Heroes against the odds

What would you have done? 12 incredible stories of survival

Image: Kalle Kortelainen

Slot canyons, the icy Andes, Australia’s desert, and the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean: These are all spots where people have been stranded and survived to tell the story. From following water streams to fending off sharks, these heroes have taught us not only how to survive in the wilderness but also how to believe in one’s own strength and not lose hope. Read on to discover amazing tales of real survivors!

Image: Alex Moliski

You might not know his name, but surely you’ve heard his story. In 2003, Aron Ralston set out to explore the slot canyons of Bluejohn Canyon in Utah. Disaster struck when a boulder dislodged, pinning his right arm against the canyon wall.

Aaron was trapped for six agonizing days and eventually made the unthinkable decision to amputate his arm using a multitool. After freeing himself, he rappelled and hiked miles to find rescuers. The movie 127 Hours (2010) retold his story.

Image: David Riaño Cortés

When she was 17 years old, Juliane Koepcke boarded a plane with her mom to fly over the Peruvian Amazon. This was on Christmas Eve, 1971. Tragically, the plane was struck by lightning and fell. Jane survived the two-mile drop strapped to her seat.

The dense jungle canopy caught her. The daughter of German zoologists, Juliane was aided by her knowledge of the forest to navigate for 11 days, finding water and disinfecting her wounds. She finally found a logging camp where she was rescued.

Image: Luis Aceves

In 1915, during the Mexican Revolution, Wenseslao Moguel was captured by government forces and sentenced to death. He was shot nine times.

Against all odds, Wenseslao survived by playing dead and crawling to safety once the soldiers left. Nicknamed El Fusilado ("The Shot One"), he later lived a long, full life and became a folk legend to symbolize Mexico’s fighting spirit.

Image: Maico Pereira

A rugby team’s flight crashed into the Andes Mountains in 1972. The 16 out of 45 survivors were stranded at an altitude of 12,000 feet, far from civilization, in the icy expanse between Chile and Argentina, for 72 days.

With no rescue in sight, two of the survivors, Nando Parrado and Roberto Canessa, trekked for 10 days through the treacherous mountains to find help, eventually alerting authorities and saving the others. Their story was retold in several books and films.

Image: Jacob Buller

In November 1942, Chinese sailor Poon Lim was aboard a British merchant ship when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the Atlantic Ocean. He found a wooden raft among the wreckage in which he would be set adrift for 133 days.

He rationed supplies and crafted tools to catch fish and collect rainwater. He used the natural currents to fend off sharks. Eventually, Brazilian fishermen spotted and rescued him near their coast. Forever known as the "Castaway King," Poon holds the record for the longest time surviving alone at sea. He said he never once doubted he’d live.

Image: Yannis Papanastasopoulos

In 2013, Harrison Okene, a Nigerian cook, was aboard a tugboat that capsized off the coast of his country. The ship sank 100 feet to the seabed, and he was trapped in a tiny air pocket inside a bathroom. For 60 hours, he survived in pitch darkness, waist-deep in freezing water.

He rationed sips of Coca-Cola and used his faith to stay calm. Miraculously, divers searching for bodies discovered him alive. Harrison’s survival was nicknamed the "miracle in the Atlantic" because an hours-long survival at such depths was unheard of.

Image: Yuriy Rzhemovskiy

In May 1996, Beck Weathers survived one of the deadliest blizzards in Mount Everest's history. This storm claimed eight lives in a single night. Beck, who was partially blinded after complications of a recent eye surgery, was abandoned by his climbing group after being presumed frozen dead.

Miraculously, he awoke and, despite his blindness, managed to stagger toward the camp. He lost parts of his body to frostbite but lived to tell an amazing story of resilience and to see his ordeal and that of his team inspired several movies.

Image: Florian Eckerle

Amanda Eller was a physical therapist and yoga instructor who went for a solo hike in Maui's Makawao Forest Reserve during the spring of 2019. This is a beautiful, lush, but very disorienting jungle.

Amanda veered off the trail and became lost for 17 days in the dense wilderness. She kept her strength by drinking river water, eating wild plants, and meditating. Aided by social media and crowdfunding projects, rescuers found her sunburned, shoeless, and 15 pounds lighter —but alive.

Image: I Love Pixel

33 miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground for 69 days. This happened in 2010 in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, after a mine collapse left them in a small refuge with limited supplies. Their camaraderie and rationing skills kept them alive.

Once they were located, NASA engineers and the Chilean government collaborated to design a special capsule called the Phoenix to rescue them one by one. The miners emerged to a hero's welcome, and their story became known worldwide.

Image: Malachi Brooks

When they were in their 20s, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates set out to conquer Siula Grande, a peak in the Peruvian Andes. Fate struck when Joe broke his leg in a fall. Simon attempted to lower Joe down the mountain, facing brutal weather and dwindling supplies. But a misstep sent Joe plummeting down.

Assuming his friend had perished, Simon descended alone. Against all odds, however, Joe had survived the fall. He crawled back to base camp over three days, enduring frostbite, dehydration, and hallucinations before he was rescued.

Image: Michael Hamments

Anna Bågenholm was skiing near Narvik, Norway, when she fell into an icy stream. She was trapped beneath the frozen surface for 80 minutes. Her body temperature plummeted to 56.7°F, the lowest ever recorded for a surviving human.

Anna was clinically dead when rescuers pulled her out. Doctors performed groundbreaking procedures to gradually rewarm her body, and she recovered with only minor nerve damage. Her story revolutionized the understanding of hypothermia and cold-weather survival.

Image: Henrique Felix

Sometimes, it’s not nature that’s to blame. In 2006, Ricky Megee was driving through the desolate Australian Outback when he was attacked. The men left him for dead, lost in one of the harshest environments on Earth.

He survived for 71 days on a diet of insects, frogs, and vegetation while sheltering in a makeshift dam. Rescuers finally found him emaciated and sunburned but alive. Interestingly, he claims he doesn’t hold a grudge against his attackers.

Tour the South through language

Southerners speak in code, but we're here to decode them

Maybe you’ve heard someone say they’re "fuller than a tick" after Thanksgiving dinner, or thought your next-door neighbor was "too big for his breeches." These old Southern expressions have been floating around front porches, family reunions, church socials, and kitchen tables for generations. Most know what they mean, but few know where they came from. As it turns out, the stories behind these sayings are every bit as intriguing as the expressions themselves. Here’s the story of 10 Southern favorites.

Everyone has seen it happen: A coworker gets promoted, a neighbor wins a local election, or a young athlete becomes the star of the team. At first, everyone is happy for them, but soon they start acting as if ordinary rules don’t apply to them. Before you know it, people are already whispering they are too big for their breeches.

This classic Southern criticism is aimed at people whose egos have grown faster than you can tell. One of its earliest recorded appearances came in 1835 when frontiersman and Congressman Davy Crockett used it while discussing President Andrew Jackson. Over time, parents, teachers, and grandparents adopted the expression as a gentle warning against arrogance. In a region that traditionally valued humility and neighborliness, getting "too big for your breeches" was often a sign that a person needed a reality check before life delivered one.

You’re not a true grandparent until you show your grandkids’ pictures to your friends and proudly say the baby is "pretty as a speckled pup." One of the South's warmest compliments, the expression describes someone who is exceptionally cute or charming.

The saying emerged in the rural South and Appalachian Mountains during the late 1800s, where hunting dogs were an important part of everyday life. Puppies with spotted coats, particularly breeds like Bluetick Coonhounds and English Setters, were admired for their distinctive markings and irresistible appearance. Southerners, known for turning everyday observations into colorful language, began comparing attractive children and young women to these beloved pups. Some families even embellished the phrase, describing someone as "pretty as a speckled pup with a ribbon around its neck."

We’ve all been there. The holiday meal is over, you’ve had seconds of the mashed potatoes, a slice of pie, and maybe another helping of stuffing. Then someone offers dessert, and all you can do is lean back and say you're "fuller than a tick."

This vivid expression means being completely stuffed after eating, and its roots go back much further than many people realize. Records show similar versions existed as early as the 1600s. The comparison comes from the appearance of ticks after they've fed. These tiny creatures swell dramatically, becoming several times larger than their normal size. The phrase became especially common after large Sunday dinners, church suppers, and holiday feasts, where refusing another helping was practically impossible. Even today, few expressions paint a clearer picture of overeating.

Social life is important, but there’s always a time during a meeting when you just want to stand up, say you’re "going to see a man about a horse," and head back home. You know everyone will nod, no questions asked, and that’s because you’ve used a polite way to leave the meeting without explaining much about why you’re actually going.

The expression dates back to the mid-1800s. One of the earliest known examples appeared in an 1866 stage play called Flying Scud, written by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. Funnily enough, the phrase gained special popularity during Prohibition in the United States, because it could disguise a trip to buy illegal alcohol. Part of its charm lies in its deliberate vagueness. Everyone understands it means something else, but good manners keep anyone from asking for details.

Have you ever argued with someone who simply refuses to change their mind? A debate might go on for hours, so, eventually, you might throw up your hands and say you could discuss the issue "'til the cows come home."

The roots of this expression, which refers to doing something for a very long time, stretch back more than 400 years. One recorded example appears in a language textbook published in 1593. The imagery comes from farm life, where cows often wandered slowly back to the barn at their own leisurely pace. In parts of Scotland, cattle sometimes grazed for months before returning home, which may have influenced the saying’s development. Southern speech preserved many old British expressions that disappeared elsewhere, and this one fit perfectly with the region’s love of colorful exaggeration. It’s hard to imagine a more relaxed timetable than waiting for cattle to decide when they’re ready to come back.

You’re searching for your car keys, you’ve checked every room twice, and now they’re somehow sitting on the kitchen counter where you had already checked before. That’s when many Southerners go, "What in the Sam Hill is going on?"

The phrase refers to the state of confusion, frustration, or surprise without resorting to profanity. And even if linguists can’t trace back its origin, they all agree it was born out of the need to be polite, even when shocked. For earlier generations, especially in churchgoing communities, it’s preferable to use milder expressions, avoiding making direct references to hell. "Sam Hill" is one of those creative substitutes. Although who Sam Hill is is as much of a mystery as where the expression comes from.

Everyone knows someone who gets irritated when things don’t go their way. When that frustration reaches a boiling point, Southerners might describe the person as "madder than a wet hen." And it’s not a surprise that the vivid imagery comes directly from farm life.

Hens that are sitting on eggs can become fiercely protective and remarkably bad-tempered. Farmers discovered that dipping a broody hen in cool water sometimes interrupted the behavior and encouraged the bird to return to its normal routine. Unfortunately, the soaking often left the hen quite unhappy. Anyone who has encountered an angry wet chicken can appreciate how the comparison developed. The phrase became a way to describe someone whose temper has clearly gotten the better of them.

You know that feeling when you open a cluttered garage and discover enough tools, screws, and spare parts to stock a hardware store? If you’d lived in the South, you might hear someone say there’s "more than Carter has pills".

Referring to an enormous quantity of things, the expression originated with Carter’s Little Liver Pills, a patent medicine introduced by Samuel J. Carter in Pennsylvania in 1868. The company became famous for relentless advertising campaigns that appeared in newspapers, magazines, and storefronts across the country. For decades, Americans saw the product promoted as a remedy for everything from constipation to headaches. The ads were so widespread and the pills so plentiful that people naturally began using the company as a benchmark for abundance. Before long, anything that existed in huge quantities had "more than Carter has pills."

You’ve probably encountered a door marked "pull" and tried to push it, only to become increasingly frustrated when it didn’t open. That’s exactly the kind of situation that inspires the remark, "Ain’t got the sense God gave a billy goat." That is to say, someone lacks common sense.

The humor comes from comparing a person’s judgment to that of a billy goat, an animal not generally celebrated for wisdom. The popularity of the phrase in Southern culture is a reflection of how the local scenery influenced language, in a place where livestock were familiar reference points in everyday conversation. Rather than calling someone foolish outright, the humor and exaggeration of the phrase softens the sting while still making the point perfectly clear.

Imagine spending hours worrying about a minor problem, only to realize later that it really didn’t matter at all. That’s when an older Southerner might tell you, "It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans."

The expression means something has little value or importance, and its story begins with agriculture. During the 1800s, farmers commonly planted beans in small hills. Because beans were inexpensive, easy to grow, and abundant, a single hill of beans wasn’t worth very much. Earlier English writers had already used beans as symbols of low value, but Americans added the farming imagery that made the expression memorable. And it received an extra boost in 1942, when Humphrey Bogart delivered the famous line in Casablanca: "The problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." More than eighty years later, the saying remains as useful as ever.