Imagine surviving not one, not two, but seven deadly accidents, only to later win a million-dollar lottery. Such is the extraordinary story of Frane Selak, a Croatian music teacher whose life reads like a Hollywood movie script laden with near-death experiences followed by an astonishing twist of fortune.
Frane's saga began in January 1962 when he was riding a train through a cold, rainy canyon and the train flipped off the tracks and plunged into a river. Seventeen passengers drowned, but Selak managed to swim to safety with a broken arm and hypothermia. The next year, during his first and only plane ride, Frane was blown out of a malfunctioning plane door and landed in a haystack; the plane crashed, killing 19 people, but remarkably, he survived with only minor injuries.
Over the next few decades, Selak's brushes with death included a bus accident that resulted in the vehicle skidding into a river, a car catching fire in 1970, another car accident where his car skidded and plunged into a valley in 1973, and being hit by a bus in 1995. Incredibly, he survived each of these calamities with relatively minor injuries.
Then, in 1996, Frane drove off a mountain road to escape an oncoming truck, diving out of his car just before it plummeted 300 feet and exploded. He landed in a tree, watching his car make a fiery fall, yet again emerging relatively unscathed.
However, it seems destiny still had a surprising twist in store for Selak. In 2003, two days after his 73rd birthday, he bought a lottery ticket, a rare whim for someone who'd already pushed fate so many times. To the astonishment of many, he won $1 million in the Croatian lottery. His story, which by this point had earned him the nickname "the world's unluckiest man," took a dramatic turn as he became a millionaire overnight.
Despite the wealth and media attention, Selak's heartwarming conclusion to this rollercoaster life was to enjoy the simple things. He decided to live a frugal life. He bought two houses and a boat, and then gave away the bulk of his winnings to relatives and friends, feeling that too much money would only complicate his life further. He has even expressed a preference for his old, modest lifestyle, feeling more satisfied with his peaceful routine than his brief stint with fortune.
Selak’s unbelievable life story challenges the very notions of luck and fate. Having experienced a lifetime of miraculous survivals followed by a lottery jackpot, he reminds us that life, no matter how perilous, holds the possibility of extraordinary turns. His experiences encourage a reflection on the resilience of the human spirit and the bizarre twists of fate that can sometimes lead to incredible outcomes.
