34 Rare Coincidences That Challenge The Concept Of Probability

I was in a bar with a group of friends on Mykonos in Greece one summer back in the day. Mykonos being what it is, the group were from all over the place. One of the women, an Australian, was leaving the next day, we’d spent a lot of that summer together (great times!). So we were all exchanging home contact details. She gave her phone number in Sydney, my other friend gave hers in London. They were identical except for the international code (of course). Thing is, these two women, although born some 25 years or so apart, were both born on the same date in September. Haven’t seen either of them in years but they were both fabulous.

I befriended a Colombian guy at my university. One day I was showing him pictures of my trip to Santa Marta, Colombia and he suddenly exclaimed: “Man, that sunset looks really familiar” “What, dude? There’s no way” “Hold up, I think I have a photo ” “WHAAAAT —- Holy ****, this can’t be real” And there it was, a picture of the same exact sunset taken within 3 minutes of mine. We couldn’t stop laughing. We just realized that we were in the same city at the same time, weeks before we actually met thousands of miles away.

Years ago I was driving down the expressway when there was a loud BANG from under the hood and the car decelerated quickly. I pulled to a stop in the emergence lane and began considering my options. It was raining, so the prospect of even looking under the hood didn't seem appealing, and I didn't have any tools with me in any event, and certainly didn't have the parts to fix whatever had obviously broken. This was before cell phones, so while I knew my father was home and could come to my assistance calling him meant I would have to find my way off the expressway, which had a chain-link fence down both sides. I looked around and noticed that a car had run off the road and knocked down the chain link fence just a few yards away. Better yet, there appeared to be a residential street just beyond the fence, so I got out of the car, hopped the remains of the fence, and found myself in a small cul de sac with a choice of three or four houses nearby. Choosing one at random, I walked up to the door and knocked. "Dave, what are you doing here?" The person who answered was Troy, a co-worker from several years earlier. I explained, and of course he loaned me his phone so that I could call my father. I then went back to the car to wait for my father and the tow truck he said he would call. While I was waiting, an electric utility truck pulled in behind me and the driver turned his emergency lights on. I got out of the car and ran back to the truck to tell the driver someone was already on the way, and it was our next-door neighbor from about 15 years earlier!

1986. Seattle. I went to a very small high school. 56 people in my graduating class. I was a nerd. Accepted, but not, if you understand. I was in Seattle, waiting to take a flight to Seoul Korea. I was 26 and it was my first flight to Asia and I was by myself. I was fortunate that my company paid for business class, which on this 747 was the small upstairs. I’m in the departure lounge and I see a woman that seems familiar. I realize it is a classmate of mine (we went to school far away in the Midwest). You know the type. Blond, pretty, cheerleader, cool. The anti-thesis of me. I said hi and we chatted for a bit, but ran out of things to say. Once we are on board, I am in the aisle seat in the second row. She is in the opposite aisle in the first row. Only about four rows total upstairs. The person sitting next to me realizes we know each other and leans over and says to her. “Would you like to change seats”. A thoughtful guesture. Her response? “No thanks”. Pretty much summed up my entire high school career.

Spring break. Our whole family is driving to Washington DC. Eventually, when we're driving through Pennsylvania, we decide to stop at a rest stop. We pull up and walk in. We get in line to get food when I look up and say “hey, isn't that K from our school?” My sister looks up and says “Yeah…” and waves to her. Seconds later, I glance at the door, and one of my friends walks in with his family, them having stopped on their way to Baltimore. We sat and ate lunch together. Then, while talking, I notice a girl from the grade above us that goes to our school at another table. Not short after, I see a girl from my world history class walk out of the bathroom. Finally, as we're about to leave, a man comes up to my sister, who is wearing a sweatshirt with our town name on it and says, “Hey nice sweatshirt, I'm from there too.” And it's not like we're from some big city where hundreds of thousands of people live either. TL;DR At a rest stop out of state, I saw 5 people from my hometown.

Met Stranger girl at 5 different places in two days :

Incident 1: I was going to Dharamshala (Himachal, India) with my friend for some official work. We both boarded the bus. When the hills started I felt like vomiting. A girl behind our seat offered me a water bottle. I accepted & said Thanks.

Incident 2: We completed our work & got off to Mcleodganj at around 4 pm. To our surprise, we saw that girl along with her friend getting out of the bus. We saw each other & exchanged a smile.

Incident 3: During the night, we went to eat some momos there. Oo again…!!! That girl came there as well along with her friend. Finally, I formally greeted her & asked her to join. She showed hesitation & went away saying No.

Incident 4: Next morning, I was hoping to see that girl at least once again. We went for breakfast at McLeo, the famous restaurant at MacLeodganj. This time again seeing each other we both burst into laughter. They were entering the same place for breakfast. But we didn't talk that time.

Incident 5: That same evening we went for an evening walk at Mall Road, & it started raining heavily. We ran to our hotel, suddenly I saw that girl again standing under a tree. The moment we had eye contact I took my tongue out showed her in teasing manner. She responded the same way.

And It all ended there only. Coming back to home I kept on searching her on our bus but 6th co-incidence never happened.

A few months ago, I went to Chicago to see my wildly-talented singer/songwriter nephew [shameless plug: Luke Metzler ] play in a small music club as he passed through from Rochester, NY on his way to L.A. After his sound check we went out for a bite to eat and then back to the club where I ran into my neighbor from back home. “What are you doing here?” I asked. She replied that she was there to see her nephew play. That’s right… her nephew, from Austin, TX, was playing on the same bill as my nephew from NY. Same city… same club… same night… same little stage. Either the world of traveling minstrels is much smaller than I thought or there are strange forces at work in the universe that I don’t understand.

I’m a high school teacher in upstate NY, but moved here knowing no one — I’m originally from rural southern Louisiana. About five years ago, I had a student come up to me and say, “You mentioned you’re from Louisiana. So’s my dad.” So we started chatting. Long story/short: The kid turns out to be my third cousin.

There was a WhatsApp group for those who got admit in Stuttgart University. After a while, I was curious to see how many people are there from my city. I started looking at the surnames (Since I am a Bengali, it is not that difficult to identify). I found out there is only one person who is a Bengali, so I wrote him personally. The conversation goes as follows

Me: Hey, I am Raja, I saw you are in that WhatsApp group. Are you from Kolkata?

He: Yes, I am from Kolkata. Are you also from Kolkata?

Me: Yes. So are you going to Stuttgart?

He: Yes. Same Course. You are from which college?

Me: Great!!! I am from…

He: I am also from that college. Which year pass-out?

***I am actually 2 years junior from him and after a while***

Me: In which company you are working?

He: Cognizant. You?

Me: Me too. Which building? (There are 5 campuses of Cognizant in my city)

He: Bantala.

Me: Me too. Which building? (There are 2 huge buildings within Bantala area)

He: Second one.

Me: WTH!!! me too.

He: Which floor???

***This time it was different. Like the year difference, we were also 2 floors apart***

Wouldn’t have been great that he was the guy sitting next to me?

Edit 1: Just to add few more points - we share some unique similarities. We like the same food, most of the cases we order the same in restaurants. Our mentality matches every time (99.99% cases). When we have to select the country for our next trip, in every case, we end up with the same destinations. And the worst thing, we always end up liking the same girl anywhere we go. ;)

About 20 years ago I was working at an architectural firm in Boston. I was chatting with one of the secretaries (yes, we still had them then), who was pregnant. I asked her when she was due and she said late July. I said, “It would be funny if your baby was born on July 24th, because that’s my birthday.” She said, “That’s my husband’s birthday.” I said, “What a coincidence! How about your birthday?” Her: “November 23rd.” I said, “That’s my wife’s birthday! What’s your anniversary?” “June 19th.” I said, “That’s our anniversary! OK, beat this one: my older brother and my younger brother were born six years apart on August 26th.” She said, “My father and my uncle were born four years apart on August 24th.” What are the odds?

This happened while my wife and I were engaged, waaaay back in 2002. So, quick back story: My fiancee and I were engaged just before she got her dream job in Livorno, Italy (just outside of Pisa). It was a great opportunity for her career, and she had to go. I couldn’t go with her, as I was in the military at the time and assigned to Washington D.C. Her position was a contract position of sorts, and was for 18 months. So, we said our goodbyes, and planned a wedding while we were a world apart (and yes, it was a happy ending. We’re still married to this day)

That’s the first thing that is important to know about this story.

The second thing is that my wife’s first name is “Blythe”. Albeit a very pretty name, you have admit it’s an unusual one. Okay… so the story… I managed to scrape some money together and fly over to visit her on three occasions. On one of the trips we had gone on a road trip to Venice (we didn’t even know until we got there that it was Carnivale! Woo hoo!) Anyway, we spent the whole day there, had a great time, and headed back. It was late… Like 11 pm. We were in the middle of nowhere and I remember we somehow found a lovely restaurant that was open.

Anyway, we sat down and were the only people there. As we were ordering, three young women came in and started talking with the hostess. We quickly surmised that they were Americans. So we called them over and chatted with them. They explained that they were sightseeing and heading up to France. They just stopped to get dinner.

Then the introductions came. “I’m Blythe” my wife said. “Really?” one of the girls said, “So am I… and so is she.” and she pointed at one of her friends. So grasp this if you can: Prior to this, the only “Blythe” I have ever personally known in any way was my wife. The only other person I have ever heard of with this name is Blythe Danner, the actress…. And the “This is Blythe” the doll series…. Creepy if you ask me…. This is the Blythe Doll…. and she was made in h**l. So, you get what I’m saying. I happened to speak with Americans…. in Italy…. in the middle of the night….. in a restaurant… in the middle of nowhere…. and TWO of them were named “Blythe”, the name of my fiancee who was there. Well I thought it was weird.

My family and I were in the car, driving back to San Francisco from LA. Morale was low, as having four people crammed into a small space for six hours is bound to cause conflict, and I was browsing on my laptop for entertainment that didn't need WiFi. I discovered I actually owned all of the Star Wars movies, so I started playing Episode V (Emperor Strikes Back) for my brother and me. We kicked back and started watching Luke Skywalker trek through the frigid mountains. As the movie rolled along, we were absolutely disgusted by the scene where Han Solo cut open the Tauntaun, warning Luke of the inevitable stench. Something started to smell bad, but it took us a while to realize that it wasn't a Tauntaun. It was literally **! We were cruising by a colossal farm, populated by a seemingly endless supply of cows! The timing was immaculate - Han and Luke weren't the only ones smelling something terrible at that time! Maybe this wasn't the most insane coincidence, but it was extremely satisfying, albeit revolting!

Was waiting for this question :D. Every guy I have / had crush on has the same father’s name ‘RAVI’. My childhood crush’s father’s name is RAVI . My current crush’s father’s name is RAVI. All my short lived crushes also had their father’s name not exactly RAVI but PRAKASH, ADITYA, BHASKAR, SURYA (All meaning SUN in Hindi or Sanskrit and therefore equivalent to the Sanskrit word RAVI meaning SUN) And to add this, Till now I had only two marriage proposals, who came at our home, both the groom’s father’s name was RAVI. Don't know what relationship I have with RAVI :D.

This happened a long time back so some of the details may be hazy. In 2007 I got a not so good rank in IITJEE. Now before the counseling process(where you are allocated a college and a branch based on your rank) you have to get a demand draft of a certain amount made. I was returning from the bank with the IIT invitation letter envelope in my hand. I was traveling on the front seat of an auto rickshaw, much like the guy in the photo below. On seeing the envelope the driver, a middle aged man asked me about my rank (6280), and proceeded to tell me that his son had also got selected with a 5600ish rank. I smiled cynically thinking he was just making things up. Later I remember telling my mother of the incident and remarking how everyone claims to know someone who clears IIT. Fast forward 2–3 months I didn’t get any seat in IIT counseling and got into NIT Surat with a AIEEE(another engineering exam). There I met a boy(who later became and is a good friend) who was from Patna, and whose father worked as a auto rickshaw driver in the area of Patna from which I belong and who had got a 5600ish rank in IITJEE without any coaching and sufficient books or guidance. I later came to know that his father was a physics graduate but had failed to secure a job owing to the job crunch in the state. I felt petty that day but I learnt something that day. I can’t say that I haven’t judged people since then. But it is a good reminder whenever I do so.