WARNING: Some of the images, videos, and information about sharks and shark attacks may not be for the squeamish. Proceed with caution. By the end of this list of most horrifying shark attacks, you are going to BE Roy Scheider in Jaws. From the "Real New Jersey Jaws" to the tragic killing of a young man on his honeymoon, this list has all of the horrors of shark attacks imaginable.
Shark attacks are pretty simple when you think about it - they happen wherever there is water and delicious people (unless this is Sharknado and then shark attacks can happen in your living room). Can we just finish this level before you bite our torso in half, buddy? But most of the time, shark attacks are a result of mistaken identity; the shark is looking for a juicy sea lion or seal and you look like a yummy blubbery treat in that wetsuit.
Why should you go snorkeling wearing chain mail or think twice about being a sailor? Because shark attacks are on the rise with an average of 60 per year in the U.S. Even though the odds are 1 in 11 million that you’ll be attacked by a shark, that’s 60 shark attacks too many if you ask us. The most horrific shark attacks usually involve maritime disasters - war is hell but even worse on the high seas - but there’s also the rogue shark who likes to go to the beach as much as we do. And in real life, there’s no Quint to munch on or Richard Dreyfuss to help us fend off that stone-cold eating-machine.
Shark attacks occur in deep water as well as shallow water, with some people miraculously surviving. Many, however, meet a tragic and violent end. There’s no stopping a great white unless you are Rodney Fox and you gouge its eyes out. So take in this shark attack information with caution. And probably not while at the beach. Or alone next to the pool at night where we’re pretty sure shark attacks are impossible. But if you see Tara Reid. Run.
http://www.ranker.com/list/shark-attacks/lisa-waugh,
Shirley Ann Durdin, 1985
Australia is a lovely place. A lovely, deadly place, and a hot spot for shark attacks. That’s a bad rap considering that Australia has as many shark attacks as Florida.
But it’s the shark attack that killed Shirley Ann Durdin that helped put Australia front and center in the shark attack stat box. Durdin was snorkeling in Peake Bay when she was viciously attacked in just seven feet of water. Her husband and children watched as the 20-foot great white tore her in two. The shark only left her torso behind, but before rescuers could reach the scene, it circled back and took that too.
David Peltier, 2001
10-year-old David Peltier was surfing at Sandbridge Beach when he was attacked in four feet of water on a sandbar. Peltier was with his dad and brothers when the shark attacked the boy, leaving a 17-inch gash and severing an artery in his leg. Peltier’s father hit the shark over the head until it released his son. The child was rushed to the hospital but later died from his wounds.
Heather Bodwell, 1994
Warning: Graphic and disturbing video.
Passengers on a boat in the Pacific, 300 miles east of Easter Island, decided to stop down and have a cool dip. Bodwell heard someone yell, “Shark!” and was bitten twice by the great white. It “chewed” off her right leg. “It didn’t hurt at all. It felt like a puppy chewing on your finger.” Wait? What?! The shark then shook her and then played tug of war with Bodwell’s rescuers on the boat.
Watch Bodwell’s calm account and actual video of the attack.
Check another crazy shark encounter here.
The Jersey Shore, Multiple Victims, 1916
This is not a funny story about the origin of gym, tan, laundry. The Real New Jersey Jaws chronicles a terrifying 10 days during a heatwave along the Jersey Shore. As thousands of tourists hugged the shoreline for some relief, the feeding frenzy began.
Charles Vansant was attacked during an evening swim. Charles Bruder was attacked five days later. Three more people, including a 12-year-old boy, were attacked at Matawan Creek, 30 miles north. Four of the shark attack victims died. Experts debated whether the attacks were made by a great white or bull shark.
USS Indianapolis, 1945
After an unescorted U.S. warship was torpedoed by the Japanese mid-way between the Leyte Gulf and Guam, the ship was split in two, sending 900 sailors into the Pacific. Sharks chewed through nearly 600 men in five days. Survivor Woody James later recounted, “The sharks were around, hundreds of them… Everything would be quiet and then you’d hear somebody scream and you knew a shark had got him.” The USS Indianapolis deaths are the worst sharks attack in history.
Bethany Hamilton, 2003
13-year-old Bethany Hamilton was surfing The Tunnels off Kauai with her friend Alana Blanchard when a shark decided to change her life. While Hamilton was lying on her board with her arm dangling in the water, the shark bit into her and her board. The bite took her arm off just below the shoulder. Blanchard helped Hamilton back to shore where Blanchard’s father made a tourniquet that saved her life.
A 14-foot-tiger shark, believed to be the shark that attacked Hamilton, was trapped by a local fisherman Ralph Young. The shark weighed nearly 1,400 pounds. He’s totally dead now. Hamilton went on to rank as one of the top 10 professional women surfers in the world.
The Cape San Juan Sinking, 1943
The SS Cape San Juan was torpedoed by the Japanese sub 1-21 on November 11 just off Fiji. The ship didn’t sink until the next day. Of the 1,464 crew on board, approximately 695 died due to shark attacks.
One survivor, Corporal Louis Ruffin, described the night spent in the water and how sharks were picking the men off one by one in the murky waters of the Pacific. When rescuers arrived the next day, they threw the dead back into the water. “When I was pulled up and on the boat, I did some moving and shaking! I didn't want one of them big ole sharks to eat me up!” Thank you for serving sir, and for not being served to sharks.
Robert Pamperin, 1959
Robert Pamperin and friend were snorkeling off La Jolla Cove in California when he was attacked by a 22-foot great white. Gerald Lehrer heard Pamperin scream when he turned to see him unusually high in the water with his mask missing. Lehrer dove under to see that the shark had Pamperin in his mouth up to his waist. The shark pulled Pamperin under and dragged him along the sea bed. By the time rescuers arrived, they only found Pamperin’s single swim fin.
Rodney Fox, 1963
Rodney Fox has the best cocktail story ever after his shark attack. While competitively spearfishing in Australia, he suffered a vicious shark attack where a great white grabbed him by the torso and then charged him two more times, pulling him under and dragging him across the ocean floor. The bites punctured his diaphragm, scapula and tore his lung... TORE HIS LUNG, GUYS!
Rescuers had to keep his wetsuit on to keep his organs from spilling out. The fact that Fox survived is a miracle. That and he gouged out its eyes. Fox was 13.
Fox became a leading authority on the great white and designed the first shark observation cage. He was inducted into the International Scuba Hall of Fame in 2007. Because he deserved it.
Sam Kellett, 2015
Sam Kellett, a 28-year-old school teacher, was devoured by a great white shark while spearfishing off the coast of Australia with his friends. Unfortunately, his buddies had to witness the attack, and saw the ocean turn red with his blood.
Kellett's parents have graciously decided not to blame the shark for their son's death, and have requested that it not be hunted or killed.
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