1

Skydiving accident survivor

Image: Eun-Kwang Bae

Jordan Hatmaker was not an expert, but she had done enough skydiving jumps to recognize when something was wrong. On November 14, 2021, she jumped from a height of 4,100 meters and deployed her parachute. But a series of unfortunate malfunctions led to the chutes opening at the very last moment—and in a disastrous way—causing her to crash land.

Although Jordan survived, she suffered a spinal injury, broke her shin, completely shattered her ankle, and was paralyzed from the waist down. The doctors couldn’t tell if she would ever walk again. Yet, just three months after the accident, she defied expectations and began walking. Since then, she’s even climbed Mount Everest base camp.

2

Survived being frozen for 6 hours

Image: Jared Erondu

Imagine being frozen solid for a full six hours. Almost anybody who has been in a similar situation, even for a much shorter time, has experienced serious consequences or even death. But not Jean Hilliard, who slipped in the ice in the harsh Minnesota winter, knocked herself unconscious and remained frozen for six hours until a friend discovered her.

After her friend took her to the hospital, doctors had trouble inserting an IV cannula because her arm was frozen solid. But, after thawing her with heat pads, Jean came back to life and her body returned to its normal state. Her extremities took a bit longer to come around; her toes, especially, were numb for some time. Remarkably, Jean recovered quickly and has experienced no lasting physical effects from that fateful December night frozen in the ice.

3

Survived a self-amputation

Image: Justin Luebke

If you have seen the film 127 Hours then you’ll recognize this story: Aron Ralston was hiking in a remote Utah canyon when a boulder fell, trapping his arm . With no one around to hear his cries for help and his water supply dwindling, Aron made the excruciating decision to sever his arm below the elbow using a dull multitool.

After freeing himself, Ralston rappelled down a 65-foot cliff and hiked several miles through the rugged terrain before being discovered by a search and rescue helicopter.

4

Military jet crash survivor

Image: Albert Stoynov

David Steeves, a U.S. Air Force lieutenant, was ordered to fly a Lockheed T-33A trainer jet from an Air Force base near San Francisco to Craig Air Force Base near Selma, Alabama, on May 9, 1957. Shortly after takeoff, Steeves and the jet disappeared without a trace, and he was declared dead after an extensive search yielded no results. After the incident, during the height of the Cold War, Steeves faced unfounded accusations of defecting and giving the trainer jet to the USSR.

However, Steeves appeared out of the Sierra Nevada the following July. He claimed that after an explosion in the jet, he had ejected and parachuted to safety. For two weeks, he survived without food until he discovered a ranger’s cabin in Kings Canyon National Park, where he found fishhooks, beans, and a canned ham to sustain himself.

5

Rode off a cliff in her vehicle

Image: Fabian Quintero

In a scene straight out of a movie, Angela Hernandez swerved to avoid hitting a small animal on the road and accidentally drove her SUV off a cliff. Her vehicle tumbled about 200 feet to a desolate, rocky beach.

Despite suffering a brain hemorrhage, fractured ribs, a broken collarbone, ruptured blood vessels in both eyes, and a collapsed lung, Hernandez managed to pull herself out of the sinking car. She walked for days until hikers stumbled across her wrecked Jeep and scoured the beach. Eventually, they found Hernandez crumpled up, sleeping on some rocks. After surviving seven harrowing days, she was finally rescued.

6

Three-year-old survives 2 days in the wilderness

Image: Jeremy McKnight

Three-year-old Ryker Webb was playing with his dog when he decided to take a walk on his own and wandered off. After his disappearance, a massive search was launched, and for two days the search team made no progress. Then, a family visiting their remote cabin in the middle of the wilderness heard the faint cries of a little boy coming from behind a shed.

Ryker was found tucked into a lawnmower bag. He was dressed in a light blue onesie that had been covered in dirt. After they called the police, the family was shocked to learn about the massive search that had been going on. The little boy survived two days in Montana wilderness, in near-freezing temperatures in an area, that according to locals, is heavily populated with bears and mountain lions.

7

Saved his family from a plane crash

Image: Gianluca Bei

Saving oneself from a plane crash is an extraordinary feat in itself. But saving an entire family as well is exponentially harder. On August 13, 2011, Donald Evans and his family were flying to their new home in Anvik, Alaska, aboard a Cessna plane when tragedy struck. The plane crashed into the mountains, killing the pilot and another passenger, and leaving Donald and his family— including his pregnant wife—badly injured .

Despite his own injuries, Donald managed to keep his family alive until the National Guard arrived by helicopter to rescue them. Amazingly, every member of the family survived, including their unborn daughter.

8

Quicksand survivor

Image: Sumner Mahaffey

Quicksand is a threat much more present in child stories than in real life but it does exist, as Ryan Osmun discovered in the worst possible way. While hiking in Utah’s Zion National Park he and his girlfriend tried to cross an innocent-looking pond that turned out to be quicksand.

After managing to save his girlfriend, Ryan sank into the sandy bottom to no avail. He had to wait for long hours until help arrived at the scene, just in time to save his life with a pulley system to yank him out of the ordeal.

9

Surviving the Desert

Image: Max Templeton

At 72 years old, Ann Rodgers spent nine days lost in the Arizona desert keeping herself alive thanks to skills acquired at a survival course and her own knowledge of nature. After getting lost on a distant dirt road and running out of gas, she left her car and started wandering the desert.

Had she stayed in her car, police would have found her 3 days later. Despite this misstep, Ann managed to survive. After 9 days, a helicopter found her thanks to a large "HELP" sign she had crafted out of rocks and took her to the hospital, where she made a full recovery.

10

Lost in the woods with poor eyesight

Image: Jeremy Bishop

Being lost in the woods is a bad thing as it is. But being lost in the woods with very bad eyesight and no glasses is much worse. This is exactly what happened to Marcus Mazzaferri at Yosemite National Park when he tried to traverse a river by foot, slipped on a rock, and was pulled by the rapids.

Marcus was able to reach a river bank and wandered through the woods, challenged by cold and darkness, without his much-needed glasses. He hiked using deer tracks, which he was barely able to see, as his only guide. Eventually, he was able to contact a plow crew near the river and was saved.

1

The ball drop only exists because the city banned fireworks

New Year’s Eve celebrations began in Times Square as early as 1904. That year, New York Times owner Adolph Ochs threw an extravagant fireworks party to christen the paper’s new headquarters.

Two years later, the city banned fireworks over fire hazard concerns. Ochs’ chief electrician, Walter Palmer, proposed a "time-ball" to replace the pyrotechnics. This would imitate a navigational device used by ships. So, on December 31, 1907, a 700-pound iron-and-wood ball, five feet in diameter, lit by 100 twenty-five-watt bulbs, made its first descent from the flagpole atop One Times Square.

The tradition has continued every year since, except in the wartime dimouts of 1942 and 1943. Today’s ball is the ninth version and is the largest ever: 12.5 feet wide, weighing 12,350 pounds, and covered in 5,280 handcrafted Waterford crystal discs.

2

It used to be called "Satan’s Circus"

The area was once called Longacre Square, named after London’s carriage district, because the neighborhood was the center of New York City’s horse carriage industry. It was also one of the most vice-ridden corners of Manhattan. In 1901, the surrounding blocks contained 132 brothels and at least as many saloons. Police called the area "the Tenderloin." Locals called it "Satan’s Circus."

The transformation began when the New York Times decided to build its new headquarters there, betting on the city’s first subway line, which was already planned to run beneath the block. In 1904, the area was officially renamed Times Square in a public ceremony. Later that year, the newspaper moved into its gleaming new tower, then the city’s second-tallest building. The Times only stayed there for 9 years before relocating to larger offices on West 43rd Street. But the name it left behind proved permanent.

3

It was once one of the most dangerous blocks in America

While it lost its "Satan’s Circus" nickname long ago, the tourist-friendly Times Square most visitors know today is almost unrecognizable from what it was just four decades ago. By 1984, more than 2,300 crimes were being committed every year within a single-block radius.

The streets were dominated by drug dealers, street crime, porn and peep show theaters, and open prostitution. The TKTS discount theater ticket booth, opened in 1973, was conceived as an emergency measure, an attempt to pull foot traffic back into a neighborhood that businesses had abandoned. The City of New York and the State of New York, as well as private investors and the non-profit Times Square Alliance, collaborated to reduce the crime rate and welcome the commerce and brands that eventually turned Times Square into a tourist hub.

By 2001, major felony offenses had fallen 62.3% from their 1993 peak. Today, Times Square is one of the most policed and most surveilled public spaces in the United States, with a dedicated NYPD substation on the premises. The same block that was America’s most notorious danger zone now draws 50 million visitors a year.

4

The TKTS red stairs are actually a roof

Most of the millions of tourists who climb the famous ruby-red stairs in Times Square assume they’re just a viewing platform. In fact, they’re a roof. Underneath the 27 steps sits the TKTS booth, operated by the Theatre Development Fund, where theatergoers can buy same-day Broadway and off-Broadway tickets at discounts of up to 50%.

In 1999, a design competition was held for a permanent replacement. The winning concept proposed building the new booth’s roof as a public staircase. It would be a bleacher-style ascent that would give visitors an elevated vantage point over the square. The structure was completed in October 2008. It glows red at night because it is lit entirely from below. About 13,000 people walk past it every day.

5

New York City law requires the lights to stay on

Did you know that Times Square stays aglow by law? A 1987 New York City zoning ordinance requires all new developments and major enlargements on blocks in the area, with frontage on Seventh Avenue or Broadway, to include large-scale illuminated signage.

The regulation was introduced to protect the district’s visual character after years of blank-faced modernist towers had dulled its energy. Buildings are legally required to display a minimum illuminated surface area, and signage must remain lit during designated hours.

6

The most famous building there is almost empty

One Times Square building is famous; the whole world watches the ball drop from it every New Year's Eve. But few people know that it’s all but empty inside. It has no regular office tenants. Its upper floors are largely unused.

When the New York Times vacated in 1913, the building passed through several owners and eventually became what it is today: a structure whose primary economic purpose is its skin. Still, the billboard faces on its exterior generate millions of dollars per year — a single advertising slot can command upwards of $4 million annually. In effect, One Times Square is a 25-story billboard dressed as a skyscraper.

7

50 million people visit every year, more than all Disney Parks combined

Times Square draws an estimated 50 million visitors annually —more than all Disney theme parks worldwide combined. On a typical day, approximately 330,000 people pass through. On peak days, that number exceeds 460,000.

Its official website notes that more people walk through Times Square each year than live in the entire country of Iceland. Visitor spending totals roughly $4.8 billion per year, and for every dollar a tourist spends anywhere in New York City, approximately 22 cents are spent within Times Square’s few blocks.

After a dip during the pandemic, tourism to New York City has rebounded strongly, with the city welcoming over 65 million visitors in 2025 and projecting 67 million in 2027. Times Square remains the single biggest draw within the city, accounting for a disproportionate share of that spending.

8

It’s not actually a square; it’s two triangles

Geometrically speaking, Times Square is not a square. It’s more like a bowtie; two elongated triangles formed where Broadway, a diagonal road that predates the Manhattan street grid by centuries, cuts across Seventh Avenue.

The city’s famous grid was laid out by the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811. Broadway, an ancient Indigenous trade route that became a colonial road, was already there and simply too important to straighten. Every point where it crosses a major avenue creates an irregular intersection, and Times Square is the most famous of them.

9

It has witnessed incredible moments in American history

Times Square has functioned, again and again, as the place where Americans gather when history breaks. On May 8, 1945, a.k.a. V-E Day, crowds flooded the streets to celebrate the end of the war in Europe. Three months later, on August 14, 1945, a.k.a. V-J Day, the moment Japan’s surrender was announced, ending World War II entirely, the square erupted again.

Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt was in the crowd and photographed a sailor spontaneously grabbing a nurse in white uniform and kissing her, an image published in the magazine. Also, on December 31, 1999, the world watched Times Square’s ball drop as the year 2000 arrived and Y2K fears proved unfounded.

10

Buildings are required by law to display bright signage

The exterior of a Times Square building generates more revenue per square foot than almost any interior use could. Running a single billboard requires no HVAC, no tenant improvements, no elevator maintenance, no building management. It requires a screen and electricity. The result is a district where the most valuable real estate in America is literally the surface of things.

Building owners sometimes spend tens of millions of dollars on facade renovations not to improve the building but to improve the view of the building.

1

Titanic (1997)

James Cameron’s Oscar-winning blockbuster frames the tragic 1912 sinking around the fictional romance of Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet), while depicting real-life First Officer William Murdoch (Ewan Stewart) accepting bribes, shooting passengers, and taking his own life.

When the film premiered in 1997, the portrayal of Murdoch caused significant outrage. Survivor accounts prove the First Officer acted heroically, working tirelessly to launch lifeboats and saving hundreds of lives before dying in the freezing Atlantic. Additionally, third-class passengers were not locked below deck by armed guards as portrayed in the movie. _Titanic_’s producers eventually traveled to Murdoch’s hometown of Dalbeattie, Scotland, to issue an official apology to his descendants.

2

Braveheart (1995)

Mel Gibson’s epic depicts William Wallace leading a 13th-century Scottish rebellion against English rule, wearing belted plaid kilts and seducing Isabella of France (Sophie Marceau).

Many details in the film are inaccurate. For example, Scots didn’t wear kilts until the 16th century, nearly 300 years after Wallace’s death. Furthermore, Isabella was roughly three years old and living in France during Wallace’s rebellion, making the affair impossible.

3

Pearl Harbor (2001)

In Michael Bay’s romantic war drama, Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett) face Japanese Zero fighters, join the British Eagle Squadrons before the U.S. enters World War II, and witness direct attacks on civilian medical units.

In real life, U.S. Army Air Corps officers like Rafe were legally forbidden from joining Britain’s Eagle Squadrons while the United States remained neutral. During the December 7, 1941 raid, the Japanese prioritized attacking battleships, airfields, and fuel depots, and they didn’t target field hospitals or civilian nurses as depicted in the film. Also, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (Jon Voight) dramatic moment where he stands up out of his wheelchair to inspire his cabinet never occurred.

4

Pocahontas (1995)

Disney’s animated film famously tells the story of a young Powhatan woman named Pocahontas who falls in love with the English explorer Captain John Smith, helping to promote peace between their two cultures.

When John Smith arrived in Virginia in 1607, Pocahontas (whose actual name was Matoaka) was only around 10 to 12 years old, while Smith was a 27-year-old soldier, and there was no romantic relationship between them. Smith’s famous account of Pocahontas saving his life by placing her head over his is debated by modern historians, who view it as either a misunderstanding of a tribal adoption ceremony or an invention in his later writings. Pocahontas was later captured by English settlers, held for ransom, converted to Christianity, and married tobacco merchant John Rolfe before dying in England at age 21.

5

Gladiator (2000)

The plot of Gladiator revolves around Maximus Decimus Meridius (Russell Crowe) when he witnesses Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) being smothered to death by his son Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), who seizes the throne, rules as a tyrant, and is later killed in gladiatorial combat inside the Colosseum.

In reality, Marcus Aurelius was never murdered by his son; he died of an infectious illness in 180 AD. Commodus had already been co-emperor for three years before his father’s death. Far from an usurpation, Commodus ruled Rome for 12 years. He didn’t die in the sands of the arena either: he was strangled in his bath by his wrestling partner, Narcissus, during a palace coup. Moreover, Roman gladiatorial fights were officiated sporting events, not chaotic deathmatches.

6

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

A young William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) suffers from writer’s block until he meets aristocrat Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), who disguises herself as a man to act on stage, inspiring him to write Romeo and Juliet .

Almost the entire narrative is historical fiction. Viola de Lesseps never existed, and Romeo and Juliet wasn’t inspired by a secret love affair. Women were indeed banned from performing on the Elizabethan stage, but monarchs like Queen Elizabeth I never attended public theaters, which were considered unsafe and unhygienic. Instead, theater companies were hired to give private performances at court. Furthermore, by the mid-1590s, Shakespeare was already married to Anne Hathaway and was an established playwright in London, not an impoverished unknown struggling for ideas.

7

A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Ron Howard’s biopic presents John Nash (Russell Crowe) battling schizophrenia. In the film, the Nobel Laureate mathematician has vivid visual hallucinations of a college roommate, a young girl, and a secret government handler.

It is true that John Nash lived with paranoid schizophrenia, but his hallucinations were auditory and delusional (he heard voices and believed extraterrestrial beings were communicating through newsprint). Filmmakers acknowledged altering his symptoms because visual figures were easier to convey on screen. The film also sugarcoated Nash’s personal life, omitting his first child born out of wedlock, his divorce from his wife Alicia, and his intimate relationships with other men.

8

JFK (1991)

Director Oliver Stone follows New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) as he uncovers a conspiracy behind President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination involving the CIA, FBI, military leaders, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Historians criticize JFK for presenting discredited conspiracy theories as historical facts. Key characters in the film (such as Donald Sutherland’s "Mr. X") were complete fabrications. Garrison’s actual prosecution of businessman Clay Shaw was based on dubious testimony and resulted in Shaw’s acquittal in under an hour. The narrative of a multi-agency coup remains unsupported by official evidence, yet the film prompted the release of classified records under the JFK Records Act.

9

The Sound of Music (1965)

In the iconic film The Sound of Music , governess Maria (Julie Andrews) teaches naval Captain von Trapp’s seven children to sing and helps the family escape the 1938 Nazi annexation of Austria by hiking over the Alps into Switzerland.

Had the von Trapp hiked over the mountains behind their house in Salzburg, they would have walked straight into Nazi Germany near Hitler’s mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden. In real life, the family walked to their local train station and boarded a train to Italy before emigrating to the United States. Also, the personalities were reversed: the real Captain von Trapp was warm and musical, whereas Maria was strict. What’s more, the couple had already been married for over ten years before leaving Austria.

10

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

The opening D-Day landing sequence in Saving Private Ryan is praised by military veterans for its technical realism, but the film’s core premise is fictional. Following the invasion at Omaha Beach, Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) leads a U.S. Army Ranger squad into enemy territory in Normandy to find Private James Ryan (Matt Damon), whose three brothers were killed in action.

The plot is loosely inspired by the real-life Niland brothers, but the U.S. military never dispatched an entire squad on a dedicated search mission through enemy lines to extract a single private. Additionally, the final battle in the fictional town of Ramelle overstates the ability of infantry small arms against heavy German armor, which in reality was neutralized by artillery and tactical air strikes.