Cambridge Coincidences Collection

Well I Never!

Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University wants to know about your coincidences!

Why? By recording your coincidence stories here, you can help him build a picture of what kinds of coincidences are out there and which ones seem to ‘get to’ us the most. Your coincidence stories can also help him explore the scientific explanations which may account for them – whether by doing the maths to calculate the chances of a coincidence, or speculating on the weird and wonderful workings of our brains.

Coincidences tend to be ‘surprising matches’ – sometimes they are lucky, sometimes unlucky, sometimes just mind-boggling. To help you recall the coincidences that have happened in your life, here’s a list of some common types of coincidence:

  • Surprising repetitions: for instance when you’ve had not contact with someone for ages, then find two connections to them very close together in time. Or when over several years multiple members of the same family are born with the same birthday. Or even a repetition of a really rare event – like winning the lottery twice, or your life being saved twice by the same person!
  • Simultaneous events: for example when two people phone each other at exactly the same time.
  • Parallel lives: such as when two people in a small group find they share a birthday or an unusual name, or when two people discover their lives match each other in bizarre details.
  • Uncanny patterns: imagine picking letters in Scrabble that spell your name.
  • Unlikely chains of events: perhaps you lost your false teeth overboard and found them inside a fish you caught twenty years later?

If anything coincidental has happened to you - anything that made you stop and say "well, what were the chances of that..?" - then please record your story in the form below! Please try to keep your story personal - about you or someone you know. The only thing we'd ask you to steer clear of are premonitions or déjà vu, purely because - whilst fascinating - they're quite common and also difficult to analyse.

You could also tell us about coincidences in the news, but please provide a link to a reliable source!


Title: two or three words that give a simple description of your story, eg ‘old friend’ or ‘birthday coincidence’
Coincidence: tell your coincidence story - and please include plenty of relevant detail (places, dates, numbers etc.) and include your first name if you want.
Email address (optional): please leave an email address, as then we can get in touch to find out more!

All of the information entered below except your email address will be published on this website when you press save




By ticking this box you agree that your email address can be forwarded to Wingspan Productions Ltd, who are making a BBC television programme about Chance and would like to feature Professor David Spiegelhalter's coincidence collection. In doing so you agree that the producers of the programme may contact you directly to ask you more about your story, though whether you decide to help them is entirely up to you. Your details will not be forwarded to any other party or used for marketing purposes.

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Lottery Numbers

These are two very amazing co-incidences between a friend and myself. The first happened about 3 years ago, when, running a lottery syndicate of 5 members. I asked one friend to select 6 numbers for entry on the UK Lotto. She picked 6 numbers, four of which were the same as four of my numbers which I have been using for several years. Three weeks ago, the same friend thought we should change our usual numbers on the Euromillions. I agreed and asked her to select 3 numbers and another number for the star.

Rumbled at the Cinema

Deep in the mists of time, I was going out with a girl from work but we were keeping it quiet from the other staff. We opted to go to the cinema one night in the city centre - there were quite a few big cinemas available before the multiplex era and all had unassigned seating. We arrived during the adverts and were ushered to some seats in the dark - they were too close to the screen so we moved to the only other set of free seats. As we sat down, a voice behind said "Hello!" and there was my office colleague and his girlfriend sitting directly behind us.

strange events

Seeing people in town that look like people i know,then seeing the person they look like sometimes 10 mins or an hour later,or sometimes a thought will come into my mind without thinking it,like i will see this person like my mum or a friend,and then i see them,my mobile phone is a classic event i sometimes know its going to ring seconds before it does,these things doint happen all the time but when they do i get a rush of energy, goose pimples.These events seem to happen in great numbers sometimes,then doint happen for ages,when they do happen i seem to get a migraine ither before a spate or

Hitchhiking story

I'm Scottish and lived in Hamburg for a few years (1994-97). A little while ago my closest friend from that time was visiting me; we were chatting about my first time in Germany, years earlier (1983), while hitching across Europe. I had arrived in Hamburg late one night but had not been able to find a place to stay and had decided to keep going; a driver who picked me up asked me "why are you hitchhiking at 2am anyway?" and I'd explained, whereupon he invited me to come and sleep on his floor and continue my journey in the morning.

Holiday coincidence

Two years ago (July 2010) my family and I (Me, Brian my wife Valerie and our son Adam), we live in Manchester, England, were holidaying at the Le Meridien Ile Maurice Hotel in Mauritius. During our 14 day stay, we met a married couple who were on holiday from Norway, staying at the same hotel, as us. We spent some time with them for an evening or so, and as they were going home before us, we did not see them at the hotel again.

Dream that turns into reality

I was going through a difficult time in my life - I had decided to abruptly end a relationship and I was suddenly without a place to live, staying with friends and relatives. One night I had a dream - where I dreamed I was sleeping and having a dream! The dream inside the dream was about a spirit guide who silently showed me a turtle. The message was that this was my totem (just FYI, I am not Native American and do not pay much attention to things like that).

Double Dream

When I started 5th class in primary school (only a month in) I had almost the same dream on two nights. The first dream was that I was walking along the country road leading to my house. On the road I saw mini-sized school uniforms sinking into the road. I also saw the full sized uniforms sinking. What was weird was that I even saw Junior Infants and Senior Infants kids running around the place. The sky was dark grey, like during a thunder storm. The hedges were bare, like they had been trimmed too much. The second dream was worse. Much worse.

Many Were Killed

One more coincidence for the road. A few years ago I had a dream. It was the kind that is 'special' and knew I had to pay attention to it and not forget it. I was in a train with compartments and a side aisle with windows. It had slowed down to a crawl. It was night. Everybody was looking out of the open aisle windows, including myself. It was a terrible accident of some sort. Bloody bodies were laid out on the ground below us.

Double Dream

When I started 5th class in primary school (only a month in) I had almost the same dream on two nights. The first dream was that I was walking along the country road leading to my house. On the road I saw mini-sized school uniforms sinking into the road. I also saw the full sized uniforms sinking. What was weird was that I even saw Junior Infants and Senior Infants kids running around the place. The sky was dark grey, like during a thunder storm. The hedges were bare, like they had been trimmed too much. The second dream was worse. Much worse.

Add this to...'Trail of History'...post

By the way I forgot to mention that my mother was Russian...she was a painter...and a few years BEFORE I started my research, I produced an International Psychic Film Festival and my business card was a 'Pyramid and the Eye'...BEFORE i started my research. So you can see why this tale intrigued me so much. I just thought that might add some more oomph to the coincidence.

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