AMAZING COINCIDENCES 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 PAGING MR. BRYSON While on a business trip sometime in the late 1950s, Mr. George D. Bryson stopped and registered at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. After signing the register and being given his key to room 307, he stopped by the mail desk to see if any letters had arrived for him. Indeed there was a letter, the mail girl told him, and handed him an envelope addressed to Mr. George D. Bryson, room 307. This wouldn't be so odd accept the letter was not for him, but for room 307's just-previous occupant - another man named George D. Bryson. Book Find While American novelist Anne Parrish was browsing bookstores in Paris in the 1920s, she came upon a book that was one of her childhood favorites - Jack Frost and Other Stories. She picked up the old book and showed it to her husband, telling him of the book she fondly remembered as a child. Her husband took the book, opened it, and on the flyleaf found the inscription: "Anne Parrish, 209 N. Weber Street, Colorado Springs." It was Anne's very own book. Falling Baby In 1930s Detroit, a man named Joseph Figlock was to become an amazing figure in a young (and, apparently, incredibly careless) mothers life. As Figlock was walking down the street, the mothers baby fell from a high window onto Figlock. The babys fall was broken and Figlock and the baby were unharmed. A year later, the selfsame baby fell from the selfsame window, again falling onto Mr. Figlock as he was passing beneath. Once again, both of them survived the event.

James Dean's car curse In September 1955, James Dean was killed in a horrific car accident whilst he was driving his Porsche sports car. After the crash the car was seen as very unlucky. a) When the car was towed away from accident scene and taken to a garage, the engine slipped out and fell onto a mechanic, shattering both of his legs. b) Eventually the engine was bought by a doctor, who put it into his racing car and was killed shortly afterwards, during a race. Another racing driver, in the same race, was killed in his car, which had James Dean's driveshaft fitted to it. c) When James Dean's Porsche was later repaired, the garage it was in was destroyed by fire. d) Later the car was displayed in Sacramento, but it fell off it's mount and broke a teenager's hip. e) In Oregon, the trailer that the car was mounted on slipped from it's towbar and smashed through the front of a shop. f) Finally, in 1959, the car mysteriously broke into 11 pieces while it was sitting on steel supports.

Twin Boys, twin lives The stories of identical twins' nearly identical lives are often astonishing, but perhaps none more so than those of identical twins born in Ohio. The twin boys were separated at birth, being adopted by different families. Unknown to each other, both families named the boys James. And here the coincidences just begin. Both James grew up not even knowing of the other, yet both sought law-enforcement training, both had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry, and each had married women named Linda. They both had sons whom one named James Alan and the other named James Allan. The twin brothers also divorced their wives and married other women - both named Betty. And they both owned dogs which they named Toy. Forty years after their childhood separation, the two men were reunited to share their amazingly similar lives.

Photographic Coincidence A German mother who photographed her infant son in 1914 left the film to be developed at a store in Strasbourg. In those days some film plates were sold individually. World War I broke out and unable to return to Strasbourg, the woman gave up the picture for lost. Two years later she bought a film plate in Frankfurt, over 100 miles away, to take a picture of her newborn daughter. When developed the film turned out to be a double exposure, with the picture of her daughter superimposed on the earlier picture of her son. Through some incredible twist of fate, her original film, never developed, had been mislabeled as unused, and had eventually been resold to her. Mystery Monk In 19th century Austria, a near-famous painter named Joseph Aigner attempted suicide on several occasions. During his first attempt to hang himself at the age of 18, a mysterious Capuchin monk interrupted Aigner. And again at age 22, the very same monk prevented him from hanging himself. Eight years later, he was sentenced to the gallows for his political activities. But again, his life was saved by the intervention of the same monk. At age 68, Joseph Aigner finally succeeded in suicide, using a pistol to shoot himself. Not surprisingly, the very same Capuchin monk a man whose name Aigner never even knew, conducted his funeral ceremony. Mark Twain and Halley's Comet Mark Twain was born on the day of the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1835, and died on the day of its next appearance in 1910. He himself predicted this in 1909, when he said: "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it."

A writer's plum pudding In 1805, French writer mile Deschamps was treated to some plum pudding by the stranger Monsieur de Fortgibu. Ten years later, he encountered plum pudding on the menu of a Paris restaurant, and wanted to order some, but the waiter told him the last dish had already been served to another customer, who turned out to be de Fortgibu. Many years later in 1832 mile Deschamps was at a diner, and was once again offered plum pudding. He recalled the earlier incident and told his friends that only de Fortgibu was missing to make the setting complete and in the same instant the now senile de Fortgibu entered the room.

Royal Coincidence In Monza, Italy, King Umberto I, went to a small restaurant for dinner, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, General Emilio Ponzia- Vaglia. When the owner took King Umbertos order, the King noticed that he and the restaurant owner were virtual doubles, in face and in build. Both men began discussing the striking resemblance between each other and found many more similarities. 1. Both men were born on the same day, of the same year, (March 14th, 1844). 2. Both men had been born in the same town. 3. Both men married a woman with same name, Margherita. 4. The restaurateur opened his restaurant on the same day that King Umberto was crowned King of Italy. The 21st, a bad day for King Louis XVI

When King Louis XVI of France was a child, he was warned by an astrologer to always be on his guard on the 21st day of each month. Louis ws so terrified by this that he never did business on this day. Unfortunately Louis was not always on his guard. On June 21st 1791, following the French revolution, Louis and his queen were arrested in Varennes, whist trying to escape France. On September 21st 1791, France abolished the institution of Royalty and proclaimed itself a republic. Finally on January 21st 1793, King Louis XVI was executed by guillotine. 5. On the 29th July 1900, King Umberto was informed that the restaurateur had died that day in a mysterious shooting accident, and as he expressed his regret, an anarchist in the crowd then assassinated him. Poe Coincidence In the 19th century, the famous horror writer, Egdar Allan Poe, wrote a book called The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym. It was about four survivors of a shipwreck who were in an open boat for many days before they decided to kill and eat the cabin boy whose name was Richard Parker. Some years later, in 1884, the yawl, Mignonette, foundered, with only four survivors, who were in an open boat for many days. Eventually the three senior members of the crew killed and ate the cabin boy. The name of the cabin boy was Richard Parker.

Revenge Killing In 1883, Henry Ziegland broke off a relationship with his girlfriend who, out of distress, committed suicide. The girls enraged brother hunted down Ziegland and shot him. Believing he had killed Ziegland, the brother then took his own life. In fact, however, Ziegland had not been killed. The bullet had only grazed his face, lodging into a tree. It was a narrow escape. Years later, Ziegland decided to cut down the same tree, which still had the bullet in it. The huge tree seemed so formidable that he decided to blow it up with dynamite. The explosion propelled the bullet into Zieglands head, killing him.

Golden Scarab From The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche: A young woman I was treating had, at a critical moment, a dream in which she was given a golden scarab. While she was telling me this dream I sat with my back to the closed window. Suddenly I heard a noise behind me, like a gentle tapping. I turned round and saw a flying insect knocking against the windowpane from outside. I opened the window and caught the creature in the air as it flew in. It was the nearest analogy to the golden scarab that one finds in our latitudes, a scarabaeid beetle, the common rose-chafer (Cetonia aurata) which contrary to its usual habits had evidently felt an urge to get into a dark room at this particular moment. I must admit that nothing like it ever happened to me before or since, and that the dream of the patient has remained unique in my experience. Carl Jung Taxi In 1975, while riding a moped in Bermuda, a man was accidentally struck and killed by a taxi. One year later, this mans brother was killed in the very same way. In fact, he was riding the very same moped. And to stretch the odds even further, the very same taxi driven by the same driver and even carrying the very same passenger struck him! Hotel Discovery In 1953, television reporter Irv Kupcinet was in London to cover the coronation of Ellizabeth II. In one of the drawers in his room at the Savoy he found some items that, by their identification, belonged to a man named Harry Hannin. Coincidentally, Harry Hannin a basketball star with the famed Harlem Globetrotters was a good friend of Kupcinets. But the story has yet another twist. Just two days later, and before he could tell Hannin of his lucky discovery, Kupcinet received a letter from Hannin. In the letter, Hannin told Kucinet that while staying at the Hotel Meurice in Paris, he found in a drawer a tie with Kupcinets name on it.

Historical Coincidence The lives of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two of Americas founders. Jefferson crafted the Declaration of Independence, showing drafts of it to Adams, who (with Benjamin Franklin) helped to edit and hone it. The Continental Congress approved the document on July 4, 1776. Surprisingly, both Jefferson and Adams died on the same day, July 4, 1826 exactly 50 years from the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Twin Deaths In 2002, Seventy-year- old twin brothers died within hours of one another after separate accidents on the same road in northern Finland. The first of the twins died when he was hit by a lorry while riding his bike in Raahe, 600 kilometres north of the capital, Helsinki. He died just 1.5km from the spot where his brother was killed. This is simply a historic coincidence. Although the road is a busy one, accidents dont occur every day, police officer Marja-Leena Huhtala told Reuters. It made my hair stand on end when I heard the two were brothers, and identical twins at that. It came to mind that perhaps someone from upstairs had a say in this, she said. NOTE: our reader Linus wrote us after reading local newspaper Helsingin Sanomat: "Your story about the Finnish twins is missing some details: The first brother was killed by a lorry while riding his bike and crossing highway 8. He apparently didn't notice the lorry in the snow blizzard. The second brother was killed by a lorry only two hours later while riding his bike and crossing highway 8. The second brother couldn't have been aware of the first brother's death, as the police was still trying to identify the victim." 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.

Till Death Did Them Part In 1996, Paris police set out to investigate a late night, high speed car crash, both drivers had been killed instantly.Investigations revealed that the deceased were in fact man and wife.Police initially suspected some kind of murder or suicide pact but it became apparent that the pair had been separated for several months - neither could have known that the other would have been out driving that night - it was just a terrible coincidence. Licensed To Thrill A fifteen year old pupil at Argoed High School in North Wales was to sit his GCSE examinations in 1990.His name was James Bond - his examination paper reference was 007. Lightning Never Strikes Twice?

British cavalry officer Major Summerford was fighting in the fields of Flanders in the last year of WW1, a flash of lightning knocked him off his horse and paralysed him from his waist down.He moved to Vancouver, Canada, six years later, whilst out fishing, Major Summerfield was struck by lightning again and the right side of his body became paralysed.After two years of recovery, it was a summers day and he was out in a local park, a summer storm blew up and Major Summerfield was struck by lightning again permanently paralysing him.He died two years after this incident.However, four years after his death, his stone tomb was destroyed - it was struck by lightning! Practice What You Preach Businessman Danie de Toit made a speech to an audience in South Africa - the topic of his speech was - watch out because death can strike you down at any time.At the end of his speech, he put a peppermint in his mouth, and choked to death on it!

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

In the 1920s, three Englishman were traveling separately by train through Peru. At the time of their introduction, they were the only three men in the railroad car. Their introductions were more surprising than they could have imagined. One man's last name was Bingham, and the second man's last name was Powell. The third man announced that his last name was Bingham-Powell. None were related in any way.

Shes Behind You!

Michael Dick had been travelling around the UK with his family to track down his daughter, Lisa who he had lost contact with ten years earlier. After a long fruitless search, he approached the Suffolk Free Press, who agreed to help him by putting an appeal in their newspaper. Fortunately, his long lost daughter saw the appeal and the pair were reunited. The odd thing was, his daughter had been right behind him when the free paper took the photograph shown in the photograph above. What are the chances of that! Emergency Landing In 1979, Das Besteran, a German Magazine, held a writing competition. Readers had to send in unusual stories based on real life occurrences. Walter Kellner from Munich won with his story about flying a Cessna 41 between Sardinia and Sicily. In his story he had engine trouble, landed in the water, and was later rescued. An Austrian man, also named Waltner Kellner, wrote to the paper and told them that the winner of the prize had plagiarized the story because virtually the same thing had happened to him. The magazine checked out both stories and found that they were both true, despite being nearly identical. Lucky Number In the 1930s in New York, a commuter train dove off an open drawbridge into Newark Bay killing 30 passengers. The newspaper published photographs of the incident and the number 932 could be seen clearly on the side of one of the coaches. A large number of people selected that number for the Manhattan numbers game and the number came up! Thousands of people won. Patricide Jean Marie Dubarry, a Frenchman, was executed on February 13, 1746 for the murder of his father. 100 years, to the day, another Frenchman also named Jean Marie Dubarry was executed also for the murder of his father. Coincidental Murder On the 26th November, 1911, three men were hanged at Greenberry Hill in London after being convicted of the murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey. The killers names were Robert Green, Henry Berry and Lawrence Hill (Green, Berry, and Hill).

Mysterious Murder Link Barbara Forrest (Born 1954) and Mary Ashford (Born 1797) were both the victims of murder 157 years apart yet both instances have remarkable similarities. They were both found murdered on the same day, 27th May, in the same town, both in 1817 and 1974 the 26th of May was Whit Monday, they had both been raped before they were murdered, they were both found within 400 yards of each other, they were both murdered at about the same time of day, there were attempts to hide both bodies, both girls had visited a friend on the evening of Whit Monday, both changed into a new dress that night, and both went to a dance. The man accused of each murder had the same name - Thornton, and both men were acquitted of murder, both girls have very similar facial features and 10 days before, 17th May 1974, Barbara Forrest said to a friend, This is going to be my unlucky month. I just know it. Dont ask me why. Lucky for Some Oregons Columbian newspaper announced the winning Pick 4 lottery numbers for June 28, 2000 in advance. The newspaper had intended to print the previous set of winning numbers but erroneously printed those for the state of Virginia, namely 6-8-5-5. In the next Oregon lottery, those same numbers were drawn. Rest in Peace In Texas, USA, in 1899, Canadian actor Charles Francis Coghlan became ill and died whilst he was in Galveston. Because it was too far to return his remains to his home on Prince Edward Island, 3500 miles away, he was instead buried in a lead coffin inside a granite vault. A year after his death, in September 1900, a hurricane hit Galveston, flooding the graveyard, shattering Charles Coghlans granite vault and carrying away his lead coffin out into the Gulf of Mexico. In October 1908, eight years after the hurricane, fishermen on Prince Edward Island spotted a weathered box floating near the shore. It was the coffin of Charles Coghlan, which had finally returned home. He was buried in the nearby church where he had been christened as a baby