History MuggingTheMonster / RealLife

** Tito died in 1980; [[FridgeHorror Stalin died in 1953.]]

* In 1971, legendary boxer Jack Dempsey was taking a cab home with his wife, and was accosted by a mugger. Apparently, the mugger never knew what hit him. [[NeverMessWithGranny Dempsey was 78 at the time]].

* In 1971, legendary boxer Jack Dempsey was taking a cab home with his wife, and was accosted by a mugger. Apparently, the mugger never knew what hit him. [[BadassGrandpa Dempsey was 78 at the time]].

** Tiger Beetle larva feed on ants, and the ''Methocha'' wasp looks like an ant. When the larva attacks, the wasp wriggles out of the larva's grasp, paralyses the larva and then lays its eggs, which hatch and devour the larva alive.

*** The Portia itself isn't immune to this trope. There has been several occasions where its prey will turn out to be too fast for it, [[TheHunterBecomesTheHunted and has no problem eating other spiders as well.]]
** The AlluringAnglerfish and other predators that use the strategy attract small fish that think their lure is just a piece of food, when it's actually a giant fish. Or a matamata turtle.

* In a particuarly amusing example of this trope, two yobs attacked a pair of crossdressers, only for the crossdressers to turn out to be a couple of cage fighters in fancy dress. Full story [[http://web.archive.org/web/20091011114938/http://www.mmauniverse.com/news/SS4727 here]] (Website/WaybackMachine link).

* In 2010, three men in South Africa, armed with a firearm and and knife, [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/7620413/Thief-stoned-to-death-by-South-African-school-children.html attempted to rob some schoolchildren]]. The schoolchildren responded by [[VigilanteExecution stoning one of the assailants to death]].

* Dressing up policewomen like MsFanservice and sending them out to troll for johns is standard practice for vice squads worldwide, to the point where it was briefly demonstrated in one of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books (and PlayedForLaughs, because the typically gorgeous blonde officer is also a werewolf and thus the back-up). Muggers and psychos occasionally fall for their act, and get snapped up by the decoy or her backup.

* In the late [[UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic Roman Republic]], a young UpperClassTwit, who went by the totally innocuous name of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, was captured and held to ransom by some {{Pirates}}. While being held prisoner on the ship, the personable Caesar befriended the pirates, and made jokes that when he was ransomed he was going to come back and kill them all. The pirates laughed at their captive's great sense of humor. Later, [[OhCrap they found out he wasn't joking]].
* In 1890, the three Dalton brothers and two henchmen came riding into Coffeyville, Kansas in order to gain fame by robbing two banks at once across the street from each other. Of course, there were problems with this scheme, notably that before their job was done, word got out among the townsfolk. And a typical Western town had a lot more than five people, and an awful lot of guns. Needless to say, that was the end of the Daltons.
* The outlaw UsefulNotes/JesseJames came to grief when he and his gang tried to rob a bank in Northfield, Minnesota in 1876. Unfortunately for Jesse, he had forgotten that he was no longer in his usual hunting grounds of eastern Kansas and western Missouri... and the locals not only did not include any sympathizers of his, but had their life savings in the bank he was targeting and no sense of humor about losing those savings. [[OhCrap Oops...]] Save for James himself and his brother Frank, the entire gang was killed or arrested during either the robbery or the ensuing manhunt, effectively ending his crime spree. He himself was killed by a member of his own gang six years later to collect the bounty on his head.

* Two "tough guys" [[http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/1274688/Chuck/ tried to rob]] Creator/ChuckNorris with knives, under the assumption that what he did in ''Series/WalkerTexasRanger'' [[RealityIsUnrealistic was all fake]]. Unfortunately for them, Chuck is as much of a real life badass as he is a MemeticBadass. The two ended up with arms so broken that bones were sticking out. The police didn't even handcuff them, partly out of concern for the thugs' injuries, and partly because they were laughing too hard to get the cuffs out.

* In the 1920's, a group of five men attempted to mug a well-dressed man and his two female companions. When the police arrived, the sidewalk was covered in blood, none of it belonging to the intended victim. The victim was Harry Greb, usually ranked either first or second on all-time, pound-for-pound boxing lists, who had, by this time, acquired a 261-20-17-1 record.

* While Creator/BruceLee was making a film, one of the actors, assuming all of his moves were fake, insisted on fighting him. He quickly found out that Bruce Lee was a real life martial arts master, after being quite painfully beaten.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DFBqggrd5s Two robbers try to rob Domino's Pizza]]. The operative word is ''try'', as it turned out the delivery driver in the store was an armed, off-duty veteran sheriff's deputy working a night job. Entering the store using the old-fashioned bandannas-over-faces technique, the robbers brandished guns and demanded money. Seeing as how they were already armed, the deputy responded in his official capacity, and both robbers ended up getting shot instead. Domino's not only agreed to the deputy's subsequent request for two weeks' leave, but is making it paid leave to boot. Humorously enough, the deputy in question is named Film/{{Shaft}}. No word on any resemblances to Creator/RichardRoundtree.

* [[https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/is-shooting-idpa-training-or-just-another-action-pistol-game.642112/page-2#post-7976506 easyrider6042004@yahoo.ca]] from The High Road (a popular gun forum) recounts the tale of of a man who was ambushed by a kidnap for ransom gang. The man in question was a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Practical_Shooting_Confederation IPSC competitor]]. The end result: at ''least'' three kidnappers shot and the rest fled.

* UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson was the first United States president to have an assassination attempt made against him. Note the word "attempt." Unemployed Englishman Richard Lawrence attempted to fire two flintlock pistols at the President as he left a funeral, but [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns both weapons misfired]] and did not shoot. Not that it would have done him much good. Jackson had been a duelist for years before, with between a dozen and some hundreds of duels under his belt. He'd been shot numerous times before, including several direct hits to his torso, and at this point while Jackson was not necessarily ImmuneToBullets, he was pretty close to it. Lawrence should have paid attention to his recent history--Jackson was also a celebrated general of UsefulNotes/TheWarOf1812 and so had ''lots'' of military experience (and might possibly have been holding a grudge about the whole 'burned down the White House' thing). The 67 year old Jackson turned around and beat the crap out of Lawrence [[CaneFu with his cane]]. When help finally arrived, they ended up having to stop ''Jackson'' from killing ''Lawrence''. To this day, Jackson remains the only president to stop his own attempted assassination and capture his would-be assassin.

* [[http://fox59.com/2015/10/10/indy-woman-stops-intruder-with-large-sword-and-medieval-combat-skills/ A burglar in Indianapolis]] seriously picked the wrong house to rob. The homeowner killed the lights, knocked him out with her bare hands, and then held him at arms length with her ''Japanese sword'' while she called 911.

* On September 23, 1989, in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma, Washington, resident Bill Foulk, a US Army Ranger Staff Sergeant, was having a cookout with several of his friends (also Army Rangers) and their families. He and his party were attacked by local drug dealers in retaliation for Foulk's attempts to organize neighborhood watch and protection programs, which included videotaping of a nearby "crack house". In a gun battle lasting more than 10 minutes, over 300 rounds were reported to have been fired from semiautomatic pistols, rifles, and shotguns; [[ATeamFiring without a single injury resulting on either side]]. Foulk's party was not prosecuted for their participation in the shooting, as city officials deemed it a clear case of self defense. Their commanding officer was less forgiving, however; and ordered them to spend several months of extended time on the firing range for failing to hit their targets.

* [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0399007/bio During the Vietnam war, a particularly rowdy Vietnamese soldier]] found himself having an argument with the Korean hand-to-hand instructor for the army. After the soldier proclaimed that knife-fighting could beat any martial art and issuing a challenge, martial artist Hwang Jang Lee, who would become an actor famous for his roles as a villain in Kung Fu films such as "The Snake in the Eagle's Shadow" and nicknamed affectionately "Bootmaster" and "Thunderfoot" and who had started learning Tang Soo Do at an early age, politely declined the challenge. The knife-toting soldier, however, still decided to attack the unarmed man. Dodging and repositioning himself, Hwang Jang Lee fired a roundhouse kick at his temple, with such tremendous power that the soldier died immediately. Hwang was cleared of all charges, as he had acted in self defense. Thunderfoot, indeed.
* [[http://www.blackbeltmag.com/daily/self-defense-training/one-art-is-not-enough-the-self-defense-philosophy-of-kickboxer-kathy-long-part-2/ A recently released felon thought he had found his next victim when he stopped a blue-eyed, blonde, frizzy-haired beauty in Dallas, Texas]], asking her all sorts of questions. When she grew uncomfortable and tried to walk away, he thought he'd grab her by the wrist and subdue her. 5 time World Kickboxing Champion and Kung Fu San Soo 8th degree Master Kathy Long then proceeded to grab and crush his groin, hit his back of the head with her forearm and kick him in the ribs repeatedly while he was crumpled on the ground. The assailant was left with a ruptured testicle with internal bleeding, broken ribs and a concussion. Appropriately, Long's in-ring nicknames include "The Princess of Pain", "The Queen of Mean" and "The Punisher".

* A gang of street punks thought that harassing Creator/DonnieYen's then girlfriend in a nightclub was a good idea. Yen at first tried to be diplomatic, then elected to leave the club rather than abuse the owner's hospitality. When the ''eight'' strong group decided to follow him outside and continue Yen finally lost patience and put every single one of them in hospital while remaining untouched himself.

* Bernhard Goetz, the "Subway Vigilante," is one of the most famous and controversial examples. Goetz was a nebbishy, 37-year-old electronics salesman who had been left with permanent injuries after getting mugged by a trio of youths in 1981. While riding the subway in 1984, he was surrounded by four black teenagers who demanded he give them five dollars. In response, he immediately stood, drew a concealed handgun and emptied it into the teens, leaving them all severely injured. The incident became national news and divided the nation between those who applauded him for standing up to street crime and those who condemned him with accusations of overreaction and racism.

** On a more general level, the entire war from 1884 onwards: the Mahdists were mostly armed with traditional melee weapons, and when it came to what little firearms they had, most of which were ancient muzzle-loaders with only a few being modern firearms captured from the enemy, they lacked firing discipline, so the British, hoping to avoid an expensive war that would have savaged Egypt's fragile economy, offered to leave Sudan under their control in a form of protectorate. The Mahdists instead besieged Khartoum to prevent the retreat of the Egyptian garrisons and eventually massacred them, earning Britain's enmity and, once they had rebuilt Egypt's economy, the devastating 1898-99 offensive that wiped the Mahdists out. In the meantime they attacked Ethiopia, embroiled in a civil war and targeted by Italy for colonization, and the Italian colony of Eritrea, and while the attacks against Ethiopia were a success the Italians and their colonial troops, who had modern firearms and proper fire discipline, gave them the defeats mentioned above and then made their own move on Ethiopia.
* Creator/LanaTurner was once involved with a low-level mobster, Johnny Stomponato. Stomponato was very jealous, and stormed onto a movie set once to threaten Lana's co-star, Creator/SeanConnery. Unfortunately, for Stomponato at least, Connery had grown up tough in [[WretchedHive Glasgow]], and promptly KO'd him. Being TooDumbToLive, Stomponato went on his merry way, abusing and threatening Turner, until one night when he was threatening to cut Turner's face or throw acid on her, Turner's daughter, Cheryl, overheard...and came running in with a knife and stabbed him to death. Cheryl was acquitted very rapidly.

* [[https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/24-year-old-burglar-gregory-mccalium-beaten-victim-elderly-retired-boxer-frank-corti-article-1.379153 In this New York Daily News article from 2009]], 24-year-old Gregory McCalium tried robbing his 72-year-old neighbour, Frank Corti, with a knife over a noise complaint he has received, not knowing he was a [[RetiredBadass retired boxer, marine, and hand-to-hand instructor]]. The would-be robber ended up with a black eye and a bruised lip with Frank none the worse for wear as shown in his mugshot.

* A ''lot'' of people have picked a fight with someone else, only to find out [[CurbStompBattle after a good beating]] that said person is a soldier or a member of law enforcement and is professionally trained to kick someone's ass. (MMA fighters, especially the females, take this UpToEleven.)

* In January 2020 a group of hedge funds decided to make a quick buck by shorting 140% of the shares of mall video game retailer [=GameStop=] ([[TooManyHalves never mind how they sold off more shares than existed]]). A thread on [[Website/{{Reddit}} day-trading subreddit r/wallstreetbets]] took notice of the now dirt-cheap shares and a bizarre InternetCounterattack [[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/reddit-gamestop-share-price-explained-wallstreetbets-melvin-capital.html ensued]] from a coalition of day-traders, annoyed gamers, and economic activists, jacking the shares up over $300 from their initial level and costing the hedge funds billions. It also indirectly led to a [[https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/investing/lawsuit-robinhood-gamestop-wallstreetbets/index.html class-action lawsuit]] against a day-trading app that tried to stop the buy-up by selling [=GameStop=] shares without users' permission: so many people tried to sign onto the suit that the Southern District of New York court website crashed.

* In January 2020 a group of hedge funds decided to make a quick buck by shorting 140% of the shares of mall video game retailer [=GameStop=] ([[TooManyHalves never mind how they sold off more shares than existed]]). A thread on [[Website/{{Reddit}} r/wallstreetbets]] took notice of the now dirt-cheap shares and a bizarre InternetCounterattack [[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/reddit-gamestop-share-price-explained-wallstreetbets-melvin-capital.html ensued]] from a coalition of day-traders, annoyed gamers, and economic activists, jacking the shares up over $300 from their initial level and costing the hedge funds billions. It also indirectly led to a [[https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/investing/lawsuit-robinhood-gamestop-wallstreetbets/index.html class-action lawsuit]] against a day-trading app that tried to stop the buy-up by selling [=GameStop=] shares without users' permission: so many people tried to sign onto the suit that the Southern District of New York court website crashed.

* In January 2020 a group of hedge funds decided to make a quick buck by shorting 140% of the shares of mall video game retailer [=GameStop=] ([[TooManyHalves never mind how they sold off more shares than existed]]). A thread on [[Website/{{Reddit}} r/wallstreetbets]] took notice of the now dirt-cheap shares and a bizarre InternetCounterattack [[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/reddit-gamestop-share-price-explained-wallstreetbets-melvin-capital.html ensued]] from a coalition of day-traders, annoyed gamers, and economic activists, jacking the shares up over $300 from their initial level and costing the hedge funds billions. It also indirectly led to a [[https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/28/investing/lawsuit-robinhood-gamestop-wallstreetbets/index.html class-action lawsuit]] against a day-trading app that tried to stop the buy-up by selling [=GameStop=] shares without users' permission.

* In January 2020 a group of hedge funds decided to make a quick buck by shorting 140% of the shares of mall video game retailer [=GameStop=] ([[TooManyHalves never mind how they sold off more shares than existed]]). A thread on [[Website/{{Reddit}} r/wallstreetbets]] took notice of the now dirt-cheap shares and a bizarre InternetCounterattack [[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/reddit-gamestop-share-price-explained-wallstreetbets-melvin-capital.html ensued]] from a coalition of day-traders, annoyed gamers, and economic activists, jacking the shares up over $300 from their initial level and costing the hedge funds billions.

* In January 2020 a group of hedge funds decided to make a quick buck by shorting 140% of the shares of mall video game retailer [=GameStop=] ([[TooManyHalves never mind how they sold off more shares than existed]]). A thread [[Website/{{Reddit}} r/wallstreetbets]] took notice of the now dirt-cheap shares and a bizarre InternetCounterattack [[https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/reddit-gamestop-share-price-explained-wallstreetbets-melvin-capital.html ensued]] from a coalition of day-traders, annoyed gamers, and economic activists, jacking the shares up over $300 from their initial level and costing the hedge funds billions.

* In 1890, the three Dalton brothers and two henchmen came riding into Coffeyville, Kansas in order to gain fame by robbing two banks at once across the street from each other. Of course, there were problems with this scheme, notably that before their job was done, word got out among the townsfolk. And a typical Western town had a lot more than five people, and an awful lot of guns.

* In 1971, legendary boxer Jack Dempsey was taking a cab home with his wife, and was accosted by a mugger. Apparently, the mugger never knew what hit him. Dempsey was 78 at the time.

* There's a case mentioned in one of John Douglas's true crime books where a serial killer broke into a ranch house and assaulted the couple that lived there. As it was a ranch house ''on'' a ranch, and in Montana no less, the killer should've at least considered the possibility that the residents would keep guns at home. Douglas cites it as one of the few known instances in which [[AssassinOutclassin a serial killer got killed by his intended prey]] in real life.

* Dressing up policewomen like MsFanservice and sending them out to troll for johns is standard practice for vice squads worldwide, to the point where it was briefly demonstrated in one of ''{{Series/Discworld}}'' books (and PlayedForLaughs, because the typically gorgeous blonde officer is also a werewolf and thus the back-up). Muggers and psychos occasionally fall for their act, and get snapped up by the decoy or her backup.

* [[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2111546/South-African-schoolchildren-stone-death-teenage-robbers.html In South Africa]], a group of armed robbers entered a school and were then chased by over ''500'' students. The group of students caught up to the robbers and [[VigilanteExecution stoned two of them to death]].
* Dressing up policewomen like MsFanservice and sending them out to troll for johns is standard practice for vice squads worldwide. Muggers and psychos occasionally fall for their act, and get snapped up by the decoy or her backup.

* In 2010, a group of forty train robbers stormed a train in West Bengal and started taking valuables from the passengers. One of the robbers then decided to rape one of the women on the train. It turned out that one of the train's passengers was Bishnu Shrestha, a corporal in the 8th [[UsefulNotes/NepaliWithNastyKnives Gurkha]] Infantry. And Bishnu objected, ''sternly'', resulting in him killing several of the robbers by himself with just his kukri and sending the rest fleeing for their lives.

* Two burglars made the mistake of [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2660021.stm breaking into the house of footballer Duncan Ferguson]], a man whose nickname when playing was "Duncan Disorderly", such was his love of fighting. Unfortunately for the would-be thieves, he was home at the time. One of the robbers spent three days in hospital.
* UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson was the first United States president to have an assassination attempt made against him. Note the word "attempt." Unemployed Englishman Richard Lawrence attempted to fire two flintlock pistols at the President as he left a funeral, but [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns both weapons misfired]] and did not shoot. Not that it would have done him much good. Jackson had been a duelist for years before, with between a dozen and some hundreds of duels under his belt. He'd been shot numerous times before, including several direct hits to his torso, and at this point while Jackson was not necessarily ImmuneToBullets, he was pretty close to it. Lawrence should have paid attention to his recent history--Jackson was also a celebrated general of UsefulNotes/TheWarOf1812 and so had ''lots'' of military experience as well as a solid record of trouncing Englishmen. The 67 year old Jackson turned around and beat the crap out of Lawrence [[CaneFu with his cane]]. When help finally arrived, they ended up having to stop ''Jackson'' from killing ''Lawrence''. To this day, Jackson remains the only president to stop his own attempted assassination and capture his would-be assassin.

* UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson was the first president to have an assassination attempt made against him. Note the word "attempt." Unemployed Englishman Richard Lawrence attempted to fire two flintlock pistols at the President as he left a funeral, but [[ReliablyUnreliableGuns both weapons misfired]] and did not shoot. Not that it would have done him much good. Jackson had been a duelist for years before, with between a dozen and some hundreds of duels under his belt. He'd been shot numerous times before, including several direct hits to his torso, and at this point while Jackson was not necessarily ImmuneToBullets, he was pretty close to it. Lawrence should have paid attention to his recent history--Jackson was also a celebrated general of UsefulNotes/TheWarOf1812 and so had ''lots'' of military experience as well as a solid record of trouncing Englishmen. The 67 year old Jackson turned around and beat the crap out of Lawrence [[CaneFu with his cane]]. When help finally arrived, they ended up having to stop ''Jackson'' from killing ''Lawrence''. To this day, Jackson remains the only president to stop his own attempted assassination and capture his would-be assassin.

** On a more general level, the entire war from 1884 onwardws: the Mahdists were mostly armed with traditional melee weapons, and when it came to what little firearms they had, most of which were ancient muzzle-loaders with only a few being modern firearms captured from the enemy, they lacked firing discipline, so the British, hoping to avoid an expensive war that would have savaged Egypt's fragile economy, offered to leave Sudan under their control in a form of protectorate. The Mahdists instead besieged Khartoum to prevent the retreat of the Egyptian garrisons and eventually massacred them, earning Britain's enmity and, once they had rebuilt Egypt's economy, the devastating 1898-99 offensive that wiped the Mahdists out. In the meantime they attacked Ethiopia, embroiled in a civil war and targeted by Italy for colonization, and the Italian colony of Eritrea, and while the attacks against Ethiopia were a success the Italians and their colonial troops, who had modern firearms and proper fire discipline, gave them the defeats mentioned above and then made their own move on Ethiopia.

** In 1993, somewhere in the Pacific, two pirate boats fired machinegun warning shots in the direction of an unidentified dry-cargo freighter. And got an auto-cannon warning shot in return, which dissuaded them from trying to board a vessel that's supposed to carry 440 marines. It was ''Nikolai Vilkov'' — a Russian large landing ship. Being a remake of a civilian project, it [[http://www.navy.ru/nowadays/strength/images/vilkov.jpg resembles a freighter]] with its big crane.

* During UsefulNotes/TheRiverWar, the Mahdists, still riding high on their victories against the British and Egyptians in spite of the latters' victory at Toski, decided to raid the weaker Italians at south. The First Battle of Agordat and the Battle of Serobeti were such hilariously one-sided defeats for the Mahdists that the 1893 offensive defeated at Second Agordat firmly went into BullyingTheDragon territory (especially as the Italians actually retaliated and conquered Kassala after the latter).

* One such incident has become [[http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/susan/sf/filk/seeyrsix.htm fondly-recalled lore]] in the UsefulNotes/SocietyForCreativeAnachronism: After a Society event in New York City, a lady who uses the name "Sir Trude Lacklandia" was walking home late at night and assaulted by several muggers. When she refused to hand over her cash, one tried to stab her with a six-inch knife — only to have the blade turned by the chainmail she was wearing under her woolen cloak. She then drew her (very real) sword and said "I'll see your six, and raise you thirty-five!" before chasing the muggers off. A bard in the SCA afterwards wrote a humorous song about it, which has become quite popular.

** Wasps of the species ''Lasiochalcidia igiliensis'' will jump into an antlion pit. When the antlion larva tries to attack it, the wasp stings it and lays its eggs, which hatch and devour the larva alive.

* [[SmellySkunk Skunks]] are quite unassuming to predators who have never run into one before, and some see them as an easy meal, only to be sent running with a face full of musk.