Throughout history, some people have experienced an extraordinary series of unfortunate events. While everyone faces difficulties at some point, a few individuals became famous because their lives were marked by repeated accidents, disasters, failures, or unexpected tragedies. Some stories are well documented, while others have become exaggerated over time. Here are five people whose lives are often remembered for remarkable misfortune.
1. Roy Sullivan — The Man Struck by Lightning
Roy Sullivan, an American park ranger, became famous for surviving seven separate lightning strikes. Lightning hit him while he was working outdoors, driving, and even while he was fishing. Surprisingly, he survived every strike, although he suffered various injuries.
Sullivan eventually became known as the “human lightning conductor.” His unusual experiences attracted international attention, and he was recognized by Guinness World Records. His story is particularly remarkable because the probability of being struck by lightning even once is already extremely low.
2. Tsutomu Yamaguchi — A Survivor of Two Atomic Bombs
Tsutomu Yamaguchi experienced one of the most extraordinary sequences of events of the twentieth century. In 1945, he was visiting Hiroshima when the first atomic bomb was dropped. Although he was injured, he survived the explosion.
He then returned to his home city, Nagasaki. Just three days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped there. Yamaguchi survived this explosion as well.
Although he was extremely fortunate to survive both events, he suffered serious physical and emotional consequences. His experience demonstrates how a person can survive circumstances that would normally be considered almost impossible to escape.
3. Ann Hodges — Hit by a Meteorite
In 1954, Ann Hodges was resting on a sofa at her home in Alabama when an unusual object crashed through the roof. The object turned out to be a meteorite. It struck a radio, bounced across the room, and hit Hodges on the side of her body.
Remarkably, she survived the incident. Although the injury was not life-threatening, the event was extremely unusual. Meteorites reach the Earth's surface regularly, but the chance of one hitting a particular person is extraordinarily small.
Hodges later became one of the few people in history known to have been injured by a confirmed meteorite.
4. Frane Selak — A Man Who Survived Several Disasters
Frane Selak, a Croatian music teacher, became famous for allegedly surviving a remarkable number of accidents. According to accounts of his life, he survived a train accident, a plane-related incident, a bus accident, and several serious car accidents.
In some versions of the story, he was later involved in another accident in which his car caught fire. Despite these events, he continued to survive.
However, some details of Selak's story have been questioned because reliable independent evidence for every incident is limited. His story therefore illustrates how unusual personal experiences can become even more dramatic when they are repeatedly retold.
5. Violet Jessop — Survivor of Three Major Ship Disasters
Violet Jessop worked as a stewardess and nurse aboard several famous ocean liners. She survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Even more remarkably, she had also survived the collision involving its sister ship, the Olympic, several years earlier.
Later, she was aboard the Britannic when it sank in the Mediterranean during the First World War. Jessop survived that disaster too.
Because she escaped three serious maritime accidents, she became known by the nickname “Miss Unsinkable.”