(gentle music) - [Narrator] Have you ever had something weirdly lucky happen to you? Maybe you found $20 lying on the ground? Or perhaps you were
just in the right place at the right time? Well amazing as that is, there
are some people out there who have survived against
near-impossible odds, and lived to tell the tale. From a woman who spent 80 minutes
trapped in freezing water, to a soldier who fell over
four miles without a parachute, let's look at even more
of the luckiest people who survived the impossible. (upbeat music) Saved by smartphone, people
are always complaining that we're too hooked on our smartphones for our own good, but
there's one Ukrainian soldier who would heavily disagree. While engaged in the frontlines of combat, the soldier's squad came
under heavy enemy fire, and one of the bullets found its target. Fearing the worst, the
soldier hit the deck and investigated his injury. But, instead of a deadly
wound, he found this. (speaking in foreign language) The bullet had shot straight
into his phone instead. Unbelievably, the phone with
help of a metal dog tag, absorbed the full impact
from the 7.62mm bullet and blocked it completely. I hope this guy's phone
insurance is as good as his luck. (logo whooshing) Sky-High Sports. Back in the 1920s, health and safety wasn't quite as stringent as it is now. So, stunt women like Gladys Roy got away with performing all
kinds of dangerous tricks. You know, like changing
the tire of a biplane while it was in mid-flight. Man, it's lucky enough she didn't fall to her doom right then, but
Gladys actually secured her fame with an even more death-defying stunt. Along with fellow stunt woman Ivan Unger, she climbed atop the wings of a biplane, waited until it was over
half a mile high in the air, and then started playing a game of tennis. Yeah, you heard that right. Technically, it wasn't
a proper game of tennis, it's pretty impossible to hit a ball to someone when you're both
traveling through the air at 80 miles per hour. And the duo's legs were
strapped to the plane, so they couldn't just slide off. But considering they'd left the aircraft on a basic autopilot, a
strong bout of turbulence could have sent the plane
plummeting to its doom. Amazingly though, both
survived without a scratch, and went on to do it many more times. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase mile-high club, doesn't it? I can think of one thing
that's far less risky than standing on a plane though, hitting those Like and Subscribe buttons. I'm always uploading
fresh, amazing content, so if you do, you'll never be in danger of getting bored again. All done, okay then. Meteor Madness. Everybody's been woken up at some point by a bump in the night. As scary as it can be though, it's usually something
small like a door slamming, or your cat knocking something over. However, when Canadian Ruth Hamilton was abruptly woken up one
night in October 2021, it was by something far worse. An ear-splitting boom made
Ruth bolt upright from her bed, and as she did so, she
realized her hair was singed. Confused and disoriented,
she looked around her dark room and saw a
gaping hole in the ceiling. Even more worrisome though
was what lay on her pillow, a red hot, fist-sized rock less than an inch from where
her head would've been. As unbelievable as it sounds,
a meteorite from outer space had smashed straight through
the roof of her house and landed on her pillow. Considering meteorites can
travel up to a blazing fast 44 miles a second, the
fact that Ruth's head wasn't turned into human jam is nothing short of a miracle. Now, she says she's keeping the space rock as a memento of her lucky escape, and to impress her grandkids with. Sure, gran, sounds more like the start of a supervillain origin story to me. Bitter-cold Bågenholm. If you've ever been skiing, you'll know what a
chilly thrill it can be. Unfortunately, however, it can
also be extremely dangerous, no matter how much experience you have. Swedish radiologist and
avid skier Anna Bågenholm found this out the hard way back in 1999. Anna was skiing with a
couple of her colleagues in the Narvik mountains in Norway when suddenly she lost control. Out of nowhere, she began plummeting down the mountainside like a ragdoll. Then, she smashed headfirst through an eight-inch-thick
stream of frozen ice. Her head and torso got completely lodged, trapping her in ice-cold
water with no way to breathe, and though her colleagues
quickly found her, it proved impossible to pull her out. Miraculously, Anna found an air pocket beneath the ice to breathe in, but it wasn't a permanent solution. Still waist deep in freezing cold water, she needed to be rescued, and fast. More people arrived on the scene to help, but the ice was so thick
they couldn't dig through it. After 40 minutes, the
cold finally got to Anna, and she fell unconscious. At the same time, her
heart stopped beating. It took another agonizing 40 minutes until her rescuers finally
managed to dig her out, and when they did, Anna
had zero signs of life. She was rushed to hospital, and a team of over 100 doctors and nurses worked in shifts for nine
hours to try and save her. When she arrived, her body temperature was an astonishing 56.7°F,
the lowest body temperature ever recorded at the time. Nine hours later, and the medical
staff's incredible efforts had restarted her heart
and got her temperature back to normal. And not only that, Anna
survived the ordeal with no long-term effects whatsoever. It turns out, because
she was in the cold water for so long, her body had
time to completely cool down before her heart stopped. This meant she hardly needed
any oxygen to survive, so despite her heart failing, she managed to live long
enough for the doctors to save her. My heart almost stopped
just hearing about it. (whooshing) Niagara Fall. I've never been to Niagara
Falls, but I'd love to visit. The trio of waterfalls
are renowned worldwide for their outstanding natural beauty. I wouldn't, however,
like to jump in the water at the top of them and ride
the current off the edge. But some people apparently
do like that idea, like the guy who did exactly
that back in July 2019. Some time in the early
morning, a man was observed climbing over the retaining wall of the largest of the falls,
before diving into the pool. Unsurprisingly, he was quickly
dragged towards the edge, before being swept straight off and plummeting a dizzying 188 feet down the vertical cliff edge, yikes. And, just to make it worse, Niagara Falls is known to have huge, deadly boulders lying beneath its waters, great. Yet, somehow, the man was
found on the ground below, harboring only minor injuries. Yep, you guessed it, it turns
out he was actually Superman. Okay, okay, just kidding. It was a super-lucky escape though. You see, at the time, Lake Erie,
which flows into the falls, was experiencing the highest
water levels it'd ever seen. Because of this, water
was rushing from the lake to the falls with much
more momentum than usual. So, when the man jumped in,
he was swept to the edge and propelled off with greater force, overshooting the boulders below
and living to tell the tale. Hopefully this taught our
wannabe Darwin Award winner that retaining walls are
put up for good reasons. Bouncing Betty. The next time you're having a bad day, you'll be glad you got
this far in the video, because the story of Betty
Lou Oliver is so wild, it'll make even your worst
day look like a fairy-tale. It all started back in July 1945. It was the final months of World War Two, and 20-year-old Betty was
working on the 80th floor of the Empire State Building
as an elevator attendant. At the same time, the young, competent, but overly-confident Captain William Smith was flying his B-25 service bomber on a return mission to New York City. Conditions were extremely foggy, but Smith ignored advice to land. Suddenly, Betty heard a tremendous boom. The whole world seemed to splinter, and before she could react,
she was thrown off her feet and sent flying through the air, before smashing straight into a wall. Her pelvis, back, and
neck all broke instantly. Captain William Smith
however had suffered worse. Due to the fog, he'd underestimated
how high he was flying, and piloted his plane smack bang into the side of the building. It was a mistake that cost him his life. Reacting quickly to the carnage, first aid workers rushed to Betty and lifted her onto a
stretcher, before rolling her into the elevator to
take her down to safety. But just as they pushed her on, things got a whole lot worse. The cables, weakened
by the crash, snapped. Betty got an almighty
jolt before being sent hurtling 75 storeys
down the elevator shaft. That's a huge 1,000-foot
drop, and remember, she was already severely injured. So, how the heck could anybody
get out of this one alive? Well, when the cables
holding the elevator broke, all 1,000 feet of them
pinged down the shaft faster than the elevator itself. They hit the bottom before Betty did and acted as a cushion,
dampening her fall. Which, yeah, is absolutely insane. Though battered and broken, Betty made an incredible recovery and was back to full health
in just eight months. Wow, she really bounced
back from that one. Fearsome Flooding. Horror films are scary, sure, but one of the scariest
things a human can endure is the force of nature. The citizens of Peru
saw just how terrifying that could be back in March 2017, when the country was
hit by the worst floods it had seen in decades. After floodwaters blocked
the way of one man, he decided to risk driving
through them anyway. (people shouting) Yeah, not a good idea. By sheer luck, he escaped
without any serious injury, but I can't say the same about his car. Yup, absolute carnage. (whooshing) No Questions Asked. Think back to the beginning of this video, and you should remember the woman who narrowly avoided
being hit by a meteorite. That's crazy, don't get me wrong, but it's kinda what meteorites
do, they fall from the sky. Pickup trucks, however, generally don't. Which is why one resident of KwaMakhutha, South Africa, got a big surprise when they were rudely awoken by one smashing through their ceiling. Unbelievably, neither driver
nor homeowner were injured, which is crazy enough in itself. But considering pickup trucks
isn't a type of weather, this story is as crazy as they come. When asked how it happened, the truck driver simply
said he drove over a ramp of some sort, and that's it, right. Witnesses say the car
went flying off the road before coming down hard on the house, but I'm failing to see
how that's even possible, it didn't just land vertically,
it landed backside first. Do you have any ideas
how it could've happened? If so, let me know down in the comments. Lone Ranger. When I was a kid, I got lost
in the local grocery store and ended up crying about it for days. So, if I'd ended up in a
life-or-death situation, I'm sure it would've
been game over for me. But young AJ Elfalak is
obviously made of sterner stuff. Back in the fall of 2021, the
three-year-old Australian boy sparked panic when his parents realized he'd gone missing from
their New South Wales home. A huge search operation
was called into action, but after three days, hope
was beginning to run out. Then, incredibly, the boy
was found just a half mile from his house, alive and drinking water from a local creek. He wasn't just alive
though, he seemed relaxed and content in his predicament. AJ has autism, and researchers reckon it's what helped him survive
his three-day ordeal. Apparently, autistic
children are often less aware of danger than others, and
enjoy exploring more too. They're also more likely to
be less sensitive to pain. This would certainly have been helpful, considering the Australian bush is known for its nasty biting bugs and
harsh drops in temperature. So, rather than panicking
like most of us would, young AJ kept his cool
and just got on with it until he was found, what a little legend. It's Raining Men. You could argue that
everybody who came out of World War Two alive
was ludicrously lucky. But Alan Magee, a US ball turret gunner, really pushed his luck to its limits. Magee was in the ball
turret of his B-17 bomber, flying over German-occupied
France in 1943, when suddenly, the plane was
hit by anti-aircraft fire. Wasting no time, he
climbed out of the turret and into the main body of the
plane to grab his parachute. But, his heart quickly sinking, he realised it'd been torn to shreds. Then, the plane came under even more fire, blowing a whole section
of the right wing off. Chaos erupted, and the plane was flung into a deadly downwards spin. Before Magee could do
anything, he passed out from lack of oxygen. But just as the B-17 was about to explode, the force of its spinning
descent sent him shooting out of the side. The unconscious Magee
soared through the air before plummeting over four
miles down to his certain doom. Only, it wasn't to his doom. Instead of colliding
straight into the ground, the ball turret gunner
smashed through the glass roof of St Nazaire railroad station. And, miraculously, it
was this that saved him. Despite 28 shrapnel wounds,
several broken bones, and severe damage to much
of his body, Magee survived. The glass had broken his fall just enough to save him from becoming a pancake. After being taken as a prisoner of war, he was given medical treatment and stayed in fascist-occupied
France until the war's end. And he ended up living to
the grand old age of 84. Boy, what a tale to tell the grandkids. Tornado Terror. There are a few things I look for when trying to find a new place to live. A nice house, a friendly neighborhood, and a general lack of deadly tornadoes. But if you live in Texas,
it's tough to find somewhere that's got all three of these. Back in March 2022, 16-year-old Riley Leon found this out the hard way. The teenager was driving
back from a job interview in Elgin, Texas, when he suddenly felt the back of his
pickup truck jolt upwards. Before he could even react,
the rest of the car followed, and Riley was lifted
completely off the ground. Holding onto the steering
wheel for dear life, he braced as the entire
vehicle was flipped in the air and came crashing back down
to the ground on its side. But the nightmare wasn't over yet. As Riley continued to grip the wheel, the truck began spinning
around on its axis, like some kind of messed
up merry-go-round. After a few seconds of this
disorienting danger-ride, the truck was lifted back up
off the ground and remarkably, landed on all four wheels again. Wasting no time, Riley hit
the gas and accelerated away from the tornado and back to safety. Despite needing medical care, I'm glad to say he's doing okay, though that truck is in desperate need of a new paint job. Fridge Fright. I don't know about you, but I'm prone to getting claustrophobic if
I'm in a small, enclosed space. Which is why I'd probably be a goner if I'd have been in the same position as one 11-year-old Filipino
boy was, back in April 2022. The Philippines is prone to
all kinds of extreme weather, and that month, a huge tropical storm was wreaking havoc across the country. The boy, called CJ, was at home sheltering from the storm with his family when the unthinkable happened. A colossal mudslide careered straight into the side of the house, smashing through it and
devastating the building. By sheer luck, CJ wasn't
hit by the initial blast, and used his quick-thinking
to run into the kitchen and, believe it or not,
climb inside the fridge. By knocking all the
food out, clambering in, and shutting the door behind him, CJ managed to secure himself protection from the raging storm. But his ordeal wasn't over, from his tiny, pitch-black chamber he
could hear a hurricane laying waste to everything outside. And it carried on for hours, sending the fridge flying
and breaking CJ's leg. But the boy didn't move, and ended up hunched inside for a total of 20 hours before the storm finally died down. So, by the time a rescue
team eventually arrived on the scene, you can bet the poor kid was ecstatic at being taken out of his self-imposed prison. Despite having been in a fridge, I'm sure he was anything but chilled out. Double Whammy. It's hard to imagine anyone
more down on their luck than the homeless. But even the unluckiest people are sometimes thrown a bone or two. Like Robert, a homeless man from Denver, who was riding his bicycle across the road in the fall of 2008. Out of nowhere, a reckless driver crashed straight into him,
knocking him to the ground. But instead of stopping
to check if he was okay, they drove right off again, what a jerk. In Robert's first stroke of luck though, a passer-by was kind enough
to call an ambulance for him, and upon arriving at hospital it was found he only had minor injuries. Now, getting hit by a
car and coming out of it with just a scrape is pretty lucky. However, Robert obviously wasn't happy to settle at just that. After spending a few hours in hospital and getting released in the early morning, he got back on his bike
and started cycling again until he came to a railway bridge. In the distance, he could see the lights of a train approaching, but hey, surely he couldn't be hit again, right? Judging himself to have
enough time to cross, Robert got off his bike and
made a run across the tracks. Though, apparently, he judged wrong. Before he could get to the other side, the train rammed into his backside, and he was flung headfirst
off the bridge, oh boy. By some miracle, it
was only a 10-foot drop into the creek below, and Robert again managed to avoid serious injury. He got lucky that time,
but there's a lesson somewhere here about not
trying to cross railway bridges while a train is careering towards you. Who'd have thought it? Stuck In The Middle. Whether you drive or not,
the idea of being involved in a car crash is terrifying
for pretty much everyone. Some crashes are worse than others though, like the insane accident
Kaleb Whitby was involved in. One foggy night in January 2015, Kaleb was driving down
the Oregon interstate when the semitruck in front of him spun out of control and jack-knifed. Kaleb, unable to slow down in time, ploughed straight into the back
of it, flipping his pickup. That by itself is pretty shocking, but it was nothing on what happened next. As Kaleb watched on in horror, a second tractor-trailer came hurtling towards the back of him. He closed his eyes,
gripped the steering wheel, and then, bang, there was
another almighty crash. Metal and glass shattered
and crunched all around him, as the second truck ground into the first, with Kaleb in the middle . His pickup was crushed
like a soda can, and yet, somehow, Kaleb, in the
middle of it all, was alive. In fact, he barely had a scratch on him. Though, that still looks like something out of my worst nightmares. Regardless, he was helped
out of the decimated vehicle and lived to tell the tale, but how? Well, Kaleb owes his
life to crumple zones. These are areas on a car that
are built purposefully weaker than the rest, so that if you crash, they crumple instead
of the important bits, like the parts around you. And they certainly did
their job for Kaleb, absorbing all of the impact
of the crash so that his seat and body remained intact. Now, that's what I call a compact car. Daring Dick. You might've heard of a
certain infamous cruise ship called the Titanic. You probably haven't heard of one of its bravest passengers
though, Dick Williams. Dick was an American tennis player, and when he boarded the
doomed vessel in April 1912 with his father, Charles, they had no idea what was about to befall them. When the ship hit the
iceberg, both Dick and his dad stayed aboard as long as possible, helping everyone they could get to safety. Dick even freed a trapped
passenger from their cabin by breaking down the door. Then, just before the ship
went completely under, father and son both
leapt off into the water. Heartbreakingly, Charles didn't make it, a huge funnel from the ship
fell down on him as he jumped. Dick however managed to swim to a lifeboat and climbed aboard with
some other survivors. But once in, he found himself knee deep in ice cold water with
nothing to throw it out with. Using their bare hands would
have been incredibly painful and so, for hours, Dick
and the other survivors sat shaking in the freezing water. Eventually, they were rescued, but the terrible cold had left
Dick with severe frostbite in both his legs. Doctors were insistent that
they needed to be amputated, but Dick wasn't going to just lie down and let that happen, oh no. He refused the operation,
and instead forced himself to stand up every two
hours and walk around to keep circulation in his legs. Which would've been painful as all hell. Astonishingly, it worked. Dick made a full recovery,
and went on to forge a successful tennis career,
winning a gold medal in the 1921 Olympics. And he also fought in the First World War, earning multiple service
medals for his achievements. Yeah, Dick didn't just
survive the impossible, he thrived off it. Closest Calls. I had a close call the
other day when I thought I'd accidentally followed through on a particularly dicey
fart, luckily, I hadn't. Some people however have had
decidedly dicier close calls. Like this guy, who was
changing a sprinkler in his front garden when out
of nowhere, this happened. (tree whooshing) Thankfully, the tree landed
in a way that left the man totally unharmed, but that's
about as close as they come. Though, this Wisconsin man certainly gave a good go
at cutting it even closer. (wind whooshing) A few more seconds, and he'd have been right underneath that tree when it fell. Man, I bet he was re-leafed
to get away from that one. But life threatening near
misses aren't all tree related. Take this handyman, who
was busy grinding something when the steel grinding wheel snapped, flew off, and struck
him right in the visor. An inch more and that would have gone straight into his eye,
thank God for visors. At least he wasn't stranded at the top of a burning
building though, whoa. This unlucky roofer in Rødovre, Denmark, found himself trapped when a blaze started in the six-story skyscraper, and was slowly burning its way up. Amazingly, a quick-thinking
crane driver maneuvered his hook to the roof of the tower so that this guy could jump onto it and
be lowered to safety. Talk about hanging on for dear life. And, finally, what do you
reckon this us, unsure? Okay, it's a British royal navy ship loaded with 1,100 tons
of combustible fuel, and that's its anchor,
lodged firmly into an old, unexploded torpedo, jheez. When the ship's crew pulled the anchor up ready to set sail, they realized they'd inadvertently
dropped it onto the torpedo, which had been laying at
the bottom of the ocean since the 1980's, whilst docking. Considering even old
torpedoes can still explode, it's insanely lucky that everybody on board
escaped in one piece. Well, that's just about
all I've got time for. Which of those insane stories
impressed you the most? And do you know anyone that's survived such impossible odds they could
feature in the next video? Let me know down in the comments below, and thanks for watching.
