18-month-old Jessica McClure was rescued from a well in Midland, Texas, 27 years ago after rescue workers and volunteers spent 58 hours drilling. They reached her on October 16, 1987, while viewers around the world watched it unfold live. She had fallen down the abandoned shaft while playing.

The "Baby Jessica" rescue was one of the first stories to get the round-the-clock treatment cable news is known for. CNN was still trying to make a name for itself and justify 24-hour news coverage, and the story was tailor-made for audiences who wanted minute-by-minute updates. A microphone lowered down the narrow shaft allowed people to keep track of the toddler's condition as she cried or hummed. (If you're too young to remember this story but it still seems oddly familiar, congratulations, you're a "Simpsons" fan.)

Some criticized the media circus around the event, but then-President Reagan said "everybody in America became godmothers and godfathers of Jessica while this was going on." Some people used the story for inspiration, like Charlie Musselwhite, a blues musician who released an album called "The Well" in 2010 and said Jessica's ordeal inspired him to quit drinking: "I decided I wasn't going to drink till she got out of that well. It was like I was tricking myself, telling myself that I wasn't going to quit for good, just until she got out. It took three days to get her out, and I haven't had a drink since."

After her rescue, Jessica lost a toe to gangrene, received a visit in the hospital from then Vice-President Bush, and visited the White House. After the story faded, she disappeared into a relatively quiet life. She graduated high school, married a man she met working at a day-care, and had two kids. When she turned 25 in 2011, she came into possession of an $800,000 trust fund established through donations. She has had 15 surgeries since being rescued, but claims to have no memory of the drama that made her famous.

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