Statistics in a Modern World 800
Coincidence Stories

A coincidence is a surprising concurrence of events, perceived as meaningfully related, but with no apparent causal connection. Should we really be surprised by these coincidences? Remember that when so many "unlikely" events are possible, according to the laws of probability, some of them are bound to happen. Like these...

(L.O.) A coincidence that happened to me was when I studied abroad. My roommates and I took a trip to Vienna and we found out that you can get 5 euro tickets for the standing room at the famous opera house. We decided to do this and while I was there I ran into a friend from high school. Neither one of us knew we were both studying abroad and that we would be in Vienna that weekend, so that was a coincidence that we were in the same European country and going to an opera at the same time.

(J.E.) In High school and for several years following, my friends and I were obsessed with Icelandic musician Bjork. I still think she is fantastic, but in those days I was totally consumed. I took a class trip to Paris one summer during that time. Of course I immediately set upon the students whom I had never met before, to school them on all things Bjork. Maybe I was annoying; maybe I was endearing. Who can say? I do know that I had some of her CDs with me and made sure everyone got a listen. Several days into the trip I opted out of the tourist-trap boat trip down the Seine and decided to take a walk around the city alone. Walking on a busy street several minutes after leaving my hotel I saw her! It was Bjork in a crazy teal knit sweater and army fatigue pants. She looked all feral and sprite-like. I said 'hi' and 'bonjour' but she just kind of smiled at me meekly and walked on. Other people realized it was her too, so there is no doubt in my mind. What are the chances that we would be at the same intersection at the same time in a city that was foreign to both of us?

(S.D.) A moment of coincidence for me was that my best friend in grade school had the same birthday as I did. We had a couple of double birthday parties together because of it.

(H.R.) One time when my sister and I were at a deli in my mom's hometown we ordered and my sister looked at the name tag of the girl who took our order and her name was Sari. My sister was shocked because no one she has ever met has the same name that she does. The girl then told us that she also had an older sister named Hannah. That was weird to us since I am the older sister (named Hannah) and my sister is the younger one (named Sari). It was a coincidence meeting a girl first with the same name as my sister but then also finding out her older sister had the same name as me.

(J.S.) When I was a kid, there was another kid who went to the same doctor as me. He had the exact same name and birthday as me. They would always get us confused and when I went to appointments, they would accidentally bring his folder out instead of mine. Good thing I'm not him because he seemed to have a lot of medical problems

(E.M.) A coincidental date in my life is my birthday. I was born on January 7th, which is also the date of birth of my maternal grandmother and my paternal great-grandfather. Two of my closest friends from high school were born on the 7th day of the month in spring months, and my puppy was born on the 7th of November, turning two months old on my birthday, for which she was a present.

(C.C.) The summer before freshman year of college, my family wanted to go to Dorney Park in Allentown and we chose to go on a Saturday in June. At Dorney Park, I was thinking of calling my friend, Jonathan, just to see how his summer was going. I figured he was probably at home or walking around in Philadelphia but before I could call him, I saw someone that looked very similar to Jonathan. At first, I brushed it off thinking that it was just a look-a-like, but I decided to check to see if it was him anyway. The Jonathan Look-a-like sat down at a picnic table and I went over to look and saw that it was Jonathan!

(E.G.) I met a friend here at Pitt last year that wasn't from anywhere near my area. One of her good friends from her hometown is actually the roommate of one of my good friends from my home at a totally different college!

(S.K.) A cocincidence story from my life would be from when I was a child. My favorite show was called "Rescue 911" and I always watched it with my mother. On the day of the program, I would look forward to it the entire day and talk about it with my mom. She took my shopping that evening for snacks to eat during our program, and the total in the store came to $9.11. On the way home, rushing to get back to catch my favorite show, we realized the the time was 9:11pm. We both thought the same number popping up was extremely odd, and both mentioned noticing the number more than once that day. After the show was over, my mom was watching the news, and when the lottery numbers came on for the day, the three digit evening number was 9-1-1. We have always talked about that story from then on, and noticing that number happens all the time now, but not that many times in one day as it did that one time in my childhood.

(B.M.) I usually throw out my old clothes. One day I decided to donate them to Good Will along with a bunch of furniture and household items. Again this is something I had never done before. A few days later I received a call. The person was a Representative from a very large fashion company and asked if I would consider being their photographer. This was an unsolicited call. I had no idea that they were hiring and I had not submitted a resume. Someone showed them my work and they wanted me. It came at a perfect time because at that point I didn't like my other job and was wishing for a change. It was pure coincidence that me being generous and helping others had anything to do with being offered a better job.

(M.M.) My coincidence actually does directly involve me, but rather indirectly. When I was a few months old my mother was picking up my older brother from a day summer camp when she began to talk to another woman holding a baby. After conversing for a while they realized their children whom they were holding were both named Mary and born on March ninth. Also both women were picking up their sons, both six years old and named Michael. My mother and this woman also found out that their houses were two streets apart and they gave birth in the same hospital. The woman and my mother have now been best friends for eighteen years and so have (other) Mary and I.

(D.P.) When I was young, my neighbor's mom would watch me after school while my mom worked. One day, my friend and I were sitting in the kitchen helping her mom make dinner when the subject of initials came up. "Wouldn't it be HILARIOUS if your parents gave you a middle name that began with an "i" like Ingrid so that your initials would spell "dip"?! That would be SO embarrassing and funny!" Coincidentally, that does happen to be what my initials spell out, being that my middle name is Irene. When I told her this, her face dropped, and she still hasn't stopped apologizing, but I find it funny. Of all of the topics of conversation and combinations of letters, she chose the letter that actually does begin my middle name to make a hypothetical joke about.

(C.W.) On Wednesday, after you had told us about the extra credit assignment, I was in my night class, and I was thinking about a good story to tell about a coincidence I had experienced in my life. We usually have a break midway through the class at 7:15, but when the time came, the professor asked us if we would like to continue on, and break later, or have our break at the usual time. The majority of the class said to wait, which was the first time we had ever done that. So when it cam time for our break, it was 7:45, and I usually run over to the 7-Eleven to get a cup of coffee, so I went over. Usually there is no line, but on this day there was a very long line, and so I got my coffee, and I stood in line. When I was the next in line to pay, I was just able to look out the window onto the sidewalk. Right as that happened a girl walked by, and I said that looks alot like my little sister, Heather. Then i looked again, and I said that is my sister Heather, so I ran outside and talked to her. Heather lives in Greensburg where she attends high school, but on this day she was visiting a friend from CMU. I thought this was a big coinicidence considering the fact that we took our break later than usual, there was a longer line than normally, and Heather just happened to be walking by at the exact minute I was able to look outside, and that she had walked over to Oakland at the same time. It may not defy the law of probability, but like we said in class it is definitely a rare situation.

(K.F.) In high school I had a friend named Jeana who was born on August 29 at 12:30 pm. Exactly one year later her brother was born on August 29 at 12:30 pm. I think this is especially a coincidence because not only are they siblings with the same birthday but born at the exact same time.

(A.W.) A coincidence that has happened to me in the past is once when I was walking home from school with a friend and as we were talking about the day I mentioned that it was such a beautiful day because it was sunny and warm and the sky was bright blue. All of a sudden a storm came from seemingly no where and it started raining very heavily on us on our walk home. We didn't have umbrellas with us because it was such a nice day, so we ended up being sopping wet from the storm. This was a coincidence because right after I had said that it was beautiful it immediately started storming.

(J.W.) A coincidence for me was going on vacation to Florida and ending up staying in the same hotel; at the same time that one of my friends were staying while on vacation.

(M.A.) I went to school with this girl named Tyree, and I found out after high school that she has the same birthday as me which is March 5th.

(W.Z.) One day my husband and I decided to go to Dearborn to eat some good food and have some fun. The first day there we ate breakfast and went to the mall afterwards. While we were walking around; I saw a girl in the other side of the mal starring at me. I couldn't really see her at first but then as I got closer to her; I recognized her. Her name is Ola. She was my friend from high school back in Syria and I haven' t seen her since we finished high school three years ago. We ran to each other and hugged each other. She told me that she has moved to Florida two years ago and that she came to Dearborn this weekend for a job interview. We were so happy and shocked to see each other. What is the possibility of seeing a friend from the other side of the world and going to the same city in the USA in the same random weekend?

(D.J.) I am originally from Korea and I met a really familiar looking girl in the church retreat I went to (in Pittsburgh). So I asked her if she knew me and we realized that we used to go to the same elementary school in Korea and we even lived in the same apartment complex. Even crazier, one of my good friends introduced me to her friend, and she said she is also originally from korea. So I asked her what part of korea are you from and she said Daejeon. I said that's where I'm from too! and she asked which part in Daejeon I am from. In fact, we happened to live in the same apartment complex as well and we went to the same elementary school too! Crazy. A few days later, I was talking to this freshman girl from Korea and she happened to went to the same elementary school too. That just blew my mind away. Too many coincidences in such a short period of time. Currently at Pitt, there are 4 people not including me, that I know of, who went to the same elementary school in Korea. Who knows if there are even more?

(F.M.) At my Montessori school, I had this friend who was probably my best friend back then. We always ate lunch together, had play dates, and basically did everything together. We were kind of bad kids because we loved to joke around during class and have fun. His name was Conner and after a few years since Montessori I lost contact because of no facebook or cellphones. Well two years ago I was down in DC attending the medical youth forum where over 200 kids from around the world meet to learn about the medical field for 2 weeks. While I was there I made loads of friends and one the fifth night of the forum my friends and I were out playing basketball when I ran into Conner. At first he just joined us to play some basketball but after the game when he put is nametag on and it Conner Snyder, Pittsburgh, I knew it was my long lost friend. I am really good at remembering faces, so I think its funny cause I know so many kids by face just cause they were in my classes and this face I could never forget. I remembered the face at first, but I was not a hundred percent sure, but after seeing his name I knew. I t saying anything at first, but then he guessed my name and he was like we went to Montessori school together. After this moment we have been in touch a few times and its just a coincidence that this happened at a different city where we both went to learn about medicine. didnPA,said,

[ Home | Calendar | Assignments | Handouts ]