Top 10 Insanely Lucky People in History
#10: Nichiren
A passionate supporter of Lotus Sutra in Buddhism, Nichirens views made him beloved but also made him plenty of enemies. So much so that he was banished in 1261. Then, when Nichiren returned to Japan, he was attacked in 1264. While he survived, he had a broken arm and a head wound. But thats not where his unprecedented luck comes in. In 1271, Nichiren was arrested by soldiers and was set to be executed. There are two beliefs about what happened that fateful night. One account claimed a bright light shone in the sky, which terrified the executioner. Another version claimed lightning struck the executioners blade, ending their life. Either way, Nichirens sentence was changed to a second exile.
#9: Maarten de Jonge
2014 was a dreadful year for air travel. In March, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished. While debris has been found, we still don't know for sure what happened. In July, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by either Russian or Ukrainian forces. Between those, 537 people are assumed to have perished altogether. One person who claimed they were nearly one of the lives lost was Dutch cyclist de Jonge, who, at the time, was a part of Malaysias Terengganu Cycling Team. He stated hed planned to book a seat on both flights but went with cheaper options instead. These decisions not only saved him money but also his life.
#8: Edwin Robinson
In 1971, Robinson was involved in a truck crash that left him blind and partially deaf. Not exactly lucky. But nine years later, in 1980, a dose of good fortune caught up to Robinson. At home in Falmouth, Maine, a thunderstorm was raging. Concerned about one of his chickens out in the elements, Robinson went outside to get it. While escaping the downpour from under a tree, he was struck by lightning and survived. In the US, theres a 1 in 15,300 chance of a person being hit by lightning throughout their lifetime. After a brief nap, Robinsons vision returned, and he no longer needed a hearing aid. Even years later, he was still enjoying the surprising benefits.
#7: Adolphe Sax
Best known for inventing the saxophone and other instruments, the 19th century Sax survived numerous close calls in his life. In fact, even his mother stated, he's a child condemned to misfortune; he won't live. Beginning when he was a child, Sax fell from 3 stories and hit his head. He also drank a bowl of acidic water that he mistook for milk. Add in further incidents of him sleeping in a room where varnished furniture was drying, accidentally swallowing a pin, being burned from a gunpowder explosion, getting burnt after falling onto a hot cast-iron pan, being hit in the head and falling into a river, and we have the most hardworking guardian angel in existence.
#6: Vesna Vulovi
In 1972, JAT Flight 367 was coming from Stockholm, Sweden, to Belgrade, modern-day Serbia. However, an explosive onboard went off midway through the journey. The plane crashed near a village in the modern-day Czech Republic. As people examined the wreckage, they found one survivor, cabin member Vulovi. Its believed that her low blood pressure protected her heart and being pinned in the craft as passengers and crew were blown outside saved her life. Vulovi suffered many injuries, including temporary paralysis, which affected her for the rest of her life. Due to this incredible feat, Vulovi was inducted into the Guinness World Records as the highest fall survived without a parachute at 33,333 feet.
#5: Teddy Roosevelt
In 1912, former US President Roosevelt was on the campaign trail for the election the following month. Instead of being a possible 3rd term in the Oval Office, it was nearly the end of his life when he arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On his way to deliver a speech at the Milwaukee Auditorium, Roosevelt was shot by John Schrank. Amazingly, rather than collapse, Roosevelt briefly stumbled and carried on. The bullet had struck a glasses case and then the 50-page speech in his jacket pocket before nestling in his chest. Roosevelt then delivered his 90-minute speech before going to the hospital. The bullet was left inside him for the rest of his life. Schrank, on the other hand, was sent to a psychiatric hospital.
#4: Bill Morgan
In 1998, Morgan was in a car crash in Australia. The damage and the allergic reaction to medication caused him to suffer multiple heart attacks. For nearly 15 minutes, Morgan was dead. However, he was thankfully revived. But he wasnt out of the woods as he fell into a 12-day coma before recovering. Later, lady luck was looking upon him when Morgan got a new job, a fiancée, and won a car from a scratchcard. With this turn of events, in 1999, Nine News did a segment on him and got Morgan to recreate his win by buying another scratchcard from a store. Amazingly, he won 250,000 Australian dollars, around 165,000 USD at the time!
#3: Violet Jessop
Its bad enough to go through one boat accident, but three is unbelievable. Yet thats what happened with Jessop. In 1911, she was a steward aboard RMS Olympic when it struck the warship HMS Hawke. Thankfully, everyone survived, and the boat got back to port. A year later, Jessop was working on the RMS Titanic when it sank after hitting an iceberg. While around 1500 people didnt survive, Jessop did. Then, in 1916, during World War 1, she was working on the sister ship of the Titanic, the HMHS Britannic. However, the vessel struck a German naval mine and sank. 30 people lost their lives, and Jessop was nearly one when she narrowly missed the wrecked boats spinning propeller.
#2: Tsutomu Yamaguchi
On August 6th, 1945 the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. At the time, Yamaguchi was there for a business trip. He survived but suffered severe radiation burns and ruptured eardrums. Up to 166,000 people died that day. Yamaguchi then traveled to Nagasaki to tell his work what'd happened. While there on August 9th, a second atomic bomb was dropped in the city. This time, Yamaguchi wasnt injured in the devastation, though up to 80,000 people perished. After that experience, he became a supporter of nuclear disarmament. In 2009, the Japanese government recognized Yamaguchi as the only person to have survived both bombs.
#1: Frane Selak
Rather than a single guardian angel, Selak apparently had a whole army of them throughout his life. In 1962, Selak survived a train crash that took 17 lives. Then, he was blown from a plane and landed on a haystack as the aircraft crashed, taking 19 lives. Seemingly, transportation had a vendetta against Selak as he survived another 2 bus incidents and 3 car crashes. But his luck hadnt run out yet. In 2003, Selak won $1.1 million in the Croatian lottery. After enjoying a life of luxury, in 2010, he gave away the cash to friends and family. While some of the near-death experiences are disputed, if even half of them were confirmed to have happened, Selak was the luckiest person ever.
Whats the luckiest thing to have happened to you? Let us know your tales below!
