20 Most Horrific Real-Life Shark Attacks

20 Most Horrific Shark Attacks That Actually Happened

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at the scariest recorded shark attacks.

Parker Simpson
2017

Very few people are actually attacked by sharks, and even fewer have video evidence of their attack. Parker Simpson is one of the few. The 23-year-old was spearfishing in the Florida Keys when he encountered an eight-foot-long reef shark underneath the water. Simpson released his fish, hoping to appease the hungry shark, but the animal came at him instead. It took a bite out of his left leg before it was successfully fought off, and despite the injury, Simpson was able to swim to a nearby boat. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, having lost about a liter of blood. The bite had severed his anterior tibial artery and required 56 stitches to close.

Heather Boswell
1994

Here we have another shark attack caught on camera, this one concerning 19-year-old Heather Boswell. Back in 1994, Boswell was working in Chile as a researcher. On their day off, she and the crew decided to go swimming. And that’s when tragedy struck. While she was in the water, Boswell was approached by a great white, which proceeded to rip off the young researcher’s leg. Boswell remembers no pain, stating that all she felt at the time was “a pop.” This entire ordeal was caught on video by one of her colleagues and has since surfaced on “Shark Week.” Luckily, Boswell survived the attack, but the footage is certainly harrowing and not for the faint of heart.

Lucas Ransom
2010

Lucas Ransom was body-boarding with his friend Matthew Garcia near Santa Barbara, California. As later described by Garcia, the day was perfect, with “very placid and calm” water. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Ransom was dragged under the water by a shark. Ransom quickly re-emerged screaming for help, and the water around him instantly turned a deep red. Garcia managed to pull Ransom back to the safety of the beach, but it was already too late. Garcia explained that “he was just kind of lifeless,” and despite Garcia’s attempts at chest compressions, Ransom died on the beach from a horrific leg injury.

Terry Manuel
1974

A recorded thirteen people were attacked by sharks in South Australian waters between 1951 and 2000. 26-year-old Terry Manuel was one of them. It was 1974, and Manuel was diving for sea snails with his friend John Talbot near Streaky Bay. Manuel saw the shark and shouted a warning to Talbot, who was in a nearby boat. Talbot did what he could to save Manuel, but the shark was too fast and attacked the diver, injuring his arm and back and completely biting off his right leg above the thigh. The injuries were too great to survive, and Manuel quickly bled to death.

David Peltier
2001

Sharks don’t discriminate between their victims, and sometimes, tragically, that means that young people die. In 2001, young David Peltier was surfing off the coast of Virginia with his father and two brothers. He was suddenly grabbed by an eight-foot sandbar shark and his father acted quickly, punching the shark in the head until it freed his son. The shark had inflicted horrible injuries, with one witness claiming that “there were shark bites all along his leg… He lost a lot of blood.” Lifeguards tended to Peltier on shore and he was rushed to three different hospitals as doctors worked feverishly to save his life. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful.

Sam Kellett
2014

Young Sam Kellett worked as a school teacher in Australia and enjoyed diving in his free time. On February 8, 2014, Kellett was freediving with some friends on Goldsmith Beach when he was suddenly accosted by a violent shark. Witnesses recount hearing a brief scream and seeing a large shark shoot out of the water. They then explain that the shark thrashed around as it wrestled with something near the surface, and the water around it quickly turned blood red. It all happened so quickly, and when it was over, Sam Kellett was gone. His body was never recovered, but investigators found his speargun with clear incisions that had been made by a great white.

The HMS Birkenhead
1852

We’re going back to the mid-19th century for the story of HMS Birkenhead. Working as a troopship with the US Navy, HMS Birkenhead served in the Eighth Xhosa War, and on February 26, 1852, she was transporting troops and civilians to Algoa Bay in South Africa. Just before 2 AM, the ship hit an uncharted rock and split in half, sending all on board into the ocean. The ship was only two miles from the mainland, and some managed to grab debris and float their way to shore. Unfortunately, most either drowned or were taken by sharks. As one survivor recounts, “hundreds of them were all round us, and I saw men taken by them.”

Lewis Boren
1981

On Saturday, December 19, 1981, surfer Lewis Boren set out for some waves in Monterey Bay, California. He never returned to shore. It wasn’t long before a chunk of his surfboard washed ashore in the same vicinity, with massive teeth marks indicating that it had been eaten. Experts theorized from the bite that the shark was up to 23 feet in length, making it the largest white shark ever recorded. It was widely assumed that Boren was the victim of a shark, and this was confirmed when his body washed ashore about half a mile north of the attack site. It had suffered “great trauma” consistent with a shark attack, and it’s likely that Boren died instantly from the bite.

Albert Kogler, Jr.
1959

College lovers Albert Kogler Jr. and Shirley O’Neill decided to go for a swim in San Francisco’s Baker Beach on the afternoon of May 7, 1959. The two were about fifty yards out and enjoying the scenery, the Golden Gate Bridge sitting nearby when Kogler was suddenly pounced by a great white. The water instantly turned red, and Kogler told O’Neill to swim away for her own safety. Despite the warning, O’Neill braved the shark and grabbed her boyfriend around the back before dragging him to shore. Unfortunately, the injuries were too significant and Kogler would pass away. As for O’Neill, she was later presented the Young American Medal for Bravery by President John F. Kennedy.

Bethany Hamilton
2003

If you’ve seen the movie “Soul Surfer,” then you should be familiar with the harrowing but empowering story of Bethany Hamilton. Back in 2003, Hamilton was surfing with her best friend Alana Blanchard off the coast of Kauai. She was lying on her surfboard talking to Blanchard with her arms dangling in the water when a tiger shark bit off her left arm. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, and in one of those divine twists of fate, took her own father’s spot in the operating room, as he was scheduled to have knee surgery that very same day. Despite losing 60% of her blood, Hamilton made a swift recovery and returned to surfing just one month later.

Pacific Coast of USA
1984

There must have been something in the Pacific water in 1984, because four shark attacks occurred near Santa Cruz, California that year. Of these four unlucky victims, 28-year-old Omar Conger received the most media attention, as tragically, he did not survive. Conger was able to escape from the shark and was dragged to shore by his friend, but the damage had already been done. Despite their efforts, he bled out and died on the beach. Luckily, the severity of the other three attacks proved relatively minor by comparison. Nonetheless, that particular year has since gone down as a notoriously dangerous one for swimmers in the Santa Cruz area.

Singapore
1909

As the passengers aboard the French steamer La Seyne found out the hard way back in 1909… it’s not the water itself that you have to fear when a ship goes down, but what swims beneath its surface. Traveling from Java to Singapore, La Seyne met catastrophe in the Rhio Strait when it crashed into a British steamer while still 28 miles from shore. The passengers hardly had time to react, as the ship went down in less than 5 minutes, sending all onboard into the shark-infested waters. Of the 154 individuals on La Seyne, papers at the time estimated that 93 had drowned or been eaten alive.

Barry Wilson
1952

The first recorded shark attack victim in California, Barry Wilson was just a teenager when his life was tragically cut short by a shark near Lover’s Point in Pacific Grove. Wilson was swimming with his friend about 40 feet from shore when he was attacked in December 1952. The brutal attack left Wilson badly injured, and the rough water only increased the difficulty of his rescue. During the 20+ minute rescue effort by swimmers, the shark reportedly continued to circle them, though didn’t attack anyone other than Wilson. The young man was eventually pulled back to land but he’d already died from his injuries.

Randall Fry
2004

We remain in California for another brutal and sadly fatal attack. Randall Fry, an avid lover of all ocean activities, and his friend Cliff Zimmerman were diving for abalone off the Mendocino coast back in 2004. Zimmerman reported hearing a loud whooshing sound before seeing the fin of the shark while the water turned red around him. Zimmerman was able to safely return to his boat, but Fry was not so lucky. The next day, a search and rescue team found his head severed from his body.

Robert Pamperin
1959

Another outing in the waters of California, another case of diving for sea snails, and another shark attack. Who would’ve thought abalone diving would be so dangerous? Pamperin and his friend Gerald Lehrer were diving off the coast of San Diego back in 1959 when Pamperin let out a loud scream before disappearing beneath the water. Lehrer dove after him and reported seeing a shark that was longer than 22 feet with Pamperin stuck squarely in his mouth. Lehrer swam to shore to alert the lifeguards, but they were unable to find any trace of Pamperin, who was likely completely devoured by the shark.

Ian Redmond
2011

What started out as a romantic vacation quickly turned into tragedy. On his honeymoon off Anse Lazio beach in Seychelles, Redmond was out snorkeling when he was set upon by a shark. A vacationer in a small boat was able to pull Redmond to shore, but the shark had already taken his arm and leg. Redmond bled to death on the beach while his wife of just 10 days watched. There had been a shark attack in the exact same location two weeks earlier, but the Seychelles tourism chief had elected not to close the beaches or even warn the public in order to keep attracting tourists.

Rodney Fox
1963

You’d think that a punctured diaphragm, a ripped lung and pierced scapula would be enough to kill a man, but not Rodney Fox. In 1963, Fox was defending his spearfishing title when a Great White Shark grabbed him by his torso. Fox put up a good fight, including gouging the shark’s eyes, and was eventually able to escape. He required multiple hours of extensive surgery and over 460 stitches, but lived to tell the tale. He has since become an expert on great white sharks and even helped design the first-ever underwater shark observation cage.

Jersey Shore
1916

Before the fake tans, hairspray and fist pumps, the Jersey Shore was perhaps most famous for one of the worst series of shark attacks in history back in the early 20th century. Between July 1 and July 12 1916, four people were killed by shark attacks, with a fifth person managing to escape but suffering severe injuries. Panic ensued, capturing the attention of the nation, as locals began an effort to eliminate them from the region, referring to them as man-eaters. It is these attacks that unfortunately gave sharks their rep as ruthless killers; a reputation they still have today despite scientific discoveries that have proven otherwise.

Shirley Ann Durdin
1985

Australia has a somewhat unfair reputation when it comes to shark attacks. Sure, they happen from time to time, but not quite to the extent many seem to believe. Then again, when you hear about attacks like this in the land down under, it’s hard not to let your imagination run wild. Durdin, a mother of four, was snorkeling in just seven-feet of water when she was attacked by a great white shark in 1985. Her husband and children were within view but could only watch helplessly as Durdin was ripped in two. The shark, which some estimated to be between 14 and 19 feet in length, reportedly claimed all her bodily remains.

USS Indianapolis
1945

The United States Navy had never suffered a single loss of life at sea as great as the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, and sharks played a large role in this. The ship was delivering parts for the first atomic bomb used in combat, which would later be dropped on Japan. On its return, however, it was hit by Japanese torpedoes and sank in 12 minutes. About 900 men were sent into the shark-infested waters of the Pacific Ocean, while the remaining 300 or so went down with the ship. When rescuers finally arrived, the sharks had eaten much of the crew. Only 317 people survived the disaster, many of whom told chilling tales of hearing blood-curdlin screams in the middle of the night as sharks attacked their fellow sailors.

Do you have any shark stories? Let us know in the comments below!