Just wondering here. But I saw a guy on Discovery last night crash his helicopter in Hawaii. His partner was caught under it, and the guy lifted the 2000 pound machine off the guy… On camera.
Anyone else know similar verifiable stories? Or has it happened to you? Include feats of speed and/or strength?
When I was in junior high, every Friday in gym class we would have to run around the track all period. It was grueling for me. One day, as I was about to pass out, I somehow hit a stride that had me leaping at great speed with virtually no effort.
Damned if I can remember how to move like that again. Maybe I hallucinated – which would make this an unverifiable story.
I saw a guy on key west pick up a fridge and balance it on his face with a full wine glass on top without spilling it.
He was odd. I gave him a dollar.
My grandmother lifted the front end of a car when it hit my uncle. And my grandmother was a -tiny- woman. These things really do happen.
According to my pal, there is a verified case of a man in Africa who held up ten - hundred tons of rock, replacing a mine beam during a partial collapse. He survive, but is supposed to have ruined his back from the strain. He did save some people, though. 
When my Dad was commercial fishing in Alaska one of the crewmembers fell overboard.
Two other crew members got ahold of him by his raingear but struggled with all their might to pull him up over the rail onto the deck.
My father ran over,grabbed him with one hand (other hand holding the seine so he wouldn’t go in also) by the collar and yaked him aboard and stood him upright, to the astonishment of all aboard. BTW when he got ahold of him the others let go so he did this by himself.
This was years ago but every now and again the other crew members still tell the story…
Ahhh, the fabled runners high. I had that happen to me once at the end of a three-mile run and was able to sprint the last couple hundred yards without even feeling my legs. It’s a very weird feeling, no? Kind of giddy and detached and highly focused all at once.
Last year, my kid (who was barely one at the time) was farting around with the bookcase in the front room. I watched it start to fall on him like some slo-mo horror clip and was able to dart in and push it back up one-handed while I snatched him up with the other. I don’t know that it was actually superhuman strength, because it really didn’t feel like anything at the time, but I did have a nice sprained shoulder to show for it once the shock wore off.
See the speed thing is something that really gets me. Someone who seemingly has no reaction time, all of a sudden is lightning fast. Case in Point, having a pint with an old friend a few months back, I accidently tipped the - empty- ashtray off the bar. It was snagged, and put right back where it was in what seemed like a half second. And to his amazement he said, ‘Damn! How’d I do that?’
which makes me believe it is a reflex.
When I was about eight years old, I was helping my grandfather clean leaves out of his basement window wells. He lowered me into one and I was immediately attacked by an angry swarm of yellow jackets, stinging me furiously. According to my grandfather, the most honest man I have ever known, I jumped out of the window well and over his 5’4" body, landing on the ground behind him where I started to roll around, screaming. He figured the whole distance I jumped was around 8 feet. And I’m not exactly a big guy nor was I a big kid.
I vividly remember this episode, of course, which has rendered me utterly terrified of stinging insects. I remember seeing them come into focus and land on my leg, sting, then fly away. They looked like they were about ten inches long. I remember seeing them sting me, then the next thing I knew I was on the ground rolling around.
Was his name Big Bad John, by any chance? Everybody knew ya didn’t give no lip to Big John.
Was 11 years old at camp when the folks in my cabin pinned a kid and tickled him 'til he cried. Curiously, this was not done out of the slightest bit of malice, but sheer boredom.
Then turned on another kid who they tickled til he peed.
Then they turned on me.
I dislike being tickled and the idea that I’d be pinned and tickled without mercy was simply not going to happen if I could help it. But in seconds, I had four kids holding me down – one kneeling on each limb – probably about 240 lbs of kids with leverage against 60 lbs worth of me with none. And the tickling commenced.
I struggled pretty hard and after 10 seconds or so, I wrenched so violently to the left that I launched the kid on my right arm over the head of the kid on my left. The flying kid hit the wall with a thud I still remember quite clearly.
The kid was all right, but his eyes were as wide as frisbees and everyone in the room was stunned into silence. An older kid immediately suggested we all find a new game to play, which we did.
(Don’t know if that qualifies as “superhuman,” but it sure seemed so at the time.)
I think a more interesting question would be: How much stronger does an adrenaline rush make a person?
(For instance, if one can bench 350 lbs., how much can one bench in an adrenaline rush?)
My stepfather flipped an MG convertible, back in the 1960s. His dad, who had been following in another car, picked up the MG by one side high enough for my stepfather to scramble out from under it.
It’s happened to me at least twice.
#1) I was involved in a car crash where the impact was on the passenger (my) side of the vehicle. The entire thing must have taken 10 seconds but I witnessed it in slower than slow motion.
During what seemed like a lifetime of that car crushing, twisting, and crunching all I know is that I had a feeling of absolute horror for staying in the car any longer. The instant we stopped moving I opened up my door and bolted from the car.
During the investigation, and the next day at the junkyard we tried like hell to open that door but it was impossible. The impact had crushed it but everybody that witnessed the wreck saw me go out that door.
#2) Running for my life one time I jumped over a 6’ wooden fence, one leap clear over the top with plenty of space to spare. I did not touch the fence in any way and jumped it straight ahead while running at full speed.
This time nothing was in slow motion and I didn’t even “try” to do it. All I was trying to do was get away. (I may or may not have been breaking the law at the time so all I can say is that I really wanted to be over that fence in the worst way)
It just happened to be in a group of people that were also running at the time and they witnessed it. I didn’t even think about it until later as the other guys would not stop talking about it. Later on when I tried to do it again I decided that it was a freak thing like the car wreck.
It happens.
JH
When I was about 5, my younger sister managed to knock over a large old water heater (disconnected) which landed on her. The only reason she wasn’t killed was that a pipe sticking out from the heater hit the ground and prevented the heater from completely crushing her. My mother (not a large woman) picked the water heater up off of her, then off to the hospital we went. My sister got out of the affair with only a broken clavicle, and 2 large men removed the water heater from the basement the next day.
Note that when any sort of leverage is involved, the person in question is not moving the full weight of the item. If the Discovery program in mention is the same one I saw, then the man in the OP is not lifting a 2000-lbm chopper completely off the ground, he’s levering it up. There’s a profound difference in actual weight lifted there - depending on balance and the length of the lever-arm, it could be as little as a few hundred pounds.
I have seen three instances of superhuman-seeming strength. Once, I saw a 15-year old tear a Master lock off of a locker like nothing. He didn’t break the lock, but he tore the entire lock assembly out, and seemed very surprised by it.
I saw a 22-year old man dent a quarter-inch thick steel plate with his head, on a dare. He also punched an empty restaurant CO2 tank so hard he dented it.
Once, little tiny 118 pound me dented a steel elevator door by punching it. I didn’t even bruise my hand, either. At the time, I was angry enough to have killed someone in cold blood. Thankfully, it was only the elevator. But someday…
Una
I don’t know if this exactly counts, but I broke a pair of pliers pushing on them with one arm.
I don’t know that it’s sufficient to explain all of these instances, but a large part of your strength is due to your central nervous system rather than your muscles. That’s why it’s possible to make strength gains without growing larger muscles, and also why normal people can do these amazing feats under extreme duress.
i don’t know if this is an example of superhuman strength or just sheer determination, but it goes as follows; my strength coach for my college football team who is also a body builder use to compete in competitions in the early '90s. He was participating in the dead lift in the competition and was lifting nearly 700 to 800 pounds for his second lift, half way through the lift his entire right bicep rips apart and proceeds to roll up his arm, amazingly he finished the lift somehow. I know this for a fact because he showed it to us upon the first day of strength training to warn us what could happen.
Yeah, nervous system fail safes keep your muscles and skeletal system from pushing too hard. Golgi Organ or something. (can’t remember if that is what it was or not, too tired to look it up) I have heard that in these instances of extreme strength the muscle will push up through the fascia causing strange deformities and sometimes serious damage.
It is amazing sometimes on the feats of strength done in times of stress.
I was in a car wreck one where I bashed in the front windsheild with my forhead. After it was all said and done I didn’t even have so much a a bruise or a bump on my head. Which is amazing if you could of seen how f’d up this windsheild was.