People Who Survived What Should Have Been Instant Death

Parachute Malfunction

Joe Baz / Flickr

We’d include a picture of ants, but you’ll get the story. Joan Murray gained a small amount of skydiving experience during her short stint with the sport. She had no way of knowing her main parachute would fail, but Murray did realize she had to think fast in order to save her life.

After plunging to the ground at 80+ miles per hour, she went into a forceful crash landing into a fire ant-breeding mount. The mini crater-like impact was disturbed by the incident, when numerous venomous stings caused an adrenaline rush to keep her heart beating long enough for doctors to assist.