15 Historical Coincidences Too Bizarre to Be Random

Do you believe in coincidences, or do you think there’s some larger, possibly disreputable mechanism at work making strange events unfold the way they do? Whether it’s fate or random occurrences, here are 15 historical coincidences too bizarre to be just chance.

15. A Painting That Predicted Hitler’s Evil
It may sound like a conspiracy theory, but some believe a painting completed years before Adolf Hitler’s rise to power eerily predicted the horrors he would bring. The painting, The Wild Chase by Franz von Stuck, completed in 1889, the same year Hitler was born, depicts a Germanic god leading a mythic wild hunt. The striking resemblance between the god in the painting and Hitler, both in facial features and expression, has led some to believe the painting foretold the darkness Hitler would one day unleash on the world.

14. Two Finnish Brothers
In 2002, two Finnish brothers tragically died within hours of each other in separate accidents. The first, a 30-year-old, was struck by a truck while riding his bicycle. Just two hours later, his twin brother, riding along the same road, met the same fate, only 1.5 km from the first accident. The eerie synchronicity left the community stunned, as if their bond transcended life itself.

13. The Erdington Murders
In Erdington, England, in 1817, the body of 20-year-old Mary Ashford was found with signs of trauma. Abraham Thornton, the man she had been out with, was suspected of her murder but was acquitted due to a lack of evidence. Fast forward to 1974, and another 20-year-old woman in Erdington was found dead under eerily similar circumstances. Once again, the last person to see her was a man named Thornton—this time, Michael Ian Thornton, a descendant of the original Abraham. Once again, he was acquitted, leaving the town haunted by an unsolved mystery that blurred the lines between coincidence and fate.

12. Aztec Prediction of Cortez
An Aztec prophecy foretold a reckoning from the East, led by a bearded god named Quetzalcoatl. In 1519, Spanish conquistadors, led by the bearded Hernán Cortés, arrived in the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs, believing Cortés to be their returning god, welcomed him, leading to their eventual downfall and the destruction of their civilization. Was this prophecy simply coincidental, or was it fate?

11. The King’s Double
King Umberto I of Italy encountered a strange coincidence when he dined at a small restaurant and met the owner, who bore an uncanny resemblance to him. The two men discovered they were born in the same town on the same day, married women with the same name, and that the restaurant owner had opened his establishment on the exact same day Umberto ascended to the throne. The following day, both men met tragic fates—Umberto was assassinated while the restaurant owner was accidentally shot and killed.

10. James Dean’s Car
James Dean’s passion for cars seemed to transcend his own fate. In 1955, Dean tragically died in a car crash while driving his newly purchased Porsche 550 Spider. The car became infamous for its association with his death. Afterward, parts of the car were sold off, but they continued to be involved in deadly accidents, even sparking fires. The cursed car seemed to carry the tragedy of Dean’s death with it, passing it on to future owners.

9. Katherine Edow and Mary Kelly
In 1888, Katherine Edow was arrested in London under a fake name, Mary Kelly. Both women would later become victims of Jack the Ripper, with Edow being brutally murdered and Kelly becoming the Ripper’s final victim. The coincidence of Edow’s false identity and the brutal fate awaiting both women remains one of the most chilling connections in Ripper lore.

8. Falling Baby
In 1937, Detroit street sweeper Joseph Figlock experienced an unbelievable coincidence. While working, a baby fell from a fourth-floor window and landed on him, miraculously cushioning its fall. Remarkably, just a year later, another child fell from a window and landed on Figlock again, and once again, he saved the child’s life. His uncanny luck or misfortune of being in the right place at the right time twice in two years remains an extraordinary example of life’s bizarre twists.

7. The Mysterious Monk
Painter Joseph Agner’s life took strange turns involving a mysterious Capuchin monk. After struggling with depression, Agner twice attempted suicide but was stopped by a monk. Later, when Agner was sentenced to death for his activism, the monk once again intervened and saved his life. Eventually, Agner succeeded in taking his own life at 68, and the same monk performed the funeral rites. The monk’s presence throughout Agner’s life and death remains one of history’s most mysterious coincidences.

6. The 27 Club
The 27 Club refers to a group of musicians and artists who tragically died at the age of 27 under mysterious circumstances. Beginning with rock icons like Brian Jones, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix, the club grew in infamy with the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994 and Amy Winehouse in 2011. With over 60 members, the 27 Club continues to fascinate and haunt those who study the tragic pattern.

5. The Titan and Titanic
In 1898, author Morgan Robertson wrote a novel titled Futility, which eerily mirrored the real-life tragedy of the Titanic. The fictional ship, the Titan, sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage, much like the real Titanic, which struck an iceberg in 1912. Both ships were considered unsinkable, both sank in April, and both collided with icebergs in nearly identical locations. Was Robertson’s novel an eerie prediction, or simply an extraordinary coincidence?

4. Mark Twain and Hal’s Comet
Mark Twain’s life seemed intertwined with Hal’s Comet. Twain was born just two weeks after the comet’s appearance in 1835 and famously remarked that he expected to die with it. Twain died on April 21, 1910, just one day after the comet’s return, fulfilling his eerie prediction and marking one of history’s most poetic coincidences.

3. Tamerlane’s Tomb
In 1941, Russian anthropologists uncovered the tomb of the infamous conqueror Tamerlane. The tomb contained an inscription that read, “Whomsoever opens my tomb will unleash an invader more terrible than I.” Just three days later, Nazi Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the largest military invasion in history, marking the start of the Eastern Front of World War II. The eerie timing of these events has led some to wonder if Tamerlane’s curse was real.

2. Violet Jessup, Miss Unsinkable
Violet Jessup, an Irish Argentine stewardess, survived three shipwrecks: the Olympic, the Titanic, and the Britannic. In 1911, she was aboard the Olympic when it collided with a warship but survived. She was also aboard the Titanic when it sank, and once again, she survived. In 1916, she survived the sinking of the Britannic after it was hit by a mine. Her extraordinary luck (or misfortune) has earned her the nickname “Miss Unsinkable.”

1. A License Plate That Predicted WW1
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 set off World War I. But did the car in which he was assassinated hold a hidden prediction? The car’s license plate, 2Q 218, sparked interpretations that some historians now believe predicted the eventual Armistice on November 11, 1918. While it’s likely just a coincidence, the eerie timing of the license plate’s potential prophecy adds a layer of mystery to the tragic events of that summer.

These strange coincidences remind us of the mysterious and uncanny ways in which history often unfolds, leaving us to ponder whether it’s all chance, fate, or something more sinister at work.