What a Strange Coincidence!

The world is filled with amazing coincidences defying explanation. Are they mere coincidence or is there an unseen force at work? Read the following true stories and judge for yourself.

Robert Paterson tried to board an Amtrak train from Phoenix to Los Angeles on Oct. 15, 1952. The conductor told him Robert Paterson had already boarded. Checking to see if there had been a mistake they discovered there was indeed another Robert Paterson having a ticket and similar in height, weight and appearance.

During the trip an emergency stop was made in Barstow to pick up another passenger…a Robert Paterson. He was also similar in appearance to the first two.

After arriving in Los Angeles, the three Robert Paterson’s went their separate ways. As the train prepared for the return trip to Phoenix new passengers began boarding. While checking the passenger list the conductor saw a familiar name…Robert Paterson.

The famous actor James Dean was killed in a car accident in 1955. Thereafter his car, a Porsche, seemed to be cursed. Following the accident the car was taken to a garage. A mechanic working on the car had both legs broken when the engine inexplicably fell out of the engine compartment.

Later, the engine was bought by a doctor and installed in his racing car. The new owner was killed during a race. And in the same race, another driver using the drive shaft from Deans’ car was also killed.

But the story doesn’t end there. Deans’ Porsche was later repaired and the garage where it was parked burned down. The car, which had now begun to get a bad reputation, was put on display in Sacramento. A teenager had his hip broken when the car slipped from its’ mounting.

Following these eerie events, while the car was being towed the trailer broke loose and smashed through the front of a shop. The string of unexplained happenings finally ended in 1959 when the car mysteriously broke into 11 pieces while sitting on steel supports.

Hapless Henry Ziegland broke up with his girlfriend in 1883. Heartbroken she committed suicide. The girls’ brother 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, blaming Ziegland for his sisters’ death shot him. Believing Ziegland was dead he then took his own life. But Ziegland wasn’t dead. The bullet had only grazed his face and become lodged in a tree. Ziegland counted his blessings.

Years later, Ziegland decided to cut down the tree, which still had the bullet in it. However, the tree was so large he decided to use dynamite. The explosion propelled the bullet into Zieglands’ head, killing him instantly.

In 1858, card sharp Robert Fallon, was shot and killed while playing poker. Fallon was thought to have been cheating when he won the $600 pot. The game continued after removing his body. A new player was found to take Fallon’s place and staked with the dead man's $600. By the time police arrived the new player had parlayed the original $600 into $2,200. The police suggested the original $600 should be given to Fallon's next of kin. The new player turned out to be Fallon's son.

In Detroit sometime in the 1930s, a man named Joseph Figlock was walking down the street when a baby fell from a high window. The baby's fall was broken by Figlock and both man and baby were unharmed. A year later, the scenario was repeated when the same baby fell from the same window as Figlock was again passing beneath. And again, they both survived.

The same social security number was issued to two women having the same name. When the two were summoned to correct the error a series of amazing facts emerged.

They had both been born Patricia Ann Campbell and their fathers also had the same name. The two women also shared the same birth date and both married military men in 1959. They each had two children and had an interest in oil painting. Both had studied cosmetics and worked as book-keepers

On December 5th 1660, a ship sank in the straights of Dover. The only survivor was a man named Hugh Williams. On the same date in1767, another ship sank in the same waters. Again the the only survivor was named Hugh Williams. On 8th August 1820, a small boat capsized on the Thames. There was one survivor, Hugh Williams. And on 10th July 1940, a British trawler was destroyed by a German mine. This time two men survived, one man and his nephew… both named Hugh Williams.

Twin brothers, Jim Lewis and Jim Springer, were separated at birth and adopted by different families. Both families named the boys James. Both twins grew up not knowing of the other and trained in law enforcement. Each had mechanical drawing and carpentry skills. Both married women named Linda and had a son. One son was named James Alan, the other James Allan. The twins also divorced their wives and married other women… both named Betty. Both owned dogs named “Toy.”

In 1899, Canadian actor Charles Francis Coghlan became ill and died in Galveston, Texas. It was too far to return his body home on Prince Edward Island so he was buried in a lead coffin inside a granite vault. A year later a hurricane hit Galveston, flooding the graveyard, shattering the vault and sweeping the lead coffin into the Gulf of Mexico. Eight years after the hurricane, fishermen on Prince Edward Island found the weathered coffin floating near the shore. Coghlan had finally returned home. He was buried in a nearby church where he had been christened as a baby.