Welcome to our roundup of the top 10 luckiest individuals ever recorded – people whose fortunes seem to bend reality itself, turning near‑disasters into dazzling triumphs.

Why These Are the Top 10 Luckiest People

10 Bill Morgan

When an Australian driver named Bill Morgan collided head‑on with a massive truck, the impact was so severe that doctors pronounced him legally dead for over fourteen minutes. Miraculously, he was revived, spent twelve days in a coma, and even survived after his family pulled the life‑support hook.

His extraordinary luck didn’t stop at survival. To celebrate, Morgan bought a “Scratch‑It” lottery ticket and instantly won a car valued at about AU$17,000 (now roughly AU$25,000). Local TV caught wind of his story, featured him on a segment, and asked him to try another card live on air – where he astonishingly scratched off a second prize worth $250,000. It’s as if fate gave death a polite “my mistake.”

9 Edwin E. Robinson

The odds of being struck by lightning sit around 1 in 12,000, but for 62‑year‑old Edwin E. Robinson, who was both blind and deaf, those odds jumped to a certainty. While searching for a missing chicken in a field, he took shelter under a lone tree just as a storm rolled in, only to be hammered by a bolt that knocked him to the ground.

Robinson lay unconscious for twenty minutes, then awoke, staggered back home, and promptly fell asleep – lightning‑induced fatigue is a real thing. When he finally rose later that evening, he discovered his sight and hearing had both been restored. Doctors later confirmed the miracle, attributing his survival partly to the rubber‑soled shoes he wore at the time.

8 Joan R. Ginther

Statistically, you’re more likely to be struck by an asteroid than to win a lottery jackpot, yet Joan R. Ginther beat those odds not once but four times, each win delivering multi‑million‑dollar payouts.

Her winning streak began with a $5.4 million jackpot, followed ten years later by a $2 million prize. Two years after that she snagged a $3 million win, and in 2008 she capped the series with a staggering $10 million payout. Scientists remain baffled, but Ginther’s fortune proves that some people truly have luck on permanent standby.

7 Tsutomu Yamaguchi

During World War II, Tsutomu Yamaguchi worked for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a job that sent him on a business trip to Hiroshima just as the first atomic bomb detonated. Though injured, he survived the blast and, after a brief recovery, returned to his hometown of Nagasaki – only to find himself caught in the second atomic explosion two days later.

Defying what many would call the ultimate misfortune, Yamaguchi escaped both bombings alive. He later became a vocal anti‑nuclear activist, condemning the weapons that had nearly ended his life. In 2009, Japan officially recognized him as the sole person in history to survive two nuclear attacks, cementing his place in the annals of extraordinary survival.

6 Maarten De Jonge

Sometimes fate intervenes simply because a person avoids a deadly scenario. Dutch cyclist Maarten de Jonge experienced this twice in a four‑month span. He had originally booked a seat on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, but a cheaper alternative led him to change his ticket – moments before the doomed aircraft was shot down over Ukraine.

Later, he was also slated to fly on the mysterious Flight MH370, which vanished in 2014. Once again, a last‑minute change saved him from a tragedy that still haunts aviation history. De Jonge’s near‑misses illustrate how a split‑second decision can rewrite destiny.

5 Nichiren

In the 12th century, Japanese monk Nichiren faced execution by beheading for his outspoken teachings. As the executioner raised his sword, a bolt of lightning struck the very blade, killing the executioner on the spot.

Stunned by the divine interruption, authorities released Nichiren, though he was later exiled. He went on to found a major Buddhist school that endures to this day. His miraculous escape underscores how even the gravest threats can be thwarted by an unexpected flash of fate.

4 Terri Preece

Oysters, prized for their briny taste and occasional reputation as aphrodisiacs, can sometimes hide a rare treasure – a pearl. While buying a modest dozen 49‑pence oysters at Tesco, Terri Preece unknowingly beat the odds of one in a million and uncovered a genuine pearl inside one of the shells.

As she prepared to relocate to Spain, her colleagues at the homeless shelter where she worked fashioned the pearl into a £500 ring, gifting it to her as a shimmering reminder of her extraordinary luck.

3 Anders Helstrup

Skydiving already carries a built‑in dose of danger, but Norwegian adventurer Anders Helstrup added a cosmic twist when a meteorite streaked down toward him during a jump. The event was captured on video, later verified by geologists as a genuine meteorite that exploded roughly 20 kilometres above his descent.

This footage became the first ever recorded of a meteorite traveling through the atmosphere after its luminous flare had faded. Helstrup spent the following summer scouring the landing area for the rock, though it remains elusive – a reminder that even when you dodge one disaster, another can still slip by.

2 Lena Pahlsson

In 1995, Swedish baker Lena Pahlsson set her wedding ring aside to prepare Christmas treats, only to lose it somewhere in the house. After years of searching and assuming it was gone forever, she discovered a surprising clue sixteen years later.

While pulling up carrots in her garden in 2012, she found the missing ring snugly wrapped around one of the vegetables, prompting an excited scream that echoed through the house. The serendipitous find occurred after a change in planting method – she scattered seeds randomly rather than in neat rows – making the odds of a ring landing among the carrots akin to winning a carnival ring‑toss. Lena’s story proves that sometimes luck hides in the most ordinary of places.

1 Frane Selak

Croatian Frane Selak earned the moniker “the luckiest unluckiest man” after surviving a staggering seven near‑fatal incidents. His first brush with death came in January 1962 when a train derailed into a freezing river; he was pulled to safety with a broken arm while 17 passengers drowned.

A year later, his sole plane ride ended in catastrophe as the aircraft lost altitude and crashed. Selak was blown out of a malfunctioning door, miraculously landing on a haystack unharmed while 19 others perished. Subsequent years saw him survive a bus plunge into a river (1966), a self‑inflicted gunshot to his testicles (1968), two car fires (1970 and 1973), a bus collision (1995), and a near‑miss with a United Nations truck that sent his car plummeting 300 feet down a ravine (1996). In 2003, two days after turning 73, he capped his improbable saga by winning a $1.1 million lottery prize – the ultimate birthday gift.

You can’t measure luck – it simply isn’t quantifiable – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who ride the wave of fortune a little more often than the rest of us. Some individuals seem to attract both calamity and a bizarre sort of rescue, ending up on the very edge of disaster only to be pulled back by sheer, almost inexplicable good fortune. In this roundup we spotlight the top 10 luckiest unlucky survivors, each of whose lives reads like a thriller script.

Why These Are the Top 10 Luckiest Survivors

10 Robert Evans

Robert Evans was already scraping by, living in a makeshift encampment outside Boulder, Colorado, back in 2008. While pedaling his bike down a rural road, a reckless driver ran him off the pavement, resulting in a hit‑and‑run that landed him in an ambulance and then, thankfully, at a local hospital with only minor injuries.

After being discharged, Evans decided to walk back to his camp, crossing a narrow railroad bridge. In a cruel twist of fate, the very same night he’d survived the car collision, a passing freight train slammed into the bridge, knocking him into the water below. The impact would have been fatal for most, but Evans miraculously survived, receiving a second ambulance ride to the same hospital just seven hours after his first rescue.

Jim MacPherson of the Boulder Police Department summed up the night’s absurdity, noting, “He got two ambulance rides last night. It’s an extreme oddity that someone is hit by a car and a train on the same night. I can’t imagine that this has ever happened before in Boulder.”

9 Violet Jessup

Three White Star sister ships – the Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic – each met with their own share of disaster. While the Titanic is the most famous, all three shared a grim reputation. Violet Jessup, a tenacious stewardess, managed to serve aboard each of these ill‑fated vessels.

She first signed on with the Olympic in 1910, only to experience a collision with the HMS Hawke in 1911 that nearly sank the liner. Undeterred, Jessup transferred to the Titanic, where she survived the infamous sinking by caring for an infant aboard a lifeboat. When World War I erupted, she served as a nurse on the Britannic, which later struck a mine.

During the Britannic’s catastrophe, Jessup didn’t have time to board a lifeboat. She leapt overboard, was sucked under the keel, and suffered a skull fracture. Remarkably, she lived to tell the tale and continued working aboard various ships until her retirement at age 61.

8 Matthew

On September 11, 2001, a man named Matthew was strolling beneath the Twin Towers when a hijacked plane slammed into one of them. He escaped unscathed by any falling debris and, in a burst of adrenaline, sprinted across half of Manhattan to safety.

Years later, on November 13, 2015, Matthew found himself at the Bataclan concert in Paris, a night that turned into a terrorist massacre. Shot in the leg, he pretended to be dead, and when the attackers paused to reload, he dragged himself toward an exit, inching forward “centimeter by centimeter” until he could grasp the doorway with one finger, then the other.

His harrowing escape left him with a lingering scar, but his story stands as a testament to sheer resilience in the face of two separate terrorist attacks.

7 Arthur John Priest

Arthur John Priest earned his living as a stoker, shoveling coal to keep massive steamships moving. His career placed him aboard the Olympic, where in 1911 the vessel was holed below the waterline, yet Priest survived the incident.

The following year he secured a berth on the Titanic. When the infamous iceberg collision occurred, Priest managed to survive the sinking, escaping the icy Atlantic. He later served on the armed merchant ship Alcantara during World I, survived its sinking, and then joined the Britannic, which struck a mine in 1916 – another narrow escape.

His final brush with death came in 1917 aboard the Donegal, which was torpedoed in the English Channel. Priest survived that attack as well, though he sustained a head injury that forced his military discharge. His career reads like a catalog of maritime near‑disasters.

6 Roy Cleveland Sullivan

Lightning, with its 100 million‑volt punches, usually spells doom for anyone it strikes. Yet Roy Cleveland Sullivan, a park ranger at Shenandoah National Park, earned the nickname “Human Lightning Rod” after surviving not one, but seven direct lightning strikes between 1942 and 1977.

The first strike singed a half‑inch strip from his right leg while he was outside a fire lookout tower, even blowing off his toenail. In 1969, a bolt hit his truck, scorching away his eyebrows and eyelashes. The following year, a strike landed on his front yard, leaving him with additional injuries.Though he survived each encounter, the cumulative trauma took a toll on his life. By the early 1980s, people began to avoid him out of fear, and in 1983 he took his own life at the age of 71, ending a life marked by extraordinary electrical encounters.

5 Austin Hatch

Plane crashes are terrifying enough, but Austin Hatch endured two such tragedies. In 2003, he was aboard a small aircraft piloted by his father when it crashed, killing his mother and two siblings. Austin escaped with relatively minor injuries, though the loss of his family was devastating.

Eight years later, in June 2011, another crash claimed his father and step‑mother while Austin was a passenger. He survived, but not without severe consequences: a traumatic brain injury, a punctured lung, a broken collarbone, and a two‑month coma.

Defying the odds, Austin recovered, earned a basketball scholarship at the University of Michigan, and later became a public speaker, sharing his harrowing experiences and the resilience that kept him moving forward.

4 Mason Wells

In 2013, Mason Wells found himself a block away from the Boston Marathon bombing. Though the explosion ripped through the surrounding streets, he emerged physically unharmed, but the experience left an indelible mark.

His brushes with terror didn’t end there. While traveling in Calais, France, he witnessed three Americans subdue a terrorist on a Thalys train – an event he observed from the platform. Later, in 2016, while serving as a Mormon missionary, Wells was inside Brussels Airport when ISIS militants detonated suicide vests, shattering glass and releasing shrapnel.

The blast ruptured his Achilles tendon, gave him second‑ and third‑degree burns on his hands and face, and peppered his body with shrapnel. His father noted that Mason’s calm demeanor—rooted in his earlier Boston experience—helped him survive the chaos with a sense of humor.

3 Anna & Helen

The 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic claimed tens of millions worldwide. Two sisters, Anna Del Priore and Helen, survived that deadly wave as children and, astonishingly, lived to face another pandemic a century later.

When COVID‑19 swept the globe, Anna was 105 and Helen 107. Both contracted the virus but, defying the grim statistics for their age group, they each pulled through, showcasing extraordinary resilience across two historic health crises.

Anna attributes her longevity to a blend of kindness, strong friendships, honesty, faith, and a surprising love of hot peppers. Their stories serve as living proof that age need not be a barrier to overcoming severe illness.

2 Tsutomu Yamaguchi

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a 26‑year‑old engineer, was in the city, working on an oil tanker design, when the explosion ripped through the landscape.

He dove into a ditch, only to be lifted by the shock wave and hurled into a nearby potato field, sustaining severe burns, ruptured eardrums, and facial injuries. Remarkably, he survived and managed to board a train that took him to his hometown of Nagasaki.

Three days later, as he recounted his experience to a Mitsubishi executive, another flash of light forced him to the ground – the Nagasaki bombing. Injured from the first blast, Yamaguchi survived the second atomic blast as well, later reflecting that he felt the mushroom cloud following him from Hiroshima.

1 Frane Selak

Frane Selak has earned the moniker “World’s Most Unlucky Luckiest Man” after surviving a staggering series of fatal accidents. His first brush with death came in 1962 when a train crash killed 17 passengers, yet Selak walked away unharmed.

The following year, a plane he was on suffered a catastrophic door failure, sucking him out into a haystack while the aircraft crashed, killing 19 people. In 1966, he survived a bus crash that claimed four lives, and in 1970 his car ignited and exploded, though he escaped unscathed.

Three years later another vehicle fire burned his hair off, but left him otherwise fine. In 1995, a bus struck him, and in 1996 a head‑on car collision was avoided only by slamming into a guardrail. Each incident left him miraculously alive.

His luck turned when, two days after his 73rd birthday, he won €900,000 in a lottery. He invested in houses and a boat, later donating most of his winnings in 2010, proving that even the most accident‑prone lives can enjoy a windfall.

10 Good Luck Charms And Their Origins

As we near the 20th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist strike on U.S. soil, the memory of that fateful September morning still feels raw. Four hijacked jets, two towers that vanished in a flash, and the Pentagon ablaze—each detail still reverberates through history.

Nearly three thousand souls perished that day, yet amidst the devastation a handful of individuals escaped by a thread of sheer fortune. Below, we count down the top 10 luckiest 9/11 survivors, each with a story that reads like a script written by destiny.

top 10 luckiest survivors

10 First One Down, Last One Out: Ron DiFrancesco (South Tower, 84th Floor)

When the South Tower fell, its collapse felt even more shocking because it happened first, leaving everyone with a terrifyingly short 56‑minute window between impact and implosion. Most assumed they had more time to evacuate, but reality proved otherwise.

Ron DiFrancesco, a Euro Brokers executive, was perched on the 84th floor when United Airlines Flight 175 slammed into the building at an angle designed to maximise damage. The aircraft’s fuselage and cabin struck beneath him, while the right wing ripped through the floors just above his desk.

Trapped by fire and smoke, DiFrancesco couldn’t move up or down. He fashioned a makeshift shield from torn sheetrock and forced his way down through searing heat until a firefighter’s voice guided him past the impact zone.

Reaching street level, a rescue worker ordered everyone to exit via the basement because the plaza was littered with debris and, tragically, jumpers. By 9:59 a.m., DiFrancesco was almost out when the tower began to collapse.

He turned, caught sight of a massive fireball, and blacked out. He awoke in a hospital with severe burns and melted contact lenses, becoming the last known person to leave the South Tower alive.

9 Tied Up: Joseph Lott (Marriott Hotel)

On that September morning, Joseph Lott was staying at the Marriott Hotel nestled between the Twin Towers. He worked as a sales rep for Compaq and was slated to present at Windows on the World, the famed restaurant perched atop the North Tower.

Lott’s quirky hobby—collecting neck‑ties that featured famous paintings—would soon become his lifesaver. Before breakfast, colleague Elaine Greenberg gifted him a Monet‑themed tie, which he proudly planned to wear for his talk.

Greenberg, ever the fashion‑savvy friend, warned, “You can’t pair that red‑and‑blue tie with a green shirt.” Little did they know the gift would later keep Lott out of harm’s way.

After breakfast, Greenberg headed up to the restaurant while Lott changed his shirt. As he stepped out of his hotel room, the first plane struck. Carrying his lucky tie, Lott was among the earliest to evacuate safely, while everyone at Windows on the World—including Greenberg—perished.

8 Saved by a Squeegee: Jan Demczur & Five Others (Elevator Shaft, North Tower)

The Twin Towers boasted 198 elevators, with express lifts ferrying passengers to “sky lobbies” before local service took over. On 9/11, roughly 200 souls died inside or near elevators—some falling after cables snapped, others burned by flames racing down shafts, and many trapped in stalled lifts when the towers collapsed.

At 8:45 a.m., window‑washer Jan Demczur was transferring at the North Tower’s 44th‑floor sky lobby, waiting for an elevator to the 67‑74 range. He boarded with five companions: Shivam Iyer, John Paczkowski, George Phoenix, Colin Richardson, and an unidentified man.

Moments after their ascent began, American Airlines Flight 11 hit the tower. The lift shuddered violently, then halted. An intercom announced an explosion, prompting the group to seek their own escape. They pried open the ceiling hatch, only to find themselves between express landings—no exit, just a wall marked “50.”

Demczur knocked on the wall: it was merely sheetrock. Had it been concrete, they would have been doomed. Their only tool was Demczur’s squeegee handle, which they used to shave away the thin material inch by inch until they breached the tile layer.

Breaking through, they crawled into a bathroom, then sprinted toward the stairwell, reaching the street at 10:23 a.m.—just five minutes before the North Tower’s collapse. The squeegee that saved them now resides at the National Museum of American History.

7 Words Can’t Describe: Sheila Moody (Pentagon, E Ring)

Although shorter than the Twin Towers, the Pentagon holds the title of the world’s largest office building, thanks to its five concentric rings that emphasize girth over height—a design that, in hindsight, preserved many lives on 9/11.

Another factor that saved lives was the fact that American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon’s west side while construction was underway, leaving the area less populated than usual. Still, 184 Pentagon workers perished, and survival largely depended on which ring they occupied.

Sheila Moody, working in the outermost E Ring, was among the very few who escaped. At 9:37 a.m., she heard a whistling sound, followed by a rumble and a massive fireball that burst into her office, knocking everyone down.

Although the exit—a gaping hole created by the plane—was only yards away, thick smoke obscured it. Moody tried to call for help but realized she could barely breathe, let alone shout. Overcome, she began clapping her hands.

Staff Sergeant Chris Brahman rushed in, smothered the flames between them, and carried her to safety. Moody sustained burns across her body, including severe injuries to her hands, yet survived.

6 Grounded: Steve Scheibner (Pilot, American Airlines)

By September 2001, Steve Scheibner had logged a solid decade with American Airlines after a stint as a Navy pilot. He was the kind of aviator any passenger would trust to get them safely to their destination.

On September 10, Scheibner logged into the airline’s pilot‑assignment system, where flights could still be assigned the day before departure. He spotted a single open slot for an early‑morning Boston‑to‑Los Angeles leg and claimed it, telling his wife he’d be flying west the next day.

American Airlines’ seniority system allowed a colleague with slightly more tenure to “bump” a pilot from a slot within a half‑hour window. That very afternoon, Tom McGuinness exercised this right, overriding Scheibner’s assignment.Consequently, McGuinness and co‑pilot John Ogonowski became the first victims of 9/11 when, at about 8:18 a.m., hijackers seized Flight 11’s cockpit and either killed or incapacitated them.

Just 28 minutes later, Flight 11 slammed into the North Tower. Scheibner’s close‑call is chronicled in the 2011 short film “In My Seat.”

5 Keystroke of Luck: Elise O’Kane (Flight Attendant, United Airlines)

United Airlines, like its counterpart, used a computer‑based system for flight‑assignment requests. In August, flight attendant Elise O’Kane logged in to register for her usual Boston‑to‑Los Angeles route.

Accidentally swapping two code numbers, she ended up on an unintended schedule. Over the following weeks, she swapped flights with colleagues for all her regular trips—except one: United Flight 175 on September 11.

On September 10, O’Kane attempted to request that flight, but the system froze. By the time it finally processed, she was a minute past the airline’s deadline, and her request was denied. She was forced onto a Denver‑bound flight instead.

The next morning, her Denver‑bound plane departed Logan Airport between the crashes of American Flight 11 into the North Tower and United Flight 175 into the South Tower. O’Kane later changed careers, becoming a nurse.

4 Saved by “Bandana Man”: Ling Young (South Tower, 78th Floor Sky Lobby)

Approximately 200 people crowded the South Tower’s 78th‑floor sky lobby—a transfer hub for express and local elevators—when, at 9:03 a.m., United Flight 175 tore straight through it. Only a handful survived, Ling Young among them.

“I flew from one side of the floor to the other,” Young recalled. “When I got up I had to push things off me. My glasses were filled with blood… I looked around and saw everybody lying there, not moving. It was like a flat land.”

Beside Young lay a man whose facial features had been shredded. Young herself suffered severe burns, her vision blurred by shock. Then a young man’s voice cut through the chaos.

“I found the stairs,” he shouted. “Follow me.” He was carrying a woman over his shoulder and wore a red bandana. Young followed him down, and at the 61st floor he set the woman down, urged both to continue, then vanished upward.

For months the rescuer remained anonymous, known only as “Bandana Man,” until investigators identified him as 24‑year‑old Welles Crowther, an equities trader at Sandler O’Neill and Partners.

3 Finally Freed: Genelle Guzman (North Tower, 64th Floor)

Genelle Guzman, an administrative assistant for the Port Authority, sat on the 64th floor when a thunderous crash rattled the building. She looked out to see a colossal fireball arcing toward the tower.

Inside, information was scarce; Guzman and her coworkers didn’t grasp the full scope of the disaster until the television flickered on. Most fled, but about fifteen colleagues, including Guzman, stayed because the intercom instructed everyone to remain put.

When United Flight 175 struck the opposite tower at 9:03 a.m., the situation worsened. Stairwells filled with ascending firefighters, and at 9:59 a.m., the South Tower’s collapse sent debris and smoke into the still‑standing North Tower.

The group finally reached the 13th floor, only to watch the North Tower collapse at 10:28 a.m., killing everyone inside.

Genelle, however, survived. Her head was wedged between two concrete pillars and her leg badly mangled, yet she clung to life for an astonishing 27 hours. Firefighter Paul Somin and his rescue dog finally located her on the afternoon of September 12, making her the last survivor found in the infamous “pile.”

2 The Plane Dodger: Stanley Praimnath (South Tower, 81st Floor)

In the North Tower, no one above the impact zone of American Flight 11 survived; the plane blocked every elevator and stairwell, sealing the fate of roughly 1,400 occupants on floors 93 and higher.

In the South Tower, only 18 people survived at or above the level where United Flight 175 pierced floors 78‑84. Among them was Stanley Praimnath, a Fuji Bank employee on the 81st floor.

After the first plane hit the opposite tower, Praimnath descended to the lobby. A security guard assured him the building was safe, prompting him to return to his office. While on a phone call, he glanced at the Statue of Liberty on the horizon and said, “And that was when the plane caught my eye.”

Seconds later, the jet slammed into his office, shredding the ceiling and crushing every desk—except his. A piece of the plane’s wing jammed in his office door. He was buried in rubble until Brian Clark heard his cries and, in a daring rescue, hauled him out by leaping over a searing office partition.

1 Saving Her Saved Them: Josephine Harris (North Tower, 73rd Floor)

Josephine Harris crowns this list because an entire crew of firefighters regards her as their guardian angel.

A Port Authority bookkeeper, Harris began evacuating her 73rd‑floor office after the first plane struck 20 stories above. An injured leg from a prior car accident slowed her progress, turning each step into a painful ordeal.

Meanwhile, Ladder Company Captain Jay Jonas led his team up 27 floors of the North Tower when an FDNY radio report confirmed the South Tower’s collapse, prompting an immediate descent. The firefighters rushed down seven flights—right into Josephine’s path.

They couldn’t abandon her. The descent slowed dramatically, each step a laborious effort. By the fourth floor, Harris, in excruciating pain, urged the firefighters to leave her behind and save themselves.

They refused. While waiting for her to regain strength, another tremor shook the building—this time directly overhead. The team ducked, covered, and prayed as the deafening booms of pancaking floors grew nearer, then abruptly stopped.

Mathematically, the collapse of a 110‑story structure left pockets of survivable voids within the central stairwell, creating a narrow window for those below. That very geometry saved Harris and the firefighters alike.“It was a freak of timing,” Captain Jonas reflected. “We know the people below us didn’t fare well. Above, to my knowledge, none got out. God gave us the strength and courage to save her, and unknowingly, we were saving ourselves.”