When fighter planes and ships were downed by their enemies in World War II, it didn’t always mean the death of every person aboard. Sometimes, a few people survived but found themselves stranded behind enemy lines. With no one searching for them, they were forced to find their way back home on their own.

Some of the people who made these journeys went through unbelievable experiences—and they made it back alive.

10 Five Americans On A Lifeboat Sailed Through A Typhoon

Calvin Graef, a prisoner of war aboard a Japanese vessel, was cooking rice when he heard his captors in a panic. US ships had found them, but this wasn’t the rescue he’d dreamed of. The US ships had fired torpedoes and destroyed the Japanese ship with Graef and other prisoners of war still trapped on board.

Graef survived by clinging to pieces of the wreckage. Soon, four American POWs who’d escaped picked him up on a lifeboat and helped him aboard. The men made a rudder for their boat by breaking up parts inside. Then they sailed west toward China.

Their trip took them through a typhoon and over 480 kilometers (300 mi) of ocean. In the end, Chinese fishing boats took them to shore, fed them, clothed them, and sent them home.

9 Japanese Soldiers Walked Through 16 Kilometers (10 Mi) Of Crocodile-Infested Waters

In January 1945, Japanese soldiers were forced off Ramree Island by a troop of invading British soldiers. One thousand of the men escaped, fleeing through a swamp. They thought they were going to make their way to safety.

Instead, the men began a 16-kilometer (10 mi) trek through a swamp infested with crocodiles, some weighing as much as 900 kilograms (2,000 lb). The blood of the injured soldiers lured the crocodiles in. Meanwhile, the men struggled through as crocodiles emerged out of nowhere, grabbed the men, and dragged them under, never to be seen again.

The soldiers fired their guns wildly every time one emerged, but it didn’t stop the crocodiles. One by one, the men were dragged into the water by the hungry animals. By the end, only 400 of the 1,000 men who’d entered the swamp made it out alive.

8 A Soviet Pilot Stole A Nazi Fighter Plane And Flew Home

When Soviet Lieutenant Kuznetsov was shot down by a German pilot, he crash-landed in an open field and ran for cover as his plane exploded behind him.

But the German pilot who’d shot him down made a mistake that saved Kuznetsov’s life. The German flew down to the wreckage, eager to take a souvenir of his kill home. He climbed out of his plane and went through the wreckage, unaware that Kuznetsov was still alive.

Kuznetsov sneaked out of his hiding spot, climbed into the German’s plane, and took off, leaving the man who’d shot him stranded on the ground.

Then Kuznetsov had to fly home, entering Soviet airspace in a German plane and having to dodge fire from his own men. Fortunately, he made it through alive and returned to the safety of home.

7 A Japanese Fighter Flew Home After Being Shot In The Face

In 1942, Saburo Sakai, one of Japan’s greatest flying aces, was nearly taken by an enemy bomber. The bomber riddled Sakai’s plane with bullets, one of which hit him in the face. Sakai lost sight in his right eye and couldn’t get the left side of his body to move.

Sakai was determined to go out as a hero. He planned on making a kamikaze run against the first ship he saw. But he didn’t stumble upon a single ship. For four hours, he flew over 1,050 kilometers (650 mi) with half of his body paralyzed.

But he made his way home.

6 A Soviet Pilot Dragged Himself Across A Forest For 18 Days

When Alexsei Maresyev’s plane was shot down by Germans, he found himself trapped inside German-controlled land. He was bleeding from several wounds and was quickly losing the use of his legs. But he was determined to survive.

Maresyev crawled through the forest, gradually making his way through enemy lines and back into Soviet territory. His legs were so badly injured that he eventually lost the ability to stand. It took 18 brutal days of pulling his body across the ground to get through. When he made it back, he was so badly hurt that his legs had to be amputated.

After being fitted with prosthetic legs, Maresyev went right back into his plane and back into combat. “There’s nothing extraordinary in what I did,” he told reporters later. “The fact that I’ve been turned into a legend irritates me.”

5 A Plane Crashed Into A Jungle Filled With Cannibals

In May 1945, a plane flying over New Guinea crashed into a jungle. The pilot, who couldn’t see past the clouds, just flew into the side of a mountain. His mistake killed 19 of the people aboard and left the last few survivors stranded 260 kilometers (160 mi) from civilization.

A tribe living in this jungle still used Stone Age technology, and rumor had it that they were cannibals. In time, the plane crash survivors were spotted by the tribe. The survivors were terrified, but they had no choice but to offer a greeting and hope for the best. To their surprise, this tribe of supposed cannibals just flashed them a smile and then helped to feed and protect them.

Meanwhile, US paratroopers staged a rescue. The lost crew was found and flown out of the thick jungle on gliders.

4 A Chinese Sailor Drank Shark Blood To Survive 133 Days At Sea

Poon Lim was a steward on a British ship traveling to Surinam when Germans attacked the ship with torpedoes. Lim grabbed a life jacket and jumped overboard just seconds before the ship exploded. He was the sole survivor.

Lim climbed aboard a raft in the wreckage and then set out on a grueling journey alone. After the rations on the raft were gone, Lim became so desperate for water and food that he actually tried to lure sharks to him.

At one point, he killed a bird with a knife he’d fashioned from a biscuit tin. Then he used the dead bird to lure a shark to his raft, bashed the shark’s head with a jug, and drank its blood.

Lim passed by several US and German vessels but was ignored by every one. Finally, he was spotted by Brazilian fishermen who brought him ashore after 133 days at sea.

3 Prisoners Escaped From A Soviet Camp And Walked 6,400 Kilometers (4,000 Mi) To India

Slavomir Rawicz spent two years in Siberia as a prisoner of war. Then, with the help of the camp commandant’s wife, he and six others escaped. But their trip to safety wasn’t easy.

The men left during a blizzard and had to wander through the Siberian Arctic, living off what they could catch or find. When they made their way out of the Siberian Arctic, they were stuck traveling through the Gobi Desert and then the Himalayas in their desperate journey to the safety of India.

By the end, they had traveled 6,400 kilometers (4,000 mi) and lost three men. Four of the men survived, though, after traveling through the harshest environments in the world.

2 An American Prisoner Of War Stole A Nazi Plane And Flew It To Holland

When Bob Hoover was trapped as a German prisoner near the end of the war, he saw an opportunity to escape. A German fighter plane had been left unattended, so he took it.

It wasn’t until Hoover was in the air that he realized how insane his plan was. He intended to fly to Holland, but he realized that he would undoubtedly be shot down when they spotted him in a swastika-adorned plane.

As soon as he saw an open farmer’s field, Hoover touched down. Dutch farmers charged at him with pitchforks, believing he was a downed Nazi pilot. Hoover tried yelling to them, but they couldn’t understand. It seemed like the end—until a British army truck drove over.

Hoover yelled, “I’m a Yank!” The British soldiers translated for the Dutch farmers and took Hoover home.

1 A Soldier Spent Nine Weeks Traveling Through Snow With One Foot Exposed

As Jan Baalsrud’s ship was attacked by Germans, he and his crew realized that they couldn’t win. Hoping for nothing more than a few more enemy casualties, the men lit a fuse, jumped overboard, and let their ship explode.

Baalsrud swam to shore and watched as his crew was rounded up by German soldiers. When they came for him, though, he shot two of them dead. Then he fled through the snow.

Baalsrud was wet, missing a boot, and trapped in frozen lands. For nine weeks, he traveled through the cold. His bare foot froze, and he had to cut off his own toe to stop the spread of gangrene. He was hit by an avalanche and buried under snow for four days.

Still, he dug through the snow and made his way to a group of villagers, who carried him to safety on a stretcher. Jan Baalsrud survived.

+Further Reading

For more astonishing tales of survival, look no further than the archives:

10 Epic Tales Of Survival Against All Odds
10 Freak Accidents People Somehow Survived (pictured)
10 Astonishing Desert Survival Tales
10 Off-The-Wall Survival Tricks And Tools
10 People Who Survived Against Nature

There are a lot of harsh places to find yourself in the world. The desert can kill you just as surely as being in Hurricane Alley. There are parts of the world where it rains almost constantly, and others prone to earthquakes and mudslides. But few places are as consistently inhospitable as the Arctic. Just a massive, frozen expanse of snow and ice at the top of the world, where only the heartiest of humans manage to beat the odds and survive.

10. The Poop Knife

No proper curation of tales of Arctic survival can exist without referencing the most infamous tale of Arctic survival ever told. We’re, of course, referring to the tale of the poop knife.

According to a widely circulated story, sometime in the 1950s, there was an isolated Inuit man who lived alone and whose family wanted him to join them in town. To avoid the fate they had planned for him, he made a great escape into the frozen tundra with the most baffling bit of improvisation you can imagine. Under the cover of night, and with no tools since they’d been confiscated by his family, it’s said the man let loose a bowel movement into the freezing world and then set about fashioning it into a blade. Using nothing but his own saliva to help hone a sharp, icy edge, he sacrificed a sled dog and then made a sled out of its ribcage before attaching it to a second dog and escaping into the night. 

The story was allegedly told by the missing man’s grandson, and it so fascinated people that several researchers and morbidly curious readers attempted to recreate the feet. So yes, scientists have tried to make frozen poop knives. 

Their findings were that the knives were not effective and would melt again upon use. Still, there is a contemporaneous report from another Arctic explorer who said he fashioned his own chisel to dig his way out of a snowy prison. 

In lab conditions, no poop knife has ever been successful, but they have yet to try it in fully freezing conditions to get an accurate reproduction. The ones they did make were able to cut subcutaneous fat in a pig before they melted, so there’s always a chance. 

9. Douglas Mawson’s Deadly Trek

Douglas Mawson didn’t survive the Arctic. He chose the opposite side of the world and took on Antarctica. The problem here was that he chose to do it in 1912 with no knowledge of where he was going, no real technology or gear to manage the continent, and only two companions. Only Mawson survived.

Understanding how cold it gets in Antarctica is hard to describe. For some perspective, in May 1912 in the place where Mawson was, the velocity of the wind every day, 24 hours a day, for the entire month averaged over 60 miles per hour. Sometimes they got over 200 miles per hour.  Temperatures get as low as -77 Fahrenheit. A year before Mawson went there, in 1911, another explorer’s teeth got so cold they shattered. So that’s about as cold as cold gets. 

Mawson’s companions were a dog handler and a lawyer who was a champion cross-country skier. They traveled 300 miles in just over a month, and things seemed to be going well. It was only a short time later when the first of his companions fell into a hidden crevasse in the ice, taking a dog sled with him. The hole was so deep the other men could not see the bottom. 

Most of their food was on the lost sled, so the two survivors were in a precarious position. They were forced to eat the weakest of their sled dogs as they backtracked. Mawson went snow blind at one point and by January, he wrote in his journal that his partner’s skin was peeling from his legs. The next day, the man had become delirious and developed a fever before dying in the night. Mawson was alone. 

He had 100 miles left to go. His face was frostbitten and in agony, as were his feet. At one point, he removed his boots and the soles of his feet came off in them. He bandaged the loose skin back on and kept going. 

Days later, in so much pain he could barely make five miles a day, Mawson fell into a crevasse himself. He managed to catch himself on the edge of his sled, dangling above a pit with no bottom. But there was a rope attached to the sled, and it held long enough for him to pull himself up. The same thing happened again the next day, but he had crafted a rope ladder for himself the night before as a safety measure, and it proved its worth. 

By the end of January, he was making barely four miles a day. He was in severe agony and suffering numerous wounds from the cold. His hair had even begun to fall out. Amazingly, he then found a cave near his base camp where other members of the original landing party had left food, including oranges and a pineapple. 

On February 8, he found a shore party that had been left to wait for him and, though their ship had already left, he stayed with his party and supplies and survived another winter before returning home. 

8. Guðlaugur Friðþórsson

There’s an Icelandic fisherman named Guðlaugur Friðþórsson who has proven that Viking roots are stronger than you might think. Back in 1984, Friðþórsson was fishing with four companions near the Westman Islands. Sometime in the evening, their boat suffered an accident and capsized. It was -2 Celsius outside and the ocean waters were a deadly five to six degrees Celsius. The average human can withstand between 10 and 20 minutes in 5-degree water before their muscles begin to weaken and they lose coordination. 

Two of the men drowned right away, but Friðþórsson and two others got onto the boat’s keel. Their respite was short-lived as the boat fully sank and the three lost each other in the rough, dark seas. The other two men were never seen alive again, but Friðþórsson swam alone for five hours in those waters. Apparently an Arctic fulmar, a kind of bird, kept him company on his journey. 

When he finally made it to land after swimming nearly 4 miles he realized he’d come ashore in an impossible location. Waves were battering him against a rocky, unclimbable shore, so he had to go back into the water and swim further around the island for a better location. 

When he found a suitable place, he had to walk, wearing soaking jeans and a sweater and no shoes, for another 2 miles in sub-zero temperatures until he found a town. Despite his ordeal, and a body temperature of 93 F, he survived with no sign of hypothermia, which doctors chalked up to the fact he weighed just shy of 300 lbs and was well insulated. 

7. Pauloosie Keyootak

Pauloosie Keyootak is a politician from the territory of Nunavut, one of Canada’s least populated and coldest regions. A man who was raised on the land and an avid hunter and fisherman, he was well aware of what kind of environment he was heading into when he headed out on a snowmobile trip back in 2016. But even then he knew his trip was not going to be an easy one, considering the plan was to cover just shy of 500 kilometers, or about 310 miles.

The trip should have been easier than it sounded since it was an established trail Keyootak was going to travel with his son and nephew. There were cabins along the way for shelter, and the trio had supplies to get them through the 15-hour journey. It likely would have gone smoothly if not for a brutal snowstorm that disoriented them and caused them to lose the trail.

It was March 22 when the three went missing. By the time they realized they were well off the trail, they didn’t have enough fuel to go back or make their destination, so they did what any reasonable person stranded in the snowy plains of Nunavut would do. Keyootak used his pocketknife to carve out a snow shelter while the other two hunted down a caribou. And then they waited.

The Canadian military joined the rescue effort and despite only having a sleeping bag and some water, sugar, and tea packed, the men survived fairly comfortably until they were rescued on March 31st.

6. Pithovirus

Not everything that survives in the frigid north is necessarily human. Or even sentient. Possibly the greatest tale of Arctic survival comes from the frozen wastes of Siberia where scientists revived the 30,000-year-old pithovirus from the frost. Because honestly, doesn’t the world need more giant, prehistoric viruses?

In all fairness, the pithovirus is not a danger to humans or animals, though it is still somehow infectious after so many thousands of years on ice. It’s also a giant, at least in terms of viruses. You can use a normal microscope to see it. It clocks in at 1.5 micrometers. The average virus cell is anywhere from 20 nanometers to 400 nanometers. Pithovirus is 1,500 nanometers. It’s a hefty fella.

The virus attacks amoebas, so we multicellular life forms are mostly safe for now. But that’s not to say there aren’t other, more dangerous viruses trapped in the ice that won’t appear as the Arctic begins to thaw out.

5. Bob Gauchie

Pilot Bob Gauchie was making what should have been a pretty unremarkable flight across the Northwest Territories in Canada back in 1967. The northern territory is very sparsely populated and you can travel hundreds of miles seeing nothing but forest and moose. 

It was early February, a brutal time of year to be so far north, and Gauchie hit a bad storm. He lost his bearings and was almost out of fuel when he decided to save his own life with an emergency landing. He had not packed anything for survival – the plane had emergency flares and a box of frozen fish on board. Temperatures dropped to -60 C, which is about -76 F.

The search began soon after Bob went missing, but the problem is that the Northwest Territories are about 442,000 square miles. For all that space, only about 45,000 people live there, and almost half of them are in Yellowknife, where Bob was headed. The rest is all forest. Gauchie had landed so far away from civilization that he was even out of radio contact.

Rescuers searched for three weeks with no luck. With brutal cold and high winds, people assumed that, after so long, there was no way the man had survived. The search was called off. Friends even put money together to continue a private search, but it could only last for so long. The big problem? Bob had landed on a frozen lake in a white plane. He was invisible to search parties. 

Wolves circled his plane frequently, and he talked to them to stave off his loneliness, but after 58 days, a plane on a routine flight noticed something unusual on the ice and landed to check it out. Bob surprised the pilot and passenger by both being alive and approaching with his suitcase, asking if they had room for another passenger. He holds a record for the longest solo survival in the Arctic for a downed pilot. 

4. Bob Bartlett

Bob Bartlett was arguably the greatest Arctic explorer of all time. He led over 40 missions to map and explore the region, more than anyone else had or has ever undertaken. This despite the fact he managed to shipwreck 12 different times and nearly die several more. 

His passion and obsession were exploring the Arctic and finding the North Pole. He was a member of numerous failed missions, including one where his explorer friend Robert Peary lost eight toes to frostbite. In 1908, the Pole was in sight on their third try when Peary sent Bartlett back home, claiming he wasn’t as good a sledge driver as the other man on the expedition. 

In 1913, as part of a scientific expedition, Barlett’s ship got trapped in the ice and stayed there for a staggering 5 months. Anticipating the worst, he had the crew build igloos on the ice and transfer supplies over. When the ice finally pierced the hull and sank the ship, they were at least prepared.

The crew left camp and traveled hundreds of miles by sled. He left his crew on Wrangel Island and then traveled the last 700 miles to Alaska with just one guide and reached it by the end of May. A rescue vessel made it to the island crew by September, a full eight months after their own ship had sunk, which, as you’ll recall, was stranded for five months before sinking.

3. Marten Hartwell

Marten Hartwell was a pilot who was taking the exact same journey that Bob Gauchie had taken some years earlier. Hartwell was flying three passengers – a pregnant Inuit woman, a nurse, and a boy named David Pisurayak Kootook to Yellowknife to get to a hospital. Kootook had appendicitis and needed treatment.

A storm blew the plane off course, and it hit a hill, crashing near a lake. The woman and nurse died, but Hartwell and the boy survived for 23 days together.

Kootook, despite being only 14 and gravely ill, managed to build a shelter for himself and the pilot to help endure the -40C temperatures. He also made fire and hunted for food, but it was not enough. 

Eventually, Hartwell was forced to eat the flesh of the passengers who died. Kootook, despite his condition and the fact there was nothing else to eat, refused. He died of starvation after 23 days, while Marten survived another week until rescuers arrived. Doctors later determined Kootook would have survived had he not expended so much energy building the shelter and trying to keep both he and Hartwell alive. He was posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Cross.

2. Bruce Gordon

The harsh climate is one of the most terrifying things to survive in the Arctic, but it’s not all you need to overcome. Polar bears call that land home, and they are not to be taken lightly. So what happens when you run afoul of North America’s largest land predator? If you’re Bruce Gordon, you make friends.

Gordon was on a whaling ship in 1757, and word is the captain had a little too much liquid courage in him to be sailing. The vessel was between Greenland and Iceland when it was crushed between ice floes. Gordon was on lookout high in a mast and was knocked off the ship onto the ice just as the ship went down.

The boat had capsized and Gordon was able to gain entry to the now upside-down vessel and ransack the dry portions for food and supplies. That’s when the bears came.

According to the tale, a bear made its way onto the ship and he was able to kill it by wielding a torch and knife. He skinned it and harvested its meat and then, sometime later, a cub appeared. He had killed its mother.

Taking pity on it, he fed the cub and she became his companion. She grew bigger and followed him like a dog, even fighting off other polar bears that came around later. They lived and hunted together for a long while until Gordon finally found a small settlement of natives.

The bear left in time and never returned, and Gordon was able to track down another ship that rescued him. On board, he learned he had been gone for seven years.

Is the story true? Well, who’s to say? But, that’s how it’s been told. 

1. Ada Blackjack

Wrangel Island is where Bob Bartlett left his crew, an Arctic island near the East Siberian Sea. It’s also the place where Ada Blackjack’s amazing story of survival took place as well.

Blackjack was an Inupiat, a native Alaskan, and not a survival expert by any means. In September 1921 she was hired on a one-year contract to join an Arctic expedition as a seamstress since her expertise was in sewing clothing made from fur, nothing more. All food, shelter, and survival gear were guaranteed as part of her terms of employment, so she accepted. 

The plan was to claim Wrangel Island for the British Empire for no particular reason. Four men and Blackjack headed out with a lack of experience in Arctic survival and six months’ worth of supplies. Remember, this was a year-long mission. The plan was that the Arctic would provide all they needed for the other six months. 

They managed to last a year, but the ship sent to retrieve them had to turn back, unable to break through the ice. One man came down with scurvy and the other three opted to head out to find help, leaving Blackjack to care for the sick man. No one saw those men again.

Blackjack cared for the sick man for six months. She had to learn to hunt and to survive while facing constant criticism from her patient. Then he died.

Alone, Blackjack continued her efforts at survival. She learned to trap foxes and shoot birds. In August 1923, a boat finally arrived to find Blackjack as one of two survivors on the island. The expedition had left with a cat named Vic that she had also managed to keep alive. 

When she returned, she was not paid nearly what she was owed, and people criticized her for not being able to keep the dying man alive. Others profited off of her story though she did not, but at least now her name and her amazing perseverance can be known more widely.

Catastrophe has been a Hollywood staple for generations. Movies have emerged from the production line in an endless stream covering everything from alien invasions to deadly pandemics and nodding at nuclear war and natural disasters. Often, the plot revolves around how people cope in dire circumstances. How do our heroes survive? How do people manage situations that see their world destroyed and survive to start civilization again?

Many call these events “Black Swan” events. From a European perspective, all swans were white; being white was part of the definition of being a swan. That was until the late 18th century when a Dutch explorer came across black swans in Australia. So a “Black Swan” event is something nobody expected, and most people aren’t prepared for.

Yet, survival skills are not only useful after a cataclysm. The unexpected can happen to anyone. You and your family might get lost on a hike. Or severe local weather might mean you have to fend on your own for a few days. Here are ten survival skills everyone should know.

Related: Top 10 Tips From History On How You Can Survive A Depression

10 First Aid Basics

Stow your first aid kit in your grab bag or backpack. The clip above gives a comprehensive guide to the essentials you should pack. They include:

• Gloves
• Blister treatment
• Gauze
• Bandages
• Medications (over-the-counter and prescribed)

While you won’t be able to cover every eventuality, these items will allow you to deal with immediate emergencies. As part of your preparation, you must ensure that everything is regularly updated; we suggest you revisit your pack every six months.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to know the basics of first aid. What to do and not do can save a life. Basic courses are readily available on YouTube, and the American Red Cross offers online and in-person courses.

Being prepared with basic first aid knowledge and gear can help you handle an emergency calmly and efficiently.

9 Shelter Creation

If you get lost on a day hike or don’t have a tent, it’s worth learning how to make a shelter. This is especially true if you are out in the wild. Finding some shelter is not usually an immediate problem in urban areas as there are often plenty of discarded materials—cardboard boxes, for example, from which you can construct a rough, temporary shelter.

In the woods, it’s a different matter, and our linked video will help you construct a shelter that uses the materials around you to build a refuge. In the mountains, there are different challenges. If you can find a cave that isn’t being used by a bear, wonderful! If you don’t stumble upon a handy cave, you should find a hollow area, work out where the wind is coming from and pile up stones to keep the wind off you.

If you have plastic sheeting or a tarp with you, you can anchor one edge to the top of your stone wall and stretch it down to the ground, and pile stones on it to fix it in place. It doesn’t have to be high; you just need enough room to lie down for the night.

8 Building a Fire

You should have a firestarter in your grab bag or backpack. This could be a flint, a box of waterproof matches, or a magnifying glass. Better yet, pack all three! Use small pieces of wood, pine needles, or cardboard to act as kindling. Add larger pieces of wood as your fire catches, and once you have a good blaze, add larger pieces to keep the fire going.

If you are in the wilderness, build your fire downwind from your shelter. Dig a shallow fire pit or surround your fire with stones. Ensure your fire is away from the surrounding dry brush that could catch light from a spark.

If you want to use your fire to signal for help, try to find an open area away from trees that might hide or disperse the smoke. Pile damp, green grass or brush onto your fire to create more smoke.

7 Water, Water Everywhere

We can’t live long without water, but water is also heavy to carry. You will need fresh water in any survival situation that lasts more than a few days. There are reasonably cheap and effective sterilizing kits or tablets on the market that you can buy for your grab bag.

The National Park Service warns against drinking any water from a natural source. It may look clean but still be teeming with bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Boiling your water is a simple way to kill off the most harmful contents. But remember that this will take time, don’t wait until you are desperate.

Boiled water tastes flat; you can improve the taste by pouring it from one container to another and letting it stand for a few hours.

If you are out in the wild, try to take water from as close to its source as possible. This will not guarantee that it’s fresh, but it may contain fewer contaminants than water from further downstream, but you will still need to purify it.

6 Foraging for Food

People in difficult circumstances soon discover that they are less picky about what they eat. Look online for a guide to edible plants in your region. Importantly, don’t eat mushrooms or berries that you are not absolutely sure about. Some suggest you check if something is dangerous by rubbing your lips against it or even tasting it slightly. This is not sound advice; some plants are so toxic that even a small amount could kill you.

You may be tempted to try fishing or trapping, this is fine if you have the time, but unless you know what you are doing, this can be frustrating and time consuming. It may be better to concentrate on gathering edible plants.

Your grab bag should contain energy bars, food concentrates, and trail mix to supplement your dietary needs.

5 Map Reading

Learning to read a map goes hand in hand with learning to use a compass. They are both skills that are essential if you are in the wild. We have gotten used to using apps on our phones to help us with everything, and many people go hiking with just a phone to guide them. This is not sensible. Batteries don’t last forever; coverage can be patchy, and in a survival situation, there might be no coverage at all.

You should have a topographic map of your area—the United States Geological Survey produces excellent topographic maps. A topographic map shows the landscape’s natural features and can help you plan a route through unknown territory.

Make sure that your map is covered in waterproof film or that you have a waterproof pouch for it—you don’t want it to turn into a soggy lump in the first rainstorm.

4 Navigation

You know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. You may also know other folk wisdom that tells you how to work out which direction is north. But these are not a substitute for reading a compass. When used alongside a map, a compass will help you work out how to get to your destination and, of course, doesn’t depend on your cellphone.

You can study orientation through videos on YouTube and immediately put your knowledge to the test by devising a course in the local park. This way, your kids can learn how to use a compass and have fun simultaneously. Like map-reading, using a compass is an easy skill to master and allows you to show off your prowess as a woodsman.

3 Think About It!

You might not realize that having the right mindset is a skill you can learn. Surely, some people are prone to panic, and some keep a calm head. There’s some truth in this, but you can learn to assess situations and devise practical solutions.

This type of cost-benefit analysis allows you to evaluate the risks associated with various decisions against the benefits they might bring. For example, in a survival situation, what are the risks and advantages involved in moving on versus staying where you are? This is a skill you can develop along with your family members. You can make a game out of deciding what you would do in a “What if” situation.

Survival might depend on being able to make practical decisions in different environments. If you approach survival as a practical problem to be solved rather than an insurmountable difficulty, your chances will improve dramatically.

2 Surviving in the Home

You should take precautions if you live in an area prone to natural disasters. But no matter where you live, a “Black Swan” event could happen tomorrow. Planning for the unexpected is a skill. It involves assessing potential risks and deciding what you can reasonably do to mitigate any situation.

It’s a good idea to keep a stock of essential food, medicine, and water to last a few days. Make sure that you have batteries for flashlights and candles. Store everything in a safe, protected space. These preparations don’t need to cost much money, and you can build your supplies over time. The skill lies in deciding what is essential and what is not.

1 What to Pack in Your Grab Bag

Your grab bag should be ready, so you can pick it up and leave at a moment’s notice. Again, the skill lies in proper planning. You don’t want a bug-out bag that weighs more than you can easily carry, so be reasonable with your packing. And remember to personalize each bag for individual family members, including your lovable, furry friends.

One suggestion is that a sudden survival situation will be traumatic for everyone. But young children will find it especially stressful. Make sure that you can quickly get hold of a favorite cuddly toy for each of your kids. It seems like a small thing, but it can go a long way to easing your child’s mind.

The RMS Titanic was capable of carrying up to 2,435 passengers and 900 crew members. If the lifeboats were loaded to their full capacity, it would have been enough to accommodate one-third of the people aboard the luxurious liner.

10 Creepy Premonitions About The Sinking Of The Titanic

Tragically, many seats sat empty as the lifeboats departed from the sinking vessel, which led to an unnecessary loss of life. Despite the treacherous conditions in the North Atlantic Ocean, many passengers and crew managed to survive the sinking of the world-famous ship. Read the following ten incredible survival stories from RMS Titanic.

10 Charles Joughin

Charles Joughin was 30 years old when he served as chief baker on RMS Titanic, earning a monthly wage of £12, which resulted in him being one of the best-paid crew members aboard the liner. When RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg at 11.40 pm on April 14, 1912, he was off duty in his bunk but soon ordered his bakers to send 50 loaves of bread to the lifeboats before enjoying some liquor in his room.

When he arrived at the boat deck, he was assigned to Lifeboat 10 to escort women and children from the sinking vessel. However, he refused a seat in the boat and returned to his room once again to enjoy a drop more liquor. Once he returned to the boat deck, every lifeboat had gone, and he began helping passengers and crew to throw deck chairs overboard into the freezing North Atlantic Ocean.

As the ship began to descend into the water, Charles claimed he swam away from the sinking vessel. It is widely believed the liquor helped Joughin to remain calm during the disaster and decreased feeling in his body when he struck the icy-cold water. While many people often died within a few minutes of entering the water, Joughin reportedly spent two hours floating in the darkness and then climbed onto an overturned lifeboat. He was eventually rescued by RMS Carpathia and later testified, “I was all right barring my feet, they were swelled.”

9 Charles Herbert Lightoller

Second Officer Charles Herbert Lightoller was on duty from 6:00pm until 10:00pm on the night of the sinking. Before being relieved of his watch by First Officer Murdoch, he instructed for Sixth Officer Moody to call the crow’s nest to request the men keep a lookout for small ice and to pass word to other watches.

Falling asleep in his cabin, Lightoller was awakened at 11.40 pm by a grinding vibration and headed to the deck in his pajamas. After talking to Third Officer Herbert Pitman, who had also been disturbed by the collision, both men concluded the ship must have struck something in the water. Lightoller returned to his cabin to quickly dress and soon convinced Captain Edward J. Smith to lower the lifeboats, as he had been involved in various shipwrecks during his seafaring career. He then assisted women and children into the boats and even used an empty gun to threaten a group of men who attempted to take over Lifeboat 2.

Lightoller was also ordered by First Officer Wilde to escape the ship on Lifeboat 2, but replied “Not damn likely” and instead chose to remove Collapsible B, despite the waters starting to rise onto the deck. However, when RMS Titanic plunged forward, he dived into the sea and was forced to swim clear but was almost sucked down with the ship by the grating of the large ventilator shafts. Fortunately, the water hit the still, hot boiler, which blasted Lightoller back to the surface, and he quickly climbed onto the nearby Collapsible B, which he had previously removed from the Titanic before it went under. However, he experienced another near-miss, as a forward funnel broke free from the Titanic and narrowly missed him. As Collapsible B eventually gained many survivors, it started to slowly sink, and he ended up making his way into Lifeboat 12. When RMS Carpathia arrived to rescue survivors, Lightoller refused to enter the ship until every passenger and crew member were safe, making him the last survivor to be rescued.

8 Richard Williams Norris

Richard Williams Norris was an accomplished tennis player from Geneva, Switzerland traveling on RMS Titanic with his father, Charles Duane Williams. Richard was planning to participate in a tennis tournament in America before studying at Harvard University. Following the liner’s collision with an iceberg, the men made no attempt to escape the foundering ship and instead retired to the gymnasium to talk to instructor McCawley and other passengers.

When the ship descended into the ocean, both Richard and his father were forced to swim for their lives. Tragically, the tennis star watched as his father and others in the water were crushed by a forward funnel that had collapsed into the water. However, the wave from the funnel pushed Richard forward and toward Collapsible A, which he held onto until he was helped into Lifeboat 14. Despite sustaining injuries to his legs, Richard became the United States singles champion in 1914 and 1916, a 1920 Wimbledon men’s double champion, and a 1924 Olympic gold medalist.

7 Harold Bride

Harold Bride was a junior wireless operator on RMS Titanic, serving as assistant to Jack Phillips, the chief operator. Both men were responsible for sending and receiving Morse code messages using Marconi’s radio telegraph system. In addition to delivering iceberg warnings to Captain Edward J. Smith throughout the day, the two men undertook shifts to transmit passengers’ messages to their loved ones back home.

However, when RMS Titanic struck an iceberg, Captain Smith ordered the two men to send SOS messages for help. At the time, both Bride and Phillips were not concerned about the collision; however, they soon realized the gravity of the situation. While Phillips spent the rest of the night sending SOS messages to nearby ships, Bride would update Captain Smith on the progress of communicating with potential rescue liners.

As RMS Titanic started to sink, Captain Smith relieved them from their duty; however, the operators chose to remain at their post. When the water began to enter the wireless room, Harold Bride began helping passengers and crew to launch a collapsible lifeboat. At the same time, Phillips continued his attempt to send distress signals to nearby liners. Bride was washed off the deck but fortunately landed underneath an overturned boat, which he climbed into along with fifteen other men. As the boat was waterlogged, the men were eventually assisted into other lifeboats, where they remained until RMS Carpathia rescued them. Despite suffering from serious injuries, Harold Bride assisted with Carpathia’s wireless communications during his time on the ship and also sent many personal messages from survivors.

6 George Beauchamp

George Beauchamp was lucky enough to survive two of the worst maritime disasters in history: the sinking of RMS Lusitania and RMS Titanic. To secure a job as a fireman stoker on Titanic, George lied about his age to the White Star Line, as he claimed he was 32 when he was ten years older.

Following the collision with an iceberg, he was permitted to leave the engine room and assisted women and children into Lifeboat 13. He was then instructed to row the boat away from Titanic. However, he initially struggled to keep the lifeboat away from the sinking vessel and prevent water from seeping in. Fortunately, he pulled on the oars to travel away from RMS Titanic as quickly as possible. George was also onboard RMS Lusitania when a German U-boat torpedoed her in 1915 during WWI. Unsurprisingly, he chose to work on much smaller boats throughout the rest of his life.

5 Ella White

Ella White was a first-class passenger who boarded RMS Titanic at Cherbourg, France. She was accompanied by her companion, Marie Grice Young, and her maid, Amelia Bissette, and manservant, Sante Ringhini. Despite the exceptional amenities onboard the liner, such as the Olympic dining room and state-of-the-art gym, Ella remained in the cabin she shared with Marie throughout the voyage. She only left it when disturbed by the ship’s collision, which she later described as if it had traveled over a thousand marbles.

Soon after, she entered Lifeboat 8 with her maid. Despite clashing with the seamen on the ship, Ella’s battery-operated cane helped guide the lifeboat to safety, which she typically used to help her maintain her balance. She reportedly held the cane high to illuminate the pitch-black sky, and it also helped them appear as a floating lighthouse in the North Atlantic Ocean. The cane also helped safely guide the lifeboat toward RMS Titanic in search of survivors in the water. While the gadget might fail to impress many people nowadays, it was viewed as cutting-edge technology during 1912.

4 Ruth Becker

Ruth Becker was only 12 years old when she joined RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage, making her one of the youngest passengers aboard the ship. She was traveling with her mother, Nellie, her brother, Richard, who had fallen ill, and her younger sister. To increase Richard’s chances of survival, the family was advised to travel to Benton Harbor, Michigan, to seek medical treatment. However, her father, Allen Oliver Becker, remained in her hometown of Guntur, India, with plans to join them at a later date.

While the Becker family were captivated by the beauty of the ship, their journey took a turn for the worst when it struck an iceberg on April 14. Consequently, Ruth’s mother and her two youngest children entered Lifeboat 11; however, there was no seat left for Ruth; however, she soon entered Lifeboat 13. However, as the lifeboat was lowered, it was nearly crushed by Lifeboat 15, which was being lowered into the ocean at an alarming rate. Fortunately, a member of the crew cut Lifeboat 13’s ropes, which allowed it to escape Lifeboat 15 in time. Ruth was eventually rescued from the lifeboat by RMS Carpathia and, after many anxious hours, she was reunited with her mother and siblings.

3 Edward and Ethel Beane

Following RMS Titanic’s collision with an iceberg, women and children were escorted into lifeboats to escape the sinking vessel. Wives were reluctantly pulled away from their husbands, while children were forced to wave goodbye to their fathers, who they never saw again. However, Edward and Ethel Beane managed to survive one of the worst maritime disasters in history.

The couple were honeymooning on RMS Titanic but were torn apart when Ethel was forced to leave her new husband on the ship and enter a lifeboat. Like many men on the liner, Edward had no choice but to jump overboard, and he swam in the icy-cold ocean until a lifeboat, fortunately, picked him up. However, many men were not so lucky and tragically succumbed to hypothermia. Despite the odds against them, Edward and Ethel were reunited on the rescue ship, RMS Carpathia.

2 The Titanic Waifs

When women and children were instructed to enter a lifeboat on April 15, 1912, a father placed his two young sons into collapsible D, which was the last lifeboat lowered into the water. The curly-haired boys were then cared for by 22-year-old Mary Kelly from Castlepollard, Ireland, who comforted them with song.

When the French boys arrived in New York after being rescued by RMS Carpathia, their identities were unknown. Various newspapers then published stories about the orphans to appeal to any family they might have in France or another country, and they were referred to as “The Titanic Waifs” by the press. Soon after, Marcelle Navratil came forward as the mother of three-year-old Michel and two-year-old Edmond Roger. It turns out their father, Michel Navratil, had kidnapped his children from the south of France and boarded the vessel under the pseudonym of Louis Hoffman. While he lost his life in the sinking, the boys were transported back to France with their mother.

1 William Carter II

The Carter family boarded RMS Titanic as first-class passengers and were returning to Rhode Island after a trip to Europe. They were also traveling with their pet dog and their servants, Alexander Cairns and Augusta Serreplaà. When women and children were escorted into lifeboats on the night of the sinking, the Carter family waited their turn before being instructed to enter Lifeboat 4. However, eleven-year-old William Carter II was stopped from doing so by Second Officer Charles Lightoller, as he was too old to enter.

Not willing to leave her young son behind on the sinking ship, William’s mother, Lucille, reportedly removed her hat and placed it on top of William’s head to disguise him as a girl and ensure his survival. Despite weeping at the thought of leaving his dog behind, William escaped the ill-fated liner with his mother and sisters, and he lived to the grand age of 84 years old.

Nature has produced some truly epic survivors. Cockroaches that can survive their head being ripped off, bacteria that can thrive near the center of the Earth, and tardigrades that live through pretty much anything. However, for every evolutionary winner, there is a loser—some awkward, sluggish, goofy thing that somehow snuck under natural selection’s radar to continue its baffling life.

From animals with absurd diets to those who let themselves be eaten and all the way to those who absolutely refuse to procreate, there is no shortage of zoological duds. This list brings together ten of the biggest offenders, ten animals with zero survival instincts.

Related: 10 Unbelievable Cases Of Self-Amputation For Survival

10 Babirusas

There are a lot of good reasons for an animal to have tusks. They can be used for defense, spearing prey, digging up roots, mating displays, and more. If there is an absolute worst reason for having tusks, however, it goes to babirusas, whose tusks primarily serve to kill the animals, slowly and painfully.

Babirusas are a type of wild pig with two sets of tusks, and those belonging to male babirusas grow abnormally large. The upper pair grow throughout the males’ lives, becoming longer and longer, until—for no sensible reason—they curve backward and down, piercing the pigs’ skulls. Babirusas have evolved an entirely nonsensical tooth that can grow down through their own heads and stab their own brains, making the pigs’ survival strategy questionable at best.

9 Some Sad, Sick Rats

We could argue that mice and rats have some of the best survival instincts of the animal kingdom. Homeowners can attest to how hard it can be to clean the pests out. But when mice and rats become infected by one specific parasite, they are literally mind-controlled into forgetting how to survive.

Enter, zombie rats.

The parasite Toxoplasma gondii primarily infects cats, but its hypnotic effects only work on rodents. When cats shed the protozoans in their feces, mice and rats will often eat the feces and become infected themselves. T. gondii then alters the rodent’s genes to remove its aversion to cat odors—particularly their urine. This causes the rats to become easy meals for cats, starting the life cycle over again in a new, and well-fed, host.

8 Steller’s Sea Cow

The order of mammals known as Sirenia currently consists of just two nearly identical animals: manatees and dugongs. But as recently as 1768, the group contained another member, a giant 30-foot version of the dugong known as the Steller’s Sea Cow. As slow, stupid, and overly trusting as manatees may be, the Steller’s Sea Cow was ten times worse, which led to its rapid extinction.

Within the 27 years of its discovery by humans, the Steller’s Sea Cow was extinct. Undoubtedly, our ancestors need to accept most of the blame, but the cow earns its fair share too. Over their 30-foot length, the animals were all blubber and had no instinct to protect itself at all. They were friendly and approached boats, similar to manatees today, and it led to 27 years of easy hunting followed by infinite years of nonexistence.

Sad face.

7 Cheetahs

Unfortunately, due to habitat loss and competition with humans, cheetahs are now limited to just a few thousand individuals in a small fraction of their former territory. This has turned the cheetah gene pool into a puddle, to put it mildly. Modern cheetahs are inbred, and it has worsened their health and reproduction. To make matters worse, modern cheetahs do their very best to prevent scientists from saving them.

In order to rescue the species, scientists have genotyped cheetahs in captivity to determine the least related individuals to hopefully breed them. The problem is that cheetahs, whether related or not, have no game. Attempts to breed suitable individuals fail more often than they succeed, due to captive cheetah females keeping odd ovulation cycles and all captive cheetahs feeling too stressed to properly mate.

It’s funny to think of the cheetah as this kind of animal. We’re used to seeing these animals run at lightning speeds, hunting down their prey like top predators. But the cheetah goes to show you what humans can do to a once-mighty predator.

6 Kakapos

If you’ve never heard of a kakapo, that makes sense. There are only about 200 kakapos, or owl parrots, alive today. You can only find them on two small islands off the coast of New Zealand. The reason for their lack of success, aside from the obvious human activity, is that kakapos are too sweet, too dumb, and too defenseless.

Their primary means of defense is sitting still and hoping that they’re green enough to be invisible, which did not serve them well when encountering humans and their hunting dogs. They’re also painfully slow to breed and are just as painfully prone to attempting sex with non-kakapos. Anything even vaguely round and kakapo-sized is a target for misguided males, much to the chagrin of the few remaining female kakapos.

5 Hymenopterans

Hymenoptera is the order of insects that includes ants, bees, and wasps. That means that this order has produced countless billions of individuals born to be expendable workers and die young.

Of any order, Hymenoptera contains the most examples of eusociality: the type of advanced, caste-based colony structure bees and ants are known for. These societies split members into reproducing queens (and related roles) and non-reproducing workers. Workers have no hope of reproduction, existing only to support the other caste(s), perform menial tasks, and die—sooner rather than later. 

Though all colony members are obsessively dedicated to the survival of the chosen few, the vast majority of members have little to no concern for their own mortality.

4 Pandas

But really: could you not include panda bears on a list of most self-destructive animals? The silly ol’ bears don’t have much to brag about when it comes to survival.

Pandas are descended from more traditionally carnivorous bears, and as a result, their guts are not properly equipped for their current bamboo-only diets. That forces them to spend nearly all of their time eating and digesting, both are which are usually done sitting to save energy. On top of their sedentary lifestyle, pandas are the poster children for terrible breeders. 

The odds of any two individuals both wanting to breed is astronomically low, and on the rare occasions in which they can be persuaded, panda mothers have a quirky habit of randomly killing their new cubs. Some animals simply do not want to be saved.

3 Octopuses

Unlike many of the dud entries on this list, octopuses (not octopi) have a lot going for them; they’re some of the smartest animals on the planet, can regenerate limbs, and are masters of disguise. The problem with octopuses is that they have evolved one of the worst reproductive cycles in history.

Male octopuses use one of their arms as a makeshift penis, using it to insert sperm into the female’s siphon—the hole that ejects water and provides locomotion. This makes the female relatively powerless, but she has her revenge when the male, after injection, loses his mind and dies. Like a freaky, alien Romeo and Juliet, the female then dies as well, slowly starving to death after laying her eggs. Octopuses possess an incredible dedication to copulation, but terrible survival instincts.

2 Sloths

You knew it was coming eventually. Sloths are so bad at life that they were named after a sin. Imagine if you knew someone named Gluttony; you’d be right in assuming they’re not exactly crushing it at life. But sloths don’t make this list for being slow, nor for being dirty, not even for taking a half-hour to belly-crawl across the road. No, sloths make the list for the way that they poop.

For a reason still unknown to ecologists, sloths don’t just drop their poop from the treetop as most arboreal species do. Instead, they slowly climb down to the forest floor, dig a little hole, poop, and cover it up somewhat. The process is—of course—slow and leaves sloths open both to falls and to predators. Understandably, sloths are often picked off by other animals during their ill-advised bathroom journeys, making sloths an instinctual loser.

1 Killdeer

Killdeer are a type of wading bird native to North and South America. They earn the top on this list in a surprisingly straightforward way: adult killdeer are constantly trying to kill themselves.

The suicidal behavior of killdeer has a purpose, at least. It stems as a result of parents trying to protect their hatchlings. But that doesn’t make it any less fatal. 

One tactic mother killdeer will use upon spotting predators is the “broken-wing display.” Talk about taking a bullet for your kids. The mother will feign a broken wing in order to be chased themselves rather than their children. This, of course, often leads to their death. Another strategy killdeer will employ is the “ungulate display,” in which the bird lowers its head and charges predators, often accomplishing nothing except one killdeer being…uh, killed.

The human body is a weird and wonderful thing. Sometimes we seem soft and malleable compared to all the other creatures in the world. We’re not well designed for life in the wild, and our young can’t take care of themselves for years, compared to some animals which can be up and running around within hours of being born. Despite our apparent fragility, every once in a while comes a human who can survive against amazing odds…

10. The Drunken Baker on the Titanic

Charles Joughin was the Chief Baker aboard the Titanic. As the ship sank and around 1,500 people drowned, Joughin joined them in the water and simply swam around until the morning when he was pulled out alive and well. This prompted many people to wonder how he survived in the exact same conditions which cause so many others to perish.

As it happens, the secret to Joughin’s survival was that he was fully expecting to not survive. So, in honor of his impending demise, he drank like a fish. Not sea water, mind you, but alcohol.

It was a baffling mix of circumstances that kept the man alive. Normally, alcohol would make you more susceptible to hypothermia. However, in life-threatening situations alcohol has another unique effect on the human body. It basically makes you ignore the physical danger you’re in. 

Evidence has shown that victims of serious trauma, things like stab wounds and gunshots, are more likely to survive the drunker they are. Likewise, if you go to a hospital in the freezing cold, you’re better suited to handle the effects on your body if you’re smashed.

So, as the Titanic was going down, Joughin sent his staff out to stock the lifeboats with food to keep people alive. He then forced people onto the lifeboats who were hesitant about going, neglecting his own safety to ensure that he saved as many people as possible.

As those left on the boat began to panic the closer they got to submerging, Joughin kept a cool head and continued to drink. When water rushed around his feet, he started throwing deckchairs overboard so at least people would have temporary flotation devices. And then he went back to his cabin and got another drink. 

Word is he was on the stern of the boat when it actually broke in half. He apparently made his way to the stern rail and just rode the sinking ship down into the ocean. 

Once in the ocean it was cold shock that killed many of the initial victims, reacting to the intense shift in temperature and either drowning in a panic or causing a quick loss of body temperature. Joughin just swam around a little and mostly decided to tread water. The alcohol in his system didn’t make it warmer, but it did make him face it more calmly, and that likely kept him alive.

9. 9/11 Survivor

No one needs to be told what a catastrophic tragedy the events of September 11, 2001 were. And while we all know the tragic loss of life that occurred that day, what few people have heard of are the stories of those who survived against all odds in those incredible circumstances.

One such survivor was Pasquale Buzzelli, a 34-year-old structural engineer. He had an office on the 64th floor of the North Tower where he was working at 10 a.m. on September 11. He tried to evacuate along with the others but only reached the 22nd floor of the building when it began to shake and the stairs moved underneath him. He could hear things crashing to the ground above his head and ducked into a corner hoping for the best.

The walls literally fell on top of him and he experienced the sensation of falling. Remember, he’s on the 22nd floor of the North Tower at this point. The next thing he remembered, it was two hours later and he was on a giant slab of concrete, 180 feet lower than where he started. 

There was smoke, dust, and fire all around, but he was alive. His leg hurt, alerting him to the fact that somehow he was not dead yet. He used his shirt as a mask and started calling for help. A nearby firefighter heard him. 

Rescuers pulled him from the fire and debris and incredibly he only suffered a fractured foot. The emotional damage was worse; it took longer to deal with, but his amazing story of survival was rare indeed, as he was one of only 42 people we know of who survived the collapse. 

8. Louis Zamperini

If you don’t know the name of Louis Zamperini, you should. He’s one of the closest things we have to a real life superhero. The man’s life story is so unbelievable that if someone like Tom Hardy played him in a biopic, you’d assume the whole thing was made up. (His life was, in fact, turned into a movie but he was played by an actor named Jack O’Connell. The movie was called Unbroken, directed by Angelina Jolie.)

Known for being a bit of a troublemaker in his youth and apparently the leader of a children’s criminal empire in his early years, he straightened himself out by the time he was in high school to become one of California’s best student-athletes. He was the youngest distance runner to ever make the Olympic team.

It’s his service in the war that makes him stand out as a bit of an action star. Serving as a B-24 bombardier during the Second World War, his plane nearly ran out of fuel on one run and just barely made it back to the Midway Atoll. Later his B-24 was shot up by Japanese Zeros, which killed most of the crew but the rest, including Zamperini, made it back to base alive despite the 600 bullet and shrapnel holes in the plane.

In 1943, Zamperini’s luck ran out as his plane went down over the Pacific. Three of the 11 crew members survived; Zamperini, along with the pilot and the tail gunner. He was lost at sea for 47 days but still managed to survive, even after being strafed by Zero pilots who saw the men afloat.

After drifting for an absolutely mind-boggling 2,000 miles, the Japanese Navy found the castaways and he became a POW. He was held for two years and suffered numerous tortures before being released. Later in life he even wrote a letter forgiving his former torturers for what they did. 

7. Brian Udell Survived a Supersonic Ejection

If you’ve never heard of Brian Udell then you’re missing one of the most incredible survival stories ever. Udell is the only person in the world to ever survive a supersonic ejection from a jet. That means he was traveling faster than the speed of sound when he ejected from the craft. 

Udell was traveling at nearly 800 miles per hour when a computer malfunction rendered the plane’s avionics useless. They were in a 60 degree right turn at the time things went wrong, and the jet was headed straight for the ocean at supersonic speeds.

At 10,000 feet, Udell gave the order to eject. The handle was pulled at 6,000 feet. Co-pilot  Dennis White ejected at 3,000 feet. Udell ejected at 1,500 feet. The force was so intense it pulled his helmet and mask right off of his head. His parachute deployed at 500 feet.

White died immediately upon ejection, but Udell survived – albeit with incredible injuries. Doctors told him he’d likely never even walk again. He did prove them wrong, and within six months he was up on his feet. In 10 months he was flying missions again.

6. The First Man on the Beaches of Normandy

When US soldiers stormed the beach at Normandy it must have been an utterly chaotic scene. Many filmmakers have tried to recreate that moment in the years since, notably the incredibly violent and dramatic opening scene from the movie Saving Private Ryan. But to have been there in real life would have been absolutely terrifying for each and every one of those soldiers who still pushed on.

One thing that many people probably don’t think about all that much is how, in the midst of all that chaos, one man had to be the first. One soldier had to be the first to set foot on that beach. His name was Leonard Schroeder. On D-Day 1944, Captain Schroeder was the first American soldier to set foot on the beaches of Normandy.

Leading his company onto Utah Beach, Schroeder was shot twice. Despite his injuries, he took his men inland several miles and then passed out from blood loss.

Schroeder never planned to be the first on the beach, and he didn’t really revel in the attention that he got for it later in life. But the fact is he did have a later in life to speak of. He survived the war, returned home, and lived all the way to age 90.

5. Adrian Carton de Wiart

Any time they call a person unkillable you know there has to be a good story behind it. That was the case with Adrian Carton de Wiart. With only one eye and one hand, de Wiart was in the Boer War, the First World War, and the Second World War. For his troubles he was shot in the face, through the skull, in the hip, in the leg, in the ankle, and in the ear. He survived it all.

In the First World War alone, de Wiart was severely wounded eight times. This was after his stint in the Boer War, when he was shot in the stomach and the groin. When he only had one good hand to use, he held grenades in it and used his teeth to pull the pins out. An artillery barrage had ruined the appendage and the doctor refused to amputate his fingers, so he tore them off himself.

In the Second World War he was shot down over the Mediterranean. He swam to shore and was captured by the Italians. He was in his 60s at this time and escaped his POW camp on numerous occasions despite being elderly, one-handed, and having only one eye. After the war, he served as Winston Churchill’s personal representative in China, and eventually died peacefully at age 83.

4. Alexander Selkirk

The story of Robinson Crusoe is a fantastic tale of a castaway, full of adventure. Few people know it was actually based, at least in some part, around the true story of Alexander Selkirk. The Scottish sailor was known to be a bit of a loudmouth and have problems with authority, so it might not have been too much of a surprise when he got into a fight with his captain in the year 1704, telling the younger man to just leave him on a nearby island.

The captain obliged and Selkirk was given the old heave-ho. On the island he had access to plenty of food in the form of feral goats, as well as wild turnips and other plants. Armies of rats would attack him at night and apparently he managed to domesticate a number of feral cats to keep himself safe from them.

Adapting to life as a castaway, he forged a knife out of barrel hoops and built two huts for himself, one for cooking and one for sleeping. At one point while chasing a goat for food he fell off a cliff and would have died if not for the fact he actually landed on the goat.

Selkirk was nearly captured twice by Spanish sailors who surely would have killed him since he was a Scottish privateer. He managed to hide in a tree while his pursuers actually peed on it, not noticing he was in it. It wasn’t until the year 1709, over four years after he had been left on the island, that he was rescued.

3. The Robertson Family

Usually when it comes to surviving at sea you’ll hear the tale of one incredible person who perseveres when it seems like all hope would be lost. And then there’s the story of the Robertson family, all of whom survived for 38 days in a 9-foot dinghy before being rescued.

In 1971, the Robertson family – which consisted of Dougal and Lyn, plus their children Douglas, Sandy and Neil, along with a friend named Robin – planned to sail around the world. Things went bad 200 miles from the Galapagos Islands when a pod of killer whales capsized the boat.

The family took refuge in a life raft that deflated after 17 days before getting into the small dinghy. They had enough food for 10 days which consisted of a bag of onions, a tin of biscuits, 10 oranges, six lemons, and a half a pound of candy. And the water was full of sharks.

The family survived for 38 days at sea in part because of the incredibly industrious thinking of Lyn Robertson. A nurse by trade, Lyn knew that drinking sea water was a death sentence for everyone. The family had also been trying to stay alive by drinking the blood from captured sea turtles. But it wasn’t enough. So, Lyn came up with a novel, if incredible, solution.

Using repurposed rungs from a ladder, Lyn created makeshift enema tubes. The water from the bottom of the dinghy, which was a mix of rain water, blood, and turtle guts would likely have killed anyone trying to drink it. But if you took it as an enema you could still absorb the water without digesting any of the dangerous elements. So that’s what they did.

By the time a Japanese fishing boat rescued them, no one had urinated for 20 days and their tongues were so swollen that they couldn’t even speak.

2. The Tree of Life

Amazing survival is not just limited to humans. Every so often, nature pulls an amazing trick out from its hat, such as the case of the Tree of Life in Bahrain. This tree is thought to have been planted in 1582 and it sits atop a sandy hill at Bahrain’s highest point. All around the green and healthy looking tree is an arid desert. There is no water supply anywhere within sight, and there doesn’t seem to be any water supply underground, either.

Obviously, the tree is getting water from somewhere, and it’s believed that the tree has incredibly deep roots which extend a great distance into the Earth to a depth of about fifty meters. Of course, some people say that the tree was planted at the site of the Garden of Eden, and that’s why it’s still alive. 

1. Ernest Hemingway

Most people associate Ernest Hemingway with the image of a man’s man. He was a writer, sure, but he was also a larger-than-life character as well. And throughout the course of his real life, he faced enough near-death experiences to pad out any fictitious tale beyond belief.

In the First World War he was an ambulance driver with the Red Cross. An Austrian mortar nearly killed him, ultimately leaving him with an aluminum kneecap and 237 pieces of shrapnel, by his account.

Later, he nearly killed himself by shooting the calves of both legs while attempting to wrestle a shark off of Key West. But arguably his most famous brushes with death came from not one, but two separate plane crashes that he managed to walk away from. And they happened in the span of two days.

While on Safari in Africa 1954, the pilot of Hemingway’s Cessna crashed after trying to avoid a flock of birds. He, his wife, and the pilot spent the night in the jungle and then the next day got on another plane, which promptly crashed and caught fire.

Hemingway was initially reported as having died in the crash, but then sometime later walked out of the jungle with a bunch of bananas and a bottle of gin.

In our day-to-day lives, we take a lot for granted. But things can change from one moment to the next. How we cope with a survival situation depends on many factors, including your age, fitness level, and location. Above all, the most crucial component is your readiness.

Each survival situation is different. Maybe the difficulty you’re facing is short-term, and you expect things to return to normal soon. Here, we are thinking of events such as getting lost in the backcountry, a flood, or a hurricane. Other events could be long-lasting, like a war or the zombie apocalypse, for example.

Your strategy will be different if you live in the inner city or a rural area. My instinct would be to leave the city (hello, have you seen the Walking Dead?), but the city might be the first place to receive help. Much depends on your personal circumstances, but you should always consider what you would do in a survival situation and how you can best ensure the safety of your loved ones.

Preparing a 72-hour kit or at least a go-bag can be the difference between a survival situation and just a situation. You don’t have to go all out and spend crazy amounts of money to be prepared unless you’re into that. In fact, you just need to gather some things you probably have lying around the house. Here are the ten best everyday items you need for survival situations.

10 Swiss Army Knife

Arguably still, the best multi-purpose tool on the market is the Swiss Army knife. These bad boys have been around for over 130 years, and they just keep getting better. Some elaborate models have an attachment for just about everything you might need, like a can opener or tweezers.

Swiss Army Knife knives are not cheap, but they are top-quality. It’s a good idea to keep at least two of these knives separately so that you always have a backup if you lose one.

Swiss Army knives can do just about anything, from starting a fire and building a stove to sawing small logs to building a makeshift loader and notching wood to construct a shelter. These pocket knives aren’t just Swiss; they’re salvation. Along with the Swiss Army knife, you might also want to consider adding a small ax or hatchet to your bag. Cause you never know…

9 First Aid Kit

Hopefully, you won’t need it, but a basic first aid kit is always a good idea. Make sure that your kit includes sterile wipes for cleaning wounds and your hands before treating injuries. You should also include iodine and pure alcohol. Include bandages, gauze wrap, bandaids, and plenty of aspirin, to reduce fever and swelling. Consider tossing in some insect-repellant for good measure.

If you dip into your first aid kit for everyday use, ensure you replenish what you’ve taken out. Check that your first aid kit is ready for use regularly, and tuck it back in its place for easy grab-n-go access.

8 Waterproof Matches or Lighter

In many survival situations, there will come a time you need to light your wood-burning stove or start a fire for warmth and even light your way when every other resource runs dry. A fire might be necessary for signaling your position. In that case, gather any spare lighters around your house to include in your survival kit. If you can, seek out some waterproof matches. You can easily make your own if you can’t find them at a local store.

Amazon and other camping stores like REI and even Walmart have great options. Even lighters with a reusable wick! Another option is to procure a flint and steel kit for starting fires. These are inexpensive but can be a bit finicky for beginners.

Better yet, if you have any crayons lying around, toss those into your kit! Crayons are made of wax and can burn for up to 30 minutes. That’s way better than a measly match!

7 Food and Water

People expecting an existential survival event squirrel away enough food to last a while. This may not be the case in your situation, but even so, you should ensure that you have enough food and water for at least 72 hours. A lost or injured hiker will need supplies to last until rescue comes, and if you can’t leave your house, you’ll need the fuel to stay put.

While you can last for days without food, it’s best to have a cache of nonperishable, high-energy foods such as trail mix, oatmeal, and fruit leathers (fruit rolls). Include some camomile tea bags which can help you relax and has various medicinal properties.

Water is another matter. Don’t worry about packing it. It’s too heavy. Instead, you’ll need chemical sterilizers, a water pump, or a small pot for boiling. Preferably all three, but we’re not picky. Hopefully, you will be able to find a water source such as a stream. If you do, go as far upstream as possible and check the water for contaminants (a dead animal just around the bend from you might pollute the water beyond any treatment.) Let the water boil for at least a minute but boil it for as long as five if you’re worried about its purity. If you’re at home, fill the tub with water and use the same treatment process before sipping.

6 Sturdy Footwear

As any hiker knows, good-quality boots are fundamentally important. Buy a pair that allow your feet some space. If your boots are too tight, you are almost certain to get blistered feet. After buying new boots, wear them around the house or on errands for a few days. This will allow your feet to get used to your new footwear.

Can’t afford boots or simply don’t have any? No problem. At least, for the love of Moses, find a pair of closed-toed shoes. There’s no worse feeling than showing up to a party, and you’re underdressed. Imagine that in a survival situation but about a thousand times worse.

If a year or so has gone by and you haven’t worn those old Nikes in your closet, they just found a new home in your survival kit. Be prepared to outrun everybody when the zombies set in.

5 Sleeping Bag

Your sleeping bag should be light, roomy, and waterproof. Keep your survival kit as light as possible. Don’t weigh down your pack with the softest, comfiest, thickest material. Though, many camping and survivalist brands offer functionality without sacrificing a ton of comfort.

Attach your sleeping bag to the outside of your pack. If you can, roll it up with a thin mattress pad. You can also forgo a mattress pad and transform the hard ground using a mat of grass. If you are expecting a serious survival event, it’s a good idea to have your rucksack ready-packed so you can leave at a moment’s notice.

For kiddos, ensure they still fit their sleeping bag about every six months.

4 Stove

It’s a good idea to use a wood-burning stove. Gas canisters will only last a few hours and are heavy to tote around if you’re on foot. Wood-burning stoves allow you to cook your meals using any scrap wood that you find around.

If you are in the open, look for wood in a sheltered place as it will be drier. Collect wood early in the day and leave it in an exposed place to dry out. Set up your stove on a level surface in a sheltered spot.

3 Analog Watch, Compass, and Maps

It’s never a good idea to rely on a smartphone’s GPS when you are out in the wild. In a survival situation, you might find that coverage is patchy or non-existent. And, sooner or later, you will have to recharge your phone’s battery. You might think that including an analog watch on this list is a little curious, as knowing the time will probably not be among your most pressing concerns. However, you can use an analog watch as a compass if you don’t have a real compass.

A detailed map of your area could be very important. The 1:24000 scale maps produced by the United States Geological Survey are the best for residents in the United States. Other countries have equivalent maps (Ordnance Survey maps in the UK, for example). A good map will allow you to work out where you are and the best way to get from A to B. It will also help you to find important resources such as rivers, ponds, and streams.

On YouTube, many videos will show you how to read and use a map. It might be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the skills needed if you don’t have any map experience.

2 Waterproofs

Good protective clothing will save you a lot of discomfort. You can buy light, high-quality rain gear at a reasonable price. In general, you should always keep your clothing as dry as possible. If you have to walk, ensure your socks are always dry. Change them if they are damp. Wet socks will cause blisters. Dry out clothing overnight next to your campfire, or lay clothes out in the sun during the day.

Clean out your closet for old but still in good condition articles of clothing like a pair of jeans, long and short sleeve shirts, a beanie, hat, gloves, and jackets. You’ll need at least one of each.

Remember: this is about survival. No one will judge your Smurfs t-shirt when someone’s leg needs to be amputated.

1 Rucksack

There is a wide range of rucksacks on the market at every price level. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a rucksack. Get one that is light, comfortable, and waterproof. A backpack is also a great alternative. Just don’t use a tote bag, purse, or suitcase. You’ll want your hands free and will be able to wear the pack for long periods.

And that’s it! Pack your bag with the above essentials in advance. If it’s ready, and you’ll want it to be ready, you can grab it and go, you little apocalypse-surviving nerd.

Silicon Valley centillionaires and billionaires, the new feudal lords, are apparently big time preppers. It’s understandable. They enjoy the spoils of their deal with the work machine and want to save what they can of the high life. Of course, with all that clout they could save the whole world.

But no, here’s how they plan to leave us, and their dignity, to perish. 

10. Larry Page’s desert island hideout

One of many tech titans frightened of dying is Google co-founder Larry Page. His Calico Labs is hard at work on a quixotic fight against death. In the meantime, though, he still has to weather the storm. 

His survival plan, at least in the case of a pandemic, is to hide on his island in Fiji. That’s what he did during COVID-19. Under the pretext of delivering medical supplies – and by virtue of being a billionaire – he was allowed to enter the isolated (and therefore otherwise safe) country when it was closed to everyone else, flying in on his jet from Hawaii. 

Understandably, he tried to keep it a secret by getting the state-owned media to pull their story on the visit, as well as hiding all traces on Google. But no amount of influence could silence a disgruntled sailor, who spilled the beans to the rest of the world.

9. Marvin Liao’s medieval armory

Citing the example of Ukraine, tech investor Marvin Liao says there’s always a conqueror at the gate. He also worries about a pandemic and the impending financial collapse. But he’s prepared. Apparently, he’s “amassed an arsenal of non-firearm weapons and taken archery classes” so he won’t have to rely on ammunition. 

He also insists on martial arts, knife fighting, and fitness in general. Being able to run without getting winded is vital, he says. But so is financial freedom. Like Jesse Eisenberg in Zombieland, Liao has a number of slogans that he hopes will keep him alive. “Physically Fit & Financially Lit” is one. There’s also “Don’t Be Sorry, Be Better” and, encouragingly for a centillionaire survivalist, “No (wo)Man is an Island,” 

Liao is, unlike many on this list, a believer in banding together – at least in a fight post-apocalypse. “There is power in the collective,” he notes, “and three people will almost always take out one … no matter how well trained they are.”

8. Sam Altman’s “manifest destiny”

Sam Altman, the centillionaire head of OpenAI (the company responsible for the monstrous GPT-3 chatbot), has been a proud prepper for a years. He told The New York Times back in 2016 that he was stockpiling “guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur.” 

Another article – entitled “Sam Altman’s manifest destiny” – describes “his utter lack of interest in ineffective people, which unfortunately includes most of us.” It also lists some of the scenarios he’s prepared for: homicidal AI; nuclear war over resources; and the release of a synthetic virus.

Societal collapse is another one. When that happens he’ll flee to New Zealand with his friend Peter Thiel.

7. Peter Thiel’s New Zealand eyesore

“Yanks, get this in your heads. Aotearoa NZ is not your little last resort safe haven,” said a post on the prepper website the Modern Survivalist. It’s a growing sentiment in New Zealand. The island nation’s self-sufficiency, temperate climate, lack of enemies, and arable terrain endear it to anxious Americans. That it’s also where The Lord of the Rings was shot is a bonus for Peter Thiel, who named his companies after the trilogy. 

An investor in anti-ageing and cryogenics research, Thiel is afraid of dying – which is pretty understandable given his belief in Hell. Not only does he want to vampirize children, he supports authoritarianism and hoped Trump would become a dictator. He also bankrupted Gawker for outing him. He is, as the Guardian put it, the “human emblem of the moral vortex at the centre of the market.”

Naturally, he wants to keep going. So he lied and bribed his way into New Zealand and bought a city-sized chunk of the South Island. When the story broke in the press, locals were scandalized. Despite Thiel’s promises to invest in the country, they all knew what he was there for: to survive the collapse of Western civilization. Fortunately, his plans for a fortress – which included a spa and theater – were deemed an “eyesore” by Kiwis and rejected.

6. Bill Gates’s crawlspace hideyholes

Bill Gates is, as Ice Cube said, a “bunker bitch.” He’s among the many panicked rich Americans flocking to companies like Vivos – specialists in taking money from billionaires in exchange for apocalypse bunkers. According to Vivos founder Robert Vicino, “Gates has huge shelters under every one of his homes, in Rancho Santa Fe and Washington.”

He joins the ranks of other many narcissists – bankers, movie stars, athletes – who, according to The Hollywood Reporter, are shelling out millions for protection. They’re not just worried about World War III, though; what they really want to hide from is us. Among their chief concerns are the riots arising from economic collapse. This tells us all we need to know about their sense of civic duty – as well as their outlook for the future. The CFO of Ultimate Bunker, another elite survival firm, said “everyone [in these circles] thinks we are doomed, no matter who is elected.”

But really they’re doomed no matter how much they spend. Bunkers aren’t magic. All it would take is a hungry mob of veteran marines with high-level bunker-busting skills.

5. Mark Zuckerberg’s re-colonization of Kauai

Mark Zuckerberg’s proud of his Kauai estate but he doesn’t want you knowing how he got it. It wasn’t always 750 acres. The original lot was apparently too small for his ironic obsession with privacy, so he forced his neighbors to sell – just as he had before in San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Lake Tahoe. Except this time his “neighbors” were native Hawaiians and their lots were kuleana land promised by colonists in the past. Those who resisted Zuckerberg’s land grab were sued. And, adding insult to injury, his land encompassed burial sites – forcing locals to ask permission to visit.

He said he wants to “plant roots” here, but some think that just means building a bolthole “in case society collapses.” He clearly doesn’t care about friending the locals; he’s built walls around his land and surrounds himself with henchmen.

He’s also done significantly less than nothing for the island’s many unsheltered people.

4. Larry Ellison’s super secret master plan

Larry Ellison is – according to Bob Sutton, author of The No A**hole Rule – “25 to 30 times more a**holy” than Steve Jobs. Not only has the aging software billionaire been a political megadonor, he’s also conquered an entire Hawaiian island for himself. His personal mantra, which he stole from Genghis Khan, is: “It is not sufficient that I succeed—all others must fail.”

For just $300 million of his hundred-plus billions, he bought 98% of the 90,000-acre Lanai. As for the people who lived there, in true colonial fashion he pretty much enslaved them overnight – becoming everyone’s boss, landlord (on strictly 30-day leases), or both. But that isn’t the point. Since the start of COVID-19, when he moved to the island himself, changes have been gathering pace. These include Lanai’s first “longevity spa”. 

Ellison claims to be working toward sustainability, but the locals call waha (“bullsh**”) on that. So far, he’s done nothing for the wildlife and ecology. There is, however, some indication that he wants to make the island self-sufficient. He’s got scientists tracking rainfall and plans for a desalination plant and hydroponic farm. They won’t be for the island’s rightful owners, though. Secret visits from the likes of Tom Cruise and Benjamin Netanyahu suggest Ellison’s building a refuge for the rich. We may never know. As Bloomberg notes, Ellison “hasn’t offered the public many details of his master plan.” 

3. Elon Musk’s mad dash for Mars

Elon Musk is worried about everything: climate change, artificial intelligence, population collapse, WWIII… So it should come as no surprise that, of all the (rational) doomsday contingency plans on this list, his is the most ambitious: Migrating into space via Mars.

To be fair to the billionaire, he’s not just trying to save himself – he’s trying to save the species. In fact, he plans to land one million humans on the Red Planet, 100 per ship, within decades. He even plans to bring the cost down, from $10 billion to $200,000 a ticket. And while this is still too much for most to afford, he denies it’s an “escape hatch for rich people.” There’s a “good chance you’ll die” on a mission to Mars, he says, but “excitement for those who … survive.”

Among other things, he envisions “pizza joints,” “great bars,” and, with 38% the gravity of Earth, the illusion of super strength. “Mars is gonna be a great place to go,” he says, “the planet of opportunity.” Veteran astronauts disagree. Stanley Love, who’s spent over 300 hours in space and lived on a base in Antarctica, insists that life on Mars would be “horrible.” Everything would have to be rationed. People would get claustrophobic. And the low Martian gravity would also decrease their muscle mass and bone density, making colonists weaker and more prone to fractures. Even if they did find their way back to Earth, they wouldn’t return to their lives.

2. Jeff Bezos’s outer space pipe dream

Like many billionaires, especially in tech, Jeff Bezos is big into life extension. One of his major investments since stepping down as Amazon’s CEO in 2021 was Altos Labs – a(nother) longevity research lab. He seems to be obsessed with time running out, having also dumped millions on a “10,000-year clock” inside a mountain (which some suspect is a doomsday clock).

But, like Elon Musk, he hopes to save the planet – not just himself. Expecting humans to drain every last viable energy source on Earth within the next couple of centuries, Bezos intends to shoot us into space. In a mad speech based on the ideas of physicist Gerard K. O’Neill, he envisioned settlements aboard cylinders spinning through the solar system. Each colony (of the millions he dreams of) would be built by robots with materials from the Moon and shot into space by a catapult. They’d be miles on end to house a million people each and have alternating stripes of land and window – as well as mirrors and solar panels for energy. Different colonies could have their own themes and functions, he said, such as replicas of ancient cities, wilderness areas, zero G recreational colonies, and so on.

Fortunately, the obstacles are many (technology, cost, social organization, etc.); because the ultimate problem is Bezos himself. His own contributions to climate change and individualist consumerism aside, his treatment of workers as Amazon’s CEO suggests he doesn’t really care about people. In fact, there’s good reason to think his “colonies” will be no more than glorified prisons – or “captive labor towns in space” as NBC put it. 

1. Dmitry Itskov’s escape into the Matrix

Dmitry Itskov, “the “godfather” of the Russian Internet,” wants to celebrate his 10,000th birthday. Needless to say, the odds are stacked against him. As his manifesto says, “civilization stands on the threshold of a series of global crises … threatening the environment where human beings live, and their existence as a species.” His solution, however, is not as you might expect to follow Musk and Bezos into space; it’s to jettison his body instead.

By 2045, he hopes to transition to a holographic nanobot avatar – or at least to a life in the metaverse. This will of course be a gradual process. For example, he thinks we’ll see the first generation of basic robot avatars deployed in dangerous environments (for example by the emergency services, miners, etc.). Then they’ll be used as replacement bodies for the physically disabled (paraplegics, the terminally ill, etc.). According to Itskov’s schedule, we should be at this stage by 2025. Next would be the transfer of individual consciousness to these bodies. In other words, by 2035 if we get back on schedule, everyone would have “the possibility of cybernetic immortality.” In the decade after that we’ll effectively become a new species, with “bodies consisting of nanorobots … and capable of taking any form.”

Clearly Itskov’s a bit behind schedule, so the emphasis now is on the metaverse – or eternal life in the Matrix.