One day in 1984 character actor Stephen Tobolowsky (Groundhog Day, the original, unaired pilot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer) was walking down the street when Jonathan Demme pulled up and asked if he wanted to see a movie he was finishing. Tobolowsky accepted: taking his girlfriend Beth Henley, they went to the Academy Linwood Dunn Theatre to watch the rough cut of the movie, Stop Making Sense. The audience in the otherwise empty theatre consisted of Tobolowsky, Henley, and Demme, along with members of Talking Heads, including David Byrne and Tina Weymouth. Later, Byrne passed Tobolowsky on his bike and asked if he wanted to work on a new movie. Interest sparked again, and during the ensuing collaboration Tobolowsky shared his past experience of psychic phenomena. Inspired, Byrne went on to write Radio Head. The song was heard by Thom Yorke and became the name of his band. All of this is a true story, based on puzzling evidence. [more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Jul 17, 2011 - 46 comments

Do we live in a world where there is magic and meaning, or is it all just chance? Radiolab meets two young women who share a nearly unbelievable story of coincidence and fate. Then they consult with statisticians for a very different take on the same story. This short audio documentary is charming and delightful. A Lucky Wind won a Best Documentary: Honorable Mention Award in the 2009 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition as well as the 2009 AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award (Radio Documentary). [more inside]
posted by storybored on Aug 25, 2010 - 92 comments

Disney World photo captures couple together 15 years before they met.
posted by crossoverman on Jun 12, 2010 - 52 comments

Did "Auto-Tune the News" guy accidentally write Coldplay's Viva La Vida? Michael Gregory, aka Auto-Tune the News guy (previously) talks about how his shower singing was turned into something eerily similar to Viva La Vida. [more inside]
posted by spaceboy86 on Apr 24, 2009 - 46 comments

Gene Weingarten, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his story on Joshua Bell's busking stunt in a D.C. subway station, tells the story of an earlier busker performing in similar circumstances. With a spooky surprise ending: [more inside]
posted by fiercecupcake on Jun 30, 2008 - 28 comments

A friend notes that a friend of hers noted another person on LiveJournal who said his brother noted that Wednesday morning "at exactly two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be: 01:02:03 04/05/06." (In U.S. notation.)
posted by cgc373 on Apr 3, 2006 - 35 comments

Lucky Baby (CNN): Not only did this baby survive a collapsed building because her Mountain Buggy stroller protected her, but it was the same type of stroller that was recalled by the CPSC on the same day. Coincidence?
posted by CG on Jul 20, 2005 - 30 comments

Incredible -- but true coincidences are fascinating, and pleasing, to the psyche. I tend to agree with John Littlewood (a University of Cambridge mathematician) that "...in the course of any normal person's life, miracles happen at a rate of roughly one per month." In other words, statistically speaking, unusual coincidences are to be expected in a world teeming with billions of humans. Still, I find such coincidences stangely inspiring. More can be found here.
posted by ember on Jul 7, 2005 - 97 comments

Michelle Branch found by someone doing their taxes. No, it's not the pop singer. But have they ever found terrorist David Nelson? And will liberal radio host Michael Jackson ever get a job again?
posted by calwatch on Apr 9, 2004 - 6 comments

Anyone smell a conspiracy? London and the South East gets hit by a massive power cut in a similar way to New York and the surrounding areas. Complaints from authorities in both cities of "under-investment in the National Grid " and talk of "antiquated infrastructure" strangely mirror each other and it's odd that these two extremely rare events have happened so close together. Was this a deliberate test of our emergency infrastructures, terrorism or just plain coincidence?
posted by andyHollister on Aug 29, 2003 - 31 comments

God did it? I'm not usually one to accredit daily occurrences to the whim of the Almighty, but in this case, one has to wonder. A young man is thrown from his vehicle in a rollover crash, ejected, and saves himself from impact by catching the telephone lines 25 feet overhead.
posted by Ogre Lawless on Jan 29, 2003 - 101 comments

N.Y. Lottery Draws 9-1-1 on 9/11 This is a pretty strange coincidence. Some people find coincidences everywhere. But, others say the world would be more surprising if coincidences didn't occur. Still, this is pretty odd. What coincidences have you experienced? Do you see meaning in them?
posted by popvulture on Sep 11, 2002 - 51 comments

Rosie O'Donnel is Gay ... Kmart to Close 284 Stores, Cut 22,000 Jobs: Coincidence? I think NOT!
posted by yevge on Mar 8, 2002 - 58 comments

Coincidence Design - "You can't stalk her... but we can." For around $80,000, you can hire a team of investigators to arrange a chance meeting between you and the girl of your dreams. They will find out everything there is to know about her before you meet, and they claim she'll never know that it wasn't just fate (unless YOU tell her). Are they serious?!? (via saranwarp)
posted by lnicole on Dec 14, 2001 - 21 comments