After some current events about dire wolves, dire outbreaks of measles, and dire science denial in the White House, we discuss some true (and some not-so-true) tales of people surviving dire circumstances. People have come back alive from the frigid ice of Antarctica, a shipwreck on the bottom of the sea, and the deep jungles of South America. Others have claimed to have survived well-known disasters but been found out as frauds. And still another category intrigues us . . . survivors that never were. In fairy tales from 500 years ago and in earthquakes today, sometimes we humans have a deep psychological need to find hope in the face of disaster and believe that a small child has somehow miraculously survived.