# Real life coincidence so rare you doubt anyone would believe your tale **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 1, 2026, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543 "2026-06-01T18:50:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/21 "2026-06-01T22:20:16Z")
Several years ago, I got into my car and was heading to the hardware store to buy a new wheel and tire for my wheelbarrow. In less than 1/2 a block, I see the exact wheel I need sitting on the curb by the trash. Brand new, unused. I have had several phone calls come in just as I was thinking of someone I hadn’t thought about for a long time. I had a check returned to me that was found by a decorator in a Home Depot parking lot, who worked with the same drapery workroom I worked with. She found it and gave it to the lady in charge saying my name looked familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/22 "2026-06-01T22:52:02Z")
Another fish story: I was waterskiing (this was back in High School) and after tiring out, I dropped the rope and sank into the water. Just then, the biggest Trout I’ve ever seen come lazily swimming up to me (this was Tahoe, crystal-clear clean water, you can see the bottom at 100’ feet). He comes right up, slowly, looks me in the eye, takes a couple labored gasps and keels over, Dead! The boat has arrived by now, so I climb abord and grab this massive fish. Looked perfect! No injury or disease. But he was HUGE! I’ve seen fish taken from that lake for years, and it was easily twice the size of any trout I’ve seen. I think this Old Bugger died of old age right there in front of me. Put him back in watery grave and went home. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/23 "2026-06-01T23:04:14Z")
This is about two young people - let’s call them Simon and Mike - who were friends at university. When they graduated they went their separate ways, but just about kept in touch. Simon is my nephew - my brother’s eldest son. Our close family is very small. There’s my brother and me, two spouses, my son and his two sons. At the time of this story my brother’s youngest and my son both had fiancées (now wives). Two years ago we had a family get together and yes, you can get the entire family in a selfie - which we did. A couple of weeks later my son’s fiancée - let’s call her Beth - had a family get together and was showing the selfie around. “Stone me!”, exclaims her brother, “That’s Simon!” - her brother being Mike. So Simon and Mike, who were friends at university, are now related by marriage. PLUS this is another rare name story. Mike had known for ages that his sister Beth was trading in her fairly common surname for a real rarity (2 or 3 per million). And of course he already knew someone with that name, but it never even occurred to him to wonder. 🤷 j ---
**Author:** ![Past\_Paper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/past_paper/32/21268_2.png) [@Past\_Paper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Past_Paper)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/24 "2026-06-01T23:08:47Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > To whom in the thread are you replying? The OP? As you did not quote or cite another poster, it’s not at all clear. I was trying to do a direct reply to the OP, but maybe I hit the regular Reply button by mistake? ---
**Author:** ![deltogre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deltogre/32/5041_2.png) [@deltogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltogre)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/25 "2026-06-01T23:29:44Z")
Dog stuff, forthcoming. On St. Pat’s Day, this year, we lost our old man Ralphie to Bloat. I’ll pause to collect myself. My wife is Snow-fucking-White, and talks to woodland creatures who, I swear talk back. So, she went and found another dog. Evidently, Stasis, in our house, is THREE. Well, she went and picked the third little shithead up, yesterday. He is darling, is 6 months old, and we are calling him “Duncan.” Here’s the kicker: he was wearing THE EXACT SAME BRAND AND COLLAR that Ralph wore. No. Shit. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/26 "2026-06-01T23:37:22Z")
About 10 years ago my wonderful nephew Mike suddenly died. I posted about him on Facebook. I was then surprised to see that a friend I had known for 40 years had also posted about him. Mike was his niece’s husband. They had been married for 10 years and neither of us had known we were sort of related by marriage because my friend had been out of town and missed their wedding. ---
**Author:** ![moes\_lotion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@moes\_lotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moes_lotion)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/27 "2026-06-01T23:52:00Z")
My story involves an unlikely physical event. I was with some friends, one of whom was returning a loaned door key to the owner. The borrower tossed it to the owner who missed the catch, and when the key landed on the floor it came to rest standing on edge. We all took turns trying to drop the key to get it to end up the same way but none of us could do it. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2026, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/28 "2026-06-02T00:19:04Z")
An insurance cancelation notice and an insurance offer in the mailbox in the same day. Since the late 1980s my employer had a deal with an insurance company in which we could pay for insurance via payroll deductions. Some years ago, my employer was bough out by another company, and the successor company did not offer that same service. OK, my insurance company had semi-monthly bank drafts, so I signed up for that. Then, a few years ago, I received a letter that my insurance company was leaving the state, and they would not be renewing any policies once they expired. In the same mailbox was a letter from my employer stating that they had partnered with two different insurance companies, and they would now be offering payroll deductions for insurance. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/29 "2026-06-02T00:47:38Z")
I think I’ve mentioned this before. I have a pretty rare last name. Googling doesn’t give me consistent results, but it seems there are maybe between about 100 and 1000 people with my last name in the United States. My late wife took my last name. A couple years after she died, I wanted to look at something on her old Facebook page. I searched for her name on Facebook, and a page came up with her name, her photo, and some posts that she might have reasonably made. But then I noticed that it said something about her living in a state that I was pretty sure she had never lived in. I looked more closely, and realized that the page was not my wife’s; it was a woman with the same first name and rare last name, who looked nearly identical to her, and who had some of the same interests. I was pretty flabbergasted by that. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/30 "2026-06-02T02:40:21Z")
When I was in my twenties, I spent a year wandering around the continental United States. So one day I was in the checkout line in a grocery store in Oregon; and the person behind me in line called me by name. I turned around, and there was a friend of mine who lived about five miles from me when we were both at home in New York State. Each of us knew the other was somewhere out West. Neither of us had any idea that the other was in the same state, let alone in the same grocery store. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/31 "2026-06-02T03:38:47Z")
A friend of a friend’s freshman roommate was the younger sister of a good friend of mine. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/32 "2026-06-02T05:37:44Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I think this Old Bugger died of old age right there in front of me. Put him back in watery grave and went home. That’s sad. His last act was to be a big thrill on someone’s plate and you denied it to him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/33 "2026-06-02T08:54:16Z")
My wife has an unusual surname. My grandmother was talking about her family and mentioned her grandmother, who had the same name. It’s possible we’re distant relations. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/34 "2026-06-02T09:50:35Z")
This one involves a former Doper: **Ginger of the North**. She hasn’t posted in about fifteen years, but I’m sure that some of you old-timers would remember her. **Ginger** was from Alberta, but struck up a relationship with **Weirddave** , who lived in (I believe) Baltimore. They married, and **Ginger** moved to Baltimore. Anyway, I started at a new firm in 2008. I was assigned an assistant. She and I got along well. One day, we were just chatting over coffee, and she mentioned that some years back, her daughter had met an American, and lived in Baltimore now. A little further on, and I learned that her daughter married a man named Dave, and that they had met via some internet message board called the Dope Straight or the Straight Dope, something like that. “Does your daughter go by ‘Ginger of the North’ over there?” I asked. “Yes! How did you guess that?” “Because I’m on the Straight Dope too,” I said. “And she let us all know about her marrying Dave and moving to Baltimore.” Yep, my assistant was **Ginger’s** mother. I did get to meet **Ginger** eventually. She was back to visit family, and came to the office to take her Mother to lunch. She was just about floored when I introduced myself as “Spoons from the SDMB,” before giving my real name. **Ginger** and I only had a few minutes before her mother was ready for lunch, but I do recall a fun conversation about the SDMB. She was (well, I guess still is) a fine young lady, and her username is apt: she had flaming red hair. **Ginger** ’s participation here waned, and like I said, we haven’t heard from her in ages, but my assistant kept me up to date with **Ginger** ’s doings until my assistant retired a couple of years later. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/35 "2026-06-02T10:13:50Z")
> [@Past\_Paper](#): > > And you’re positive your doctor didn’t purposely make this happen in any way shape or form? I’m guessing there’s no way in hell he did, and he wouldn’t have much reason to, either. Admittedly I hadn’t thought of this possibility. Although I share your doubts about whether this is a realistic likelihood. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/36 "2026-06-02T10:19:14Z")
I bought a Styx album. I was listening to it for the first time. And I was reading The Hobbit. In The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins was in a cave. He found a ring, stuck it in his pocket. Later pulled it out and put it on for the first time. Just then a Styx song starts with a majestic “All hail to the lords of the ring”. (yes, it is Lords of the Ring, rather than Lord of the Rings, but it’s close). ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/37 "2026-06-02T10:20:26Z")
It’s not really a coincidence, but it’s still hard to believe: a friend and I visited a plant market on the outskirts of the metropolis where we live. As expected, it wasn’t easy to find a parking spot; we had to drive a few blocks further and ended up parking on the side of the road in a residential neighborhood. After about two hours, we returned from the market and were horrified to find that the passenger door of our car was wide open, jutting out directly onto the sidewalk. Expecting that the car had been broken into, we immediately searched for our laptops, backpacks, and bags, which we had left in the car. Nothing was missing. Although passersby had surely seen our car during the two hours we were gone, no one had taken anything; our (relatively new) car hadn’t been stolen. We couldn’t believe it. ---
**Author:** ![bodangus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bodangus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bodangus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/38 "2026-06-02T10:53:12Z")
Shoulda paid for a proper and respectful wall mount of that big old fish. What a story to tell anyone who might see it and ask about it. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/39 "2026-06-02T10:55:28Z")
Our kitchen has 5 Globe halogen pot light that we installed in 2004. Each light came with two glass retention rings that go around the lens of the bulb, a white ring and a blue ring; we had chosen to install the blue rings and throw out the white ones. To change the bulb, you have to twist the glass ring a quarter turn counterclockwise (unscrew it), change the bulb and screw it back on. In 2012, I broke one ring while unscrewing it. From then on the bulb hung from its wire, it was pretty sad. I managed to track down the 2004 receipt, which had the model number. I went to the store to ask if they still carried those pot lights; no but they suggested contacting Globe, which I did, and on January 12th, Globe wrote back that they no longer sold this pot light or had any parts for it. On January 19th, my hubby was at work, inspecting the remaining equipment of a bankrupt electrician. He texted me a picture of a blue ring he was holding in his hand, in a snowy parking lot. He had just found a bunch of them in a box of junk. Apparently this electrician had installed the white rings on a project some years back, but had kept the blue ones in a box. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2026, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543/40 "2026-06-02T12:14:35Z")
I went on a cruise just after I retired from a state agency with about 25K employees. At some point, I got into a conversation with a woman who had also just retired. From that same agency. The morning after my daughter’s wedding I woke up to a message from a Facebook friend. I knew him from grade school, which we had graduated from 40 years earlier. Our mothers were friends so he was Facebook friends with my mother and my sister and he had looked at Facebook that morning and was wondering why he has photos of his coworker’s wedding. Turned out he worked with my new son-in-law. At some point, I decided that these connections are not really so rare at all, it’s just that we didn’t find out about so many of them before social media. It turned out that a friend I met when our kids started school was my HS boyfriend’s sister-in-law. Theoretically, I could have found this out before I saw him in a photo on his Facebook page, but I didn’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-life-coincidence-so-rare-you-doubt-anyone-would-believe-your-tale/1030543.md?page=3)