Downpour

when a crash occurs, it's harrowing and oftentimes tragic. Lives are lost and families are broken. We often wonder what we might do when faced with such a hopeless situation. Julianne Copca didn't have to wonder, though she lived it and then some. Julienne's parents were German but worked for the Museum of Natural History in Peru during the nineteen fifties.

Her daughter was born in Lima in nineteen fifty four and raised there until the late sixties, at which point she and her parents left Lima to live in the Amazon Rainforest. Her parents were ornithologists and had moved to the rainforest to start a biological research station called Panguana. They spent the next several years there, studying the various native plants and animals. However, even though she was living in the jungle, Julienne still had to worry about her studies.

If she hoped to graduate with a high school diploma, she would have to return to Lima to take her final exams. The family flew out in late December of nineteen seventy one, and Julienne successfully completed her education, graduating on December. Her parents had hoped to leave once the exams were over, but Julianne insisted on staying a little

longer so she could attend her graduation ceremony. Her mother a read, but unfortunately that meant flying home on one of the busiest travel days of the year, Christmas Eve. All flights back to Panguana were sold out, all except one. It was with Lansa Airlines, which her father was skeptical of due to two previous crashes, one in nineteen sixty six and another that had occurred only the year before. With no other choices available, the Copca's bought three tickets

on LANTA Flight five. Oh wait, the plane took off that night, despite a series of storms plaguing the area, with a total of eighty six passengers and six crew members on board, but after half an hour at an altitude of twenty one ft, lightning struck the aircraft broke apart, sending debris and pieces of the fuselage plummeting back toward Earth. When Julianne woke up on the ground, she was still

strapped to her seat. She had suffered a broken collar bone, some cuts on her legs and arms, and she couldn't open her right eye. But despite her injuries, she had just become the sole survivor of Lansa's third crash in less than a decade. To say Julianne had a unique upbringing would be an understatement. Her extracurricular activities didn't involve marching, band or lacrosse. Instead, her parents had taught her how

to survive in the wilderness on her own. Upon finding herself in the middle of a jungle with no help, her instincts kicked in Immediately. She scoured the wreckage for her mother, but couldn't find her. Instead, Julianne discovered a bag of candy she'd brought on the plane and kept it for sustenance as she ventured deeper into the rainforest. Panguana was thirty miles away, and she couldn't signal for help due to the canopy of trees blocking her from view.

Soon she came to a creek, which provided her with hydration and protection. Snakes and bugs made traveling overground dangerous, but she'd be safe walking in the knee high water. She also remembered something else her father had taught her. If she followed the creek far enough downstream, she would eventually find a village, so Julianne got moving. The periodic rain and intense heat wore her down. Days passed as

she kept walking, hoping for any sign of civilization. Overhead a king vulture circle, hoping she would give up and relinquish herself to the hungry ecosystem. Instead, Julianne pressed forward. Things got worse when maggots infested the gash in her arm. When she came to a boat tethered along the creek, she sucked the gas out of its tank to kill them. The next day, she was found in the boat by local fishermen, who helped her to the village, where she

was able to recover. The day after that, a pilot from the village flew her to the city of Pukapa, where her father's body had been taken. She eventually found her mother, who had also miraculously survived the crash, but her injuries proved too severe and she had died before help was able to reach her. In total, souls were lost in the accident. Kopka's story inspired several films, including a nineteen seventy four documentary titled Wings of Hope, directed

I renowned filmmaker Werner Hertzog. Interestingly enough, Hertzog almost wasn't around to make the film you See. A few years earlier, he was out scouting for filming locations for an upcoming project. When a change in his production schedule popped up. He was forced to cancel his flight home. And what flight was it? Oh? I think you know the answer to that question, the same one Julienne Copca was on Lansa flight five o eight. Being a trend setter isn't easy.

The challenge is in getting people to rethink their own ways. Nobody likes change, after all, but sometimes it's hard to argue with the results. Embracing the new might be hard, but not doing so could leave you all wet. Take Jonas Hanway born in Portsmouth, England in sevent wealth and

raised in London. His father made his living at sea, providing sailors with food and drink, so it stood to reason that his son might follow suit, and although Hanway didn't go into the food service, he did end up on the water as a merchant, traveling all over Europe and the Middle East. After decades of dealing with illness and piracy, though, Hanway returned to London around seventeen fifty

with a lot of experience and quite the reputation. He was known as a bore and apparently hated tea so much that he wrote an essay in which he argued how its introduction to Britain would ruin the country. But despite his strong and sometimes misguided views, he also wanted to make his city a better place. For example, he fought to have its streets paved. Hanway had also become

a philanthropist while away. Upon his return he founded the first charity for British seafarirs, known as the Marine Society. The organization recruited and trained young men for a life at sea, which would be sorely needed some years later at the start of the Seven Years War. England's main enemy during the conflict was France, which Hanway had been too many times over the years. During his visits there, he'd picked up a habit he'd seen carried out daily

on the streets of Paris. Everyone was carrying a new fangled contraption with them wherever they went, the folding umbrella. In the pantheon of great inventions, few stand out quite like the simple umbrella. But the canopies of hundreds or even thousands of years ago did not collapse the way ours do today. The wooden ribs that gave them their

shape were often stationary. It wasn't until seventeen ten when a Paris shopkeeper named Jean Marius introduced Europe to the first umbrella that could be opened and closed at will. Adoption of the folding umbrella was quick, especially after a prominent French aristocrat purchased one and then encouraged her inner circle to buy them as well. From their umbrellas became a common sight in Paris, shielding men and women from

intense sunlight as well as the occasional downpour. Jonas Hanway loved the idea of an easy to use, portable method for keeping himself cool and dry, and so upon his return to London, he began carrying one with him whenever he left his home, and he was laughed at. You see, at the time, umbrellas were mainly used by women, and Handway's use of one did not endear him to any of his more masculine friends. They called him names and cast pointed whispers in his direction. Cabbies also hated him,

but not because he looked foolish or effeminate. Handsome cabs, or horse drawn carriages on two wheels, featured coverings that shielded writers from the rain, a handy thing to have if you needed to get somewhere fast and you didn't want to ruin your nice clothes. Cabbies often saw a boom in business on rainier days. The umbrella, however, made handsome cabs unnecessary. Drivers got worried after seeing Handway out

and about with his own personal canopy. If the trend caught on, it would only be a matter of time before the cabs were rendered obsolete. Two In sure their job security, cabbies made a point to insult Handway whenever they saw him going so far as to hurl garbage or rotten fruit in his direction, anything to make him look and feel self conscious about walking around with an umbrella. When that didn't work, one cab driver attempted to run

him down in the street with his carriage. Unafraid, Jonas Hanway turned around and beat the cabby instead with his umbrella. Of course, eventually the whispers and the insults stopped. People began to notice how dry his clothes stayed beneath the domed cover. As more Londoners bought their own umbrellas to shield themselves from the rain, the stigma surrounding their use dissipated. Cab drivers saw the writing on the wall too. There just wasn't enough rotten fruits in England to get their

former customers to stop using umbrellas. A new umbrella factory opened in sevent six, several months after Handway's death. It advertised a spring loaded model for easy opening and closing, and it became a hit. Not only had Jonas Hanway changed his city for the better, you might say he'd done it without letting anyone else rain on his parade. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet

of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.