10+ Crazy Real-Life Stories With More Twists and Turns Than a Movie

Life has a way of crafting stories so mind-blowing and surreal that they rival the most imaginative movie plots. From astonishing coincidences to shocking family encounters, these moments prove reality can be much stranger than fiction.

• My dad went to secondary school with John Lennon and was a couple years older than him. Dad was known for playing the drums and being quite musical, and one day John asks him whether he’d like to be the drummer in a band he’s forming. Dad was keen, but my granny said he needed to prioritize studying, and so he didn’t join.
  The band formed and were called The Quarrymen, and I think a guy called Colin was the drummer instead of dad, who I believe was later replaced by Pete Best and then Ringo, as they changed to The Silver Beatles, and then The Beatles.
  I like to imagine that in an alternative universe, my dad said yes and that was history. I don’t even mind that I wouldn’t have been born if this had been the outcome — he really deserved to have had that lifetime. © Unknown user / Reddit

• A few years ago, I’d go to college in the morning and leave at about midnight because I didn’t have a computer and needed to work on homework at school. One time on the last train ride home, there was this guy acting a bit strange the whole ride. He gets up and stands in the middle of the car and, as the train brakes coming into the station, he falls flat on his face from a full standing position, lays there until the trains stops, stands up, dusts himself off and walks out of the open doors like nothing happened.
  I saw him doing it like 5 other separate times and since I was used to it at that point I enjoyed looking out for the uninitiated riders’ reactions. I really enjoyed the entertainment. © Pinestachio / Reddit

• When my mom was pregnant with me, she and my father divorced, and he gave up all parental rights. I’ve never met him or spoken to him, I’ve only seen a few pictures. About 2 years ago, I worked at a healthcare facility where I would float to different offices around the county based on who needed the help. This one particular morning I was checking the doctor’s schedule and saw my father’s name. He was scheduled to be in the office next door to where I was working, and I thought it was pretty crazy, but I most likely wouldn’t even see him.
  The time of his appointment came, and he walked into my office straight up to me and says he had a doctor’s appointment with Dr X. My heart was racing because I knew it was him as soon as he walked through the door. I told him Dr X was the office next door and he left. A little while later I walked over to the other office to deliver some faxes and on my way out he trailed behind me and I held the door for him. He said thank you. And that was my one and only interaction with my father in my 30 years of living. © t***waffle53 / Reddit

• I (26) am adopted. I have nothing to do with my biological family, save for a half brother, who I reconnected with last year. We’re friends on Facebook.
  About a year and a half ago, I spent 6 months as a pizza delivery driver. While there, I met a man, probably in his 50s or so. We got along. I quit the job 6 months in, but a couple months ago I came back, and the guy is still there.
  A week ago, my brother tags me on Facebook, as well as my co-worker. A few days later, I ask my co-worker how he knows my brother. After a misunderstanding (my brother has the same name as his father, so when I asked, he thought I was talking about my brother’s father), we found out that the co-worker is actually my uncle by marriage. Or was. He was married to my biological mom’s sister for some 20 years, until they divorced a couple years ago.
  The guy used to babysit me when I was a baby, and has pictures of my brother and biological mom that he gave me. He’s currently looking for baby pictures of me, because I don’t have any from before I was adopted. © Mrs0M***r / Reddit

• When I was learning to fly at a sketchy flight school, I was doing a pre-flightcheck flight — close to the end of the program. I was doing the run-up in a Cessna, when I smelt something. “Do you smell that? Smells like gas,” I say. The instructor, who’s 21 years-old, shrugs. Annoyed, I open the door, and there is a spreading puddle of Av-gas under the plane.
  The instructor panics, “Stay in the plane, I’ll get help!” and runs off. As soon as I got the engine off, I got out of there, and watched the plane dump all its fuel on the runway. They kindly gave me another plane, and instructor. They “fixed” their plane, and a month later, I read about the same plane getting into an accident due to fuel issues. © The-Sound_of-Silence / Reddit

• Me and my friend were bored and decided to go skating at like 1am and ended up in a car park. We started talking about scary stories and stuff when out of nowhere we notice a fireball in the sky. We stop speaking and watch in amazement and shock about what we are witnessing until all light we could see suddenly goes out, and the fireball was gone. I don’t think either of us have run so fast in our lives. © pumbelted / Reddit

• I met my significant other on a plane, flying Bangkok to Doha. I was downgraded when my better seat upgrade fell through. Got sat in the third to last row and hit it off with the Spanish girl next to me.
  Three weeks later on a whim I flew from the United States to Spain to meet her. Three weeks after that, I moved there. We just hit our two-year anniversary and are celebrating the birth of our first child. © Unknown user / Reddit

• I’m a pretty avid cyclist, which means whenever I have the time, I will ride my bike away from the city I live in, into the mountainous suburbs to challenge myself up some of the local climbs.
  It was another one of these excursions. All of a sudden, heading home, I see traffic on the opposite lane stopped for some reason. What I immediately saw next, I was not prepared for. I saw an ostrich on my lane, in front of me, running after the car ahead. And it’s not like the country I live in is habitat to any ostriches.
  Slowly, I follow the ostrich, which is running after the car ahead, faced with a decision: do I overtake the ostrich? Now I’m no expert on ostriches, but I do remember reading that ostriches run really quickly, and that they can be aggressive towards humans. I don’t want to become the victim of an ostrich attack, but I do want to get home quickly, as it was starting to get dark.
  After hesitating for a while, I gave it all I had and overtook the ostrich. I managed to get home unharmed. But to this day, it remains one of my most surreal experiences. © robertrendors / Reddit

• About four years ago, I was living in this bigger European city. I went with a girl to a pub — and since all tables were full, we sat at the bar. There was an older guy sitting next to me who kind of distracted me because he reminded me of my uncle.
  Now mind: My uncle was living in the US for around 25 years already, he didn’t look like that guy, nor did he act too similar. That bar guy just had some gestures that reminded me of him, mixed with the look of another distant relative.
  So, the girl I was with goes to the toilet, so I can’t hold back anymore and look this dude in the eyes and tell him he reminds me of my uncle. He jokingly asks, “What’s his name?” I tell him, and also tell him, “Well, he lives in the US and works in [field of work].” Then the guy looks stunned and tells me the names of my whole family. Turns out he was the flatmate of my uncle 30 years ago for about half a year. © Duosnacrapus / Reddit

• Me and my brother are fraternal twins. My stepmom passed away when we were around 15 years old, and she was like a second mother to us, as she had been around since we were 5 years old.
  Now, fast-forward to our junior year of college. I attended a school in upstate New York, while my brother attended a university in the state of Florida. One night I woke up in sweat with tears coming down my eyes. I had the most vivid dream.
  I was in a house and my stepmother was there. I knew she had passed in this dream, which was a first for me. She hugged me, told me how handsome I had become, and that she loved me. I woke up drenched in sweat, thinking, “What was that?” I didn’t say anything to anybody and went to class.
  As I’m walking back to my apartment after class, I get a call from my brother. His first words were, “I know this is going to sound weird, but I had the most vivid dream about Maggie last night.” The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as he went on to describe the same dream I had just experienced the night prior. © CheezieMcfresh1 / Reddit

• I stole my own car back once.
  I used to restore classic cars. I had the most valuable one I’ve ever had at a body shop for painting, and the guy took forever to finish it. He had painted other cars for me, but something wasn’t right this time. I would check on the car every week to see if there was any progress. Finally, after a year, he told me he had painted 90% of it, but he was asking for more money than we originally agreed.
  I drive there on a Friday afternoon unannounced, and see my car outside the shop (worth a ton of money) with the shop owner no where in sight. His neighbor told me he had left the car outside for 3 days and several people had already tried to steal it. So, I call a tow truck and tow it to my garage right away.
  At home, the shop owner calls me over and over again. He thought somebody stole the car. He kept calling me for months, but I never responded. © MCAMER3 / Reddit

We all live through bizarre situations every once in a while. However, some folks take the cake when it comes to experiencing moments with no obvious explanation. In order to solve their mysteries, some turn to social media to tell their story and hear what others think of it.