Sometimes these events are SO bizarre, as to be worth recording, for possible later use in framing magical presentations. Here's a recent first-hand, verified one I was told. This lady had been dying to tell a friend of hers a particular story, about a person she'd just met. The friend likewise was brimming with a totally different anecdote to tell - but ABOUT THE SAME PERSON!!! Now come on guys - you've all got 'em...

<IMG SRC="/forums/images/smiles/batmoon.gif">

I once had to go to Anchcorage on a business trip. My wife had a cousin who lived up there and she wanted me to look her up.
"What's her name?" I asked.
"Ronnie," she replied.
No last name, as she couldn't remember what her married name was, but she would call another cousin to find out and call me with it the next day.
So I get on the plane and sitting across from me is this woman who looks at me and asks if my name is Payne.
"Yes it is, " I say, somewhat puzzled.
"I thought I recognized you from Marie's wedding photos," she replies. "I'm her cousin Ronnie"
Yup, this really happened.

I have 3. I will keep them short...

1. In 1995, a guy auditioned to play drums in the band I had back then. He tried out and fit in really well. We were hanging out one evening and we started talking about where we used to live. Come to find out, this guy was a kid that I knew when I was 7 years old (he was 5) and had moved away (circa 1973). I hadn't seen him in 22 years. The real kicker was that I knew his older brother's nickname and I remembered that his father had model trains set up in their basement.

2. On a TV show website, someone asked a question about a local celebrity from the 1970's. I answered the question directly to his e-mail address (which did not have his name anywhere in it). He thanked me and then said he lived down the street from someone named Mark Ennis when he was a kid. It was a kid I hadn't talked to since 1978 when his family moved to NJ.

3. I worked at Pepco with a guy that was at a local carnival the same day I was (an incident had occurred at this carnival where some girl had died). I was 9, he was in his mid-20's on a date.

Did I say this would be short? Sorry.

I work in an office next to two people in two other offices. We were all born on 14 May (different years though).

Great stories all, keep em coming! Alan, you may not know this, but your post relates to a so-old-it's-new mental stunt where you correctly 'discern' that in a gathering of forty or so people, two will have the same birthday. Believe it or not, it's a near-certainty mathematically. What's more curious is, I have only just recently been re-investigating this stunt, after many years. And now I get a post from someone who has apparently discovered it quite by accident. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

I was visiting a salt mine in Poland six years ago. In our group were a few visitors. We descended into the mine, and about twenty minutes into the tour, when we were very far under the earth, I turned a corner and walked into a former colleague (also Scottish).

Mind you, "it's a small world" tends to get on your nerves after the 100th time of saying

Cheers

ML

You're right: it's an old probability question. If there are 23 people there is a very slightly better than 50% chance that at least two will have the same birthday. If there are 50 people, the probability increases to 98%.

This happened about 12 years ago when I was living/working in Charlotte, NC (I hadn't gotten into magic at that time but this was better!!). To make a long story a little shorter, I started to flip a nickel to decided something and said, "If this is heads, I'll do one thing. Tails, another. And if it LANDS ON ITS EDGE, the other!!" Well, I flipped it. It landed and bounced a couple times. Landed flat and stood on its edge and STAYED that way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I freaked!!!! I figure my "guardian Angel" decided to have some fun with me or something!!! I still have that nickel in an envelope with the date and time it happened written on it!!!
I've always said since that once in a long time someone will drop or flip a coin and have it end up standing on edge, but has anybody in history ever SAID, "If this lands on its edge..." and actually had it HAPPEN!!!??? I may be the only one EVER!!! (Now, if I could just make that happen every time I flip a nickel...

This one always comes to my mind: I was in college and hadn't talked or communicated with a friend I had in high school for some time. It was at least four years since we had seen each other. I don't remember what piece of information I was trying to look up, but I knew he would know it. I looked his name up in an old personal phone book and picked up the phone to dial. I couldn't hear the dial tone, but I heard some voice.
I said, "Hello."
I heard a "hello" back. There was a moment of a confused pause then I asked, "Who is this?"
You guessed it. He was calling me at the exact same time. It still feels spooky when I think about it, but I never try to add any mystical qualities to it.
Strange things happen just because of all the variables in life. Like they said: If you put a million monkeys in a room for a thousand years, well, boy will it stink in there!!!
Greg

Fantastic! The simultaneous-on-the-phone one is the best of its kind I've ever heard. FTA - WHAT did you decide to do, when the nickel landed on its side!?! The world needs to know!