Trivia 6:
Survivors



Mrs. Margaret Erkine of Dryburgh, Scotland, was pronounced dead in 1574 and was buried in the family mausoleum. But that night, when the caretaker attempted to steal a ring from her finger, the dead woman sat up in her coffin and screamed. She recovered and lived another 51 years.

At the age of 18, after traveling from Amsterdam to America in the 1600s, Penelope Van Princis was attacked by Native Americans. They killed her husband and left her for dead after fracturing her skull and shoving a spear through her body. She spent seven days in a hollow tree before being rescued, and then went on to live another 92 years. She was survived by 502 descendants when she finally died at the age of 110.

Mel Gibson won his leading role in the 1979 Australian film Mad Max because the director was looking for someone who looked weary, beaten, and scared. Gibson couldn't help but look the part, since he'd been mugged by three drunks the night before his screen test.

In 1990, after becoming blind and deaf in a truck accident, Edwin Robinson of Falmouth, ME, regained his sight and hearing when he was struck by lightning.

(more to come)



Home