10 Historical Coincidences That Are Too Weird to Ignore
History is full of uncanny coincidences that make us question whether fate is at play or if it's just a series of bizarre yet undeniably connected events.
- Alyana Aguja
- 5 min read
History is replete with bizarre coincidences that defy probability and look too unlikely to be coincidence. From the unexplained similarities between U.S. presidents Lincoln and Kennedy to the bizarre coincidence surrounding the Titanic and its on-screen twin, these events blur the lines between fate and chance. Investigating these bizarre connections not only stimulates interest but provides a compelling filter through which we can view history and the invisible threads that weave it together.
1. Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy’s Parallels
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Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, two U.S. presidents, have striking similarities. Lincoln was elected in 1860, and Kennedy in 1960, precisely 100 years apart. John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre, and Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy in a car known as a “Lincoln” in a motorcade.
2. The Titanic and the Novel Futility
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Before the Titanic disaster, a novel called Futility (published in 1898 by Morgan Robertson) foresaw a disaster almost the same as it. In the novel, a vessel named the “Titan” collides with an iceberg and sinks in the North Atlantic—just as the Titanic did 14 years later. Both vessels were termed “unsinkable,” and the novel even had identical numbers of passengers and lifeboats.
3. The Deaths of King Charles I and Louis XVI
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The executions of English King Charles I in 1649 and French King Louis XVI in 1793 shared peculiar parallels. Both were tried, condemned to death, and beheaded in public using the guillotine. Charles I’s execution occurred on the 30th of January, and Louis XVI’s on the same date—144 years later to the very day.
4. The Death of Horace Walpole and George Orwell
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Horace Walpole, the English author of the 18th century, passed away in 1797. In his dying moments, he allegedly uttered, “I feel my death approaching, and I hope I will not have to endure much more suffering.” A full 132 years later, George Orwell, whose birth name was Eric Arthur Blair, passed away on January 21, 1950. His iconic final words: “At least I have had a good death.” Some historians find it rather strange that both were associated with the notion of suffering prior to death.
5. The Curse of the Pharaohs’ Coincidence
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When Lord Carnarvon, who sponsored the 1922 excavation of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, suddenly died after being bitten by a mosquito, the press blamed it on the curse of the pharaohs. In the years that followed, several members of the expedition suffered unexplained deaths, including George Gould, who died soon after Carnarvon, and this created widespread belief in the curse. However, some scientists point out that many of these men survived as long as or longer than typical lifespans for their time, questioning the “curse.”
6. The Lincoln-Kennedy Assassination Coincidences
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The year 1963 saw President John F. Kennedy’s death, and a presidential assassination occurred exactly 103 years prior to that in 1865: Abraham Lincoln’s. Both presidents were assassinated while riding in a car. Both assassins, Booth and Oswald, were also killed before they could stand trial, and both were born in cities that were named after kings. John Wilkes Booth was born in Bel Air, Maryland, and Lee Harvey Oswald was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
7. The Coincidence of the Great Fire of London and the London Plague
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The Great Fire of London in 1666 coincided with the aftermath of the Bubonic Plague, which had been destroying the city for years. The 1666 fire, which began in a bakery on Pudding Lane, burned most of the city, but historians contend that the fire cleaned the city out of the plague since it killed fleas, rats, and germs. The fire’s tragic timing seems like an unlikely yet necessary cleansing, as it allowed the rebuilding of London and halted the rampant disease.
8. The Story of the Double Assassination
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In 1906, the U.S. and the U.K. witnessed uncannily similar attempts on their monarchs’ lives. In the U.S., President Theodore Roosevelt narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when a gunshot disrupted his speech but went on speaking for more than an hour. On the other side of the ocean, King Edward VII of the U.K. escaped an attack by a gunman who was apprehended before he could fire, both assassins being unusually composed under pressure.
9. The “Pope’s Coincidence” of 1943
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At the time of World War II, there was an interesting incident that took place with Pope Pius XII. In 1943, a man named Juan Perón, who would later become the president of Argentina, visited the Pope at the Vatican, and Pius XII strangely gave Perón a coin. The Nazis later utilized the very same coin to monitor the Pope’s movements, giving a connection between the Pope, war, and world politics that seemed chillingly prophetic.
10. The Coincidence of the Two Pyramids
Image from National Geographic
Egypt’s ancient pyramids, constructed centuries decades apart from one another, hold a phenomenal geographic relationship. Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza and Khufu Pyramid, although constructed millennia decades away from each other, both orient nearly exactly on the true north. The enigmatic precision of such alignments of the ancient pyramids decades ago in long-lost periods still evokes disagreements among archaeologists and historians because nobody yet completely knows how ancient Egyptians used only minimal technology to accomplish all of this.