Looking at the calendar this week, I see that we are once again 'blessed' with another Friday the 13th.
This one's actually in October which, depending on your personal beliefs, may or may not be a good omen.
Do you believe in bad luck? Or do you think that things just happen in life, with no rhyme or reason to any of it? Me, I'm not so sure what to think sometimes. So often in life, we see people who certainly don't deserve it go through some terrible hardships, while other times, we see people who seemingly get off scott-free from something and manage to live relatively worry-free lives.
Well, seeing how it's Friday the 13th, allow me to present to you some true stories about the world's unluckiest people.
a) The pilot that shot down his plane:
When he was mysteriously shot down, Grumman test pilot Tom Attridge was conducting a routine test flight on September 21, 1956.
The plane was not flying in a war zone but in safe airspace in the confines of a flight test area in the United States.
The bullets that pierced the fuselage and canopy of the Grumman F11F Tiger forced the pilot to make an emergency landing. The impact destroyed the plane, and Attridge fractured a leg and three vertebrae.
The mission was to test the supersonic jet’s new weapon system. Attridge fired a series of bursts, increased his angle of descent, and fired some more. But almost a minute after firing the first burst, he was hit by the same projectiles he had just fired.
Elementary mathematics explains what happened. The projectiles came out of the cannons at over 2,000 mph, and the Tiger F11F he was piloting was in supersonic flight at approximately 1,300 mph.
So when they were fired, the speed of the bullets was much higher than that of the plane, which means there was no way the trajectories could have crossed.
But now physics does its part. After a certain distance, the projectiles slow down significantly due to their displacement in the air that performs a high resistance.
The plane continued at the same speed, thanks to its engine, while the projectiles traveled only thanks to kinetic energy. So, by maintaining its diving trajectory, the plane ran into its rounds fired moments ago, which were already losing speed.
The official report concluded that during its dive, Attridge’s plane managed to get in front of the bullets he had fired seconds earlier, proving that an airplane can be shot down by its ammunition.
b) The man struck by two atomic bombs:
Tsutomu Yamaguchi is a Japanese man who witnessed the detonation of the two atomic bombs launched by the United States on Japan.
He was a Nagasaki native who traveled to Hiroshima for a few days for business.
On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city during his stay in Hiroshima.
He was three kilometers from the explosion’s epicenter and received major bodily injuries, including burns on his left side.
He was hospitalized in Hiroshima for two days but decided to return to Nagasaki for better care and to be closer to his family.
When he arrived in Nagasaki, the second atomic bomb detonated on August 9, 1945.
This time he did not suffer any serious physical injury, but he had the misfortune of witnessing the two only nuclear strikes in human history.
c) The ghost ship steward:
Violet Jessop worked as a hostess aboard well-known — and unfortunate — ships.
In 1911, she boarded the RMS Olympic, which collided with the HMS Hawke in French waters due to severe fog. Violet joined up to work on the RMS Titanic a year later.
Fortunately, she could board one of the few lifeboats and escaped the disastrous catastrophe that claimed the lives of those on board the Titanic on April 15, 1912.
Violet worked on the HMHS Britannic after the tragedy. The ship sank unexpectedly in the Aegean Sea in 1916, probably after colliding with mines. By 1916, World War I had broken out and Britain’s enemy Turkey was mining the Aegean Sea.
The giant liner sank in under 55 minutes. Violet again survived the accident after escaping aboard one of the lifeboats.
As if that wasn’t enough, Violet Jessop continued to work as a hostess following three maritime disasters until she retired.
d) Killed by ‘bullet time’:
Every true story mentioned above seems farfetched, but the tragic events surrounding the death of Henry Ziegland are jaw-dropping.
A bullet lodged in a tree was responsible for killing Henry 20 years after he was injured by the same projectile in a gunfight.
In 1883, Henry broke off a relationship. His ex-girlfriend was heartbroken and committed suicide.
Afterward, the girl’s brother shot Henry and then also killed himself. The bullet only grazed Henry and lodged in a tree behind him.
In 1913, Henry decided to remove the tree from his property. However, he wasn’t happy with simply chopping it down; he decided to blow it up.
Without the skill to do so, Henry placed dynamite at the foot of the tree, and in the explosion, the lodged bullet detached itself and was propelled by the blast hitting the man directly in the head, killing him instantly.
Yes sir, I would say that these stories, which are reportedly true, rank as some supremely bad luck.
All the same, I'm planning on enjoying my Friday the 13th. I'll grab something cold to drink, pop some corn, and make a date with a few horror movies.
I'm pretty sure there's an entire movie franchise dedicated to this exact date. If only I could remember the name of it...
For this week, that's been the Ruttle Report.
