#1 Cow In A Car

Image credits: MercyLights

#2 Rainbow Clouds In Sweden This Morning

Image credits: Attack_Apache

#3 Male Red-Winged Blackbird With "Smoke Rings", His Breath Condensed On The Chilly Morning

Image credits: Kathrin Swoboda Photography

Let’s say that these amazing photos people were able to capture are a mere coincidence. Still, do we know what that really means? Well, according to its definition, that unlikely meeting of your long-lost classmate on the same vacation island abroad is a “surprising concurrence of events, perceived as meaningfully related, with no apparent causal connection.”

While some tried attributing the reasons for coincidences to physical forces, the collective unconscious, and even extrasensory perceptions, statistics and the law of large numbers tell us that with so much happening everywhere and the vast number of people, it’s not out of the ordinary to encounter rare coincidences.

#4 A Fish Jumps Out In A Perfect Shot Timing

Image credits: Bright-Apartment780

#5 The Sun Shining Through My Fish Tank Aligned Perfectly On Each Knob

Image credits: kjh4087

#6 Lightning Highlighting A Tornado - Fort Worth, Tx

Image credits: crypticthinker

For example, the birthday paradox suggests that theoretically it would only take 23 people in the same room for it to be likely that two or more people will share the same birthday.

This means that even when you’re in a bus or a classroom, it’s probable that you share your birthday with at least two people around you. It seems like an unlikely thing to happen, but it's quite likely to occur, we just aren’t aware of it, so when it happens, we are quick to attribute a special meaning to it.

#7 This Red Only Rainbow I Saw At Midnight In Finland

Image credits: junn0

#8 In This Remarkable Capture By Don Mcleish, A Seahorse Observes A Driver's Watch (And Its Own Reflection) Underwater

Image credits: Don Mcleish

#9 The Silhouette In The Ice Cube Looks Like A Disney Princess

Image credits: Vixi0n

“Pretty much any event or object in our lives has the power to generate coincidences. It’s just that we don’t notice the vast majority because they’re boring – like seeing two blue cars parked next to each other,” said physicist and science writer Robert Matthews.

“But every so often, we think we’ve encountered an incredibly rare coincidence. What we’re forgetting is a basic rule of probability: that even rare events are sure to happen if given enough opportunities. It’s often hard even to estimate the number of these, and thus it’s impossible to gauge their true probability, leaving us feeling baffled and spooked."

#10 People In Bursa, Saw A Bizarre Pink Cloud In The Skies At Sunrise Today

Image credits: anivia3346

#11 These Strange Lights Showed Up In The Sky Over Jeju, South Korea. They Have Been Here For An Hour!

Image credits: snap2

#12 Amazing

Image credits: jsab73

The author of The Improbability Principle and statistician David J. Hand said that “We should expect the unexpected,” while statistician David Spiegelhalter has even summarized a list of the most common coincidences that people have experienced and shared with him.

He has a website where people can submit their stories, and since 2011, more than 4,000 have done so. From this data, Spiegelhalter was able to find that the most common type of coincidence people face is finding a link with someone they meet.

#13 This Tree Grew Over The Sign, But Under The Paint

Image credits: T3nacityDog

#14 Ants Build A Bridge To Cross A Gap

Image credits: lnfinity

#15 Possum Vanload

Image credits: LeftOn4ya

The list of other common coincidences (in order) includes: 

1. Simultaneous occurrence of events
2. Repetition of very similar events
3. Meeting someone you know in an unlikely place
4. A matching date
5. A matching name
6. Finding a link with an object
7. A matching number
8. Parallel stories with multiple matches 
9. An object reappearing 
10. Matching music

#16 Mountain Casting A Shadow

Image credits: Organic-Squirm

#17 Rainbow Insanity. I’ve Been Told This Is A Supernumerary Rainbow Which Are Apparently Very Rare

Image credits: John Entwistle Photography

#18 Photographer Captures One In A Million Photo, But Doesn’t Realize It Untill He Gets Home.. If You Look Closely At This Photo.. Underneath The Bird’s Head There Is A Woman’s Head

Image credits: Daniel Biber

Spiegelhalter says that the most interesting thing about coincidences isn’t really their occurrence but the fact that we notice them. That’s why research has found that coincidences happen to certain kinds of people more often than others. Or are simply noticed by some more than others.

Psychiatrist Bernard Beitman, in his research, found that people who describe themselves as religious, spiritual, self-referential, and meaning-seeking are more likely to be coincidence-prone. He also revealed that people are more likely to see coincidences when they experience extreme emotions of sadness, anger, and anxiety.

#19 I Saw 4 Generations Of Honda Civics, In Order Of Age, All In White

Image credits: Chocolate1ce

#20 Bumped Into Two Strangers With The Same Tattoo

Image credits: LeumasGreen

#21 All 3 People Got Dealt The Same Poker Hand

Image credits: CoffeeSurplus

Spiegelhalter perfectly illustrates the previous point by saying, “Coincidences never happen to me at all, because I never notice anything. I never talk to anybody on trains. If I’m with a stranger, I don’t try to find a connection with them, because I’m English.” Meanwhile, Beitman is the opposite. “My life is littered with coincidences. [...] I got into [studying coincidences] just because, hey, look Bernie, what’s going on here?”

#22 The French Gentleman Spawn Is Broken

Image credits: Naivara_Liandon

#23 I Tried To Take A Picture Of My GF At Lake Moraine, Canada, When Suddenly This Little Guy Joined In

Image credits: kaikajo

#24 A Camera-Less iPhone Issued To My Buddy That Works At A Nuclear Plant. No Cameras Allowed

Image credits: dopeyout

For Beitman, statistics and probability aren’t enough when it comes to studying coincidences. Because they can’t explain it any further than chance. “I know there’s something more going on than we pay attention to,” he says. “Random is not enough of an explanation for me.” So no matter what side you belong to, whether to the probability and chance or meaningful, fate-like coincidence, you are free to choose which one to believe. 

#25 This Egg Has No Yolk

Image credits: TotapoPrincess

#26 My All Black Cat Had Five All White Kittens

Image credits: ChoseSinWon

#27 Found A Stone With Dried Seaweed Attached To It

Image credits: CYBERSson

#28 I Put On My Sunglasses During A Flight, It Turned The Water Rainbow

Image credits: LolasLeaving

#29 These Three Random Men In My Photo Look Like The Same Person

Image credits: thrashbandit

#30 Found A Little Softshell Turtle At The Lake Today

Image credits: Discokitty14

#31 This Transparent Butterfly

Image credits: Mijaafa

#32 I Saw This Hive Of Lady Bugs On A Hike

Image credits: buildingforants

#33 This Blue Lizard I Saw On The Island Of San Andres, Colombia

Image credits: BlueWhiskeyDrinker

#34 Tree Hit By Lightning

Image credits: schlongderich

#35 Caught This Incredible Exploding Meteor When I Went To Rattlesnake Lake In Washington, USA Last Weekend. Zoom In To See The Exact Moment It Explodes In Two

Image credits: chaibhu

#36 My Aunts Cat Has The Word No Circled In His Fur Pattern

Image credits: 04SHADOWRIDER

#37 This Gator Born Without A Tail

Image credits: beyondthebarricade

#38 One Of My Fish Has A Whole Through His Body

Image credits: chillguy1414

#39 This Tree In My Neighbourhood That Has 1 Branch Of An Apple Tree And The Rest Is A Normal Tree

Image credits: Olyverr1014

#40 My View Of The New Volcano Eruption In Iceland

Image credits: TheIntellekt_

#41 My Entire Five Pack Of Reese’s Had No Peanut Butter In It

Image credits: dewkitt

#42 Gorilla Glue Completely Dried Before We Used Any Of It. Cut It Out Of The Bottle

Image credits: TrizziePie

#43 I Cut The Top Off Of A Strawberry And Was Left With A Near Perfect Square

Image credits: reddit.com

#44 The Bubbles At The Bottom Of My Water Glass Look Like A Script Of Some Kind

Image credits: Lilt34

#45 My Wife Grew A Bunch Of Regular Garlic And One Super-Mutant Garlic

Image credits: AConfederacyOfDunces

#46 Found The Cliff This Clif Bar Came From

Image credits: AnGabhaDubh

#47 This Butterfly My Uncle Found Has The Number 88 In Its Wings

Image credits: marckferrer

#48 This Giant Dandelion I Found On My Walk

Image credits: blood_omen

#49 Saw My First Armadillo And It Stood Up To Say Hi

Image credits: HowIMetYourPotter

#50 Was Cutting Down A Tree At A Golf Course And Found A Golf Ball Wedged In It

Image credits: el_tobleronie

#51 This 1969 Dollar Bill We Found In My Dad's Small Money Collection With A 00000001 Serial Number

Image credits: Miss_Behaves

#52 Scary Spider With Human Skull 💀 Face

Image credits: jrkraj1

#53 I Saw This In A Facebook Group. Different Families Same Outfits

Image credits: brneraccnt323

#54 Jackpot

Image credits: TheEarthquakeLady

#55 A Massive Bat Colony In Flight At Sunset

Image credits: GarlicoinAccount

#56 Was At The Beach And Found A Shell With Barnacles On It That Makes It Look Like An Anatomically Correct Heart

Image credits: Cascading-hearts98

#57 My Child That Was Born Last Week Has Natural Blonde Highlights

Image credits: duckfart88

#58 The Fuzz On My Sock Looks Like A Flamingo

Image credits: littleorganbigm

#59 I Accidentally Squished My Glasses Into My Eyeball And It Captured A Perfect Imprint Of My Eye, Including The Cornea

Image credits: Granite-M

#60 I Was Born Without Finger Or Toe Prints

Image credits: jedWanderMouse

#61 My Lh Pinky Finger Has An Extra Joint Crease But No Extra Joint

Image credits: SHoo98

#62 Creepy Rabbit In My Coffee

Image credits: laluminyx

#63 I Got A Paper Cut This Morning. My Thermal Nail Polish Changed Colors Only On The Injured Finger

Image credits: NeonCupcakeSigns

#64 My Beard Grows 1/4 Orange And Is Split At Pretty Much The Middle Of My Chin (Even Extends Up To My Bottom Lip)

Image credits: dr_groove

#65 Vending Machine At Work Made An Error And Distributed Everything All At Once

Image credits: rbards

#66 Found This Amazing Multicolored Autumn Tree While Walking Today

Image credits: Spirited_Lemon_4185

#67 Surreal Self Portrait

Image credits: Noell S. Oszval

#68 The Way The Light Hits This Spiderweb Makes It Look Like A Cd-Rom

Image credits: SweetestSummer

#69 This Hexagon Vein Structure On My Wrist

Image credits: shrekfan46

#70 I Inherited My Grandmas Sewing Supplies And As I Was Putting Them Away Realized I Bought The Exact Same Buttons That She Did Over 35 Years Ago For Me

Image credits: Glitter_Plague

#71 One Of The Eggs I Poached This Morning Came Out Looking Like A Human Heart

Image credits: chicken_statue

#72 My Tooth Has A Big Single Root Instead Of 4 Small Ones

Image credits: Monster_NotWar

#73 Found An Edgepiece In My Bag Of Goldfish

Image credits: dj_mumbles

#74 I Saw My Door In A Book

Image credits: Fashion__ThrowAway

#75 One Of My Laundry Pods Has No Detergent

Image credits: Expensive_Buy_5157

#76 I Can Grip Things Backwards

Image credits: SentientPotato42

#77 I Saw The End Of A Rainbow At The Beach Today

Image credits: SomeoneFromGalar

#78 My Son Inherited My Joined Together Toes

Image credits: Microwavehead

#79 This Bird Landed On My Shirt Today And Fell Asleep

Image credits: McJellyDonuts

#80 I Inherited This Small Gap Between My Middle And Ring Finger From My Dad. Both Hands Are Like This

Image credits: coldchili17

#81 There's A Creepy Baby Face In The Middle Of This Tree

Image credits: _Ozzymandias_

#82 This Cabbage Looks Like A Scary Hallway

Image credits: 6ex_God

#83 Found This Little Guy Today

Image credits: Different_Winter_141

#84 My Daughter Found This Toad In Our Yard Today. We’ve Never Seen A Black Toad In Our Yard Before, But We Often See Other Types In The Spring And Summer

Image credits: No_Language_4649