While history is often told by the victors, these fifteen stories show the tragic, shadowy side of lives, defined by inescapable tragedy and cruel twists of fate.
Ann Hodges
Ann Hodges holds the title of being the only human being to have ever been hit by a meteorite. In 1954, while taking a nap on her couch in Alabama, a grapefruit-sized chunk of a meteor fell through her roof, bounced off a radio, and hit her in the hip. She survived and gained nationwide attention, which led to a nasty legal dispute over ownership of the rock itself.
Frane Selak
Known as the “world’s luckiest unlucky man,” Croatian music teacher Frane Selak has escaped death on more than one occasion. He survived falling out of a moving train through its bottom into a freezing river, and completely ejecting from an airplane after its cargo door fell off (he landed in a haystack).
He’s also been through countless bus and car accidents. In his 70s, Selak won the lottery but gave it all away shortly after.
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce was America’s President from 1853 to 1857, and his story is one of loss after horrible loss. He and his wife lost all three of their children at young ages. The last to die was their young son Bennie, who was run over by a train right in front of his parents, weeks before Franklin Pierce’s inauguration ceremony.
The president-to-be was emotionally devastated and entered office without the capability to lead a country during one of its most turbulent times in history.
David Reimer
Born male, Reimer was the victim of a failed circumcision that left him physically impaired. His parents decided to raise him as a girl based on the radical advice of a renowned psychologist.
He suffered intense psychological abuse and confusion throughout his childhood. Years later, he committed suicide after suffering from severe depression and panic attacks.
King Béla I of Hungary
King Béla I suffered one of history’s most ironic endings. After spending much of his reign solidifying his grasp on power, Béla sat on his throne after a celebratory banquet. However, his throne collapsed from the weight beneath him.
He suffered critical injuries from the fall and died shortly after. The throne that he had worked so hard to keep ultimately became the device of his death.
Henrietta Lacks
Did you know that you’re probably familiar with Henrietta Lacks, but you’ve never met her? In 1951, doctors harvested cancerous cells from her cervix without her knowledge or permission.
Since then, her cells have been used for various medical breakthroughs like the polio vaccine and cancer research, earning those who own the patent behind her cells a cool $750 billion. Henrietta Lacks died penniless in a hospital.
Costis Mitsotakis
Costis Mitsotakis is known as “the unluckiest man in the luckiest village.” In 2011, the entire village won Spain’s billion-dollar El Gordo Christmas lottery.
Nearly every resident became an overnight millionaire. Mitsotakis was the one man in town who did not buy a lottery ticket.
Roy Sullivan
Roy Sullivan was a park ranger who got struck by lightning seven different times between 1942 and 1977. Remarkably, every time he survived with injuries ranging from burned off eyebrows to scraped legs to fried hair.
News agencies eventually gave him the nickname “The Human Lightning Rod”.
Ronald Wayne
Ronald Wayne may be the unluckiest founder of all time. In 1976, he founded Apple Computers with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. He contributed to the iconic first logo and the original partnership agreement.
Twelve days later, scared off by potential liability issues with his new partners, he sold his 10% of Apple for $800. Today, that stake would be worth billions.
William Adelin
He was heir to the throne of England as the only son of King Henry I. But sadly, in 1120, Adelin died in the shipwreck of the famous White Ship.
His death left Henry without a clear successor and led to a generations-long civil war over the throne of England.
Adolphe Sax
The saxophone wasn’t lucky for its inventor either. Adolphe Sax died poor and frustrated, but before he died, he cheated death with an absurd amount of close calls as a child.
As a child, Sax fell out of a window three stories up, was severely burned by a gunpowder explosion, drank sulfuric acid by accident, swallowed a pin, fell onto a boiling cast-iron stove, was poisoned several times after ingesting toxic furniture paint, and nearly drowned in a river.
Jeanne Rogers
Jeanne Rogers’ life has been described as something out of a slapstick sitcom.
She has been struck by lightning twice, choked by her own husband, robbed at gunpoint, had a bat squeezed into her hair, and accidentally downed the pants of beloved children’s host Fred Rogers live on television.
Sigurd the Mighty
The Viking Earl of Orkney died an ironic death. After murdering his enemy in battle, Sigurd chopped off his head and rode back to his estate with it impaled on his saddle. However, as he rode, the head knocked into his legs, causing him pain.
It turned out that one of Máel Brigte’s teeth was rotten and jabbed Sigurd in the leg. The wound got gangrenous, and Sigurd died shortly afterward.
Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden
He is known as the “king who ate himself to death.” The king’s last meal before he died consisted of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring, a substantial amount of alcohol, and 14 servings of his favorite dessert. It was a tragic, ridiculous end for a king.
Sporus
Sporus was a slave boy turned mock-wife of Roman Emperor Nero. Nero had him castrated, then married him as if Sporus was his wife and deceased empress reincarnated.
After Nero’s reign ended, Sporus was subjected to more abuse under the emperor’s successors, and he eventually took his own life.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
