Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Explain What They Think Are The Biggest Coincidences In History

People Explain What They Think Are The Biggest Coincidences In History

Isn't it weird how these two things managed to line up?

Coincidence is one of the strangest phenomena on the planet. Two events lining up in perfect sync that have "nothing" to do with each other.


Is it coincidence? Or is it fate?

u/WillyWonnka asked:

What was the biggest coincidence in history?

Here were some of those answers.

Locked In A Fig

Giphy

In 1938, a baby fell out of a 4th floor window and onto a man sweeping the street named Joseph Figlock. They were both injured, but survived. About one year later, the same baby fell out of the same window and was caught by Joseph Figlock.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cxfkep...

Death Taxi

In 1974, a taxi in Bermuda struck a man named Erskine Lawrence Ebbin who was riding a moped, killing him. Exactly one year later, the man's brother, Neville, died while riding the very same moped...

...on the very same street...

...after being struck by a taxi...

...driven by the same driver...

...carrying the same passenger.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cxfkep...

Damned Dam

Giphy

The first man to die during the building of the Hoover Dam was J.G. Tierney, on December 20, 1922.

The final man to die during the project was Patrick W. Tierney, his son, in 1935...also on December 20.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cxfkep...

D-Day

In the days leading up to the allied invasion of Normandy, a British newspaper's crossword puzzle solution words correlated with the code names related to the attack. Words like Omaha, Utah, and even Overlord and Neptune.

The coincidence scared British high command so much that they arrested and interrogated the crossword's creator.

rigtek

Unfogging The Future

In 1898 a novella written by Morgan Robertson was published, it was a story about an "unsinkable" ocean liner named Titan which on a night of April was struck on its starboard side by an iceberg and was sunk in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles from Newfoundland. Fourteen years later it's 1912 and the "unsinkable" RMS Titanic departs from Southampton on its Maiden Voyage and is struck by an iceberg on the starboard side on the night of the 14th of April and sinks in the North Atlantic, 400 nautical miles from Newfoundland.

If you'd like to read more about it here is a wikipedia article with exact details.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cxfkep/what_was_the_biggest_coincidence_in_history/eyl7mmz/

She Used To Be Mine

Giphy

American writer Anne Parish was in Paris at a bookstore and found a copy of an English language children's book, "Jack Frost and Other Stories." She hadn't seen a copy of it since she was a little girl and remembered it being her favorite so she bought the copy and went to meet her husband at a nearby cafe. She explained to her husband how much she had loved the nursery rhymes as a child and began to recite some of them from memory. As he was leafing through the book the pages turned to the inside cover and written on the inside it said "Anne Parish" And was followed by her childhood address.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cxfkep...

Brutal Life Mirror

Edgar Allan Poe published just one novel: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, released in 1838. The novel tells of a doomed Antarctic journey in which four shipwrecked crewmen decide to eat cabin boy Richard Parker in order to survive.

In 1884, four crew members survived the ship wreckage of a vessel named the Mignonette. The survivors decided to eat their cabin boy in order to live. As fate would have it, that cabin boy's name was Richard Parker.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cxfkep...

Invaders

When Soviet archaeologists opened the tomb of Tamerlane, one of Ghenghis Khan's descendants and a conqueror in his own right (founder of the Timurid Empire), an inscription inside the casket was found, which read, "Whomsoever opens my tomb shall unleash an invader more terrible than I." Three days after the tomb was opened and the body removed, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union via Operation Barbarossa, the largest military invasion of all time. To add to that, Tamerlane was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/cxfkep...

Plunging The World Into War

Giphy

In Limburg, the Netherlands, there is a tradition of an old (fantasy) military style parade and Marksmen's competitions. Once a year all 150 or so guilds/association come together for one big festival which is called OLS (Old Limburgian Marksmen's festival). The winner gets to organize this festival to upcoming year. It is a big honor to win the marksmen's competition as it in groups of six and the marksmen have to hit every shot at a cubes as small as 0.5x0.5x0.5 cm at a distance of about 22m until there is only 1 team left.

One of the smallest townships (about 50 inhabitants) has won this competition twice. Once in 1914 and once in 1939. Twice it messed things up big time all over Europe. They have since disbanded their 'schutterij' to prevent WWIII.

AcquittalBurden

The Lawless West

The case of William and Will West who were identical to each other in physical appearance. They were, however, not at all related to each other. Apparently, one of them was a criminal and they arrested the other one which created a lot of confusion. Because of that, the idea of fingerprints was invented in 1892.

madhvisinghs

More from People

James Gunn: Trisha Paytas and, Aquaman Moses Paytas-Hacmon
Maarten De Boer/Getty Images; @trishapaytas/Instagram

James Gunn reacts to Aquaman baby

DC Studios co-head James Gunn had a candid and humorous reaction to YouTuber Trisha Paytas naming her newborn son “Aquaman.”

Paytas welcomed her third child, Aquaman Moses Paytas-Hacmon, on July 12. The baby joins her daughters, 1-year-old Elvis Paytas-Hacmon and 2-year-old Malibu Barbie Paytas-Hacmon. Needless to say, Paytas has a taste for bold, pop culture-inspired baby names.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lauren Boebert; Tyler Boebert
Alex Wong/Getty Images; Rifle Police Department/Facebook

Boebert Slammed After Brushing Off Son's Child Abuse Charge Against Her Grandson

Far-right Republican Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert is under fire after dismissing her son's criminal child abuse charge.

Boebert's 20-year-old son Tyler was cited for misdemeanor child abuse of his son in Windsor, Colorado, this week following a charge of criminal negligence where no death or injury occurred.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump; Beyoncé Knowles Carter; Kamala Harris
Brendan Smialowski//AFP via Getty Images; Edward Berthelot/Getty Images; Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET

Trump Demands Beyoncé Be Prosecuted For Debunked Accusation She Was Paid Millions To Endorse Harris

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so MAGA Republican President Donald Trump is now recycling some prior false claims to try to distract his supporters away from the debacle of his Epstein files cover-up that has taken over his presidency.

While in Scotland over the weekend, Trump regurgitated an already debunked claim about Beyoncé and called for her and other Black celebrities to be prosecuted for something that never happened and that wouldn’t be illegal even if it had.

Keep ReadingShow less
closed indefinitely sign on a chain link fence
Rob Martin on Unsplash

People Explain Which Things Were Ruined For Everyone By A Few Idiots

Did you know that you used to be able to walk unguided on the interior stairs to or from the top of the Washington Monument in Washington D.C.? My Mother did it twice in the early and mid 1960s.

The 896 steps of the Washington Monument's interior stairs were always intended to be seen, with commemorative stones—193 in total—on the walls along the route. States, cities, foreign nations, businesses, labor unions, and civic organizations provided stones as part of fundraising efforts to complete the monument or for later renovations.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ryan Walters
oklahoma.gov

Oklahoma State Superintendent Who Requires Bible Be Taught In Classrooms Accused Of Airing Porn During Meeting

The Oklahoma MAGA Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, is under investigation after pornography was seen on a TV in his office during a state Board of Education meeting.

Elected to his current position in 2022, Walters previously served as the Oklahoma Secretary of Education after being nominated by Oklahoma Republican Governor Kevin Stitt in 2020.

Keep ReadingShow less