35 Strange Stories That Sound Fictional But Truly Happened

Some stories sound stranger than fiction but happen to be true nevertheless. Though they may sound made up, or like someone was quoting a movie plot, perhaps these unbelievable incidents did happen in real life. Whether it's the curious case of Mr Gorgos who disappeared in 1991 and was returned in 2021 with no recollection of the time in between or the man who survived 60 hours partially submerged underwater in total darkness under a capsized boat, these stories are just the tip of the iceberg, according to the members of the unsettling subreddit, “Strange Earth”.

#1 In 1996, Binti Jua, A Then 8-Year-Old Female Gorilla, Rescued A 3-Year-Old Boy Who Fell 25 Feet Into Her Enclosure And Broke His Hand

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve She carried him near a service door and handed him over to the paramedics. Binti is still alive today and has also become a grandmother.

#2 1991: A Man Vanishes After Telling His Family He's Going On A Business Trip. 2021: A Car Stops In Front Of This Man's Home And Drops Him Off

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve He is wearing the same clothes, can't remember where he's been all these years & is looking like he was very well taken care of. The curious case of Mr Gorgos

#3 In 2013, Harrison Okene Spent 60 Hours Underwater, In Total Darkness, After His Vessel Capsized 20 Miles Off The Coast Of Nigeria And Sunk To The Bottom Of The Sea

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve He was discovered alive by divers sent to recover dead bodies

#4 On July 9, 2020, 6-Year-Old Bridger Walker Saved His Little Sister From A Dog Attack. He Had 90 Stitches All Over His Body, But Saved His 3-Year-Old Sister From Certain Death

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve He stated, “If anyone has to die, it's me. I'm the big brother.” The World Boxing Council recognized him as a world champion

#5 In 2015, A Father Saved His Son's Life When Doctors Wrongly Declared Him Brain-Dead And Were Taking Him Off Life Support

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve He barricaded himself with a gun in the hospital and had a stand-off with SWAT until his son squeezed his hand. The son made a full recovery

#6 In 1999, Harvard Physicist Lene Hau Was Able To Slow Down Light To 17 Meters Per Second. In 2001, She Was Able To Stop Light Completely

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve In 2005, Professor Lene Hau did something that Einstein theorized was impossible. Hau stopped light cold using atoms and lasers in her Harvard lab

#7 Judith Love Cohen Was American Aerospace Engineer Who Helped Create Abort-Guidance System That Rescued Apollo 13 Astronauts

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve When she went into labor, she took her work to the hospital, printed out the problem, called her boss, and said she finished it before giving birth to Jack Black.

#8 A Local Fisherman Chito In Costa Rica Nursed A Crocodile Back To Health After It Had Been Shot In Head, And Released The Reptile Back To Its Home

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve The next day, Chito discovered “Pocho” had followed him home and was sleeping on the man’s porch. For 20 years Pocho became part of the man’s family.

#9 In 2017, A 10-Year-Old Florida Girl Juliana Ossa Fought Off A Deadly Alligator Attack By Sticking Her Two Fingers Up The Alligator's Nose

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve This forced the alligator to open its mouth to breathe, which freed the girl's leg and she escaped. She had learned the trick from Gatorland

#10 minutes Before The 2004 Tsunami Hit Thailand, Tilly Smith, 10 Y.o. Girl Warned Her Parents It Was Coming

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve While on beach, she recognized the warning signs of a tsunami as she had learned them in geography class just two weeks earlier. She is credited with saving the lives of hundreds of tourists.

#11 Today I Learned Scientists Discovered A Dinosaur Tail Perfectly Preserved In Amber. It Is Full Of Feathers

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve

#12 In 2019, Fred Pepperman, A 53-Year-Old Father Swam Out To Rescue His Daughters When Grace (16), Olivia (20), & Kathryn (24) Caught In A Riptide On A Florida Beach

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve When his daughters were saved, he fell unconscious. He died on his way to the hospital. His last words to them were “I got you.”

#13 Aleksander Doba Kayaked Solo Across The Atlantic Ocean (5400 Km, Under His Own Power) Three Times, Most Recently In 2017 At Age Of 70

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve He died in 2021 while climbing Kilimanjaro. After reaching top asked for a two-minute break before posing for photo. He then sat down on a rock & "just fell asleep"

#14 A 9,000-Year-Old Skeleton Was Found In 2018 Inside A Cave In Cheddar, England, And Was Nicknamed “Cheddar Man”

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve His DNA was tested and it was concluded that a living relative was teaching history about a 1/2 mile away, tracing back nearly 300 generations.

#15 A Japanese Man Named Yasuo Takamatsu Lost His Wife In The 2011 Earthquake And Has Not Stopped Looking For Her Body For More Than 10 Years

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve He has dived more than 800 times into the ocean in an attempt to retrieve her

#16 In 1998, A Married Couple Was Left Behind During A Diving Trip To The Great Barrier Reef. Two Days Passed Before Anyone Realized What Had Happened

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve Despite a 5-day search, the couple was never found. A dive slate was later recovered which read "... rescue us before we die..."

#17 15yo Mary Vincent, Who In 1970's Hitched A Ride With A Stranger. She Was Then Brutally Assaulted In The Van, Had Both Of Her Arms Chopped Off, And Was Then Thrown Down A 30 Ft Cliff

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve She packed the stumps with mud and climbed back up to run naked in the street to flag down help.

#18 In 1999, Skydiver Joan Murray’s Parachutes Malfunctioned, Leaving Her To Free-Fall 14,500 Feet Above North Carolina, Landing Directly On A Fire Ants' Mound

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve Miraculously, she survived. Doctors believe that being stung over 200 times by ants triggered a surge of adrenaline, keeping her heart beating

#19 Ancient Babylonian Tablet Reveals Pythagorean Theorem -

Image source: Earth7051

#20 FBI Agent Robert Hanssen Was Tasked To Find A Mole Within The FBI After The FBI's Moles In The Kgb Were Caught

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve Robert Hanssen was the mole and had been working with KGB since 1979. His espionage was described by the Department of Justice as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.

#21 In 2006, This Argentinian Police Officer Was Found After An 18-Hour Search In A State Of Complete Shock

Image source: strange-reality756 He said "short beings with red eyes" had taken him and he had "memories like he was in his mother's womb." He was found 20km away he was last seen with his clothes dry despite heavy rain.

#22 She Is The Youngest New Zealand Mp And Performs The Traditional Māori Haka Dance In Parliament. Her Ancestry Dates Back 5,000 Years

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve

#23 The Lost Girl, 1874 Blanche Monnier Was A Parisian Socialite, Known For Her Beauty

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve She wished to marry an old lawyer that her mother disapproved of, so she locked her in a small dark room in her attic for 25 years. the left one's taken in the 1870's, the right in 1901 after she was discovered.

#24 A Bible Believed To Be 1,500 Years Old Challenges The Crucifixion Of Jesus Christ, Proposing That It Was Judas Who Was Crucified By Roman Soldiers

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve This ancient text, known as the Gospel of Barnabas, recently surfaced in Turkey's Ethnography Museum of Ankara, causing significant controversy.

#25 16 Years After The Death Of Nicole Van Den Hurk, Her Stepbrother Andy Falsely Confessed To Ki****g Her To Get Her Body Exhumed For DNA Testing Which Lead To The Arrest And Prosecution Of Her Attacker

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve Andy believed that his father was responsible for Nicole's death.

#26 From A Million Miles Away, Nasa Captures Moon Crossing Face Of Earth. (Yes, This Is Real) Credit: Nasa/Noaa

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve, NASA

#27 Nikola Tesla's Last Message To His Mother: "All These Years That I Had Spent In The Service Of Mankind Brought Me Nothing But Insults And Humiliation."

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve

#28 This Is Point Nemo, The Spot Farthest Away From Any Land In The World. You Are Closer To Astronauts Aboard The Iss Than Humanity

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve

#29 Turkey Is Home To Over 200 Ancient Underground Cities

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve The largest, the Derinkuyu underground city, is nearly 445 square kilometers and could house an estimated 20,000 inhabitants within its 18 levels of tunnels.

#30 Man With Radium Poisoning, Chelyabinsk Region, Russia

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve, VICE News

#31 In 1948, A Man Wore 30-Pound, Three-Toed Lead Shoes & Stomped Around A Florida Beach During The Night

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve The footprints lead people to believe that a 15-foot-tall penguin was roaming their lands. He kept up the prank for 10 years, visiting various beaches. The hoax wasn't revealed until 40 years later

#32 62-Year-Old Boeing Whistleblower John Barnett Found Dead In His Truck After He Didn't Show Up For A Legal Interview Linked To A Case Against Boeing

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve Barnett worked for Boeing for 32 years and retired in 2017. After retiring, Barnett spoke out about how Boeing was cutting corners on their airplanes

#33 New Analysis Of Ancient Footprints From White Sands Confirms The Presence Of Humans In North America During The Last Glacial Maximum 21,500 Years Ago

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve

#34 In 2013, A Florida Man, Jeff Bush, Was Sleeping In His Bedroom When A Large Sinkhole Opened Up Directly Underneath His Bed, Swallowing Him And His Entire Bedroom

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve His brother heard him scream, but was unable to see or reach him in time. Bush’s body was never recovered.

#35 The Very Last Photo Of Chester Bennington (The Lead Singer Of Linkin Park) Taken By His Wife Just One Day Before He Tragically Took His Own Life

Image source: MartianXAshATwelve