
15:33and from inside a cage.
15:37When it comes
15:39to escaping death,
15:40most manage to do it
15:41before actually being buried.
15:43But shockingly,
15:45there are a few exceptions.
15:48In 1915 in South Carolina,
15:50you had one of those
15:52incredibly scorching,
15:54hot summers.
15:5530-year-old S.E. Dunbar
15:57falls into a violent
15:59epileptic seizure
16:00due to all the heat.
16:02She passes out on the ground,
16:04and the local county doctor,
16:06D.K. Briggs is called.
16:07When Briggs arrives
16:08to the scene,
16:10S.E. is completely motionless.
16:13After several failed attempts
16:14to revive her,
16:15D.K. Briggs announces
16:17the sad news
16:17to S.E.'s family.
16:19Their beloved daughter
16:20is dead.
16:22The grief-stricken Dunbars
16:24send word to S.E.'s sister,
16:26but she lives
16:26in another town,
16:28and unfortunately,
16:29they have to plan
16:30the funeral for the next day
16:31because of the excessive heat.
16:33They can't leave
16:34the body lying around.
16:36Her sister is devastated
16:37and wants to come home
16:39for the funeral,
16:40which is going to be
16:40incredibly tight
16:41for her to make it.
16:43Remember,
16:43the automobile as we know it
16:45still was not in existence,
16:47so it was going to take
16:48her sister quite a while
16:50to make it back
16:51to the family home.
16:53Three ministers
16:54actually preach
16:55at S.E.'s funeral
16:56to try to elongate the service,
16:57and yet,
16:58there still isn't enough time
16:59for her sister to arrive.
17:00By the time S.E.'s sister
17:02makes it,
17:03the funeral's over,
17:05and S.E. has been buried.
17:08S.E.'s sister
17:09is inconsolable.
17:10She can't believe
17:11she's missed the funeral.
17:13So to finally calm her down,
17:16the family decides
17:18they will exhume S.E.
17:20so her sister can see her
17:22one final time.
17:23It's a little bit extreme
17:25that they would even do that,
17:26but unbelievably,
17:29the groundskeepers
17:30of the cemetery,
17:31they all agree,
17:32and they decide
17:33they will dig the coffin up.
17:37And when they open the coffin,
17:40a dead body
17:41is not what they find.
17:43To the astonishment
17:45and terror
17:45of everyone in the group,
17:47S.E. sits up
17:48out of her coffin,
17:49looks at her sister,
17:51and smiles.
17:53By some accounts,
17:54the preachers actually faint
17:56and fall into the grave.
17:58S.E. steps out of the coffin
17:59and tries to walk
18:01towards her own parents.
18:02They flee
18:03as though she's a ghost
18:04or a zombie.
18:06S.E.'s rise
18:07seems like something
18:07out of a horror movie,
18:09but the real story
18:10is far more chilling.
18:13A seizure
18:13is an electrical storm
18:16in the brain.
18:17So, likely what happened
18:19is that during her seizure,
18:21that electrical activity
18:23ended up stopping the heart.
18:25So, when the county doctor
18:27pronounced her dead,
18:28her heart actually
18:29was stopped.
18:30This is a phenomenon
18:31called ictal asystole.
18:35And on top of that,
18:37when people think of seizures,
18:38they think of the whole body
18:39violently jerking,
18:40but there are tonic seizures
18:42as well,
18:43where the whole body
18:44is just fully stiff.
18:46So, that stiffening
18:47could have mimicked
18:48rigor mortis
18:49and tricked D.K. Briggs
18:52into believing
18:53this patient was dead.
18:55Luckily, S.E.
18:56is no zombie,
18:58and S.E.'s sister
18:58knows that.
19:00Calmer heads prevail,
19:01and she's invited back home
19:02and makes a full recovery.
19:06S.E. goes on
19:07to live a pretty normal
19:07and quiet life.
19:09She works on her family's farm
19:10until she passes away
19:11in the year 1962.
19:13A local newspaper
19:15announces the service
19:16as final funeral
19:19for a South Carolina woman.
19:22Unbelievably,
19:22this isn't the only time
19:24someone is pronounced dead
19:25a little prematurely.
19:29In 1754,
19:31Ewan MacDonald
19:31is a Scottish soldier
19:33on leave,
19:34and he goes out
19:35to the pub.
19:36A fight breaks out.
19:38Suddenly,
19:39someone pulls out a knife,
19:40and things go
19:41from bad to worse.
19:43Ewan,
19:44who is a trained soldier,
19:45ends up with the knife
19:46in his hands
19:47and stuck in the neck
19:49of one of the locals,
19:50Robert Parker,
19:51who dies from the knife wound.
19:53The locals want justice,
19:54and they're going to get it.
19:57Ewan is charged
19:58with murder
19:59and convicted.
20:00The judge sentences him
20:02to death by hanging.
20:05In addition,
20:05the judge rules
20:06his body be donated
20:07to a nearby medical school.
20:09That might seem like
20:12a strange pronouncement
20:13by the judge,
20:14but at this point in time,
20:16it is very hard
20:17to find good,
20:18healthy bodies
20:19for anatomical study,
20:21so this is really
20:22a gift to the medical students,
20:24and they're excited
20:25to get this body.
20:26It's execution day,
20:29and Ewan is brought up
20:31to the gallows.
20:33He's desperately trying
20:34to stop this from happening.
20:35He's shoving and pushing,
20:37and he tries to knock
20:37the hangman off his ladder.
20:39It's all to no avail.
20:40The noose is tightened,
20:43the lever is pulled,
20:44and Ewan is hung from the neck
20:47until a medical professional
20:49on the scene
20:50officially declares him dead.
20:54Ewan's body is brought
20:55to the dissection theater
20:56to carry out the second part
20:58of his sentence,
21:00the autopsy.
21:01The surgeon is excited
21:03to get underway with this job.
21:04He sharpens his tools,
21:06gets dressed,
21:07and when he enters
21:07the dissection theater,
21:08he is met with the shock
21:10of his life.
21:15Sitting up on the table
21:17is a very frightened,
21:19very much alive,
21:20Ewan McDonald,
21:21and he is panicking,
21:23begging, pleading for help.
21:25Luckily for him,
21:26he's in the right place.
21:27There is a doctor,
21:28and you'd think
21:29that this doctor
21:30would come to his aid
21:32and heal him.
21:33He's still alive.
21:35But this medical miracle
21:37isn't enough.
21:38for the doctor
21:39to change his plans.
21:42Instead of saving Ewan,
21:45this surgeon grabs a mallet
21:47and knocks Ewan upside the head,
21:50finishing the hangman's job.
21:52This surgeon is super excited
21:54to get this dissection underway,
21:56and when he sees a living Ewan,
21:58he's not going to let that come
22:00between him and his dissection.
22:01In perhaps a stunning example
22:05of karmic retribution,
22:06years later,
22:07the same surgeon would die
22:08from a kick to the head,
22:10delivered by his own horse.
22:12No word on whether he donated
22:14his own body to science.
22:16We've seen death avoided
22:20thanks to freak physics,
22:22a sheer will to live,
22:23and even slipping
22:24the hangman's noose.
22:25But sometimes,
22:26the best way to beat the reaper
22:28is with a little help
22:30from Mother Nature.
22:31The Empire State Building
22:35in New York City
22:36was once the world's
22:37tallest building,
22:38and there have been
22:39numerous instances
22:40of desperate people
22:41using the building's height
22:42to jump off
22:43and end it all.
22:461979,
22:47one of these despondent people
22:49is 29-year-old
22:51Elvita Adams.
22:53It's a cold, windy night
22:54on December 2nd,
22:55and Elvita walks
22:56the observation deck
22:57on the building's 86th floor.
22:59When she's confident
23:01that there's no one
23:02close enough to stop her,
23:04she quickly scales
23:04the eight-foot fence
23:05and jumps off.
23:10Now, just as she leaps,
23:12a massive gust of wind
23:14comes along
23:14and pushes her back
23:17towards the building.
23:19Instead of falling
23:2086 stories to the ground,
23:22she falls only one,
23:24landing on a narrow ledge
23:25on the 85th floor.
23:28She's stunned,
23:29she's in tremendous pain
23:30and really not sure
23:31what's happened,
23:32how she got there.
23:33Wind moving a body
23:34this way
23:35is not something
23:36that a small breeze
23:37is going to do.
23:38It takes like 60
23:39to 70 mile-per-hour
23:40wind gusts,
23:41and it turns out
23:43that the higher
23:44you go in altitude,
23:45the faster the wind becomes
23:46because there's less friction
23:47with the ground
23:48and all the stuff
23:49on the ground.
23:50And in New York City,
23:51you have these tall skyscrapers,
23:53and as the wind
23:54funnels through them,
23:55going from a wide area
23:56to a more narrow area,
23:58that increases
23:59the wind speed.
24:01What's really astonishing
24:02about this
24:03is the timing
24:03of this gust of wind.
24:05It had to be coming
24:06from exactly
24:07the right angle
24:08at exactly
24:09the right time
24:10to save Elvita's life.
24:11A night supervisor
24:13named George Rice
24:14spots Elvita
24:15on the ledge.
24:17Incredibly,
24:17with the help of others,
24:18he's able to get Elvita
24:19safely inside the building
24:21without anybody falling.
24:23Elvita is taken
24:23to Bellevue Hospital
24:24with a fractured pelvis,
24:26but otherwise unharmed,
24:27all thanks to
24:28that miraculous
24:29gust of wind.
24:33One miracle
24:34might make you
24:35a believer
24:35in divine intervention,
24:37but our next
24:38lucky protagonist
24:38has his guardian angel
24:40working overtime.
24:44It's a pretty cool
24:45January day
24:46in the year 1962
24:47in Croatia.
24:48You have 32-year-old
24:49music teacher
24:49Fran Salak
24:50riding on the train,
24:52then suddenly,
24:53and without warning,
24:54Fran hears this
24:55sound of just
24:56crushing
24:57and grinding metal
24:58and sees gravel
24:59just shooting
25:00past the window.
25:02The train
25:03has jumped the track
25:04and is now careening
25:06into the icy water
25:07that is below them.
25:09The frigid water
25:10rushes into the train,
25:12and by the time
25:14Fran realizes
25:15what's happening,
25:16he's got a broken arm
25:17and some brutal
25:18hypothermia.
25:20But somehow,
25:21Fran is able
25:22to swim his way
25:23to help,
25:23and it's plucked
25:24from the river
25:24before it kills him.
25:28Now, 17 other passengers
25:30are not so lucky.
25:31But this is not
25:32the angel of death's
25:34last swing at Fran.
25:35Not by a long shot.
25:37In 1963,
25:40Fran takes his
25:41first ever
25:42plane ride.
25:42This has got to be
25:43an exciting moment
25:43for him.
25:44But not long
25:45after takeoff,
25:46something terrible
25:47happens.
25:48Mid-flight,
25:49the door
25:50is ripped off
25:51the fuselage.
25:53A flight attendant
25:53and Fran
25:54are sucked out
25:55along with it.
25:58If you're sucked
25:59out of a plane,
26:00the odds
26:00of your survival
26:01are pretty much
26:03next to zero.
26:0519 people
26:06aboard the plane
26:07will die
26:08when the plane
26:09crashes.
26:10But Fran
26:11somehow survives
26:12this event
26:13because
26:13as he falls to Earth,
26:15he lands in a haystack.
26:17After recovering,
26:19Fran welcomes
26:19an uneventful life
26:21for the next three years
26:22until a routine trip
26:24takes an unexpected turn.
26:27Fran's on a bus
26:28that slams into
26:28an embankment
26:29and slides
26:32into another
26:33cold river.
26:34Once again,
26:36he's able to
26:36free himself
26:37from the bus,
26:38swim away
26:38from the wreckage
26:39through the icy river,
26:40and makes it to safety.
26:42Fran is done
26:43taking chances
26:44with public transportation.
26:45So he saves up
26:47and buys himself
26:47a car.
26:49In the early 1970s,
26:50not one,
26:51but two
26:52of Fran's cars
26:53catch fire,
26:54nearly killing him
26:55each time.
26:57This is not
26:58the guy
26:58you want
26:59to carpool with.
27:00A more cautious
27:01Fran spends
27:02the next 20 years
27:03or so
27:04with his feet
27:04solidly on the ground.
27:06But even that's
27:07not without risk.
27:09One day,
27:10he's just walking
27:10the streets
27:11near his home
27:12and a bus
27:13jumps a curb
27:14and then hits him
27:15on the sidewalk.
27:18Fran figures,
27:19look,
27:20death is going
27:20to follow me
27:21no matter where I go,
27:22so I may as well
27:23do whatever I want.
27:24So he decides
27:26to take
27:26a mountain vacation.
27:28which requires
27:30him driving
27:31up a winding,
27:32perilous mountain road.
27:34You can probably guess
27:35how this is going to go.
27:38Halfway through the trip,
27:39a semi-truck
27:39emerges from
27:40Fran's blind spot,
27:42hits his car,
27:44and knocks him
27:45off the side
27:46of this road,
27:46plummeting 300 feet.
27:50Somehow,
27:52Fran is able
27:52to eject himself
27:53from the car
27:54and hang on
27:55to a tree
27:56before being rescued.
27:58Now,
27:58as reporters
27:59dig into the story
28:00of Fran's unlucky streak,
28:01he becomes
28:02kind of a folk hero.
28:03And no big surprise,
28:05he really loves
28:06the attention.
28:07Now,
28:07Fran's quick
28:07to point out
28:08that after four divorces,
28:09he's unlucky
28:10in love, too.
28:11But the unluckiest
28:13man in the world
28:13does have
28:14a happy ending.
28:15Well,
28:16in 2003,
28:17Fran's luck
28:17changes for the better.
28:19He wins
28:20900,000 euros
28:22in the lottery.
28:24The lucky streak
28:25continues
28:25when a major snack company
28:27asks Fran
28:27to do a commercial
28:28after his lottery win.
28:30It's a very lucrative
28:31endorsement deal.
28:33But Fran turns it down.
28:35Why?
28:35Because
28:36it requires him
28:37flying on a plane.
28:40And Fran Selleck
28:41is done
28:42with planes,
28:44with trains,
28:45with buses,
28:46and probably
28:47with automobiles.
28:48Fran, however,
28:50is still willing
28:51to take
28:51some risks.
28:54Despite having had
28:55four previous divorces,
28:56he decides,
28:57you know what?
28:58I'm feeling it right now.
29:00Let me go ahead
29:00and just propose
29:01to my girlfriend,
29:02which he does.
29:03I mean,
29:03when the opportunity strikes,
29:05you have to take
29:06advantage of it, right?
29:10After living
29:10to the ripe age
29:11of 87,
29:12Fran gives much
29:13of his lucky fortune
29:14to friends and family.
29:18They say if you love
29:20what you do,
29:21you'll never work
29:21a day in your life.
29:23But as one unlucky
29:24lobsterman finds out,
29:26it's tough to love
29:27your job
29:28when it tries
29:29to kill you.
29:36Forty miles south
29:38of Montauk, New York,
29:40lobsterman John Aldrich
29:41is hard at work
29:42on the deck
29:42of his workboat,
29:43the Anna Mary.
29:44His partner,
29:46Anthony Sosinski,
29:47and another crew member
29:47are snoozing away
29:48in the cabin
29:49while they make
29:50the long crawl
29:50to their traps.
29:52John is on the deck
29:53prepping the big tanks
29:55that are going to hold
29:55the lobsters
29:56that they're going
29:56to pull in.
29:57He's filling one
29:58with cold water
29:59to keep the lobsters alive.
30:00He goes to the second tank
30:01and it's blocked
30:02by a couple big chests
30:04of ice,
30:05about 200 pounds each.
30:07He thinks for a moment
30:08he should wake up
30:08his buddy who's
30:09sleeping downstairs
30:10but he decides
30:10to do it on his own.
30:11This may prove
30:13to be one of the worst
30:14decisions of John's life.
30:16John thrusts his weight
30:17against it.
30:18He gives a heave
30:19and the handle breaks.
30:22He goes head over heels
30:24into open water.
30:27He is tossed
30:29by the prop wash
30:30as he tries to scream
30:32to his partner
30:32but the loud diesel engines
30:35just drown him out.
30:36Alone in the open ocean
30:44at night
30:44with no life jacket,
30:46no flares,
30:46no radio,
30:47John knows
30:48there's hardly
30:49a chance of survival.
30:52John is wearing
30:53big bright green boots
30:54that go almost
30:55up to his side
30:55and they're so huge
30:57his friends call them
30:58his Herman Munster boots
30:59and first thing
31:00you're supposed to do
31:01in this situation
31:01is to kick off
31:02your work boots
31:03because in most cases
31:04they will drag you
31:05underwater.
31:05But John notices
31:06that they seem
31:07to be keeping him afloat.
31:09So he carefully
31:09takes off his boots
31:10and turns them
31:11upside down,
31:12drops them down
31:13into the water
31:13capturing air
31:14and he sticks one
31:15under each arm
31:16and now he's
31:17improvised a flotation system.
31:25Hours later,
31:26John's friend
31:27and partner Anthony
31:28wakes up on the
31:29Anna Mary
31:29and makes a
31:30disturbing discovery.
31:33He comes up
31:34on the deck.
31:34Nobody's there
31:36and the boat
31:36is just roaring forward
31:37on autopilot.
31:40Anthony sees the deck
31:42lid to the lobster
31:42hold is open.
31:43He scrambles
31:44and ducks his head
31:45inside,
31:46worried his friend
31:46fell into the tank
31:48and drowned.
31:49But the tank
31:50is full of water
31:51and no John.
31:53When Anthony spots
31:54the broken cooler handle,
31:56he realizes
31:56John must have
31:58rolled out
31:58the back of the boat.
32:00Critical question,
32:01though,
32:01is when.
32:07Anthony immediately
32:08puts out a frantic
32:08call to the Coast Guards
32:10and to the rest
32:11of the captains
32:11in the area.
32:12They estimate
32:13John fell into the water
32:14around 11 p.m.
32:16And what they do
32:17is create
32:18this giant search grid.
32:19In addition
32:20to the Coast Guard,
32:21nearly every private boat
32:22in the Montauk area
32:23has stowed
32:24their fishing gear
32:24and headed out
32:25to see if they can
32:25help with the search.
32:27The biggest problem?
32:28John fell in the water
32:29at 3.30 a.m.,
32:31not 11 p.m.
32:33So they're all searching
32:3530 miles
32:36in the wrong direction.
32:40Meanwhile,
32:41John is doing
32:42whatever he can
32:43to stay alive.
32:44But several hours in,
32:45he's running on empty.
32:46His only hope
32:47is to find the buoy
32:48of a lobster trap
32:49and use it
32:50to stay afloat.
32:51The ocean
32:54has a really big
32:55swell that day.
32:56So every time
32:57a swell comes along,
32:58it kind of lifts him up
32:59and it gives him
33:01a higher vantage point.
33:02And at one point,
33:03he spots
33:03a larger lobster buoy
33:05that's floating
33:05in the water
33:06that's called
33:06a high flyer.
33:08He figures,
33:08if I can grab onto it,
33:09it'll give me
33:10an extra chance
33:11of survival.
33:12As John holds on
33:13for dear life,
33:15one persistent
33:16search volunteer
33:17questions Anthony
33:18in more detail.
33:20They go over
33:20the minute details
33:21of the deck
33:22and the condition
33:22he found it in
33:23and they figure it out.
33:25One of the tanks
33:26was full of cold water
33:27and John would not
33:28have done that
33:28until they were
33:29really close
33:30to their traps.
33:31They realize now
33:31that John probably
33:32went in the water
33:32a lot later
33:33than they initially thought.
33:35With the clock reset,
33:36the search narrows
33:37and a Coast Guard
33:39helicopter races
33:39to find John.
33:42John Aldridge
33:43is clutching
33:44onto this buoy
33:45for dear life.
33:47He's been in the water
33:48for 12 hours.
33:49He's running
33:51out of steam.
33:52He's thinking
33:52maybe this is it.
33:54But then,
33:55above him,
33:56he starts to hear
33:57the blades
33:57of a helicopter
33:58getting louder
33:59and louder
33:59and louder.
34:01And he's screaming
34:02and he starts waving
34:03his green boots
34:04in the air
34:04frantically
34:04to get its attention.
34:06The Coast Guard
34:07spots this tiny speck
34:09in the sea.
34:10It's John Aldrich
34:11hugging that big
34:12orange lobster float.
34:13When John's brought
34:16into the chopper,
34:17the pilot yells
34:18to him over the noise,
34:19you got some will
34:20to live.
34:21We've been looking
34:22for you for nine hours.
34:24And John yells back,
34:26well, I've been looking
34:26for you for 12 hours.
34:31John and Anthony
34:32still own the animary.
34:33They still hunt lobster
34:34in the deep ocean.
34:36And John still wears
34:37his big, ridiculous,
34:39life-saving boots.
34:40For people that love
34:47a death-defying thrill,
34:49few sensations beat
34:51skydiving or paragliding.
34:53The professionals
34:53may make it look easy.
34:55But when things go wrong,
34:58they go wrong fast.
35:01Kevin Phillip is
35:03a professional paraglider
35:04and in 2022,
35:06he's soaring thousands
35:07of feet above
35:08this beautiful terrain
35:09in Spain.
35:10This is a routine
35:11flight for him,
35:12but little does he know
35:13he's about to be
35:14in a fight for his life.
35:17As he's paragliding along,
35:19a massive updraft
35:20causes a lot of turbulence
35:21and starts to twist
35:23his chute.
35:25And he gets tangled
35:26in the cords.
35:28He's now suddenly
35:29in free fall,
35:30and he's speeding
35:31towards the ground
35:32at about 80 to 100
35:33miles an hour.
35:34He has an emergency
35:36parachute,
35:36but as you can see
35:37in the video,
35:38when he tries to deploy it,
35:39it doesn't open.
35:41The closer Kevin
35:42gets to the ground,
35:43the less likely
35:43the chute will be able
35:44to stop him.
35:46People on the ground,
35:47including his own mother,
35:48are watching,
35:48and it's absolute mayhem
35:50in the air.
35:51He's spinning around
35:52as he's falling.
35:54His main chute is twisting
35:56and spinning around him,
35:57and it just seems like
35:58he keeps falling and falling
36:00toward his death.
36:01In a situation like this,
36:04time slows down.
36:06He has seconds at this point
36:07to figure something out.
36:10Somehow, he's able
36:11to keep his composure,
36:13and he ends up dragging
36:15his reserve chute back
36:17and untangles it
36:19from the main chute.
36:22With less than one second left,
36:24he's able to pop the chute,
36:26and it's just enough time
36:27to break his fall.
36:28Incredibly, Kevin
36:30not only cheats death,
36:32he manages to land
36:33without any injury.
36:36Oh, my God!
36:40But what could possibly save you
36:42if your reserve chute
36:43does not deploy?
36:45For one woman,
36:46the answer is
36:47totally unbelievable.
36:50It's September 1999,
36:53and 47-year-old
36:55adrenaline junkie
36:56Joan Murray
36:57is standing
36:58at the open door
36:59of a Cessna airplane
37:01at 14,500 feet
37:04with the wind
37:04roaring past her ears.
37:08When a light illuminates,
37:10she takes the leap
37:10that she's taken
37:11so many times before.
37:14It's Joan's
37:1436th skydive of the year.
37:17She knows
37:17that there's always risks
37:19associated with skydiving,
37:21but that's why
37:22she's doing it.
37:24When Joan gets down
37:25to 3,000 feet
37:26and pulls her ripcord,
37:27she braces herself
37:28for the jolt
37:29of her chute deploying.
37:32But there's no jolt
37:33and her chute
37:34doesn't deploy.
37:36And as she screams
37:37past 2,000 feet,
37:39she pulls the ripcord
37:40on her reserve chute.
37:42But just like last time,
37:44something's not right.
37:46She looks up
37:47and sees that
37:48the lines of her chute
37:49are all twisted and tangled,
37:50and that causes the chute
37:52to not be able
37:53to open fully.
37:54There's a little bit
37:55of resistance,
37:55but it's not nearly enough
37:57to slow her down
37:57for a safe landing.
37:59With less than 700 feet
38:01to the ground
38:01and no sign of slowing,
38:03Joan has only enough time
38:04to contemplate
38:05how hard she's going to land.
38:08If a person drops
38:09from a height of 48 feet,
38:11the chances of survival
38:13are like 50%.
38:14But at 700 feet,
38:16oh, it's about 100%.
38:18Fatal.
38:19Her landing is brutal,
38:25to say the least.
38:28By some miracle,
38:29Joan wakes up
38:30on the ground.
38:33She tastes the blood
38:34in her mouth,
38:35but otherwise,
38:36she can't move.
38:38But there's another thing
38:39that's happening
38:39that's strange.
38:40She feels these sharp,
38:41stinging pains
38:42all over her body,
38:43and she's wondering,
38:44what is this?
38:45Is this nerve damage?
38:46Do I have a spinal injury?
38:48And the pain
38:49is relentless.
38:51What Joan can't realize yet
38:53is that fate
38:54has thrown her
38:55another curveball.
38:56After two failed parachutes,
38:59she has landed
38:59directly on top
39:01of a huge colony
39:02of fire ants.
39:04The ants are stinging Joan,
39:06and they inject
39:08a painful venom.
39:09While this may seem like insult
39:12to already very severe injury,
39:14the ant bites
39:15are actually keeping her alive.
39:18A massive blunt force impact,
39:20like Joan just experienced,
39:22can stop the heart
39:23all on its own.
39:25But these red ant stings
39:27have the byproduct
39:29of increasing the adrenaline
39:31in the body,
39:31which keeps the heart beating.
39:33These fire ants
39:36attack and bite
39:37and sting Joan
39:38by the thousands.
39:40Each bite triggers
39:42an adrenaline spike
39:43that keeps her heart beating
39:44until first responders
39:45find her
39:46and rush her
39:47to the hospital.
39:48The probability of this
39:50is wild.
39:51If Joan had landed
39:52just five feet
39:54in either direction,
39:55she would have missed
39:56the ant colony
39:57and would already be dead.
39:59She has several
40:01shattered bones,
40:0217 missing teeth,
40:04and she requires
40:0520 corrective surgeries.
40:08It takes two years,
40:10but Joan survives
40:12to make a full recovery.
40:15And thanks to a little help
40:17from thousands of cranky
40:18territorial red ants,
40:20Joan goes on
40:21to complete
40:22one more skydive.
40:24Whether it's being
40:25buried alive,
40:26stranded at sea,
40:26or stuck with a
40:27defective parachute,
40:28these are the tales
40:29of dodging death
40:30so mind-boggling
40:32that they are truly
40:33unbelievable.
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