Do you ever get that strange feeling of deja-vu?
You’re walking down the street and you see the exact same person that you saw yesterday
- and they’re doing the /exact/ same thing.
Or you run into someone that you’ve never met before - you both get talking, and you
realise that you’re both born on the /same day/.
Or - I don’t know, a strange Number that always crops up in your day-to-day.
When you wake up, you check your phone and it’s 8:02.
And then when you buy lunch, the bill comes to 8.02.
You’re in math class, and the equation you’re working out - you guessed it - 802.
The world is jam packed with incredibly insane coincidences that, most often, our brain just
refuses to explain.
It’s so mindboggingly weird that we just have to chalk it up to the universe doing
it’s thing and messing with our heads - because for the most part,
they’re unexplainable.
We don’t really have an answer.
Our brain just has to shrink back and say, *beats me* - must be the universe playing
tricks.
Well, let’s jump in.
Welcome to Most Amazing Top 5 - I’m your host Jack Finch - and this is 5 Scary Coincidences
That You Won’t Believe Are Real.
Starting us off at Number 5 - we have the /perplexing/ story of King Umberto the 1st
of Italy.
Nicknamed King Umberto the Good, the Italian leader was generally a well respected figure
across pre-20th century Europe.
He was, however, absolutely /despised/ by European anarchists for his right-wing views.
Nevertheless, on July 28th 1900, King Umberto had a craving for some rustic Italian food,
and headed to dinner at a small restaurant in Monza.
Now this is where things get weird.
When the restaurant owner, who was also named Umberto, began to take the King’s order
- the pair noticed that they were absolute doubles.
They were completely identical in appearance.
Taking the coincidence quite well, the two men began talking and discovered some stranger
similarities.
Both Umberto’s were born on March 14th, 1844 - in the /same town/ of Turin.
Both men had married women named Margherita - on the exact same day - and the restaurant
had also opened on the /exact same day/ that Umberto was crowned King of Italy.
The pair were completely baffled.
But they had made a strange, cosmic connection - and became friends.
The next day, while King Umberto was holding a public address, he sadly learned that the
restaurateur had *died* in a mysterious shooting.
As he addressed his people to express the regret of his new friend’s death - an anarchist
in the crowd fired four shots into the King, killing him.
Two men - who had been born on the same day, lived near mirrored lives - and then /died/
on the same day.
*Wow.*
Bringing it in at Number 4 - we have the tragically bizarre story of the Ebbin brothers.
In 1975, two brothers from Bermuda - Erskine and Neville Ebbin - tragically met their demise
at the hands of a downright insane coincidence, where the odds of it happening are near astronomical.
At the age of 17, Neville Ebbin was riding his moped on the island of Hamilton, Bermuda.
As he was making his way across an intersection - he was knocked down by a taxi, who was carrying
a passenger.
The incident *sadly* killed Neville.
A year later, on the exact same day, Neville’s younger brother Erskine - who had also just
turned 17 - decided to go out on a ride to remember his lost brother.
He had fixed up the moped that Neville had tragically died on - and decided to go on
a ride in the same part of the island.
As he was passing the same intersection - Erskine was knocked down dead by a taxi.
It was the /exact/ same taxi - driven by a man named Willard Manders.
/What the hell people?/
According to the boys father, John Henry Ebbin - /even/ the passenger in the car was the
exact same person.
It’s like the universe ran out of tape to play and just hit repeat - and this story
is /actually/ real - as in, you can read news reports about it and check their obituaries.
Wow.
Coming in at Number 3 - we have the strange /attempted/ execution of Joseph Samuels.
In 1803 - in Sydney, Australia - ten men were tried and sentenced for the robbery of Mary
Breeze - and the murder of a man named Josef Luker.
Of the ten men - five were acquitted, and five were sentenced to death by hanging.
Joseph Samuels was one of those men.
According to the Sydney Gazette - the sentence was carried out on September 26th, 1803.
Before the execution, however, it was later revealed that one of the men who had been
acquitted, a man named Simmonds, was actually the sole perpetrator of both crimes.
He had stolen the money from Mary Breeze, and was caught by Josef Luker.
Simmonds had killed Luker to protect himself.
Samuels had known this all along - and with his head in the noose - he calmly explained
to the crowd that he was innocent.
Simmonds, who was also in the crowd, tried to cut him off and accuse him as a liar - but
Samuels was adamant the he was innocent.
At 10 AM, the execution went ahead - and the gallows cart was kicked from under Samuels.
The rope immediately snapped in two, dropping Samuels face first to the ground.
Frustrated, the police grabbed another rope and placed it around his neck.
Again, the car was pulled away - but this time, the rope began to spin and unwind itself
- lowering Samuels freely to the ground.
People in the crowd were convinced they were witnessing a miracle, and called for Samuels
to be pardoned.
The police, however - grabbed another rope - and strung him up for a third time.
Again - the rope snapped.
Moved by the scenes, the crowd called for his pardon - which was granted.
Samuels survived.
Later, the Sydney Gazette reported that an experiment was performed on one of the ropes
that had snapped the same day.
It was found that not only could it support a weight of 392 pounds, it could do this with
two out of three strands cut.
He survived three separate hangings in a matter of minutes.
Blind luck?
Maybe.
Crazy Cosmic Coincidence?
Damn straight.
Bringing us in at Number 2 - we have the incredibly miraculous story of the perfectly timed car
repairman.
Now, the exact verification of this story is tentative at best - with some believing
that it was reported in the Las Vegas Sun in the late 90s.
It was also picked up in the book, Tricks of the Mind, written by famous British illusionist
- Derren Brown.
Whatever the version, the apparently true story begins with a car repairman - who was
out on a call in the middle of nowhere.
A car had broken down out on a remote highway, and he was the only breakdown cover for miles
around.
After he finished the job - he began walking back to his truck, when a nearby telephone
box started to ring.
He answered it - and strangely enough, the caller knew his name.
She began talking to him about a business appointment that he had the next day.
The repairman was baffled - but he recognised the voice on the phone - it was his secretary.
Asking her how on Earth she’d known to call the exact same payphone that he was walking
past, she replied that she hadn’t.
She’d called him on his mobile.
He explained to her - that no, she hadn't called his mobile.
She’d called the middle of nowhere phone box that he just so happened to be walking
past.
She insisted that she’d called his mobile - and checked the piece of paper that she’d
written his number down on.
It was then that she’d realized her mistake.
Instead of dialing his mobile number, the secretary had dialled the repairman’s payroll
number - which she’d just so happened to write on the exact same piece of paper.
And that payroll number - just so happened to be - the exact same telephone number of
the /exact/ same payphone that he was walking past at the /exact/ same time.
*Phew.*
And finally - bringing it in at Number 1 - we have the Curse of the Little Rascals.
Now, I’m not sure if any of you have seen the 1994 version of the film - it’s great
- but the Little Rascals was originally a short 1920’s sitcom about the misadventures
of a group of neighbourhood kids in America.
By the time The Little Rascals became its own TV show in 1955 - strangely, five of the
original actors had /already died/.
Billy Laughlin had been hit by a truck and killed at the age of 16.
Norman Chaney passed away at 21 from a glandular disease - and Clifton Young, who played the
character Bonedust, fell asleep whilst smoking and died in a fire at the age of 33.
Two of the original cast were also killed in action during World War 2.
Donald Haines and Bobby Hutchings.
But … strangely enough - it doesn’t stop there.
In 1959 - the lead star of the show, Carl Switzer - who played Alfalfa - was shot to
death over 50 dollars at the age of 31.
Even his own brother had died an equally tragic death - and that guy was /only/ an extra in
the show.
Scotty Beckett died from a cocktail of drugs, alcohol and brawling - and Dorothy Dandrige,
an Academy Award nominee - tragically overdosed at the age of 42.
Not even those who’d made it to old age could avoid horrific ends - in May 2002, 71
year old Darwood Kaye was mowed down in a hit and run accident - and a few months later,
87 year old Jay R. Smith was violently stabbed to death by a homeless man.
In total - pretty much the /whole/ cast of The Little Rascals met tragic ends, with only
2 of them actually passing away from natural causes.
*Before the age of 50 may I add*
Only one survivor - Robert Blake - managed to escape the curse.
Although … in 2002, he was found /not guilty/ of murdering his own wife.
Cosmic coincidence?
You decide - this whole things just, kinda, - messed up.
I don’t know.
Well - that’s all we’ve got time for today guys.
Let us know what you thought of this video in the comment box down below.
It’s always appreciated.
You’ve been watching Most Amazing Top 5 - I’ve been your host Jack Finch, and until
next time - take it easy.