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40 One-In-A-Million Coincidences That Are Hard To Believe Actually Happened, Shared In An Online Thread
Let’s see a show of hands—how many of you Pandas believe in fate and luck? That’s quite a few of you! We’ll let you in on a little secret, we sometimes think that there’s ample proof that both are real forces working their magic on the universe. Whether for good or for ill. Oh, we might be the masters of our own destinies (or we like to think we are), but there’s no doubting the fact that some people are simply born (un)luckier than others.
The folks over on r/AskReddit shared their most jaw-droppingly impressive stories about their ‘one-in-a-million’ experiences. From surviving horrible accidents and finding their stolen things to winning the genetic lottery and living to tell the tale after successive lightning strikes, these people are some of the luckiest folks to ever walk on God’s green earth. (Or unluckiest if you take a slightly different perspective.)
Scroll down for some unbelievable yet completely true stories and remember to share the ones you liked best with all of your friends. Fortunate and Tyche, the goddesses of luck, must really love these people. Oh, and before we forget, we’d absolutely love to read all about the luckiest things that have ever happened to you, Pandas. Tell us all about it in the comments.
Suzanne Degges-White, a Licensed Counselor, Professor, and Chair at the Department of Counseling and Higher Education at Northern Illinois University, was kind enough to share her insights into the psychology behind believing in fate, good and bad luck with Bored Panda. She also explained how life has a way of confirming our self-biases and why believing in luck too much means that we give up our sense of control and ownership of our actions.
"As long as there have been humans, there has been a desire to imagine that somewhere some thing or some being or some force is helping direct us along our paths to a positive destination," she said. "Many people want to believe in luck because that gives us hope that one day maybe it will be 'our turn' to win the lottery, find true love, be at the right place at the right moment."
According to Suzanne, believing in luck can help us handle disappointments in life and help keep our hopes up for a better future. In other words, we apply the thinking that it's not us at fault, we're just victims of 'bad luck.' You'll find the rest of our exclusive interview with Suzanne as you scroll down, Pandas.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Way back in college, my car got stolen. It was a crappy bright green Ford Pinto (yeah, that far back) but it was mine, and I needed it for classes and getting to work.
Later that day a friend gives me a ride to the police station to make a report. We stop at a light, and my Pinto pulls up right next to us! I look at her, she looks at me, when the light changes we follow the car.
The car goes about three blocks and pulls into a liquor store. Guy gets out, leaves the car running for the a/c. She pulls up, I get out, open the Pinto's door and drive my stolen car home.
Never even made the police report.
Anne Reid 3 years ago
A few years back in Staten Island a cop saw his wife’s car being driven by someone he didn’t know. Called the wife & she looked outside and realized her car was gone. He promptly arrested the thief.
Don't tread on me 3 years ago
Or she was cheating and threw her lover under the proverbial bus.
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Khavrinen 3 years ago
Would've liked to see the look on that guy's face when he came out of the liquor store. "Hey, you can't steal that car! *I* just stole that car!!"
Bob Brooce 3 years ago
At the very least I'd have waited until he came back out of the store to flip him off before driving away.
WildHoneyPie 3 years ago
This reminds me of when my nephew's new sneakers were stolen from his locker at school. He and his family were watching a parade when he blurted out "my sneakers!" and went running off. He came back with them a few minutes later. I believe punching was threatened.
Lyyyy 3 years ago
When I was a teen and visiting my friend, my mom called that my little brothers bike was stolen and I need to go look for it with my own bike. Begrudgingly, I left to look for it, and after looking for it for solid 2 hours I found it 2km away from where we lived. I called my mom, but she said that the mother of the boy who had taken the bike had called an hour earlier and apologized. I was looking for the bike, in the rain and hungry, for nothing. I don’t think I have forgiven my mom yet, it’s only been 20 years.
DC 3 years ago
My Grandma once entered the wrong Ford. Almost same numberplate (last digit one higher or lower), same model, same colour, same parking lot, but once in, she wondered why the shift was a steering-wheel-shift instead of center (or the other way), got out, and got it. Sixties, this must have been.
Suzanne, from Northern Illinois University, told Bored Panda that "life has a funny way of confirming our self-biases." What we believe tends to come true. It's a type of self-fulfilling prophecy.
"If we believe we're going to fail at something, we've already set ourselves up for failure. Believing that we carry bad luck around like a cloud gives us a reason not to do our best, not to try our hardest, and to make it 'okay' to fail. While we'd think that a strong belief in good luck would work totally in our favor, there are drawbacks to this belief, too," she said that it is vital to take responsibility for our actions.
RELATED:
#2
My father and I went to a casino for the first time. I had $50 in my pocket, with the intention of that being the only money we'd spend. We played roulette and quickly lost 45 bucks. As I had a $5 chip, I placed it on the number 5. The ball started spinning and actually landed on that number. We cheered. I decided to leave the whole bet on 5 again. Rinse and repeat. The ball fell on number 5 FOUR times in a row. We walked out with almost $43,000 in the bag after taxes. Never went in a casino again in my life
Auntriarch 3 years ago
The luck may have been dumb, but leaving with the money wasn't 🤣
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Bob Brooce 3 years ago
It's hard to forget the details when you win that much, so this seems even less likely than a lot of the suspect stuff on BP. Payout for a single number is 35 to 1, so $5 > $175 > $6,125 > $214,375 > $7,503,125. That would be about $5.25 million after US/state tax withholding, but one of the few things less likely than the story is a casino accepting a 200k bet on roulette.
Rahul Pawa 3 years ago (edited)
I just did the math too. Even if they were exaggerating by one (3 in a row, instead of 4), that would be well over the supposed $43k. EDIT: I found the numbers that do add up pretty close to right. If it was a $1 bet, then the third win in a row wins $42,875.
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Erich Walz 3 years ago
The math is wrong on this. Roulette pays out at 35:1. So a $5 bet would mean a $175 win the first time. $175 on the second bet is $6,125. $6,125 on the third bet would be $214,375.
#3
My dad's cousin was an activist in the '80s against the neo-Nazis. One night he was in bed, but a family member had a bad feeling and decided to call him to see if he was okay. He got up to answer the phone, which was in the kitchen, and while he was on the call, a bomb went off in his bedroom. That phone call saved his life
Katinka Min 3 years ago
We need to be so much more vigilant against rightwing extremism. Yes, there are terrorists on the left side of the political spectrum, too, but at least in my country the amount of violence, injuries and deaths caused by right-wing scum is ten times higher
Klas Klättermus 3 years ago (edited)
In Sweden it's the other way around. Like 1000 times more socialist or antiwhite crimes and violence when it comes to ideology-driven crimes. In our neighboring country Norway a socialist killed 69 people and injured another 100
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Tina Hugh 3 years ago
Which country? It doesn’t sound like the US. You didnt have “activists” against NeoNazi here in the 80’s. Everyone was against NeoNazis then.
Susan Mercurio 3 years ago
Well, this pretty much shows that the stupid psychologist from Northern Illinois University is all wrong. "Your choices," indeed!
"When we don't take ownership of our good choices, our effective actions, or our hard work, we are selling ourselves short. It's true that sometimes circumstances can 'work in our favor,' or we can meet the right person at the right time, but we still need to recognize our own part in taking advantage of positive circumstances or setting things up so that we can succeed."
Suzanne told Bored Panda that someone who believes that luck dictates how their efforts turn out gives up their sense of control over making things happen in their own lives. "If we have an internal locus of control, we see ourselves as agentic in our world—we know that we can make things happen and we take ownership of both our good decisions and our poor decisions. But this lets us learn from our decisions—how to continue to do things that work out for us and how to avoid things that do not. An external locus of control sets us up to be 'victims' of life or luck," she said.
#4
I was at a gas station two Christmas seasons ago. My kids were in the car. A cop car was there and two cops were standing outside the car. As I was pumping gas, they are just watching me. Finally, one says something to the other and the other cop comes walking over to me. I am like "Sh*t, they saw my expired tag!" The cop peers into the window, waves to my kids and then comes over to me and hands me $100. He says they decided to help a family out for Christmas and they saw my minivan with three kids inside and guessed I could use a little financial assistance. I was flabbergasted and gave them a hug and had a smile on my face the rest of the day. I never have luck like that!
TonyTee 3 years ago (edited)
Now THESE are the kind of cops we need patrolling our streets. Not the derelict "cops" we have now. Beautiful story
Memere 3 years ago
A lot of them really are this good. It's the bad ones who make the news.
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Samia Guled 3 years ago
aww! so sweet this deserves more than 6 points! I'ma give u another point hope you have a merry Christmas (even if it's may lol)
Cara G 3 years ago
I love hearing stories about good cops, we need more of these! Five years ago I was being stalked by my ex-boyfriend and the police were at my house once a week for several months. During that time, this one officer and I became friendly because she had responded to a few of my calls and taken the reports. She felt connected enough to the situation that sometimes, even if another car responded to the call, she'd roll up to my house anyway just to check on me. I remember her once getting so angry over his behavior she said "I want to arrest this guy myself!!", frustrated that he was stalking across state lines. Then she got to be in the news a few years later when she delivered a baby in a car! I'll never forget Officer Proios!
HarriMissesScotland 3 years ago
There ARE men and women who really want to be good cops. I applaud them. They started a criminal justice program at the college where I taught and worked in admissions. I was shocked at the number of these candidates who couldn't even fill out out an application. We were told to help them as they needed to fill the program. Take a guess what state. Mickey Mouse is a resident on the east coast.
Nolgoth 3 years ago
Yeah this kind of thing actually happens. I lived in new orleans working at an att call center. Across the parking lot was a gas station i would go to regularly to get lunch, snacks, or energy drinks. As i was waiting in line a cop, looked to be in early 20s and could have been a rookie, offered to buy my food for me. I am skeptical by nature especially when random people just offer to "help" cuz i feel like they have an ulterior motive. I said no thanks i can afford it. Paid for my stuff and left. Thinking back on it he could have looked at me and thought i might have been homeless or really poor cuz well i kinda did look rough then or he could have seen my Operation Iraqi Freedom coin thing on the lanyard around my neck and figured to help a veteran. But he never mentioned why he wanted to buy my food. We will never know lol
Raccoon panda 3 years ago
I really wish that in choosing cops, we screened for empathy levels (to keep out narcissists and sociopaths). And we should also provide free therapy and up to a year’s paid leave or partial reduction of duties to deal with instances of PTSD. And that we’d stop militarizing the police, instead training them and keeping them as friendly helpers to the community. We should allow them to ignore any law that is stupid, if nobody is getting harmed. It’s also just common sense to have the police mostly recruit women and people of color, to keep those communities safe and listened to.
#5
My now-husband was in a terrible car accident as a teen. He was found dead on the scene but was revived. His sister was the random EMT who was called, the defibrillator that was used to revive him was recently donated by the company his mom worked for, and a doctor who heard the car accident from his house and came to assist was the obstetrician who delivered him when he was born. So freaky
DeadLetterOffice 3 years ago
This is when you just shut up, call it good and sit in a lawn chair for the rest of your life.
Denise Aitchison 3 years ago
Tell me you're from a small town without saying you're from a small town.
A B C 3 years ago
Defibrillator used to revive him? Tell me this is made up without telling me this is made up. Defibrillators are used for ventricular fibrillation, NOT for a heart that has stopped working. Whoever posted this watched too many movies.
Joe Reaves 3 years ago
Did he live in a small town? Because how amazing this is depends on whether the town has a population of 5000 or 5000000 lol.
Dazzled masochistic Lamb 3 years ago
My bad car wreck was in 2002- the man who hit me worked for my dad, the woman who checked on me in the second car back also had family that knew mine, the lady who called 911 was the woman who sold my husband my engagement ring. I went to school the previous year with the EMT!!
Remy 3 years ago
A few years back, I was driving in the middle of a BAD dust storm, couldn't see an inch in front of you. I HEARD this idiot drive by at an insane speed, believing that everyone else had pulled over. As it cleared up and we SLOWLY began moving again, maybe 3/4-1 mile ahead there's the idiot corvette jammed underneath a trailer. The top of the car had completely been torn off, like a sardine can that you roll the lid off. I'm a retired medic & pulled over to help. I learned the idiot was also NOT wearing a seatbelt! However, he was fine and conscious! He'd leaned the seat so far back that instead of being decapitated by the trailer, he just bumped his head on it. Even crazier... the truck pulling the trailer was filled with off duty firefighters, paramedics & cops. Also another witness was a trauma surgeon! We were all in shock by the outcome of this "accident".
Carol Emory 3 years ago
This also happened in our high school. Girl was on her way home, lost control and went through a fence. One of the boards from the picket fence came through the windshield and stabbed her in the neck. First officer on the scene...her Dad...EMT that arrived...her Mom. You want to talk about land speed records being broken to get her to the hospital! And for those who are wondering...she survived and made a full recovery. The only indication that something happened is a scar on her neck.
SoozeeQ 3 years ago
That would have been so horrific for her parents. A lot of emergency services say their greatest fear is turning up to a car accident of somebody they know.
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My family and I live in Canada. When I was a child, we went to Disneyland, and I somehow got separated from my parents in the theme park. Panicked, I started to look around for them and couldn’t believe that our next-door neighbors (from Canada!) were sitting on the bench right in front of me!!! I was able to sit with them until my parents found me. Talk about a weird coincidence
Bob Brooce 3 years ago
Coming back from a week in the Caribbean between semesters I got on a plane in Miami and a guy who had been in one of my class the previous semester was sitting two seats away. It's a really big world, so wild coincidences are going to happen to some of us now and then.
Carol Emory 3 years ago
That happened to me with a college friend. We lived in a small town in the middle of Washington State. Seattle was an hour and a half away. Yet we go shopping in the International district and there is my classmate. Fast forward 5 years later and we are in Virginia 2800 miles away. Go to the local bead shop to get some pendant stones for a necklace. I look up and there is the same classmate. I looked at her, smiled and said "Stop following me...." She laughed.
Mud spider 3 years ago
The other day I saw my best friend in a farm in West Virginia (we live in Texas!) i just laughed the whole time I couldn’t believe it lol
john smith 3 years ago
A few months before Canada legalized weed, Ontario was looking the other way on gray market dispensaries. One Saturday morning I drove the 125 miles from Montreal to Ottawa to check out a few of them. While waiting in line to get into the last one on my itinerary I ran into my wife's twin and my brother-in-law, also on a day trip from Montreal. High point of my shopping excursion-no pun intended, lol.
Mr Zipperface 3 years ago
Don't know the odds but I was in Disney World, walking through the crowds with my family when I noticed a guy I used to work with coming the opposite way with his family, we were only 4000 miles from home. Also, my mate was working in Tokyo and he met someone we went to school with many years before, they were nearly 6000 miles from home. It does happen.
Bob Standen 3 years ago
After reading about the hidden city under the park and the pedo ring taking lost children into sex slavery, I would say you are very lucky.
Scarlett Barbee 3 years ago
While I was stationed in Japan, I had to go to Hawaii in 2011 for a conference for a week. One evening I am walking on the main road near the Hale Koa, where we were staying. I run into my first executive officer from my first battalion when I was stationed at Fort Eustis, now Joint Base Langley Eustis, from 2004-2005...
Lisa Shaw 3 years ago
We had something similar happen, Dad took us to Disney World, back in the 1970's. We're wandering around the park, kind of lost, Dad looks around for someone to ask and the only person is a guy that my dad works with at the GM plant in our city in Ontario! They laughed a bit about it, Dad turned around and they had met in front of the it's a small world ride, so forever after, whenever they saw each other in or out side of work, they'd look at each other and say it's a small world. They were still doing it up until a few days before my Dad's death in 1987.
"Research suggests that the people who have 'good luck' are just being more aware of their surroundings, making smart decisions based on current conditions, and actually 'believe' that good things will happen for them. That's a positive bias in our favor—we look for the good, so we're more likely to see it."
Financial expert Sam Dogen, the founder of Financial Samurai, previously explained to Bored Panda what to do if you happen to luck out and win the lottery.
“Everybody has either a money problem or a money desire. If the winner doesn’t magnanimously share their winnings with family members and friends, they will be seen as selfish and greedy,” he told us that the people closest to the winner can end up pestering them for cash.
#7
I grew up in Luxembourg, Europe. When I was seven years old, I had a neighbor named Will. He and I were best friends until one day his family moved. He told me he was moving to the US, but I was too young to understand what that really meant and we ended up losing touch pretty fast.
Roughly 9-10 years later, I'm 17 and I go to a theatre camp in the states. There are 20 students for a 5 week intensive theatre program. There were only four other guys in the program and one of them was named Brandon. We started casually talking/hanging out until I added him on Facebook and realized we had one mutual friend, my old neighbor, Will. I thought this was crazy and when I asked him about it, he said: "Dude, Will's my neighbor."
So somehow, when I was 7 years old, my neighbor Will moved to the states, became this kid Brandon's neighbor, and 10 years down the road, I happen to meet Brandon independently of Will. This was without a doubt the smallest world moment I've ever experienced. The likelihood of me running into Brandon and having that mutual connection just felt like one-in-a-million. I mean how many different houses/cities/neighbors/streets are there in the US. The likelihood of Will moving next door to Brandon, and Brandon and I meeting 10 years down the line seems very very very very slim. I'm 23 now and Brandon and I are best friends.
Memere 3 years ago (edited)
That's what I want to know - what about Will? So, I went to the reddit page and OP did connect again with Will but they're not close friends, just what I would call "keep in touch" friends. Here's a link: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/6c2ono/what_oneinamillion_thing_happened_to_you/dhrt86s/
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Almondein 3 years ago
Assuming there are 142 million housing units in the US, with 52% of these being suburban, the likelihood of this occurring is approximately 2/142,000,000/0.52 or about 1 in 37 million, or 0.0000027%!
Everything is fascinating. 3 years ago (edited)
Nope. If there are 142 million housing units, so each person has 2 next door units, and each unit has 3 people living in it, and the person met 100 people while in the US, the odds are more like 1 in 250k that he would meet someone who lived next door. The chances are smaller though since in a particular location there might be a reason why one person moved to the same area as another person visited, perhaps a cultural or familial link to that region, common set of friends or similar.
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Randy Klefbeck 3 years ago
I was working for a large sporting goods retailer in the Portland OR area during the holiday season. I covered the bicycling dept. and the ski dept. I had previously lived in both Los Angeles (My parents grew up there, and I lived as child there for 13 years, and later as an adult for four) and Orange county CA for decades, and had done retail sporting goods in the same capacity for many years. About 20 years had passed between my living and working in So. CA and the time I mention in this instance. I approached a customer in bikes and asked how I could help, he remarked that he was actually looking for his son who lived in Los Angeles. I asked where in Los Angeles. He mentioned the city I grew up in. He seemed about my father's age so I gamble asked if he knew my father. Not only did he know my dad, he had recently (a few years prior to this date) had spoken with him at their high school reunion. About three days go by and I am working in the ski shop. I hear a
Randy Klefbeck 3 years ago
conti.....French accented man speaking about a particular brand of ski boot. I approach him and speak to him and find out he was the dealer representative for that brand of equipt. and I had many a time that he visited the shop in southern CA 20 years prior, and had many conversations with. We had also skied together a few times.
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Nightshade1972 3 years ago
My wife was born in Washington, DC, and lived in Fairfax, VA for a while. Years later, her family moved to Houston, TX. In Houston, she got a job as office clerk at a gun store. She was helping a guy make a sale once, and it turned out he'd just moved to the area from Fairfax, VA. Turned out that the guy lived on the opposite side of the street from where my wife had lived, and the guy's mom had been her piano teacher when she was young.
#8
I have the rarest type of synesthesia, which means I can actually taste words. It's called lexical-gustatory, and less than .2% of the population has it. I have to physically say the words out loud to taste them (so reading silently to myself won't do it). When I was younger, I'd always repeat words that tasted good in my head, and I'd avoid saying words that tasted bad. Now I can mostly ignore it. It only happens if I speak, so I don't taste from other people during conversations. For example, 'Sam' tastes like lemon juice mixed with salt, almost like a chili-lime flavor without the spiciness; 'Jon' tastes like raisins; and 'Noah' tastes like avocado.
Mud spider 3 years ago
Nobody believes me but I can taste colors. (If anyone wants they can ask me what a color tastes like lol)
Agent 8433599 3 years ago (edited)
I have a question, does food taste like food when your say it? Like does the word chocolate taste like chocolate? And that is so cool!!!
Firstname Lastname 3 years ago
So if someone's name tastes nasty, do you assign them a new name or just stop talking to them?
TonyTee 3 years ago (edited)
I've got a mild form of this too. I must! I've known five Brians in my life and I've had bad experiences with all five of them, so, now, the name Brian leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.
Hanna D 3 years ago
So many comments and nobody wonders what does "f**k" taste like. I would really like to know :-D
Lily bloom 3 years ago
How exactly is this a coincidence? Are we missing an important part of the story where he meets someone else with this rare affliction?
#9
In college (1965-ish), my dad worked at a liquor store. He was supposed to work that Friday night, but his girlfriend (now-wife/my mom) insisted he take her to some event, so he switched shifts with a coworker. That night the store was robbed, and the guy who took my dad’s shift was shot five times and died. My dad has major survivor's guilt to this day and will rarely talk about it, but it’s so wild because if he had gone to work, I wouldn't be alive
June’s Very Own 3 years ago
It’s sad that your dad has survivors guilt when he has no clue that something was gonna happen, nevertheless I’m glad he is ok.
Agent 8433599 3 years ago
It's not your dad's fault! He shouldn't feel guilty, though I get it
Hazy Egg 3 years ago
My brother had a similar thing happen to him, except the guy he traded shifts with wanted a day off over the weekend and so took my brothers scheduled day on a Tuesday. A woman was carjacked and the coworker was in the parking at that time. He went to help and was murdered in the attempt. My brother ended up doing it of college bc of survivors guilt. It's horrible to see someone who has to deal with this day after day.
miss no-way 3 years ago
That's terrible, poor guy... I understand your father's feelings, I think it would be the same for me
Glen Ellyn 3 years ago
I imagine I'd have some weird feelings if something like this happened to my dad.
Sean Cheatle 3 years ago
I remember hanging out with buddy watching movie I was going to spend night but he was kind of being a hole so left next morning someone barged in a shot his roommate
Amanda Hunter 3 years ago
A similar thing happened to a friend's husband, he was supposed to go to NY on 9/11. He delegated it to someone else who died in one of the towers.
“I’m all about Stealth Wealth. If you win the lottery, do your best to keep it a secret. Furthermore, if you win the lottery at work or in your investments, never brag about how much you make either. Instead, try to blend in as much as possible. You can always then be more generous with your money if you wish, without expectations,” Sam stressed that subtlety and humility are the best ways forward.
“The first thing to do is sit on your winnings for at least three months and live your life as usual. During this time, read as much financial literature online from sources who have no interest in your money. For example, you can come to Financial Samurai to learn about a proper net worth asset allocation to help ensure your wealth lasts longer,” he said that you shouldn’t be making any major moves
“Once you get educated and have formulated a good idea of what you want to do, you can then seek professional advice from a fee-based financial advisor. Or, you can implement your capital allocation yourself. Take your time! There is no rush. You just won the lottery!”
#10
I worked in a contact center in Wisconsin, which had about 40 of us working at any given time. I was helping a woman place an order, and when I took down her address, I realized she lived in the same exact house I did when I was 10...in Texas...1,320 miles away
Sue Hazlewood 3 years ago
I once added a person to the payroll and realised she now owned the house I grew up in.
yellowphantom 3 years ago
I had a car salesman in North Carolina who grew up down the block from my grandmother in upstate New York He remembered her because she was the one in every neighborhood who yelled at any kid who stepped on her lawn.
#11
I was cutting vegetables in my kitchen, and a fly was buzzing around my head, so I swung around with the knife in my hand and somehow managed to slice the fly clean in half.
Memere 3 years ago
Same here! I cut myself a few times when I was younger & I'm extremely careful with knives. I also make sure our knives are always sharpened really well - a cut from a dull knife hurts worse than from a sharp knife!
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#12
The first time I ever went gambling in Niagara Falls, I was trying all the penny slots and just losing everything. I was down to my last quarter and used it to play a machine with these rubber duckies on top and won the $400 jackpot! The ducks were all quacking and the lights were binging and making a ruckus - it was quite overstimulating. Then the next day before we left I put a quarter in the same machine and won another $400 jackpot! I haven't gambled since, because I feel like I've used up all the "gambling luck" I've been allotted in this life.
June’s Very Own 3 years ago
If I were you, I would by a small duck toy and keep it with me as token of good luck :)
Carol Emory 3 years ago
I was at a casino one New Years Eve. We were playing 3 card poker. All of us were doing ok. One guy came over with his last $75 in the form of 3 $25 chips. Plays the hand blind (Play, Ante and Pair Plus...) Get's a straight flush beating the dealer. Won 1200. He gave everyone at the table $10 in chips and bought us all a drink.
I'm Kid A 3 years ago
When life gives you more luck than you deserve, it's just common courtesy to pass a little of it along to others...
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Valerie G. 3 years ago
Growing up my mom won practically every contest she ever entered. It became a fact in town, and one woman saw mom putting in her raffle tickets and turned around and said "why bother, Muriel is going to win, she always does. One night she went to bingo and won a boat, motor and trailer. She sat on the front porch of the bingo hall with her head in her hands not knowing how to get it home. A friend of ours drove past, not only did he have a trailer hitch on his station wagon, he was the photographer for the local paper. So imagine all of us kids being hauled out of bed and plunked in this boat in the backyard in our pjs.
Al Padilla 3 years ago
Ah yes, luck. Here's a related story: A man had fallen on hard times, with a string of misfortunes occurring in an improbably short time. He lost his job, his house burned down, his wife left him; even his dog died. To cap it all, he just dropped his freshly buttered toast on the carpet. Gloomily reaching down, he's astonished to see the toast has fallen buttered side up. Could this be a sign? Has his luck begun to turn? He carefully picks up the toast, puts it in a zip-lock bag, and hurries off to consult his rabbi. "Rabbi," asks the man, showing him the toast, "You know of all my misfortunes, and now this! My toast fell buttered-side-up. What does this mean? Are there better times ahead?" The rabbi peers at the toast, then examines it with a magnifying glass. Reaching for his Scriptures, he suggests the man come back in an hour. " Well, rabbi," asks the man on his return, "has my luck changed?" "No," replies the rabbi, shaking his head sorrowfully. "You buttered the
Susan Mercurio 3 years ago (edited)
I went to a boarding school when I was 16 (not posh, more like Charles Dickens) in Vermont. Another girl there came from Florida, like I did, and some social workers drove up to Vermont to drive us back for the summer. We stopped in Baltimore for lunch at a very nice restaurant and, since slot machines are legal in Maryland, the other girl was curious about the slot machine in the lobby. I was born in Maryland and went back for vacations with my grandparents, so I was familiar with slot machines and enjoyed playing them. As we were leaving, the girl wondered what playing it would be like but she didn't have a quarter. One of the social workers offered to give her a quarter and I encouraged her to try, because I thought playing them was so much fun. She put the quarter in, pulled the handle, and the machine started tossing quarters out like it was going crazy. The little cup filled up with quarters and then they started spilling on the floor. The girl put her hands under the stream, her hands filled up, and the quarters started falling on the floor again. I think she got about $600 from it and I was so happy for her since I had talked her into doing it.
On the flip side, life might deal you some very bad cards from the moment you’re born. You might fall victim to unfortunate accidents and traumatic events.
"As human beings, we have a desire for certainty and routine that keeps us feeling safe and able to plan what lies ahead in an organized manner. When unpredictable situations or accidents impact us, it can be traumatic, and we will likely feel a sense of disappointment, frustration, and loss," psychologist Lee Chambers explained to Bored Panda earlier.
"It is important however that we embrace the fact that the world can be unpredictable and uncertain, and become more tolerant of this being a reality. Understanding that things are sometimes out of our control helps us to accept that not everything goes to plan, and accept when things happen to us that are negative,” he said.
#13
My mom has been struck by lightning. Twice. She was INSIDE her house both times and in two different houses!
Nicole Normand 3 years ago
My aunt lost two husband to lightning, in the same park, ~10 years apart.
Scarlett Barbee 3 years ago
Mmmh...coincidence...first husband, yes...second one...mmmhhh
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Memere 3 years ago (edited)
It can happen though. My grandparent's house was hit once on the telephone line really close to where it came into the house - this was way back in the day before underground lines. The electricity traveled into the house phone & came out as a big blue ball of light, rolled across the room & hit the nearest electrical outlet. The phone was melted & the outlet was scorched. Grandpa had to drive a mile down the road to the neighbor to call the phone company! He got lighting rods installed all over the roof too, lol
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Mary Rogers 3 years ago (edited)
Through the telephone line, back before they were underground. Authorities used to warn people not to talk on the phone during a lightning storm.
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CrunChewy McSandybutt 3 years ago
I've heard stories like this before, and I wonder if there is something about these people that attracts lightning. Like, an active static electric charge or something?
#14
I'm allergic to the cold. Like, literally. I get intense hives and swelling, I pass out, and I throw up. It doesn’t even have to be freezing. If it's below 45 degrees Fahrenheit and I'm without a jacket, I can’t do it. I have to carry an EpiPen with me in the event that I drink something too cold or have a severe reaction
DeadLetterOffice 3 years ago
I developed this after having a bad case of mono when I was a teen. I was chewing ice from my drink and my tongue swelled up and almost killed me. Still have reactions to the cold to this day—but usually it’s only when I’m also sick with a cold or flu.
Travis Fox 3 years ago
This is a genetic disorder. My father and I both carry epi pens because of it. It's a form of urticaria, and can be quite dangerous. I was diagnosed after stepping out of the shower into a cool bathroom and within 15 minutes I was in an ambulance in anaphylactic shock. Was told if I had waited any later to come I wouldn't be here today.
Mary Rogers 3 years ago
The human body does strange things sometimes. I read about someone who was allergic to water. She could drink it , but couldn't bathe or be out in the rain. Bizarre.
Miz Chelle 3 years ago
My husband's cousin has this condition and has to take meds prior to showering.
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Davo gifman 3 years ago (edited)
That's sad I think. I enjoy the fall weather when the morning are cool an crisp,but the sun has a slight warmth.
ellie angel urban 3 years ago
I have this too, but luckily only get hives/swelling in certain areas of body. My idiotic jerk of a boyfriend tried to tell me for a long time that "you can't be allergic to the cold" and I'd explained to him that indeed you can, as I'd been to the dermatologist as a little kid and they'd explained it's an actual condition. I finally looked it up one day to shut him up. Still irked about it. It's gaslighting. Trying to tell someone that has the condition and whom doctors have told they have it, that it somehow "doesn't exist." People are irritating. I hope people don't do that to you too.
#15
In 2016, my family and I went on a small excursion of fewer than 15 people to a village in Portugal called Nazaré. We ended up meeting and having lunch with a man who was on the excursion by himself. We parted ways when the bus dropped us off, and that was that. A year later, our family was traveling out of state in our country (Brazil). We were checking in at our hotel when I saw someone in line who looked awfully familiar. Well, it was the man from the excursion! We randomly met again, unplanned, on a whole different continent, a year later!
Stephen Hutchison 3 years ago
Nazare is the place where the world's largest recorded wave was surfed. It's a surfer's mecca, it's very li9kely that if there's anything surf-related, they'll both end up there.
M.T. Noah 3 years ago
there are far fewer people who travel the world than Instagram makes one think. you meet the same people all over on repeat if you're in the small group the can and does travel like that. Not necessarily often - back country explorers are not going to run into the museum crawl crowd as much, but if you've got the same travel interests or priorities, you don't have to be a stalker to keep running into the same people. The world is only 26K miles around anyway.
Lady Vader 3 years ago
Went to the worst destination wedding of my LIFE in Nazaré. Silver lining was I had booked a few days in Lisbon and the weather was unbearably hot so I took the train out to Sintra a couple of times. One of the prettiest places I've ever been. It looks like Middle Earth. Highly recommend.
Josh Stevenson 3 years ago
Since when are Portugal and Brazil on different continents?? I was under the impression they were basically next to each other. 🤔
Happyu 3 years ago (edited)
Oh,Portugal is in Europe,and Brazil is in South America ,two different continents.
Load More Replies...“This acceptance allows us to embrace the change and difference, and manage our expectations so we can become more resilient to the ups and downs that all our lives lead,” the mental health expert told us.
"Post-traumatic growth isn't always simple to explain or utilize, but often the adversity we face can create a precedent for what we can overcome, help us to see what we need to be grateful for, and give us an understanding of the support we do have,” he noted that not everyone grows resilient when they’re confronted with bad luck.
“A big part of opening the door to grow from our struggles is finding acceptance and taking ownership over what you can control and finding healthy ways to express the negative emotion that comes with challenges that test us.”
#16
My cancer was one in 5 million according to my doctor, I'm somewhat of a celebrity among ocular melanoma specialists because of my weird cancer and weirder complications. I'd much rather be boring, however.
Wandaluzt 3 years ago
Posted on Reddit 5 years ago. Bit late, wrong website.
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Dynein 3 years ago
Ocular melanoma = eye cancer. Rare because cancer arises from cell divisions/tissue renewal, and the cells in the eye stay largely the same once the eye finished developing.
Body will self-destruct in 5.. 3 years ago (edited)
My father had ocular melanoma. He told me that they found a spot, treated it and now he would be fine. I didn't realize how rare it is.
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Leslie Crittenden 3 years ago
I'm sorry you're going through that. I wish you health and happiness and a long life.
Wandaluzt 3 years ago
Posted on Reddit 5 years ago. Bit late, wrong website.
Load More Replies... Carol Emory 3 years ago
I actually tutored a woman in college that had Ocular Melanoma. Hers ran unchecked until she lost her right eye. She had a glass one that never would stay in place. She sometimes turn to me, left eye looking straight at me...right eye taking a gander at the ceiling....LOL.
Eff the haters 3 years ago
Ngl that would be slightly unsettling but also hilarious 😂
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Insert Generic Username 3 years ago (edited)
I know the feeling. I have an extremely rare disorder called Adult Onset Still's Disease. When I was diagnosed in 2011, less than 150 people worldwide had been diagnosed. My rheumatologist told me, when diagnosing me, that 99% of rheumatologists will never in their career see or diagnose a patient with AOSD. He's very successfully treated mine and kept my joint damage to a minimum. I also have Rheumatoid Arthritis. AOSD is an extremely rare type of inflammatory arthritis that typically presents with fevers, muscle pain, and skin rashes in addition to joint pain, swelling, and deterioration. Whenever I have an appointment with him and he's got student doctors shadowing him, he always asks if they can sit in on our appointment as they'll likely never see a case of AOSD in their career. One the biggest downsides is the fact that my immune system is non existent and I spend a lot of time hospitalized for infections that a healthy person could fight off with little effort.
Masen Silas 3 years ago
I have 2 different disabilities, the odds are less than 200 k people have one...
Al Padilla 3 years ago
There's a common medical adage among physicians: "Never be an interesting patient."
Herman goetter 3 years ago
I experienced an Aneurysm in my head in 1954 , I was taken to a Hospital where the staff needed several days of testing , and other procedures before attempting to correct my problem which they had never successfully achieved before . The evening before my AM operation several surgeons gathered at my bed to lay before me the options , which were either I would not survive the operation or half my body would be paralyzed . Needless to say everting went well and I lived a normal life , I will be 85 in August .
#17
My husband was grilling outside and cut into the meat to check if it was done. The knife slipped out of his hand and hit the cement right on its rubber handle. The darn thing somehow bounced all the way back up, and the blade hit my husband in the eyeglasses. He became white as a ghost and showed me his glasses (which he never wears but needed to because he'd JUST run out of contact lenses), and they had a big, deep scratch on them. Had he been wearing his contacts like normal, he would have lost his eye! Scary stuff!
Shull GaRett 3 years ago
Wait a minute... a blade fell down from the more less waist ora at least chest level (assuming thats where he was cutting the meat) and bounced to his face with enough force to scratch the glasses? Im not a physicist but as far as i recall the laws of "conservation of energy" would not allow this, unless the knife was thrown on the ground with significant force. [play some CSI music here if you want to]
Bobby 3 years ago
I was thinking the same thing. A ball that is just dropped bounces back up about 70% of the initial height. If you want it to bounce twice as high as the initial height you would need it to be going a little over twice the speed it would have from falling from gravity alone(about 9mph if dropped from 3ft) so this knife would have to have hit at about 20mph to bounce that high assuming the rubber handle has similar elastic properties to a basketball, which I doubt, so it would need to be even faster
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Josh Stevenson 3 years ago
I call bs, an object loses energy when it bounces. If he just dropped it, it couldn't bounce even remotely high enough. That's not even mentioning the fact it would've had to fall basically at the perfect angle on top of essentially tripling the energy put into it.
#18
I turn 18 in a couple of days so I signed up to vote (UK election coming up) last week and this morning I got a letter saying I have been randomly selected for jury duty. F*ck my life.
rumade 3 years ago
I had jury duty aged 20 at a time in my life when I was doing temp work between long term jobs. So I didn't get any wage for the day, just travel reimbursement and food cost :(
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Chucky Cheezburger 3 years ago (edited)
Some folks don't get paid for those days they serve or have to use PTO. Hell, some folks lose money serving because they have to pay out of pocket for transport and parking.
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DE Ray 3 years ago
I've only been called for jury duty twice: Once for a local criminal case, where I was quickly dismissed because I was the reporter who had written the front page story about the crime. The second time it was in federal court four hours drive from my house. I drove up the night before and stayed in a hotel so I could arrive at the courthouse in good time. When I got there, one of the few people there said the defendant took a last minute plea so there would be no trial - and I wouldn't get reimbursed for the hotel because they had called my house last night to let me know not to come.
Nicole Trombly 3 years ago
Why does everyone but me get selected??? I have always wanted to be on a jury!
SoozeeQ 3 years ago (edited)
I don't think they meant at the same time. I took it to mean that they were selected for jury duty, because they'd signed up to vote and were on the electoral roll. (But if they hadn't signed up, they would have been called for jury duty, as jury selections are selected from the electoral roll).
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Diana K 3 years ago
it might be different in the UK, but I thought you couldn't be called for jury duty unless you were already 18?
Wandaluzt 3 years ago
It was posted on Reddit 5 years ago. So they're now 23. Learn how this site works.
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Pixie 3 years ago
I thought trials with a jury are a thing in the legal system of the USA. Do the UK also have juries?
Psychologist Lee explained that people are incredibly resilient and can learn to overcome all odds. For instance, he himself had to learn to walk again.
"Using journaling and talking about how I felt played a significant part in my recovery when I had to learn to walk again, and gave me the space to grow to become mentally stronger as a result,” he shared what helped him back then.
“It is also important to reflect on all the hurdles you've overcome, so you can see what skills and lessons you've learned to apply in the future, and adversity often helps us to see what really matters, and gets us closer to knowing our values and purpose."
#19
I stuck my hand out the window for half a second to see if it was still raining, and a bird shat right on it. What the hell are the chances? Never doing that again.
Hedgeh og 3 years ago
Well, someone earlier was asking what poo tastes like...
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Timmy Pillinger 3 years ago (edited)
Little Birdy\n In the sky Drops his present From on high Angry farmer Wipes his eye Thanking God That cows Don't fly
wowbagger 3 years ago
The bird's telling a similar story on another Bored Panda thread. "Dude, I was just flying along, minding my own business, and I had to take a sh*t..."
Bob Standen 3 years ago
You are so lucky, it could have been a flying elephant!! download-6...2da504.jpg 
Dave van Es 3 years ago
Don't be mad when a bird poops on your head (hand), be glad cows don't fly
Chris Yuen 3 years ago
Well apparently birds aim on things...https://hakaimagazine.com/news/gulls-aim-for-humans-when-they-poop/
Al Padilla 3 years ago
Sometimes that's good news. In the late 1970's I was taking my medical boards in Endocrinology in NYC. During a 1 hour lunch break, just outside the main NY Public library, a pigeon flew over and dumped on my right shoulder. Right shoulder, you pass, left shoulder you fail. 100% reliable, based on a sample of one.
#20
Meeting my wife. We've been married for almost 15 years and I feel like I've won the lottery every time I wake up next to her.
Dynein 3 years ago
Not really... the people you meet aren't a totally random sample of the population - e.g. the people you meet tend to be those living in the same area. The chance of German educated middle-class me meeting my German educated middle-class boyfriend was much higher than that of me, say, ending up with a Chinese rice farmer or an Aborigine.
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The lesbian knitting panda 3 years ago
aww most of these are really weird but that's really sweet ☺️
#21
I was talking with a girl on Tinder when I was out of town for a baseball trip. When I asked for her number, she responded with my number, except a different area code. I thought maybe she Facebook stalked me and got my phone number from there and was just messing with me, but nope. She had the same phone number as me, just different area code.
TonyTee 3 years ago (edited)
I had this happen to me too, in Brooklyn. No lie. I feel bad though, because I thought she was either stalking me, playing some kind of a game with me, or that I was talking to a damn robot the whole time altogether, so I ended up blocking her account just as we started getting close like an idiot 🤦🏻♂️😂 This was on a now-defunct app called Moonit btw
bexxms 3 years ago (edited)
One time my phone (landline) rang, I answered with my fairly unique last name and the caller asked "Wait, is this (my first name, last name) ?" "Yes" "What are you doing at my girlfriend's house?" Turned out, it was an old friend from high school, we hadn't seen each other in well over 15 years and his girlfriend and I shared the same phone number, except for two swapped digits in the area code.
Randy Klefbeck 3 years ago
I moved across a neighborhood to a flat with the street number 262. The place I moved from 5 blocks away was 622. I had to change my phone number as well (cell phones were pretty new and expensive for the time, and the service sucked) I got the same number except the last four digits were reversed , i.e. 1424 to 2414.....I had that choice between that and a completely different number altogether except for the prefix.
#22
When my nana was just a teen, she escaped a Satanic cult and rescued four teen girls who'd been kidnapped and were being hidden in the attic.
🧶𝔹𝕚𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕂𝕟𝕚𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣🪡 3 years ago
This sounds very...suspect. I tried to find ANY evidence of something like this happening and could find absolutely nothing. This reads suspiciously like one of the "Satanic Panic" cases: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_panic
Karen Grace 3 years ago
This sounds very questionable. Like something out of a young adult novel.
Gozer LeGozerian 3 years ago
Obviously this cult had nothing to do with Satanism. A true satanist group would never hold someone against their will.
#23
I once caught a housefly with a pair of chopsticks like Daniel-San.
My friend was there & was the only one that saw it. I've told the story many times to lots of people over the last couple of decades since it happened, but I usually get the same, dismissive "Oh, really? Wow, cool."
But screw em. I did it. And it was bad-a*s.
Sarah Matt 3 years ago
I HAVE DONE THIS TOO! in my dorm room in college, only 2 chairs and 2 twin beds in the place. 6 of us chatting and eating Chinese takeout. This fly is buzzing around for awhile, everyone is aware of it but in their own convos. I snapped my chopsticks when it buzzed me like "get out of here" caught it by 1 wing . I was super new at chopsticks then too. Whole room went silent. Bizarre. Like time stopped for a second.
Tài Trần 3 years ago
Maybe time did stop for a second. Instead of super-chopstick instinct, you may have time-power.
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Anna Banana 3 years ago
It's not that I don't believe it, I do - but what other reaction are they expecting? It kinda sounds like this person is known as "that guy with the fly and chopsticks story, don't approach him or he will tell it again and expect applause."
Stephanie Did It 3 years ago
Stephen King wrote a story with a character who could lasso flies in the air with a piece of thread. I've always wondered if anyone has ever really done that.
Samia Guled 3 years ago
wowie epicccccc if I tried I would fail, but that my friend, is A MAZE ING
Abigael Warners 3 years ago
My mom did this when she was out of the us, so no one but her can back her up
#24
Cheated on my diet with a buscuit and ended up winning a chick-fil-a tailgate sweep stakes. $2,500 tv, 4 tickets for a football game, $250 in gift cards, and a $1,000 grill.
Carol Emory 3 years ago
Is that like the man who was demonstrating to a news crew how he bought a scratch ticket and won a few hundred thousand dollars only to scratch off the ticket in front of the cameras and win a few hundred thousand dollars again.
#25
I was kidnapped while leaving work one day and was held captive for 18 months, along with two other girls. The guy who took us claimed himself to be an 'ineffable lower god,' and he used cult tactics, manipulation, and control to have us be his family. I was allowed to leave to go to the grocery store as an errand, but I knew if I didn’t come back, the others would receive my punishment. I finally got away by stabbing my captor when I believed he was going to kill me
Nicole Trombly 3 years ago
Terrible situation and I’m glad she survived but does this belong in this thread? I’m not at all trying to be rude, I’m just confused
Michael Sanders 3 years ago
I was going to say the exact same thing. Not a coincidence.
Load More Replies... Mud spider 3 years ago
Reminds me of that guy who got held captive and wrote a book about it (I forget his name but it was a very cool book) if anything good comes out of the situation, I bet it’ll make you a bunch of money to make a book or something. That actually does sound horrible though something was f****d up with that guys brain to kidnap and threaten people
Niall Mac Iomera 3 years ago
Shocking story; but how is this a "one in a million coincidence"?
#26
I survived a 'nonsurvivable' plane crash. I was on an old Po-2 (famous for being very safe and uncrashable) on a tour of the desert in western China when I was 7. My father’s friend who piloted the plane didn’t survive, but somehow I got out with only a concussion. I apparently passed out for almost a day in the wreckage on the edge of the desert, 50 kilometers from the town/airport. The people who found me were some tree planters. (They plant greens in the desert to protect towns from sandstorms — a lot of people who live in these desert towns in China do this.) They found me while they were picking up a shipment, and the only reason they looked was that they were making a bet to see how quickly an egg could cook in the sand, and they went off the road to test it.
"According to my dads, I survived because the plane was mostly made out of fabrics and wood, so when the plane crashed, the front half collapsed and took the majority of the impact. I was knocked out and was luckily covered under the wreckage and in the shade, so that cooled me off enough to survive for a day or so
Anna Banana 3 years ago
I don't know (this list notwithstanding) I would assume that I've had more than my fair amount of plane crashes, so statistically flying for me would be even safer than before.
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Nicole Trombly 3 years ago
Ok I will never get on or in anything that is considered “indestructible”!!! Titanic is unsinkable….sank. Plane is uncrashable….crashed.
𝖊𝖆 3 years ago
I feel like calling something ‘unsinkable’ or ‘uncrashable’ will set things up for failure. You are tempting fate by saying something like that! Like at work if anyone says “wow it’s quiet today” everyone groans and then not long after, shi*t will hit the fan and all hell breaks lose.
#27
I was in the car listening to a Backstreet Boys cd and I stopped the cd to switch to the radio. The radio was playing the song at the exact spot I stopped the cd
CapitalDee 3 years ago
Have you ever thought of a song in your head, and then you turn the radio on, and it's that song?!
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oddly_informed_raven 3 years ago
I was listening to a song in the car. We stopped, went in a restaurant to pick up food, and the same song was playing
Carol Emory 3 years ago
Our apartment complex in college was changing out a back up generator at 4am (PST). They had to disconnect power for a few to get it hooked up, so I woke up when everything went quiet. After they were done around 5:40ish...I turned the TV on and it was on the news channel. The day this occurred...September 11, 2001 and the first plane had just struck the twin towers.
Katrin Krueger 3 years ago
OMG this is weird but really true, I experienced the same things with a Backstreet Boys tape (back when we had tapes in the car)!?!?
UpQuarkDownQuark 3 years ago
I did something like that once. Decades ago I walked into my house quietly singing Stairway to Heaven to myself. I sang, “There’s a lady who’s sure…” and clicked on the radio, which continued with “…all that glitters is gold…” The radio picked up exactly where I left off!
Machiel van Dijk 3 years ago
That must have been weird like you must have been thinking "I'm sure I switched it off!"
#28
Worked at the World Trade Center and missed both the '93 bombing and the 9/11 attacks because I happened to be out of the building.
TonyTee 3 years ago
I can't remember anything from that day other than most of the tv channels acting up, including Nickelodeon, which is what I was watching; mom tried to distract me from everything that was going on. From stories, I know that everyone was panicking over our next door neighbor Michelle. She worked at the WTC. She literally lived right next door to us, with her mom sister brother and baby niece. It was a family complex; Michelle woke up feeling sick that morning but she was determined to go to work anyway. She got halfway there, and ended up going to a payphone to call one of her best friends who lived 20 minutes away, wanting to know if he can come pick her up and bring her back to his place so she can rest. He took her to the doctor's instead. She never made it to the WTC that day. But, unfortunately, she called her other best friend who had the day off, asking her if she can fill in.... So, she went. And she never made it back... Michelle lived with that guilt for a long time.
𝖊𝖆 3 years ago
I can’t imagine that survivors guilt. I hope your neighbour has found peace now and is happy and well in life
Load More Replies... Michael Sanders 3 years ago (edited)
I was living in NY at that time. A guy I knew from college visited the weekend before and was going to be stationed on Staten Island in the coast guard. It was his first time. He was so awestruck by how tall the towers were. He was from El Paso. He wanted to take a pic but left the camera at his hotel. I told him we should go back and get it and he said “I’m going to live here, I’ll have plenty of time to take pics.” He also met a girl and wanted to take her out to dinner that night and I recommended Windows of the World. He ate there the Saturday before the Tuesday of 9/11. That was the one and only day he ever saw the towers in real life.
Cara G 3 years ago
My niece's other aunt (her father's sister) was in college in downtown on 9/11, campus is a stone's throw from the WTC. She was sick that day and didn't go to class. Last month when that shooting happened on the subway in Brooklyn, she was supposed to be on that train as well. It's the same train she takes every day to get to work but again, she wasn't feeling well that day and stayed home.
I Just Changed My Name 3 years ago
Don't waste your talent or your purpose. You were spared for a reason.
ohjojo (you/your's) 3 years ago
My uncle was at the restaurant at the top for the 93 bombing and walk all the way down safely. He worked in the building next door overlooking the site but hadn't made it into work yet that day, same with my cousin. Very lucky
LynzCatastrophe 3 years ago
I used to wake up much earlier than I should on school days just because I wanted to watch cartoons before class (I was 14), but I remember nearly every channel was showing this. By the time I figured out what was happening, I couldn't move, I couldn't believe what I was watching. My dad was sleeping in on his rare day off, my mom normally woke up when I dragged myself to the kitchen for breakfast and made a racket. To this day they're both annoyed at me for not waking them up to make them watch the news till I realized I had less than 10 minutes till school started. I lived less than a block away from it. It was being broadcasted over the radio at school.
#29
Not quite one in a million but I came up as a match for bone marrow donation back in 2008.
I Just Changed My Name 3 years ago
I just had a transplant because of someone like you. Thanks for trying to ease the pain of another.
Rahul Pawa 3 years ago
I've registered, hoping I get to help someone some day. Registering is easy. Go to BeTheMatch.org
kcanded 3 years ago
I just checked, thank you for sharing that website. Alas, I am too old to donate! Hopefully someone else got inspired...
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Annnnd We’re Officially In Reverse 3 years ago
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm also alive because of someone like you. You're 1 in million to me.
Got Myself 4 Pandas 3 years ago
I'm on the bone marrow register. I usually donate blood but not been able to lately as keep getting tattoos - got another in 8 days, then in July - so will be Xmas time before I can donate again
#30
I didn't meet my husband until we worked together just a few cubicles apart as adults. It turned out we actually grew up one street away from each other, only we hadn't met because he went to the public elementary school and I went to a private one. I'd trick-or-treated at his house and even rode my bike by it a million times as a kid, but we never knew each other
Snowfoxrox 3 years ago
I left my husband for a myraid of reasons, even a catholic priest urged me to get out. I moved back to my parents to regroup. I was dead set against another relationship and was very happy with my new found freedom. A few months later, I was sleeping and began to have what I thought was a lucid dream. In the dream I felt/was told that someone needed help and I needed to find them/help them. I pondered how to find someone at that hour and Facebook popped into my head...I logged in and remember thinking, who was in need of help? and "J" names kept popping up in my head and settled on Jonathans in my city...There were a LOT of them...As I was scrolling through all of the profiles, I began to doze off when a pair of eyes caught my attention. I felt a slap upside the back of my head that this guy needed help. I shrugged and sent off a friend request. I woke up hours later and thought, " Wow, that was a weird drea...." 11 years together this year..still madly in love.
LynzCatastrophe 3 years ago
I wouldn't have met my husband if he hadn't been hit by a drunk driver. My family used to go on vacation to the same spot, every year, same dates, so did most other families so we knew everyone. His family was one of the newbies at the campground, and I saw this poor teenager with a large cast on his leg while it's 30°C, entertaining his younger siblings, I decided he was cute and because he was my age, I was going to make him my friend. My stalker behavior probably would be unacceptable now. He was actually supposed to stay home and work a summer job while his family went on holidays, but his cast made it impossible for him to get around on his own, or work. So they took him with them. Like I said, I wouldn't have met him if he hadn't been hit by a drunk driver.
Doris Won 3 years ago
Me and my husband has a kinda same story. We both went to the same middle school with the same counselor. But he was kicked out ( for being a bad boy) when I went in. Also he was set to inherit one of the addresses 431 a............ street and I was set to inherit 431 a ...... street on the other side of the city. And we are born in the same hospital where my dad had worked for 46 years. We are married for 17 years at least.
Eli Fisher 3 years ago
My mom's best friend lived next door to my dad as a kid. My dad is 9 years older. He also worked at the movie theatre that my mom went to often. They likely crossed paths many times, but didn't meet until their 20s.
Nightshade1972 3 years ago
My wife and I went to the same college, and even had largely the same group of friends. She remembers me from back then, but I don't remember her at all. From my perspective, we "met" when an online dating site set us up in late '03--about eight years after I'd graduated college.
#31
I hit the recessive gene lottery. both of my parents have dark brown eyes and dark brown hair. i came out with light blue eyes and blonde/reddish hair and some freckles. i also got some other genetic features that require two recessive genes to pair up. on top of that i inheirited a nuerological disorder that results in slight deformities to the toes. also yes, i know my parents are genetically my parents. none of these are rare on their own, but to see them all in one person is pretty uncommon.
Ozacoter 3 years ago
I always wondered about that. My partner and I have noth dark hair and dark eyes. But my dad has green eyes and my grandad was blond as a kid. His mum (and her family) are blodn with blue eyes. So we could easily have a child that was blond with light eyes and it would look like it wasnt ours.
not your average weirdo 3 years ago
Same, and I look literally nothing like my family (and I'm not adopted)
Ria C. 3 years ago (edited)
My nephew has red hair and now green eyes. My sister and i are half Hispanic and white so brown and brown and my b-i-l is part native, African and white also brown and brown with very curly course African hair...so does my nephew. My sister is currently pregnant and we are all waiting to see what this little is gonna look like.
Tracey Brogan 3 years ago
My parents were tall, thin (when they were younger), straight dark hair and hazel eyed. I'm short, fat, blue eyed with blonde curly hair. I look just like my dad otherwise though.
I Just Changed My Name 3 years ago
Fun fact: No one is ever born with freckles. They are the direct effects of sun damage.
#32
I went to a Chinese restaurant and got a fortune cookie, but it didn't have a fortune in it, I thought that was kind of a ripoff so I asked the waitress for another cookie. She gave me a new one and it had two fortunes in it.
Katherine Boag 3 years ago
Those cookies were right next to each other on the cookie-fortuning machine
#33
I always like the fact that when you shuffle a deck of cards, you create a sequence that has never existed before and almost certainly never will again. A shuffled deck is, to all intents and purposes, mathematically unique. So, something incredibly statistically tiny has happened to anyone who has ever shuffled a deck of cards.
Draaideur 3 years ago
To give some context to the debate in the comments. The possible amount combinations with a deck of cards is 52! or 52 factorial which means 52*51*50 etc.. This equals to a 68 digit number: 80.658.175.170.943.878.571.660.636.856.403.766.975.289.505.440.883.277.824.000.000.000.000 (whatever looks big). For some context of the size of this number, if you have 10 billion people shuffle cards every second for a million years on a million different planets at the same time, the chance that your deck was shuffled before is still 0. -37 zeros here- 4%
Dave Sturtz 3 years ago
This of course assumes that the deck is truly randomized, which a few shuffles does not do.
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Šimon Špaček 3 years ago
And now imagine that my set of Hobbits is 216 cards. I guess we can safely play for years without worrying about getting the same deck even once.
Elizabeth Butler 3 years ago
I guess that explains the seemingly infinite number of Free Cell layouts that exist, and why Microsoft says that choosing a random game does not guarantee it is winnable. The rated ones have been won by other people, and the layout saved in the database.
Bob Brooce 3 years ago
Tell us you have absolutely no idea about the actual probability without telling us you have absolutely no idea about the actual probability. The only thing that would result in even a minuscule chance of creating a repeat sequence is bad shuffling that results in a very poor randomization of a new deck. If every person that ever existed had shuffled a trillion decks of cards every second since the universe began it still wouldn't make even a microscopic dent in the number of possible sequences.
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#34
I was in a car accident as a 2 year old. The doctors told my parents I was never going to be able to read or write. Here I am.
Lisa Edwardsen 3 years ago
Hey, at age 4 I was also told I'd never read or write. I distinctly remember my mother asking the doctor if she could leave me there. Seriously. He said no. I went home and for the next year I started keeping track of every book I read along with the number of pages in each, just to prove the doctor wrong.
Jill Chambers 3 years ago
What happened with your family? I'm horrified that someone wouldn't wouldn't want you if you couldn't read and write, after knowing you for 4 years too.
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Bob Belcher 3 years ago
Talking into a headset that types for you. Sorry, i have dark humor sometimes lol
Charl Marx 3 years ago
When my Mom was 2 (1964) she had meningitis and my grandparents were told by consultants that it was the worse case they had ever seen. They gave her a less than 5% chance of survival and said if she did survive they wouldn't be able to save any of her limbs. Somehow my mom not only survived, but also only ended up losing half a finger and half a toe! She did end up with severe scarring, particularly on her forearms and a few on her legs, but she was able to have a couple of skin grafts on her face, and if you don't see her arms, you would never know any difference!
Doris Won 3 years ago
I had broken my fingers when I was in middle school playing basketball and the doctor said I would never be able to hold chopsticks or have a close fist in my right hand. Now a days I can hold chopsticks tightly and punch with a close fist till someone screams. I don't fully trust what a doctor says always get a second opinion.
Nightshade1972 3 years ago
I was born in the early 1970s with a fairly serious neurological defect. My parents were told I might never walk, talk, or go to school, and probably wouldn't survive to my teens. I have a college degree now, and I turned 50 in January.
#35
A girl I was dating was going through high school photos when I turned up in two of them, from two separate locations. Which was strange, because at the time that those photos were taken, we lived on opposite sides of the country.
We apparently met twice in our freshman years of high school, before my family moved across the country and before her family moved to the same city across the state. She was on a choir trip for Disney when they stopped at a cafe that my friends and I hung out at. We ended up hanging out with the other kids and a few photos were taken. Second photo was from when my mom and I went to visit my soon to be step dad. I went to the mall with my soon to be cousins and we were messing around in Hot Topic when future girlfriend and her friends came in. They were taking pictures and they caught me in one photobombing them. It didn't end "happily ever after", but it's still a weird coincidence I like to have.
LivingTheDream 3 years ago
I had something similar. I had a friend in high school near Sacramento, California ,during my junior and senior year. we were pretty close but went separate ways after we graduated. I found her on FB a while ago and we started reconnecting. In her photos was a picture of her in 2nd grade at an elementary school in Nevada... I was in the front row. Turns out we went to school together as kids and never put the two together. Two states about 10 years apart.
Me 3 years ago
My parents went to a horse auction in Oklahoma where they bought a mare. The prior owner gave them a photo of the mare taken at a horse show. When they got back home in Texas, they noticed two people were in the background in the photo and it was them. The OP's story reminded me.
#36
I went on a trip to Europe by myself during college. While there, I ran into my high school crush. She sat down next to me for a concert in a cathedral - and from there we toured together.
Se Mai 3 years ago
Glen, your poor little ears can’t handle what happened next. So just imagine that they had an ice cream and it was spectacular. The end.
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Cydney Golden 3 years ago
I ran into two different HS friends (already out of grad school then) in two different European countries on my only trip to Europe.
#37
In my astronomy course we were reviewing sig figs as an introductory topic. Our instructor brought out these models to help us grasp just how big 1 million was.
These models were plastic tubs (think UTZ cheese balls, but smaller diameter) filled with 1 million microbeads of assorted colors. I don't remember exactly how many of each color there were, so the math is most likely not going to add up.
Anyways there were something along the lines of 250k red beads, 100k green beads, 50k blue, 10k teal, 5k yellow, etc, and a singular black bead. Ms. Instructor told us that nobody in her classes had ever found the black dot.
I looked over at it scanned it for a few seconds, and found the black bead, stuck to the wall of the just by static electricity. My lab partner was in disbelief, so he shook it up and started looking again.
I found it a second time. So I suppose it was a one in a trillion. Regardless I bought a bunch of lottery tickets that day at the recommendation of my astronomy instructor.
TL;DR Playing with jugs that had 999,999 colored microbeads and a singular black bead. Found black bead twice.
Insert Generic Username 3 years ago
Burnt out pixels is one of my pet peeves. I noticed a month ago my bedroom tv has a few burnt out pixels and it has sufficiently irritated me to the point that I haven't used said tv since.
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Leslie Crittenden 3 years ago
I'm so sorry to say this but the correct word is single. Single means, essentially, unaccompanied. Singular means demonstrating a specific property.
Niall Mac Iomera 3 years ago
If it was static stuck to the tub, chances are it didn't move very far.
#38
One time I was playing "hackey-marker" (basically playing hackey sack with a marker) with some friends of mine in high school while another friend of ours was on the computer. I kicked the marker and it flew into her hand, ready to write. We lost it when that happened.
Keller Worthen 3 years ago
It's like hackey-marker but with a sack instead of a marker
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Julieandthephatones 3 years ago
hacky sack is like keepy uppy soccer with a small stuffed ball...i think?!
Valerie G. 3 years ago
I was going to say why don't you google it, but then read your reply. No need for google today folks, that is about it.
Load More Replies... Machiel van Dijk 3 years ago
Had to look it up found the hackey sack to end all hackey sacks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2bPJnNLJNE&ab_channel=EvanLovely
#39
I actually met two people online who I knew in real life. (They were twins) Instead of telling them who I was and have a good laugh about this coincidence I decided to tell them general information about themselves to freak them out. It worked and before I could tell them who I was they left. I am a bad person.
Mud spider 3 years ago
My friends think I’m a stalker because at sports games and stuff their parents tell me embarrassing stories about them, they don’t know they tell me, a couple weeks later, I ask if they remember, they freak out. It’s the best
Loading Screen Tips🇺🇦 3 years ago
hehe, parents are great for embarrassing stories, all you gotta do is ask.
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#40
I started balding like an old man as a teenager and kept teenage acne skin past 30. Killer combo, one in a million probably.
Carol Emory 3 years ago
No..my husband had the same issue. Grew a full beard and mustache in the 7th grade at the same time he was starting to go bald.
Insert Generic Username 3 years ago
Not as bad as premature balding, but my dad went completely grey by 25. My brother and I both went fully grey by the same age (we're in our 40s). My 18 year old son has quite a bit of grey hair as does my 20 year old niece. I tried unsuccessfully, for years, to cover mine up with coloring and bleaching. Finally in my mid 30s I gave up and embraced my hair...just around the time people started to intentionally dye their hair grey.
What do you think ?
UpQuarkDownQuark 3 years ago
Once in junior high school, my friend and I were walking to his house and he asked when I was going to pay him back the $5 I owed him. At that moment I spotted a $5 bill on the ground, handed it to him, and said, “Right now!”
Leah Copes 3 years ago
There’s normally no new BP posts on saturdays, right? Did something change or am I just losing my mind
Chancey 3 years ago
Never was before but seems like there has been the last couple weekends.
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Kira Okah 3 years ago (edited)
When I picked my Masters, it wasn't going to be my original subject but my original had the syllabus changed entirely so I changed courses. Was in a class that brought up a ruin elsewhere in Wales, lecturer getting excited about an upcoming festival at the ruin a few months later. Mentioned a guest speaker, her mentor. Mentioned his name. "Wait, Professor Blank Jones?" (not his real surname either but it's a common surname in Wales anyway, not giving that info), "Yes, have you met him Kira?", "I'm married to his son..."
Memaw Mitch 3 years ago
I was in an abusive relationship and one day we got into a huge argument, from behind, he struck the side of my head, knocking me into a sitting position on the couch. He sat on me pinning my arms under his legs and put a knife to my neck. He had this look and I thought to my self, this is it, this is how I'm going to die. Right then, there was a knock at my apartment door, it was my Mom. He had called her prior saying I was acting funny and taking about suicide, but not to worry, he'd handle it. She thought the call was odd and drove 20 minutes to my place, somehow was able to get through the front security doors. I truly believe if she had knocked 60 seconds longer, I wouldn't be here to write this.
NL Stuart 3 years ago
In 1979 I had an appointment immediately after work but I felt queasy so I called and cancelled. I went home instead of driving from Hayward, CA to Berkeley, CA. Otherwise I would have been in Oakland on the lower level of the freeway that collapsed in the Loma Prieta earthquake. Lots of other people were also saved because they left work early to see the World Series between Oakland and San Francisco.
Max Cloarec 3 years ago
I was leaving in Japan. I went back to france in my hometown for holiday. Met a guy on tinder who was in my hometown just for 3 weeks. Fall in love and separate for go back to Japan and he went back to Romanian is country. One year later, quit my job in Japan, came back to france and visit him one week in Romania. Magical. One month later I move to Romania with home and now it's been 2 years we are together and very happy 😊 I never regret to listen to my heart!
Ivana Bašić 3 years ago
I was on last flights out of places a couple of times, twice before conflict and once before a hurricane. Then had an appointment that would have put me and my baby on the spot of a double terrorist attack, but I was just late enough to learn about the first one and stay home.
InfectedVoice 3 years ago
I was in New York for a 4 day trip and was walking up the Empire State Building and my ex-girlfriend from the same part of Southern England as me was coming down the other way, it tripped me right out and my wife was thinking what the f**k is going on here mate.
UpQuarkDownQuark 3 years ago
Once in junior high school, my friend and I were walking to his house and he asked when I was going to pay him back the $5 I owed him. At that moment I spotted a $5 bill on the ground, handed it to him, and said, “Right now!”
Leah Copes 3 years ago
There’s normally no new BP posts on saturdays, right? Did something change or am I just losing my mind
Chancey 3 years ago
Never was before but seems like there has been the last couple weekends.
Load More Replies... Kira Okah 3 years ago (edited)
When I picked my Masters, it wasn't going to be my original subject but my original had the syllabus changed entirely so I changed courses. Was in a class that brought up a ruin elsewhere in Wales, lecturer getting excited about an upcoming festival at the ruin a few months later. Mentioned a guest speaker, her mentor. Mentioned his name. "Wait, Professor Blank Jones?" (not his real surname either but it's a common surname in Wales anyway, not giving that info), "Yes, have you met him Kira?", "I'm married to his son..."
Memaw Mitch 3 years ago
I was in an abusive relationship and one day we got into a huge argument, from behind, he struck the side of my head, knocking me into a sitting position on the couch. He sat on me pinning my arms under his legs and put a knife to my neck. He had this look and I thought to my self, this is it, this is how I'm going to die. Right then, there was a knock at my apartment door, it was my Mom. He had called her prior saying I was acting funny and taking about suicide, but not to worry, he'd handle it. She thought the call was odd and drove 20 minutes to my place, somehow was able to get through the front security doors. I truly believe if she had knocked 60 seconds longer, I wouldn't be here to write this.
NL Stuart 3 years ago
In 1979 I had an appointment immediately after work but I felt queasy so I called and cancelled. I went home instead of driving from Hayward, CA to Berkeley, CA. Otherwise I would have been in Oakland on the lower level of the freeway that collapsed in the Loma Prieta earthquake. Lots of other people were also saved because they left work early to see the World Series between Oakland and San Francisco.
Max Cloarec 3 years ago
I was leaving in Japan. I went back to france in my hometown for holiday. Met a guy on tinder who was in my hometown just for 3 weeks. Fall in love and separate for go back to Japan and he went back to Romanian is country. One year later, quit my job in Japan, came back to france and visit him one week in Romania. Magical. One month later I move to Romania with home and now it's been 2 years we are together and very happy 😊 I never regret to listen to my heart!
Ivana Bašić 3 years ago
I was on last flights out of places a couple of times, twice before conflict and once before a hurricane. Then had an appointment that would have put me and my baby on the spot of a double terrorist attack, but I was just late enough to learn about the first one and stay home.
InfectedVoice 3 years ago
I was in New York for a 4 day trip and was walking up the Empire State Building and my ex-girlfriend from the same part of Southern England as me was coming down the other way, it tripped me right out and my wife was thinking what the f**k is going on here mate.
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