The woman who survived a 4,400-metre fall: Did ants really save her?

On 25 September 1999, Joan Murray, a banking executive from Charlotte in the United States and a keen skydiver, made another parachute jump in Chester County, South Carolina. The aircraft had climbed to around 14,500 feet, or 4,400 metres.

The jump began normally. When it was time to open her main parachute, however, it failed. Murray repeatedly tried to deploy it before turning to her reserve. The second parachute opened at a height of only about 700 feet, just over 200 metres above the ground. She later told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that an incorrect manoeuvre sent her into a sharp spin and caused the canopy to lose its air.

The reserve had nevertheless managed to slow her descent. From around 120 miles per hour, Murray estimated that she hit the ground at about 80 miles per hour, nearly 128 km/h. She said she landed almost horizontally, which may have helped distribute the enormous force of the impact.

And then came the ants

Murray landed directly on a nest of fire ants, a particularly aggressive kind of ant. As she lay seriously injured on the ground, she suffered hundreds of stings; reports at the time put the number at more than 200.

Her injuries were devastating: a shattered right leg, multiple pelvic fractures, severe hip damage, broken ribs and an elbow, and a collapsed lung. She remained in a coma for about 15 days. CNN transcript

This is where the real story gradually became an internet legend.

Doctors were reported to have suggested that the repeated stings may have helped keep her heart functioning through the body’s intense response to the venom and pain. However, there is no published scientific evidence proving that the ants saved her. Murray herself told CNN that the possibility was being medically investigated, without presenting the explanation as certain. CNN transcript

Perhaps the most remarkable part of the story came later: after a long period of rehabilitation, Murray went skydiving again in 2001.

Joan Murray died on 23 May 2022 after a battle with cancer. Her family mentioned the 1999 accident in her obituary as the event for which she became widely known.

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