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10 Amazing Coincidences
Published by s hayes in Offbeat
August 27, 2008
We have all come across coincidences in our lives. To some they are amazing and worthy of note, to the skeptics, it is just the law of probability. Check out these 10 examples of coincidence and let me know what you think.
What’s in a Name?
A computer error gave two women in America called Patricia the same social security number. When the two women were brought together in an office to rectify the blunder they discovered that
- They had both been born with the names Patricia Ann Campbell
- Both of their fathers were called Robert Campbell
- Their birthdays were on 13th March 1941
- They had both married military men in the year 1959 (within eleven days of each other)
- They each had two children aged 19 and 21
- They both had an interest in oil painting
- Both had studied cosmetics
- Both had worked as book-keepers
Bullet With Your Name on It
In 1893, Henry Ziegland ended a relationship with his girlfriend.
Tragically, his girlfriend took the news very badly, became distraught and took her own life.
Her distressed brother blamed his sister’s death upon Henry, he went round to Henry’s house, saw him out in the garden and tried to shoot him.
Luckily, the bullet only grazed Henry’s face and embedded itself in a nearby tree.
In 1913, twenty years after this incident, Henry decided to use dynamite to uproot a tree in his garden. The explosion propelled the embedded bullet from the tree straight into Henry Ziegland’s head – killing him immediately.
Lucky Hughs?
On December 5th 1660, a ship sank in the straights of Dover – the only survivor was noted to be Hugh Williams.
On 5th December 1767, another ship sank in the same waters – 127 lost their lives, the only survivor was noted to be Hugh Williams
On 8th August 1820, a picnic boat capsized on the Thames – there was one survivor – Hugh Williams.
On 10th July 1940, a British trawler was destroyed by a German mine – only two men survived, one man and his nephew – they were both called Hugh Williams.
With a Quack Quack Here
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148 Comments
You couldn’t get much stranger than that:)
WONDERFUL!! simply wonderful. The facts are awesome, creepy some of it but some of it are even amusing. The first one sends me a little chill up spine though….Another great ‘never failed to impress’ article.
really amazing coincidences, sometimes unbelievable!
The farmer one is fake.
My comments, and in fact an entire blog post by this s. hayes, have been deleted… lets see if this one makes the cut.
The source I used for the farmer coincidence was from the book “Beyond Coincidence” by Martin Plimmer & Brian King
Thanks for noticing Aor, the article you mention proved so popular is has been requested by a magazine – will let you know when it goes out.
Aor – another article of mine which may be of interest to you is on cultcase online mag
http://www.cultcase.com/2008/08/five-mysterious-skulls-dare-they-be.html
its very thrilling and interesting too great work!!!
Uncanny isn’t it? An interesting article.
How eerie!
Acutally for the farmer one is incorrect, but only slightly. in canada they have a letter a number a letter a number a letter. so really the postal address “zip code” would be E1(one)E1(one)O. which would infact look like “EIEIO” haha
I’d like to see the picture mentioned in “She’s Behind You!”
I don’t see how this is in any respect suprising or unexpected. This only demonstrates how laymen consider science/mathematics.
Wow this is so smart and absolutely useful!
It is truly amazing and very good! Thanks for this it really helped me!
Escoofield -
http://alotofit.com
Actually Melie, here in Canada, our postal codes are LetterNumberLetter NumberLetterNumber so the one with the farmer can’t be true.
E1E 1O(missing number)
The only thing I’d say about James Bond and his reference 007 is that the candidate number is at the school’s discretion – someone in the office with a sense of humour could have rigged that one. Still funny though, and kudos to that person if that’s the case!
- shown in the photograph above.
… ummmm what photograph?
Yeah, Circle is right. The postal codes here are letter number letter number letter number
ex. T8H 3C7
I live in Vancouver, and there has never, ever, ever been a case of anyone hit by lightning once, let alone 3 times. The rest of the stuff is therefore stupid as well
Wow – I read these on the internet so they must be true….
Actually, Circle, the article stated that his postal code CONTAINED the sequence E1E10. So, it IS a possibility.
This was entertaining despite being fake.
I like peoples use of the word “facts” in the responses. Cheeri0!
Unless a person experiences a weird situation personally, researching for an article will always involve using information that someone else has previously written about. Most likely the first person who saw E1E1O1 opted to take some poetic license in hand and simply chose to ignore the last 1. Overall, I think you did a pretty good job, s hayes, and it will be interesting to see what you come up with, next.
In fact there is NO possibility of that postal code in Canada. The “E” postal codes are from New Brunswick. They go as they normally would (letter number letter-number letter number).
So they start at E1x-xxx and continue logically until you get to where the “O” would be. We skip from the “N’s” to the “P’s”…..no “O’s”
http://www.postalcodedownload.com/NEW%20BRUNSWICK.html
The E1E postal codes are linked on the upper right of the page
Very entertaining to say the least…
I find it hard to believe that nobody in Vancover has ever been hit by lightning as Shut up Steve says, so I did some research…
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/13/ipod_lightning_strike/
And every day 6+ billion people go about their lives… someone has go to win the lottery, so how amazing are these, really?
I just choked on a smokehouse almond!
“contained” the sequence E1E10.
E1E101 contains E1E10, does it not?
Gee, I wonder how they got the same SS# from a COMPUTER IN 1941??? Since there was no such thing at that time. But you do come up with some good solidly entertaining STORIES!
Bi’ys chill out with the postal code business. Scott is right in his post, they start with the A’s in Newfoundland and move alphabetically across the country. There are no E1E 1′O’* postal codes. So that theory is gone. Fun idea though.
the first one about the social security one probably happened because they had all of those similar characteristics. people are so dumb sometimes that they ignore the obvious and easily explainable facts and believe whatever they are told is true. sounds a lot like religion… and those emails that tell you you will die if you dont forward it..
my thoughts exactly grozilla. the adding machine must have just gotten a buggy firmware update. a lot of these sound like bs. neat stories, just false is all.
this is so boring :0
;( 
I used to work for the NEAB (National examination agency in the UK) as a temp when I was a student – we had to assign papers to schools and register the students against them – so I’ve got no problems in imaging that someone as board to hell as I was doing the job saw the name James Bond and thought… oooooh YES!!!
Coincidence my arse!
One other quick thing about postal codes. To avoid confusion, only 1’s show up, not I’s. The same with O’s(ohs) not 0’s(zeros). Therefore, in the sequence, E1E1O-, it is not possible, because an O(h) is not used, and a zero cannot fit in that spot. On an interesting note, on big planes, you won’t see H, I, J, or K as seat designations. Why? Put them together and you make…Hijk, or hijak if you were to just pronounce it as a word.
I’m having a hard time believing the McDonald story. In Canada postal codes have half letters half numbers. It usually goes Letter, Number Letter Number Letter Number, eg. A3A 3A3. Which would mean the I’s in EIEIO are really 1’s…but the O’s are the problem I’m having. There are no “O”s in Canadian postal codes…only zeros (to forgo confusion), but the “O” would fall in the letter spot in the sequence EIEIO, and since no postal code includes the letters D, F, I, O, Q, or U…I’m not sure that this story is real.
To the immortal Hugh Williams: Maybe you should stay off of boats? Of course, if you really are immortal, a sinking once ever 100 years or so is nothing to fret about.
any of these verified?
Very interesting. I really enjoyed reading it.
That is some eerie stuff right there…
-thestickman
Nice one S. Very Enlightening ( hope I spelt that correctly I’d hate to have them all come crawling back out of the woodwork again).Keep it up .This one is just going to run and run.:) C.
Sorry but that Hugh Williams one is fake. I read it in a book many years ago, and I reread the book a few weeks ago. I googled it and found absolutely nothing.
WOOW hahaha. I don’t know what to do: if laugh or cry ^^
Very good article,
yours, Gon Pincha
i dont know whether to laugh or cry at this coincidences
It’s really an amazing article. It kind of freaks you out. Well done.
If half of them are true it is amazing! I did google the Hugh Williams story and found several references to it.
The incident in France took place in the 80’s, not in 1996. What happened was a head-on collision between two cars on a highway: one of the cars was in the wrong lane. The deceased were indeed husband and wife, but they had become estranged. the accident was not far from the wife’s home where the door had been left open and the lights and TV on. She had not even taken her handbag.
As far as I know they never figured it out. The newspaper “Libération” asked a number of novelists for their views on how all this might have come about.
You would never think things like this would be possible.
Cool read.
Wow, amazing!
I LOVE this article, its amazing, humourous, and more than a liitle extraordinary!
Emily James
E1E is the postal code of moncton New Brunswick. My grandfather lives there, and his last name is MacDonald.
The article was quite interesting. I’m just glad it wasn’t another top ten list.Cheers to you for being original.
I enjoy how gullible people are believing these. Most are from the web, either listed as urban legends or unverified.
But the same people who are going gaga over this are planning to vote for BO. (That is B. Hussein Obama…)
I have came across a couple of these in encyclopedias.They must have some bearing with the physics of quantum mechanics.
That was some truly crazy stuff there.
Very, VERY interesting.
Wow! These coincidences are ridiculously crazy! One crazy coincidence: I know a girl who had crushes on four guys who had the same birthday. Not all at the same time, but still.
Wow, great, interesting stuff that really makes you think.
But what happens when coincidence strikes when you talk about someone and then one minute later they call you, weird huh!
Entertaining!! I have no idea how many are real but i loved it none the less!
hey i liked your article maybe you could check out some of my articles and pictures their URL’s are:
http://www.picable.com/Art/Photography/Dangerous-Hummer.299339
http://www.picable.com/Art/Digital-Art/Bert-the-Soldier.299829
http://www.authspot.com/Poetry/The-Maths-Teacher.300475
http://www.picable.com/Art/Digital-Art/Kindergarten-Cop.300627
http://www.socyberty.com/History/The-Battle-of-Fort-Sumter.299859
Entertaining and amazing coincidences.
WOW ! how weird is that it is said we all have a double ! & i belive what this depicts is what is called FATE which seems to have more power over the mind & makes you really think what the world is all about ! brilliant fascinating reading.
Grozilla, learn to read. They were born in 1941, it does not say this *happened* in 1941. In fact, it gives several facts about their adult lives. How would someone get assigned a Social Security number as an adult? It happens in limited cases, usually due to identity fraud or some other personal objection.
pretty cool and scary at the same time
i had the same s.s. number with my sister-in-law (of course we had it changed). we have the same name but our surnames were different until she married my brother. AND we both like cheese!!! how weird is that????
The story about the man killed by the bullet embedded in the tree is a bit odd. If the guy was standing unprotected and too close to the tree when it exploded (unlikely) it’s possible that the bullet hit him along with other stuff. Cause of death could be any number of things. Pinning in down to one object would be quite an act for a pathologist in 1913. If he was standing at what could be considered a safe distance (more likely), a bullet shot into a tree would be deformed way beyond the point of being streamlined enough to travel further and faster than the other debris from the explosion.
Fun story though…
i love this list – it did bring a big smile to my face
It would be nice to see some references cited for these “stories”.
I’m to tires to go to snopes.com and disprove all of these but maybe someone else cares to.
Dave
I believe that Dave ^ is cool, and Ralph Brandt is intelligent.
Need references on these. May be some truth to a few of these, but need some verifiable references. Otherwise, just urban legend material. Fun to imagine…but most likely embellished stories or outright fakes. Textual Photoshopping.
This is really weird! I’m amazed!
“Henry decided to use dynamite to uproot a tree in his garden”
You American’s are f’ing crazy!
truth is indeed stranger than fiction
I dunno.. These could be amusing. But I think I’m gonna have to see some references before I can enjoy reading them. Documented proof, from at least 3 major encyclopedia printings.. along with signed and notorized statements from any and all witnesses to said events. Otherwise I’ll not crack a smile. Jeez. Develop a sense of humor and imagination people, it will only enrich your life. Have you ever told an amusing anecdote and then had to explain or clarify every detail to some nit-pick? ‘Nuff said.
I enjoyed the post, by the way. I love stories like these. What would life be without irony?
Glad this is just humor…with fewer coincidences than this, people have proven the existence of god, the 9/11 conspiracy, aliens, ghosts, or anything else that people believe based on hearsay and shaky logic.
“Gee, I wonder how they got the same SS# from a COMPUTER IN 1941??? Since there was no such thing at that time. But you do come up with some good solidly entertaining STORIES!”
1941 is their birth date, I dont know anyone who gets their SIN number right when they are born…
1941 + 18 (working age) = 1959. Its possible.
If all the people in all the world were taught statistics and probability there would be no coincidences – apart from the interpretation of the word as “two (or more) things that happen at the same time”. We would then have to find “weird” and “eerie” things elsewhere.
I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe everything happens for a reason. I’m thankful I’m neither a Hughs or a Summerford!
For everyone asking for sources, you take life to seriously. This is obviously just something to read and enjoy, not to pick apart to find every fault.
cool stories! so crazy!
82, I feel u )
I recall someone doing the exact same article on digg a year ago. This isn’t original and it ended up on the hot content. What is Triond coming too?
[citation needed]
I’m James Bond. Yes, the 1990 story was true. I was surprised to see the number 007 on my exam paper!
Well, it’s a pity I have to live with the name James Bond. People always expect me to open bank vaults or casino’s money depositories.
Hi folks, I’m a modern day Hugh. I don’t consider myself lucky, because when I was ten, I almost drowned in a bathtub.
cite your sources
well i’m from suffolk and i remember the ’she’s behind you story’ in the local paper. dunno how true it is but was definately in the news (with a clearer pic too)
Are you my daddy Mike Hawk?
..-o(-_-)o-..#75, #82, #84, though you are right these are interesting stories and can be enjoyed as such, but they are being called fact. which, with out citing sources, just aren’t facts. no one should ever believe these.
I enjoyed the article S Hayes and think you did a great job. Looking forward to reading more.
all of you are morons.
people are reading these for enjoyment and you go and get technical.
shut your damn mouth and go become president or something
a-holes
WOW…i’ve heard some of them…but wen i read the one “Lightning never strikes twice?” … sure felt sorry for ol Major Summerfield
i
Sorry bout that last one, computer blew up. Talking bout coincidents, these are nothing to what happened to me in the summer of 1956. I was involved in a car crash where on the operating table i died for 15 minutes. What did i see? No tunnels of bright lights i,m afraid,BUT i saw a brilliant surgeon that obviously saved my life,i actually saw him operating on my brain and putting me all back together again as i watched from above. Nothing strange in that i hear you say. 52 years on and my only son is now a brilliant brain surgeon in OHIO. The surgeon i saw save my life was tall average build but with a distingusing purple birthmark which covered half his face. Anyone who has been operated on by a brain surgeon in ohio will describe the man. Yes,tall,average build with a birthmark!! The same surgeon that saved my life. My son,in fact, only when he operated on me, he hadn,t been born then!! Strange but true.
Candian post codes are alphanumeric and 6 digits/letters long. It would have to be E1E 1O and then another number on the end. If this is the case then Old McDonald lived in Moncton.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=canada%2C%20e1e1o0&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
the post code farmer thing
The story about the bullet in the tree is, I am afraid, an adaption of a similar story (about a lovers’ tiff) attributed to an Italian source in the 1980’s. What is interesting is that you all believe in coincidences as if there is some external influence. There is not. Stuff happens and as humans we are driven to look for answers and connections in all things. When you go to bed tonight and your Mum did not phone the second after you thought about her, or you did not bump into an old friend, or when nothing coincidental occurred, you can truly say that today was a remarkable day.
And you still think there are coincidents? then think again
Will everyone stop about the lightning strikes already? geez, you can be struck by lightning more than once if your body chemistry is more prone to it.
My own mother has had THREE near hits in her life. Two of them I was there for. One was 50 ft away, the other a few years later was only 5 feet away, and blew a hole down through the ceiling of the mall we were at. That was in Texas. The first one was in FL when she was younger and before I was born.
http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/essd18jun99_1.htm
Can you survive a lightning strike more than once?
Some people like to push the odds. And at least one person has been hit by lightning some seven times and survived. An American park ranger by the name of Roy Sullivan was nailed seven times between 1942 and 1977. Known as the “human lightning rod”, Mr. Sullivan survived being struck although his hair was set on fire twice and he suffered burns on various parts of his body. But he lived. Kids, he was a professional. Don’t try that at home. While being struck by lightning does not mean automatic death, especially who knows CPR is nearby, who wants to take that kind of chance? [http://www.sky-fire.tv/index.cgi/lightning.html#cmoreonce]
The farm one is complete bubkis… as mentioned the postal codes in canada are letter/number/letter space number/letter/number. A little (15 seconds worth) of research indicates the E1E is the postal code from the city of Moncton New Brunswick… not very good farming in the city from what i’ve been told, but i don’t know anything about milking no horses, but i digress. another 10 seconds into looking one would find that according to Canada Post, there is no such postal code as E1E 1E0. one could be led to believe that they might know a thing or two about postal codes…. although sometimes they make me wonder….
cheers
Lies Lies Lies
the farmer one for sure is fake (EIEIO is not a canadian postal code) making the rest of the questionable.
Actually, Grozilla, there were computers in the 1940’s. Social Security started in 1936, but many people didn’t even get their Social Security card until they began to have some sort of income. This was common even in the 80’s. It is quite possible that they got their Social Security numbers later in life, and there was some sort of mistake.
E1E10?
I don’t know, you people keep complaining about and “O”, what about a zero?
Who knows if any of these are real?
Who cares?
These stories were great, and nothing but coincidences. Cool!
Sources? Get over yourselves. Enjoy the article and stop being rude.
Unless you’ve decided to cite this blog in MLA style for your high school essays.
Joking of course. About the essays at least, though you do all seem like you’re in high school. Are you the same people scribbling in sharpie on the bathroom stall?
Strange man. Are they all true?
Very freaky stuff. Is there any way to confirm if these stories are fact or fiction?
If stories like these keep being passed as facts it will not be too long before children are taught these things in school, therefore history will be all lies…computer errors in 1941 indeed…
Reminds me of something…Religion
Grozilla – it says they were born in 1941 not that the ssn was assigned then. ssn were not required until some time later
“Gee, I wonder how they got the same SS# from a COMPUTER IN 1941??? Since there was no such thing at that time.”
Not quite true. While it is true there were likely no computers that could assign anyone a SSN, there WERE computers, in 1941. Not personal computers like what we have today, but computers none the less.
The Zuse Z3 [May 1941], and the Atanasoff–Berry Computer [Sometime in the Middle of 1941].
I was impressed until I read the one about a farmer in Canada…..
”Mr McDonald was a farmer who lived in Canada – nothing extra-ordinary in that – until you learn that his postcode contained the letter sequence EIEIO”
Impossible…. for the good reason that in Canada we don’t use sequence of 5 letters as postcode, but two separate blocks of 3 figures (letters and numbers), always in the same order, ex: J4S 3J8
Another slightly annoying Canadian commenting about the farmer one.
While a postal code might **contain** E1E1–, O’s are NEVER used in Canadian postal codes as they are too easily mistaken for zeros (neither are I’s). That being said, this is the internet, no one was actually using this for serious research now were they?
i was going out with a girl when the subject of birthdays come up and we shared the same one,same day actualy in the same hospital.maybe we where having some wierd baby talk and got disturbed and thought we’re carry that on later.
I bet the SS# mix up was because the computers were using vista.
Canadian postal codes are letter-number-letter num-let-num..
i.e. J8T R4E
How could you have EIEIO?
I wish you all would SHUT IT over the postal code thing already!!! don’t you people READ these posts!!!!
I think the purpose of this post was probably entertainment, so does it really matter whether it’s true or not? As long as you get a chuckle or some goosebumps out of it (which I did), I ‘d say it’s worth a read. Go pick on Wikipedia entries if you want to get all pedantic and waste your time. Stumble on!
this is amazing.
JUST amazing
These coincidences have clearly been photoshopped…
“Canadian postal codes are letter-number-letter num-let-num..
i.e. J8T R4E
How could you have EIEIO?”
In that case, it could have read E1E I0* (* equalling additional character).
Great article!!!
COOL!
I’ve had numerous coincidences. Finally I made a list of them; some are incredible. If you think back and start keeping a record of them, you too may be amazed.
it would be amazing if the above stories are not fiction!!!!
Enjoyed reading your article.
Methiks somebody has a great imagination.
The Argoed one is fake too.
Weird… I wish people would stop arguing about the EIEIO thing. It could be E1E1-0, or perhaps the post code system was different? But anyway, guys, don’t be so PARTICULAR.
Aren’t Canadian Postal codes in alternating alpha numeric format. For example N2L 7B2, J5C 7S1, Y9G 4X9. EIEIO just doesn’t work. Other than that one they are all plausible. Good post though.
Oy vey! The postal code controversy is so-ooo annoying!
Yes Canadian postal code could be E1E 1O something, so if this is incorrect, is anything. Even one attempts to find any configuration of this code it doesn’t work. Thus, nothing on this page can be trusted
I got onto this site because there has been a coincidence in my family recently. Every month, around the same time one of my family members has had a fall, got badly cut on the forehead needing about 7 stitches. This has happened 3 times in a row. Yesterday was the third fall.. Just Imagine !!
This is really fascinating and a superb read! Thanx.
Such an awesome dowacky!
xxx
BJ
(best so far!)
Fools, are you guys really believing this crap? It’s obviously all made up.
Im full of coincidenses honestly what is written is the truth, poor spelling but true. i was born on 25-12-75 and my parents middle names are mary and joseph. my national insurance numer starts with jc and if you translate numbers to letters it reads IECADB. i have a number 389OA in my right eye and a birth mark on the back of my head. go on take a guess what my nickname was in school.
shopped
Did you know that two twins, seperated at birth, found each other again decades later, both wearing EXACTLY the same clothes and EACTLY the same hairstyle !
Hugh Williams HAS to be a vampire.
Hugh Williams is a realtor in my hometown(Fernandina Fl.)
that’s really crazy i have seen the one about the lightning guy and it’s nothing compared to some of the others,
i want somethng more intresting
Jeff Williams you should tell the realtor to stay away from boats!
Well I enjoyed it- fake or not. We’re here to read and enjoy. For all of you picking apart for facts, where the hell are your licenses to do so? Just read and enjoy. And for goodness sake – GET OFF THE POSTAL CODE THING!!
It made me smile and yea, I kinda believed some for a moment.Either way, it was a nice read and it’s factual content doesn’t matter.
the peperment one was totaly unlucky, but that was totally amazing; and so was the lightning one!
Truly amazing coincidences.