No Such Thing As Coincidence

By James Donahue

From the esoteric perspective, we who delve into the world of the occult have reached the conclusion that our universe is the creation of our own minds, that all we believe is reality is but an illusion, and that truth is always just one step ahead of us as we constantly reach for it.

Because of these conclusions, we often hear the declaration that there can be no such thing as coincidence. Thus when we hear stories of strange events like the ones we list below, we must suggest that something more is involved here. Are we victims of a parallel universe from which we slide in and back out? Is some puppet-master playing tricks on our minds? Or have we created our own illusions out of sheer boredom because of our mundane existence?

Whatever the reason, we offer a list of strange events, some of them drawn from the old series titled Ripley's Believe It Or Not. Some of the stories may be fabrications, yet from our own experience, and because we knew Ripley was a careful researcher when he wrote his books and articles, we think the reports are quite accurate. Thus we let the reader come to their own conclusions.

There seems to be a strange psychic and spiritual link between twins. This odd synchronicity that occurs between twins sometimes has an affect that continues right up to their moment of death. One of the stories involves 71-year-old Finnish twin brothers killed in identical bicycle accidents on the same road only two hours apart in March, 2002. The story was so sensational at the time it made headlines.

An article in the January, 1980 edition of Reader's Digest reported the strange lives of identical twin boys, separated at birth in Ohio, and adopted by different families. Forty years later the boys were reunited and discovered that their lives had been amazingly parallel. Both boys were named James. Both trained in law enforcement. Both had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry. They both married women named Linda, had sons named James Alan and James Allan, respectively. Both brothers later divorced and both remarried women named Betty. They both owned dogs named Toy.

From a website named Chronogenetics we found yet another twin story to include in this collection. It seems and John and Arthur Mowforth were twins living about 80 miles apart in Great Britain. On May 22, 1975, both men developed severe chest pains, were rushed to local hospitals and both were pronounced dead of heart attacks shortly after their arrival in the emergency rooms.

The following story from Phenomena: A Book of Wonders doesn't involve twins, but brothers who died under strangely similar circumstances just one year apart. The first brother was struck and killed by a taxi while riding a moped in Bermuda in 1975. One year later, the brother was riding the same moped when he, too, was struck and killed by a taxi. To make the story even more odd, they were hit by the same taxi driven by the same driver.

From Mysteries of the Unexplained, we find this: It seems that in the 1920s three Englishmen boarded a train in Peru and found themselves to be the only passengers in the train car. Naturally they struck up a conversation, discovered they were all from England. When they introduced themselves they made an even more amazing discovery. One man's last name was Bingham. The second man's last name was Powell. And the third man's last name was Bingham-Powell. They were not related.

And finally, from Incredible Coincidence, we found a story about George D. Bryson who registered at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, in the late 1950s. After signing the register and being assigned to Room 307, Bryson was handed mail addressed to him in Room 307. Thinking that was somewhat odd, Bryson made an inquiry. It seems that the letter was for the man who previously occupied the same room. And yes, you guessed it, his name was George D. Bryson.