The Lucky Unluckiest Man Ever

Cheating death once is an astronomical feat but to do it SEVEN times is absolutely incredible. Cheating death seven times and then going on to win the lottery? Priceless. The man has lived 92 amazing years on this Earth thus far to sweeten the story.

Meet Frane Selak, the unlucky man who has all the luck. Wait...did I just contradict myself? Yup. Selak experienced a lot of unlucky situations over the years but in a stroke of luck, survived every single one of the death-defying situations, sometimes being the lone person to do so.

A Train Crash

The now 92-year-old Croatian man defied all odds on seven occasions, starting in 1962 when the train he rode on jumped tracks, crashing into an icy cold river. With a broken arm, Selak swam to shore, suffering hypothermia in the process, but surviving, something 17 other people did not.

Plane Crash Kills all Passengers Except One

The following year, Selak took the one and only plane trip of his life. While flying high in the sky, the plane door burst open, sending Selak on an unplanned and without any parachutes skydiving adventure. He survived, landing on a haystack that broke his fall.

The other 19 passengers on board died in the incident.

Four Die After Bus Crash

In 1967, four people drowned when the bus crashed into an embankment and fell into a river. Selak again swam to safety.

Car Fire

Just when Selak thought it was safe to go outside again, yet another death-defying moment occurred when in 1971, the car he drove caught on fire. He managed to jump out of the car seconds before it caught fire and burst into flames.

He did not barricade himself inside his home, instead buying another car...and again, escaping death after the vehicle caught fire as he was driving when the engine overheated and malfunctioned three years later. Flames shot out of the air vents, burning off most of Selak’s hari, but causing few other injuries.

Selak decided maybe he is not safe outside and barricaded himself inside. Miraculously, he managed to go 20-years without incident -and then, his bad, good luck would strike again.

Selak Struck by Bus

Now on foot, Selak was hit by a bus as he walked on a sidewalk in Zagreb. The bus knocked him down though he got up and walked away seconds later with nothing more than a few cuts, scrapes, and bruises.

Double Luck

Fast forward to 1996 and Selak, obviously under the correct assumption that he has nine lives to live, embarked upon a mountain trip and...you guessed it! Once again defied death against all odds.

High atop the mountain, a semi-truck heads straight for Selak. Without options, he crashed his car through the barrier, tumbling down a 300-foot cliff. He jumped out of the car, hanging tightly to a tree, and watched as it crashed to the ground.

Selak told reporters he considered himself unlucky. He had been married four times, calling his marriages “disasters, too.”

A Lottery Ticket Changes it all

Then, one day, Selak decided to buy a lottery ticket. Many people purchase lottery tickets now and again hoping they’ll win big, yet there’s better odds of being struck by lightning than winning. Luckily, Selak didn’t need to be struck by lightning to win the lottery. I think he paid his dues by now.

Winning a jackpot of nearly $1 million USD in 2003, Selak thought since luck was on his side he would propose to his girlfriend. She said yes!

He gave away much of the winnings to family and friends and sold the home he purchased on a private island to move home to Zagreb, Croatia. He said he had everything he needed and didn’t need money anymore. He kept enough to pay for a surgery and to build a shrine to the Virgin mary.

"I never thought I was lucky to survive all my brushes with death. I thought I was unlucky to be in them in the first place but you can’t tell people what they don’t want to believe."

No to Commercial

Selak was offered a hefty sum of money to appear in an Australian Doritos potato chip commercial but he declined the offer, citing the need to fly from Croatia to get to the location.