13 Unbelievable Coincidences That Leave Us With Many Questions About the World
Life sometimes brings us strange surprises that are seemingly impossible to explain simply by referring to theories of probabilty.
We at Bright Side never cease to be amazed by the coincidences that occur in this world which demonstrate just how unpredictable and mysterious it is.
Almost like reincarnation
Enzo Ferrari, who founded the Ferrari company, died in 1988. About a month later, the footballer Mesut Özil was born. Looking at their portraits, you could be forgiven for thinking they’re twin brothers. Is this a case of reincarnation?
Is this another evidence of time travel?
Jennifer Lawrence is a spitting image of a silver age Egyptian actress Zubaida Tharwat.
A premonition of the Titanic
In 1898, 14 years before the sinking of the Titanic, fantasy writer Morgan Robertson wrote the novella Futility, which told the story of a ship that was sunk — and which bore the name The Titan. But it wasn’t just the name where we can see an eerie coincidence. Both the fictional and real ship were described as unsinkable, had similar technical characteristics, lacked a suitable number of lifeboats, and collided with icebergs in the North Atlantic.
After the sinking of the Titanic, the book was republished with the title Futility, or The Sinking of the Titan.
Sources: historyonthenet, titanic.wikia, cruiselinehistory
Neighbors living in different centuries
The famous composer George Handel was a neighbor of famous guitarist Jimi Hendrix — admittedly, they were separated by two centuries. Handel lived in London at 25 Brook Street, whilst Hendrix lived for a time at 23 Brook Street. They were both incredible musicians who had a major influence on the development of music in their respective eras.
Source: andelhendrix
The Tragedy on the Hoover Dam
One of the first people who lost their life during the construction of the Hoover Dam was George Tierney, who died on December 20, 1922, when carrying out preparatory work. The last person to die during construction was Patrick Tierney — George’s son. He also died on December 20.
Source: http://damofhoover, usbr, digital-desert
The cars that found each other
In 1895, in the state of Ohio, two cars collided. The peculiarity of this particular accident is to be found in the fact that during this period, automobile production was only just beginning to take off, and there were only these two cars in all of Ohio. Unfortunately, at that time automobile accidents still weren’t documented, and so the official records of this case haven’t survived.
Sources: books.google, allfunandgames
Coincidences in the biographies of Lincoln and Kennedy
A multitude of strange coincidences exist in the biographies of two American presidents: Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy. Here are just a few of them:
- They were both killed by a gunshot wound to the back of the head, on a Friday, before a celebration (Lincoln was killed just before Easter; Kennedy on the eve of Thanksgiving). Each was accompanied by his wife and another couple.
- Both had four children.
- Both had a friend called Billy Graham.
- Kennedy had a secretary called Mrs. Lincoln. President Lincoln had a secretary called John.
- Their successors in both cases were vice presidents called Johnson, who were both southerners and Democrats.
Sources: historynewsnetwork, logic-books, wikipedia
The first and last soldiers
The graves of the first and last British soldiers killed in the First World War are located 6 meters from each other, and their headstones face each other. This arrangement was not in any way deliberate.
Sources: bbc, news.bbc., theguardian
Rumors of Edgar Allan Poe’s time machine
In the book The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, written by Edgar Allan Poe, we learn the story of four sailors who survived the sinking of their ship and were forced to eat a shipboy called Richard Parker. Po claimed that this story was based on real-life events, but this wasn’t actually the case.
46 years after the book was written, an actual boat did sink, and the members of the crew who were saved recounted how they had eaten a shipboy called...Richard Parker. This led to rumors that the famous American writer had owned a time machine.
Sources: seesouthampton, skeptics, nytimes
Unlucky brothers
In July 1975, Erskine Lawrence Ebbin, a 17-year-old inhabitant of the Bermuda Islands, was riding along the road on his moped when he was hit by a taxi. Almost a year before, also in July, Erskine’s brother — who was also 17 — was killed. He was riding the same moped and he was killed by a taxi as well. Behind the wheel was the same driver, and he was carrying the same passenger.
Sources: skeptics, royalgazette, dailytelegraph
Anthony Hopkins and a rare book
Once, the actor Anthony Hopkins urgently needed to get hold of a book so that he could study for a role in a film he was starring in: The Girl from Petrovka, written by George Feifer. He couldn’t find the book in a shop anywhere, but then completely coincidentally he came across a forgotten copy in the subway.
When Hopkins later met Feifer, the latter told him that he didn’t have a copy of the book himself — he had lent his last one to a friend, who had lost it somewhere in the subway.
Sources: npr, dailymail, theactuary
A special name for the Roman Empire
The city of Rome, the foundation of the Roman state, was founded according to legend by Romulus and Remus. Consequently, Romulus became the first king of Rome. The last ruler of the Western Roman Empire was Romulus Augustulus, although he was born as Flavius Romulus Augustus. Nevertheless, one can say that one of the most powerful empires of the ancient world began and ended with the name "Romulus."
Sources: historyextra, tribunesandtriumphs, wikipedia
A prediction of Donald Trump’s election victory in The Simpsons
The creators of The Simpsons made an episode in the year 2000 which made a joke about Donald Trump becoming president of the United States. Could they ever have guessed that one day it would become true?
Even more amazing is the fact that the show presented Trump’s election campaign in a way that was almost identical to scenes from real life when he launched his presidential bid.
