On a cold January morning in 1962, 32 year
old Croatian Frane Selak was minding his own business when suddenly his train derailed. Disconnected from the rest of the train, his
train car plunged down a narrow canyon and into an icy river. Desperately fighting to escape the sinking
train car, Selak made his way to the shore before being pulled to safety by a bystander. While 17 other people drowned in that tragic
accident, Selak suffered nothing more than a broken arm and hypothermia. Yet this was the day life would take a strange
turn for Selak, throwing the mild-mannered music teacher into a curious roller coaster
of fate. Welcome to this episode of The Infographics
Show, Frane Selak, the luckiest unlucky man in the world. Prior to his train accident, Frane Selak led
a quiet and unassuming life as a local music teacher. It seems though that life- or more accurately,
death- had plans for Selak. Miraculously escaping death in his train accident,
Selak counted his lucky stars and continued about his life, chalking up the incident to
a stroke of bad luck. But one year later Selak's mother fell ill. Gravely concerned, Selak- who had always been
too nervous to fly- immediately booked a plane ticket from Zagreb to Rijeka. The earliest flight being fully booked, Selak
managed to persuade a sympathetic airline employee to let him ride in the rear of the
aircraft along with the single flight attendant. Nervous, Selak took to the skies without incident,
chatting up the friendly flight attendant and sharing tea to take his mind off his nerves. Minutes before landing though, the rear door
to the aircraft suddenly blew open, the pressure difference between the interior and exterior
of the plane sucking Selak and the flight attendant clear out of the airplane. Plunging to a certain death, Selak miraculously
survived by landing in a haystack, suffering nothing more than minor injuries. Unfortunately, there were no other survivors
of the terrible accident. Two brushes with death are enough for a single
lifetime, but fate wasn't done with Selak. Four years later, Selak was commuting on a
local bus when the bus suddenly skidded into a river. Once more plunged into icy waters, Selak managed
to swim free of the sinking vehicle and make his way to safety, suffering nothing more
than cuts and bruises. Four other riders were not so lucky and lost
their lives. Perhaps, and very understandably, deterred
from public transportation, Selak purchased a car of his own. In 1970 while driving, his vehicle burst into
flames and exploded. Diving for safety, Selak managed to escape
the burning wreck, once more suffering nothing more than minor wounds. What should have been a freak accident repeated
itself three years later, with yet another of Selak's vehicles exploding after spontaneously
catching fire. Diving for safety once more, Selak escape
this time with minor burns. Perhaps giving him a chance to catch his breath,
life gave Frane Selak 22 years of relative peace- until a bus hit him while walking on
a street in Zagreb in 1995. Surviving once more with relatively few injuries,
Selak was then forced off a mountain road a year later. Driving in the Croatian mountains, an oncoming
UN truck barreling down a narrow road forced Selak to swerve, sending his car plunging
off a the mountain ledge and into a ravine. Jumping out at the last second, Selak managed
to grab onto the branches of a tree and hoist himself to safety as his car smashed into
the ground below. That would be the last time death would make
an attempt on Selak's life- at least to date. As if to make up for his incredible streak
of bad luck, Selak caught a break in 2003 when he won a million dollar lottery. Interviewed by several international publications,
Selak said that “You could look at it two ways- I was either the unluckiest man in the
world, or the luckiest. I preferred to believe the latter.” Lucky or not, Selak's reputation for tragedy
had made it difficult to keep friends. People around him are hesitant to get into
vehicles with him, or be in his general proximity- and who could blame them? Reflecting on his life, Selak told reporters,
“There came a stage when I was lucky to have any friends at all. Many stopped seeing me saying I was bad karma.” A neighbor of Selak also commented, “Put
it like this, if I heard Frane had booked a flight or train, I would cancel.” Selak's long streak of bad luck seems to be
over, but with so much international attention falling on the man, doubt about some of his
claims have begun to spring up. Many doubters point to a lack of official
records documenting any fatal plane or train crashes in 1962 or 1963, and in an interview
with the BBC either Selak misstated his original story or a reporter miswrote it, giving the
first year of his accident as 1957 and not 1962, and saying it took place on a bus instead
of a train. Inconsistencies have also popped up in Selak's
own telling of his stories, with Selak claiming in 2003 that he'd been playing the lottery
consistently for years before finally winning, but when re-interviewed in 2010 he claimed
he'd won the jackpot on his very first time playing. Details tend to become murkier the longer
a story is retold, and with Selak now in his late 80s it's understandable if there are
some inconsistencies. The nature of Selak's incredible escapes from
death also makes them fodder for skeptics, yet Selak and those close to him stick by
each story, and real or not Selak has had to bear the stigma of being incredibly unlucky
from friends and family alike. If real though, Selak is truly the unluckiest
lucky man in the world, and it's nice to see that life finally granted him a consolation
prize for trying to kill him- even if it took 70 years. So, what do you think about Selak's life? Too incredible to be true? Let us know in the comments! Also, be sure to check out our other video
called Most Evil Popes in the History of Mankind! Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t
forget to like, share, and subscribe. See you next time!”
Leti avionom od Zagreba do Rijeke, realno kao i ostatak priče.
još živi u Hrvatskoj tako da je više unlucky