Stranger Than Fiction: Survival Stories That Defy Belief

Have you ever heard a story so unbelievable that it had to be made up? Yet sometimes, the most incredible tales are completely true. In this mind-bending exploration of reality's strangest moments, we dive into extraordinary human experiences that defy explanation.

We begin with the astonishing story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi, the only officially recognized survivor of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings—a man who endured history's most devastating weapons twice and lived to tell about it. From there, we explore equally unbelievable incidents: a woman who woke up screaming at her own funeral, identical twins separated at birth who unknowingly lived identical lives, and a Serbian flight attendant who survived a 33,330-foot fall without a parachute.

The bizarre connection between cheating death and lottery wins emerges as we discuss Bill Morgan, clinically dead for 14 minutes before winning two lotteries, and Frane Selak, who survived seven deadly accidents before claiming a jackpot. Other highlights include a ghost ship populated by cannibal rats, a mathematician who legally cracked the lottery system, and the eerie tale of a novelist who predicted the Titanic disaster with uncanny accuracy 14 years before it happened.

These stories challenge our understanding of probability and fate, reminding us that reality often surpasses anything our imagination could create. What's most fascinating isn't just that these events happened, but what they reveal about resilience, coincidence, and the extraordinary nature of ordinary lives. Listen now to discover why truth really is stranger than fiction, and share your own unbelievable true stories with us on social media!

Transcript

Welcome to Bonus Dad, Bonus Daughter

Speaker 1 0:00

Hello and welcome to Bonus Dad. Bonus Daughter a special father-daughter podcast with me Hannah and me, davy, where we discuss our differences, similarities, share a few laughs and stories. Within our ever-changing and complex world, Each week we will discuss a topic from our own point of view and influences throughout the decades or you could choose one by contacting us via email, instagram, facebook or TikTok links in bio.

Speaker 2 0:24

Hello and welcome to another episode of Bonus Dad, bonus Daughter. We are doing an episode today on Stranger Than Fiction.

Speaker 1 0:33

Yes, this is one of your ones, it is. What I've done is I've basically, I kind of use ChatGPT. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to lie. I cheated on this one. I used chat gpt. I did this while we were away in america.

Speaker 2 0:48

I had a little brainwave did you well, did you see that?

Speaker 1 0:52

um, that craze that was going around? So I mean, obviously it's it's a few weeks on now, so it's probably all dead in the water now where people were making their own, uh, action figures yeah, I mean, you made one, I made one as well. I looked ancient on mine you did, I looked really really old yeah, I noticed that about yours.

Speaker 2 1:10

I actually put mine on my my uh chronic pain instagram did you yes, so I put mine on there. Do you know what I've done like a chronic illness edition of it?

Speaker 1 1:19

so I did one for hills right and obviously hills has got she's quite a cleaning account, she's quite big on instagram and I didn't use a photograph, I just said use a like um, how old, sorry, how old she was, blonde hair, and then actually put on there my horsford home, right, chat, gpt, search the internet and the likeness was exactly like her.

Speaker 2 1:44

It's crazy, isn't it? That was really scary, yeah it looked exactly like her. It's had a lot of controversy, isn't it Like a? Lot of people are not enjoying the fact that that's taking away and I do get it. It's taking away from graphic designers, people that can create that.

Speaker 1 1:59

Oh, oh, yeah, yeah, definitely, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 2:01

I'm not to get into the politics of it, but there's a part of me that's a bit like it's a tool that's there and it's being used, I guess, to it's so hard because it's I'm conflicted over it.

Speaker 1 2:16

I'm conflicted.

The AI Action Figures Controversy

Speaker 2 2:17

I'm conflicted Because yes it does take away money from people, but would they have got it done in the first place, you know. But would they have got it done in the first place, you know, would they have actually thought of that in the first place, for them to yeah.

Speaker 1 2:28

Well, people do think of things, don't they? Obviously people think of things but yeah, I, I don't like the idea of chat, gpt, where someone could say write me a story or I think I said this before like write me a song there's no, I find it. I find it's very mechanical. There's no kind of soul or feeling, or it's just.

Speaker 2 2:44

I think it's a really good tool to create content, in a sense that you input everything that you want and it will just word what you've said better.

Speaker 1 2:54

Yeah.

Speaker 2 2:55

And I mean, yes, I guess that is laziness and I can understand the argument for that too, because I've probably lost a lot of English ability because I use ChatGPT quite a lot to write emails, messages, social posts et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker 1 3:07

I mean, what did you think that tattoo designer sent you?

Speaker 2 3:10

See, this is where I draw the line a little bit. I wouldn't get AI to design a tattoo, because you don't know if an artist can pull off that.

Speaker 1 3:18

Yeah, but what did you think of the idea?

Speaker 2 3:21

The idea was nice. It's just that I would get an artist to actually draw it up for you.

Speaker 1 3:26

So what I was thinking. I was even thinking do I send Dennis that picture or do I just say look, I want these three images combined and see what you come up with?

Speaker 2 3:34

I think you should say that, because he would know the best way to place them on your arm as well. Ai is not clever enough to do such a permanent thing like that that you're going to do to your body in my opinion, but yeah Anyway, Stranger Than Fiction. We went on a bit of an AI rant there about conflictedness.

Speaker 1 3:51

What I did was I did plumb this into chat GPT and I said come up with a few Stranger Than Fiction stories. So I have a few on here and some of these I was reading and I was like, oh my God, did that actually really happen? So I'm going to read through them and let's just discuss them and see what you think.

Speaker 2 4:10

Let's go.

Stranger Than Fiction Stories Begin

Speaker 1 4:10

I did know about this first one. This one's quite a famous story and I'm not going to pronounce his name very well Yamaguchi.

Speaker 2 4:19

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 4:21

Tsutomu, yamaguchi Tsutomu.

Speaker 2 4:24

Yamaguchi, Tsutomu Yamaguchi. I would say yep.

Speaker 1 4:25

Basically, I didn't know this story. He is a man who I don't know how he did this. He survived both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was in both locations Bloody hell. When the bomb was dropped and he survived both.

Speaker 2 4:44

Like barely survived.

Speaker 1 4:44

So he's basically a 29-year-old engineer. He worked for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. He was sent to Hiroshima on a business trip in 1945. When he was walking to the shipyard he saw a bright flash and was thrown to the ground by the atomic explosion. He suffered severe burns but he survived. See a lot of people don't survive.

Speaker 2 5:04

Suffered severe burns but he survived. See, a lot of people don't survive from severe burns. No I think once it's quite a low percentage of your body.

Speaker 1 5:11

Yeah.

Speaker 2 5:11

Until you're like. I think it's something like if it's more of. I think it's something. If it's over 40% of your body burned, you're very unlikely to survive it when I did I did.

Speaker 1 5:21

I mean I haven't actually done medicine for a few years now because I actually my first stage or my sort of You've lapsed. I have lapsed. You've lapsed, I've lapsed, and it moves on very quickly.

Speaker 2 5:34

Yeah.

Speaker 1 5:34

Like certain things you would do a few years ago you don't do anymore, and we used to have a thing called the rule of nines. Right and it would be like 9% of your body, nine percent of your body nine percent of burns. Yeah and that. Yeah, I don't know what it is now.

Speaker 2 5:46

I don't know if it's still a thing yeah, I know it seems like such a small percentage. I can't remember exactly what it is myself, but it's a small percentage and you're like whoa, that's not a lot of your body to be burnt, to be able to not survive.

Speaker 1 5:59

Yeah, and you know what it's like when you burn yourself bloody hurts like a. It hurts like a bitch. Yeah, it really does. I mean this guy knows, this guy knows.

Speaker 1 6:06

So he spent the night in Hiroshima. He then went home to Nagasaki and then, august the 9th, whilst explaining what happened to his boss the fact that he's covered in all these burns another bloody, blinding flash erupted and the second bomb went off. Despite his injuries, he lived until 2010. He was 93 years old, yep. His story remained unknown for decades, until he was officially recognised by Japan as a survivor of both bombings.

Speaker 2 6:36

That is incredible.

Speaker 1 6:38

So he survived both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Speaker 2 6:41

That is incredible.

Speaker 1 6:43

To start off with as a Stranger Than Fiction story.

Speaker 2 6:47

That knocks it out of the park.

Speaker 1 6:49

That's pretty good.

Speaker 2 6:50

I don't know if we can come back from this.

Speaker 1 6:52

No. Let's just stop the episode there, there you go, what are?

Speaker 2 6:55

we Done yeah, seven minutes in Bye. I mean, that's just absolutely astounding, and half of those seven minutes we were discussing AI. Yeah.

Speaker 1 7:05

Oh.

Speaker 2 7:05

I can't wait for you to pronounce the next one, oh do you know what?

Speaker 1 7:09

So I have a problem with Russian pronunciations and that I can't do. Remember when we did the episode of the weird places.

Speaker 2 7:19

Oh, yes, and I was talking about the Resident Evil hive and I was trying to pronounce that one.

Speaker 1 7:23

So let's have a go. Fagilyu Mukhamnezdiov no, we shall call her Freddie.

Speaker 2 7:34

No Fagilyu, fagilyu, muk Mukhamz.

Speaker 1 7:39

Mukhamzdiov, mukhamnezdiov, mukhamnezdiov, anyway. So, this lady, this lady, this ladynezdiov Mukhamnezdiov, now, anyway. So, this lady, this lady, this lady Fatima, she woke up at her own funeral.

Speaker 2 7:49

Dude, so I was going to freak you out.

Speaker 1 7:52

In 2011.

Speaker 2 7:53

I hope she got some counselling after.

Speaker 1 7:55

You would bloody need it, wouldn't you being?

Speaker 2 7:57

embalmed as well.

Speaker 1 7:58

Yeah, so she was 49 years old. Okay, years old, okay. Uh, her name was fatima. We shall call her fatima. Uh, she was mistakenly declared dead after suffering chest pains. Her grieving family quickly arranged a funeral for her and, during the ceremony, as mourners prayed over her open casket, she suddenly gasped her air and started screaming hell.

Speaker 2 8:19

So everyone at the funeral also needs therapy.

Speaker 1 8:22

Yeah, so she then had a real heart attack and she died for good shortly after being rushed to the hospital.

Speaker 2 8:29

Oh my God, she died at her funeral. Yeah, there's not many people that can say that. Well, she can't even say that she's dead.

Speaker 1 8:34

God yeah. Her husband later sued the doctors who had prematurely pronounced her dead.

Speaker 2 8:39

Yeah, because they could have probably saved from the heart attack of being woken up at her funeral.

Speaker 1 8:43

See, that is one of my biggest fears.

Speaker 2 8:45

Yeah, I will plunge the dagger if you will, please. I've always said that, oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 8:50

I've always said stab me in the heart, Make sure that I am dead.

Speaker 2 8:54

Imagine if she was being buried and you woke up. Yeah, I mean, cremation is the way, isn't it? Then?

Speaker 1 8:59

you're toast. It's a bit warm in here. What's going on?

Speaker 2 9:04

At least you die fairly quickly.

Speaker 1 9:05

Yeah, but that is, you'd be toast. Bless her heart.

Waking Up at Your Own Funeral

Speaker 2 9:09

Dying through burn quickly is definitely the better way to wake up at your freeing rather than in the ground.

Speaker 1 9:17

So have you ever read the book called the Serpent and the Rainbow?

Speaker 2 9:22

No, okay, sounds a bit biblical Garden of Eden?

Speaker 1 9:26

not really. Uh, it's set in haiti, um, have you ever heard of zombinol? Yes. Tetra toxin, yes, yeah, does a similar thing, in that what it does is it slows the heart rate down to a certain point. That something it can be read now, but back then it couldn't be picked up. So what would happen was people were given this drug. They were then. This is this is. This is the myth. This is where part of the story, where the idea of the whole zombie thing came from, is that in Haiti, people would be given this drug. They would then be buried, they would then be dug up and then used as slaves because they'd gone crazy.

Speaker 2 10:05

Well, yeah, because they thought they were dead.

Speaker 1 10:06

Yeah, that's one of the theories of where the whole zombie thing came from.

Speaker 2 10:10

I mean I can imagine people did that. Yeah, I mean they do use Because they're awful.

Speaker 1 10:14

This is a real drug. It's derived from pufferfish. Yes and I think they use it in. I think they do use it in medical scenarios now.

Speaker 2 10:22

Yeah, there must be a use for that.

Speaker 1 10:25

But yeah, that's so. I'm wondering if that's a similar thing where her heart rate had slowed down so much it wasn't registering on the machine and then she was pronounced dead and then, of course, woke up. Dude, In fact, I wonder, I think, Ooh.

Speaker 2 10:41

What.

Speaker 1 10:42

Conspiracy.

Speaker 2 10:43

Go on.

Speaker 1 10:44

She was poisoned with zombinol.

Speaker 2 10:46

Do you think 2011?

Speaker 1 10:47

Yeah, poisoned with zombinol.

Speaker 2 10:49

Okay.

Speaker 1 10:49

There, you go. Okay, next one.

Speaker 2 10:52

Ooh, I've heard of this one. Yeah, this one reminded me of the play Blood Brothers a little bit. Uh, I can't. It's been a while.

The Identical Twins' Parallel Lives

Speaker 1 11:00

It's been a while for me but yeah, so essentially this is the identical twins who lived the same life, but separately.

Speaker 2 11:06

That's so cool.

Speaker 1 11:08

So they were both called Jim Jim, jim Lewis and Jim Springer. They were separated at birth. They were adopted by different families in America. Despite growing up apart, they unknowingly led nearly identical lives. That's crazy Fact is they were both named Jim, both married women named Linda.

Speaker 2 11:29

I mean, sorry, hang on, let's stop here. Being named Jim, probably just a really common name at the time and not anything to do with their genetics.

Speaker 1 11:36

No, no, but carry on but then they both married a woman named linda. They then divorced linda and then remarried, both marrying a betty. That, yeah, that's crazy. Both had sons named james, named James and Alan. Both had childhood dogs named Toy, both worked as security guards and had similar smoking and drinking habits, and they even vacationed at the same Florida beach.

Speaker 2 12:07

Do you think they saw each other?

Speaker 1 12:09

and it was like the Spider-Man moment. When they reunited at age 39, scientists were stunned by how similar their behaviors, choices and life events were nature versus nurture there is that degree. There's also the glitch in the matrix. You could argue on that one. They're the same person.

Speaker 2 12:25

They're the same person, yeah yeah, the name, the name things is coincidentally weird. Yeah, I think, I think, but they're going to be very common names Linda, betty, alan, yeah, but the toy, the toy dog Unusual name for a toy dog, I have to say.

Speaker 1 12:43

I mean, you can understand if they had both similar drinking and smoking habits, because they were essentially the same genetics.

Speaker 2 12:50

Yeah, well, if genetics have anything to do with it, yeah, but both were security guards, yeah odd one.

Speaker 1 12:53

I mean, is Florida Beach a genetics have anything?

Speaker 2 12:54

to do with it. Yeah, but both were security guards. Yeah, odd one, that's an odd one, yeah, and when I mean is Florida Beach, a very famous?

Speaker 1 13:01

Yeah, I'd say it's a popular tourist resort, especially in America, isn't it? I think some could be explained by coincidence.

Speaker 2 13:07

But yeah, the amount of similarities is what's crazy about that.

Speaker 1 13:13

But it does, and you've said it because, again, we've said this before we both study psychology and there is the whole nature-nurture debate and this does come under your genetics environment. There is, yeah, this is an interesting case, very, very interesting case that we're going to move along from. Yes, Next one we're going to talk about is Russian again.

Speaker 2 13:34

Go on.

Speaker 1 13:35

Yubov Orlova. No, I didn't pronounce that right either.

Speaker 2 13:38

Yubov Orlova.

Speaker 1 13:40

The ghost ship with cannibal rats.

Speaker 2 13:42

Lovely yeah. Cannibal rats, as in the rats eat each other or the humans.

Speaker 1 13:47

Yeah, the Soviet cruise ship was abandoned in 2010.

Speaker 2 13:51

There's so many abandoned ships.

Ghost Ships and Surviving Deadly Falls

Speaker 1 13:53

There are Mary Celeste 2010. There's so many abandoned ships. There are Mary Celeste, and it was abandoned in 2010 and left to drift in the North Atlantic. Okay, so for years, the satellite images showed the ship just wandering aimlessly. Why? Why did anybody go and have a look? The ship's just bouncing up and down anyway. In 2014, this is four years later reports emerged that the ship had reappeared near Ireland, possibly carrying a horde of cannibal rats. This is a fucking horror story.

Speaker 2 14:24

I mean, how would they know that it had a horde of cannibal rats?

Speaker 1 14:28

Well, there was no human food on board, so they reckon the rats were eating each other.

Speaker 2 14:31

Yeah, but how do they know that, unless they'd been on it, because it's been abandoned for like four years?

Speaker 1 14:38

Well, yeah possibly Someone must have gone on there and had a look, oh my gosh, look at all these rats. The ship's final fate remains unknown, as it eventually vanished from radar, but some still believe it may be floating somewhere at the Atlantic.

Speaker 2 14:51

Well, it's either floating or it's on the seabed.

Speaker 1 14:52

There's a horror film ready to be written here About cannibal rats, about this boat, can you imagine? Right? So I've got the film premise now. So if anybody steals it and we date stamp this, this is my idea, this is my idea, right?

Speaker 2 15:07

So you've got 18th of April 2025. Yes, friday, good Friday.

Speaker 1 15:12

Give the time 12.

Speaker 2 15:13

It's Friday, good Friday, give the time 12. It's dead on 12 o'clock.

Speaker 1 15:15

It's dead on 12 o'clock, so the idea is right. You have a pleasure cruise, something like a Club 18 to 30s type sort of thing, people partying going across the Atlantic.

Speaker 2 15:27

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 15:28

They see a ship in the distance. Okay, Just floating there. The captain of the boat goes let's investigate.

Speaker 2 15:35

Why would he go and look? Why, Actually? No, there's no motive.

Speaker 1 15:39

There is Well, because it's not on any of his plans. He doesn't know why.

Speaker 2 15:45

It's just bobbing around in the ocean. So he thinks, kindness of his heart, he'll investigate.

Speaker 1 15:47

just in case they're in trouble He'll go and have a little look, yeah, then what happens is is that the onboarding party goes on, which is all the ship's crew Party party they get killed by the cannibal rats. So all that's left are the party goers, and they've got to then survive the ship because these cannibal rats come across onto their ship.

Speaker 2 16:10

Okay, there you go, just written it, and the horror is the cannibal rats.

Speaker 1 16:14

The horror is the cannibal rats. They are the. And then you get a final girl at the end and there you go, just written it. And the horror is the cannibal rats. The horror is the cannibal rats. They are the yeah, and then you get a final girl at the end and she kills the rats with the flamethrower.

Speaker 2 16:21

Got it yeah, badass.

Speaker 1 16:23

And I don't know where the flamethrower came from. We'll have to work that in the plot somewhere.

Speaker 2 16:27

Well, I think they would have engineering instruments downstairs for this show.

Speaker 1 16:31

Oh she goes A-team on, she goes all A-team building it. Yeah, with the gas canisters so there's, gas canisters down there right, and she builds it with a thingy and yeah, and the nice yeah okay and her final line is eat this cannibal rat is that the best you could come up with? Pretty much on the spot.

Speaker 2 16:51

I think Chachi Viti could do better yeah.

Speaker 1 16:55

Now, I think this has got legs, this has got legs, it's got legs.

Speaker 2 16:58

Lots of legs, rat legs.

Speaker 1 17:00

Oh, bloody Russia again. Vesna Vulvok.

Speaker 2 17:05

Yep.

Speaker 1 17:05

Yep Vesna. She survived a 33,000 foot fall.

Speaker 2 17:11

Shite. What did she land on?

Speaker 1 17:14

Well, she was Snow-covered forest, so she was a Serbian flight attendant. Sorry, I do apologise, I thought it was Russian. She's Serbian, apologies. She was working aboard A flight in 1972 when a suspected bomb Exploded mid-air. She fell 33,000 feet, that's 10,160 metres without a parachute.

Speaker 2 17:38

Crushing into a snow-covered forest.

Speaker 1 17:40

Yep. Miraculously, the trees and snow helped cushion her fall and she was found alive by a local villager. She suffered multiple broken bones but survived, making her the world record holder for the highest fall without a parachute.

Speaker 2 17:53

Oh my goodness, oh my God, can you imagine waking up in the hospital bed and you've got Guinness there? Well done With a Guinness certificate. She's like full body cast. She's like I'm taking a picture with her.

Speaker 1 18:11

She's like this, like thumbs up either side, bless her heart, bless her heart. Bless her heart. I mean yeah, oh yeah. I mean once you start falling you reach terminal velocity, don't you? So you don't go any faster. But yeah. Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2 18:28

That's got to hurt. She actually fell 33,330 feet.

Speaker 1 18:34

Yeah.

Speaker 2 18:34

So more than 33,000 feet. Yeah, so more than 33,000 feet.

Speaker 1 18:37

Yeah, so another 330 on top of that.

Speaker 2 18:40

Vesna.

Speaker 1 18:42

Vesna.

Speaker 2 18:42

Vesna, so 1972,. She's the same age as mum.

Speaker 1 18:45

Yeah, wow yeah.

Speaker 2 18:47

Oh, no, no, no, so, no, she's not no, it happened.

Speaker 1 18:49

She was a flight attendant in 1972. Yeah, it happened in 1972.

Speaker 2 18:53

She might not be depends how old she was when she was a flight attendant, I suppose.

Speaker 1 18:56

I hope she's still alive. Yeah, I hope she's still alive and still flying.

Speaker 2 19:00

And still flying. Do you imagine she's got probably air miles for life.

Speaker 1 19:03

Jesus Christ, yeah, she's going on holiday all over again. Can you imagine that compensation?

Speaker 2 19:08

claim.

Speaker 1 19:09

Jesus Shite.

Speaker 2 19:12

I hope she worked for a good airline, so Bill Morgan.

Speaker 1 19:16

I've. She worked for a good airline, so Bill Morgan.

Speaker 2 19:17

I've heard this story, bill Morgan. This is crazy.

Speaker 1 19:19

He's an Australian truck driver.

Lottery Winners and Death Cheaters

Speaker 2 19:21

Is he now he?

Speaker 1 19:22

was pronounced, they clinically did for 14 minutes after a car accident. Miraculously he survived without brain damage. So to celebrate old Bill, right mate, I'm going to go and buy myself a lottery ticket. Yeah, and he won a new car.

Speaker 2 19:37

From the one he crashed.

Speaker 1 19:39

So had a car accident, went and bought a lottery ticket. Won a new car with that lottery ticket.

Speaker 2 19:43

So clinically dead for 14 minutes. 20 minutes is normally the mark of your brain dead.

Speaker 1 19:48

That's incredible. So a news station then asked him to re-enact his win by scratching another ticket on camera. He scratched his new ticket and won $250,000 on live telly that's incredible so he won the lottery twice what a lad had a car accident, got a new car, got a new car and a new house yeah, and then won the lottery again incredible that's nuts, isn't it? Yeah, that's absolutely nuts.

Speaker 2 20:17

I think I've seen that footage, you know.

Speaker 1 20:19

I feel like I've seen that I love Australians. They're great.

Speaker 2 20:22

Should we talk about the mysterious case of the Pan Am flight 9-14. 9-14.

Speaker 1 20:27

So this is a famous urgent legend, not planes and cars. There's a lot of planes and cars. So apparently 914 took off from New York to go in. Sorry so. He took off in New York in 1955, disappeared midair and landed 37 years later, in 1992, in Venezuela. The flight crew reported thought only a few hours had passed and the passengers hadn't aged.

Speaker 2 20:52

While the story is fiction. Yeah, it's fiction it has eerie similarities to real life aviation mysteries, such as Malaysian Air Flight MH370, which disappeared without a trace in 2014.

Speaker 1 21:03

Yeah, so you remember that when the Malaysian flight went missing.

Speaker 2 21:05

I do remember that.

Speaker 1 21:06

Yeah, I do remember that no one knows where that's gone.

Speaker 2 21:18

No, that still hasn, so it could, if you think it could pop back up one point, With all the crew not aging.

Speaker 1 21:21

With all the crew not aging, jeez Passengers not aging.

Speaker 2 21:24

Wormhole.

Speaker 1 21:25

Wormhole Wormhole.

Speaker 2 21:27

I don't like that one. You don't like that one. No, because it was fiction?

Speaker 1 21:29

Well, it is fiction, it is uh. So, alcatraz, did they actually survive? The one, the lads who escaped?

Speaker 2 21:40

from the alcatraz or people who escaped from alcatraz?

Speaker 1 21:41

I don't know so three, three of them. In 1962 they got out of alcatraz. They created dummy heads from soap, paper and hair to fool the guards. Then they crawled through a vent and built a makeshift raft. Now, officially, authorities say they drowned right right. The official story is that they drowned. However, in 2013, a letter surfaced, allegedly written by one of them, stating that they had survived and they've been living secretly ever since. Fbi facial recognition even suggested that the men may have been alive in South America.

Speaker 1 22:14

Oh my gosh, so did they get out.

Speaker 2 22:19

I mean, if you're an Alcatraz, you've done something pretty bad right, yeah? So I mean maybe they were innocent. That's why they fought so hard to get out.

Speaker 1 22:29

Well, to be honest, have you ever seen the Rock, the film the Rock?

Speaker 2 22:33

No, I've probably been like Dwayne Johnson, haven't seen him in person never.

Speaker 1 22:45

Um, oh, maui, oh, now the rock is uh, nick cage and sean connery, sean connery. Okay, um, and there's a guy called john mason who's sean connery. All right, although there's a. There's a theory that he's actually James Bond in the film.

Speaker 2 22:57

Okay.

Speaker 1 22:58

And he apparently is the only one who to have escaped from Alcatraz. And they show him how he does it.

Speaker 2 23:02

Right.

Speaker 1 23:02

Yeah, but I'd like to think that they did get away. There's a part of me that does as well. Yeah, I'd like to think that they did Cool. Laurie Ruff, laurie Ruff uh, laurie ruff, laurie ruff. She seemed like a very ordinary woman, right, um, but after her 2010 suicide, so she killed herself in 2010. Okay, her husband discovered that she'd been living under a stolen identity for two decades dude, so he was married to and didn't know her real name her real name was kimberly mclean, a runaway fromaway from Pennsylvania who erased all traces of her past.

Speaker 1 23:37

Still to this day, no one knows why she changed her identity, but theories suggest she was hiding from something or someone.

Speaker 2 23:44

Well, that's quite sad. That is very sad that is quite sad actually and maybe that's what led to her suicide as well what she was living off.

Speaker 1 23:51

But can you imagine being with someone for that and then? Finding out that they weren't that person. They were someone else.

Speaker 2 23:56

That's mad, but also it must have been she must have built her own family. How? Did she explain that her family didn't. Oh you can, yeah, oh. I guess you could say oh, my family are dead, I suppose, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 24:07

But how sad is that, though as well, she had to do that that that's not a witness protection thing either, so she didn't go through the official means oh man, sorry, laurie yeah, sorry, then you've got Frayne Salak. Okay, cheated death seven times and then won the lottery.

Speaker 2 24:27

What is with people cheating death and then winning the lottery? I don't know, Lucky bastards.

Speaker 1 24:31

So in 1962, a train derailed into a river, killing 17. He survived, good lad. A year later, a plane exploded mid-air, sucking him in and out. Sucking him out. He landed on a haystack, bullshit, straight up. In 1966, bus he was on crashed into a river. He survived. In 1970, his car caught fire. In 1973, his other car exploded. In 1995, a bus hit him. And in 1996, he swerved off a cliff but landed in a tree. And then, in 2003, he won one million in the lottery.

Speaker 2 25:12

I feel like.

Speaker 1 25:13

This guy's got a guardian angel.

Speaker 2 25:15

Or someone is playing Sims with him.

Speaker 1 25:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:17

Like just trying to kill him off.

Speaker 1 25:19

Yeah, but then also In the end they were just like do you know what? Give him the money.

Speaker 2 25:22

Yeah, can't kill this guy.

Speaker 1 25:24

No.

Speaker 2 25:24

Oh my God, that is so Final Destination, right.

Speaker 1 25:27

Yeah.

Speaker 2 25:27

Maybe he just managed to avoid all these things. Yeah, or he's Domino.

Speaker 1 25:32

Could be Domino. Yeah, he could be Domino.

Speaker 2 25:36

Yeah.

Speaker 1 25:36

That's nuts, isn't it? That is crazy, absolutely nuts.

Speaker 2 25:40

And then won the lottery. And then won the lottery. You know what I'm happy he did. He's been for a lot. Do you think? He's probably got loads of medical bills, all that work he missed uh, he needs it.

Speaker 1 25:53

I love this story. So a californian man bought. Did you notice that I didn't pronounce his name? Han nougan? Do you know about? Do you know this? No, I just know.

Speaker 2 26:02

No, that's how you pronounce it okay um.

Speaker 1 26:04

He bought a super lotto plus ticket in 2010, forgot all about it six years later. Whilst cleaning his house, he found it just before the deadline and won 4.8 mil I didn't even know.

Speaker 2 26:14

They had like deadlines I didn't no I and as in I assumed it was probably just valid for that week and then off you pop.

Time Travel and Incredible Coincidences

Speaker 1 26:22

I didn't realize you had six years to wow uh, I'd love, I love this story, okay, this next story. I I mean Joseph Figlock. What a man. Okay. So, in Detroit, joseph Figlock, he's a street sweeper. Right, he saved two falling babies one year apart. Wow, both times he was in the right place at the right time, breaking their falls and saving their lives.

Speaker 2 26:45

Jesus, who's dropping babies out of windows?

Speaker 1 26:48

I know, but Joseph, the man's there.

Speaker 2 26:51

He is definition of right time right place, right Absolutely. Street says saved two falling babies one year apart. Both times he was in the right place at the right time, breaking their falls and saving their lives. That's incredible. I want to know more about where he's bloody living, though. Why are babies falling out of windows?

Speaker 1 27:06

so much. Who's throwing babies out of windows?

Speaker 2 27:09

Is it the same family, same baby? Can you imagine Poor baby.

Speaker 1 27:13

Now.

Speaker 2 27:16

I did know this next story.

Speaker 1 27:17

So in 1898, a lady by the name of Morgan Robertson wrote a novel called Futility about a massive ship named Titan.

Speaker 2 27:28

A massive ship.

Speaker 1 27:29

A massive ship named Titan Got you ship. A massive ship named Titan Got you that hit an iceberg and sank. 14 years later, Titanic happened with very similar details. I know that story.

Speaker 2 27:40

Wow.

Speaker 1 27:40

That's nuts.

Speaker 2 27:42

But Simpsons does that all the time.

Speaker 1 27:44

Absolutely, they do.

Speaker 2 27:45

I think a lot of the things in this world are just coincidence. It's spooky, yeah, but that's the point of chance and lottery, isn't it? And probability, anyway.

Speaker 1 27:57

I love this next story as well, the robber who sued a bank and won. So basically, he is an Italian man. He attempted to rob a bank, but he was unable to crack the vault. He then sued the bank, arguing they should have made security details clearer. Arguably, the court reduced his sentence. Man's got balls, doesn't he?

Speaker 2 28:21

I think, but was unable to crack. Should have made security details clearer. Yeah, oh dear, he's got a great lawyer, isn't he?

Speaker 1 28:28

He has. Yeah, Anne Hodges is the only person hit by a meteorite and survived.

Speaker 2 28:33

Oh my God, she is Superman.

Speaker 1 28:35

Yeah, in 1954, a meteorite crashed into her Alabama home, bouncing off a radio and hitting her. She survived.

Speaker 2 28:43

I mean obviously if it bounced off a radio.

Speaker 1 28:45

Yeah, the radio would have taken the brunt of it.

Speaker 2 28:46

But also that means it's fairly small. Yeah, I would say so, If it said it hit the side of the chimney, you'd feel like, oh, that was a big meteorite. We're talking like tiny pebble, mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 28:58

But good job, anne. I think this next one is not really stranger than fiction, but just somebody's got his head screwed on, go on. So Stefan Mandl, romanian mathematician, devised a formula to buy lottery tickets in bulk, ensuring her win. He legally won 14 jackpots before laws were changed to prevent such strategies.

Speaker 2 29:22

Clever bitch. Yeah, I don't think that should really be in here.

Speaker 1 29:25

That's more of a yeah, man's got brains.

Speaker 2 29:27

Man's got brains.

Speaker 1 29:28

Man's got brains Good.

Speaker 2 29:29

Good, poor Melanie brains, good, good.

Speaker 1 29:31

Poor Melanie though.

Speaker 2 29:32

Oh, melanie, melanie. What happened to Melanie?

Speaker 1 29:34

Melanie, Florida woman. Have you ever done that? Have you ever done that thing where you put your date of birth in and then put Florida man or Florida woman? No, and you're guaranteed to have some batshit news story come up about something. I'm so going to do that have some batshit news story come up about something I'm so gonna do that, do it, put your put your date of birth in and just just do it.

Speaker 1 29:54

Do it now. Just just do it now some while I read this. Okay, so melanie martinez is a florida woman. She'd been struck by lightning on four different occasions. Scientists say the odds of this happening is astronomically low, making her both extremely lucky and unlucky. So she was. So basically, yeah, poor lady, she got struck by lightning four times. We said that in an episode, didn't we about lightning strike plots in the science versus myth episode.

Speaker 2 30:21

Yeah, I believe so. Sorry, I've got my date of birth.

Speaker 1 30:25

It's the 18th, 17th of August.

Speaker 2 30:28

Yes, and then it's Florida woman. Yeah.

Speaker 1 30:30

Just put Florida Woman and you'll get some batshit news story come up. Guarantee it. I'm going to do mine as well. While you're doing that, what have you got?

Speaker 2 30:37

Oh, I don't think I can say it on. Oh Florida, woman pulls alligator from pants during traffic stop. See, ah, see, the one that actually come up.

Speaker 1 30:56

I can't read out loud, but yeah, pulls alligator from pants during traffic stop. Okay, so my birthday Florida.

Speaker 2 31:05

Man tries to throw live gator onto building's roof to teach it a lesson. People are making these up, no seriously. People are making these up, no seriously.

Speaker 1 31:09

People are making these up, no, straight up. Seriously, yeah, oh, I've got another one here Florida man arrested after trying to cross Atlantic in hamster wheel vessel. Honestly, it's brilliant, it's absolutely brilliant. So, oh, I knew this story and I absolutely love this story. Yeah, in 2012, a tourist in Iceland got separated from a tour group. The tour group organised a search party, unaware that the missing person was actually part of the search efforts.

Speaker 2 31:42

She simply didn't realise they were looking for her. Yeah, oh, that's hilarious, but should they have done a head count and they were like oh no, everyone's here. Yeah, like what yeah Did should? They have done a head count and they're like oh no, everyone's here yeah.

Speaker 1 31:52

Like what yeah?

Speaker 2 31:53

Do they not say the person's name?

Speaker 1 31:55

I don't know but I think that's brilliant, that's absolutely brilliant. So, um, talking about head counts, when we were, when we were in Florida, obviously because it was the entire family, so 10 of us went, you know, and we were counting heads. By the end of the day it was like one, two, three, four. At one point I think I counted nine people and I was like, who's missing? Oh me.

Speaker 2 32:13

Me.

Speaker 1 32:15

Myself.

Speaker 2 32:21

So the time traveller who passed the lie detector test Go on.

Speaker 1 32:23

Yeah, so Al Humour me Bielik claimed to have been part of the Philadelphia experiment, a supposed US military test in 1943 that made a ship disappear. He claimed he was sent to the year 2749 and brought back. Skeptics dismissed the claims but shockingly he passed the lie detector test. Now I have an issue with this.

Speaker 2 32:46

Right.

Speaker 1 32:47

Because I reckon I could pass the lie detector test.

Speaker 2 32:49

I mean that needs to be tested.

Speaker 1 32:51

I think I could do it.

Speaker 2 32:53

Is there a?

Speaker 1 32:54

machine we can buy. Do you know why? Because if you believe the lie, the lie becomes the truth. So all you have to do is believe the lie, believe that the lie is real.

Speaker 2 33:05

Yeah, but can you do that on a deep level, deep enough level that doesn't I think so, really, I think so I think I don't, I don't think that, I don't think lie detector tests are like the yeah, I don't mean.

Speaker 1 33:15

I don't mean like on a big lie, I mean just like on a standard kind of I.

Speaker 2 33:20

I don't wear women's underwear, shrek yeah such a good one, um oh no, not my gumdrop buttons such a good big number three, I'd like to give it a go yeah I'd like to give it a go do you know what I would like to, what I'd like you to have a go and and mitchell to have go at is a period pain simulator oh, dear god, no dear god did somebody?

Speaker 1 33:46

I have had some was that you?

Speaker 2 33:48

uh, I, I gave you my TENS machine.

Speaker 1 33:50

That was it. Yeah, that wasn't pleasant.

Speaker 2 33:53

No, it's not, is it? I didn't like that at all.

Speaker 1 33:54

No, that can get in the sea.

Speaker 2 33:56

But it's better than feeling the pain.

Speaker 1 33:57

Yeah, that's true, yeah.

Speaker 2 34:00

Anyway.

Speaker 1 34:00

Yeah, I'd like to give it a go. I'd like to be strapped under.

Speaker 2 34:11

I mean I think you would, I don't think you can, I'm not a good enough liar, yeah, basically, I don't think. Yeah, I don't think you can?

Episode Wrap-Up and Farewell

Speaker 1 34:13

I'm sorry, but no, this is what I think. I think you could train your brain to pass it.

Speaker 2 34:19

Because if he genuinely, I think you could, I think you could lower your heart Because it's heart rate right.

Speaker 1 34:22

Yeah, yeah, so you could lower your heart rate enough Al here if he truly believed that he went to 2749,.

Speaker 2 34:31

he truly believed it he's not lying, no, he's not.

Speaker 1 34:34

He believes it.

Speaker 2 34:35

But that doesn't mean that he's not mentally unwell.

Speaker 1 34:37

Oh, absolutely.

Speaker 2 34:39

Poor, poor chap. I hope he gets the help he needs.

Speaker 1 34:42

Yeah, and the final one. The final one is the man who was shot in the head and didn't notice.

Speaker 2 34:50

What like a graze? Or?

Speaker 1 34:52

No, full on bullet. Okay, full on bullet. So a Brazilian man went to the hospital with a headache after a party Doctors discovered a bullet lodged in his skull. Oh, he'd been shot but didn't realise it, likely due to alcohol dulling the pain.

Speaker 2 35:07

Don't do alcohol, kids.

Speaker 1 35:08

Don't do alcohol.

Speaker 2 35:09

You won't notice a gunshot. Yeah the pain, don't do alcohol kids don't do alcohol, you won't notice a gunshot, yeah, gunshot to the head gunshot to the head, didn't know. Jeez, yeah, also, who's like popping guns out at parties?

Speaker 1 35:18

well, it's brazil, okay you know, there are certain areas of brazil that are a little bit dodge okay, you know I'll take your word for it. Yeah there are certain areas that are a little bit dodgy A little bit odd.

Speaker 2 35:31

Yeah Well, we've come to the end. The end of the road. If you enjoyed our episode on Stranger Than Fiction, you might like our other episodes, if you haven't already watched them, and we probably have more to come of this.

Speaker 1 35:46

Do this every single time.

Speaker 2 35:47

I know, I just don't know what to say. I know, and there's a camera here. I feel even more exposed. Look at the camera. Yeah, so I give the cue, the outro. Thanks for joining us on Bonus Dad, bonus Daughter. Don't forget to follow us on all our socials and share the podcast with someone who'd love it. We are available on all streaming platforms. See you next time. Bye-bye, outro Music.