Cambridge Coincidences Collection

As of the 23rd May 2022 this website is archived and will receive no further updates.

understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

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Well I Never!

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

The Elm Tree

On 10th January '13 I was reading an article in the current RSPB magazine about an Elm Tree . I've been busy and not had much time to read .The next day my husband brought home a box of old books from his mother's home which had been in the family since her grandfather's day . Out of curiosity I picked up a few pages which had come detached from what must have been a big volume . I read one page a story turned over and there was an article on ---- Yes "The Elm Tree" . The article was from "Boys of England" which according to Wickipedia was published between 1866-1899 . Both articles had an almost identical black and white illustration in the same position on the page .

Mr Patrick Russell

Significance of Daughter's name and birth time<br /> </p><br /> <p>Before my daughter's birth, my wife and I had chosen to call her Lucy. Quite simply, it was a name we liked , there was no significance in it, other than that. When she was about two weeks old, I idly picked up a paperback that we had bought some months earlier entitled: "Boys and Girls Names". I remarked to my wife that I had actually never looked up Lucy, so I did. The entry went something like: "Lucy, from the Latin Lucia, meaning the Bringer of Light. In Roman times this was a name commonly given to children who were born at the break of day." My wife remarked that it was about dawn when our daughter was born, so I went upstairs to a file that I had begun for Lucy which contained various momentos of her pregnancy and birth, including a copy of The Times newspaper, that I bought on the morning she was born. I looked up the time of sunrise on that day (July 27th, 1983) - it was 0516 - which was the exact time of her birth.

Immortality coincidence

For some reason I came back to this site tonight to see if any more stories had been added after my ESP entry: understandinguncertainty.org/user-submitted-coincidences/proof-esp I was reading the one about correlations with TV and radio dialogue: understandinguncertainty.org/user-submitted-coincidences/matching-nameocurancenumberevent which reminded me of what happened during what my sister called "A dissociative breakdown" - such correlations became more meaningful for me at that time and I have kept the mad data that I wrote down at that time- there seemed to be something that suggested the planet was facing weather changes and to be aware of hardy food sources like plants. Anyhow -that is another story.

Cambodia and Dan

I didn't want to stay at the English Backpackers hostel in Cambodia, June 2009. It was expensive in context and reeked of English guys 'living the dream'. I wanted to stay in some cheap grotty place but the two guys I was half travelling with thought this place seemed great, in fact I think I may have been travelling with a small group of people who had ended up being together merely because we all met on the same bus. I think the only reason we had ended up in this slightly pretentious Gap Year place was because someone knew someone was staying there. So I submitted, albeit slightly grumpily, but ultimately I was tired and nervous about the next few days.<br /> The two men I had bonded with most, one called Alex I believe who was the same school year and another boy who I can only remember was blonde and had an accent which seemed to indicate common intellect, with a strong air of cocky bravado. The three of us had ventured out and coming back to the room which the three of us were sharing I saw him. </p> <p>'Daniel Thompson' I exclaimed.

A matching name/ocurance/number/event

Hello everyone, I just have to share the tremendous amount of co-incidences relating to matching names, numbers and similar. This happens to me at least once a day . So I feel it is time for me to share this with you. For instance just 5mins ago, I talked to a friend over the phone about dogs. I put the phone down and on the TV, a film was running, one person said to the other: "Well how is your dog?" ....Now this was not a film about dogs. Another very unusual co- incident which happened to me a few weeks ago: I am writing down a name with a name of a location, I look up onto the TV screen and a list of names came up with film credits. The first name I read was identical to the name I just wrote on a piece of paper and the location given next to it was identical to the location I wrote down. Another incidence: I am thinking about a topic and that topic is being discussed or mentioned on the radio or TV, in a song, within seconds. I checked many times whether the thought I was thinking was in any way what so ever mentioned on the radio/TV before, and they NEVER were.

reader's digest / fb friend i shared about the coincidence

Good evening. I am Leigh from the Philippines. I am so much into this kind of stuff since I have experienced a lot of dejavus, ESPs, clairvoyances, and sometimes can foretell and or interpret my dreams. They just come and go inevitably. I am happy to write down what happened tonight as I have found your website through Google. Thanks. Here's my story: I am reading a 2006 February issue of Reader's Digest titled as Secrets of Love. The article I am currently reading was a happy ending love story. I got so surprised that the guy in the character is same name of my boyfriend's. I smiled keeping my composure. I became more surprised when I continued reading because the article was more likely of our story too on about how both of the characters planned their future together, their conversations seemed like, etc. Everything in the article contained more likely of 60% of about us. It practically made me miss him. But because I was already so overwhelmed, I stopped reading and giggled and posted something in my Facebook about coincidences. I privately messaged a girl friend who at this very night that I felt so comfortable sharing it with.

My German Teacher

When I was cycling home from school - and I had to cycle quite some distance, that is 24 miles a day - I thought I saw my old German teachers which I hadn't seen in like 3 to 4 years. I almost shouted his name. But as I watched closely I realized it wasn't him. Not 5 minutes later, who do you think I ran into. Exactly, my German teacher, which I hadn't seen in 3 to 4 years.

Influence of Birth Place ?

Thirty years ago as a mature B.Ed. Student in Reading I immediately became friends with a fellow student on my course. It seemed as if we had always known each other and we remain friends today. Three years after I left university I had a similar experience with a new teacher at my school. Again we have remained friends over the years. It was only after several more years that a chance remark led to the discovery that we had all been born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital in Hammersmith. Could this have influenced our perceptions of each other when we first met?

Blowing in the Wind

Many years ago, in 1946 when I was in the Forces, I spent a few days in a transit camp in Port Said, Egypt. I had a chance to visit the local village one evening with a few friends. Walking across the sandy waste, a piece of paper blew up to me. It was the Church newsletter from St Michael's Church in Sutton in Ashfield – my own church. Inside, the Vicar's notes wished well to all Church members in the Forces. My name was inside!

The Santorini synchronicity

I was traveling around in the US in the fall of 1979. I was 25 years old and completely lost. My girlfriend back home had just left me and I was extremely unhappy. We had been together for maybe six or seven years or so, and I had no idea of how to manage my life on my own. I didn’t know how to sleep alone and I didn’t even know how to cook a meal. In San Francisco I met some nice people and we rented a car to go to LA. It was Francoise from Canada, two English guys, an Austrian guy (I can’t remember their names) and it was Monika Hauri from Switzerland. Somehow Monika and I found each other, so when the group broke up in LA, Monika and I continued our journey together. I have vague memories that we stayed in Santa Monica for some time but eventually we took a night flight to Mexico City. We drank lots of Tequila in the restaurants at the Plaza Garibaldi. Hundreds of Mariachi bands were playing simultaneously. It was a fantastic cacophony. I remember, also, in Mexico City, that we always had to run to cross the streets to escape all the mad taxi drivers. Anyway, after some time I explained to her that I was going to Isla Mujeres, alone. I needed to think things over.

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