# Amazing and oddly specific coincidence **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 18, 2026, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807 "2026-01-18T22:13:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/21 "2026-01-19T17:22:03Z")
Yes, that’s where it was. To illustrate how hard it can be to find some of these long gone sites, here is the only photo that shows the drag strip. All they photographed is the very end of the strip but I was able to spot it after looking at the high altitude aerial photos from the early 1970s. > **[Vintage Aerial | Ohio | Licking County | 1974 | 6-DLI-32](https://vintageaerial.com/photos/ohio/licking/1974/DLI/6/32)** > > Over 19 million aerial photos documenting the history of rural America spanning five decades. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/22 "2026-01-19T17:33:21Z")
Sometime back in the early 1990s, there was a local high profile murder case in man was arrested as the main suspect in the murder of his son. He and I worked for the same company. They eventually cleared him, but not before he spent several months in the pokey. Sometime after that, I was buying concert tickets while wearing my work id. The cashier noticed it and asked if I knew Zack Wilton. I said, ‘You mean the guy they just released?’ He said ‘No, different guy with the same name, who also works there.’ At the time I didn’t know either one, but I did end up later knowing the cashier’s friend. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/23 "2026-01-19T19:03:22Z")
I have a last name that’s not too common, though more common than you might think. My wife’s maiden name is not common at all, although she comes from a pretty large family with that name. Early on in our marriage, we were sitting around on a Sunday morning reading the paper. She had this weird thing where she liked to read the obituaries. She said “hey, look at these obits and tell me what you see”. her maiden name starts with ‘A’ so I noticed someone who died with her maiden name right away. I said “someone in your family?” “I don’t _think_ so” she said (again, large family, many cousins), “but keep looking”. That’s when I saw it-- someone with _ **my** _ last name (no relation) was _ **also** _ on the same obit page 😱 ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/24 "2026-01-19T19:14:29Z")
Interesting @mixdenny I was a GIS professional for 33 years. We often had to provide photographic evidence for prescriptive rights. (Aerial photography) Mostly "How long has this road/access been on this property? IANAL so I won’t get into it, but it can be very, very tricky stuff. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/25 "2026-01-19T19:27:30Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > But yeah I like to see the old maps. I’m GIS and agree. I have a map of 1873 Colorado. It’s a print, but it’s great. Frammed up on the wall over a globe. The original can be bought for $11,000 (um… no) My wife has a picture of the town we used to live (Breckenridge) and there are horses and bicycles on the same ‘road’. It’s very cool. No date on it. Guessing early 1900’s. That’s getting mounted over the globe as well as a historical picture of the courthouse. From the car in the picture, I would say ~ 1952. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/26 "2026-01-19T19:44:34Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I am a leading researcher on [VintageAerial.com](http://VintageAerial.com). Forget the coincidences; this is the part that gets my attention. I bought the photo of my farm, taken IIRC 1976, and your site also lists a roll of the same county from 1980, but it stops before my farm. I really wish you could find it! I’d buy that one, too. I’ve written but…nothing. Which leads to the second point: why does your company keep offering me discounts on photos? I bought the only one you have I want. How many people want expensive photos of strangers’ farms? From 50 years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/27 "2026-01-19T19:49:13Z")
I don’t know so much about coincidences but wanted to see if you were aware of all the aerial images from Wisconsin going back to the 1930’s. They have several sets from various dates and you can overlay them to see how things were and how they changed. > **[Wisconsin Historic Aerial Imagery Finder](https://maps.sco.wisc.edu/WHAIFinder/)** > > The Wisconsin Historic Aerial Image Finder provides free online access to digital aerial photographs of Wisconsin from 1936 to present. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/28 "2026-01-19T22:09:58Z")
This might be helpful [USDA GeoSpatial Data Gateway.](https://gdg.sc.egov.usda.gov/) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/29 "2026-01-20T02:37:52Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I don’t know so much about coincidences but wanted to see if you were aware of all the aerial images from Wisconsin going back to the 1930’s. No I was not! I see my farm in 1938! Amazing! And in infrared from Landsat in 1980. I’m going to have to explore this! This is great! ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/30 "2026-01-20T04:25:52Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I really wish you could find it! Send me the state, county, year, roll number and image number of the photo you have or an address and I’ll see what I can find. But for the record, I’m not affiliated with the Vintage Aerials company the members are just enthusiastic volunteers. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/31 "2026-01-20T19:41:16Z")
Actually, with the newest search functions, just go to the relevant county and put in the address. Every roll of film that comes close will be listed. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/32 "2026-01-20T19:48:23Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Actually, with the newest search functions, just go to the relevant county and put in the address. I just did that for the rural town where I spent my first 11 years. Found two images of the big Evangelical United Methodist church, the earlier of which shows a tiny bit of my family’s home in the background. We preferred the older, smaller First United Methodist for Sunday services. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/33 "2026-01-20T20:39:07Z")
OMG thank you thank you thank you thank you for that link!!! Found a photo of our farm from 89 years ago. Family’s been here since 1848 ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/34 "2026-01-20T21:02:29Z")
I can’t imagine the gumption, foresight and money that people had to spend the effort flying 1930s aircraft and 1930’s cameras to take pictures of every single bit of Wisconsin. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/35 "2026-01-21T06:16:34Z")
My grandmother raised seven kids in a house in San Francisco and still lived there until her death in 1997. As an empty-nester during the 70s and 80s, she often rented out rooms to students at USF. One of her renters was a young blind woman named Leslie. I didn’t know any of this until Lorita and I drove up from OC in 1992 to spend Thanksgiving with her. We were chatting with her in her breakfast nook one morning when she told us about Leslie, and it turned out that Lorita had been friends with her as a kid. Weirdly, grandma kept calling Lorita “Leslie” after that. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807/36 "2026-01-21T18:46:45Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I can’t imagine the gumption, foresight and money that people had to spend the effort flying 1930s aircraft and 1930’s cameras to take pictures of every single bit of Wisconsin. The photo services started out taking farm photos for specific farms they were hired to photograph. They decided to try filming all the farms “on spec” and sell enlargements by driving around with the contact sheets of images. Their heydey was the 1960s and 1970s. This was a one man operation. The pilot flew the plane at low altitude and focused the image and took the photos themselves. They had a map of the county in their lap and drew red lines to mark the flight path. When they started a new roll of film (36 images) they marked it on the flight map. Of course they sometimes got ahead or behind so the first image might not be in the start of the flight path. And many maps have been lost so we have to figure out where the photos were taken. Here is a typical flight map from my home county, Lorain County, Ohio from 1975. > **[OH-Lorain-75-01 | Vintage Aerial](https://vintageaerial.com/scanned_maps/OH-Lorain-75-01)** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-and-oddly-specific-coincidence/1026807.md?page=1)