Fate or Fluke? You Decide.

Let me ask you something straight up: Do you believe in coincidences, or do you feel like everything in life is somehow arranged? For those of you who lean toward the idea that things just happen by random chance, I’ve pulled together five strange, real-life examples that might just make you rethink everything.

1. The President's Son and the Assassin's Brother

No matter what he achieved, Edwin Booth was always going to be known as the brother of John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Yet, Edwin was once considered the greatest actor of his time, a renowned Shakespearean who even founded his own spectacular theater in New York. But his most remarkable performance wasn't on stage; it was a real-life rescue during the Civil War era. A crowd was pushing onto a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey, when a young man fell into the gap between the train and the platform. He was moments away from being crushed when Edwin Booth quickly grabbed his coat collar and hauled him back to safety. The young man, recognizing the famous actor, thanked him profusely. Later, Booth received a letter of commendation from an officer serving under General Ulysses S. Grant. That's when he learned the identity of the person he saved: Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of President Abraham Lincoln. The moment he saved the son's life happened less than a year before Edwin’s brother tragically took the father’s life. Talk about a twist of fate.

2. The Titanic Prediction Written 14 Years Early

Long before the super tragic event became a movie that made Leonardo DiCaprio a superstar, an American author named Morgan Robertson wrote a novel in 1898 called Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan. The book's cover could honestly pass for a modern Titanic movie poster. What’s truly spooky is the list of similarities between the fictional ship and the real one, which wasn't even built until 1912:

The Ship Name: The fictional vessel was called the "Titan."

Description: Both ships were described as the largest of their day, British-owned, and, crucially, "unsinkable."

The Disaster: Both ships struck an iceberg in mid-April around midnight, 400 miles from Newfoundland.

The Speed: The Titan was traveling at 25 knots, while the Titanic was traveling at 22.5 knots.

The Flaw: Both ships were carrying the bare legal minimum of lifeboats, leading to a massive loss of life.

Robertson essentially wrote the outline for the real-life tragedy 14 years before the Titanic was even completed.

3. The Brothers, The Moped, and The Same Cab

This story from Hamilton, Bermuda, is so specific that it sounds like something out of a horror movie. Seventeen-year-old Erskine Lawrence Ebbin was tragically killed while riding his moped when he was hit by a taxi. That’s tragic enough, but here’s where it gets bizarre: almost exactly one year earlier, his 17-year-old brother, Neville, was also killed by a taxi on the same street, while riding the same moped. You need to sit down for the next part. According to the local newspaper report, not only were the two brothers killed on the same street, almost exactly a year apart, while riding the same vehicle... they were killed by the same taxi, driven by the same driver, and carrying the same passenger both times. That's not a coincidence; that's just downright chilling.

4. The Twice-Falling Baby

Sometime in the 1930s in Detroit, a baby somehow fell out of a high-rise window. A man named Joseph Figlock was walking below, and the baby fell directly onto him. Figlock broke the baby's fall, and both man and child were completely unharmed. Incredible, right? But here’s the kicker: One year later, the same baby somehow fell from the same window. And who happened to be walking below at that exact moment? Joseph Figlock. Again, the baby landed on him, and both survived without injury. Was this a beautiful act of fate, or was Joseph Figlock just the unluckiest (or luckiest) man in Detroit?

5. The Identical Twins Who Lived Identical Lives

Twin boys born in Ohio were separated at birth and adopted by two different families who didn't know each other. The similarities that followed are unbelievable, confirmed after the twins reunited 40 years later:

Names: Both families named their sons James.

Interests: Both Jameses grew up with an interest in law enforcement and carpentry.

First Marriage: Both married a woman named Linda.

Sons' Names: Both had a son. One named his son James Alan; the other named his son James Allen (with two L's).

Second Marriage: Both divorced their wives and remarried a woman named Betty.

Pets: Both families had a dog, and both named their dog Toy.

Everything from their career aspirations to the names of their wives and dogs was mirrored exactly.

Coincidence or Destiny?

Whether you attribute these mind-bending events to the universe, an act of God, or just pure, blind chance, you have to admit they are incredibly strange and improbable.

Have you ever met someone and felt an instant, unexplainable connection, good or bad? Ever muttered, "I really don't like this person, but I don't know why"? Maybe they stole your chicken in a past life! Or perhaps you met your significant other under completely unbelievable circumstances, much like the movie Serendipity. Personally, I don't fully believe in "coincidence." I feel that everything that happens to me and everyone I meet has a purpose. I may not always be clear on what that purpose is, but I believe it's there. But of course, that's just me! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Do you believe in chance, or do you think destiny is pulling the strings?