Yukon Man Survives 2 Near-Death Experiences Within 2 Weeks

A man in Yukon said he and his wife were nearly killed two times within two weeks. He’s now hoping to pick up the pieces those experiences left behind.

Strumming his guitar and singing a tune provide Wendell Scott with peace. “It gives you an escape,” Scott said.

It’s an escape from the hotel room he’s stayed in for close to two weeks. It’s an escape from what brought him there. “If you’ve been through it, you know the feeling,” Scott said.

It’s a feeling he first felt on June 29 while driving with his wife on Interstate 40.

“I was in the slow lane headed to Yukon,” Scott recalled. “And Bang! An 18-wheeler hit me in the rear end.”

The car was totaled, but their lives were intact. He said they were lucky to survive. It was survival he would need again just 10 days later in his home.

“You can smell the odor,” he said walking down the hallway. “You can see the damage.”

Of all the thunderstorms, he doesn’t know why he wanted to sleep in the dining room and listen to the one on July 9, but he’s glad he did.

“I heard a boom. It was as loud as a sonic boom,” he said. “I knew it was lightning and it was right over me.”

He saw a fireball on his back porch, but there was no sign of fire on the roof. He decided to check the attic.

“I could see that fire over there and fire right here, and it started coming at me,” he said.

That night he fell backward onto the concrete before yelling for his wife and daughter to get out. Ten days in Wendell’s life seem complicated.

“I can put it real simple,” he said. “God said it ain’t your time yet.”

His wounds and his pictures are all evidence of his escape from death. His 6-string and songs are his temporary escape from it all.

Scott believes opening the ladder provided oxygen to the flames. He hopes his story of survival will serve as a warning to others who may find themselves in the same situation.

It may be six months more before his home can be repaired.