All language subtitles for The UnXplained Special Presentation S01E02 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

WILLIAM SHATNER:
A horrific plane crash,

deep in the jungle.

A struggle for survival

in freezing water.

And a daring escape
from a submarine that sank

to the bottom of the ocean.

How are some people
able to cheat death?

Is it just a matter
of dumb luck?

Or do we all have
powerful survival instincts

locked within us that come alive
when we need them the most?

Can the harrowing
stories of individuals

who looked death in the eye,
and lived to tell the tale,

give us clues about
how to dodge our own demise?

Well, that is
what we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

SHATNER: Banker
Annette Herfkens, her fiancé,

and 29 other passengers
board a small plane

and head to the coastal town
of Nha Trang for a vacation.

But what is supposed to be
a short, routine flight...

...is about to turn
into a nightmare.

When I saw the plane,
I didn't want to enter it

because it was awfully small.

I've, I am very claustrophobic

and I said, "There's no way
I'm entering that plane.

I'm not going to go in there.
It looks old, but mostly small."

And my fiancé said,
"Well, don't worry,

you have to,
it's only 55 minutes,"

and "Do it for us because I have
this beautiful vacation planned

"and I knew you were gonna

speak up about it
but please, please do it."

And then we entered it
from the back of the plane.

So we sat down, we were told
to buckle our seat belts.

And they were going across

and then, I was
restrained enough as it is,

and I did not buckle
my seat belt.

And the flight took off.

For the next 30 minutes,

I just kept
counting the minutes,

and the 50th minute,
there was a gigantic drop

and people were screaming,

and my fiancé
looked at me and said,

"Well, this I don't like."

And then another drop.

More people screaming.

He reached for my hand
and I reached for his

and then everything went black.

I woke up to this
eerie sound of the jungle.

(birds chittering)

The plane broke in three pieces,

the wings, the fuselage,
and the cockpit.

Then I looked at my left

and there I saw my fiancé
still strapped in his seat.

He was dead.

SHATNER:
In shock,

grief-stricken, and with her
legs and hips broken,

Annette painfully pulls herself
out of the wreckage...

...only to find that every
passenger on board has perished.

Except her.

It all seems impossible.

In this plane crash,
Annette was the only survivor.

Of 31 people, she's
the only one that survived.

Did it have to do
with just the randomness

of her being in the right seat,

that hit the ground
in just the right place

that had just the right
structural integrity

based on how they crashed?

Or could it be something else?

JEFF WISE:
When we hear
stories of survival,

we sort of imagine,
can I learn from that?

Could I do that?

And many times we can't.

Maybe they're lucky

or maybe there's just
some X factor

that we'll never really
get our heads around.

THOMAS COYNE:
We know the safest places
to sit on a plane,

and we know, generally,
our seat belts will save us

in the event of a crash.

But this was the one instance

where the seat belt
not being attached saved her.

Who could have predicted that?

There's too many
variables at play.

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
Miles from civilization,
injured and alone,

Annette finds herself
in an unbearable predicament.

But somehow, from somewhere
deep inside her,

she finds a way to survive.

I felt this enormous
energy lifting me up.

I would just be quiet...

...and listen to my instincts,
just make it complete quiet.

You breathe out all the way...

...and then you listen
to this other voice

we all carry inside of us.

(birds chirping)

I completely felt
that things will work out.

What's interesting to me
about this case

is that Annette
attributes her survival

to hearing
this mysterious voice.

I can only imagine
what that must've been like.

The plane has crashed
in the Vietnam jungle,

you have a broken hip,
you're surrounded by wreckage,

dead bodies,
and here you have this voice

telling you, "Don't lose hope."

I just listened to that voice
and I acted on it.

And it said, "Make a plan,

"divide it in achievable steps.

"And when you achieve
one of those steps,

congratulate yourself."

That's exactly what I did.

I realized that I was
gonna need some water.

So I looked
at the wing of the plane,

insolation material,
some kind of foam.

So I figured
that could work as a sponge.

And then
I made seven little bowls

and I lined them up
for it to rain.

And then it rained
and it poured.

Then I was very happy
to see these little bowls

filling up with water.

Tasted like the best champagne
as you can imagine.

She was able to survive
the plane crash,

but maybe what was
even more remarkable is

that she was able to survive
eight days in the jungle...

...with no prior jungle
training or experience,

and no conditioning
to be in the jungle.

Of course,
being the only survivor,

it's an incredible story,
but then the survival happens

because you hear a voice
directing you through it.

It just shows
how we know very little

about what happens

in these kind of encounters
and situations.

On the afternoon
on the eighth day,

out of nowhere...

...men came up the mountain...

Hey, there it is!

HERFKENS:
...and they showed me
a passenger list

and I had to point out my name.

I just realized
how amazing it was

that they actually found me.

SHATNER:
It may have been random chance

that allowed Annette to live
through the horrific crash.

But what was
the so-called "voice"

that gave her the guidance
she needed to survive?

TAYLOR:
A lot of people when they get
into dangerous situations

they'll say that they had
a voice tell them

that they needed to do this,
they needed to do that.

We don't really know,

scientifically,
where these inner voices

that tell you to get out
of the dangerous situation

are coming from.

Is it some kind of deep-seeded
electro-biochemical force

that's innate in the brain
that suddenly gets activated?

Or is it something
that comes from outside?

Is it faith from an outside
power that brings that energy

to the person
who's in desperate need?

Whether or not you view yourself
as strong and capable,

you have the potential
to tap into these things

and get in tune
with these strengths,

with these capabilities,
whether you know it or not.

Maybe there is something
to this inner voice

telling them the right way
and maybe some people

have a better
inner voice than others.

And maybe there's just
some dumb luck involved.

It's possible that it's just

one of those
unexplained mysteries

that we're never
gonna figure out.

We all have
that voice inside of us

that we can listen to,

and in extreme situations,
it's always there to help you.

Just listen to that voice.

Be silent.
It's there, it's there.

SHATNER:
Did the mysterious voice
that guided Annette Herfkens

to safety come
from her subconscious?

Or did she hear something
that was far more mysterious?

We may never know for certain.

But perhaps further clues about

extraordinary powers of survival

lie in the story of a man
who reportedly

escaped a mile-high death trap

because of his faith in God.

SHATNER:
After ten years
of Fidel Castro's

tight-fisted Communist rule,

the island nation's economy
is in chaos.

Food shortages

and a government-mandated
seven-day work week

only serve to heighten
the Cuban people's sense

of desperation and despair.

Many attempt to flee
Castro's oppressive regime

only to be caught,
imprisoned or killed.

But for 17-year-old
Armando Socarras

the chance for freedom
and a better life

are worth the risk.

SHATNER:
The plan was indeed dangerous.

If they were caught,
it meant prison or worse.

If they weren't,
they might die trying.

But after some
careful reconnaissance,

Armando believed

that he and his friend
could pull it off.

And on the morning
of June 4, 1969,

their bold plan
would be put into action.

Iberia Flight 904 was scheduled
to depart Havana at 6:30 p.m.,

arriving in Madrid, Spain
nine hours later.

The DC-8 airplane was already
taxiing to the end of the runway

when Armando and his friend
crawled through the tall grass

bordering the runway,
ready to make a break for it.

SHATNER:
Lodged inside the wheel well

and dangerously outside

the pressurized sections
of the airplane,

Armando began falling
out of consciousness

as the air outside screamed by
at nearly 600 miles an hour.

JOHN NANCE:
Normally, the cruising altitude

on a trip as far
as Havana to Madrid,

you'd probably be up around
37,000 to 39,000 feet.

At 37,000 feet,
for somebody who has

just experienced
a rapid decompression,

your time of useful
consciousness

is as little as eight seconds.

At that altitude, you're
going to be around temperatures

that are minus 45 to
50 degrees Fahrenheit.

SHATNER:
Nine hours after
taking off in Havana,

Iberia Flight 904
landed in Madrid.

And as the captain
stood on the tarmac

saying goodbye
to his passengers,

Armando's unconscious body

fell from the wheel well
onto the ground

with a sickening thud.

SHATNER:
Incredible as it seems,
for Armando,

surviving in a mile-high
death trap was,

indeed, possible.

But how?

Medically, you're not dead
until you're warm and dead.

Armando was found
without vital signs,

he was hypothermic.

I think what happened is

because of the severe
hypothermia,

his cardiac function decreased.

The blood flow to the brain
and organs decreased.

There are reports and cases
of people being found

in the snow and ice,

frozen, without any vital signs,
that have made a full recovery.

TAYLOR:
There's a thing called
the mammalian response.

If we reach certain
cold temperatures,

our bodies shut down
instead of degrading and dying,

it just goes into hibernation.

Well, this is
what happened to Armando.

When he gets up
to the 30,000-foot atmosphere

and he has no air to breathe

or just a tiny amount of air,
he goes into hypothermia

and then when the plane lands,
his body starts to warm up

and then he comes back to.

SHATNER:
Could Armando's
amazing story of survival

really be attributed

to the act of being frozen
and then defrosted back to life?

Or might there be another,
even more profound explanation?

SHATNER:
Was Armando's
incredible survival due

to divine intervention,
as he claims?

Or is it possible
that the power of belief itself,

gave him the strength he needed
to survive, against all odds?

It would seem that the answer
is ultimately a matter of faith.

However, there are other people
who have been able to live

through freezing temperatures,
not by looking to a higher power

but by indulging in spirits
of an earthly nature.

(ship horn blows)

SHATNER: RMS Titanic sets out
on her maiden voyage,

bound for New York.

Billed as "unsinkable,"
the more than 46,000-ton vessel

offers passengers the very
latest in transatlantic comfort.

But what the men, women and
children on board don't know,

and could never suspect,

is that Titanic will not reach
its intended destination.

The Titanic had 2,208 on board,

891 of whom were crew.

The Titanic was
not just the largest

and most luxurious
ocean liner of the time

but it was also seen
as a kind of industrial miracle.

It was the largest
moving object in human history.

It was four days
into its voyage.

Very late in the evening, about
20 minutes before midnight,

the lookout spotted
a growler iceberg, in its path.

Iceberg, dead ahead, sir!

Iceberg,
dead ahead, sir.

And unfortunately,
the ship was going too fast.

-Hard a-starboard!
-Hard a-starboard.

HUGH BREWSTER:
They tried to turn the ship

but the iceberg struck
along the starboard bow...

...bashing in the riveted
steel plates

that comprised
the Titanic's hull.

The Titanic was
proclaimed unsinkable

because it had 16 so-called
watertight compartments,

except only the first forward
four compartments at the bow

and four compartments at the
stern were truly watertight.

And this was
the fatal flaw because

the iceberg breached more than
the first four compartments.

And the order was given
to man the lifeboats.

(alarm sounding)

It's endlessly repeated

that there weren't enough
lifeboats on the Titanic,

and strictly speaking,
it's true.

Every passenger
and every crew member had

a different moment
when they began to move

from complacency to concern

and finally to panic.

SHATNER:
As panic spreads across

the decks of the Titanic,
male passengers scramble

to place their wives
and children on lifeboats.

Many unfortunate souls

choose to take their chances
by jumping overboard

into the frigid waters
of the North Atlantic.

They didn't live long.

That is, with the remarkable
exception of one man--

Charles Joughin,
the ship's chief baker.

Charles Joughin was
asleep in his bunk

when the Titanic hit
the iceberg,

and where his quarters were,
were a part of the ship

that felt the collision
quite significantly.

So he sat up with a jolt...

...and realized
that there had been

a fairly serious
collision for the ship

and he went up on deck to see.

BREWSTER:
When he heard
that the order for lifeboats

had been given,

he returned to his cabin
and poured himself

a tumbler full of liquor.

And he drank
a half tumbler full.

Then he went back up on deck

and helped to supervise
the loading of lifeboats.

He helped load lifeboat ten.

After that lifeboat was loaded,
he went back to his cabin

and had another nip or two
so that he was

really quite well-lit
as it got later in the night.

RUSSELL:
At about 2:10,

passengers reported
hearing a sickening roar.

And that was
the bulkheads giving way

after this incredible stress
from the incoming ocean.

BREWSTER:
After the Titanic broke in two,

Joughin himself climbed

onto the stern railing,
not far from the flagpole.

And as the ship sank,

he rode it down
like an elevator.

The water temperature was

between minus 1
and minus 2 Celsius,

or about 28 Fahrenheit,
which is below freezing.

RUSSELL:
Joughin then jumped
or was washed overboard,

depending on
one's interpretation of it,

into the water

and eventually reached
one of the overturned lifeboats.

He claimed he was
floating in the water,

four times longer
than the maximum survival

for other passengers or crew

who hit the water
after the ship sank.

He was in the Atlantic
for a lot longer

than other survivors were.

BREWSTER:
Joughin paddled around
for a while and eventually

came across the overturned
collapsible lifeboat.

And at least 28 men
found refuge there

and survived on the back.

Joughin says he paddled up to
the lifeboat and was rebuffed.

They said, "No more men.
You'll sink us."

Of the 2,208 passengers and crew

who sailed upon the Titanic
on its maiden voyage,

only 712 survived.

1,496 perished.

SHATNER:
Among the survivors was

Charles Joughin who, after
floating in 28-degree water,

for nearly two hours,
managed to stay alive.

But how?

He should have been a candidate
to have his legs amputated.

There should have been severe
damage and there wasn't.

Joughin reached New York
in relative good health.

He went back to his career
at sea not long afterwards.

And when they asked him later,

"What do you think it was
that allowed you to survive?"

He said that the alcohol warmed
his blood and kept him alive.

But no medical science shows
that this is the case.

In fact, it's believed that
alcohol actually makes it worse

if you're encountering
a situation of hypothermia.

BREWSTER:
Experts say that when
you drink alcohol,

something called
vasodilation occurs

and the blood goes to your skin

which is why your face
turns red if you drink a lot.

So that when you actually
are plunged into cold water,

you're more susceptible
to hypothermia.

You actually would die
more quickly if you were drunk.

TAYLOR:
Alcohol is a toxin.

Perhaps it drives
your body temperature up

because your immune system
has to kick in

and start fighting off a toxin.

That's one possibility.

The other possibility is

that the alcohol in his system
just kept him calm

so that he didn't panic
and was able to survive longer

because he kept
a cool head about it.

So stories like Charles Joughin
cause us to question.

Was he different
from normal people?

How could he have survived

temperatures like that
for that long?

We don't really know
the answers to this,

and maybe we'll never know.

Did Charles Joughin possess
some unique physiology

that helped him survive

one of the darkest days
in maritime history?

Or was it liquor--
and luck-- that saved him?

The same question can be asked
of another ocean disaster,

where a sailor managed
to escape being trapped

at the bottom of the sea.

SHATNER:
As World War II rages
throughout Europe...

...British Royal Navy
submarine HMS Perseus is

patrolling the waters

off the coast of Greece.

With both German and Italian
forces occupying Greece,

and the threat
of underwater mines lurking,

it is a dangerous mission.

HMS Perseus is
a 260-foot submarine.

As she's on a mission
sailing from Malta

to Alexandria,

HMS Perseus carried
58 crew and two passengers.

SHATNER:
One of those two passengers

is a sailor by the name
of John Capes.

He had hitched a ride
aboard the submarine

so that he could return
to his home base in Alexandria,

where the Perseus
was scheduled to dock

after its mission was complete.

During the night,

the submarine comes up
to charge its batteries

so that it can operate
underwater during the day.

And they go along very slowly

keeping a very,
very sharp lookout.

SHATNER:
At approximately 10:00 p.m.,

the crew of the Perseus was
awakened by a violent explosion.

And everyone on board
scrambled for their lives.

CALYTON:
She hit a mine,

which made a big hole
in the bowels of the vessel,

so that it sank very,
very fast towards the bottom.

John Capes happened to be
in the safest place on the boat,

the place that was furthest away
from the explosion.

Capes is suddenly jolted awake.

He kind of gets
himself together,

realizes what's happened

and he goes forward
to see what he can find.

SHATNER:
With only moments to spare,
Capes has to act fast.

Fortunately,
he finds a potential lifeline

in the form
of an emergency escape suit,

which is designed to protect
sailors against the effects

of water pressure.

Exiting the submarine
at a depth of some 170 feet,

Capes and one
of the crew's sailors

desperately attempt to make
their way to the surface.

As if surviving both

the explosion and death
by drowning weren't enough,

the tremendous weight of
the water leaves them vulnerable

to a potentially fatal condition

dreaded by deep-sea divers,
known as "the bends."

The bends is similar
to opening up a can of soda.

When you open up a can of soda,
the gas that's in the liquid,

which is carbon dioxide,
all of a sudden

starts releasing, bubbling
to the top of the can of soda.

So the nitrogen that's
in the body does the same thing.

So when you ascend too fast,

the nitrogen that's built up
in the body tries to escape

and this can bubble out
into any of the organs

including the heart,
the brain, the lungs.

It can cause malfunction.

It can also kill you.

SHATNER:
Even though his escape suit
was not rated to handle

water pressure
deeper than 100 feet,

John Capes' will to survive
was formidable.

In spite of everything,
including the bends...

...he made it
to the surface alive.

MALCOLMSON:
Capes made quite a swim.

I think it was about
six miles or so swimming.

He reaches a rocky beach,
manages to drag himself ashore,

and collapses.

It's amazing

that John Capes' lungs
did not explode

or at least hemorrhage badly
as he was surfacing.

Maybe this guy was just

lucky enough that he was
resilient enough to survive.

SHATNER:
Against all odds,
John Capes escaped

what should have been
a death sentence.

He defied everything we know
about both human physiology

and the laws of physics.

But how?

So in the British Navy,
for a long, long time

there had been
an alcohol ration every day.

And the rum was 95% proof.

In order to settle his nerves,

John Capes took a big swig
out of his rum bottle.

So I guess, by the time
that John Capes was

actually leaving the submarine,

he was more
than a little bit drunk.

TAYLOR:
Actually drinking alcohol
might've helped him out.

It could have lowered
his blood pressure a little bit

and it could have
actually kept him calm.

Both of those are things
that you may need

in this type of situation.

You need to remain calm
in an emergency

and your blood pressure
is gonna get really high

at some point.

And so if you have
a way to artificially

bring it down some,
I suspect that helped.

SHATNER:
Unfortunately, John Capes' story

was so remarkable,
so inexplicable,

that many people
didn't believe it was true.

They even went so far
as to question

whether or not he had
ever been on the submarine

in the first place.

CLAYTON:
People didn't believe

that you could survive that,
that escape from 170 feet.

So there were all
sorts of people

cast doubts on John Capes.

And it wasn't until
nearly 50 years later

when divers discovered
the wreck of HMS Perseus

that there was the hatch opened.

And John Capes' story
was at last validated.

And his, his behavior
and his courage was rewarded.

SHATNER:
How did John Capes summon
the courage he needed

to overcome seemingly
insurmountable odds

and make it
out of the submarine alive?

It's hard to imagine
how anyone could find

the nerve to do what Capes did,

but the fact is that somehow,
he managed to defy death.

But, remarkably, there are those
who have not only survived

a deadly circumstance--

they actually attract danger

again and again and again.

SHATNER:
Park Ranger Roy Sullivan

is driving south along
Skyline Drive

when suddenly...

-(thunder crashes)
-a bolt of lightning

strikes him

through the open windows
of his truck.

FRIEDMAN:
Roy Sullivan was struck
by lightning,

driving along a mountain road.

He wasn't hurt that much.

He was lucky.

Lightning can cause

all kinds of damage to a person.

It can injure one's nerves.

It can cause headaches
that last for many,

many months, if not years.

And of course,

a lightning strike can be fatal.

SHATNER:
The blast burned off Roy's hair

and left a black burn mark
on his ranger hat.

One out of every ten people
struck by lightning dies.

(thunder crashing)

Those who survive often suffer
debilitating, lifelong injuries.

But somehow,

Roy Sullivan walked away
relatively unscathed.

But what's even more remarkable
is that between 1942 and 1977,

Roy Sullivan was
struck by lightning

on six more occasions
and survived

each and every time.

FRIEDAN:
Roy Sullivan was
in the Guinness Book of Records

for having been the person
who was hit the most

in his lifetime by lightning.

He was dubbed
The Human Lightning Rod,

Spark Ranger, and Lightning Man.

There are a number of factors

that increased Sullivan's
odds of being struck.

He was outdoors,

not only on tops of mountains,
but on lookout towers,

moving around a lot
in open spaces.

But the fact
that he was hit seven times

and didn't die is incredible.

SHATNER:
Lightning is one of the most
devastating forces on Earth.

A single bolt can carry

more than 100 million volts
of electricity,

and is five times hotter
than the surface of the Sun.

So, how was Roy Sullivan
able to survive

such destructive power
seven times?

Well, according to some experts,
it might have been because

certain people's bodies
are more resistant

to being electrocuted.

The human body is not

the greatest conductor
for electricity,

but in these cases,
maybe there are compounds

in their bloodstream that do

increase their ability
to generate energy

or hold energy.

For example, someone who has

a higher degree of iron
in their bloodstream

could potentially conduct
lightning a little bit better.

SHATNER:
Is it possible
that Roy Sullivan possessed

some physical or genetic trait

that allowed him to both
attract lightning

and withstand
surges of electricity,

that could otherwise kill
a normal human?

Perhaps a clue can be found
by examining another person

who was struck by lightning
multiple times

and lived to tell about it.

After a long day of competition,
bull rider Carl Mize is

about to head home when he grabs
the door handle of his truck

and is instantly hit
by a powerful bolt of lightning.

Right when it happened, I knew
I was struck by lightning.

The-the flash of the light

and the shock, you know,

that went through my arm
and through my body.

And it knocked me back four
or five foot on my tail end.

And I just jumped up
and tried to brush the mud off,

and got in my truck and left.

SHATNER:
Aside from some achy muscles,

Carl was left uninjured
by the experience.

And like most people,
he wasn't worried

about this happening again
because he believed

the old adage that
"lightning never strikes twice."

But between 1994 and 2006,

Carl was struck by lightning

an astonishing five more times.

MIZE:
For 39 years,

I've worked
at the University of Oklahoma

in the electrical department
in the utility shop.

And we take care of all
the high-voltage electricity.

So I often think
there's got to be something

that, you know,
attracts lightning to me,

because it's just unheard of
to be struck that many times.

SHATNER:
After each incident,
doctors who examined Carl

were shocked to discover
that his injuries were minor.

None of his internal organs

suffered the kind
of significant damage

normally seen in victims
of lightning strikes.

There's not
a whole lot of people

that get struck by lightning,

so doctors really
treat you as a guinea pig.

They actually had
a man come down

that was an electrical engineer

to measure
the DC voltage in my body.

A common person has
six volts DC to run your body.

Whenever they tested me,

I had 1.7 DC volts in my body.

I'm more conductive
than an average person.

And it makes me wonder,

and even the doctors
have wondered, too,

could that have been
what's kept me alive.

SHATNER:
The stories of Carl Mize
and Roy Sullivan

offer living proof
that lightning can,

indeed, strike twice.

And it's a strange thought
to know that your body can both

attract and protect you
from life-threatening danger.

But there are times
when survival may come down

to simply grabbing
whatever you can hold on to.

SHATNER:
47 stories above the ground,

brothers Alcides
and Edgar Moreno

step onto a hanging platform
to wash windows.

But when they start working...

...disaster strikes.

SHATNER:
Edgar plunges 472 feet
onto a fence, dying instantly.

But as emergency responders
arrive on the scene,

they approach the wreckage
of the scaffolding

and are shocked to discover
that Alcides is still alive.

Mr. Moreno actually fell
with the scaffolding

and landed onto some
garbage cans in the alleyway.

Our rescue paramedics,

they thought that it was
gonna be a recovery.

But when they got to him,

he opened his eyes
and took a breath.

SHATNER:
Alcides was rushed
to the hospital for surgery.

Several of his vertebrae
had been crushed,

and his skull was fractured,
causing his brain to swell.

He was given 24 pints of blood

and put into
a drug-induced coma,

undergoing 15 more surgeries.

But on January 18th, a mere
six weeks after his accident,

Alcides was discharged
from the hospital.

COYNE:
Any fall from greater than

one and a half times
your own height

is considered
potentially deadly, so...

for someone to fall
from this great a height,

and live, you know,
a productive life

is absolutely fascinating.

SHATNER:
Statistically,
falling from a height

greater than 40 feet
is almost always fatal.

So, how did Alcides Moreno
survive a fall

from more
than ten times that high?

JIM HAMILTON:
It's not the falling
that kills you.

It's the stopping.

And so, if there is
a tree, bushes,

wreckage that's between you
and what you hit,

those factors
contribute to survival.

And so the main factor
that caused

Alcides Moreno to survive,
is that platform that he was on.

He held onto that
all the way down.

He didn't fall
directly 47 stories

without anything
cushioning his fall.

COYNE:
In just about any emergency,

your initial reactions
are gonna be

a big part of your survival.

These can be the little things
that make the difference

between life and death.

It shows everybody

that they're capable of a lot
more than we may realize.

It just takes these
extraordinary circumstances

to show us that.

So, what can we learn

from these remarkable
cases of people

who were able to defy death?

While many survival stories
involve a fair amount of luck,

it's also clear
that in times of great danger,

certain individuals
possess a powerful will to live

that is not fully understood.

And in all likelihood
will remain...

...unexplained.

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