Just putting these out there. It's up to you to decided whether or not to be a believer.

The Artist

"I built a 13 foot tall t rex with Christopher Walken's head, and New York magazine called it high brow and brilliant."

– RainbowHoodieGang

Gaming Reality

"My dad’s name is Luigi and my uncle’s name is Mario. They are brothers."

"ETA: I forgot to add that my dad is also a plumber."

– ecofreckle

"I am allergic to lettuce."

"Like I carry an epi pen allergic."

– PepperFinn

Creating Opportunity

"I was once sponsored by the CRUNK energy drink company for sailing. I imagine I was the only sailor on their list. I literally just emailed them saying that I sailed and asked if they wanted me to put stickers on my boat. They sent me a few cases of the drink, t shirts, hats, the works. My car was known as the crunk-mobile."

– __slamallama__

Equine Story

"A horse threw me in the air when I was a child. But I wasn’t on his back. He grabbed the skin of my back with his teeth and yeeted me."

– Kaibethha

These Redditors beat the odds in unimaginable ways.

A Second Chance

"I died first, and then was born."

"I’ve told this story a few times on reddit, but I enjoy telling it so here we go again."

"During the Caesarian to bring me into the world, there was some major complication on my mother’s end. She started bleeding internally, drowning me in the womb. When I was removed, the doctors tried to get me breathing but couldn’t. I was declared dead. My mother was still unconscious, but my dad was brought in to say goodbye to me. He held me in his arms, was saying goodbye when out of nowhere I started coughing up blood and screaming as babies do. Apparently it was the weirdest moment in his life, being abjectly terrified and overwhelmed with joy that I was alive."

"It’s my favourite story to tell, because weirdly it takes some pressures off on birthdays. I don’t do well with to much attention by family/friends, but celebrating my “death day” doesn’t bring people the same connotations."

– CountPeter

Success Story

"I grew up 'on the wrong side of the river', was considered by all to be the town loser, and went to work as a janitor while still in high school... then... in my 40s I set a goal for myself (while still working full time) to take one class at time until I either graduate or die, whichever comes first. At age 49 I finished my Bachelors of Science Degree, at age 52 my MBA, and age 61 my Ph.D. Never let the arrogant elitists define who you are or what you can be!"

– owoBP7oT6RByPN1rfl0o

Unconventional Academic

"I never graduated high school but I have a bachelor's degree. I was homeschooled and my mom never went through the legal steps to actually get me a real diploma, so she made one in photoshop that was then used to get me into this podunk community college that didn't verify it. From there I got my associate's degree, which I then used to get into a decent university where I got my bachelor's."

– testbotV1

Family histories are fascinating but can also be confounding.

A Different Time

"My great-grandma ran a brothel back at the turn of the 20th century. She was Algonquin and people were pretty racist back then so she had a hard time getting business. Since it was a coastal town (Maine) she bought up a couple leaky old rowboats and would load them up with hookers and booze and row them out to the ships at night. When ships came in to port most of the crew would get shore leave and hit the bars and brothels in town, but they always had to leave a few sailors on the ship to keep an eye on it. My Great-grandmother figured those guys had money too and probably felt left out. She basically set up waterbased lot lizards. Or UberHoes."

"My Grandpa and his sisters grew up in the brothel and no one would talk to them or socialize with them. My Grandpa met my Grandma picking green beans for a local farmer. They fell in love. When they wanted to get married they had to leave the state to get away from her family that were utterly disgusted that she would marry the son of a whore. So they ran off to Detroit because GM was hiring and that's how my family came to Michigan."

– 88GrandWagoneer

Missed Opportunities

"My great grandfather worked in the textile business and started importing rayon fabric from Japan in the late 60s and 70s. Keep in mind this was during the early days of synthetic fabrics and travelling to Japan was not all that common. On a business trip, he met some Japanese business men who were selling newly designed transistor radios. His contacts wanted to setup an exclusive import agreement for their electronics to North America, but my great grandfather declined, because how many of these radios could you possibly sell?"

"Turns out that was a short sighted business decision, because that company was called Sony Electronics. He turned down the exclusive import contract for Sony."

"On the other side of my family, my Canadian relatives walked away from 100 acres of land in Alberta during the dust bowl and great depression. They decided it was not worth paying the taxes on their land. Turns out that land was right in the heart of the Alberta oil deposits."

"Also on my mother's side of the family, they used to have a citrus orchard near Los Angeles. They sold it cheap to some land developers. That farm was right at Hollywood and Vine."

"My family on both sides is bad at seeing long term investments."

– theironmanatee

Unrelated

"I found out my 'father' wasnt my biological father in 10th grade Biology class. We were learning about blood types and traits. I raised my hand thinking I was a smart a**, 'You're chart isnt accurate, my dad has AB negative and I'm O positive.' My teacher said 'I think your mom has some explaining to do!'. And we all chuckled."

"Turned out, he was not my father."

– aoyfas

The Redditors who shared their stories above definitely sound like they can be huge hits at a cocktail party.

Especially if the two people attending said event are Mario and Luigi.

As far as I'm concerned, their parents are winning.