The 13 Unluckiest People To Ever Walk the Earth
Luck is a fickle force. While some people seem blessed with good fortune at every turn, others just can’t catch a break, no matter how hard they try. Though casino fans love to believe you make your own luck, the stories below reveal that fate sometimes has different plans. Dive into the lives of 13 individuals whose stories of misfortune are so jaw-dropping, it’s hard to believe they’re true.
Frane Selak: Survivor of Seven Near-Death Experiences
Croatian music teacher Frane Selak holds a reputation as either the world’s luckiest or unluckiest man. Over his lifetime, Selak reportedly survived seven life-threatening incidents, including a train derailment, being sucked out of a plane, a bus plunging into a river, two separate car fires, a bus accident, and a car crash that nearly sent him off a 300-foot cliff. Amazingly, after repeatedly dodging death, he ended up winning a significant lottery prize—which, true to his character, he gave away.
Costis Mitsotakis: The Jackpotted Outcast
Costis Mitsotakis, a Greek filmmaker, experienced his unfortunately unique brand of misfortune in 2011. Living in a quaint Spanish village, he was the only resident not to buy a ticket in ‘El Gordo’, Spain’s gigantic lottery. As fate would have it, all his neighbors shared in a $922 million jackpot—except for him. Undaunted by this twist, Mitsotakis turned his misfortune into inspiration for a documentary about the experience.
Henry Ziegland: Outpaced by a Stray Bullet
Henry Ziegland, a farmer from Texas, was involved in a tragic and bizarre chain of events. After a breakup, his ex-girlfriend took her own life, and her brother sought revenge by shooting at Ziegland. The bullet, however, missed and became lodged in a tree. Two decades later, Ziegland tried to remove the tree using dynamite; incredibly, the explosion propelled the long-lost bullet out of the trunk and struck him, ending his life. If ever there was a bullet with someone’s name on it, this was it.
Roy Sullivan: The Human Lightning Conductor
No list of unlucky people would be complete without Roy Sullivan. A U.S. park ranger, he earned the nickname “the human lightning rod”—and for good reason. Guinness World Records acknowledged him as the person who survived more lightning strikes than anyone else, enduring seven over the course of his lifetime, with four occurring in just five years between 1969 and 1973.
Melanie Martinez: Chased by Hurricanes
Dubbed “America’s unluckiest woman,” Melanie Martinez, a Louisiana school bus driver, lost not one, but five homes to hurricanes over a fifty-year span. To top it off, her most recent loss struck in 2012, just after her house was renovated on a reality TV show. No force of nature seems to spare her residence.
James Howells: The Millionaire Who Threw It All Away
James Howells from Wales may forever regret one fateful trash day. By accident, he disposed of a hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins—at one point valued at well over half a billion dollars—into a landfill. Despite years of pleading with the local council for help with excavation, his fortune remains buried beneath layers of rubbish, unreachable and untouchable.
Violet Jessop: “Miss Unsinkable” and Her Trio of Disasters
Irish-Argentine nurse Violet Jessop was present during three of maritime history’s most dramatic incidents. She was aboard the RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic during their disastrous sinkings and even survived the RMS Olympic’s at-sea collision. Despite her proximity to disaster, Jessop remarkably returned to ocean travel and only hung up her nautical uniform at age 63.
John Lyne: Britain’s Serial Accident Victim
Nicknamed “Britain’s unluckiest man,” John Lyne boasts a resume littered with misadventure. At last count, he’d endured 16 major accidents, including being struck by a van, surviving a mining mishap, being hit by lightning, car crashes, plunging from trees, and—perhaps most unlucky of all—breaking his arm on a bus ride home from the hospital after a fall. Lyne’s tales almost defy belief in their sheer number and variety.
Sigurd “The Mighty” Eysteinsson: A Viking Felled by a Tooth
Viking Earl Sigurd Eysteinsson, also known as Sigurd the Mighty, met an unusual end after an epic battle win in 9th-century Scotland. He tied the severed head of his vanquished foe, Máel Brigte the Buck-Toothed, to his saddle as a trophy. While riding home, the head’s protruding tooth scratched his leg, leading to a deadly infection. Despite his prowess, Sigurd succumbed to this improbable wound.
Ann Hodges: Struck by an Object from Space
Alabama’s Ann Hodges is the only confirmed person to have been hit by a meteorite. In 1954, a space rock hurtled through her roof, bounced off her radio, and struck her on the thigh. While she survived, the odds of such an event are astronomically rare, making her brush with cosmic misfortune one for the record books.
Erik Norrie: Survivor of Wildlife and Weather
Florida’s Erik Norrie seems to have every kind of disaster magnetized to him: he has survived a rattlesnake bite, a shark attack (losing part of his leg), a monkey attack, and even being struck by lightning. While some may call that luck, having the odds stacked against you so many times might suggest otherwise. Miraculously, Norrie survived them all.
John Wade Agan: Danger At Every Turn
Former taxi driver John Wade Agan’s life reads like a thriller. He has endured a lightning strike, being mugged at gunpoint (and locked in his own car trunk), stabbing, and even receiving snake bites at the same time. If bad luck were a contest, his name would be near the top of the list.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi: Enduring Both Atomic Blasts
Tsutomu Yamaguchi stands alone as the only person officially recognized as surviving both atomic bombings in Japan during World War II. On August 6, 1945, he was just two miles from the Hiroshima blast, sustaining injuries. Seeking safety, he returned to his native Nagasaki, only to be caught in the second detonation three days later. Yamaguchi remarkably lived until age 93, earning the title “Niju Hibaku” or “twice bombed.”
Perspective on Misfortune
These astonishing stories prove that fate doesn’t always play fair. Next time you feel your luck is running dry, remember these 13 individuals whose tales of bad luck are truly unmatched. Sometimes, the only way through is to keep going and hope fortune will eventually turn in your favor.
