Joshua Abraham NortonA San Franciscan declared himself Emperor of the United States and became beloved.8 min / Easy Kaspar HauserA mysterious youth appeared in Nuremberg with a story that fascinated Europe.9 min / Medium Grigori RasputinA Siberian mystic gained influence in imperial Russia and became legend.10 min / Medium Phineas GageA railway injury made him central to stories about personality and the brain.8 min / Easy Timothy DexterAn eccentric businessman made absurd trades that somehow became profitable.7 min / Easy Simeon StylitesAn ascetic saint spent decades living atop a pillar.7 min / Easy DiogenesA philosopher turned radical simplicity into performance, insult, and legend.8 min / Easy Sarah WinchesterAn heiress and builder became tied to a maze-like mansion and ghost lore.8 min / Easy Tycho BraheA brilliant astronomer lived with a metal nose, an island observatory, and court drama.8 min / Easy Gregor MacGregorA Scottish adventurer sold settlers on a country that did not exist.8 min / Easy IshiThe last known member of the Yahi entered public life in early twentieth-century California.9 min / Medium Joseph MerrickA Victorian man's medical condition and dignity became widely remembered.8 min / Medium Hiroo OnodaA Japanese soldier continued wartime resistance for decades after World War II.8 min / Easy Teruo NakamuraA soldier remained in hiding until 1974, long after the war ended.7 min / Easy Juliane KoepckeA teenager survived a plane breakup and walked out of the Amazon rainforest.8 min / Easy Violet JessopAn ocean liner stewardess survived disasters on multiple sister ships.7 min / Easy Roy SullivanA park ranger survived being struck by lightning seven times.7 min / Easy Blanche MonnierA French woman was secretly confined for decades in a family home.8 min / Medium Jeanne de ClissonA noblewoman became a feared privateer after her husband's execution.7 min / Easy Count of St. GermainAn enigmatic European adventurer inspired legends of immortality and secret knowledge.8 min / Easy Julie d'AubignyA singer and swordswoman led a life that reads like historical fiction.8 min / Easy Hetty GreenA famously frugal financier became known as the Witch of Wall Street.7 min / Easy Srinivasa RamanujanA largely self-taught mathematician produced astonishing formulas and collaborations.9 min / Medium Mary AnningA fossil hunter changed paleontology despite class and gender barriers.8 min / Easy Hedy LamarrA film star also co-invented a frequency-hopping communication system.8 min / Easy Daniel TammetAn autistic savant became known for language learning and numerical memory.7 min / Easy Kim PeekA savant with extraordinary memory inspired parts of Rain Man.7 min / Easy Michel LotitoA performer became famous for eating unusual objects, including parts of aircraft.7 min / Easy TarrareAn eighteenth-century performer and soldier was known for extreme appetite.8 min / Medium Stanislav PetrovA Soviet officer's judgment helped prevent a possible nuclear escalation.7 min / Easy Ada BlackjackAn Inupiat seamstress survived alone on a remote Arctic island after an ill-fated expedition.8 min / Easy Peter FreuchenA Danish explorer, resistance member, author, and game-show winner lived an unusually wide-ranging life.8 min / Easy Jeanne BaretDisguised as a man aboard a French expedition, she became the first woman known to circumnavigate the globe.8 min / Easy Annie Edson TaylorA schoolteacher became the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel.7 min / Easy Mary ToftAn eighteenth-century English woman convinced physicians that she had given birth to rabbits.8 min / Easy Princess CarabooA young Englishwoman persuaded a town that she was an exotic princess from a distant island.7 min / Easy George PsalmanazarA European impostor invented an identity, language, and elaborate description of an imaginary Formosa.8 min / Easy William BucklandA pioneering geologist became nearly as famous for eccentric experiments and unusual meals as for his science.8 min / Easy Tsutomu YamaguchiA Japanese engineer survived both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.8 min / Medium Nicholas AlkemadeA Royal Air Force gunner survived a fall of thousands of meters without a parachute.7 min / Easy Vesna VulovicA flight attendant survived the highest fall without a parachute recorded by Guinness World Records.7 min / Easy Percy FawcettA British explorer disappeared in the Amazon while searching for a civilization he called the Lost City of Z.9 min / Medium Zheng Yi SaoA former courtesan commanded a vast pirate confederation in the South China Sea.9 min / Easy