The curious world of historical coincidences
History is filled with unexpected and downright eerie coincidences. From uncanny parallels between different eras to bewildering twists of fate, these stories leave us questioning the nature of destiny and randomness. Here are some of the most fascinating historical coincidences that you probably didn’t read about in your textbooks.
**The Lincoln-Kennedy Connection**
There have been numerous intriguing observations about the similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, two American presidents who were assassinated. Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846; Kennedy was elected a century later, in 1946. Lincoln became president in 1860, Kennedy in 1960. Both presidents were killed on a Friday while beside their wives, by bullets to the head. Each were succeeded by vice presidents named Johnson: Andrew Johnson, born in 1808, and Lyndon B. Johnson, born in 1908. But perhaps the most hair-raising detail is that Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who advised him not to go to the theatre, and Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln who warned him against going to Dallas.
**The Titanic and the Wreck of the Titan**
Author Morgan Robertson penned a novel in 1898 titled “Futility” about an “unsinkable” ship called the Titan. This fictional ship met its doom after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, leading to the deaths of nearly everyone on board due to a lack of lifeboats. Fourteen years later, in 1912, the real-life RMS Titanic suffered a remarkably similar fate. The similarities between the Titan and the Titanic in terms of specifications, the number of passengers; and the sequence of events are so shocking that Robertson's work is often considered prophetic.
**Edgar Allan Poe and the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym**
The macabre literary genius Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym” in 1838. This adventure novel tells the tale of four shipwreck survivors who are adrift in a boat and eventually decide to cannibalize a cabin boy named Richard Parker. Fast forward to 1884, when a yacht named Mignonette sank, leaving four survivors adrift in a lifeboat. In a desperate bid to survive, they cannibalized the cabin boy, whose name was, incredibly, Richard Parker. The eerie similarity between Poe's fiction and this real-life maritime tragedy has long puzzled readers.
**The Erie Gravestone and the Invisible Enemy**
There is an old grave marker in Erie, Pennsylvania, with a surprisingly eerie inscription. The gravestone belongs to a man named John Smith, who died in 1822. His epitaph reads: "Here lies John Smith who departed this life. He was injured by a car on Erie’s road." While this might appear unremarkable at first, it gains an eerie significance when you realize that the first automobile wouldn’t be invented for another 50 years. Scholars are still trying to decipher what kind of "car" could have existed back then or whether this was some form of an extraordinary premonition.
**The mysterious intersection of Robert Fallon and his son**
In 1858, a man named Robert Fallon died due to cardiac arrest during a poker game in San Francisco. Fallon had been winning significantly before he passed, and his fellow players accused him of cheating. Unable to continue with the game and fearing bad luck, they sought a replacement. A young man volunteered and astonishingly began to win just as rapidly as Fallon had. The tension lifted only when, later in the evening, they found out that this young man was Fallon’s son, who had not seen or known his father.
**Hugh Williams, the miracle survivor**
Over the centuries, multiple shipwrecks have occurred where the only survivor was a man named Hugh Williams. The first documented incident was the sinking of a ship in the Menai Strait in 1664, followed by another in 1785 and yet another in 1820. Each time, a Hugh Williams was the lone survivor. This incredible string of coincidences has fascinated maritime historians.
**A Date With Destiny**
The Battle of Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon's career on the battlefield, and it happened on June 18, 1815. Napoleon’s defeat was partly due to the Prussian army arriving and reinforcing the British forces. In a twist of fate, a British soldier discovered Napoleon’s battle plan pinned to the door of a captured French headquarters. When Napoleon’s enemies recognized the handwriting, they remembered a letter they had intercepted many years earlier in which Napoleon had mentioned being superstitious about the date June 18. Details like this make us wonder about the thin line between chance and destiny.
**Conclusion**
The annals of history are replete with such curious, spine-chilling coincidences that make us question the very nature of fate. Whether these incidents are mere chance or evidence of something more remains speculative. Yet, they offer us captivating narratives that keep us hooked, making history that much more magical and mysterious.
**The Lincoln-Kennedy Connection**
There have been numerous intriguing observations about the similarities between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, two American presidents who were assassinated. Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846; Kennedy was elected a century later, in 1946. Lincoln became president in 1860, Kennedy in 1960. Both presidents were killed on a Friday while beside their wives, by bullets to the head. Each were succeeded by vice presidents named Johnson: Andrew Johnson, born in 1808, and Lyndon B. Johnson, born in 1908. But perhaps the most hair-raising detail is that Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy who advised him not to go to the theatre, and Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln who warned him against going to Dallas.
**The Titanic and the Wreck of the Titan**
Author Morgan Robertson penned a novel in 1898 titled “Futility” about an “unsinkable” ship called the Titan. This fictional ship met its doom after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic, leading to the deaths of nearly everyone on board due to a lack of lifeboats. Fourteen years later, in 1912, the real-life RMS Titanic suffered a remarkably similar fate. The similarities between the Titan and the Titanic in terms of specifications, the number of passengers; and the sequence of events are so shocking that Robertson's work is often considered prophetic.
**Edgar Allan Poe and the Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym**
The macabre literary genius Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym” in 1838. This adventure novel tells the tale of four shipwreck survivors who are adrift in a boat and eventually decide to cannibalize a cabin boy named Richard Parker. Fast forward to 1884, when a yacht named Mignonette sank, leaving four survivors adrift in a lifeboat. In a desperate bid to survive, they cannibalized the cabin boy, whose name was, incredibly, Richard Parker. The eerie similarity between Poe's fiction and this real-life maritime tragedy has long puzzled readers.
**The Erie Gravestone and the Invisible Enemy**
There is an old grave marker in Erie, Pennsylvania, with a surprisingly eerie inscription. The gravestone belongs to a man named John Smith, who died in 1822. His epitaph reads: "Here lies John Smith who departed this life. He was injured by a car on Erie’s road." While this might appear unremarkable at first, it gains an eerie significance when you realize that the first automobile wouldn’t be invented for another 50 years. Scholars are still trying to decipher what kind of "car" could have existed back then or whether this was some form of an extraordinary premonition.
**The mysterious intersection of Robert Fallon and his son**
In 1858, a man named Robert Fallon died due to cardiac arrest during a poker game in San Francisco. Fallon had been winning significantly before he passed, and his fellow players accused him of cheating. Unable to continue with the game and fearing bad luck, they sought a replacement. A young man volunteered and astonishingly began to win just as rapidly as Fallon had. The tension lifted only when, later in the evening, they found out that this young man was Fallon’s son, who had not seen or known his father.
**Hugh Williams, the miracle survivor**
Over the centuries, multiple shipwrecks have occurred where the only survivor was a man named Hugh Williams. The first documented incident was the sinking of a ship in the Menai Strait in 1664, followed by another in 1785 and yet another in 1820. Each time, a Hugh Williams was the lone survivor. This incredible string of coincidences has fascinated maritime historians.
**A Date With Destiny**
The Battle of Waterloo marked the end of Napoleon's career on the battlefield, and it happened on June 18, 1815. Napoleon’s defeat was partly due to the Prussian army arriving and reinforcing the British forces. In a twist of fate, a British soldier discovered Napoleon’s battle plan pinned to the door of a captured French headquarters. When Napoleon’s enemies recognized the handwriting, they remembered a letter they had intercepted many years earlier in which Napoleon had mentioned being superstitious about the date June 18. Details like this make us wonder about the thin line between chance and destiny.
**Conclusion**
The annals of history are replete with such curious, spine-chilling coincidences that make us question the very nature of fate. Whether these incidents are mere chance or evidence of something more remains speculative. Yet, they offer us captivating narratives that keep us hooked, making history that much more magical and mysterious.