Stranger Than Fiction

Thought for the day:  Coincidence is a recognized element in real life. All of us have anecdotes about those times when, by the merest coincidence, we avoided some disaster or stumbled onto some wonderful experience. [Jane Lindskold]

[Smarticus and I are still under the weather, but luckily, I wrote this post a couple months ago, and it's ready to go. (If only WE were!) It isn't exactly in tune with the Season, but I hope you enjoy it, anyway.]

Sometimes, events unfold in the most amazing and unbelievable ways, yielding results that make us question reality and shake our heads in wonder. It could be something simple, leading us to smile and say, How about that? Or it could be something so profound, it sends a shiver down our spines and makes us wonder about such an unlikely alignment of fate. Today, we're gonna take a look at some of the more interesting events in history that one could call coincidences. Or maybe they're just... weird. 

The first time my imagination was smacked upside the head by the notion of historical coincidences was in 1964, following the assassination of John F. Kennedy, when a long list of bizarre coincidences was circulated, comparing Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln, who'd been assassinated a century earlier.

Here are some of the peculiarities from that list:

• Both were elected to the House of Representatives in '46.
• Both were losing candidates for their party's VP nomination in '56.
• Both were elected president in '60, following a series of debates with their opponents. 
• Both of their VPs were Southern Democrats named Johnson... who were born in '08.
• Both presidents fathered four children, and had a son die during his presidency.
• Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater; Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald in a Lincoln automobile... which was made by Ford.
• After shooting Lincoln, Booth ran from a theater to a warehouse; after shooting Kennedy, Oswald ran from a warehouse to a theater.

There were plenty of other things on that list, some of which stretched things a bit too far, but you get the idea. You've probably seen most of them before, but if not, it shouldn't be too difficult to find them online if you're interested. 

What follows are some other historical coincidences, which you probably haven't heard of before. Ready? 

[wikipedia]

Remember the old movie about the unsinkable Molly Brown? Well, this is about another real life gal named Violet Jessop, who was an ocean liner stewardess and nurse. In 1911, she was aboard the Olympic, the largest luxury liner of its time, when it collided with HMS Hawke. She was also working on the Titanic when it stuck the iceberg and sank. During WWI, she worked on HMS Britannic, which had been converted to a hospital ship. The ship exploded on November 21, 1916. Whether its demise was caused by a torpedo or a land mine isn't definitely known, but it did go down. And the original Miss Unsinkable lived to tell about it... and to travel on many other ships. 

[freepik.com]

On September 29, 1888, Catherine Eddowes was arrested on drunken disorderly conduct charges. Initially, she gave her name as Nobody, but after she'd sobered up and was released late that night, she gave a different name. She said her name was Mary Kelly. After Catherine left the police station, she was attacked and killed by Jack the Ripper. Here's the reeeeeally creepy part: the name of his next, and assumed final victim, was... Mary Kelly.

[morguefile]

The next two tales are about brothers... very close brothers. 

* In 2002, a 70-year-old man was struck and killed by a truck while riding his bicycle 600 km north of Helsinki. Two hours later, and about 1.5 km away, another 70-year-old man was struck and killed by a truck while riding his bicycle. They were twin brothers. 

* On a balmy July evening in Bermuda in 1974, 17-year-old Neville Ebbin was killed when the moped he was riding collided with a taxicab driven by Willard Manders. On a balmy July evening in that same small town in Bermuda in July of the following year, his 17-year-old brother Erskine was killed when he was riding that same moped... and collided with that same taxicab driven by that same driver.. who was transporting the same passenger as he was the year before. 

[Beatrice Daily Sun]

Choir practice was held punctually at 7:20 PM sharp every Wednesday night at West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice, Nebraska. On March 1, 1950, a gas leak caused the church to explode at 7:27. Miraculously, no one was injured. Why? For one reason or another, all fifteen choir members and the choir director were running late that evening. 

[wikipedia]

The Hoover Dam project was an amazing feat of engineering, but it came at a high cost. One hundred and twelve men lost their lives during its construction. The first one to die was J.G. Tierney, who died on December 20, 1922. The last one to lose his life died on December 20, 1935. His name was Patrick Tierney... J.G.'s son.

[wikipedia]

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand initiated the beginning of World War I. This is the vehicle in which he was riding at the time of his death. In case you can't read it, his license tag reads A111 118. Not all that unusual until you think about it. A for Armistice, maybe? Which of course, ended the war on 11-11-18. 

[wikipedia]

This last story was too interesting to leave out, but I wasn't able to verify its accuracy, so you might wanta take it with a healthy dose of salt. 

Allegedly, King Umberto I of Italy went to a small restaurant in Monza on July 28, 1900. When the owner, whose name also was Umberto, took his order, they noticed how very much alike they looked. Turned out, they were both born on March 14, 1844, and both got married to a woman named Margherita... and on the same date. What's more, the restauranteur opened his restaurant the same day that the king was crowned.  

The next day, the king was informed that the restauranteur had been shot earlier in the day. While expressing his regrets, an anarchist in the crowd assassinated him. 

Yep, it's definitely a small world, and for sure, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. [Albert Einstein]

                          Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.