The very nature of survival stories tends to be illogical. Human survival reaches an unprecedented height only when the body is almost at a “yielding and losing” threshold position. It happens because the body is under immense pressure. At those moments when, technically speaking, hope seems close to nil. Stories of survival do not merely mean survival; they include resilience, resourcefulness, and will to survive. History shows many examples of impossible feats at different times. These feats ensured survival in life-and-death situations. Here are seven unbelievable survival stories. They showcase human spirits overcoming the most unimaginable adversities.

1. The Incredible Aron Ralston: Man Trapped in Canyon for 127 Hours

Of the worst survival stories, there was one concerning Aron Ralston, an American mountaineer who, after a routine hiking trip, had to make impossible choices. In April 2003, Ralston was solitary hiking in the remote Blue John Canyon of Utah when the 800-plus-pound boulder he grabbed, while walking down, shifted and then pinned his right arm against the wall of the canyon.

He had no means to call for help, and once he realized nobody was coming for him, he was faced with the terrible reality that he was in the middle of nowhere, without food or water, with no exit. On the fifth day of attempting to free himself-and drastically deteriorating in his physical condition-he made the final decision: he cut his own arm off with a blunt pocket knife.

Against such excruciating pain and extreme risk, Ralston freed himself and, with his one arm, hiked out of the canyon in order to seek help. He survived not by brute determination but because of the will to live. His incredible true-to-life story was dramatized in the movie 127 Hours showcasing his courage, resourcefulness, and resistance capability.

 2. The Lost Expedition of Sir Ernest Shackleton

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s is one of those great survival tales in a leadership role to the highest degree of misfortune. In 1914, Shackleton and 27 men undertook an enterprise-to cross Antarctica-under the name the Endurance Expedition. Unfortunately, they fell into the thick pack ice of the Weddell Sea, which certainly placed them within one of the inhospitable areas on Earth.

This is because, for several months, the crew fought against freezing temperatures, starvation, and depression. With the ship being gradually squeezed by the ice, Shackleton ordered abandoning vessel to seek rescue. After an overland trek over extremely bad terrain and on scant rations some distance away, Shackleton and a few men made a perilous journey in search of aid. They finally reached a very remote whaling station on South Georgia Island and from there arranged a rescue that brought everyone home.

Though highly improbable, each and every member of Shackleton’s expedition team emerged alive from this disaster. It is as a result of the leadership and determination put in by Shackleton that he did not lose even one of his men; however, their survival is rated as one of the most remarkable feats of endurance and human spirit to have ever been experienced in all of exploration history.

3. The Survival of Alexander Selkirk: The Inspiration for Robinson Crusoe

Long before the character of Robinson Crusoe hijacked the imagination of every reader globally, a story somewhat similar to that about a person on a deserted island formed the backstory itself. As far back as the year 1704, Alexander Selkirk was left on some uninhabited desolation deep within the South Pacific following certain complaints raised by him against the captain. He alone used to live there and survived through his wit and the skills regarding survival instincts that he had possessed.

Without the sight of any person, Selkirk was to make a hut for himself, hunt for food, and even prepared his own clothes out of animal hides. The succeeding four years he would be experiencing loneliness, physical hardship, and the ever-present challenge of finding sufficient food and fresh water. Rarely is anybody’s fortitude tested as his was, and yet he lived until he was finally rescued by a passing British ship.

After being written down, his story is believed to have inspired that great writer of the novel Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe even today. The survival of Alexander Selkirk against all those various odds stands tall as a living testimony to what human spirit is made for with regards to enduring loneliness and adversity.

 4. Miraculous Survival of Andes Plane Crash Survivors

One of the most life-chilling survival stories in the history of the world is the plane crash that happened amidst the Andes Mountains in the year 1972. In the incident, a Uruguayan rugby team, together with their friends and families, was travelling to Chile aboard an airplane that crashed midway amidst the Andes thus leaving them stranded above 12,000 feet into the mountains.

There was no food at all inside the remains of the plane and due to the lack of any emergency tools for help and communication, the survivors then fully knew how really horrifying their case was. Majority of the passengers died in the following days of the crash because of cold temperature, injury and for not having food at all. At last, when things got worse and they were not alone, survivors reached this painfully inhumane conclusion-that for them to survive, they would have to eat the corpses of the dead passengers.

For over two months, survivors endured sub-freezing temperatures and hunger coupled with the psychological trauma associated with knowing their situation.  Several weeks into the unbearable situation, two of the survivors hiked out of the mountains looking for help and, subsequently, the remaining survivors were rescued; all but 16 of the passengers survived.

The survival of the Andes crash survivors sent an electrifying reminder of the will to hold on when the odds were insurmountable, or how far humans would go just to stay alive.

 5. The Miraculous Survival of Juliane Koepcke: An Experience in the Amazon Rainforest

In 1971, a commercial flight over the Amazon was struck by lightning and disintegrated, sending 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke and her mother plunging upwards of two miles into dense jungle strapped to her seat.

She had a fractured collarbone and a laceration on her leg, hence survived the fall. Utterly abandoned in one of the most inaccessible and dangerous nooks of the world, she did not give up: no food and without a map, just a little water, Juliane hacks her way out through dangerous jungle for nine days, combats physical and mental exhaustion.

It was an ironic coincidence and strong-willed resolution that she fell upon a few loggers who helped her seek medical attention. Juliane’s is a story of survival-and the will it takes to keep life going, in extraordinary isolation and adversity.

 6. The Story of Tami Oldham Ashcraft: Adrift in the Middle of the Pacific Ocean

In 1983, Tami Oldham Ashcraft and her fiancé Richard Sharp set off by sea from Tahiti to San Diego. The two found themselves in the middle of Hurricane Raymond, which hurled their vessel, the Aloha, in such a manner that the boat sustained serious damage, sending Tami unconscious until she awoke. She was horrified to find Richard was thrown overboard, presumed dead.

Alone, in the middle of the Pacific, adrift aboard a crippled yacht with little hope of rescue, she never lost her cool. Cool-headed and composed, desperate to survive, she battled to exploit her experience of sailing to repair the yacht and distribute supplies through hazardous waters. She managed to keep herself alive for 41 days, lone-sailing by her dexterity and resilience.

Later, she was rescued by a Japanese ship after having lost all her hope. This is, all in all, one of those tales about the survival of humankind from incredibly inconceivable losses and solitary existence.

7. The Impossible Survival of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates in the Peruvian Andes

In 1985, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates made the first ascent of the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. The climb had been immensely exhausting, and shortly after reaching the summit, things started to go downhill: Simpson fell, breaking his leg, thus finding himself in an impossible situation that would leave two men stranded in one of Earth’s most hazardous environments.

In turn, Yates tried to save Simpson by going down the mountain on ropes; however, as it was going further, Simpson was going worse and worse, so after some moment, Yates made that terrible choice: he “believed he was dead-cut the rope and went alone, never thinking Simpson might actually survive”; nevertheless, against all expectations, he was not yet dead.

He survived several days of crawling in frozen conditions and incredibly managed to find his way back to base camp for a rescue. It’s in the connection between the two climbers, and in the will to live by both in conditions so extreme, that one of the most unbelievable survival stories ever gets told.

These seven stories are but glimpses into the amazing aptitude of the human spirit to face isolation, physical injury, or just about insurmountable odds in which these persons proved that will to live is often not enough, yet choices, strength in the face of despair, and indomitable determination to survive.