Tough Workday? Bad Roll on Roulette? See Our Top 10 Unluckiest People.

Bad day? Well, it can’t be worse than what these Americans have been through! 

Always complaining that you’ve got the worst of luck? Do things never seem to go your way? 

Do you even believe that there’s such a thing as luck? If you do, you’re not alone. Turns out that the majority (68%) of Americans believe in it, and half (51%) admit to being superstitious! 

Whether you believe in superstitions and luck or not, life can often throw some curveballs at us, and with 2020 going down in history as one of the worst years, we thought we’d help the public gain a bit of perspective, by compiling a list of America’s unluckiest citizens. 

As an online casino bonuses platform, we have an invested interest in the concept of ‘luck’, but even we couldn’t have helped turn these poor people’s fortunes around! 

1. Ivan Lester McGuire – 35-year-old McGuire, a parachutist, and videographer fell 10,500 feet to his death after remembering his camera but forgetting his parachute.

2. Melanie Martinez – Martinez, unfortunately, lost four houses to hurricanes. Hurricane Betsy in 1965, Juan in 1985, George in 1998 and Katrina in 2005. Martinez’s luck turned around long enough to win a home makeover until in 2012, Hurricane Isaac destroyed her fifth house.

3. Ann Hodges – On November 30, 1954, Hodges was taking a nap when a meteorite crashed through her roof, hit her radio, and then her hip. The meteorite weighed 8.5 pounds and is still on display in a museum to this day.

4. Ronald Wayne – The Apple co-founder sold his 10% share of Apple Computers after just 12 days of working with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Wayne was concerned that any debt incurred would fall on him, should he have stayed at Apple. If he kept his shares, he would now be worth more than $94 billion.

5. Roy Sullivan – Born in 1912 and joining the Civilian Conservation Corps as a Park Ranger in 1936, Sullivan was accustomed to the outdoors. During his lifetime, Sullivan was struck by lightning a total of seven times, with Sullivan citing the first strike as being his worst.

6. Erik Norrie – Fisherman Erik Norrie lost part of his leg in front of his wife, four daughters, and father-in-law whilst fishing in the Bahamas. This wasn’t Norrie’s only brush with death having previously struck by lightning, bitten by rattlesnakes, and even being punched by monkeys.

7. John Wade Agan – Another survivor of a lightning strike, Wade has also been bitten by two different snakes (and if that wasn’t terrifying enough, it was at the same time!) and has been stabbed in the chest with a butchers’ knife. The taxi driver has also been previously robbed at gunpoint whilst driving his taxi, the offenders attacked him and stuffed him in his trunk after beating him.

8. Robert Todd Lincoln – lawyer, businessman, politician, son of President Abraham Lincoln, and potentially the worst person to watch you speak publicly. Robert Todd Lincoln was present at the assassinations of his father, as well as Presidents Garfield and McKinley respectively.

9. Jeanne Rogers – Where should we start? With the fact that Jeanne once had to drive to a veterinarian to get a bat removed from her thick hair, or that when in a public swimming pool managed to ‘pants’ everyone’s favorite TV star, Mr. Rogers, as they both tried to climb out the pool to respond to the call of ‘Rogers’ over the tannoy. Jeanne also once slipped and fell from a cruise ship, and then watched her friend slip and knock themselves unconscious in an attempt to rescue her. Despite a mugging, strangulation, and being struck by lightning twice, she survived it all.

10. Henry Ziegland – Ziegland was shot during a family altercation. The bullet grazed him and got stuck in a nearby tree. Very lucky! That is, until decades later, he tried to remove the tree with dynamite, causing the bullet to fire out, killing him.

Our recent survey on American superstitious beliefs also discovered that the most popular superstition Americans have is ‘touching wood’, with more than a quarter (27%) stating they regularly touch wood when seeking a good outcome. A fifth (19%) also said they will always avoid walking under ladders, so as not to tempt bad fate, and 4% said they will avoid doing anything of consequence on Friday 13th!

Gary Speck, Research Manager of NJNoDeposit.com, said,

“There’s definitely no denying that these people haven’t had the best of luck in their lifetimes, it certainly puts things into perspective! Regardless, 2020 hasn’t been a good year for the majority of people, but hopefully, if we continue to touch wood and avoid walking underneath ladders, 2021 will be more fortuitous for us all!”