I'm sure most, if not all, remember the old Ripley's Believe or Not! series both in book and TV. It was some very unusual coincidences to say the least. I have linked their site above.  One of the strangest bits of information there is the notoriously famous Spaghetti Trees of Switzerland.  People sent all kinds of inquiries about this Spaghetti Tree in Switzerland.  The only problem, however, is that it was all an incredible prank on, of all days, April 1, April Fool's Day.  People fell for it hook, line and sinker.  Let's take a look at some incredible (allegedly) true stories.  As far as I know, the following are not pranks, but factual in content.

Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler were born 129 years apart.  They also came into power 129 years apart.  Finally, they declared war on Russia, yep, you guessed it, 129 years apart.

In 1660, a ship sunk in the Dover Straits.  The only survivor was Hugh Williams. In 1767, another ship sank in the Dover Straits.  That ship also had just one survivor named Hugh Williams.  In 1820, a ship capsized on the Thames River.  It had one survivor.  His name?  Hugh Williams, of course!

Catherine Eddowes was arrested on September 29, 1888 for being drunk and disorderly.  By 1AM, the next morning, she was sober enough to leave.  When she left, she gave police a false name, Mary Kelly.  That same early morning of September 30, 1888, Cathrine Eddowes was murdered by none other than Jack the Ripper.  Unfortunately, Catherine Eddowes was not the last woman to be butchered by this demon.  Another woman was also murdered among the five known to have been killed by The Ripper.  Her name?  Mary Kelly.

"The War to End All Wars" or more commonly referred to as World War I, was started by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.  But, few know or even care what his license plate was on the car he was killed.  The license plate read, "A111118."  Not much out of the ordinary, right?  Consider this then, the war that resulted from this assassination, ended with an Armistice signed on November, 11, 1918.  Or, if you wish, 11-11-18.

In 1895, cars were just getting started in the United States.  In fact, there are probably more cars in your neighborhood than there were in the entire country at that time.  In Ohio, there were only two cars in the entire state.  Unfortunately, that didn't stop both cars from CRASHING into each other. 

In 1974, a moped driver in Bermuda was killed when a taxi ran into him.  That is a tragedy to be sure.  But, consider this, one year later that man's brother was killed on the same street driving the same moped.  He was hit by the same taxi carrying the same passenger!

A 14th century descendant of Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, was doing his thing in Asia, pillaging and raping his way to the top of notorious conquerors.  When Soviet archeologists opened his tomb, they found an inscription.  The inscription read, "Whoever opens this tomb shall unleash an invader more worse than I."  The date was June 20, 1941.  On June 22, 1941, Hitler unleashed Operation Barbarossa.  The German invasion of the Soviet Union had begun! 

Chew on these little coincidences (or not) this weekend!