Short Stuff: The Amazing Tale of Juliane Koepcke | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff I'm. Josh there's Chuck and Jerry sitting in. for Dave which makes this the. traditional arrangement for short stuff. that's right A Tale of survival of a. young German woman yeah um I don't know. why but Julian kupka um sorted making. the rounds like a year ago and since. then everybody's written on her story. cuz it's an amazing story but I couldn't.

figure out what it was that set it off I. heard about her on like some quora. thread that was suggested to me um and I. don't know if that's the one that kicked. it off or not but um she's made the. rounds she may have just opened up her. business no no I don't think so because. she released a memoir in but that was. back in 2011 so I don't know what. happened but she suddenly became part of. the Zeitgeist and I understand why for. two reasons one Zeitgeist is a German. word and she was a German National by.

birth and secondly um the story is just. so frankly amazing that everybody should. know. it yeah for sure uh there's a great. Veron Herzog documentary about it uh. that's a pretty quick watch for such a. harrowing story but as all things forer. Herzog I highly recommend it it's called. Wings of Hope or wings of hope it's. really good uh so she was uh a young. woman that was raised in the jungle uh. her dad was a zoologist and her mom was.

an ornithologist and she was raised in. the jungles of Peru because they were. they were researchers in the Amazon and. she sort of grew up with this um uh I. mean I think kind of idilic Life of you. know being this nature girl living in. the jungle she said she went to the. school of the Jungle and it was a really. unique upbringing for a young German. woman yeah I mean her parents were like. hardcore they they were in Germany they. met in Germany they were like where's a. place that's just so biodiverse it's not.

really on the map and they went there. and they founded a research station. called panguana um and that place is. still there today it's a large Nature. Preserve now but her parents founded. that and um she was raised there. starting in her tween I believe uh and. then eventually moved on to private. school in Lima but um yeah in between. that time like she learned all the. animals she learned what sounds they. made she learned how to avoid who she. basically just learned how to survive in.

The Jungle which really set her up. nicely for one of the most significant. events in her young life that came later. yeah it was a very sad event uh. Christmas Eve 1971 she was a 17-year-old. she was on a flight uh with her mom and. looking to go celebrate Christmas with. Dad and this flight turned really scary. uh there was a very bad storm and one of. the um sort of one of the few times. where you can point to an actual a plane.

being struck by lightning in the air. hasn't happened that much I think this. one's regarded as kind of the worst of. of all the times that's happened and. with about 20 minutes to go in the. flight this plane is hit and all of a. sudden uh plummeting toward the ground. with 92 people on board yeah what's sad. is apparently her mom was not a fan of. flying she found it. unnatural um and the before it got hit. by lightning it had started to hit some. horri turbulence like luggage was.

falling down on people from overhead and. her mom said um she's like I hope I hope. this goes okay so when the when the. plane did start to break up um. apparently Julianne heard her mom say. now it's all over so that's pretty. horrible right this was not just a. regular plane crash they were at 10,000. ft and the plane broke up so thoroughly. that julieanne said that essentially she. didn't leave the plane the plane left me. she was still strapped to the bench seat.

um that she had been sitting next to her. mother in and but all of a sudden it was. just her her mother and the other. passenger I guess were just sucked right. out of their seats and she found herself. totally alone 10,000 ft in the air. headed straight down toward Earth yeah. just hurdling toward the ground um she. said that uh and this is the only thing. that saved our life basically was this. this really thick jungle canopy and she. said she remembers literally remembers. being in the air falling toward the.

ground and seeing that the Treetops look. like heads of broccoli next thing you. know she wakes up uh on the ground she's. alive uh she's got a broken collar bone. she's concussed cut up pretty badly her. got kind of you know beat in the face. obviously so one eye was swollen shut so. she's in bad shape kind of going in and. out of Consciousness but eventually. wakes up uh she had pretty poor eyesight. and was missing her glasses which was no. good and she would soon learn um that.

she was the only Survivor out of the 92. passengers and crew yeah I say we take a. break and come back because as bad as. falling out of the sky two miles down. and surviving alone in the Amazon is it. actually just went from bad to worse for. her at this point. [Music].

so you said um Flight 508 is considered. the worst lightning strike disaster in. aviation history 91 of the 92 people on. board died including her mother um at. this time though when she' landed. miraculously survived falling 2 miles um. Down to Earth from midair she didn't.

know this so she started looking. immediately for her mother she spent the. first day looking for her mom looking. for anybody really but in particular her. mom and she didn't find anything um I. don't know what day it was I think. perhaps the fourth day of walking around. in the Amazon I guess we can say she. walked by herself in the Amazon uh. surviving uh for 11 days and day four. she came around the bend and found a a. really grizzly piece of wreckage that I.

can't imagine seeing this yeah this was. um two men and a woman uh who landed. head first uh so forcefully that they. were buried 3 feet into the ground and. this is a part I don't quite get she. checked the feet to see if it was her. mother and saw that the toenails were. painted so she knew it wasn't but and. I'm not nickp picking she was clearly. traumatized but I thought it her mom got. ripped apart or ripped out of the seat. next to her on the bench and so she.

wouldn't be strapped into another bench. but I guess that's nitpicky yeah I know. I had the exact same thought and I. chocked it up to trauma too or just. maybe hope or something like that I. don't know sure yeah but but yeah yeah I. mean three people never in there so I'm. not judging exactly but I mean imagine. seeing three people still strapped to. their bench seat all head first into the. ground with their legs sticking up. that's just I just can't imagine that. stuff like that actually happens. sometimes in the world and this poor.

girl saw that on day four of wandering. around the Amazon totally lost but like. we said she was. um just about as prepared for this. experience as a person can be from her. upbringing and she remembered after a. while like okay what did I learn as a. kid about living in the jungle and one. of the things that came to her was her. father telling her if you're ever lost. in the jungle find water and just follow. it one way or the other because.

eventually you're going to find humans. living around that. water totally and that's a smart rule of. thumb period uh if you're ever you know. lost in the woods or something and at. the very least you have some water uh. and she lived on that water cuz she. didn't have much food she had a little. bit of candy uh it was a wet season. there so there wasn't like loow hanging. fruit literally that she could get a. hold of uh it was obviously because it. was wet season it was super hot super. humid.

uh but she did get some water from that. river which kept her alive and like you. said for 11 days she trod that Creek. then stream then it became bigger into a. river uh eventually she was basically at. the point where she had given up hope. and she was you know kind of succumbing. and to the idea that she might die and. she saw a boat on the riverbank and. thought it was a mirage but she went. over and touched it uh to make sure it. was real followed a path from that boat. to a shack where where she found some.

Forest workers who immediately were like. you know great they gave her some uh. fruit and started taking care of her and. taking care of her wounds right away. yeah I think when she came in the shack. their famous quote was what the what. yeah this this was gross I can't. remember which um article I think it. might have been from The New York Times. article by um a guy named. fron litz um and he said that they. poured gasoline on her wounds that had. maggot sprouting from it like asparagus.

tips I mean she was in bad shape Chuck. just put yourself in this girl's mind. for a second you you don't need glasses. do you just like some reading glasses. maybe yeah reading glasses you so you've. never needed glasses except to read one. of the worst things that can happen to. you if you wear glasses and are. significantly nearsighted in particular. is to lose those classes this girl. wandered around the Amazon for 11 days. nearsighted without her glasses and that. was one of the least of her concerns at.

that time I just when I think about that. it it just sends a chill down my spine. because it's so awful to not be able to. see like that yeah I imagine um so she. you know she survived she got flown to. safety she got reunited with her father. uh the the real obviously huge tragedy. here for her personally and her for her. father was they lost their mother and. wife and so you know she comes back home. you know obviously elated to be saved. but um instantly mourning her mom's loss.

uh she avoided the media um and that's. why I think she maybe didn't you know. was open for business more recently. because she very famously avoided the. media except for verer Herzog uh who was. supposed to be on that flight uh because. he was scouting stuff for either movie. or documentary I couldn't tell which and. he reached out you know he's very moved. by the story obviously because his close. connection and reached out to her and uh. I guess because of his uh Eastern.

European Heritage they might have bonded. or at least she trusted him and that's. when he made wings of Hope man it's just. not so yeah in that documentary. apparently he um got her to go back to. the wreckage site and there's still yeah. man plenty of wreckage just sitting. there in the jungle from that from that. plane crash because it crashed in such a. remote area there's just no way they. were ever going to remove it yeah it was. tough stuff she also talked to some of. the people who saved her it's really. amazing yeah I've got to see that then. it's not long you can watch on YouTube.

okay cool um there was something else. that I thought was really great about. her she apparently made one of those. deals with God or the universe or. whatever and said like if I make it. through this I promise to dedicate. myself to Nature and humanity and after. she was saved she made good on it she's. she's been she's used a lot of her. Spotlight to um to help drum up I guess. contributions and donations to preserve. the am. in particular to preserve um panguana.

the The Preserve appropriately enough it. started out I think around 445 acres and. it's grown to 4,000 plus because of her. just through private. fundraising I wonder if God was like Oh. I thought you were going to say like in. service of me um but that's cool like. that's that's good too right or but. first God said how are you. alive so um yeah one of the other sweet.

things I think about this is she. returned to panguana um she got her own. doctorate in biology she focused on bats. and um worked with her dad and then her. dad died in 2000 so she took over the. panguana biosphere Preserve in research. station and as far as I know still runs. the show there and she considers it her. Sanctuary just like it was for her. parents amazing I wonder if she has. shirts that says not that biosphere. amazing tale of survival I'll tell you.

that much buddy and does that mean short. stuff is up I would say so. sure stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts iHeart Radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite shows. [Music].