Some people see a coincidence and believe it’s a sign of something more. Maybe divine intervention, aliens, fate, or who knows what. They want there to be order in the chaos and to find meaning in seemingly unrelated events. Others see it as just a weird twist of luck, something uncanny that defies the odds. No matter how you choose to look at a coincidence, though, it’s hard to ignore that they can often be very odd and compelling.
Is there anything more behind these events that coincidentally happened in the same place at different times? Let us know what you think.
10. There was a Battle of Thermopylae in Both 1941 and 480 BC
In 2006, the movie 300 came out and shared the tale of the Battle of Thermopylae with millions who had never heard of it before. Though the film is based on a comic that itself fictionalized the story well beyond belief, the basic idea was true. There was a battle during the Greco-Persian war in which a small army of Greeks, led by the Spartan King Leonidas, took a stand against a much larger Persian force. The battle lasted for three days and though the Greeks lost, it’s said that the few hundred soldiers killed 20,000 Persians.
Fast forward to 1941 and there was a second Battle of Thermopylae, this time between Nazis and Allied Forces made of British, Australian and New Zealand forces. The Germans were attempting to invade Greece. Allies were withdrawing but two brigades remained as the rear defense against Axis troops.
A Panzer division and another battle group were held back by artillery fire. Though the battle was not nearly as dramatic as the original, many German tanks ended up being destroyed. Across Greece, Germans took heavy losses against a much smaller force of Allies aided by locals. Though the Germans took Greece and the entire Allied operation in Greece was considered a failure, their efforts made sure the Germans paid dearly for the progress they made.
9. Both Alexander Hamilton and His Son Died in the Same Spot
Dueling isn’t so popular these days but once upon a time it was the go to way for any gentleman worth his frilly shirt to settle a dispute, just ask Alexander Hamilton. Or his ghost, since he died in a duel.
It was July 11, 1804 when Alexander Hamilton took a bullet from Vice President Aaron Burr. Burr not becoming President was due, in part, to the machinations of Hamilton and the men had a long history of animosity between them. The challenge was issued, and the men met on the dueling grounds near Weehawken, New Jersey.
The location of the duel was grimly familiar to Hamilton as just three years earlier his own son had died in the same spot, during a duel, defending his father’s honor. Not successfully, obviously. The elder Hamilton used the same pistols for his own failed duel.
In 1801, Phillip Hamilton heard a speech by a man named George Eacker that was harshly critical of his father. The younger Hamilton, being 19 and something of a hothead, took great offense. The men exchanged words, and a duel was set. Hamilton’s father gave his son advice about waiting for the first round of four to pass, not shooting until the other man had shot to make him look bad, but it was all for naught. Eacker struck Hamilton and the young man died the next day.
8. Hitler Made France Surrender in the Same Train Car as Germany in WWI
This doesn’t qualify as a coincidence, rather a planned humiliation thanks to a historic callback. There is a train carriage in France where, on November 11, 1918, Allied Forces and Germany signed the armistice that ended World War One. It took place in a train car because of all the damage that had occurred in the town during the war, making it infeasible to hold the historic event there.
Jumping ahead to 1940 and the German war machine was storming across Europe. Hitler had taken France and brought a new armistice agreement for them to sign, just as they had made Germany sign the first one years earlier. For the occasion he had the same train carriage used. It was revenge for what he deemed a humiliation in the past, now to serve as the same for France.
7. Two Air India Flights Crashed Into the Same Mountain 16 Years Apart
It’s hard to say how many planes have crashed in history but if you’re thinking of commercial passenger jet airliners, it’s a little easier to gauge. In 2017, that number was just under 2,000 in history. All things being equal, that is a relatively low number compared to total flights and something like car crashes. That air travel is relatively safe and crashes are relatively rare makes it even more remarkable that two flights, from the same airline, crashed into the same mountain, 16 years apart.
The first crash occurred in 1950 when a plane crashed into the southwest side of Mont Blanc, taking 58 lives. In 1966, a miscommunication with flight control caused a Boeing 707 to crash in nearly the exact same spot, claiming an additional 117 lives.
6. Jackass Cast Member Ryan Dunn Flipped his Car in the Same Spot He’d Later Die
The cast of the show Jackass have all put themselves through preposterous things over the years. They’ve been electrocuted, bitten by many deadly creatures, beaten, shot, exploded and then some. But, despite how it sounds, it was all meant to be fun. That said, there was some tragedy along the way as well, notably with the death of Ryan Dunn, who died in 2011.
Dunn was drunk and got behind the wheel of his car. He was going 130 miles per hour when he hit a tree. He died along with a production assistant named Zachary Hartwell.
Bam Margera, Dunn’s best friend, pointed out afterward that he always suspected Dunn would get into an accident sometime and that, in fact, the two of them survived one in the same place Dunn died five years earlier. According to Margera his friend flipped their car 8 times in that incident but they both walked away from it.
5. Two Women, in Incidents One Year Apart, Were Buried Alive in Greece
Being buried alive is probably a fear no one has until the first time they hear it can happen, and then it haunts them forever after. It may not be a common occurrence but it has happened in the past and maybe a little too often over around Peraia, Greece.
The first incident reported in 2014 involved a 45-year-old woman. She was buried in a cemetery in the town of Peraia after being comatose for a time and dying in a private hospital. Locals, including some children playing nearby, heard her calling out after the funeral and attempts to rescue her fell short. She died from asphyxiation.
Later it was reported a 49-year-old woman who had been treated for cancer was also buried after doctors thought she had died. Her screams were heard after the funeral so she was exhumed but by then it was too late. Her official cause of death was cardiac arrest.
Some of the news reports seem to mix up details between both stories and it’s possible this was reported wrongly, and it was a single incident, but the ages and details differ enough that it’s just as likely it was two separate occasions.
4. Bobby Farrell of Boney M and Rasputin Died on the Same Date in the Same City
If you don’t know the name Bobby Farrell you probably at least knew his voice. He was the singer for the band Boney M, most famous for their disco-era hit “Rasputin.” The song is about the infamous Russian mystic who is killed for sleeping with the wrong women.
In real life, Rasputin’s death has long been the subject of much mystery and exaggeration, in particular about how he was shot and poisoned and drowned and so many other things before he finally died. What everyone agrees on is that he died on December 30th in St. Petersburg.
Rasputin’s death took place in 1916. Fast forward to 2010, December 30th, in the city of St. Petersburg and that’s when and where Bobby Farrell also passed away. He had just performed a show and complained of not feeling well. He died of heart failure in his hotel room.
3. Steph Curry and LeBron James Were Born on the Same Floor of the Same Hospital
Any time you hear of famous people coming from the same place someone will make a joke about there being something in the water. Maybe they attended the same school or the same town and it’s a fun coincidence. In that same vein, you’ll discover some athletes often attended the same schools. Less common is discovering they were born in almost the same place. Not just the same town, not just the same hospital, but the same floor of that hospital.
Basketball legends Steph Curry and LeBron James were both born in Akron, Ohio. Just 39 months separate the two stars, who were born at the Summa Akron City Hospital.
2. Keith Moon and Mama Cass Both Died at 32 in the Same Apartment Four Years Apart
The music world is full of weird and morbid conspiracies and coincidences, most notably the infamous 27 Club. There’s another grim coincidence out there that’s much more dramatic than artists simply dying at the same age and that’s the connection between “Mama” Cass Elliot and The Who drummer Keith Moon.
On July 29, 1974, Cass Elliot was staying in the apartment of songwriter Harry Nillson in London, England. Nillson was rarely there and let friends use it when they were in town. After a pair of performances she collapsed in the apartment and died of heart failure at age 32. Her weak heart was blamed on years of crash diets.
Four years later, Keith Moon was staying in the same apartment. Nillson is said to have not even wanted to loan it out, now afraid that the place was cursed. Moon talked him into it. He was also 32-years-old.
Moon’s body was found in the same bed where Cass had died. He had overdosed on a prescription drug called clomethiazole, which he was using to treat alcoholism.
1. A Simulated Attack Was Conducted at Pearl Harbor 10 Years Before the Real Thing
Pearl Harbor is one of the most well-known events in American history and it’s been taught in school, written about in books and immortalized on film again and again. One thing that’s not usually mentioned, however, is that 10 years before the infamous attack, pretty much the same thing happened in the same place but for very different reasons.
In February, 1932, the Second World War hadn’t started. But, with the First in the rearview and tensions on the rise everywhere, America was preparing for anything. Rear Admiral Henry Yarnell was in charge of something called Fleet Problem #13. This was a military drill designed to simulate an attack from an Asian enemy on Pearl Harbor.
Yarnell, with 152 planes, staged an attack to take out the American airfield in Pearl Harbor, catching them unaware. He attacked Sunday morning, just as the Japanese would later do, in an effort to catch them off guard. Because the “Americans” anticipated an attack from sea, they never saw the plans coming. Yarnell’s forces dropped bags of flour, simulated bombs, and laid waste to the US base. Not a single American plane got in the air.
Though the attack was just a drill and Yarnell proved Pearl Harbor vulnerable, the military decided his efforts proved nothing. He attacked on a Sunday which they basically called cheating.
When the actual attack on Pearl Harbor happened, it followed many similar paths as Yarnell’s mock attack. Later, military officials would be absolved of culpability under the reason that the attack could never have been predicted. This gave rise to a conspiracy theory that the Japanese learned of Yarnell’s fake plan and the US has since covered it up.