6 Insane Coincidences You Won't Believe Actually Happened
We're not going to bullshit you. Look hard enough, and you can find "amazing" coincidences anywhere. With a whole universe to work with, sometimes the stars are going to align just right.
But, even cynical types like us have to admit that sometimes this stuff can get downright creepy.
#6.
A Terrifyingly Accurate Prediction by Edgar Allan Poe
In 1838, future horror-god Edgar Allan Poe released a book called The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, his only full novel. The book was such a bomb that Poe eventually agreed with his critics that it was "a very silly book" (yet still good enough to inspire heavyweights like Jules Verne and Herman Melville to write Moby Dick and An Antarctic Mystery--yes, Poe was a badass).
PIMP.
Where it Gets Weird:
Poe did a Blair Witch thing with his novel, which claimed to be based on true events. This turned out to be a half-truth: The real life events simply had not happened yet.
One scene in The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket visits a whaling ship lost at sea, taking with it all but four crewmen. Out of food, the men drew lots to see who would be eaten, the unfortunate decision landing on a young cabin boy named Richard Parker.
Before fathering Spider-Man and being double-crossed by the Red Skull!
Editor's note: Change that. You're an idiot.
Forty-six years later, there was an actual disaster at sea involving the Mignonette. It became famous due to the legal consequences of some gruesome events on board, specifically the way the men drew lots and decided to eat their cabin boy...
Where it Gets Even Weirder:
...who was named Richard Parker.
Richard Parker: aged 17 years.
The bizarre story was discovered decades later by Nigel Parker, a distant cousin of the Richard Parker who got eaten. You can only imagine what the fuck went through his mind when he stumbled upon the connection.
Hell, this was us!
And that would go down as the freakiest unintentional prediction of future events in a work of fiction, if it were not completely blown away by...
#5.
Morgan Robertson Writes About the Titanic... 14 Years Early
A hundred years before James Cameron turned douchebaggery into an art form at the Oscars, American author Morgan Robertson wrote a shitty book called Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan, about the sinking of an "unsinkable" ocean liner. When you see the cover, you figure you're pretty clearly looking at a fictionalized version of the Titanic story.
No surprise there; it's a story that's been told over and over (there were 13 Titanic movies before Cameron's, including one by the Nazis) but Robertson's book was first.
Where it Gets Weird:
He was so eager to be first, apparently, that he didn't bother to wait for the Titanic to actually sink before writing about it. The Wreck of the Titan was published in 1898, 14 years before RMS Titanic was even finished being [cheaply] built.
The similarities between Robertson's work and the Titanic disaster are so astounding that one has to imagine if White Star Line built Titanic to Robertson's specs as a dare. The Titan was described as "the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men," "equal to that of a first class hotel," and, of course, "unsinkable".
Both ships were British-owned steel vessels, both around 800 feet long and sank after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, in April, "around midnight." Sound like enough to keep you up at night? Maybe that's why Robertson republished the book in 1912 just in case enough people didn't know that he wrote it.
And you thought this guy was an ass.
Where it Gets Even Weirder:
While the novel does bear some curious coincidences with the Titanic disaster, there are quite a few things that Robertson got flat wrong. For one, the Titanic did not crash into an iceberg "400 miles from Newfoundland" at 25 knots. It crashed into an iceberg 400 miles from Newfoundland at 22.5 knots.
Wait, what the fuck? That's one hell of a lucky guess!
What 41.1 million square miles looks like.
But maybe the weirdest thing about Titan were points that had nothing to do with the story, but check out after numerous inquires and expeditions to the Titanic wreck site.
For one, both the Titan and the Titanic had too few lifeboats to accommodate every passenger on board; the Titan carrying "as few as the law allowed." While Robertson decided to be generous and include four lifeboats more on his ship than Titanic, it's an odd point to bring up when you consider that lifeboats had nothing to do with the fucking story. When Titan hit the iceberg (starboard bow, naturally), the ship sank immediately, making the point made about lifeboats inconsequential. Why the fuck mention this?!
It'd be like HAL 9000 addressing the danger posed by O-rings at low temperature decades before the Challenger disaster.
#4.
The Civil War Keeps Finding Wilmer McLean
When the American Civil War erupted in 1861, Wilmer McLean of Virginia was too old and "whatever" for warfighting. Unfortunately, he also happened to live smack dab on the road between Washington, DC and Richmond, VA, the respective capitals of the Union and Confederacy.
The first battle of the Civil War pretty much happened at this guy's place. The Battle of Bull Run, broke out on July 21, 1861 near Manassas, Virginia--McLean's hometown. Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard needed a building to serve as headquarters for his staff and many initials, and when he saw Wilmer McLean's cozy house, he figured "what the fuck..." and camped there.
Major war foul.
This immediately subjected the building to artillery fire, and one cannonball somehow found its way down the poor bastard's chimney. The entire building should have gone up like the Death Star, yet miraculously no one was hurt.
Where it Gets Weird:
But, hey, an insane amount of fighting occurred along that road. A lot of people between Richmond and DC could say a battle happened on their front lawn. And, after this narrow escape with the Reaper in his very own home, McLean figured that moving his family out of No Man's Land would be a smart bet.
However, the man took so long to skip town that when 1862 rolled around, a battle nearly twice as large and four times as bloody exploded just outside his front door again--the Second Battle of Bull Run. After dodging this second bullet the size of Civil War battlefield, McLean finally sold and moved his family as far away as he could afford.
Where it Gets Even Weirder:
When Wilmer settled on a cottage in Clover Hill, Virginia, the town that later changed its name to Appomattox Court House. By 1865, Robert E. Lee's "invincible" Army of North Virginia was too busy having the ever-loving shit kicked out of it by General Ulysses S. Grant of the Union Army to defend Richmond. So after abandoning their capital, Lee's sorry-excuse-for-an-army was chased by Grant all across Virginia to... fucking Appomattox Court House.
The armies of the Civil War, taking the battle to wherever Wilmer happened to be that day.
On April 9, 1865, General Lee officially surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. The site for his surrender: the parlor of Wilmer McLean's new home.
Once the two armies left (and helped themselves to some furniture as souvenirs), the now-bankrupt McLean remarked: "The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor," which is probably the classiest way a man can handle the single most shit-luck in American history.
Should've just moved to Gettysburg.
1. They should have done the Lincoln-Kennedy thing. 2. Is it me or did this list go in reverse order? The titanic thing was waaay crazier than "oh hey guys, some people died on a date that happens to be important. Also, some battles somewhere happened on that day too!"
ReplyThank God that McLean lived in both places or the Civil War would still be going on!
Reply#6
Reply- Captain, meet our new cabin boy, Richard Parker.
- Parker... Parker... Guys! Remember the book by Poe? We should totally do it! Imagine their faces when they find out!
What a coincidence, I was hoping to get my mind blown today and then I finally read this amazing article and got my mind blown. Should've covered the Abraham Lincoln with John F. Kennedy coincidences too. There's a whole site that mindfucks me on that.
ReplyI'm not actually all that impressed by the July Fourth thing. Adams and Jefferson were both quite old by 1826, so their dying the same year isn't surprising. And considering the role that both of them, as well as Monroe, played in planning the Revolution, making the day mean a great deal more to them than just hot dogs and fireworks, it's also not a surprise that, sick and dying, but aware that Independence Day was getting near, each of them would want to cling on just long enough to see one last Fourth. Jefferson's last words were even reported to have been, "Is it the Fourth?" Having made it to the Fourth, there was no reason to keep clinging on, so they let go. Or that's my hypothesis, anyway.
ReplyThe messengers, bringing news of Jefferson's and Adam's death also met up in Independence Hall.
I just got a profile on ---s e e k i n g u n i f o r m.c 0m -- which is a dating site for military singles and friends to find friends, love. I am looking for my Mr. right there. Join and find me there. Maybe we can make connection and get some chat.
Replyget the f**k out, biAtch1
Why does everyone act like Ohio is Kentucky, or god forbid Utah? I've never enjoyed being in any other state or country as much as in Ohio.
Reply Hide All See All 5 RepliesAlso the Edgar Allan Poe thing is both badassery on his part and absolutely freaky that it happened!
i live in ohio and frequently wonder if i am, in fact, in some non-ridiculously-accented version of kentucky. i completely understand the urge to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible, and at this point in our economy, you might just have to build your own flying machine or join nasa to do so. but, my distaste for this entire state aside, i have noticed that when i've lived other places or talk to people that live other places, they do seem surprised that its not one big farm or something. like yeah, we have streetlights and them fancy paved roads too- and discotheques, even!
I mostly think of Cleveland or Akron. ... which are both worse than farmland.
Also, being from Georgia and having traveled much of the country, I am used to the opposite misconception. Apparently, Georgia is just one big city named Atlanta.
I would be offended that two Ohioans just insulted my state,but I remembered that everyone here insults Ohio all the time.Is there some sort of state rivalry between Ohio and Kentucky that I haven't quite heard about?
Also,Edgar Allan Poe was indeed so badass that he wrote a story about an event in the future.I really want to read that book now...
I think that Ohio is most notable for the town of Riverside, birthplace of Captain James Tiberius Kirk. So, yeah, my stereotype of Iowa involves unexplainable plot holes, nonsensical alien civilizations, and giant-ass spaceships built on the ground.
All I can think of is Drew Carey....
A lot of the Titanic coincidences seem less freaky when you think about what Robertson must have known, I think. The size of the ship wouldn't be hard to anticipate approximately, given the trend in ship sizes in 1898. And the location of the sinking seems like a fair guess in any case: the North Atlantic was a common route and dangerous due to the icebergs. And while I don't know this, I'd bet that shortage of lifeboats wasn't unheard of at the time.
ReplyStill kind of freaky as a gestalt, but somewhat less so.
Whatever!
The North Atlantic route WASN'T all that dangerous unless there was an unseasonable chill, allowing an iceberg or 400 to travel further south than ever before.. Oh, yeah, he called that. He also called the size well, but what about the freakin' lifeboat issue, or the was it sank, OR the approximate TIME? 5am is a much more reasonable time for a ship to crash- it's colder, the lookout is less alert and more tired, and fog is forming. f**k OFF, IT'S FREAKY AND THAT'S FINAL.
Another strange twist on the Jefferson/Adams deaths: they died before instant communication (18 years before the first telegraph message between Washington and Baltimore), and news of Adams' death traveled down the coast and news of Jefferson's death traveled up the coast at a rate such that the stories of the deaths met in Philadelphia, where the men had signed the Declaration 50 years earlier, and where 50th anniversary celebrations for the signing were taking place at Independence Hall.
ReplyApart from numbers 6 and 5 this article was less than cunning.
ReplyApart from your spelling ability, your an idiot
you're*
I wonder how many current astronauts are from Ohio; they're probably going to Mars.
ReplyThis article breathed a single critical word on JK Rowling and is therefor entirely rubbish.
ReplyThey should rename Ohio to Ohigho. Hardy har har.
ReplyThere would be more astronauts from Indiana, a similarly boring state, but Indiana is too religious to believe in outer space's existence.
ReplyThe "Titanic incident" of 1912 was James Cameron's first attempt for a realistic and mind blowing movie adaptation of the novel "Titan" with the latest film making technology at his disposal. Real people died only because "technology wasn't advanced enough". Apparently Cameron is somehow always ahead of technology at any given time.
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ReplyHey CRACKED! I would have finished reading here ut you use f**k and s**t etc way too f*****g much. I am not above or against sweaing but in excess, it ecomes annoying and trite. Kiss my ass, xo, Dingo.
Reply Hide All See All 7 RepliesSigning off with your name makes you sound like a douche
Don't cry, buttercup.
Who pissed in your Vegimite, mate?
Saying "Signing off with your name makes you sound like a douche" makes you sound like a douche.
You, sir, cannot spell.
Apparently your above spelling correctly and way beyond making sense! Unless your being sarcastic,in which case your hilarious!
If you can't handle swearing, what in God's name are you doing on the internet?
A cool coincidence: Tokyo and Kyoto, both Japanese capitols at one time or another, are anagrams of each other, but only in english. Just Sayin'...
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesCapitals. CAPITALS. CAPITALS FOR FUCK'S SAKE. Just. Just. How.
It's not a coincidence, the names of both capitals are actually the kanji for the same thing-namely the Japanese equivalent for capital. It wasn't really a coincidence. To call it a coincidence would be like calling the fact that the United States of America would mean exactly the same thing if rephrased into "The States of a United America"
Actually, the kanji for Tokyo mean "Eastern Capital". However, in the case of Kyoto the Kyo and the To kanji both mean Capital, so the combination of the two means "Capital, Capital, so good they named it twice".
In other seeming coincidences, there are towns in Japan named Usa and Obama. However, careful research has inexplicably failed to unearth one named George W. Bush.
@AShtherion: That's not true.
Pym was also a big influence on Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness (could say it was a homage, even)
ReplyI saw this article in a Reader's Digest recently and it surprised and worried me until I saw that no, one one stole your article. Congrats on the publication!
ReplyThe first sentence doesn't make sense.