A bullet that reached its destiny years later
Henry Ziegland thought he had dodged fate. In 1883, he broke off a
relationship with his girlfriend who, out of distress, committed
suicide. The girl’s brother was so enraged that he hunted down Ziegland
and shot him. The brother, believing he had killed Ziegland, then
turned his gun on himself and took his own life. But Ziegland had not
been killed. The bullet, in fact, had only grazed his face and then
lodged in a tree. Ziegland surely thought himself a lucky man. Some
years later, however, Ziegland decided to cut down the large tree,
which still had the bullet in it. The task seemed so formidable that he
decided to blow it up with a few sticks of dynamite. The explosion
propelled the bullet into Ziegland’s head, killing him. (Source:
Ripley’s Believe It or Not!)Twin Boys, twin lives
The stories of identical twins’ nearly identical lives are often
astonishing, but perhaps none more so than those of identical twins
born in Ohio. The twin boys were separated at birth, being adopted by
different families. Unknown to each other, both families named the boys
James. And here the coincidences just begin. Both James grew up not
even knowing of the other, yet both sought law-enforcement training,
both had abilities in mechanical drawing and carpentry, and each had
married women named Linda. They both had sons whom one named James Alan
and the other named James Allan. The twin brothers also divorced their
wives and married other women - both named Betty. And they both owned
dogs which they named Toy. Forty years after their childhood
separation, the two men were reunited to share their amazingly similar
lives. (Source: Reader’s Digest, January 1980)Just like Edgar Allan Poe’s book
In the 19th century, the famous horror writer, Egdar Allan Poe, wrote a
book called ‘The narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym’. It was about four
survivors of a shipwreck who were in an open boat for many days before
they decided to kill and eat the cabin boy whose name was Richard
Parker. Some years later, in 1884, the yawl, Mignonette, foundered,
with only four survivors, who were in an open boat for many days.
Eventully the three senior members of the crew, killed and ate the
cabin boy. The name of the cabin boy was Richard Parker.Twin brothers, killed on the same road, two hours apart
On 2002, Seventy-year-old twin brothers have died within hours of one
another after separate accidents on the same road in northern Finland.
The first of the twins died when he was hit by a lorry while riding his
bike in Raahe, 600 kilometres north of the capital, Helsinki. He died
just 1.5km from the spot where his brother was killed. “This is simply
a historic coincidence. Although the road is a busy one, accidents
don’t occur every day,” police officer Marja-Leena Huhtala told
Reuters. “It made my hair stand on end when I heard the two were
brothers, and identical twins at that. It came to mind that perhaps
someone from upstairs had a say in this,” she said. (Source: BBC News)Three suicide attempts, all stopped by the same Monk
Joseph Aigner was a fairlly well-known portrait painter in 19th century
Austria who, apparently, was quite an unhappy fellow: he several times
attempted suicide. His first attempt was at the young age of 18 when he
tried to hang himself, but was interrupted by the mysterious appearance
of a Capuchin monk. At age 22 he again tried to hang himself, but was
again saved from the act by the very same monk. Eight years later, his
death was ordained by others who sentenced him to the gallows for his
political activities. Once again, his life was saved by the
intervention of the same monk. At age 68, Aiger finally succeeded in
suicide, a pistol doing the trick. His funeral ceremony was conducted
by the same Capuchin monk - a man whose name Aiger never even knew.
(Source: Ripley’s Giant Book of Believe It or Not!)Poker winnings, to the unsuspected son
In 1858, Robert Fallon was shot dead, an act of vengeance by those with
whom he was playing poker. Fallon, they claimed, had won the $600 pot
through cheating. With Fallon’s seat empty and none of the other
players willing to take the now-unlucky $600, they found a new player
to take Fallon’s place and staked him with the dead man’s $600. By the
time the police had arrived to investigate the killing, the new player
had turned the $600 into $2,200 in winnings. The police demanded the
original $600 to pass on to Fallon’s next of kin - only to discover
that the new player turned out to be Fallon’s son, who had not seen his
father in seven years! (Source: Ripley’s Giant Book of Believe It or
Not!)A novel that unsuspectedly described the spy next door
When Norman Mailer began his novel Barbary Shore, there was no plan to
have a Russian spy as a character. As he worked on it, he introduced a
Russian spy in the U.S. as a minor character. As the work progressed,
the spy became the dominant character in the novel. After the novel was
completed, the U.S. Immigration Service arrested a man who lived just
one floor above Mailer in the same apartment building. He was Colonel
Rudolf Abel, alleged to be the top Russian spy working in the U.S. at
that time. (Source: Science Digest)Mark Twain and Halley’s Comet
Mark Twain was born on the day of the appearance of Halley’s Comet in
1835, and died on the day of its next appearance in 1910. He himself
predicted this in 1909, when he said: “I came in with Halley’s Comet in
1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.”Three strangers on a Train, with complementary last names
In the 1920s, three Englishman were traveling separately by train
through Peru. At the time of their introduction, they were the only
three men in the railroad car. Their introductions were more surprising
than they could have imagined. One man’s last name was Bingham, and the
second man’s last name was Powell. The third man announced that his
last name was Bingham-Powell. None were related in any way. (Source:
Mysteries of the Unexplained)Two brothers killed by the same taxi driver, one year apart
In 1975, while riding a moped in Bermuda, a man was accidentally struck
and killed by a taxi. One year later, this man’s bother was killed in
the very same way. In fact, he was riding the very same moped. And to
stretch the odds even further, he was struck by the very same taxi
driven by the same driver - and even carrying the very same passenger!
(Source: Phenomena: A Book of Wonders, John Michell and Robert J. M.
Rickard) |
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