We’ve all heard of being in the right place at the right time, but there are a few people who have a talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or being in the exact right place but leaving just before the right time. Although most people believe they make their own luck, you can’t help feeling that in a lot of cases, bad luck came through no fault of their own. So, if you’re having a bad day or feeling particularly unlucky, check out the following tales of woe and you just might find yourself feeling pretty fortunate.
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Apple Co-Founder Passed Up Billions Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Ron Wayne……..wait, who? Yes, there was actually a third co-founder of Apple Computers. Ron Wayne (above center) was an Atari colleague of Wozniak’s when they were in their 20s. It was Wayne who typed up the very first Apple contract, describing each man’s role in the company and their cut of the shares: Jobs (45%), Wozniak (45%) and Wayne (10%). Wayne even created the first Apple logo. Just 12 days later, he called it quits. He knew he didn’t quite fit in with the other boy geniuses and didn’t see a place for himself. He sold back his shares for a total of $2,300. Those shares, if Wayne had held onto them for the past 40+ years would now be close to $100 billion. |
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The Only Person Hit By a Meteorite On Nov. 30, 1954, Alabama resident Ann Hodges became the first and only person to ever be struck by a falling meteorite. The 8½-pound space rock burned across a clear blue sky before crashing through Hodges roof, bouncing off a radio, and striking her in the hip as she napped on her couch. The odds of a meteorite striking a populated place — let alone an individual — are staggeringly remote. Although she only suffered a nasty bruise from the incident, it thrust Hodges and her husband into the media spotlight. Overcome by the mob of people gathered outside her house, Hodges was transferred to a hospital to recover. Next came a nasty court battle with her landlord, who claimed the famous space rock was hers because she owned the house. Hodges eventually won the lawsuit, but never found a buyer for what she and her husband had hoped would be a valuable object. Instead, Hodges had a nervous breakdown, divorced her husband, and died at age 52 in a nursing home. The meteorite remains on display in the Alabama Museum of Natural History. |
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Lost 5 Homes in 5 Hurricanes Melanie Martinez is lucky to be alive. In 2012, she, her husband, and her elderly mother were trapped in their attic as the storm surge from Hurricane Isaac flooded their home south of New Orleans. They were finally rescued, along with their 5 cats and 3 dogs. Yet, being alive isn’t the only lucky thing about Martinez. She has lost 5 separate houses to 5 separate hurricanes and survived each hurricane: Betsy (1965), Juan (1985), George (1998), Katrina (2005) and Isaac (2012). To add insult to injury, Martinez’s last house was selected for a $20,000 makeover by the A&E reality show Hideous Houses, which installed a new kitchen, new appliances, and a new sewing room just for Martinez. The transformation was aired a few weeks before the arrival of Hurricane Isaac. Needless to say, it's all gone now. When asked why she continued to live in that spot, she said she was born there and it’s home. Now, however, the family says they want to move to a house on a hill. |
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The Only Villager Who Didn’t Chip In On a Winning Lottery Ticket Every Christmas, in the small Spanish farming town of Sodeto, a group of homeowners go door-to-door selling chances to get in on a lottery ticket as a fundraiser for community events. The special Christmas lottery — called El Gordo (the fat one) — delivers the single biggest payoff of the year. It’s also one of the world’s oldest continuous lotteries, first held in 1812. In 2011, the jackpot was up to $950 million, the biggest one ever. Even so, some residents were reluctant to spring for the $26 ticket, since Spain was in the depths of a crippling economic recession plus a prolonged drought. Since the money went for a good cause, each of the 70 families in town chipped in, buying a portion of a ticket — all except for one man. Filmmaker Costis Mitsotakis lived outside of town in an old barn he was renovating and the homemaker's association ladies didn't make it out that year. No big deal, right? Wrong. Defying the incredible odds, Sodeto hit the jackpot, and each of the village families walked away with prize money ranging from $130,000 on the low end to several millions on the high end. Mitsotakis, however, was quickly dubbed “the world’s unluckiest man.” Surprisingly, he took it all in stride because he knew that the villagers who won were from families struggling with heavy debt. |
