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Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control… they defy explanation.Just like these strange coincidences you’re about to read below. Like a great mystery novel, these stories below are quite chilling, and they cover real-life coincidences that you won’t believe are actually true. 1. Just like Edgar Allan Poe’s book biography.com “In the 19th century, the famous horror writer, Edgar 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. 2. Twin Boys, twin lives ListVerse “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.” 3. A bullet that reached its destiny years later doyouremember.com "Henry Ziegland thought he had dodged fate. In 1883, he broke off a relationship with his girlfriend who, out of distress, committed suicide. The girl’s brother was so enraged that he hunted down Ziegland and shot him. The brother, believing he had killed Ziegland, then turned his gun on himself. “But Ziegland had not been killed. The bullet, in fact, had only grazed his face and then lodged in a tree. Ziegland surely thought himself a lucky man. Some years later, however, Ziegland decided to cut down the large tree, which still had the bullet in it. The task seemed so formidable that he decided to blow it up with a few sticks of dynamite. The explosion propelled the bullet into Ziegland’s head, killing him.” Source: Ripley’s Believe It or Not! 4. James Dean’s car curse dykewriter.wordpress.com 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. Here are some reasons why: When the car was towed away from the accident scene and taken to a garage, the engine slipped out and fell onto a mechanic, shattering both of his legs. Eventually, the engine was bought by a doctor, who put it into his racing car and was killed shortly afterward, during a race. Another racing driver, in the same race, was killed in his car, which had James Dean’s drive shaft fitted to it. When James Dean’s Porsche was later repaired, the garage it was in was destroyed by fire. Later the car was displayed in Sacramento, but it fell off its mount and broke a teenager’s hip. In Oregon, the trailer that the car was mounted on slipped from its tow bar and smashed through the front of a shop. Finally, in 1959, the car mysteriously broke into 11 pieces while it was sitting on steel supports. 5. Poker winnings, to the unsuspected son pinterest.com “In 1858, Robert Fallon was shot dead, an act of vengeance by those with whom he was playing poker. Fallon, they claimed, had won the $600 pot through cheating. With Fallon’s seat empty and none of the other players willing to take the now-unlucky $600, they found a new player to take Fallon’s place and staked him with the dead man’s $600. “By the time the police had arrived to investigate the killing, the new player had turned the $600 into $2,200 in winnings. The police demanded the original $600 to pass on to Fallon’s next of kin – only to discover that the new player turned out to be Fallon’s son, who had not seen his father in seven years!” 6. A novel that unsuspectingly described the spy next door bloomberg.com “When Norman Mailer began his novel Barbary Shore, there was no plan to have a Russian spy as a character. As he worked on it, he introduced a Russian spy in the U.S. as a minor character. As the work progressed, the spy became the dominant character in the novel. After the novel was completed, the U.S. Immigration Service arrested a man who lived just one floor above Mailer in the same apartment building. He was Colonel Rudolf Abel, alleged to be the top Russian spy working in the U.S. at that time.” Source: Science Digest / Monthly Magazine 7. Mark Twain and Halley’s Comet canyouactually.com 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.” 8. Three strangers on a Train, with complementary last names imdb.com “In the 1920s, three Englishmen 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.” Source: Mysteries of the Unexplained / Amazon Book 9. Two brothers killed by the same taxi driver, one year apart letterboxd.com “In 1975, while riding a moped in Bermuda, a man was accidentally struck and killed by a taxi. One year later, this man’s bother was killed in the very same way. In fact, he was riding the very same moped. And to stretch the odds even further, he was struck by the very same taxi driven by the same driver – and even carrying the very same passenger! Source: Phenomena: A Book of Wonders, John Michell and Robert J. M. Rickard 10. Two Mr. Brysons, same hotel room kayak.com “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, except the letter was not for him, but for room 307’s just-previous occupant – another man named George D. Bryson.” Source: Incredible Coincidence, Alan Vaughan 11. Twins brothers, same heart attack quoracdn.net “John and Arthur Mowforth were twins who lived about 80 miles apart in Great Britain. On the evening of May 22, 1975, both fell severely ill from chest pains. The families of both men were completely unaware of the other’s illness. Both men were rushed to separate hospitals at approximately the same time. And both died of heart attacks shortly after arrival.” Source: Chronogenetics: The Inheritance of Biological Time, Luigi Gedda and Gianni Brenci 12. A novel that predicted the Titanic’s destiny, and another ship that almost followed mind-blowingfacts.com “Morgan Robertson, in 1898, wrote “Futility”. It described the maiden voyage of a transatlantic luxury liner named the Titan. Although it was touted as being unsinkable, it strikes an iceberg and sinks with much loss of life. In 1912 the Titanic, a transatlantic luxury liner widely touted as unsinkable strikes an iceberg and sinks with the great loss of life on her maiden voyage. In the Book, the Month of the Wreck was April, same as in the real event. There were 3,000 passengers on the book; in reality, 2,207. In the Book, there were 24 Lifeboats; in reality, 20. “Months after the Titanic sank, a tramp steamer was traveling through the foggy Atlantic with only a young boy on watch. It came into his head that it had been thereabouts that the Titanic had sunk, and he was suddenly terrified by the thought of the name of his ship – the Titanian. Panic-stricken, he sounded the warning. The ship stopped, just in time: a huge iceberg loomed out of the fog directly in their path. The Titanian was saved.” 13. The 21st, a bad day for King Louis XVI classtools.net “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 is 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, whilst 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.” Credits: canyouactually Coincidences or not? We would love to hear your thoughts. Share this story on Facebook with your friends.