If you’re a fan of survival tips then you’re going to love these 10 weird survival tips and tricks that could possibly save your life one day.
Some of these weird survival tips may not be too crazy, but they’re all extremely helpful and are perfect for saving yourself from a bad situation. I recommend you read this list at least twice so this knowledge will be permanently stored in your brain. It may just mean the difference between life and death one day.
Alright, that’s enough fear-mongering for now, let’s get straight to these 10 weird survival tips below!
A Bathtub Is a Safe Place to Hide During a Tornado
If there’s a tornado warning in your area then one of the safest places for you and your family to hide is in a bathtub.
Why?
Because a bathtub is typically heavy, structurally sound, and surrounded by plumbing in the walls to further enforce the strength of the room around it. In addition, bathtubs are usually located in a bathroom with no windows, which further increases the level of safety of the room..
However, if your bathroom does have a window, then I recommend choosing another room inside your home that has no windows if possible.
Related Post: Is It Safe to Hide In a Crawl Space During a Tornado?
Now if your bathroom has no windows and you do decide to hide in your bathtub then I also recommend you bring a mattress into your bathroom to hide under while you’re in the bathtub. This will help prevent debris from falling on top of your head and give you extra weight to hold you down flying out of the tub.
Here’s a funny video about a family of two that decided to hide in their bathtub during a tornado.
Run In Direction of Train If Vehicle Stalls on Tracks
If your vehicle ever stalls or gets stuck while you’re on top of train tracks and a train is coming your way then make sure to get out of the vehicle as fast as possible and run in the direction of the train.
Yes, in the direction of the train.
But don’t run directly towards the front of the train, but instead, run away from the tracks at a 45° angle. This will prevent the debris from your vehicle from flying in your direction and causing serious injury or death.
Run to High Ground If You Ever See the Shoreline Rapidly Receding
If you’re ever on the beach and you begin to see the shoreline rapidly receding then that’s a sure sign that a tsunami is coming your way and you need to run to high ground immediately. Another sign that a tsunami is coming your way is you’ll feel the ground beneath your feet begin to shake from the earthquake that caused the tsunami.
Make sure to warn as many people as you can of the incoming tsunami, but at the same time do your best to get you and your family out of dodge and to higher ground. Even if the only way to get to higher ground is for you to climb a tree, then get to climbing immediately.
You Can Turn Your Pants Into a Life Preserver
If you’re ever on a boat at sea and somehow get thrown into the ocean then you better hope you’re wearing pants as it may be able to save your life.
How so?
Well, as long as your pants aren’t covered with holes, you’ll be able to effectively use your pants as a life preserver. To begin this transformation, simply take off your pants (stay with me here) and tie a knot with both ends of the pants legs. Then you need to push air into the pants by either:
- Holding the waist of your pants with both arms behind your head and then thrusting it over your head.
- Pushing air into the pants with your hands.
- Breathing air bubbles into the waist of your pants while your head is underwater.
Once you have the pants filled with air, you then want to wrap the knotted end behind your head while holding the waist of the pants closed in front of you. Watch the video below to get a better idea of how this works.
You Can Catch Minnows (For Fishing Bait) by Spitting On the Water
Did you know you can catch minnows to use for fishing bait by simply spitting on the water?
Yes, you heard right, all it requires is a little bit of saliva from your mouth and you can get all the bait you need for your next fishing trip.
Simply walk into the water until you’re about waist deep and then kneel (about 10 inches to a foot) and pull your shirt out in front of you to use a net. Then, start spitting on the water right in front of your body and wait for the minnows to swim up to where you’re spitting.
Related Post: How to Catch Worms for Fishing Bait
Once enough minnows gather in front of you, just stand up and use the bottom of your t-shirt as a net to collect as many minnows as possible. The reason that minnows swim to where you’re spitting on the water is they assume it’s food. Little do they know they’ll now be used as fishing bait to catch your food!
Never Go to The Bathroom Near Your Campsite
If you ever decide to go camping in an area with bears, mountain lions, or any other dangerous animal, make sure to avoid using the bathroom near your campsite. Both number one and number two.
When you do need to go to the bathroom I recommend you walk at least 100 yards away from your camp before doing so. While an animal such as a bear may be attracted to the smell and wonder what it is, an animal such as a wolf or a mountain lion may think you’re embarking on their territory and want to cover your pee with theirs.
I also recommend you avoid going number two within 200 ft of any water source and to dig a hole at least six inches deep to bury your feces in. This will prevent other animals from finding your feces and it will help with decomposition as there are more organisms further down in the soil than there are at surface level.
You Can Tell If Someone Is Following You By Taking Four Right Turns
If you’re ever worried that someone is following you, simply take four consecutive right (or left) turns in a row. If the person is still following you then you can now be certain that they’re tailing you on purpose.
Since taking four consecutive turns in a row will just take you in a giant circle (well technically a square, rectangle, or some combination of the two), it makes absolutely no sense for a person to do so.
Run Inside If Your Hair Ever Starts to Stand Up During a Thunderstorm
If you’re ever outside during a thunderstorm and your hair begins to stand up then you need to run inside immediately. When hair stands straight up for no reason it most likely means lightning is about to strike near your location.
Now if there is no shelter you can hide under then I recommend you crouch down and try to make yourself as small as possible in an attempt to make yourself smaller than the objects around you. Don’t lie flat down though, if the ground is wet you may just get electrocuted from the ground itself.
Other signs that lightning is about to strike near your area are your palms will start to get sweaty, you may hear strange noises coming from metal objects nearby, you may suddenly get a strange metallic taste in your mouth, your skin may begin to tingle, or you may even begin to smell chlorine.
You Can Use Sugar to Treat a Wound
Most people wouldn’t think of using sugar to treat a wound such as a stab wound or a bullet wound, but it’s actually a viable alternative to antibiotic ointment.
Here’s an excerpt from Pubmed.gov that supports what I stated above “In vitro tests demonstrated that sugar inhibits bacterial growth. All three types of sugars had MICs ranging from 6-25% in the bacterial strains tested. The diffusion tests showed that strains were able to grow well in low concentrations of sugar but were completely inhibited in higher concentrations”.
Out of the different types of sugars they used for treating wounds, they found regular granulated sugar to work best. This is the regular type of sugar you would use for sweetening your tea at home.
Now is sugar the best possible way to treat a wound? Probably not. But if it’s all you have, then it’s certainly going to work better than nothing at all. At least it will slow down or prohibit the growth of bacteria and prevent the wound from getting infected and possibly leading to sepsis.
To use sugar to treat a wound, put as much sugar as you possibly can on the wound and then apply a bandage on top to hold the sugar in place.
You Can Use Toothpaste to Relieve Discomfort From Bug Bites
Applying a dab of toothpaste onto a bug bite is a great way to relieve the discomfort of the bite as well as to reduce the swelling.
The reason toothpaste can reduce the pain of a bug bite is it’s made with menthol which acts as a natural analgesic to relieve the pain of the bite. Menthol also has anti-inflammatory properties that can both reduce swelling and provide a cooling sensation to the bite.
Just make sure to get toothpaste that’s peppermint flavored or else it won’t have the menthol ingredient needed to relieve the pain and reduce the swelling of the bite. Also, avoid using gel toothpaste as it won’t work the same as the traditional kind.
