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51 Rare Real-Life Experiences That Sound Completely Made Up
If something has a one-in-a-million chance of happening, we often write it off as impossible. You might think, “I could never win the lottery!” Or, “Things like that just don’t happen to people like me.” Even though it technically is possible, it’s so unlikely that it feels like a pipe dream. But these wild occurrences do have to happen to somebody, so why can’t it be you?
Threads users have recently been recalling the rarest experiences they’ve ever had in their lives, so we’ve gathered a list of their most fascinating stories below. We hope these tales will remind you that anything really is possible, pandas, and be sure to upvote the ones that leave you feeling inspired!
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#1
Jon Bon Jovi had to pee in the middle of a concert. I heard him say it to Richie. I yelled out “Go pee, I’ll sing!” He called me on stage. I sang “Born To Be My Baby” while he left the stage to use the bathroom. It’s a night I’ll never forget and a story I’m still telling 24 years later!
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#2
After my daughter passed, I was given a referral to a grief counselor. As I was sitting in her office at the first appointment, I realized I had already gone to this same counselor 20 years earlier when I was a teenager. But that was impossible because I was now living 500 miles and 3 states away. Turns out just 6 months earlier, she had moved to the same small town that I now live in as an adult. That woman saved my life not once, but twice. 20 years apart.
#3
My grandma always said “toodaloo” instead of goodbye because she hated goodbyes. When she passed away we were on our way to bury her ashes in the cemetery and we were stopped at a traffic light. There was a red Pontiac Sunfire in front of us with a license plate that said “toodaloo” on it. I kid you not we all lost our minds and started crying.
#4
The ocean once stole my sunglasses. The next day the ocean kindly return them directly back into my hand with a little wave.
#5
On a date, I got a fortune cookie that said I would marry him and be happy… celebrating 31 years this year, and I still have the fortune.
#6
When I was around 3 or 4 at daycare I really missed my dad and I didn’t know what he actually did for work but in my head he “fixed things” so I put a cookie in the stereo thinking my dad would come fix it. He didn’t but some random guy came to fix it. 10-15 years later the guy who came to be my stepdad was telling us a story about when he went to fix a stereo because someone put a cookie in it.
#7
My mom recovered after we all gathered to “pull the plug.” She’d been on life support in ICU with respiratory failure (among other systems failures). Doc warned it would take time as her body depleted of oxygen About 3 hours later she started demanding popsicles, her throat was sore from all the intubation gone. Her O2 never went down, remained stable. They moved her to a regular bed, she lived another couple years.
#9
Years ago at a casino, an old woman leaned over my shoulder and tried to shove her voucher into the slot machine I was actively playing on. Bold and insane of her. Figured she was senile so I got up let her have my machine. She instantly won $900.
Eye roll. That could’ve been my win. But I let it go. Found an open machine nearby and sat down. First pull, I won $15,000!!
Giraffe Sitter 4 hours ago (edited)
It wasn’t “your win” and machines are never “due”. The computer is generating hundreds of possible outcomes every second, and the delay she caused just meant a different result happened to come up.
#10
On the day I was supposed to go on my first date with a guy I had met online, I got cold feet and almost canceled. I remember thinking, I don’t need this right now. I’m in New York now to build my career. I don’t need any distractions.
At that exact moment, I looked up and noticed an advertisement that read: “We know you can do it alone, but you don’t have to.”
So I went on that date ♥️
Seven years later, we’re together, married, and have our son Daniel.
#11
I worked at a restaurant and one of the older ladies who host/managed over heard me talking about how badly I needed a car. This was the early 2000’s I was young and broke. She said I actually have a car for sale.I said oh what kind and what are you asking for it. It was a Volvo. They were the original owners and took amazing care of it. It was a boxy 90’s style I was obsessed! She said how much do you have I said only $500 so far saved up. She said stop by tonight. Sold me the car for $1! 😭💗
#12
In fourth grade I had a pink bouncy ball that I used a tack to carve my name into. We were bouncing it at recess and it went onto the roof. A seagull saw it and swooped down and grabbed it and flew off! We were all hollering. Next year in 5th grade we did a week long camp 2 hours away up in the coastal forest. Found my pink bouncy ball in the woods there! Carved name and all.
#13
My wife and I have had four miscarriages, and have spent hours in OBGYN offices navigating grief & uncertainty for years.
We’ve always wanted to name our daughter Stevie, after Stevie Nicks. If a boy, then Ezra (after the protagonist in Star Wars Rebels).
Late last year, we signed up to get approved for foster/adoption. The same week we found out our latest round of IVF failed, the County called and assigned us a gorgeous, happy baby….named Stevie. She’s been with us for a few months now.
#14
My husband passed away in March of this year and it has been rough. He used to have a way of finding little leaves or stones in the shape of hearts and giving them to me. A couple days ago I was feeling really upset and super missing my man so I went for a walk. I was thinking of him and wishing he was here with me and I look up and see a heart in the clouds! It was unreal and so amazing I had to take a picture of it.
#15
It's not quite as exciting as winning the lottery but it's kind of a fun story.
When I was a kid I had English with a friend, her name was Megan. We lived in a tiny town in upstate New York - population: about 2,000 souls.
At the end of 7th grade, Megan moved away.
In tenth grade I moved to a large town in Massachusetts - 20,000 people give or take. Walked into English class on my first day and sitting there was Megan. I swear I felt the world jitter around me. I thought I was in a dream.
FranSinclair 3 hours ago
My family and I just had a weird one. We're from a small town in Pennsylvania of 8,000 people. Like most people here we spend a fair amount of time at walmart and due to health issues of my daughter and i, have gotten to know the pharmacists there pretty well. We headed off to vacation in Virginia a few weeks ago. We walk down to the beach and I lay a towel down to sit on. Right next to me is a face I cant place & I whispered to my husband who jumped up and shouted to them. It was 4 of the pharmacist we joke with most. We were all freaking out while people looked at us like we were nuts
#16
One of our coworkers got sick with cancer and passed away, and at his funeral, his father came up to me and said Rick was so impressed and thankful for your friendship that He wants you to have his car!
So just because I was kind to somebody who really needed it when he was [fading] , I got a brand new 2017 Chevy Cruz paid for since it was in his name when he passed
#17
I survived having my car run over by a semi truck in a dust storm.
#18
I had a customer at the store his totally was $9.27 and he paid with a card and I saw the time on machine was 9:27 pm and I told him :" oh, the time and total are the same ha ha " he said :" my birthday is 9/27 " and pulled his ID to show me....that was crazy
#19
I helped a woman birth her baby in a car on the Hollywood Freeway.
FranSinclair 2 hours ago (edited)
I helped a woman birth a baby at a child's softball game! No one had any idea (including her and her husband) that she was pregnant. She had a little guy she was breastfeeding and her cycles were out of whack already. Her body was in a place of major changes already. She tried to walk away from the stands bc she was in so much pain. Her husband, myself and another mom went to check on her. She said "it feels like im giving birth!" Then a rush of fluid and what seemed like seconds later, something left her body while were huddled in the tree line. Ive birthed babies and had no idea what i was looking at...it was a baby (veiled birth) only 24weeks gestation. That baby is now a sweet little girl...that runs really fast way too close to people and scares the c**p out of them and thinks its funny 😁
#20
I've had testicular cancer. Already a shockingly rare form of cancer, apparently (1 in 250 men). But I've had it twice (1-3% of men with earlier cancer). Call it an inverted lottery win.
Some other things: I have red hair (2%) and gray eyes (3%) while I'm left handed (10%).
I feel like all these things combined make me the biggest statistical anomaly in the world 😂
Robert T 2 hours ago
There is a subtle difference between having it twice and having it recur (metastasise) in another part of the body. I found myself having chemo next another young man with the same complaint and having the same trial treatment. Both given the all clear after 4 cycles and each time the put us in adjacent beds. 18 months later we both had metastases and were back in hospital at the same time. He lost a kidney and I had separate tumours in my brain, lung and spine. Thankfully we have both been clear for 20 years now and we kept in touch until a few years ago.
#21
I got a dream job working on a very successful British TV show aged 25, purely because I happened to walk past my boss’s office at the exact moment he was on the phone discussing it — in that moment, I found the courage to (politely!) march into his office, and request I should be involved. They weren’t planning to have my role, but, because I made my case, they invented the job for me. The show became an international mega hit, won many BAFTAS and an Emmy, and it profoundly changed my life
Mark Savoie 13 hours ago
Nothing so dramatic, but I once cold-call dropped off a resumé at a company on the day that they happened to be hiring in my field. I had no idea they were doing so, but got interviewed immediately and got the job.
#22
9 years ago, my bank accidentally credited me $70M.
#23
When I was 6 months pregnant I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. It was aggressive so they started me on chemo right away. I did two rounds and never once got sick. Lost all my hair but I felt great. After giving birth I had surgery to remove my breast tissue and found out my margins were clear. I was cancer free! I beat cancer with the help of my baby girl 🥰 Shes 7 now
#24
I bought a sweatshirt and some jeans from a yard sale, the girl said her mom really wanted to sell the sweatshirt for $20 but she’d give it to me for $15. So I venmoed her $15. A few mins after I left I decided to send her another $5 to make her mom happy. When I wore the jeans a couple days later, I found they had $5 in them!
#25
After 10 years of trying, I got pregnant on my first round of IVF and had a healthy baby and week and a half ago.
#26
I was in a car accident before all cars had seat belts. I went through the windshield and lost a good part of my forehead. The doctor took skin off my hip for a skin graft for my forehead. Lots of people don't even notice it now - 58 years later.
Bob Brooce 14 hours ago
It took a while before they were ubiquitous, but Ford was putting seat belts in 30% of their cars before 1966. By 1964 Chuck Berry was lamenting not being unable to fasten his girlfriend's safety belt.
#27
I found out I was pregnant not even a year after my husband’s teenage nephew passed tragically. When we found out we were having a boy my husband asked if we could use his nephew’s name as a middle name. I loved it and his sister gave us a grateful go ahead. Baby came a little early… On our nephew’s birthday that he was named after.
#28
I took some mushrooms from Amsterdam and the mushrooms told me I had cancer. Mushrooms said I’d be OK, but I had to get home and start treatment immediately. The mushrooms told me that I wouldn’t believe them, so they also told me that I had Covid and my boyfriend was cheating on me.
My boyfriend was in fact cheating on me. I did in fact have Covid. I also did in fact have cancer. I did in fact start treatment immediately. I am in fact OK now.🍄
#29
I cracked a triple-yolk egg from my neighbor’s flock.
Winning the lottery would have been better…
#30
I met my husband 38 years ago at the bar in El Torito. We hit it off immediately, and about an hour into our conversation we discovered that our dads had worked together at the same fire station—and that we had actually played together as children.
Later, we learned a more incredible story. When my husband’s mother went into labor, her water broke and she called the fire station. My dad answered the phone and told my husband’s father, “You need to go home—you’ve got a plumbing problem!” 😂🥰
Ali Sherlock 11 hours ago
My boyfriend's uncle and my dad worked together before both of us were born
#31
I went to visit my grandmothers grave this past weekend and found a heart shaped stone on the ground, All of the jewelry she had left me were heart shaped. She passed on my birthday.
#32
I woke up pitch black blind at the age of 16.
#34
My name is Aurora and I happened to see the Aurora Borealis from my airplane window
#35
After a first date with a guy… I had the most vivid dream about having a baby and I mean it was VIVID… I saw that babies face I saw every stitch in the clothing seams it was wild…
My friends told me not to tell him about what i saw… it’d scare him off and he was an amazing guy. Anyway, first thing I did was call him and let him know
Aaaand 5 years on, married, giving birth… AND yall I met her before!! It’s the baby from my vision!!!
Beak Hookage 10 hours ago
My sister was pregnant and had opted not to know the gender in advance. I had a dream in which I saw two pairs of pink sandals; one adult sized, one child sized, and heard my sister saying how she had been reading stories to her daughter. Sure enough, it was a girl. And she looks just like her mother. ^_^
#36
I went to Japan in 2020 just before the lockdown so there were almost no tourists there. I went to the Senso-Ji in Asakusa and took a picture to show how few tourists there were and a few seconds later I hear someone speaking French (my language), I turn around and it is… my cousin. I did not know he was in Japan, he did not know I was in Japan. I looked at the picture and he was actually in it.
SaraCapybara 13 hours ago
I was in the market in Zomba, Malawi and I saw a man wearing a t-shirt from my uncle's bar. Turned out he was dating my cousin.
#37
I had a tracheostomy when I was an infant. Pics of my scar through the years.
#38
On February 25, 2020 i terminated a pregnancy. The timing just wasn't right & it was still a chaotic pandemic where I was. February 25, 2021 I gave birth to my now 5 year old. He was born the same day, exact minute, a year later. 😬 he came right back.
#39
I'm 1 of 140-150,000 women Marine veterans. I'd say that's pretty rare.
#40
Not NEARLY as exciting, but I bought something this week and the total was $7.42. I pulled my card out, but then said "wait, I think I have enough cash." I had EXACTLY $7.42 in cash and change in my wallet.
David Paterson 13 hours ago
This week I bought something that was going to be "about $2,000". It came to $2,226. Guess how much I had in my wallet in cash and change, $2,236. Close call.
#42
My dog passed away while we were camping. He had heart failure, and the vets told us it would cost around $10k for surgery, 5 months prior. He was already 14 years old, so I didn’t want to prolong his passing.
Later that same night, while we were all looking at the full moon (my friends know how much I love watching it), my friend Max pointed out that the clouds looked just like my dog. Ironically, my dog’s name was Max too.
#43
In Guadalajara on the way to the airport, I was the only one in our group who could speak a little Spanish (like a 5-year old), so they had me sit in front with the driver. I wanted to fix my makeup so I pulled down the visor thinking there was a mirror. No mirror. We were stopped at a red light, and someone on the street was selling nothing but visor mirrors. Our driver bought one right there and slapped it up on my visor! Such a weird coincidence!
#44
I natural conceived identical quadruplets. One passed at 7 weeks, one at 13 in utero. One passed at 10.5 months old. Now I just have one and will never get pregnant again.
#45
10 months after my mom died I was driving to my annual breast MRI - post breast cancer. I saw TWO license plates with her name. She was with me and watching over me.
#46
Was in an elevator that fell 3 floors. We were stuck between floors for hours until they could safely pull us out.
#48
My mom’s story of my birth is pretty wild.
My oldest sibling is nearly 10 years older than me. My parents tried hard to have another baby and experienced about four miscarriages over five years. Then had my older sister and decided to stop trying.
They started birth control then suddenly got pregnant again, and found out there were twins.
Something happened and my twin vanished.
I was born a few days past my due date which happened to be at the end of one of Colorado’s largest snow storms.
#49
I was hit by a car, not once, but twice. First when I was 2 years old and the second when I was 9. Same leg injured but I still have my leg and take full advantage of that fact daily by moving.
#51
I started experiencing random temporary paralysed in my arms and legs, extreme fatigue, and intense pain. I went to all the doctors who either said I had things like cancer or lesions in my brain or asked if I was particularly anxious lately. I ended up diagnosing myself because I gave up meats and sweets for lent which is a thing I started doing because of someone I knew in school with whom I am no longer friends.
What do you think ?
Beak Hookage 10 hours ago
Lost a treasured piece of jewellery I had originally found lying on the ground and had a dream in which I found it again. The very next day it was right there in my pocket. A couple of years later I lost it for a second time and never found it. A few years later I'm at a market... and there was the exact same identical piece of jewellery for sale. I bought it and still have it today. That thing really didn't want to leave me.
Huddo's sister 7 hours ago
I found out today that only 1% of babies are actually born on their due date. Last week a friend told me both her children were born on their due date.
michael reid 2 hours ago
I bet 90% are born within a week or so of the date. It's not precise.
Load More Replies... FranSinclair 2 hours ago
I got one! About 4 years ago i was going through a rough time. Id recently quit alcohol cold turkey after 15yrs of alcoholism (i had some symptoms at the time i didnt attribute to it but I was okay)family issues and unexpected very costly mishaps (like refrigerator going bad) I had my first craving and my mind started racing. I decided to go for a walk and was really just telling myself that any bad now wasn't nearly as bad as the good when I was drinking. Only good would come if I was sober, so I walked. It was dark and windy but something flew up to my pant leg. It was a $20 bill! I walk prob 30 more feet and see something shining in the street light. Its a lottery ticket worth $10! I cant believe this, i gotta go home (2blocks away) to tell my husband! I s**t you not I see a roughed up looking gift card on the ground assume its empty but still wanna show my husband. The irony! He checks the steam gift card and there was $25 on it. I wasn't even gone 30 mins?!
Beak Hookage 10 hours ago
Lost a treasured piece of jewellery I had originally found lying on the ground and had a dream in which I found it again. The very next day it was right there in my pocket. A couple of years later I lost it for a second time and never found it. A few years later I'm at a market... and there was the exact same identical piece of jewellery for sale. I bought it and still have it today. That thing really didn't want to leave me.
Huddo's sister 7 hours ago
I found out today that only 1% of babies are actually born on their due date. Last week a friend told me both her children were born on their due date.
michael reid 2 hours ago
I bet 90% are born within a week or so of the date. It's not precise.
Load More Replies... FranSinclair 2 hours ago
I got one! About 4 years ago i was going through a rough time. Id recently quit alcohol cold turkey after 15yrs of alcoholism (i had some symptoms at the time i didnt attribute to it but I was okay)family issues and unexpected very costly mishaps (like refrigerator going bad) I had my first craving and my mind started racing. I decided to go for a walk and was really just telling myself that any bad now wasn't nearly as bad as the good when I was drinking. Only good would come if I was sober, so I walked. It was dark and windy but something flew up to my pant leg. It was a $20 bill! I walk prob 30 more feet and see something shining in the street light. Its a lottery ticket worth $10! I cant believe this, i gotta go home (2blocks away) to tell my husband! I s**t you not I see a roughed up looking gift card on the ground assume its empty but still wanna show my husband. The irony! He checks the steam gift card and there was $25 on it. I wasn't even gone 30 mins?!
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