SHOCKING: Real-life horror stories including the man who was EATEN ALIVE by a HIPPO

STRANGE things happen in real life to normal folk everyday. From terrifying attacks and people battling back from life-threatening injuries to a bizarre obsession with plastic surgery. We reveal some of the most shocking stories you will ever read.

        
FORMER British squaddie Paul Templer was living the dream - taking canoe tours up Zimbabwe's Zambezi River and getting up close to Africa's wildlife.
Then he got too close for comfort. A one ton hippo took exception to Paul being in his territory - and tried to swallow him whole.
It was an encounter from which 44-year-old Paul was lucky to escape alive. But it still cost him two limbs.
For as he points out: "Hippos kill between 250 and 300 people each year - more than any other mammal.
"I'd been on the river for five years and while all hippo attacks were scary, the worst that usually happened was we'd get knocked out our canoes. But this was the definitive angry male."
As the hippo barged into their canoe, one of Paul's guides, Evan, was knocked into the water.
"I leaned over to grab hold of him," recalls Paul. "But as our hands were almost touching, the hippo plucked me clean out of the canoe."
The huge beast attempted to swallow Paul whole and in a split second he found himself lodged headfirst inside the hippo's mouth, about to become its next meal.
"I knew I was inside something but couldn't tell if it was a croc or a hippo," says Paul. "I felt water against my legs. It was dark with a terrible rotten eggs smell.
"I only realised it was a hippo when with one hand I felt the bristles on the side of his mouth.
"Then it spat me out. I swam to the surface and reached Evan but he was terrified and wouldn't swim to safety.
"I grabbed him, pulling him along but the hippo struck from behind. It landed a direct hit - my legs were hanging out one side of its jaw, my head and shoulders the other. It went absolutely berserk, shaking me like a rag doll.
"My body was in shock but I was able to hold on to the tusks so they didn't tear my flesh too much. That probably saved my life.
"I remember the hippo taking me down to the bottom of the water. I looked up and saw the sunlight on the water's surface.

"I could see my blood in the water and I thought: 'I wonder how long this hippo can hold its breath?' Then suddenly it just chucked me away."
Another colleague, Mac, paddled his canoe over and snatched Paul from the water. But he was left with horrific injuries.
He says: "I was a mess. Mac could see my lung through a hole in my back and had to use a torn shirt to keep my arm attached to my body. I was told I'd lose both arms and a leg, but I only lost part of my left arm.
"Sadly, Evan died. They found him three days later, washed up on the bank. There wasn't a scratch on him which makes me think he drowned - perhaps after a heart attack.
"I wrote a book about it called What's Left of Me: How I Lost A Fight With A Rogue Hippo & Won My Life."