Guarded by a fox

While foraging for mushrooms in the Italian Alps near the Swiss border, 89-year-old Giuseppina Bardelli slipped and fell 20 feet into a gully. Unable to climb out—and with her family and rescue workers initially unable to find her—Bardelli prepared for the worst by reciting the rosary for four nights. Eventually rescue workers located the elderly grandmother on Aug. 25 and retrieved her from the pit. According to her son, Bardelli survived on rain water from puddles and passed the time with her rosary and with visits from a fox that periodically approached her. After making it through the ordeal in relatively good shape, Bardelli rejected a neck brace medical personnel attempted to apply, telling them, “Now you’re trying to kill me.”