In 1823, frontiersman Hugh Glass was mauled by a grizzly bear and abandoned by his expedition team. With a shattered leg, deep wounds, and no weapons, Glass crawled and limped over 200 miles through the wilderness to survive driven by pain, rage, and sheer will. This is the true story behind the movie "The Revenant". Forget Hollywood the real tale is far more brutal.

In 1912, the Russian ship St. Anna became trapped over 1,000 km from land. For nearly two years, it drifted through the Arctic as the crew faced scurvy, starvation, and total isolation.

One man made a desperate 500 km journey across the ice to find help. Only two men survived. The rest were never seen again.

This is the haunting true story of the Brusilov Expedition—one of the Arctic’s greatest survival mysteries.

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In 1864, the Grafton and the Invercauld were wrecked on opposite ends of Auckland Island, a desolate patch of land in the sub-Antarctic. Stranded just miles apart, the two crews fought to survive the same brutal environment—but in total ignorance of each other’s presence.

What followed was a stunning divergence in fate. One crew built shelter, rationed supplies, and held together. The other descended into disorder, starvation, and death.

This is the true story of two parallel disasters—and the haunting question of what made the difference between survival and ruin.

Survival was his only option. Marooned in 1704, Alexander Selkirk endured four years alone on a Pacific island — a true story that would later inspire Robinson Crusoe.This is the harrowing tale of what it means to survive not just nature... but time, silence, and solitude. From chasing goats by hand to befriending feral cats for protection, Selkirk didn’t just endure the island — he was transformed by it.Watch as we uncover one of the most incredible real-life survival stories in history.🔔 Subscribe for more survival history and true shipwreck stories.

In 1741, HMS Wager wrecked off the remote coast of Patagonia. Stranded and starving, the crew faced not just the elements—but each other. When leadership collapsed, a mutiny split the survivors. Some followed Captain David Cheap. Others followed gunner John Bulkeley. What happened next would challenge the laws of command, loyalty, and survival.

This episode unpacks one of the most brutal and overlooked naval disasters in British history—where the greatest threat came after the shipwreck.

In 1513, an Ottoman admiral drew a map that shouldn’t exist.

The Piri Reis Map charts parts of South America, Africa—and possibly even Antarctica—centuries before they were officially discovered. Based on lost sources and ancient knowledge, the map has baffled historians, geographers, and conspiracy theorists alike. How could a 16th-century sailor map lands no one had explored? Was it guesswork, ancient science... or something deliberately erased from history?

In this episode of Mysteries and Backstories, we unravel one of the strangest cartographic enigmas ever found. Dive into the story of a map that defies explanation—and the secrets that may have died with it.

When the USS Jeannette was crushed by Arctic ice, her crew didn’t just face shipwreck—they faced a frozen death sentence. Trapped in the polar sea for nearly two years, the men set out on foot across hundreds of miles of ice and Siberian wilderness, dragging their boats and dwindling supplies behind them. What began as a bold expedition ended in hunger, madness, and a desperate fight to survive.

In this episode of Mysteries and Backstories, we follow the tragic voyage of the USS Jeannette—a tale of endurance, leadership, and loss in one of the most brutal environments on Earth. From the moment the ship was locked in ice to the final, fatal march across the tundra, every step was a battle against impossible odds.

If you thought Shackleton had it bad… you haven’t heard this story.