- What do you think?
What bizarre historical coincidences do you know about? What about the shipwreck that happened twice or the man that survived two atomic bombings?
Two Presidents and Their Uncanny Pattern
Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy were both assassinated while serving as U.S. president. Lincoln was elected in 1860; Kennedy in 1960. Both were succeeded by men named Johnson—Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson—who were born exactly 100 years apart. Lincoln’s secretary was reportedly named Kennedy, while Kennedy’s secretary was named Lincoln, although the secretary-name detail is part of the later mythology surrounding the coincidence and isn’t fully supported by historical records.
The Lincoln Assassination Connection
John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in 1865. Booth’s brother, Edwin, was a famous actor. Years before the assassination, Edwin reportedly saved the life of Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln, when Robert fell or was pushed toward a moving train at a railway station. Robert later identified Edwin as his rescuer. The connection between the president’s son and the man whose brother killed his father is one of history’s most unsettling coincidences.
The novel that predicted the Titanic
In 1898, author Morgan Robertson published Futility, a story about an enormous British luxury liner called the Titan that strikes an iceberg in the North Atlantic on an April voyage. Fourteen years later, the real Titanic struck an iceberg and sank. The fictional ship and the real ship were both described as extraordinarily large, luxurious, and supposedly difficult to sink. Robertson later insisted he had not predicted the disaster; similarities were partly a consequence of accurately imagining the technological and commercial trends of his era. Have you heard of this as one of the bizarre historical coincidences?
A Man and Two Atomic Bombings
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb exploded. He survived and returned to his home city of Nagasaki. Three days later, he was there when the second atomic bomb was dropped. Yamaguchi survived that explosion as well and eventually became one of the few people officially recognized by the Japanese government as a survivor of both bombings. Have you heard of this as one of the bizarre historical coincidences?
A Shipwreck That Happened Twice?
In 1664, the Dutch ship Wapen van Nassau was wrecked off the coast of Norway. A later ship with the same name was reportedly lost in a remarkably similar location. While not necessarily supernatural, repeated ship names and recurring maritime disasters have produced some remarkably confusing historical records—and occasionally stories in which the same vessel appears to have met the same fate twice. Have you heard of this as one of the bizarre historical coincidences?
The Novelist Who Died As He Wrote It
American author Edgar Allan Poe died under mysterious circumstances in 1849. His final days were confused and poorly documented, and he was found wearing clothing that apparently did not belong to him. His death became so strange that later generations attached numerous theories to it. Unlike some historical coincidences, however, the mystery remains genuine: historians still cannot say with certainty what caused Poe’s death.
Did you know about this bizarre historical coincidences? Add something to the comments that wasn’t on the list!