- [Male Voice] The Incredible Hulk received his superpowers after accidentally blasting himself with gamma radiation. Wolverine's powers were the result of a genetic mutation. However, if you think superpowers are the stuff of comic book fiction, you'd be wrong. Bangs to the head, illnesses, and other unfortunate events have caused real people to be able to do things they couldn't do before. Superhuman things the
average person can't do. Let's investigate. Here's our top 10 people who gained superpowers after terrible accidents. (digital music) - Amazing! - [Male Voice] Number 10,
Nikolay Kryaglyachenko. Our first superhero story takes us to the Omsk region of Russia. In 2014, 12 year old
Nikolay Kryaglyachenko was walking home from school when he decided to stop and lean against a lamppost. Unfortunately the lamppost had some faulty wiring. Young Nikolay received an electric shock, and was blasted across the pavement. The next day, Nikolay found that metal objects were sticking to him. He dropped his spoon while he was eating and it stuck to his chest. He could stick coins
and cutlery to his face. What's more, by using the power of his mind, he could give his friends the same powers. Had Nikolay really gained superpowers when he was electrocuted by the lamppost? Was he a real life version of Magneto, from X-Men? Scientists are sceptical, saying that electrocution can't lead to people becoming magnetic. They suggested he may have eaten something that had made him magnetic, or that he has smooth and sweaty skin that objects can stick to, or maybe he just covered himself in glue. As for Nikolay, he wants to put his skills to good use, and be a superhero when he's older. Number 9, Daniel Tammet. At the age of 3, an English boy named Daniel had an epileptic fit. This seizure apparently gave Daniel superhuman powers of memory and an extraordinary ability with numbers. As he grew up, Daniel discovered he could do complex mathematical sums in his head, wowing his family and friends. Daniel's powers grew even stronger in his 20s. He started to compete in memory competitions. He could recite Pi to 22,514 decimal places in a little over five hours. He learned the Icelandic
language in a week, as a challenge on a TV show. At the age of 25, Daniel Tammet was diagnosed with autistic savant syndrome, which affects around ten percent of the autistic population. What makes Daniel different is that he can explain how it works. Since his seizure, Daniel could see numbers as shapes, colors, and textures. For example, five is a clap of thunder. When Daniel multiplies two numbers together, two shapes merge, creating a third shape. He explained this in a TED talk in 2011, "It's mental imagery, maths without having to think." Number eight, Jon Sarkin. When he was 35, New Jersey chiropractor Jon Sarkin developed ringing in his ears, which required brain surgery to fix. Unfortunately he then suffered a stroke, and part of his brain had to be removed. Almost as soon as he left the hospital, Jon became obsessed with drawing. He would doodle, draw, and paint every waking hour, despite never showing any interest of flair for art before. When Jon returned to work, he soon discovered that twisting spines wasn't for him anymore. Wondering if his new passion could make him any money, he sent some ghostly pictures off to the New Yorker magazine. To his delight, the magazine bought them. He's been a professional artist ever since. His paintings sell from upwards of $10,000 and Tom Cruise's movie production company bought the rights to his life story. Did his stroke and brain surgery remove the part of the brain and give him superhuman painting powers? Experts are baffled as it's so rare. We'll have to wait for the movie to tell us. Number seven, Thai Ngoc. In 1976, a 34 year old Vietnamese farmer called Thai Ngoc was struck down by fever. Luckily he recovered, but with an extra added superpower. Thai discovered he didn't feel like sleeping at night anymore. In fact, he hasn't been to sleep since. Various scientists have visited Thai at his home in Quang Nam province to check he's telling the truth, and to find out why he can't sleep anymore. They've all agreed Thai isn't making it up. But as for the reason, they have no idea. They performed tests on Thai to check his alertness, and he passed them all. His extra hours of waking time allowed Thai to get a second job, which helped him out money-wise, but according to Thai, being awake all the time isn't much fun. "I feel like a plant without water," he said in October 2006, 30 years after his last sleep. "My wish now is to have a nap." And here I am feeling like I need a sleep after just waking up from one. Number six, Jason Padgett. Jason Padgett was leaving a karaoke bar in Tacoma, Washington in 2002 when he was brutally mugged and punched in the head. The hospital treated him for concussion, sending him home that night. When he woke up the next morning, 31 year old Jason realized he could see geometric shapes everywhere he went. Everything he could see was made up of fractals. For the next three years he barely left the house, suffering from depression. Eventually, Jason began to try to draw the shapes that were in his head. He produced drawings like this and this, totally by hand. He also enrolled in college to study mathematics. Doctors diagnosed Jason with acquired savant syndrome, but were at a loss to explain his new superpower. Some believe the blow to his head destroyed the part of his brain that deals with object boundary formation. M.R.I. scans saw increased activity in the left parietal lobe, where the brain does mathematical calculations. This part of the brain is making up for the other part that was damaged. One thing is true, Fractal Man doesn't do karaoke anymore. Number five, The Music Men. A common superpower that develops after an accident is immediately becoming a musical genius. Lachlan Connors was more into sports than music until repeated concussions while playing lacrosse led him to quitting contact sports. His injuries had led to epilepsy. He was having regular seizures. However, Lachlan's seizures led to a sudden interest in music. Very quickly, he taught himself how to play 13 instruments, including piano, guitar and harmonica, to an exceptional standard. Likewise, Derek Amato, his music superpowers came when he accidentally dived head first into the shallow end of a pool. He received a massive concussion and a 35 percent loss of hearing. However, he could also suddenly play piano to a high standard, explaining that he could suddenly see black and white squares in his head telling him what notes to play. He also taught himself to play 7 other instruments. Finally, Tony Cicoria. His powers were given to him when he was struck by lightning while at a payphone, talking to his mother. He technically died, but was revived. While he was recovering he was overcome by an urge to play the piano. Something he had never done before. Immediately he started playing like a master, playing along to the sounds in his head. He named his first piece the "Lightning Sonata." Number four, Daniel Kish. Before he was a year old, Daniel Kish had to have both of his eyes removed. He was born with an aggressive form of retinal cancer called retinoblastoma. Almost straight away, he developed a way of navigating around his environment. He made a clicking noise with his tongue. And by listening to how the echoes of the click bounced off the surface, he could determine his way around. Daniel could even tell what was in his way by listening to the sound of the echo. Cars have a metallic echo, trees a hard echo. Daniel was so adept at this technique, he eventually was able to ride a bike without stabilizers and travel the world without assistance. The technique is called echolocation and is the same method that enables bats to fly in the dark. It's no surprise Daniel's friends call him Batman. Ben Underwood was another pioneer of this technique, achieving fame through the TV show 20/20 Medical Mysteries. He was able to ride a bike, play basketball, and rollerblade using echolocation. Ben sadly died at the age of 16, in 2009. Number three, Franco Magnani. Franco Magnani was a cook and a woodworker who emigrated from Italy to San Francisco in the 1960s. Soon after arriving, he came down with a fever that made him delirious and caused him to have seizures. While recovering, Franco began to have extremely vivid dreams about his childhood home in Pontito, Italy. Even though he hadn't been to Pontito in 30 years, these dreams were so real, he could recall everything in exact detail. It was as if memories that were buried in his brain had been rediscovered. Also, despite never picking up a paintbrush in his life, Franco was overcome with the urge to paint these memories of Pontito. He painted these scenes from memory, which as you can see are identical to the corresponding scene in Pontito. The photo is on the left, the painting is on the right. Franco became obsessed with painting, and his work ended upping displayed in galleries around the world. Doctors can't explain how Franco became the Memory Painting Man, but it have been temporal lobe epilepsy, known to create obsessive personalities. Number two, Orlando Serrell. On August 17th, 1979, 10 year old Orlando Serrell was playing baseball with his friends when he got hit on the side of the head with a ball. He carried on playing, not thinking much of it, but suffered from recurring headaches for days afterwards. Once the headaches subsided, Orlando found that he could remember what day of the week any date fell on. So, if you asked him what day of the week was Christmas Eve in 1977, Orlando could tell you straight away. It was a Saturday. He had gained a superpower known as calendar calculation. He didn't memorize calendars, or develop a system to work out the days. He just knew. For most days, he could also tell you what the weather was like, and what he did that day. Aside from this impressive yet pointless superpower, Orlando is, in his own words, "a pretty average guy." Number one, Ken Walters. In 1986, Ken Walters, from Lancashire in England, was in an accident involving a forklift truck, breaking his back. Soon after that he suffered 2 heart attacks. In 2005, he had a stroke. While recovering in the hospital, Ken tried to write a letter to his nurse, but instead found himself doodling on the paper. He'd never doodled before. He'd never been into drawing at all. It seemed that Ken's doodles were very good. He had a talent for art. Doctors said this was a result of the stroke; that his brain had rewired itself to avoid the areas affected by the stroke, and that it would be temporary. However, they persisted and Ken carried on doodling, this time on a computer. Ken began creating digital art in the popular virtual world Second Life. People started buying this art from virtual galleries, and Ken's pictures drew the attention of EA Games, who hired Ken to draw monsters for their games. So far, the Doodler's talent has not subsided. Do you believe in any of these events? Have you gained any superpowers in curious ways? I'd be interested to know. Let me know down below. Also, if you enjoyed this video make sure to subscribe and click that bell icon to be part of the notification squad, so that you're notified when we release a new video. Thanks for watching!
