Almost Unbelievable Coincidences that Really Happened

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
41

This one’s not TOO out there …

It was April and my cousin had just gotten married. Pulling out of the parking lot at the church, I saw my uncle walking to his car. I turned to my mom and said “wouldn’t it be weird if he got married?”

At the time he had been divorced for years, hadn’t dated in ages, had NO prospects whatsoever and had no social life because he worked all the time. The idea of my uncle getting married was pretty much in the “impossible” category.

About 1 or 2 weeks later he met a woman out of the blue and they married in September of the same year.

Even weirder: she was a widow and her husband had been dead about a year. Turns out she had actually met my uncle at church years before, when she was still married, because they had mutual friends who apparently introduced my uncle to his wife-to-be and her husband. The same mutual friends ended up setting them up on a blind date years later not even remembering they had met before.

42

A few years ago, I was at a boy scout camp in Northern California (I live in the bay area). I was about 11, and I was really far away from home for the first time. I remember being scared that some catostrophic event would happen in the bay area, and that my mom would die.
I got back from camp on September 9th, 2001. :eek:

(note: my mom didn’t die in the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, but it’s still quite a wierd coincidence)

43

I work with a guy and a girl who are both from the same tiny town halfway across the country. They knew each other slightly growing up, then they both left home, came here for totally different reasons, and ended up not only working for the same company, but in the same department of about a dozen people.

44

My ex-husband’s grandfather had a super-8 camera and used it often. He died in the 1960’s. Several years ago, my ex decided to transfer the movies onto video tapes for his family Christmas presents.

We sit down to watch the tapes before we wrap them up. It’s pretty standard stuff, lots of footage of 1950’s road crews and little kids skating. Then, the scene changes to the 1955 Calgary Stampede Parade. I tell my ex that my mum was once on a Gas Gompany float, and we still have the blue bathing suit that she wore.

Not a minute goes by when a Gas Company float begins to sail across the screen, and there is my mother, smiling and waving in that bright blue swimsuit.

We freaked.

45

It must be about 8 or 9 years ago that my story starts. I worked in an espresso bar on Manhattan’s upper east side. One of my co-workers was a guy named Brian who did cue cards at NBC (for Conan and for SNL). I left that job, got another, then another, then was unemployed, then got a job in a restaurant at the South St. Seaport. One of the bartenders, Chris, is the head cue card person on SNL and was good friends with Brian. That was interesting to me, but not earth shattering. I left that job for another, and moved out of the city. Four years later I find myself back in the city, working at a college. I’m listening to a radio show in my office when Chris called in and spoke for a good ten minutes with the hosts, whom he knew. My interest piqued, I google Chris and find out that he now lives in my hometown in NJ. I call him, but he’s not there. Talk to his wife for a few, and that’s that. Another coincidence, but not monumental. 8 months later I went to a Yankee game. I bump into Chris while at Stan’s (another coincidence, but not huge). I ask him about Brian and he tells me that Brian has moved out to L.A. 9 months later I move out to L.A. myself. I googled Brian, tried to get a hold of him with no luck. My very first job here I bartended for a guy named Patrick. About a week after I worked for Patrick, I went over to his aprtment to hang out and have a beer. A knock at the door, Patrick’s next door neighbor walks in - Brian!
I don’t care about what mathmaticians say, I will never be convinced that I could have expected this to happen, particularly since other coincidences were involved: Brian and Chris knowing each other; I happen to be in my office when Chris calls a show that I’m listening to; Chris lives in my hometown; I run into Chris among a crowd of nearly 50,000 people; Brian lives where he does and finds me when I’m looking for him.

46

One afternoon I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop in at my mom’s. Just as I was walking up the sidewalk, my cell phone rang. It was my mom. “Where are you?” she asked. “Standing on your porch,” I replied.

But perhaps the strangest coincidence I’ve ever experienced occurred when a bunch of friends and I had gathered at a friend’s house. Family Feud was on television, and I commented that Ray Combs had a really big head and a little body. No more than a minute later, Ray Combs himself said, “Did you ever notice that I have a big head and a little body?” I swear I’d never seen that episode before. Some of my friends were really freaked out by it.

47

I’ve had that happen before.

48

these aren’t that exciting but oh well . . .

sophomore year of high school, my parents got the scatterbrained idea to take a trip to cancun for thanksgiving week. we’re standing in a long line in the airport to get our luggage checked and (were we in cancun already? i believe we were) i looked at a man infront of us and pointed out to my dad that his luggage tag said “Quakertown, PA” - we’re a town over, hailing from Montgomeryville (all suburbs outside of northeast philly). So my dad said soemthing to the man about being from quakertown. Turns out they went to high school together and knew each other. My father lived on one side of the train tracks (no, i’m not lying) while this man lived on the other. Later, my father related to us that the man was apparently a trouble maker when my father knew him in grade school (wrong side of the tracks, yuk yuk) but what was he doing in cancun? he was doing missionary work with his children for their church. blinks :confused:

i like this story, personally:
the summer after i turned 13 or 14, i was down the shore with my family for our traditional two weeks in Sea Isle City, NJ. for once, i had made a friend, and so we were playing in the ocean when the girl’s sister called her. She yelled “Hey, Hayley!” and we both turned around. Ha, we shared the same first name and didn’t even realize it. Well, our mothers thought this to be absolutely adorable. The next day, Hayley and I were walking around and my mom called out “Hayley Jo!” using my middle name as a matter of distinction between the two of us.

we both turned around.

Her name is Hayley Jo Jacobs, mine is Hayley Jo Charles. We were both named after Hayley Mills, the actress, though her middle name has a different origin than mine (her’s is from an older member of the family, mine is . . . well, mine is after Mt. Jo . . . yes. a mountain top. my mom was a hippie, explains things for ya?)

oh yeah, and when our neighbors across the street first moved in, we discovered that their little girl’s name is Hayley. She looks and acts like I did when I was her age, it’s a little weird. She and her brother are the same years apart that my brother and I are, as well.

maybe you don’t think the name is all that uncommon but for 18 years, i have been the only Hayley and the only Charles in every yearbook i own from grade school.
(incidentally, right after i started dying my hair a shade of bright red, Mr. Personality debuts on tv, and there was a comment in the Washington Post, or something, about the “red-headed Hayley” who was the subject of that show.)

49

I just remembered this. Back in September we lost our home in a fire. A best friend let us stay with him in his condo out in San Pablo while we looked for a new place. One day as I’m leaving for work I see a woman I think I recognize. It was her, a good friend of my mothers. My mom had moved back to Asheville several years ago. We spoke for a few minutes and I continued on my way. Here’s the weird part. After I get to work my Mom calls me. We chit chat for a minute then she tells me for the reason she called. She’s looking for the same lady I had seen that morning, she’d lost her number and wanted to call her up. I told her about running into her, and said I’d look her up in the building directory that night and give her the number. I forgot, but the next morning I remember as I’m driving by the front of the unit. I get out to go look at the directory when she approches on the same mission for the same reason.

50

Back in the early 90s, I was big into Burroughs and doing a lot of experimenting with various cut-up techniques.

One night I was showing some of my head friends a crude sort of automatic writing that I was playing with – taking the grammatical structure from one source and hanging words from another source on it. I demonstrated with a translaion of Homer’s Odyssey and Burrough’s Nova Express – ie; the first word of the Odyssey is a verb, so I stuck my finger in Nova Express at a random spot and wrote down the first verb I found. The next word in the Odyssey is a pronoun, so I’d run my finger along Nova Express from the place I’d left off, until I came across a pronoun, and write that down.

What I ended up with was “Show us a scientist, bold and beautiful, that tells that the calendar and the wheel did not come from the Mayans.” Neat-- it’s coherant, but silly.

Two days later I sat down to my coffee with a copy of the Globe and Mail and read that archaeologists had discovered a cyclic calendar (in Africa, if I recall right) that predated the Mayans.

51

Not much like the coincidences listed here, but I like it. One day when my daughter was thirteen years old I was working late, so I left the house around lunch time. She was alone. I walked down to catch the bus, as I did most days.
But for only the second time in eight years I missed the bus. Damn. I hiked back up the hill to take my bicycle to work instead.

And found that my daughter had leaned back too far in a folding chair which had collapsed, catching both of her hands. She couldn’t get them out without help (well, she probably would have eventually), and needed ot go to the doctor for a checkup. Lucky day to missed the bus, I guess.

I have a few more but I’ll make them separate messages.

FIfteen Iguana

52

In December my family went to Spain. On the first day we ran into three people from our home town (two of them were together). We had no idea they were in Spain. We ran into no one else we knew in the next two weeks.

Fifteen Iguana

53

I grew up in Town A. In high school I moved to Town B, fifty miles away. I became friends with a guy there who had spent some time in Town A years before. Turned out we had been in the same boy scout troop, but had never met. We even went on the same camping trip and watched the same guy make pancakes.

I told this to a cousin of mine and she recognized my friend’s name. Turned out when he was in the second grade he had lived in the town north of Town A, and gone to school with my cousin. My cousin also remembered my friend’s younger sister, who I married.

Fifteen Iguana

54

**Two Irvings and an Econoline **
My Father in Law owned a Ford Econoline.

He had two accidents at the exact same intersection in the same van, the same way ( neither his fault) with the passenger being named Irving, but they were two different Irvings, but sleeping with the same women.
Explaination.

The first Irving was my FIL’s Uncle by marriage. Only a few years seperated them by age. He was married to Aunt Lizabet.

Uncle Irving died about a year or so later from cancer.

The Second Irving was Irving the Firsts best friend and had promised to take care of Irving’s wife after he was gone. They moved in together not long later ( they had been life long friends.)

55

I grew up in a small town in Nebraska. In 1990, Dad had a business trip in Calgary, and I tagged along. I had to go home a day or two before him, so when it was time for me to leave, he dropped me off at the Calgary airport, and went back to his meetings.

All seemed fine, until I went to clear customs on the way to the plane, and they asked for my passport. Which was at home in Nebraska. I explained to the customs officers that coming into Canada, all I had been asked for was my driver’s license, so that’s all I had with me. Apparently, that wasn’t going to be good enough. I was told to wait for the supervisor to come back from lunch, and he’d try to straighten it out. So I sat down and waited, not knowing whether I’d make my flight, and not really sure how to get hold of my Dad.

When the supervisor appeared, I explained my predicament, and gave him my driver’s license and school ID. He took one look at my license, looked up at me, and said, “are you Phil’s kid?”

Turns out he was from a town about 15 miles down the road, and knew my Dad. He shook his head, and said, “Just get on the plane.”

56

The license plate on the first car I drove as an adult was IYY-547.

I wound up behind cars on two separate occasions that had plates that differed by one digit/letter from mine: IYY-546 and IYX-547. Same state.

57

I graduated from high school in Houston, TX in 1966. In 1981, I was sitting in the lobby of the Sari Pacific hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, when this lady walks up and says, “Is your name Charles xxxx?”

Turns out it was my best friend in high school’s mom. His parents were travelling around the world and just happened to be checking into the same hotel I was in.

58

Nov 19th has always been a big day in my family.

My father was baptized on Nov 19th 1944
My brother’s adoption was finalized Nov 19th 1969
My adoption was finalized Nov 19th 1970
My sister was born Nov 19th 1971
My youngest birthsister was born Nov 19th 1974
Also, about a week before the Sept 11th attacks my boyfriend and I were talking about the Pentegon’s security. (no clue why this was brought up) I told him that pretty much the security sucked because anyone wanting to f-up the people inside would just have to fly a plane into it. :eek: as well as tall buildings like the WTC.

I’ve also predicted the deaths of my Grandfather, my Great-Aunt and 3 of my friends from High School.

I guess I’m just weird that way. :smiley:

59

In 1995, my family took a vacation out to Colorado to visit my uncle. We rented a car and drove around, visiting a lot of different sites. While wandering around the Garden of the Gods, we ran into a family we knew from our hometown in Massachusetts. I was on several of the same sports teams as the daughter and they went to our church.

I spent a year teaching English in France after my graduation from college. While there, I took the opportunity to travel as much as possible. I spent my 2 Week April break travelling around Scotland and England. While walking down the Royal Mile towards Holyrood Castle I look across the street and see a girl with red hair. It turns out to be Elizabeth, a girl who lived down the hall from me the year before. She was studying in Germany and was also travelling on her break. We hadn’t really talked since graduation so it was a nice suprise, especially nice to see a familiar face from home.

A few months ago, in the elevator up to my office, I ran into a friend from college that I hadn’t seen in a year. Turns out she works 2 floors above me!

60

Years ago, back in college, my boyfriend and I decided to take a road trip to his alma mater just to hang with his fraternity buddies. We arrive at some ungodly hour, like 1 am and he drops me off in the room of a friend of his while he goes off to attend to some business I can’t remember. I hang out with, party with and chat with a couple nice guys for a couple hours. Pretty soon my boyfriend comes back and we go somewhere else to crash for the night.

Fast forward to about ten years later. My roommate from college is getting married. She’s moving to the same town in FL where I’m living. Her fiance (J) moves first, since his job transferred them there – so I meet him before I ever saw them together. J and I get to talking… his alma mater is the same as my ex-boyfriend’s. They were in the same fraternity…

Guess who’s room I sat in while my boyfriend wandered off? Guess who I partied with ten years before I started partying with him on a more regular basis?

It gets weirder. That particular couple – moved to FL a couple years after I did. A couple more years go by, and I take a job in SC – working with J’s brother. I pack up and move. About a year later… J’s wife gets a transfer to NC, about an hour away from where I was. Since we’ve been following each other around the country for the past 10-15 years, I expect them to move to Tallahassee any minute now…