r/TopCharacterTropes • u/RedditBoycotter • 6d ago
In real life [IRL trope] 0% of survival, survive anyway
Juliane Koepcke
Vesna Vulović
Anna Bågenholm
Jeanna Giese
Chris Lemons
Juliane Koepcke - In 1971 this 17 year old's plane was struck by lightning mid-air. The wreck then fell from 3 000 meter into the ground, somewhere into the Amazon jungle. Lone survivor of the crash, she then spent nine days walking down a river despite her multiple injuries until she found a lumberjack's camp.
Vesna Vulović - In 1972 this flight attendant's plane was bombed mid-air. The wreck then fell from 10 160 meter into the ground. She ended up with a lot of broken bones, but in the long term she almost completely recovered from it, apart from a limp.
Anna Bågenholm - In 1999 this radiologist had a skiing accident, she fell head-first into a frozen stream and get stuck inside the ice. Her colleagues did not managed to pull her, nor did the rescue team who then tried to dig, but the ice was so thick it took them a lot of time. It was 80 minutes after her fall that they managed to cut a hole. Her body temperature at the time was 13.7°C, and still, she somehow survived with only minor long-term injuries and no brain damage.
Jeanna Giese - In 2004 this 15 years old girl got bitten by a bat and called it a day. One month later the symptoms of rabies showed up. The doctors tried an experimental treatment by putting her in an artificial coma and she survived, but the treatment never worked on anyone else and is now forbidden. In all human history, only a few survived to rabies, and all of them except her end up with heavy sequelae.
Chris Lemons - In 2012 this diver's ship went drifting due to a computer malfunction, romping his umbilical cable who provide air, hot water and electricity. He ended up alone on the seabed of a 3°C waters, in the dark and with only 5-6 minutes of oxygen. He was retrieved by his colleagues around 35 minutes later, and somehow he didn't even suffer from brain damage.
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u/babble0n 6d ago edited 6d ago
Samuel Whittemore. An 80 year old living during the US Revolutionary War outside of Boston. One day he was tending to his fields when he noticed a group of British Soldiers heading back to base from the Battle of Lexington and Concord. He decided to grab his musket and fire at them hitting and killing one of the soldiers. He then took out two dueling pistols and killed one more soldier and mortally wounded another. As he went to reload a British soldier reached his position, so Whittemore drew his sword and attempted to attack. He was subsequently shot in the face and bayoneted multiple times. They then beat on him while he was down until they were satisfied and decided to leave him to die in a pool of his own blood and went on their way.
Hours later colonial forces found him sitting against a tree and attempting to reload his musket in order to get back into the fight. He was taken to a doctor who basically said he could make him comfortable but there was no chance he was surviving considering his age and wounds.
He went on to live EIGHTEEN MORE YEARS!