All of us experience coincidences at one time or another. Some are more amazing and thought-provoking than others, but each leaves a lasting impression on us about the synchronicity of the universe and how random things can happen to us. These surreptitious occurrences remind us of the universe’s synchronicity and the randomness of events that can occur, and often fill us with a profound sense of wonder about the world around us.
Everyone, I believe, has a story to tell of something interesting that happened in their past. Whether it’s a surreptitious promotion, a dream that came true, or a lucky turn of events following a run of bad luck, I’m sure anyone reading this has at least one such tale to recount. In this post, I’d like to share with you 17 of my most interesting experiences. When I say interesting, I mean experiences that left me wondering if there are deeper layers to reality beyond what we perceive. Life, if we’re fortunate, gives us thousands of days, and the sheer number of those days almost guarantees that something bizarre or miraculous will occur.
As a published writer in the suspense genre, I thrive on crafting stories filled with intrigue and mystery. My passion for suspense drives me to seek out true-life stories that inspire and enrich my work. I believe that real-life experiences, with their unexpected twists and chilling details, provide the perfect foundation for compelling narratives that captivate readers and keep them on the edge of their seats.
To keep things focused and avoid unnecessary digressions, let me dive right into sharing 17 of my most wacky and bizarre experiences—which still leave me reflecting on the profound mysteries of life today. As you read, I hope you find moments that resonate with your own experiences and provoke thought about the marvels and mysteries of world around you.
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1) 156, 666, and 1408
I was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about 8 years ago on my way to a job interview, if I remember correctly. I think I may have been on my way to the job that I had already been hired at. But, anyway, on the way to the bus stop, I passed the parking lot and on the display screen I noticed three numbers. Here is a photo from that weird morning:
As you can see, the numbers are quite interesting: 156, 666, and 1408. The latter is the name of a famous and quite scary movie by Stephen King based on his own short story of the same name. 666 is considered a good luck number in some cultures, though in most it is a portent of bad luck. As for 156, I understand that adherents of numerology consider it a lucky number. That morning was certainly out of the ordinary.
2) Greyhound & The Mysterious Twin Nurse Encounter
In May 2000, while traveling from Florida to Chicago, I fell ill on a bus and had to be hospitalized in Georgia for several days. Once admitted, I went through the usual routine: providing my name, personal information, and the reason for my stay. One of the nurses, a young man, was very friendly and asked me questions about my life. I enjoyed our conversation, though I don’t recall the details. The next day, another nurse entered my room and began asking me questions. I answered, thinking nothing of it, until I realized he was asking similar questions to those I had answered the day before. It didn’t immediately dawn on me those were the same questions, but then the realization suddenly hit me. I asked him, sharply but politely, Didn’t I answer those questions yesterday? It turned out that this nurse was the twin brother of the one from the previous day. But the five minutes before his confirmation surely felt surreal. I believe also it was on my second day during my hospital stay I was sitting in the day room watching TV, when suddenly, I noticed they were talking about that weird game in Chicago against the Dodgers, where the catcher had an incident with the fans. Baseball aficionados, especially those from Chicago, will immediately know what I’m talking about. I had to blink my eyes to see whether or not it was real, and it was. That only added to the surrealness of the whole state. The coincidence was both amusing and strange, leaving me with a memorable and eerie feeling. One part that I didn’t mention, which is actually the creepy prelude to this whole story, is that on the bus on the way to Chicago, a man beside me had offered me a 7-UP and was making weird advances. He even put me on the phone with some guy who he said was rich and that “he would take care of me as house.” [Folks, this is a true story]. It became apparent to me only years later after that, that this person who had been following me, perhaps knew (of?) or had met me at the youth hostel that I was staying at on Miami Beach—where I’d been talking to everyone “everything”–and was trying to lure me into a place, and I likely would not have been seen again.
3) Wrong Number, Right Adventure: My Vietnam Tale
In November 1997, I took a solo trip to Vietnam. It is one of the most exciting and interesting countries I’ve visited, and I mention it in my article, 10 of the Most Interesting Places I’ve Traveled To. That year was the first time Americans were allowed into the country after decades. The woman who showed me around Hanoi, the country’s capital, I had met through a chance phone call. Three months prior, I had dialed a number from a Lonely Planet travel guide and ended up with the wrong number. I wasn’t sure if the woman spoke English, so I asked her. To my surprise, her English was quite good, and I introduced myself and informed her that I would be traveling to the country in several months. Long story short, she agreed to meet me, and I had the opportunity to see some parts of the city.
4) Yankee Stadium for the First Time on My 10th Birthday
This story I’ve already mentioned in my article, My 11 Top Baseball Experiences That Shaped My Love for the Game. Our Bronx neighborhood had a day center we frequented after school, mainly for ping pong and board games. Occasionally, the center would get us tickets to baseball games. One memorable day, my neighbor knocked on our door with news that the center had tickets to Yankee Stadium, coinciding with my 10th birthday. About six of us went, sitting ten rows behind the Yankee dugout. The Yankees played the Baltimore Orioles and won that day. Over the years, we attended more Yankee games, including a memorable match against the Red Sox in 1986, the year they faced the Mets in the World Series. But that first game remains unforgettable.
5) The Number 12
Twice the number 12 came up at random times during my life in moments that were important. The first time was my elementary school graduation. It happened on my 12th birthday. The teacher that year is someone I write about in my article, “The Greatest Teacher I Ever Knew.” He taught me so much, and we kept in touch throughout the years, even as an adult. Feel free to read the article. Anyway, the second time the number 12 came up in my life was when I took the test for the specialized high schools of New York City. My first choice school was a prestigious alma mater in New York City. Although I did reasonably well on the test, I didn’t score enough to get accepted (the first question on the test was a multiple choice for the word ‘squalor,’ and I didn’t know at the time with the word meant. I think that question may have cost me. The number of points by which I missed the test: 12. The minimum score was 500, and I fell within 12 points.
6) 1999: The 99-Year-Old Who Shared My Birthday
In the summer of 1999, I traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, to visit friends of a relative. We were invited to the home of an elderly man. This man seemed spry and coherent, and we spoke about many things, including life in the past. At one point, I asked him how old he was, and he told me he was 99. I could not believe it. And I asked for his birthday, and, to my amazement, he told me he was born on the same day I was. To this day, I still have doubts about his age and birthday, as I do with the picking the three numbers story, but I thought I’d add it to my post because he was such an interesting person.
7) The Eerie Encounter at the Park
I won’t mention the city or the country because the point of my post is not to single out a particular place as being paranoid. One day, I got lost in a neighborhood and needed directions. I walked into a store, and the cashier, who seemed kind, told me she didn’t know where the location was. I thanked her and left. As I was leaving, I encountered a man on his way to the same store. He also didn’t know the location and asked if I had been to the store minutes before. I confirmed that I had. Eventually, I found the place—it was a beautiful, expansive park. I sat down to read, and soon noticed a man about 30 feet away on a bench, reading a book. It wasn’t until recently that I wondered if he might have been a security guard or police officer, observing me for any suspicious behavior. What truly creeped me out, though, was discovering later that the park had once been a cemetery. This realization gives me chills every time I think about it, even more so than the thought that I might have been followed and that the man in the park could have been armed.
8) Brooklyn Tech “Alumnus”
I attended Brooklyn Technical High School in New York City. Those of you from the city know that it is a specialized high school that requires an admissions exam. The test is a competitive one, and I was lucky to score enough for acceptance, even though my second-choice school, Bronx High School of Science (after Stuyvesant, which was my first), I missed by 12 points. One day, it so happened that I went to the community center located downstairs in my building. This was a place we frequented after school. They had board games, ping pong, and other activities you could partake in after school. It was always a fun time, and I especially enjoyed playing ping pong with my buddies. One day, the director had a woman beside him, and he began telling me how she also attended Brooklyn Tech. I was also told she lived in the same building. I didn’t think much of it. One afternoon after school, I noticed her standing outside of the school. This is the first and only time I’d ever seen her at Tech. The school itself had thousands–over 5k, to be exact (the largest in the state)–of students, so standing right beside her would have been somewhat of a coincidence, though I didn’t think too much of it. Another day, she was in the elevator with me, and we had a brief conversation, though I didn’t ask her anything specific about Tech. Only about two years ago did I realize that this woman did not attend Brooklyn Tech. The scary part for me, though, is that whenever I think about that meeting in the elevator, I see her exiting and walking in the hallway, pretending that she lived in the building, and then going down the stairs. I can almost see it vividly in my mind, even though I don’t know that’s what happened, I immediately get filled with chills when I picture in my mind’s eye that scene moments after I met her in elevator, even more so than imagining the face while alone with her. Who would’ve done such a thing? I don’t know, but it could have been someone trying to see whether or not I truly did attend that school. There was no bad intention or anything, but it still gives me the creeps.
9) 222,2222
YouTube is one of my favorite sites on the internet. It has a wealth of knowledge and entertainment that helps to pass the time while educating me. About a year ago, I was surfing the platform, when I suddenly happened upon a video. Much to my amazement, I looked at the views for the video and saw that it was at 222,222. I blinked my eyes, not believing what I just saw, and when I reopened them, it was still at that number. Thinking that perhaps this may have been a glitch, I refreshed the screen, and the number with only twos was gone.
10) The Mysterious and Chilling Encounter with a Former Classmate
In 1995, I was searching for a job and used someone I knew as a reference. It may seem like a minor issue, but this small gesture led to an unsettling experience. I didn’t know that the person I listed as a reference lived with someone else. To be honest, I might have still used their number and name as a reference, as I was quite socially awkward at the time. Sometimes, when we look back, we regret our actions and wish we had done things differently, which is how I feel about this situation. But let me get to the eerie part. The person whose number I used as a reference was not pleased with my decision. One day, as I was returning from the post office and entering my building, I noticed someone who seemed familiar. On the ground floor, as she passed by, I thought about asking her if we knew each other. After inquiring, I quickly asked if she had attended a certain school. She confirmed that she had. I mentioned that my grandma lived in the building and that I was heading home. I don’t remember her exact response, but I think she also had family members living there. About three years ago, I saw her photo on Facebook with the words “RIP” underneath it. You might think there’s nothing to be afraid of, but whenever I think about that building and the encounter on the ground floor, I get the creeps. It reminds me of a popular “Twilight Zone” episode, 22, where a patient fears he will board a plane without his nurse, but she suddenly appears and says, “Room for one more!”
11) Winning Monopoly by $1
At the center in the Bronx that I mentioned, they had board games that we played. Occasionally, there would be a tournament. One day, we had a Monopoly tournament. The final game must have lasted two hours. When it came time to count the money, I discovered I had won by just $1. Everyone, including myself, was astonished, so we recounted the money twice, and each time, the result was the same: I had bested everyone by $1. The suspense of the final count was intense, and the small margin of victory made the win even more memorable. It was an unusual and amusing experience, leaving us all laughing about how a single dollar had made the difference. The event became a legendary story among us, symbolizing the thrill and unpredictability of friendly competition.
12) A Lucky Number that Never Was
My parents were not gamblers. But I knew people who did dabble in it. In the 1980s, in New York City, there was what’s known as gambling based on horse races. A person could play one number up to four. Of course, the odds of getting a four-digit number correctly are one in 10,000. The odds for a three-digit number are much less, at one in 1,000, but it’s still quite hard. One day I asked my mom to take me to one of these places because I wanted to try it. I was told that it was only for adults. In any case, I gave her a three-digit number. I didn’t dream of the number or anything. It just came up. My mom didn’t play the number. I don’t recall the exact reason. But I do remember that either later on that day or the day after, she informed me that the number came out. I was amazed, to say the least, though I still have my doubts, because when you’re a kid, miraculous things will tend to happen at a greater rate, and you just don’t know if it was the goodness of an adult to children (even the fakers are nice people, because what they’re trying to do is just make a kid’s day) or a true coincidence.
13) A Lucky Find or Just a Dollar?
About 7 years ago, I was traveling in Seattle. One day on the floor, I looked and noticed a dollar bill.
What made the bill stand out was its serial number—starting with a zero, then 22, followed by 66, and finally ending with 999. I asked some folks online about my discovery, and unfortunately, even though the numbers are interesting, it didn’t have much value beyond its original worth of a dollar. But quite an interesting find.
14) A Teacher’s 40th Birthday
Many of you may know that I’m a huge baseball fan, particularly of the New York Mets, a team I’ve followed since the 1980s. Over the years, we’ve experienced many ups and downs. One of the biggest ups was their miraculous comeback in 1986, which, turns out, I actually did not watch. You might ask why? Well, like some folks, I gave up after the second out. I remember Keith Hernandez flying out and thinking to myself, “That’s it,” and was filled with disappointment. A moment later, my stepdad asked if I would like to accompany him to the store. So we went out into the street and passed my elementary school. This part might seem a little corny, but we actually stood in the schoolyard for a while. I don’t know if he was looking for something, but to this day he doesn’t remember that, but I do. Anyway, we stood for about three minutes in the yard trying to find whatever he was looking for. Then we proceeded to the store. I heard some screaming coming from inside. I didn’t immediately know what it was about, but then I learned they were celebrating the Mets’ comeback. That was the miraculous part. The other strange part was that it was actually my teacher’s 40th birthday. Yes, I know it sounds weird, and I’ve tried to explain this verbally to some people. They get the point, but it doesn’t seem as interesting when spoken as it does in writing. I mentioned this teacher in my post, The Greatest Teacher I Ever Knew.
15) 66 in 1991
It was 1991. Other than 2002, 1991 is the only palindromic year that anyone alive today would lived through. Unless you’re a time traveler from 1001. As many of you know, I’m an avid reader. I tried to devour as much as I could in various subjects. Well, that year, for some strange reason, the number 66 would come up often. What? You may be thinking that perhaps this is some sort of crazy thought or not really a coincidence, but hear me out. I spent quite a few hours at the library several times a week. Many times I would open a book and it would land on the same numbered page: 66. Yes, I know this sounds weird, but back then, believe me, it frightened me a bit because it was happening a lot. I’d sit down, take a deep breath, open the book to a random page, and it would land on 66. But not only with books. It would happen also with magazines, like the TV Guide. I still read a lot, but that number doesn’t come up as often as it did back then.
16) The Unexpected Encounter with a “Jeopardy!” Champion
I won’t mention the specific name of this former “Jeopardy!” host, who is famous in New York City and broke records on the show in the 1990s. He is considered one of the top 20 players, at least in my opinion, to ever play the game. Fans of the show, especially those who followed it for many years, will know who I’m talking about. In July or August of 2002, while working for a copy shop delivering documents to law firms, I had a client not far from the famous bronze bull on Wall Street. On my way there, I passed Trinity Church, a well-known tourist attraction. Suddenly, I saw someone who seemed familiar standing in front of the church with a small group of people. I couldn’t immediately recognize him, but then it hit me: this was one of the most famous “Jeopardy!” champions in the history of the show. I approached him and asked if he was that person, and he confirmed it. We shook hands, and he kindly informed me that he was busy and couldn’t chat. It was a brief meeting, but I couldn’t believe it.
17) The Mysterious Roommate Named Rafael
In 1997, I lived briefly in Los Angeles, taking on a few different jobs, mostly in phone sales. One of these jobs–one of my favorite ever–was at Sunset Blvd. and Vine St., in the heart of Hollywood and Vine, a great location. During that first week, I walked to work from my home near downtown LA. One day, I think it was the day I was hired, someone on the bus introduced himself. He told me his name was Rafael and that he was from El Salvador. We struck up a conversation, and long story short, he mentioned that he lived near downtown. We decided to become roommates, and I lived with him for about a month and a half. Unfortunately, I never learned much more about him. The street where he lived had a beautiful name—”Beacon”—and the street number was 720, which seemed interesting. It’s often said that there could be angels among us. Was Rafael an angel? I don’t know. The name Rafael comes from Hebrew and means “G_d has healed,” and the street name, as well as the building number, too might hold deeper meanings.