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30 Stories About The Craziest Coincidences That People Can’t Forget About
Article created by: Jonas Žvilius
Some people believe that there’s no such thing as a coincidence. Everything is intentional and meaningful, nothing is random. But when you just so happen to run into your next-door neighbors halfway across the world from where you live, it’s hard to call that anything other than serendipity.People online have been sharing the craziest coincidences that they’ve ever experienced, so we’ve gathered some of their best stories below. Apparently, the world is a lot smaller than we think it is, because people manage to find connections no matter where they are on the planet. Enjoy reading through these tales that might blow your mind, and be sure to upvote the ones that convince you that coincidences are 100% real.
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#1
I was at a download festival some years ago. I was drunk and in the middle of the crowd watching a band. Beside me there were two guys speaking in a different language which I recognised, I asked where they were from and they turned out to be Norwegian.
These guys were the only two Norwegians I'd met since college where we had a Norwegian exchange student. So! I mention her name and that she'd joined their military. They ask which regiment, I tell them... He then rang her and passed me the phone.
Still blows my mind.
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#2
I flew from Newcastle to Gran Canaria, midway through the holiday, we booked an excursion for a jeep safari through the mountains, we pulled up at a zoo and went in, we walked further up through the mountain to an animal show that was sold out but they managed to squeeze us in, we took our seats and waited for it to start, turned around to find our next door neighbours sitting there.
#3
I got on a train in Nottingham to go and see my friend Jo in London, and sat at a table with a random woman. We got off at the same station, took the tube, got off at the same station again, and then walked the same way until she got to her house. After she went in I knocked on her door. She was not happy that I had followed her home at night, but I was quick explain she lived with my friend Jo. I guess London's not that big.
#4
I once left my phone in a taxi. The next day, I used FindMyiPhone and tracked it to a street where I spotted the car - and what looked like my phone inside poking out from the cushions. But when I knocked on the door of the house it was parked outside, no one answered.
Since I was leaving the city soon, I was keen to get it back before it conveniently ‘disappeared’. So I hung around for a bit. After a while, another guy showed up and was clearly waiting for something too. It was a bit awkward, just standing on opposite sides of an empty street, so we got chatting. Turns out, he’d also left his phone in a taxi - but in a completely different one.
Then, about half an hour later, another bloke appeared and was also obviously waiting for someone, just staring at a house fron the opposite side of the street. We tried bringing him into our club, but he was really standoffish. Pretty sure he was a proper stalker, not like us hobbyists.
Anyway, I got my phone back in the end.
Another weird coincidence: I bought a domain name for a business—just a random name like “Flying Foxes” or “Wandering Rabbits” (not the actual name, for privacy reasons). The business ended up doing surprisingly well, and I realised I needed the .com domain too.
Annoyingly, it was already taken by an author promoting a book about an American Civil War battle. Since their book was printed years ago and seemed to be not much more than a pamphlet, and I had a bit of money by this point, I figured it was worth trying to buy it. I googled the author’s name and, bizarrely, not only did she live in the UK - she lived in the same town as me. I emailed her, and it turned out she was just three streets away. So I popped round with some cake and she sold me the domain for £50. I still see her around town.
#5
Not me, my sister, but close enough...
A few years ago she went 'up the city' as we refer to our nearest one, to look for a house to rent, at Number Y on Street X. Had a look around, went back to our mum's and told her she'd been to see this house on Street X. Mum asked if it was number Y. Sister confirmed it was. Mum said that she'd spent the first few years of her life there, back in the 60s.
#6
In the 90s my dad had a Nissan Sunny and my uncle had a Nissan Micra. As a joke my uncle tried his car key in my dad’s car to see if it would open because they were the same manufacturer. Lo and behold it works, however my dad’s key didn’t work in my unlcle’s car. Few months later we’d been for a forest walk and got back to the car to find my dad had locked his keys in the car. Luckily for us there was also a Micra parked in the car park so we waited for the owner to get back. He tried his key in my dad’s car and we were saved a call to AA.
#7
Went on a lads holiday to Agia Napa after a-levels. One night hanging around a pool after all the clubs had shut I watched a guy push his friend in the pool. The security guard at the hotel threatened to taser him and he cried. Fast forward 2 years later went to university and stood drinking in the kitchen with flatmates on our first night. Guy started telling a story about how he went on a lads holiday to Agia Napa and one night he pushed his mate into the pool and a security guard threatened to taser him and his mate burst into tears. Mad that we ended up living in the same dorm.
#8
When I was a teenager me and my dad planned to go to the Lake District. We stopped off at his best friend's house which was only a few minutes from our house to pick something up. After a quick chat, nobody mentioning anything about plans, we were on our way. We drove for a couple of hours and stopped off at a café. When we were ordering in this café in the middle of absolutely nowhere with about 5 customers, my dad's best friend that we just saw a few hours earlier pulled in. Apparently we were all going to the Lakes, nobody mentioned anything, and stopped off at the same café. That was a weird one.
#9
In 2001 i was backpacking round China with a couple of mates. In Sichuan province we pitched up in this little bar. There were about 8 people there all sat round one table, and the owner told us to join the group.
I sat down and realised I was opposite a girl i went to school with, who lived literally 100 yards from my folks house. We started laughing at the coincidence and then the bloke next to me says he's from the village up the road. So fully half the customers in this bar in China were all from a 5 mile radius in Shropshire 🤷.
#10
I’m Irish but live in Scarborough, we don’t get many Irish people here. I work in a hotel. Irish guest checks in so I get chatting to him. I ask where he’s from he tells me, I say no way my aunt lives in that county, I say which town fully expecting to not even know of the place but no it’s the same one my aunt lives in. Population of 1000 people. My aunt used to cut his hair.
#11
When I was 10 we were planning a family holiday to New Zealand over Christmas. My parents owned a small house sign making business at the time and a woman came in and ordered a sign for a friend of hers who... lived in New Zealand, right near where we were going on holiday. My dad was able to hand deliver one of his house signs to someone on the other side of the world while on a once in a lifetime holiday.
#12
About 15 years ago, took a trip to New Zealand (from the UK) and was travelling around in a van. In travelling through Christchurch, we need to do some shopping, the main supermarket was closed for some reason so we drove around some suburban place and randomly found a small supermarket. Decided to stop there and pick up some stuff, walking around the fruit and veg section I hear “oi, BigBlueMountainStar”, looking around in shock, there’s my boss’s boss staring at me and waving.
#13
Not mine but my girlfriend at the time. We lived in Norwich, and she was on holiday in New York. At the top of the Empire State Building, she had a small panic attack and the security guard came over to help her. He started chatting to help her calm down, and she mentioned she lived in Norwich. He said no way, my daughter lives in Norwich. Eventually they discovered, she worked behind the bar at our local pub five minutes around the corner and had served us many beers. I still don't quite believe it.
#14
I had a book which had been signed by the author with a personalised message.
At some point, someone got me an exact duplicate sans the message. By mistake, I accidentally gave the signed copy to a charity shop in Yorkshire.
About a year later, I was on holiday in Italy, a quieter bit not far from San Marino. A little one-horse town. Anyway, I pass by a shop which had some non-Italian books outside, and would you believe it? My personalised copy.
#15
It’s very complicated but:
1. I had to phone a man at the BBC, a huge corporation. I didn’t really want to call and wasn’t going to. (Admin, nothing glam).
2. I also hired a man at work who was bipolar, and spoke to him about making reasonable adjustments.
3. I looked on a bipolar charity website and found a number for employer support.
4. I called the number. It was a wrong number …. but was the direct dial to the man at the BBC I wasn’t going to call.
#16
I was reading a story from a local news site about a woman who had had a bad experience in a pub. Then I got a notification on my phone saying that someone had liked me a on a dating app... and it was the woman from the news story! It was definitely a real person, she had a linked instagram account with lots of posts.
#17
Started talking to a random person at my uni - same course but in the 4th year. She started asking me where I was from, then gets more and more specific, then asks for my primary school... turns out her dad was my year 4 teacher!
#18
When I finished my A-levels in the ‘90s, my college held an end-of-term party (proms not being a thing in the UK then) I was seated at a long rectangular table for dinner, away from my friends, and opposite a boy I hadn’t met in the whole two years I’d been there. We had a nice chat and a laugh, all just friendly, and said goodbye after dinner.
Two weeks later, I was on a family holiday in Disneyworld Florida before starting university and heard someone call my name. It was the same boy! He was on holiday there with his family too. Neither of us had mentioned this at the party. It felt such a bizarre coincidence. Never saw him again after that.
#19
Don't know if it's a coincidence but my grandad has a habit of meeting people he knows wherever he goes. Now within 20 miles of where he lives I can understand but I was once on a skiing holiday with them in Flaine and was getting off a ski lift with him when we heard "Alright Arthur what are you doing here?" And getting off the seat behind us was an old colleague he worked with years before!
Another time he was visiting my village Christmas market (I live 80 miles away from my grandparents) and he bumped into his friend who was the warden at a country park he was a volunteer at.
On a cruise he bumped into another couple he and my grandma both knew at one of the stops they had, their friends just so happened to be on holiday in the place my grandparents were docked at, they saw them sat outside a cafe.
There's loads of other times it's happened to but these are the most memorable ones. My grandad knows ton's of people but that's because he is very easy to get along with! And he will talk to just about anyone 🤣.
#20
A girl and I were going through a break up and went for a hike/walk to talk things over. We get to the to this look out point and there was a bench with a plaque on it that read “Bob and Jane’s place”.
Our names are Bob and Jane (not our real names).
It was so weird. We took it as a sign and kept going. We did eventually break up after a few more months though. But still wild.
#21
My wife and I were stood behind our next door neighbours in a queue at an ice cream shop in Wales and we live no where near Wales.
#22
I was standing at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, a friend from highschool, let's call him B, was visiting and we went on one of those walking tours. Just as the Tourguide pointed at the French embassy 3 girls walked by and shouted Viva la France! Then walked off to take a Foto in Front of the gate. B suddenly peeled off from the group saying, hey, I think that's V! V was an exchange student from France while we were in highschool (Midwest USA btw) and indeed, there she was, visiting Berlin with some friends. She was so surprised when we talked to her, and we met up for drinks later that evening. We talked a long time and found out they were staying at a hostel , they had tried out couch surfing but said no one had responded to them so they gave up.
That's where I realized she had contacted me on Couch Surfing (without recognizing me) and I hadn't responded because all they wrote was: we are 3 French girls, do u live near the city? And I thought it was Spam.
#23
I lived near Reading in the late 90s before going off on a backpacking trip to Australia. Few months later I was working in Sydney and started chatting to a girl. Turned out she'd moved into the same house I'd lived in just after I'd left the UK.
I also met a guy in a Sydney hostel and borrowed $10 from him, didn't see him the next day and then moved on. Few months later I'd moved to Munich and walking along the main shopping street, I saw him again, gave him 10dm and that was it, never saw him again.
#24
At the start of Covid a David Mitchell event got cancelled in London, I was super disappointed. After covid during the same week as that David Mitchell event I met him outside the Plaza Cinema in Truro and nearly had a heart attack. The three people I had been going to that event with were literally at my house at the time. I still think about it.
#25
We (UK residents) were on a train in Canada talking to a local. He asked where we lived and we discovered that his English penfriend lived on the same road as our ex-neighbours.
Same trip, a bus driver in North Vancouver was describing a coffee shop he'd loved and remembered fondly from a recent visit to the UK; It's two minutes walk from our home.
We stayed in a B&B. The woman that ran it was from the UK. She came from the same village as my Godmother.
#26
I was visiting my grandparents in France from the US last year. The day I arrived I posted a story of a sunset from the balcony with the location tagged. A friend from the US I had lost touch with and hadn't spoken to for 8+ years (we didn't follow each other on IG, my profile is public) looked at my story and reached out saying he was visiting the city and we should catch up.
When we met up I said it was wild that he had reached out and happened to catch me when were both visiting this city (I don't go often, it was his first time). He said it wasn't entirely a coincidence, he had seen me a few days ago in a certain neighborhood but I was too far away to catch my attention so he decided to look me up on socials. I said that was impossible as I'd just arrived a few hours before I posted that story and came straight to my grandparents' home from the airport, so it couldn't have been me. His mind was blown as he said the girl looked just like me. Anyway we had a nice time catching up and have rekindled our friendship. Kinda felt like the universe was telling us we should lol.
#27
Went to uni a few hundred miles from home, came from a relatively small town. First night there, the local pub had a welcome night for new students hosted by some of the second years.
Sat down with a couple of people I knew from home and a girl approached us. She was one of the ones there to show us the ropes.
She's in the middle of explaining that she moved from south Africa and only knew one Scottish family but they were nowhere near.
Yeah, my childhood best friend's yearly holidays to South Africa were with her family. It was her pool they saw a hippo in once.
#28
Flew to Melbourne for a work trip. Queuing at passport control with hundreds of fellow passengers when I got off the plane I glanced around the immigration hall and caught the eye of the bloke in the adjacent line just at that moment snaking back on my line. It was actually a colleague from a previous company I had worked at seven years prior and hadn't seen since moving half way across the UK from Peterborough to Bristol. Turns out we were both there for two weeks for work meetings and staying half a mile away from each other and booked on the same return flight.
#29
In 2009 I did the mongol rally and then after that I did a ski season in st Anton Austria.
One night in the mongol steppe we met a load of other ralliers. Then again in ulaan bataar again bumped into a load of ralliers. Then on the way back I drove to Moscow and bumped into more ralliers. Same guy each time.
He also happened to be living downstairs from my mates in st Anton also doing a ski season.
#30
Someone I hadn't seen in years recognised me on Reddit me from a comment I made about running through a field away from a bull pished years ago. Small world.
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