What is the oddest coincidence that has ever happened to you?

This is just a fun thread, an opportunity for people to relate some interesting stories. Here is mine.

Several years ago I was seeing a girl for a short time. Unfortunately it was a time when I was fairly patriotic and my country was needing me to do some things that would have me traveling a lot and would have put anyone close to me into a fairly dangerous environment. I decided to break off the relationship before it got any more serious. It was a difficult decision because I think I was her first real boyfriend and she was getting quite attached.

Anyways a few years later (I think about six) while I was setting up a new business in a different town I worked as a DJ at a bar in the evenings to make some extra cash. One slow evening the only people that where in the bar were a small group of four people at one table. Among them was a woman that looked exactly like my old girlfriend. She even looked like she had aged about the right amount. There was something that seemed out of character though. My girlfriend had been a sweet farm community type girl and this woman was hanging with what seemed like a fairly rough crowd (this was a biker bar by the way).

I remember us making eye contact a couple of times because I was really trying to get a good look at her to figure out if it was my old girlfriend or not. Even with a good close up look I could not tell that she was a different person. At one point we ended up in pretty close proximity and she turned to me and said “you know, I used to have a boyfriend that looked exactly like you, except his eyes were brown.” I don’t remember what my response was but I know I didn’t tell her that she looked exactly like my old girlfriend because I’m sure she would have thought it was a really cheesy pickup line. After a very brief conversation we ended up going our separate ways and nothing else became of the incident. To this day I think to myself “man, what are the odds that something like that happened.” To have two people mistake the opposite person for someone they know very well at the same time and place seems astronomical, basically impossible really.

Anyway, I’m curious to here your stories,
Cheers,
D

It was probably her

Its a small world remember

unbeknownst to me, my building insurance lapsed. I was leaving the building for a few days for christmas.

I didn't have the money for the insurance, so i remember thinking...eh, it won't burn down in the next few days.

but right before i left, a little voice made me go and get the insurance.....and just a couple days later, it caught fire.

www.wnep.com...

reply to post by Elzon


I have a pretty unmistakable voice. I think she would have recognized it when we talked but she didn't. Also my eyes are blue so I don't know how she could have ever thought they were brown. I wonder to this day if it could have been her. You are right that it is possible but I really don't think it was.

Possibly this thread I just posted this in the paranormal forum a few mins ago, clicked current topics and this thread was at the top.


About 8 yrs ago I had Christmas at my parents house w/ Bro, Sis our kids. I gave my Dad one of those restaurant quality Bunn brand coffee makers, was not cheap. When he got it he said "this will last me a lifetime" everyone there heard him. This past Thanksgiving I went to see him he was on his death bed , got there a couple days before Thanksgiving my sister and I were taking turns being with him thru the night and day, drank a lot of coffee to stay awake. He past away the day after Thanksgiving. We went to make coffee after the coroner left and it wouldn't wouldn't heat the water, it quit. My sis looked at my Mom and I and said do you remember what Dad said when he got this at Christmas, our jaws all hit the floor.
I'm sure it was a coincidence but it was very weird, it was working perfectly just hrs before.
I've had other strange experiences but this one got my attention.
edit on 22-2-2011 by mtnshredder because: (no reason given)



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Stand for what you believe in even if it means standing alone!

reply to post by BadBoYeed


Wow, wish I had a little voice to help me out with stuff. Quite the story that made the news.

reply to post by dainoyfb


Okay here goes.

My dad died when I was seven in 1969. My mom remarried and I have a GREAT step dad who is a former ranger and special forces.

When I was a senior in high school, I dated a girl, just heavy petting.

When I was 34 I started doing family research, you know tracing your roots. I found out my dad had been married twice before he married my mother. I found out I had another sister and brother from his first marriage, back in 1944..

I met my newly discovered sister, who is 18 years older than me. Then I met one of her daughters, my niece.

It was the same girl I dated in high school. I had made out with my niece without knowing it. Thank GOD I never slid into "home plate".

reply to post by mydarkpassenger


Ha,ha, like Elzon just mentioned, its a small world. I bet it happens a lot more than people know.

reply to post by dainoyfb


Asking more questions to see if she remembered certain places and events may have helped. A good question to start off with would be why did he leave you and how long ago was that?

You could even rephrase the first question by asking if the reason for him leaving you was ( your reason for leaving told to her here)? If she said yes to that then you got her hooked and a little freaked out. After that you keep hitting her with questions about the past times with her (places/events). Phrase such questions in a way that its like "do you remember a time when" without confirming it is you. If she answers yes to everyone one of them and doesn't just leap into your arms you can play a slightly mean trick on her (make sure you go deep into the relationship you had with her before doing this) and make a statement that is phrased in a way to say "well, it wasn't me". And if she stands there for a second bemused then can say you are joking with a big smile on your face

If it is her you just might be able to be nice friends again

In 1994 I wanted to go to Woodstock, but I had no ride, and I live 700mi. from New York.

I already bought my ticket, and a VIP parking pass from a guy in the newspaper. I was getting 200.00 box office value for 50 bucks. I was not going to waste this golden opportunity, I was 24, and on a mission...

Find a ride.

First thing I did was call the local radio station that had been talking about a caravan to the show, maybe I could hitch along. I wa told that they didn't have a seat but this guy had called in looking for people to chip in and ride with him in his van. He gave me the number of this dude, so I called.

The dude explained that he had a few buddies going and a seat for me as long as my ticket was legit and I had some money to support myself, which, of course, I did.

This dude shows up to pick me up in a vintage VW bus all painted day-glo and such. I was floored. Turned out to be a very well running nice bus.

We get about 50mi. into NY and through small talk we realized that we were cousins. His mother was married to my uncle for years. I remember her from my childhood.

Very strange coincidence, eh?

This whole scenerio happened in the second largest city in Indiana, population 200,000 +/- whatever.

I still love to tell the story, thanks for the reminder

reply to post by Elzon


Now my little voice shows up...great.

reply to post by dainoyfb

just a fun thread

oddest coincidence

A number of years ago I worked as a car salesman. One day after work I decided to go to a bar to try to pick up some girls. But...fact is, I have a slightly shy side to my personality. I know, "shy" and "car salesman picking up girls at a bar" don't really go together...but a big part of my motivation for this whole thing was to deliberately try to overcome my shyness. Like if someone is scared of snakes, they can overcome that fear by gradually exposing themself to snakes until they get used to them. That's basically what I was doing.

So...here I was at this bar. It was packed. Before I found a seat I walked around the entire room looking for a place to sit, and came up with two possiilities. There was one empty seat between two fairly attractive women, and one seat next to a ravishingly beautiful woman. So my first thought was that sitting next to two would improve my odds, but then I stopped myself. After all, this was an excercise to overcome fear, right? So obviously the correct choice was not to play the odds, but to go all out and sit next to the beautiful woman.

So I did. And I started talking to her.

Her initial reaction could be described as "not biting, but still looking at the bait." So I tried a different conversational angle. She seemed willing to let me try, and after a few attempts I eventually got her to smile, turn her body to face me and generally be interested in what I was saying.

After a few minutes of conversation she gave me the "what do you do" question. Personally I've always thought of that as an extremely middle class thing to ask, but I explained that I was working as a car salesman. She laughed and said that so did she. So I asked which dealership she worked at, and she gave a manufacturer name...and sure enough, same make that I sold. And yes, it turned out that we both worked at the same exact dealership.

Apparently she had started earlier that day, and she was at the bar to celebrate. And after realizing all this, we both realized that we had actually seen each other earlier that day, but hadn't spoken and somehow just didn't connect face to...well, face. And through some twist of fate we both chose the same bar, some 20 miles away.

Having something so blatant connecting us suddenly made conversation a whole lot easier, and we talked and drank together for a good hour. And me, having vindicated myself and overcome all my social fears for the night and had a succesful evening, eventually said goodnight and went home.

---

Curiously, even though we worked together for about six months after that night, she never again made eye contact with me and did everything she could to avoid me.

I've never quite been certain whether she got so drunk that she didn't remember what happened and thought she slept with me and was embarrassed about it...or knew perfectly well that I didn't sleep with her and was offended that I didn't.

In 2004, my husband and I had just gotten to our friends house in Calgary where we were staying until we found a place of our own. I knew a girl that lived in Calgary, from where I grew up in BC, we were in hairdressing school together in the 90's.. After we got to our friends house, we got into the car so we could drive around a bit and explore the neighborhood they lived in, and not even a block from their house, I saw my friend Gina walking up the sidewalk, towards her house.. Freaked her out when we stopped beside her and I jumped out of the car!! It was a pretty neat coincidence!

Strangely that happened a few times in Calgary while we lived there (only a year).. of course almost EVERYone from BC lives in Calgary at some time in their life, so I guess it's inevitable.. It was still pretty weird tho!

Originally posted by LordBucket

a big part of my motivation for this whole thing was to deliberately try to overcome my shyness. Like if someone is scared of snakes, they can overcome that fear by gradually exposing themself to snakes until they get used to them. That's basically what I was doing.

I love this technique you used for justifying hitting on women a the bar. I'd give you another star for this but I can only hand out one per post.

reply to post by Weeeden


I've lived in both Alberta and BC too. Coincidence? Dun...dun...DUNNNNN!!

I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis---even though it didn't seem to follow the same pattern or have the same characteristics as it did for other people with the disease. I was pretty sick for a few years, but I learned everything I could about it.

One day, someone gave me a book about how to heal myself from MS and for a long time, I followed the advice religiously. It was a diet plan invented by an MS doctor many decades ago. The main thrust of the diet was to stop eating GLUTEN--which is found in all wheat products. I felt great when I stuck to the diet, but alas, in time, I abandoned it--finding it too hard. But I passed the book on to many people, and throughout the years, I stuck to the diet to varying degrees----always resolving to eat well, at least. And I stayed away from wheat after that, for the most part.

It eventually became apparent that whatever was wrong with me was probably not MS----but my health continued to deteroriate over the years. The source of the problem was unknown...

Until....we discovered twelve years later that I am allergic to wheat! And probably have been my whole life. It's strange that the obscure book someone gave me targeted that exact problem, even though we didn't know at the time that was what was really wrong with me.

And I probably saved myself a lot more problems by being wary of wheat because of that book.......and I'm probably a lot better off today.

Originally posted by dainoyfb
reply to post by Weeeden

 

I've lived in both Alberta and BC too. Coincidence? Dun...dun...DUNNNNN!!

Wow, that's ATS freaky! I can now add that to my list of strange coincidences!!

This happened to a friends eldest brother. We grew up in a small town. Al's brother was pursuing 'becoming clear' in The Church of Scientology, and his devotion saw him going many places around the world to attend different learning centers.

While on a break from studies in Switzerland Al's brother got in some mountain climbing. He was alone at the top of a mountain, resting and taking in the view when he heard some noise. Another fellow just made his way to the top too, having come from the other side of the hill.

Turns out Al's brother and the other hiker had grown up together. All their youth they lived 2 houses away from each other, had not seen each other in years, and neither knew the other was in Europe. Small world

reply to post by MRuss


That's an awesome happy ending coincidence.

I have stuff like that happen to me quite a bit. Usually its in the form of coming across technical information like that and then a few days later it turns out to be the perfect solution for something I'm trying to accomplish. Its gotten to the point now where when something kind of unique is presented to me I look forward to finding out how it will help me with something in the near future. Makes a person wonder how much quantum mechanics might have to do with it or how much in the universe is really connected.

I met a guy once who told me this story:

He was travelling with his family, driving through the interior of B.C., camping and seeing the sights. At one point he stopped in a small town (he'd never been there before) and a local man started talking to him, calling him Jim (the guy's name was Dave). He told the man that he wasn't Jim, the fellow told him that there was someone living in the town named Jim who looked just like him.

Dave's curiosity was piqued so he got Jim's address and decided to look him up. When he met Jim, they were both startled at how alike they looked. Turns out they were identical twins adopted at birth! Jim always knew he had a brother, but Dave was unaware until he met him by accident.