6 Strange Name Coincidences in History

A wide variety of fascinating and mind-boggling things have happened throughout history, some so bizarre that you might not believe them to be real. Stories of complete strangers with an astonishing connection, predictions that came true, uncanny patterns… coincidences in this world are everywhere, and most seem as though they come from a story or movie, rather than straight out of real life. 

Here are 6 strange name coincidences that have happened in history, all of which are absolutely true. 

1. Edgar Allen Poe’s Eerie Prediction

In 1838, the famous writer and poet Edgar Allen Poe wrote a book called The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Nym of Nantucket. In the story, 4 sailors get shipwrecked and decide to kill and eat the cabin boy, whose name is Richard Parker. 46 years later, a real-life shipwreck occurred on a yacht called Mignonette. The 4 men also decided to kill and eat one amongst them: the cabin boy. His name? Well of course, Richard Parker. 

2. The Twins that Lived Parallel Lives

In 1979, two twins who had been separated at only 4 weeks of age and adopted by separate families reunited when they were 39-years-old. But this reunion was struck with more than just excitement. They discovered that both twins had been separately named James by their adoptive families. Both had had childhood dogs named Toy. Both had similar interests in carpentry and math, and both had pursued careers in security. Stranger still, both had married a woman named Linda, gotten divorced, and gotten remarried to a woman named Betty. Their sons were named James Alan and James Allan. They even vacationed with their families at the same Florida beach. 

3. The Loch Ness Monster’s Fan is Foiled

British naturalist Sir Peter Scott was so convinced of the existence of the Loch Ness monster, that he gave it a scientific name: Nessiteras Rhombopteryx. He was very proud and excited by his name invention until a London journalist discovered that one anagram of the name is actually: “monster hoax by Sir Peter S”.

4. The Reincarnated Survivor

On December 5, 1664 in the Menai Strait off the coast of Wales, a boat with 81 passengers was shipwrecked. There was only one survivor: a man named Hugh Williams. A little over a century later, on December 5, 1785, another ship capsized in the Menai Strait, this time with 60 people. Again there was one lone survivor: Hugh Williams. Finally, on August 5, 1820, a small boat of 25 people was run down on the Thames, yet again with only one surviving person. You guessed it- Hugh Williams. 

5. The Titanic and a Time Machine?

In yet another case of an author predicting a shipwreck, in 1898, 14 years before the famous Titanic sinking, Morgan Robertson penned a novel called The Wreck of the Titan: or, Futility. The plot focuses on an ocean liner named the Titan, which is described as “unsinkable”, and which hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sinks. But the similarities don’t end there. Both ships were about the same length, both were traveling at about the same speed (25 knots), both held about the same number of passengers, and both sunk exactly 400 nautical miles from Newfoundland. 

6. U.S. Presidents and their Assassins

Many unbelievable parallels have been drawn between the circumstances surrounding the assassinations of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and the findings are so odd, it’s no wonder many believe it was some kind of conspiracy. The following is a list of coincidences between the lives and deaths of Lincoln and Kennedy:

• Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846. John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946. 
• Lincoln was elected to the presidency in 1860. Kennedy was elected in 1960.
• Both presidents were shot in the back of the head, in the presence of their wives, on a Friday, the weekend before a major holiday. 
• Both of the names Lincoln and Kennedy contain 7 letters.
• Both of the names Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wilkes Booth contain 15 letters. 
• Both assassins performed the assassinations from their places of work (John Wilkes Booth was an actor at Ford’s Theater; Lee Harvey Oswald worked at the Texas School Book Depository.)
• Both presidents died at a location with the initials P.H. (Lincoln at Petersen House, Kennedy at Parkland Hospital).

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