"Terrible Advice": People Urge Others To Stop Believing In These 40 Dangerous Survival Myths

Hiding under a bridge during a tornado. Reality is the underpass will act as a funnel, increasing the wind speed. Better to find a low spot or drainage ditch and lie down on the ground, protecting your head from flying debris.

Pulling out the bullet. They do it in all the movies. It’s a stupid intervention that has no indication and can just do more harm.

Source : ER doctor.

You do not need to wait 24hrs to report a missing person. If you think someone is missing report it as such. The faster a missing person report is filed the greater the chance the person will be found.

Walking anywhere if you're lost in the wilderness. As long as someone knows where you should be and when you should have been back, stay put so rescuers can find you.

Drinking alcohol warms you. In reality it cause a rush of warm blood to the surface making you feel warm but lowering your core temperature.

If an animal eats it, you can eat it. Terrible advice.

Running down hill while a bear is chasing you will not make the bear stumble and fall. Most likely you will fall and become easier prey.

Any time you see a character say “haven’t we crossed this stream before?” they are being supremely stupid. (I’m looking at you, Blair Witch Project). You do not *cross* streams. You *follow* streams. (Downstream)

Practically all human habitation is build in proximity to water. Streams lead to rivers. Rivers lead to lakes and oceans. Follow a waterway downstream, you are *guaranteed* to find civilization. This is true on every continent that has unfrozen water.

Unless you are very lost very far from civilization...eating dubious food. This is popularized by *Man Vs. Wild* and similar. 


Over the course of a few days, which you should have some packed food for anyway, you don't *need* to eat. You won't be happy but as long as you can get water, you're okay. It's not worth eating anything that might make you sick. .

Jumping into water will save you from a fall.

If you’re falling from huge heights with speed into flat water it’s like falling on concrete.

It's not a pack of wolves that'll get ya.....a moose on the other hand...

Sleeping in trees guarantees safety...

No, big cats climb trees, snakes live in trees, and even monkeys are carnivores...

What you need is solid shelter, whether on the ground or in the trees; simply being in the trees doesn't guarantee anything, even a mosquito can k**l you in a forest.

Getting shipwrecked on an island then building a ‘boat’ and leaving the island to find civilization. There are way too many things that ca hurt you in the water and you are so much harder for rescue personnel to see. Always stay on the island.

This may be a myth in of itself but never wear black when trying to hide at night. It's something I learned in the military but it was recommended to use a darker Grey or Brown. Since black is the absence of light it would silhouette you in low light conditions like full moons.

Hmm, a lot of movies and tv shows I see feature characters successfully challenging or fighting off a mugger. Just give them the wallet. General self-defense in order to build confidence and get some key moves under your belt in a dire situation is a good idea, but it doesn't matter if you're Tyson is his prime, street violence is very different from structured self-defense classes.

Not necessarily from the movies, but a popular survival myth that is perpetuated by anti-seatbelt activists is that if you don’t wear a seatbelt you have a better chance of survival being thrown clear of the wreckage rather than being trapped in it, apparently it’s how their third cousin or friend-of-a-friend survived a crash they were in 🥴.

Have taught self defense for years. Most of the c**p they sell is worthless is a real attack situation. Your best bet is prevention, not reaction. Paying attention and being able to say “no.”.

Running away from an alligator in a zigzag. You'll just give it a better chance to catch you. Run straight; they're fast over short distances, but not for long.

Food.

In general people misunderstand how little food there is around them. I once heard the statistic that every city in America has about 4 days worth of food in all of the grocery stores, home kitchens, restaurants, etc. I’ve worked in two grocery stores and have seen how fast shelves get emptied and how many semi-trucks arrive daily to restock. Some of the supplies on semi-trucks for basic food items come from 5,000 miles away.

People also misunderstand how much food they need to eat in a year to survive. It’s about two thousand pounds for a 200lb human. Just one.

Ultimately in survival situations, starvation and violence to avoid starvation are big concerns.

Here's one: I'm an ex military sailor. We were instructed unequivocally *Do not put on a lifejacket while within a vessel that is travelling over or within water.* Vessel sinks, you're inside with lifejacket on, water inside activates self inflation and you're pushed against the deck head/ceiling because of pressure. You can't deflate it, and you can't take it off because of air and water pressure.

So every time I see a movie with sailors wearing life jackets below decks, I cringe. I also cringe when I see in flight attendants instruct every passenger to put on their life vest over their neck before exiting a sinking aircraft, if they have to ditch over water. Seawater in a plane and you have that thing on? You better hope the aircraft's flotation is in working order or you'll drown with your face pressed against the ceiling. Jump in the water with your life vest inflated? You will break your neck.

None of these things are explained and should be.