Even I have a It Survived story. As I stood looking through the fence towards the secure area of Moffett Air Base (where my rocket had just landed), the president of our club walked up to me.
Him: "Did you lose a couple of altimeters?"
Me: "Uh, no--mine are on the other side of that building there."
Him:"Are you sure?" [He holds them up]
Me: "Wow, those look just like the two I had tied to the parachute!"
[Both altimeters read 1,274 feet.]
Me: "And that's how high they probably went!"
[After a few moments, I sheepishly accept them.]
Turns out the major difference between all of the altimeters (there were 11 in all, old and new, A1-A3, plus a Raven 2) is that the AltimeterTwo that fell had a much SHORTER flight duration, and a much faster DESCENT.
As a brain teaser, I showed a pair of AltimeterTwos to my family at dinner and said, "These AltimeterTwos were on the same flight, have a couple of radically different values, and both are 'correct.' What happened?"
The altimeters were fine after the fall, onto pavement from 1274 feet.
P.S. Never tie "a string to another string." Lesson learned.