NUMBER 10: FIDEL CASTRO

Fidel Castro, the socialist dictator of Cuba between 1959 and 2008, is notoriously difficult

to kill.

During his 49 years of leadership, there were a staggering 638 failed attempts on Castro’s

life, many of which were arranged by the CIA. Plots included replacing his cigars with exploding

ones, poisoning his chocolate milkshake, and placing explosives under his speech podiums.

The failure of the assassinations has been attributed to a combination of poor planning

and effective Cuban security.

In August 2016 Castro will celebrate his 90th birthday.

Sources: The Guardian, Reuters, New Republic, Biography.com.

NUMBER 9: HUGH GLASS

The survival story of Hugh Glass, explorer and hunter, is legendary.

In 1823 Arikara warriors attacked the fur-trading expedition that Glass was a member of. They

shot him in the leg, causing the venture to divide along different routes.

Glass’s trauma did not, by any means, end there. He was then so viciously mauled be

a grizzly bear that his companions were convinced that he couldn’t possibly survive. He was

eventually left abandoned, with no weapons, a broken leg, and wounds exposing his bare

ribs.

Glass was adamant that he wouldn’t succumb to his devastating injuries. He limped and

crawled for over 100 miles and two months, before the Cheyenne [Shy-en] River carried

him to safety on a raft.

He survived on wild berries and roots, once placing his leg on a maggot-infested log to

allow the creatures to eat his rotting skin.

Sources: History Net, Britannica, Roosevelt Inn.

NUMBER 8: BETTY LOU OLIVER

On July 28th 1945 thick fog caused a US Air Force bomber plane to crash into the 79th

story of the Empire State Building, killing 14 people.

The impact threw elevator attendant Betty Lou Oliver into the air. She received severe

burns and broke her pelvis, back and neck. Miraculously, she survived. First aiders put

Betty in an elevator to send her to the ground floor for medical help.

In a further cruel twist of fate, the elevator cables suddenly snapped. Betty was sent plummeting

75 stories to the basement.

How Betty survived is a mystery, and her descent still stands as the longest non-fatal elevator

fall ever recorded.

Betty Lou Oliver returned to work just 5 months later.

Sources: Survivor Story, National Public Radio, Smithsonian Magazine.

NUMBER 7: GABRIEL GARCIA MORENO

The assassination of 19th century Ecuadorian President Gabriel Garcia [gar-see-ah] Moreno

was brutal and beyond belief.

In August 1875 assassin Faustino Rayo used a machete to cut deep into Moreno’s skull.

This did not subdue the dictatorial leader, who turned to fight his assailant. Rayo cut

off Moreno’s left arm and right hand, but still the president kept on fighting. He was

shot 6 times before finally collapsing.

Allegedly, Moreno used his last breath to gasp the phrase ‘God does not die’. Some

reports even claim that he wrote the words on the floor using his own blood.

Sources: Britannica, New Advent, Tradition In Action.

NUMBER 6: JIM BOWIE [Boh-ee]

During an infamous brawl in 1827 Louisiana, American pioneer Jim Bowie demonstrated a

superhuman level of resilience.

The fight against former sheriff Norris Wright and his supporters looked all but lost for

Bowie. He had been shot in the hip, struck in the face, stabbed twice in the chest, and

then shot again. Evidently, this was not enough to kill Bowie.

Struggling to stay conscious, Bowie grabbed for his large knife and succeeded in killing

Wright.

Bowie recovered from his wounds and lived for another 9 years, and the distinctive type

of knife he used became known as the ‘Bowie Knife’.

Sources: Latin American History, The Past Whispers, Britannica.

NUMBER 5: GRIGORI RASPUTIN

Russian ‘mad monk’ Rasputin was notoriously difficult to kill. He astonishingly recovered

from a brutal attack in 1914, when a woman thrust a knife into his abdomen, claiming

he was the antichrist.

Two years later, assassins laced his food with cyanide, but even this appeared to have

little effect on the mystic healer. They then beat him with clubs, stabbed him, and shot

him at close range, before wrapping his body in carpet and dumping it in the frozen waters

of the Malaya Nevka River.

Historic rumor states that the monk was still able to sit up and continue fighting his attackers,

even as they tried to dispose of his body. However, forensic reports indicate that this

is unlikely to be true, as he most probably died from a bullet wound to his temple earlier

in the attack.

Sources: History.com, History1900s, Biography.com.

NUMBER 4: LACHHIMAN [Latch-ee-man] GURUNG [goo-roong]

In December 1945 Gurkha [ger-ka] Lacchiman Gurung was awarded the Victoria Cross for

his ‘extreme devotion to duty’ during World War II.

Gurung’s resolution to survive was demonstrated when his trench was attacked by 200 Japanese

soldiers launching grenades.

The British-Indian soldier caught and returned 2 grenades. However, a third exploded in his

grasp, destroying his right arm and severely wounding his face, body, and leg. Still, Gurung

refused to give up.

Single-handedly, he spent 4 hours killing off 31 enemy soldiers with his rifle, ignoring

the excruciating agony of his wounds and the overwhelming odds he faced.

Gurung died in 2010 at the age of 92.

Sources: The Guardian, MMA Playground, The Telegraph, Victoria Cross, The London Gazette.

NUMBER 3: LEON TROTSKY

Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky was the target of numerous assassination attempts.

In May 1940, 20 armed men stormed his Mexican house with grenades and machine guns. Amazingly,

Trotsky survived by huddling under the bed, only receiving a couple of light scratches

from shattering glass.

He was eventually killed by Stalinist Ramón Mercader [Mur-car-der] on August 20th 1940,

who plunged a mountaineers’ ice pick into Trotsky’s brain.

But even this barely impeded him at first. According to some witnesses, Trotsky was able

to fight off - and even spit on - his attacker.

Amazingly Trotsky survived for more than a day with his brutal injuries, until he eventually

died of surgical complications.

Sources: The Guardian, History Today, IB Times, Spectator.

NUMBER 2: BECK WEATHERS

In 1996 mountaineer Beck Weathers’ situation was so dire that he was given up for dead...

twice.

During a group ascent of Mount Everest, a severe blizzard struck and halted the expedition.

Weathers and others were knocked almost unconscious by the bitter storm. They were so close to

death that guides had little option but to leave them and return to safety themselves.

By the time help arrived, Weathers had succumbed to a hypothermic coma. A doctor at the time

said his condition was beyond salvation. Again, the guides left him, and informed his family

of his demise.

After a night with his skin exposed to temperatures of less than -30°C, Weathers - unbelievably

- woke up. He somehow dragged himself the 300 yards to base camp. Although he lost his

arm and nose to frostbite, Weathers was extremely lucky to survive the 1996 disaster, which

claimed 12 other lives.

Sources: LA Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, Texas Monthly.

NUMBER 1: TSUTOMU [Soot-oh-moo] YAMAGUCHI

Tsutomu Yamaguchi gained infamy as the only person known to have survived both the Hiroshima

and Nagasaki atomic bombings.

Yamaguchi was visiting Hiroshima on business when it was bombed on August 6th 1945. He

was temporarily blinded, seriously burned, and his eardrums were ruptured.

Despite his extreme wounds, he returned to work in Nagasaki just 3 days later, the day

that the second city was devastated. He was only 3 km away from the atomic detonation,

but this time he was uninjured.

However, because he was now unable to receive treatment for his previous injuries, he suffered

a severe - and nearly fatal - fever for almost a month.

In spite of Yamaguchi’s astronomical bad luck, he recovered and lived well into old

age, dying in 2010 aged 93.

Sources: IB Times, Independent, Telegraph, History.com, The Guardian.