When Reality Stops Making Sense

History is rife with creepy coincidences that are too uncanny to be sheer happenstance. From hair-raising premonitions to bizarre event patterns, some of these spooky are bound to send shivers down your spine. With that in mind, here are 20 creepy coincidences that are pretty shocking.

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1. Edgar Allan Poe’s Novel Comes True

In Poe's 1838 novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, a starving ship's crew cast lots to see who should be sacrificed, and the unlucky sailor is named Richard Parker. In 1884, a real ship, the Mignonette, in similar circumstances, selected one of the crew, and the sailor they chose was also named Richard Parker. The grim similarity between fact and fiction is one of the most chilling coincidences in literature.

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2. Predicting the Titanic

An 1898 novella Futility by Morgan Robertson featured a giant passenger liner called the Titan that sank after hitting an iceberg. Fourteen years later, Titanic, with almost the same tonnage, almost the same speed, and almost the same number of lifeboats, suffered a nearly identical fate. The uncanny similarities between the Titan and the Titanic have led to questions of whether Robertson predicted or merely coincidentally foresaw the disaster.

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3. Separated Twins

Identical twins were separated at birth in 1940 and found each other in 1979 after 39 years apart. The twins found many similarities in their lives. They had been given the same first name of James, worked in law enforcement, had married and divorced women with the same names, and had sons with the same names.

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4. Miracle at the Church

A church in Beatrice, Nebraska, exploded on March 1, 1950, at the exact moment that choir practice was scheduled to start. This should have taken the lives of 15 choir members. Instead, the 15 were all late for individual and independent reasons.

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5. Presidential Targets

Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy both met the same fate as president; they both took injuries to the head on a Friday while sitting next to their wives. They were both also succeeded by a vice president named Johnson. The similar conditions of the events have been a source of great interest to historians.

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6. Surviving Nagasaki and Hiroshima

Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, when the first atomic bomb was dropped. Although he sustained severe burns, he recovered. He returned to his home in Nagasaki a few days later. He also survived the second atomic bomb. Surviving both atomic bombs is a chilling testament to coincidence and good luck.

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7. Halley’s Comet

Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835, the day Halley's Comet made its closest approach to Earth. He calculated that he would "go out with the comet," and passed on April 21, 1910, one day after the comet made its closest approach the following pass.

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8. The King’s Double

In 1900, King Umberto I of Italy met his exact double in a restaurant. They shared the same birthdate, name of their wives, and names of their children. Coincidentally, the restaurant owner passed in an accident on the day that King Umberto I was assassinated.

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9. Maureen Wilcox

Maureen Wilcox won the Massachusetts and Rhode Island state lotteries in 1980, but accidentally switched the tickets and ended up with nothing. Winning and losing at the same time makes this an unusual case of cruel irony.

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10. Anthony Hopkins Book

Before beginning work on The Girl from Petrovka, Anthony Hopkins discovered a lost copy of the novel on a bench at a train station. It later became apparent that he had found the author's own annotated copy, long missing and lost decades before. The chance meeting of actor and book on a public bench feels serendipitous, almost as if destiny stepped in to make sure the actor would be ready for the role.

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11. James Dean’s Car

Actor James Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder, affectionately called "Little Bastard," has been steeped in curse lore since Dean died in a 1955 car accident. The car itself was involved in several wrecks on its way to its owner's home, injuring people, while parts sold to other cars have also been involved in fatal accidents. Later, the car would go missing under mysterious circumstances, further deepening its legend.

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12. Ferdinand’s Car

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose passing in 1914 helped pave the way for World War One, had his car preserved in an Austrian museum. But there is an uncanny coincidence: the car's license plate says "AIII118." "Armistice" and "November 11, 1918," are what ended World War I, and it's eerily coincidental that these numbers frame the war years.

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13. The Babushka Lady

The Babushka Lady is an unknown woman photographed and filmed at the passing of JFK. She has eluded efforts to identify her, and remains one of the most mysterious people from that day. Many wonder if she was a time traveler or government agent. The mystery of her has captured the interest of historians and conspiracy theorists for years.

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14. Survivor

Violet Jessop served on various White Star Line ocean liners. She was a survivor of the collision of the Olympic in 1911. She survived the Titanic when it sank after rescuing a baby from the water and keeping him in a lifeboat. During World War One, she was on the Britannic when it hit a mine and was able to escape. Her survival from near-certain death on three different occasions is truly hair-raising.

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15. The Painting

Rembrandt's portrait of Maurits Huygens, painted in 1632, shows him with a piece of paper in his hand. The paper has the date 12 June 1647 written on it. In 1632, the date had no known significance. But in 1647, Huygens passed on June 12. The portrait is a spooky example of art that seems to predict the future.

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16. The Simpsons

In a Simpsons episode from 2000, the possibility of Donald Trump becoming president was bizarrely foreseen. Shocked at Trump's real-life election many years later, fans are left in awe of the uncanny prediction. How did this iconic show accurately foreshadow future events? Well, it's worth noting that this isn't the first time the Simpsons made predictions that came true.

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17. Time-Traveling Hipster

A photograph of the reopening of South Fork Bridge in Canada in 1941 shows a man with clothing and sunglasses that appear to be very modern. The strangeness of his appearance led to theories that he was a time traveler. Arguments that his look was due to modern fashion fads have not dissuaded the notoriety of the "time-traveling hipster."

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18. Hoover Dam Tragedy

One hundred and twelve workers passed during the construction of the Hoover Dam. The most chilling of the coincidences is the story of surveyor George Tierney, who drowned on December 20, 1922. Patrick Tierney, George's son, was the last worker to pass. Coincidentally, Patrick also passed on December 20, in 1935.

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19. Lottery Winners

A couple in the UK won the National Lottery jackpot in 1995. What's truly amazing is they won it again 10 years later, in 2005. The odds of this happening are 283 billion to 1, making it one of the most incredible coincidences ever.

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20. The First and Final Soldier

The cemetery of Saint Symphorien in Belgium holds the graves of the first and last British soldiers to pass in the First World War. They lie just 6 metres apart. The headstones of these two young soldiers have been placed to face each other by chance. The result is a haunting image, especially since it wasn’t ever planned to be this way.

Trougnouf (Benoit Brummer) on Wikimedia