10 Creepy Coincidences That Will Make You Paranoid
The War Car
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In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. This event is seen as the trigger that sparked World War One. From that day, the couple's Gräf & Stift touring vehicle became a prize piece in museums. But it wasn’t until 2004, when UK national Brian Presland visited the car in Vienna, Austria, that things got strange. He noticed the vehicle’s original license plate of “AIII 118” was a bizarre coincidence. The numerals and numbers could be interpreted as November 11th, 1918, while the letter “A,” in English, could stand for “Armistice,” making it the day the Great War ended.
Wrestling Wiki
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In June 2007, WWE wrestler Chris Benoit committed a horrific crime. Around 14 hours before the police arrived at Benoit’s property, his wiki page was edited. It claimed the wrestler had been replaced at an upcoming WWE event with another wrestler, after his wife Nancy’s death. To make it weirder, the IP address of the anonymous editor was located where WWE’s headquarters are - in Stamford, Connecticut! A second update to the post had their IP in Australia. As people began to pick up on this, the secret Connecticut editor reportedly made a statement claiming they had seen rumors online about Nancy and posted that on the page. They described it all as a huge “coincidence.”
Booth Brother
The surname Booth doesn’t exactly have a positive connection to the Lincoln lineage, considering what happened on that fateful day in 1865 when John Wilkes Booth assassinated US President Abraham Lincoln. Yet before this day, his son Robert Todd Lincoln was at a train depot, mostly likely in Jersey City. He fell off the platform and into danger of being squashed by train cars. Suddenly, Lincoln was dragged back to safety. As he turned to thank the person, he realized it was the famous actor Edwin Booth, the brother of John Wilkes. The exact date of this incident is debated. The Library of Congress claims it happened in April 1865, the same month as the assassination.
Twain's Comet
There aren’t many flying space rocks as famous as Halley’s Comet, mostly down to it being the only one people can see with just their eyes. During one of its appearances around the Earth in 1835, it heralded the birth of one of America’s best authors, Mark Twain, who came into existence a couple of months later when the comet was at its nearest point of direct orbit around the Sun. In 1909, the Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn creator made an eerie prediction as the rock was set to arrive the following year. Twain stated that since he came in with it, he expected to go out with it, too. And in April 1910, Halley’s Comet made its triumphant return. That same month, Twain passed away from a heart attack.
Ominous Omen
With a film about the Antichrist, 1976’s “The Omen” was seemingly cursed as the cast and crew were affected by terrible accidents and near-misses. Lead actor Gregor Peck, executive producer Mace Neufeld, and writer David Seltzer each had their planes struck by lightning. While producer Harvey Bernhard was almost hit when filming in Rome, Italy. During post-production, special effects supervisor John Richardson and assistant Liz Moore were in a car accident on Friday the 13th. Moore perished in a similar vein to Keith Jennings in the film. A canceled plane for Gregory Peck ended up crashing with no survivors. One of the animal handlers for the baboons used in the movie was fatally attacked by a tiger the day after filming.
The German November
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In 1848, the Schicksalstag, or Day of Fate, began in Germany, which would haunt them for decades. With the execution of politician Robert Blum after the Vienna Uprising, the date of November 9th would play a pivotal role in German history. In 1918, Emperor Wilhelm II was removed from the throne on November 9th and abdicated in disgrace after World War One. In 1923, the coup led by Adolf Hitler, known as the Beer Hall Putsch, collapsed on the familiar date. Then, in 1938, the infamous violent event against Jewish people, known as the Night of Broken Glass or Kristallnacht, began on the same day. November 9th would come into German play once again in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, removing the separation from East and West Germany.
The Unsinkable Nurse
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If you were getting on an ocean liner in the 1910s and saw the name “Violet Jessop” working onboard, we wouldn’t blame you for wanting to get off. In 1911, she was a stewardess for the RMS Olympic when it smashed into the HMS Hawke. Both ships survived the encounter. A year later, Jessop was working on RMS Titanic when it famously struck an iceberg and sank. After all that trauma, we wouldn’t blame her for never getting on a boat again. But she did. In 1916, Jessop was working on HMHS Britannic, which had been turned into a hospital ship during the War. The vessel exploded and sunk after hitting a German mine. Jessop continued working on ships until 1950.
Founding Fathers’ Fatalities
July 4th is seen as a special day in the United States of America. After all, it celebrates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence from the UK in 1776. But that summer date also has some dark overtones for the Founding Fathers of the nation. For starters, the second US president, John Adams, passed away on July 4th, 1826, which was also the 50th anniversary of the Declaration. His successor, the third president Thomas Jefferson perished at 83 years old on exactly the same date. Then, five years later, in 1831, the fifth president of the US, James Monroe, also passed away on July 4th at 73. Spooky.
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Better known for his poetry and short stories, author Edgar Allan Poe also wrote one completed novel in 1838’s “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.” In it, the ship Grampus is wrecked by a storm and has little food and water. So, the remaining crew drew straws to see who would be sacrificed to feed their hunger. And it fell to Richard Parker for this task. Well, in 1884, the yacht Mignonette set sail in real life from Southampton, England. With the ship broken from strong winds and waves, the crew boarded a lifeboat. However, they lacked enough provisions. So, they, too, drew straws. And it was the cabin boy that was selected. To make it unsettling, his name was Richard Parker.
Timur’s Terror Tomb
Timur, also known as Tamerlane, was a ruthless ruler of the Timurid Empire who began his reign in 1370. It’s believed he’s responsible for the slaying of 17 million people. According to legend, in June 1941, Soviet Union’s Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gerasimov and Tashmuhammed Kari-Niyazov led an excavation of the Gur-e-Amir, the mausoleum of Timur. They discovered two warnings on his tomb. One that stated when Timur rises, the world shall tremble. And the second claimed, “Whosoever Disturbs My Tomb Will Unleash an Invader More Terrible than I.” A few days later, Germany invaded the USSR. In late 1942, Timur’s remains were re-buried at Gur-e-Amir. By February 1943, the USSR had won the Battle of Stalingrad, a key turning point in World War Two.
