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.

Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.

Well I Never!

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

Peter and Joan.

Whilst on Madeira in1994 we with four others went on a Jeep Safari. One of the other couples were PETER and JOAN from Clitheroe in Lancashire. Joan worked at a doctors surgery. We got quite friendly with them. Fast forward to 2007. We are on holiday in Scotland and arrive in Oban from Mull looking for accommodation at the Tourist Information Office. They direct us to a guesthouse further inland which has only that week started taking visitors. That night we decide to dine in. At dinner we meet the only other guests a couple who are staying just the one night. We quickly discover that they are PETER and JOAN and that they come from Clitheroe in Lancashire. We start to relate our Madeira experience as a coincidence only to find that JOAN 2 is a friend of JOAN 1 and works in the same doctors surgery. Both couples had been firm firm friends for many years.

Dr David James

I was standing outside a sweet shop when 'The Candyman' song from Willy Wonka (perhaps not unnaturally) popped into my head. Walking into a shop five minutes down the road the same song was being played over the tannoy.

Sibling/friend search

At approximately 2pm 06-23-17, I began searching the internet for some old family friends of ours that used to live next door to us. Their family consisted of mom, dad and two daughters. My brother, who is 10 yrs older than I, was friends with the 2 daughters. Their father helped me get a job at a local store around the age of 17. I am now 40 and my brother is 50. My brother now lives about 500 miles north of me. We see each other about once or twice a year and are not super close. My brother moved out of the house between 18 to 20 yrs old. After the neighbors dad helped me get my first job, their family moved a few years later. Contact was not maintained with this family after that point. Today, while at work, I decided to look them up to see where they are in life. I Googled their names and finally found the new (married) last names of the two daughters. One of these daughters my brother was "good" friends with at the time. I first looked her up on Facebook, found her picture, and jokingly sent the pic to my brother via text to see if he might remember who that was by a modern day pic. To my surprise, he replied back IMMEDIATELY with her name.

Same Two Songs.

Alright so this might not be as amazing as I think it is but here we go. Many years ago, around 2012-2015 all I listened to was this beautiful but sad Pandora station that played piano music. I usually let it play in the background of what I was doing but for some reason whenever this one song would come on I'd always take a look to see where this beautiful music came from and the album cover was always from the movie "Amélie". I had never heard of this movie nor did I ever pay attention to the name of the piece but I promised myself that I'd one day watch this movie. Fast-foward a couple of years which would be now, 2017. I started to play this virtual game a couple of weeks ago where you role play living in a city with jobs and everything with people around the world. In this game you can be a musician so sometimes there would be a playable piano. You'd play using the letters on your keyboard. The piano also had sheet music teaching you how to play an array of music, One song I had found was named "Amélie". The name of the song was very familiar to me but I did not recognize the song.

I hate my life

Seems like my life is being run by a fairy tale. I read a book i become the book in real life i watch a television series i become the series i watch a movie i become the movie and if i don't watch the next episode or pause the movie/video etc. My life will predict it's future without me knowing anything about the future part of whatever entertaining media i have been watching. I say something especially with the help of god and it happend, frequently, just right after i say it. My mind is like a child skipping down the street all gleeful and calm. Usually when i start to daydream i am thinking of something completely different than what everyone is talking about and my thoughts intersect with their words. Me finding this page is either a coincidence, prediction, or pure madness It feels like my life run's on these things including reacurring events and mind reading, and whatever other psychic stuff there is out there. I hate these things so much. Q.Q

A Deceased Mother and the Hummingbird

Everything here is true, but I changed the woman's name for privacy reasons. In 2012 I became acquainted with a woman through the salon she owned. As a client, I saw her once every 4-6 weeks. Our conversations were typical small talk; we never socialized outside the salon. I had only known her a few months when the first coincidence occurred. I woke up around 2 a.m. with a very specific visual image followed by a very specific thought concerning the owner of the salon. I had an overwhelming feeling I was suppose to write it down so I would remember to ask her. And too, I was suppose to record the date as it was important. I climbed out of bed, retrieved my cell phone, and made a notation in my phone's Note app since it time and date stamps each note. When I woke later, I dismissed it as absurd and never called her. But at my next appointment a couple of weeks later, I said to her, "Claire, this is going to sound crazy, but is there something about you and the water?" She responded, "No. Not really. I like dolphins." Feeling stupid, I apologized for the odd question and fell silent.

Two acts of God

On holiday in Gran Canaria in October 1983 kept meeting same Belgian couple - on two day trips and in the Casino on the final night of their holiday. Joke that we can't keep meeting like this. My partner and I never go to same place on holiday twice and neither did they but they always went the same week when they closed their small patisserie in Brussels. One year and two weeks later we met each other again - in Gran Canaria!. Our flight to Madeira had been diverted after strong cross winds meant we couldn't land and tour company had secured overnight accommodation at a newly opened (and virtually empty) hotel on Gran Canaria. We were supervising the loading of our suitcases on the coach back to the airport after an early breakfast as they strolled into the hotel for a late breakfast having landed late the previous night. They should have been holidaying in Rhodes on their normal dates but a fire in their patisserie meant they had to change plans at the last moment and the only holiday they could get at such short notice while the damage was repaired was at a newly opened (and virtually empty) hotel on Gran Canaria.

Same situation, same post

On a holiday flight to Cyprus (October 78) chat to man in next seat - surname Botham (like famous cricketer but pronounced differently) - who was ex RAF having served in Cyprus and is bursar at small Welsh private school. On return flight from LA (July 79) sat next to couple flying back from Hawaii - get chatting and he too is ex RAF having served in Cyprus and is bursar at small Welsh private school! Having explained the coincidence to him it turns out that Mr Botham had retired after mild heart attack and he is his replacement.

Mutual friend coincidence

I was making polite conversation with a male co-worker from the large London open plan office we both work in whilst the kettle boiled in the shared kitchen where I work. Gazing out of the window at the sunny day we remarked how glorious it was and that it was only going to get better over the weekend. I mentioned I was going to Strasbourg the next day. ‘That’s funny’ the man said, ‘my mother is also going to Strasbourg tomorrow’. He added that his mother was going to a wedding to which I remarked "I'm going to a wedding too - isn't that strange?" ‘Are you going to Paul Wilson’s wedding?’ he asked. I was stunned, I am Paul Wilson’s stepmother and his mother was Paul Wilson’s mother’s best friend and he had known Paul for much of his childhood.

I'm keeping my son off the road the second Tuesday in June!!

Two nights ago, Tuesday, June 13, my 16-year old son hydroplaned his car during a storm taking a left in an intersection. He went off the road smashing his car into a mailbox and a parked truck. Thankfully he and no one else was injured. The car was towed and may be totaled.<br /> Yesterday we realized it was the exact same day (the second Tuesday in June) that he was involved in a golf cart accident the year before.<br /> Last year our family went to Ocean Isle beach, NC. June 11-18. My son was 15 and had his driving permit. In Ocean Isle, golf carts can ride on streets with cars. My son was driving my 80-year old parents and my brother down the road (called a highway) in front of the beach home we were staying in. A car headed for them over the center line and my son over compensated to get out of the way. The golf cart flipped over after hitting gravel and they were dragged 25 feet on the road. My brother had a concussion, miraculously my parents were not hurt and my son had bad road rash and a dislocated elbow. He went through 6-months of physical therapy.<br /> Both accidents happened in the evening on the exact same day one year apart.

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