What are the odds I'd see you here? If you've ever experienced an almost supernatural-seeming coincidence, then you know what it feels like. You get chills and goosebumps dot your arms. It feels like encountering a tear in the space-time continuum, or stumbling upon a hotspot for transcending reality's limitations.
Ok, that's somewhat hyperbolic. But it does feel weird! Redditor Balls_On_A_Grinder asked, 'What million-to-one-odds have you witnessed?' and the answers were wild. The most mind-blowing anecdotes are listed below. Try to avoid reading while stoned unless you have several hours to kill. Whoa, man.
1. IncognitoDefacto has a way with words, tbh.
Was having a slingshot war with rocks in the woods because that's what 13yo kids do. Steve and I see each other on parallel trails and we both let one fly. The rocks hit mid air and ricocheted at perfectly at 90 degree angles.
Was at a company picnic when Eli comes to say hi and we give a quick handshake, but we could tell something was weird. We released the handshake a bee flew out.
2. PubScrubRedemption's family has something odd-s going on. Get it?
I was born on June 3, as was my grandfather... and so was his father.
3. Must've been a beautiful sight, ontrack.
Was on a commercial flight that flew right past the space shuttle when it was taking off. Had a perfect view out the window.
4. Back2Bach witnessed some medieval sh*t.
I saw a gargoyle fall from the perimeter of a lofty steeple.
Instead of smashing on the sidewalk or hurting someone walking below, it "miraculously" landed in dense shrubbery in the churchyard - completely unscathed.
5. Mrthedude87 is a miracle baby.
My mother had a large section of her uterus removed after giving birth to my older sister, and her water broke 9 days before I was actually born. I was born with minimal complications and no birth defects.
When she first told the doctor she was pregnant for the second time, apparently he just looked up at her and said "no, you're not". Then after doing a pregnancy test, he told her "your husband is a hell of a shot" apparently the pregnancy alone was a million to one.
When her water broke, the nurses told her it hadn't and that she must have just pissed herself and sent her home. It wasn't until 9 days later when the contractions ramped up that they went back and the doctor that prepped her was furious she was sent home in the first place. Apparently when I was born I looked like a shriveled up prune but had no major medical complications. This always amazes a friend of mine since her niece was born about a day after her mother's water broke under similar circumstances and has required intense therapy since birth for cerebral palsy.
6. Ragnel spins quite a tale.
I went to South Africa in 1988 with my father who was a research cardiologist at the time. The trip was for a symposium on the side effects of a blood thinning drug on which he had just completed a large study. During one of the breaks, we drove about 2-3 hours out of Johannesburg to a wine region to tour a winery. Joining our party were the two other cardiologists currently conducting research on the drug. One of the doctors was from Italy, and one was from Venezuela. At lunch, an older woman at the table next to ours passed out and fell on the floor hitting her head fairly soundly. It was lucky that she happened to be sitting next to three doctors who could attend her while we waited for the ambulance. What was crazy was that when they were talking to her about her medical history, she was taking the medicine they were studying. It turns out the dosage she had been prescribed was dangerously high which could cause black outs and unconsciousness. I’m not sure what the odds are off passing out in rural Africa while sitting next to the three foremost medical experts in the world (and those experts having come from three other continents) on your blood thinner’s side effects, but I’d imagine the odds are pretty low.
7. slartibartjars discussed gambling. Apropos!
Not one million to one. But working for a casino I did spin the 1-50 top prize (big wheel) three times in a row.
8. cke324 proves that kismet exists, no?
Years ago, long before GPS was available to the general public, I was travelling for work. I was 4 states away from home in a city I had never been to before. I had to be at a location my company was in the process of building. I needed to hit an ATM so I'd have some cash in my pocket and found a bank in the parking lot of a small mall. While standing on line at the ATM, I turned around and asked the guy behind me if he knew how to get to <my destination>. He looked at me and yelled <my name>!!! It was someone I had worked with for a few years at a previous job, about 5 years earlier and 1,000 miles away.
We went to lunch, agreed to keep in touch, then never did.
9. life_bytes shared a recent, unbelievable story.
This happened last night: at a dive bar in Brooklyn , the bartender and I were bored so we invented a game that involved throwing a nerf football from one end of the bar in attempt to hit the back wall (it was dead so nobody was in harms way). After an awful throw , the bartender runs to retrieve the football, and out of the blue yells “go deep”, then proceeds to fire a 100mph spiral directly at me. I dodge out of pure fear and the football crashes into my pint of beer and shot glass. Both items go flying at full speed off the bar into the ground making a very loud shattering sound. We both go “omg” and he walks up to clean the mess when he holds his hands over his mouth in pure terror, looks me in the eyes and says “I killed a mouse!”
Sure as shit under the broken pint glass, dead middle of the floor laid the fresh corpse of a mouse who just so happen to be running from one side of the bar to another and the pint glass landed exactly, directly on him when it flew off the bar.
We are convinced this was a mouse “final destination moment”. We’re still in disbelief.
10. birdsRdinosaurs defied odds in the kitchen.
I cracked an egg with a tripple yolk im 2018. Apparently the odds are around one in 25 million.
11. Times_Hunger
My dad took me to a baseball game when I was about 13. Several seats down was a guy who had just bought a hot dog. Right as he was getting ready to take a bite, a bird pooped on it.
He didn't take a bite of the hotdog, but his mouth had been open and, judging by his yelling, spitting and cursing shortly after, he must have gotten some "splash contact" in his mouth from the impact of the poop hitting the hot dog and some bouncing off.
12. felisrufus's daughter is incredible. What a note to end on.
My daughter.
Looking at her, you wouldn't really know anything was wrong. We didn't know anything was wrong until she had a seizure (that we saw). Just to rule out anything, they did an MRI totally thinking she just had benign epilipsy. Nope. She's missing about 30% of her brain
She had a stroke a couple weeks before she was born. We have to deal with seizures and some other cerebral palsy related physical issues, but the doctors say one more millisecond of stroke and she would have been a 40 week stillbirth.
We've had doctors see the MRI and not her and think they walked into the wrong room. They expected to see a non functional child in a wheelchair.