Not without controversy, famed survivalist "Iceman" Wim Hof has built a name for himself thanks to his sometimes extreme stunts. In particular, he's show an uncanny and unnatural ability to withstand the cold. But the closest that Hof ever came to death wasn't actually from one of his hard to believe stunts. It was all because of a simple mistake.
In 2008, Hof was meeting with his estranged son Michael. He hadn't seen Michael in nearly a decade at the time. Hof's second marriage had ended badly, and the survivalist was struggling with debt. The two settled on a meeting spot, but since he arrived ever, the Iceman decided to go for a swim at Vondelpark in Amsterdam.
It's something that Hof had done before. But this time it proved to be near fatal. You see, Hof decided to situate himself over a fountain. He basically wanted to give himself a do it yourself enema. I guess when in Amsterdam, right? But while Hof has done it before, he didn't realized that the staff had made a change to the fountain.
Wim Hof's Brush With Death
Rather than a slight tickle, the staff had increased the pressure of the fountain. So when Hoff squatted over the fountain, it "cut through his intestines like a knife." Oh, it cleaned him out, alright. The water flooded his bowels and ruptured his intestines. Blood and feces flooded out of him like a geyser in a scene that plagues my brain to imagine.
Following the incident, Hof ended up in the hospital, going weeks without food. Doctors ahd to cut open his stomach and fix the damage and then sow him up once more. It left him with a nasty scar. "You get a feeling that you want to kill yourself and want to end the story," Hof later said. It's unclear if the survivalist meant to cause the damage.
But somehow he survived. This comes after Hof set the once world record for swimming under the ice. He swam 188 feet in Finland. The first attempt almost killed him
"The first time I went under the ice, the water was as sharp as needles,' he said. His retinas literally froze. "I couldn't see nothing, I couldn't breathe." But again, he survived. A rescue diver grabbed Hof by his ankle and pulled him to the surface.
