Everyone has likely experienced (or at least heard about) some kind of coincidence throughout their lives. For some, these moments may have been so insignificant that they barely noticed or quickly forgot about them. For others, they were so shocking that they can't forget and are eager to share them.
So, when a Reddit user asked about the most bizarre coincidences people have experienced or heard of, many didn't shy away from sharing the stories that left them astonished. This list is a collection of them, so be prepared – you might be surprised by what you read!
More info: Reddit
#1
Through a series of weird circumstances I had never met my best friend’s older sister’s best friend despite me also being very close to the sister and being at their house all the time. we finally met one night and we were all sitting around the kitchen table talking. she and I are both major cat people and we were talking about our past and current cats. I told her the crazy and horrible story of how my cat had been missing since the night of my senior prom (3 weeks prior). he was 13 and I was devastated. I showed her a picture of him and she said something along the lines of “I don’t want to get your hopes up but he looks a lot like this cat my dad started feeding in our backyard about 3 weeks ago. he didn’t have a collar so my dad thought he was a stray but he is pretty chonky.” it was like 11pm but my friend and I immediately jumped into my car and drove over to the girl’s house. as soon as I got out of the car and yelled his name he came running. he was missing a tooth from a previous adventure so I pried his mouth open to be 100% sure it was him. the friend lived about 3 miles from me. after we worked out what had happened and how huge of a coincidence it was, my mind was completely blown. the stars aligned so perfectly for me to get my baby boy back. I still get goosebumps when I think about it.
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223points
#2
My dad lives in a national park here in Australia. It's farmland that's grandfathered in. It's the remnants of a volcano that blew itself up very violently, so it's very hilly terrain.
One day we were sitting out on the deck, when we see a hang-glider come down halfway down the valley, and it didn't look like a nice landing. "S**t, we better see if he's alright, they don't land anywhere near here"
So we get in the car, drive for about 10 minutes to reach the spot. We head over to the guy who is standing by a very damaged glider. The pilot is staring at us incredulously, he stammers "F**k, Jack, is that you?".
My dad, who hasn't seen his childhood friend for 35 years shouts "F**k, Tim, is that you?".
They both grew up in Greymouth, NZ. Found each other randomly after a glider crash in NSW, Australia.
One day we were sitting out on the deck, when we see a hang-glider come down halfway down the valley, and it didn't look like a nice landing. "S**t, we better see if he's alright, they don't land anywhere near here"
So we get in the car, drive for about 10 minutes to reach the spot. We head over to the guy who is standing by a very damaged glider. The pilot is staring at us incredulously, he stammers "F**k, Jack, is that you?".
My dad, who hasn't seen his childhood friend for 35 years shouts "F**k, Tim, is that you?".
They both grew up in Greymouth, NZ. Found each other randomly after a glider crash in NSW, Australia.
168points
#3
Not me, but a story I heard.
The guy telling the story was from the UK and on holiday in Greece. He went for a walk and passed a public phone, which started ringing. On a whim, he answers the phone... and it's his bank, calling him about some unusual activity on his account.
The bank starts asking him questions, but he's still taken aback by how his bank knew his location (this was in the early 90s), and asks them how they got this number. The bank tells him that it's the number they have on file. He tells them that can't be right, because he's in Greece, and this is a public phone box.
OK, so the bank tries to work out what happened. And then they realise. INSTEAD OF DIALLING HIS PHONE NUMBER, THEY ACCIDENTALLY DIALLED HIS ACCOUNT NUMBER... WHICH JUST HAPPENED TO BE THE EXACT NUMBER OF THIS PHONE BOX IN ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT HE ALSO JUST HAPPENED TO BE WALKING PAST AT THE EXACT SAME TIME THAT THEY CALLED.
What are the odds of that happening? Like 3 to 1 at least.
The guy telling the story was from the UK and on holiday in Greece. He went for a walk and passed a public phone, which started ringing. On a whim, he answers the phone... and it's his bank, calling him about some unusual activity on his account.
The bank starts asking him questions, but he's still taken aback by how his bank knew his location (this was in the early 90s), and asks them how they got this number. The bank tells him that it's the number they have on file. He tells them that can't be right, because he's in Greece, and this is a public phone box.
OK, so the bank tries to work out what happened. And then they realise. INSTEAD OF DIALLING HIS PHONE NUMBER, THEY ACCIDENTALLY DIALLED HIS ACCOUNT NUMBER... WHICH JUST HAPPENED TO BE THE EXACT NUMBER OF THIS PHONE BOX IN ANOTHER COUNTRY THAT HE ALSO JUST HAPPENED TO BE WALKING PAST AT THE EXACT SAME TIME THAT THEY CALLED.
What are the odds of that happening? Like 3 to 1 at least.
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114points
The most popular subreddit for questions and the second most popular of all is r/AskReddit. Currently, it has 49M members and this number doesn’t even account for people who visit and don’t join. Plenty of people ask questions on this subreddit daily, and while some don’t get that much attention, others pretty much go viral.
Today we’re going to discuss one of these viral questions. It was asked on the platform some time ago by a user whose account is sadly suspended. Still, the question gathered quite a lot of attention – over 8K likes and over 2.5K responses.
#4
This guy I went to grade school and high school with, an acquaintance at best. I've seen him in 5 different locations in different countries throughout the last 15 years.
Disney World when I was a kid.
Some beach bar in Thailand.
The Bean in Chicago.
A pub in Budapest.
A library in San Jose, Costa Rica.
We've become friends due our love of traveling, but neither of us post on social media and neither of us communicated with each other our plans to travel. We never talked outside of the random meetings. Now if I see him, its like the world wants us to have a beer together. haha.
Disney World when I was a kid.
Some beach bar in Thailand.
The Bean in Chicago.
A pub in Budapest.
A library in San Jose, Costa Rica.
We've become friends due our love of traveling, but neither of us post on social media and neither of us communicated with each other our plans to travel. We never talked outside of the random meetings. Now if I see him, its like the world wants us to have a beer together. haha.
107points
#5
I passed out after receiving a flu shot when I was 28. The nurse who helped me up kept asking if I wanted my mom. It seemed like a really weird thing to offer an adult woman - the option to have her mother phoned and brought in - so I was really confused and getting progressively more annoyed at her repeatedly asking...
...until my mom walked up to me. She had the appointment after mine to get vaccinated. The nurses assumed we had come together, but neither of us knew about the other's appointment, and we lived an hour away from each other in different cities.
...until my mom walked up to me. She had the appointment after mine to get vaccinated. The nurses assumed we had come together, but neither of us knew about the other's appointment, and we lived an hour away from each other in different cities.
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104points
#6
My friend and I were on a road trip a few years ago and needed a place to stay. We both told each other we had a friend in the city we were going through, so we figured we’d be able to crash with one of them. Turns out our two friends were roommates and had both been telling each other that they had a friend coming to town soon.
97points
Some of these answers were about coincidences people experienced themselves. For instance, meeting the same person over and over again, encountering the individual they were just talking about, and so on.
Others talked about the coincidence phenomena they’re fascinated with. Like the Jim twins – two boys who were adopted by different families and years later reunited. Coincidentally, up until their reunion, the men lived nearly identical lives, which led to them having almost identical brain waves and personalities.
#7
The year JRR Tolkien died is the One Ring verse backwards.
1973.
3 rings for the elven kings.
7 for the dwarf lords.
9 for mortal men.
1 ring to rule them all.
I always thought this was bizarre lol.
1973.
3 rings for the elven kings.
7 for the dwarf lords.
9 for mortal men.
1 ring to rule them all.
I always thought this was bizarre lol.
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94points
#8
I was playing hide and seek with my best friend at her house when a pipe burst in the basement. Her mom got the water turned off and went to call a plumber, but mistyped one digit and ended up calling my dad, who has the knowledge, skill and the tools for fixing and building just about everything. He came over and fixed it for free.
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94points
#9
The Jim Twins. Look it up. Two twins who were given up for adoption at birth, given the same first name by their adoptive parents, took family vacations to the same beach, married women with the same name, divorced, their second wives' names were off by one letter, both served as volunteer sheriffs, both were into carpentry, both smoked the same brand cigarettes and drank the same brand beer.
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89points
Another phenomenon mentioned in this list is related to J. R. R. Tolkien. He died in 1973. When you reverse this number, you get 3791, which coincides with the One Ring verse (3 rings for the elven kings, 7 for the dwarf lords, 9 for men, and 1 ring to rule them all) from one of his books. Quite peculiar, isn’t it?
Some quite famous coincidences weren’t even mentioned in this list. For example, the one about the writer Mark Twain and the comet. He was born on November 30, 1835, when Halley’s comet came the closest to Earth.
Likely because of this, the writer himself predicted that he would “go out with the comet” when it returned next, which ended up kind of happening. M. Twain died on April 21, 1910, a day after the same comet’s closest approach.
#10
I dialed my mum on my mobile when I was on public transport and accidentally swapped two numbers around.
The person I called was on the same carriage.
The person I called was on the same carriage.
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77points
#11
My wife and I were looking to hire a caterer for our wedding and when we met, my wife and her started talking about their lives a bit.
Turns out they had both literally grown up on the same street, in a city of 10 million people, on the other side of the world. Both had left the city around a decade before immigrating to our current country.
They knew the same people, had hung out at the same coffee place, attended the same church. They even used to grab mangoes off the same large tree that hung over the wall of one of the large houses in the neighbourhood.
But they had never met one another until meeting on almost the exact opposite side of the planet, in a small town of about 50,000 people.
Turns out they had both literally grown up on the same street, in a city of 10 million people, on the other side of the world. Both had left the city around a decade before immigrating to our current country.
They knew the same people, had hung out at the same coffee place, attended the same church. They even used to grab mangoes off the same large tree that hung over the wall of one of the large houses in the neighbourhood.
But they had never met one another until meeting on almost the exact opposite side of the planet, in a small town of about 50,000 people.
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74points
#12
I met my doppelganger in Iraq. I wish I had the pictures. I'm white, grew up in Canada, moved to the U.S. and went to Iraq with The Marines. He lived in Al-Rutbah. His complexion, build, face structure, everything was IDENTICAL. It was so uncanny it disturbed his mother greatly.
Sure, out of 7 billion we all have look alikes but this one was so close we even had the same moles...
Sure, out of 7 billion we all have look alikes but this one was so close we even had the same moles...
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72points
And that’s just one example. As these Medium and History.com articles show, there are plenty of other famous coincidences.
Well, the Reddit post said that these coincidences were supposed to make people question the fabric of reality. We don’t know whether these incidents or phenomena made anyone feel so extreme, but a peculiar feeling was almost guaranteed. For those who experienced them themselves, they were shaken enough to remember them for some time and then share them online.
Have you ever experienced any funny, odd, or even eerie coincidences? Share with us in the comments.
#13
Last week I am at work doing a job, my coworker strikes up a conversation with the homeowner at the job site and mentions that his parents live across the street from him, he also asks how long he had lived there. Homeowner responds that it has only been a few months, he just moved to the city from *small town several hours away*.
Co-worker laughs and says he was born and raised in that town. Then asks "Do you know the mini-plex at the corner of X street and Y street? I lived right across from that."
Homeowner looks confused, "do you mean at 103 X street? That was my house"
They talked more, and discovered that my coworkers parents had sold their house to this Homeowner when they moved to the city. He lived there for 15 years, and then sold it to move to the same city, across the street from the previous owners. Small world.
Co-worker laughs and says he was born and raised in that town. Then asks "Do you know the mini-plex at the corner of X street and Y street? I lived right across from that."
Homeowner looks confused, "do you mean at 103 X street? That was my house"
They talked more, and discovered that my coworkers parents had sold their house to this Homeowner when they moved to the city. He lived there for 15 years, and then sold it to move to the same city, across the street from the previous owners. Small world.
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68points
#14
Was working grocery store as a summer job while I finish up one of my remaining classes before I graduated college. Management was f*****g with my schedule and hours, didn’t respect the fact that I had class, and weren’t willing to work with me about cutting my hours down a little (working 20 instead of 25 hours a week). Was thinking about quitting and went to talk to my manager in her office where she said “I guess you will have to pick employment or your class, now go help up front.” Next customer came up line, didn’t know my manager and I just had this conversation, and said “you deserve more than this job. Tell them to f**k off.” So I turned off my light went back to manager and said “I pick my class. I quit.” Got that customers number now and tutor them with their classes, make more, and feel better.
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56points
#15
I lived in Wyoming, you know that s****y state state with around 600k people total. 2 of my friends and myself all joined the air force about a year apart from each other, and pretty much lost contact as we each departed. One was stationed in japan. One stationed in Hawaii. I was stationed in Georgia. One summer I took a month off to go home to Wyoming to see friends and family. My wife was kind of hungry so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings at like 10 at night. This is a lone Bdubs in a town of like 50k people at 10 pm in the middle of the week. I walk in and see one of my friends, the one stationed in Japan. So we sit and catch up. about the time our food order had arrived friend 2 walked in. Somehow all three of us ended up in the same job in the air force, decided to take vacation at the exact same time to go back to Wyoming and ended up at the same bdubs on the same night with no prior communication with each other.
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52points
#16
Went on a night out, met a really cute girl and we hit it off. When she wrote her number in my phone, turned out I already had to saved. She also had mine.
We had no idea who each other were. Did we already get super drunk go on a date and forget?
We had no idea who each other were. Did we already get super drunk go on a date and forget?
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48points
#17
This isn't as crazy as other ones I read, but it's mine
We probably scared the s**t out of some poor old couple while on a road trip. We were going to my grandmother's, and we followed the SAME freaking car for over 4 hours, and eventually stopped at the same restaurant, and the same gas station, and only ever stopped when we pulled into my grandma's residential neighborhood.
We probably scared the s**t out of some poor old couple while on a road trip. We were going to my grandmother's, and we followed the SAME freaking car for over 4 hours, and eventually stopped at the same restaurant, and the same gas station, and only ever stopped when we pulled into my grandma's residential neighborhood.
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47points
#18
My wife and I adopted twins from foster care. We found out that they had 3 siblings that also been adopted. We were able to find and connect with 2. Spent at least 5 years looking for the other sibling. Moved to a new house and found out that the kid across the street was the sibling we had been searching for.
Unfortunately, he had been adopted by Jehovah's Witnesses who refused any contact with us because my wife and I are lesbians. We never told the kids who he was - they were too little. But at least we know who and where he is.
Unfortunately, he had been adopted by Jehovah's Witnesses who refused any contact with us because my wife and I are lesbians. We never told the kids who he was - they were too little. But at least we know who and where he is.
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47points
#19
A few years ago I was brushing my teeth thinking about how messed up designed obsolescence is. I had probably just watched a documentary about the pitfalls of capitalism or corporate personhood or something and thought to myself “good thing toothbrushes are pretty sturdy, yeah the bristles bend after a while but you can’t really work in an expiration date on something like this” when mid thought my toothbrush snaps clean in half. I’m left holding the handle in one hand and have the brush end sticking out of my mouth and I stare at my reflection in the mirror for a good 15 seconds completely baffled. “God, is that you?”.
43points
#20
I was crossing the street after leaving a store and had the strangest feeling I was going to break my ankle, so carefully avoided a vehicle coming my way.That evening I went to pick up Thai food, fell leaving the restaurant on less than a 4 inch step, and shattered my ankle to the point of needing surgery and after a year haven't fully healed.
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40points