Unluckiest People in The World: Top 28 Persons

Article by : Matthew Gover Apr 30, 2024

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Sometimes, luck plays a cruel joke on people. And for some, it seems bad luck chants their name more often. A series of unfortunate events befalls them, making their life story resemble an endless streak of misfortune. This article shines a light on these individuals, the unluckiest people in the world. From those who got struck by lightning multiple times to those who’ve won the lottery only to lose all their winnings, the stories are as varied as they are shocking.

Frane Selak

Frane Selak, a Croatian music teacher, surprisingly defied death seven times. His harrowing experiences involve a train accident, sudden airplane departure, and surviving a river-bound bus crash. Escaping with only minor injuries from two car explosions and after being struck by a bus seemed normal to him. Selak also survived an accident that could have sent him dropping 300 feet.

Later in life, luck smiled on Frane Selak – it allowed him to win the lottery, which he generously decided to donate to others in need. As one of the 10 unluckiest people in the world, he has a distinctive story.

Costis Mitsotakis

Costis Mitsotakis is also among the ten unluckiest people ever. In 2011, this Greek man resided in a small Spanish village. His fall from grace came when he didn’t buy a ticket for the El Gordo lottery. Unfortunately, every other resident in his village bought a ticket.

Each of them won their share of a jackpot totalling $922 million. Mitsotakis became the only one left out of this win. His response to this misfortune was to make a film about his experience.

Henry Ziegland

Henry Ziegland’s tale is a remarkable one. In 1893, he broke his girlfriend Maysie Tichnor’s heart. In her despair, Tichnor took her own life. Her brother, Henry, shot a bullet at Ziegland that missed and lodged in a tree.

Ziegland met with the bullet again after 20 years but under different circumstances. While using dynamite to fall the same tree where the bullet once hid, he unknowingly sealed his fate. The explosion propelled the bullet directly towards Ziegland, striking him in the head and killing him instantly.

Roy Sullivan

Roy Cleveland Sullivan’s tale of misfortune is quite extraordinary, and he is among the top 10 unluckiest people. Hit not once but seven times by lightning, he secured his spot in the Guinness World Records. This former park ranger was infamously known as the ‘human lightning rod.’ His streak of bad luck was especially notable between 1969 and 1973. During this time, he was struck four times in just five years.

Melanie Martinez

Melanie Martinez, a 77-year-old school bus driver from Louisiana, holds an uncanny record. This woman has lost five houses to hurricanes in her lifetime. Martinez first felt the wrath of these natural disasters in the storm-prone area about 50 years ago.

Yet the nightmares continued. Even after her home received a $20,000 makeover on a reality TV show, Mother Nature did not spare it. In 2012, another hurricane came and claimed what she had just rebuilt. Consequently, many regard her as the ‘unluckiest woman in America.’

James Howells

James Howells, a resident of Wales, has embarked on an almost impossible search. His target: a discarded hard drive containing 8,000 bitcoins, now buried under mounds of waste in a local dump.

Newport council, however, shows no interest in excavation. Despite any potential gain from the bitcoins valued at half a billion dollars. As such, Howell’s vast fortune remains just out of reach, trapped in a sea of rubbish.

Violet Jessop

Violet Jessop is definitely among the top 10 unluckiest people. This Irish-Argentine woman was aboard the RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic when both ships sank in the 1900s. Oddly enough, she also sailed on the RMS Olympic that collided with another ship at sea.

Despite experiencing sea disasters three times, Violet Jessop painted an image of determination. She started working on ships again in 1920, brushing off her unlucky streak. The “Miss Unsinkable,” as she was often called, retired from her maritime employment when she reached 63 years old.

John Lyne

John Lyne, a British man, holds the title of “Britain’s Unluckiest Man”. Over his lifetime, Lyne has encountered 16 major accidents, not including minor misfortunes.

These accidents range from calamities such as falling off a horse cart to being struck down by lightning. His troubles don’t stop there; he has also survived a mine accident and multiple car crashes. Ironically, after falling out of a tree and injuring himself, his bus ride back from the hospital resulted in another accident where he broke his arm.

Sigurd “The Mighty” Eysteinsson

Sigurd Eysteinsson, known as “The Mighty,” was Earl of Orkney from 875-892. He commanded a Viking force that targeted northern Scotland.

Eysteinsson once took on Máel Brigte, a local lord. In a forty-man duel, Eysteinsson deceived him by bringing with him an 80-man army. After winning this uneven battle, he celebrated the victory by fastening Máel Brigte’s severed head to his saddle as a trophy. Yet in an odd twist of fate, the teeth of his fallen enemy scratched Sigurd’s leg during the victorious ride home. His victory turned fatal when the small wound got infected and led to his death from sepsis.

Ann Hodges

In 1954, an Alabama woman named Ann Hodges had a rare encounter with the cosmos. She was napping on her couch when a meteorite crashed through her ceiling and hit her. This space rock, about the size of a softball, bounced off her radio before landing on her thigh. The impact left a noticeable bruise but didn’t cause lasting harm. Remarkably, Ann remains the only person documented in history to be struck by a meteorite.

Erik Norrie

Erik Norrie, a Florida resident, might be among the unluckiest people who ever lived. He survived a shark attack that took a piece of his leg, and he was bitten by a rattlesnake, both odds-defying incidents.

Norrie didn’t escape unscathed but remained alive, overcoming unfavourable odds. His bad luck didn’t stop there: he also suffered a lightning strike and endured a monkey assault.

John Wade Agan

John Wade Agan hailed from Florida’s busy streets. This taxi driver was once Florida’s most unfortunate man. In his mix of bizarre misfortunes, Agan encountered many terrifying events. His unsettling tales involve an armed carjacking, being locked in his own trunk, and weathering multiple snake bites. His taxicab was stolen seven times during his career.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi

Tsutomu Yamaguchi is among the unluckiest people ever. He is the only person officially documented to survive both atomic blasts in Japan during World War II. While working in Hiroshima, he was two miles from ground zero on August 6. He walked away with a damaged eardrum and burns on his upper body.

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was not yet free from the fires of war after Hiroshima. On August 9, he found himself again at ground zero — this time, in his hometown of Nagasaki. He survived, once again, and earned the title of ‘Niju Hibaku’ or ‘twice bombed.’

Wilmer McLean

Wilmer McLean of Virginia had an ironic handshake with the Civil War. Initial military actions took place near his farm in 1861, forcing him to relocate. McLean’s new abode on Appomattox Court House then played host to surrendering ceremonies in 1865.

Henry Gunther

Henry Gunther, an American soldier of World War I, earned a dubious distinction. He was officially the last combat casualty in the Great War. Gunther died on November 11, 1918, drawing his final breath just one minute before the announced ceasefire at 11 AM.

Gunther’s death was both tragic and unnecessary. Fellow soldiers launched pleas for him not to charge into a skirmish with a group of German soldiers. Yet, Gunther dismissed this plea and advanced only to meet his untimely demise.

Yang Kyoungjong

Yang Kyoungjong is considered among the world’s unluckiest people. His tale circles three different national armies. Drafted at 18 into the Imperial Japanese army, the war took Yang all over Asia. In 1943, Soviet forces captured him. They forced him into their army to fight the Germans. The Nazis nabbed him. They then packed him into their army to fight the Allies on D-Day. His travels came to a halt when the Americans seized him in Normandy in 1944.

Ronald Wayne

One of Apple’s founders, Ronald Wayne is less known than his former partners, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. He held a 10% stake in Apple during its initial formation.

However, Wayne distanced himself from the company only 12 days after it had started. He sold his 10% share for just $800. If he had retained it till today, his stake would have been worth over $200 billion.

Adolphe Sax

Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the saxophone, was among of the unluckiest people in the world. He was the victim of several near-death experiences. From falling down stairs to drinking poison and getting hit by fallen roofing material, misfortune followed him. Despite the grim predictions of his mother, Sax survived all his mishaps.

Jeanne Rogers

Jeanne Rogers holds an unusual title—the world’s unluckiest woman. At 18, she fell off a cruise ship, was attacked by a bat later, was mugged, fell into a manhole, and was struck by lightning twice. All these led to numerous injuries and a fear of living. Despite everything, Jeanne keeps an optimistic perspective and hopes her misfortunes encourage others to count their blessings.

Steve Bartman

Steve Bartman became notorious in 2003 during a Cubs game. He interfered with a crucial catch that could have propelled the Cubs to the World Series. His action resulted in a game loss for the team, extending their 95-year title drought. Chicago fans branded Bartman as their nemesis. After this incident, he vanished from public life.

Robert Todd Lincoln

Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, held a chilling link to the death of three US presidents. His presence at their assassinations earned him the grim tag. The evening John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln, Robert was there with his father.

Twenty years later, his terrible run of luck continued. Lincoln, who was serving as Secretary of War, was meant to travel alongside President Garfield. Before they could depart, Charles Guiteau assassinated Garfield. Another two decades passed, and he was en route to meet President McKinley when Leon Czolgosz shot him twice.

Jason and Jenny Cairns-Lawrence

Jason and Jenny Cairns-Lawrence, an English couple, are also among world’s unluckiest people. Their first vacation to New York coincided with the horrific 9/11 terrorist attack. Shaken, they took another trip in 2005, unfortunately selecting London during the deadly Underground bombings.

Forget surrendering to odds, in 2008, they chose Mumbai for a getaway. Regrettably, their stay overlapped with the brutal terrorist attack on November 26th. Now globally infamous as misfortune magnets, one can only hope their future travel plans do not correlate with catastrophe.

Robert Evans

Living without a home was already tough for Robert Evans in 2008. Boulder, Colorado, was filled with unique challenges to navigate. Evans’ life became even more tragic when he survived a hit-and-run car accident and later got hit by a train on the same day. Despite these harsh experiences, Evans managed to defy death twice within seven hours.

Matthew

In the unveiling of history, very few share a fate as Matthew. A survivor of not one but two terrorist attacks. His first encounter occurred in New York City on September 11th, 2001. Near the site of the World Trade Center strikes, Matthew avoided harm. However, luck tested him again in Paris on November 13th, 2015. Despite a bullet in his leg during the deadly Bataclan attack, he survived this massacre, too.

Arthur John Priest

Arthur John Priest was a ship stoker. His life was full of unfortunate episodes, as he survived four shipwrecks. He worked on the Olympics, which got holed in 1911, and the Titanic, which sank in 1912. Both times, he survived, whereas many did not.

Later, during World War I, he served on the Alcantara, which sunk in a battle. Again, Priest lived to tell the tale. The Britannic, another ship he served on, struck a mine and sunk in 1916. Unluckily for most but luckily for him, Priest once again survived.

Austin Hatch

Austin Hatch is also in the list of the unluckiest people in the world. Two plane crashes took his family and left him injured. The first one happened in 2003, killing his mother and two siblings. The second occurred in 2011, taking his father and stepmother.

Despite suffering from a traumatic brain injury, punctured lung, and broken collarbone, Hatch used his hardship. He became a college basketball player at the University of Michigan and works as a public speaker now.

Mason Wells

Mason Wells escaped from three terror attacks. The first was in Boston during the marathon in 2013. Then, a scare happened on a train in France he often boarded. Lastly, he survived a bombing at Brussels airport in 2016 but was left with continuous wounds. His father cited Wells’ experience in Boston helped him stay calm during the final attack.

Anna & Helen

Surviving two pandemics is no small feat, but sisters Anna & Helen did. Both contracted the Spanish Flu when they were children. Over a century later, at 105 and 107 years old, they battled COVID-19. Their resilience in the face of these challenges is inspiring. Anna’s secret involves a mix of kindness, honesty, faith, and a diet rich in hot peppers.

Conclusion

These world’s unluckiest people remind us that fortune is fickle. Their stories show how quickly luck can turn, yet many have found ways to persevere and inspire. From literal impacts by cosmic rocks to repeated encounters with catastrophes, their resilience shines through and proves that the human spirit can endure even in the face of misfortune.