A Collection of Insane Survival Stories

This series explores the harrowing tales of people who cheated fate.

Attributions/Special Thanks for Photographs:
NASA ICE, Christopher Michel, NOAA Photo Library, Discott, Tony Webster

Writing and research of story 1 and 2 by Rich Firth-Godbehere

Writing and research of story 3 by Jordan Gottschick

This video contains dramatic reenactment but no actual footage or pictures of anyone being harmed or who has been harmed.

And a huge thank you to the Scary Interesting team of writers, editors, captioners, and everyone else who make this channel possible.

[ScaryInteresting]

Hey everyone! I'm still not sure exactly what to do with this series and category of story yet, but hopefully you find the first story to be a nice contrast to another recent story that didn't quite end so well. Have a great rest of your weekend!

[scottbubb]

In the first story, it's absolutely astounding that they were able to spot James. If you've ever seen video of what it looks like from the deck of a big ship, you'll know that it's almost impossible to see something in the water. Even something the size of a lifeboat is really hard to see, and you keep losing sight of it in the waves.

[sallyh.]

I find cruise disappearances particularly compelling/terrifying.

[jeremysmith]

It is a nice change of pace to hear some stories that turn out alright when compared to everything else on the channel. I'm all for one of these every 5 or so videos to clear the air and give us a little hope back after hearing the most horrible tales.

[OfftheWallTales]

Small correction for anyone a bit confused: at 9:18, lidocaine is not a sedative. It is a numbing agent, the same as novocaine at the dentist. The last thing you want when working on yourself is a sedative.

Amazing video, but just wanted to fix that mistake for anyone who was confused by it, or wondering how she operated on herself when sedated.

[austinclements]

your mindset and how badly you want to survive can be the difference between you drowning in an inch of water and you surviving being impaled through the head with something. jerri's story is absolutely insane, imagine having to teach the people around you how to keep you alive as you're doing your best to keep yourself going

[soltersortna]

I really like the survival stories as a series. You get a lot more interesting details from someone who gets to explain it afterwards! And it's a nice change of pace from death and mystery.

[sourgummiez]

I love the survival stories! The tragic deaths are interesting too and I watch all your videos, but these survival stories always blow me away. Humans are so strong and yet so fragile at the same time

[TheDoctorofOdoIsland]

I believe James when he says he wasn't drunk when he fell into the water. Alcohol can accelerate the effects of dehydration and exhaustion to the point that a person lost at sea would have little hope of surviving long before either losing the strength to swim or succumbing to the urge to drink sea water. He had to be both incredibly alert and physically fit to have made it out of that situation alive.

[harrymaishman]

You should defo include Juliane Koepcke in one of these future videos - she free fell 2 miles out of plane into the jungle at 17 years old and survived

[tikawhom]

The last one reminds me of the girl that fell into a canyon while running a race(/marathon?) with her dog and she broke her pelvis and had to crawl with broken bones for days. I think her dog saved her in the end by going to get help.
I like this video a lot and would love to see more of it!

[antiflg]

All I’m going to say that after being on YouTube since its launch day, this channel is by far the most entertaining, most enlightening, informative and all the nice words channel I have come across on YouTube so far. Even the stories I have already heard on other channels that you do, your narrating along with your visuals are just amazing. Keep up the good work. ❤

[KiwianaYT]

A great watch as usual! Always freaky how fast things can go from 0 to messed up...

[КириллМорозов-ор]

Love your stories!
Also, second story reminded me about Leonid Rogozov. He also was a sole medic in an Arctic expedition, but he was forced to perform appendectomy on himself, using a mirror.

[HANDOFGODS]

It is amazing how you are able to find all these photos that are able to describe the story wonderfully

[nilesandstuff]

I really love these survival stories every once in a while. Its so refreshing to hear about humans that survive by just raw perseverance.

[herodontus]

Please continue this series, especially stuff like the last 2 stories. we need more reminders of how much humans can endure and overcome, against insane odds.

[AcornElectron]

Keep up the good work fella and, as always, stay safe!

[RiversNyx]

Please keep doing insane survival stories!! Its really uplifting to hear people surviving in the absolute worst circumstances.

[MagdaleneDivine]

I don't think that free drink was worth treading water in the inky dark ocean as driftwood impersonation was worth it.