Can we have a thread where we share unlikely but true stories?

[letsgowiththat]

I'll start.

My (non English speaking) DGF received an email (in English) from the solicitor of a man who claimed to be the son of a long lost relative from Africa claiming he was basically of princely status and there was an inheritance waiting for my DGF and his siblings.
So basically like the Nigerian prince scam.

Except it was all true and it was a relative who escaped my DGFs home country as he did not want to be drafted into the war and ended up never contacting anyone again and building a small empire in Africa, getting married (multiple times) and having DCs. He willed a small part of his accounts to my DGFs by then deceased mother who was his cousin and then it got passed down and split between my DGF and his siblings by default. Not life changing money but one of our favourite stories to tell!

The majority of the emails was done through google translate as well

Does anyone have any "sounds like a lie but is true" stories they'd like to share?

I've been with my partner for 7 years. My car which I bought 8 years ago starts with the first 2 letters of his name and the next 2 letters are the initials of his middle name and surname. My bank card PIN which has been the same number for 30 years is the year of his birth.

Oh I totally forgot about this until I read some of these!

I used to work for a festival in Cannes in France. I went to the opening gala with some of the people from my jury, but it was on the beach and it was raining, so we went into the lobby of the Carlton (very fancy) and started drinking. The guys I was with were Australian and they introduced me to a friend they had bumped into (who was gorgeous). I got chatting to him and he told me he was an actor - I had not long finished a drama degree so was chatting about that. He said he did mainly musical theatre, and I said that was great (I was a classically trained singer myself) and I know it’s hard getting work, tough being a struggling actor etc etc. Then he asked where in London I lived, and it turned out he owned a flat two streets away from me.

It was all very lovely and eventually I went off to speak to some other people and so did he.

A couple of years later I see him on an advert for some dancing show on TV. Except he wasn’t a contestant, he was one of the judges. Then I looked him up and realised he was the male romantic lead in Coyote Ugly, and actually quite a big name in musical theatre. And there i was talking to him like he was some struggling actor... very embarrassing but he was clearly a lovely man who didn’t embarrass me!

Omg I love this thread. I love coincidences. We had a friend who was abroad on a business trip, she sat down and had a coffee with another lady who she didn’t know but was at the same conference (she was a different nationality so no particular contacts) Friend was having a text conversation with her daughter (what are you up too/where are you type thing) the other lady then had a call from her son. It turned out that the daughter and son were also sitting together in a cafe in the U.K. (son was there on some kind of business trip). Neither of the ‘couples’ knew each other prior. Absolutely amazing.

When my grandad was really ill, I had a dream that I was in a shopping centre and I had to run to the other side to get to him, but things kept getting in the way. I got to him a few seconds before he passed away. I woke up as he died and i knew the phone was going to ring. (It was 5am)
10 minutes later the phone rang and it was the care home asking us to go down because he didn't have long left. He died an hour later.
I think it was my grandads way of making sure he wasn't alone.

I once bought a second hand large garden toy on eBay and the seller said they would offer delivery.
We spent a few days debating what type of delivery service to use. When they asked for my address it only turned out to be my next door neighbour. He just delivered it over the fence!! 😂

Grew up on a small farm, in a very small village in the country. Very isolated, not even on a bus route.

Left alone one day in my early teens and the dog randomly started going mad outside. Very unlike him so I went down the yard to the kennel to see what was wrong. There was a huge bull terrier type dog, I’ve never seen before or since, having a serious face off with him that rounded on me as soon as I appeared and hurtled towards me. I knew, that even if I tried, there was no way I could outrun it and it would attack me. So, I stood my ground and faced this dog down. It stopped about 4 feet away from me, snarling and growling, and I slowly backed away until I got to the house. Went back out an hour later and it had gone.

I’m sure my family think I made the whole thing up, no idea where the dog had come from or where it went. I’ve stopped telling the story because I can tell everyone thinks it’s pure bullshit!

1998 aged 22 I was backpacking round Australia on a shoestring getting jobs when I needed money.
Was in Brisbane staying at a hostel where they take your passport as security to make sure you'll pay your bill before you leave (quite normal). I had run out of money, was surviving eating the last of my packet of rice, and struggling to find a job to get myself out of the situation.
I went into city centre to go to the library for the free daily paper to scan job section (that dates this anecdote 😆), nothing doing, seriously dejected I set off to walk back to the hostel and had to cross a public square that was large and always heaving with loads of pedestrians... It was completely empty and a small object was on the floor right in the middle. It was rather strange to walk across this square with no-one at all in it... went over to the object which was a $50 bill! As soon as I picked it up the square filled with lots of pedestrians as it always was.
I decided to sit on the wall and watch to see if anyone came back looking for the money, (it had come along in such a weird way I didn't want to steal it and kind of wanted a sign I should take it). I sat there for an hour scanning the area but no-one came who was looking for something and the square was busy busy the whole time (there is no way if I hadn't picked it up the rightful owner would ever have seen it again). So I took it. Got back to the hostel and while i'd been out, a notice had been put on the notice board advertising a job as a chef in a castle ranch in the northern Territory which I called up about and got. The money I had found paid my hostel bill and got me my passport back so I could leave and I already had a round Oz bus ticket to get me to my destination (where I had a bunch more adventures).

A friend was on holiday in Thailand and got chatting to a British couple who had just got married. They were from Sheffield and my friend said that she only knew one person from there as we all live 200 miles away. That person she knew was my DH.

Turns out that my DH taught both of the couple a few years ago in a school in Sheffield and had seen pictures of their wedding on Facebook via some other friends and shown me earlier that week.

I've won Cluedo on my very first turn. Twice.

In the early 90's I went to Glastonbury. Parked my car in a gigantic car park and walked down to the music area but came back to my car to sleep. Came back to my car on the first evening to get something and saw my brother. It turned out he was parked a couple of cars along from me in the row in front. We'd traveled from completely different areas and I had no idea he even had a ticket.

I now live 250 miles away from where I was born and brought up. Family still reside in same town.
Last year I got talking to a guy who lives on corner of my street, he’s accent wasn’t local either so was talking about where we’re from.
Turns out his brother and kids lived on the same street I did growing up, I even knew his niece when we were kids and didn’t like her much 😂

My Dad was abandoned by his birth Mum when he was 4, when he was in his 60’s he found her in another country, she eventually told him she had another son, that she called the same name , 5 years later, we found out that she had a daughter too, names a similar name as my dad and his brother!

I was on the run from the police.. and in doing so, bumped into some guy that was also on the run from the police. We ended up having an adventure together. Nowt too exciting.. this happened over one evening.. but it was surreal as a hell.
He was naughty, and I was in mental health crisis.

@RealisticSketch

1998 aged 22 I was backpacking round Australia on a shoestring getting jobs when I needed money. Was in Brisbane staying at a hostel where they take your passport as security to make sure you'll pay your bill before you leave (quite normal). I had run out of money, was surviving eating the last of my packet of rice, and struggling to find a job to get myself out of the situation. I went into city centre to go to the library for the free daily paper to scan job section (that dates this anecdote 😆), nothing doing, seriously dejected I set off to walk back to the hostel and had to cross a public square that was large and always heaving with loads of pedestrians... It was completely empty and a small object was on the floor right in the middle. It was rather strange to walk across this square with no-one at all in it... went over to the object which was a $50 bill! As soon as I picked it up the square filled with lots of pedestrians as it always was. I decided to sit on the wall and watch to see if anyone came back looking for the money, (it had come along in such a weird way I didn't want to steal it and kind of wanted a sign I should take it). I sat there for an hour scanning the area but no-one came who was looking for something and the square was busy busy the whole time (there is no way if I hadn't picked it up the rightful owner would ever have seen it again). So I took it. Got back to the hostel and while i'd been out, a notice had been put on the notice board advertising a job as a chef in a castle ranch in the northern Territory which I called up about and got. The money I had found paid my hostel bill and got me my passport back so I could leave and I already had a round Oz bus ticket to get me to my destination (where I had a bunch more adventures).

I love this story. It reminds me of a story an ex boss of mine told me. She was dared to say yes to everything for one day, so had ended up staying at a friend's house miles from home, way beyond the last tube. She started walking home as she had no money on her when a black cab pulled up and asked if she needed a ride so she said yes. She got in, not knowing how to pay but started chatting to the driver. As they chatted he opened up and told her all about his marriage problems. They got to her house and he was still talking. She just let him ramble on, saying 'Yes' to everything as she had been dared, and when he finished telling her his story he told her she'd been so nice, she didn't have to pay. The Fates intervene sometimes.

I was volunteering at a small film festival in Glasgow & got talking to an audience member. We didnt chat for long but both discovered we had each lived in Madrid for a short time.

A year later I had decided to leave my life in Glasgow & move back to Madrid on a teaching placement. I walk in the door the first day to meet the teacher I will be working with and who is it? Yep, it's the woman I had met in Glasgow the year before! We became good friends.

Also in Madrid I was standing in a supermarket queue. I looked at a couple beside me and thought 'that man will be dead soon.' 10 mins later the man collapsed in front of me on the escalator with his wife screaming. It shook me for a day or so afterwards.

When myDD was 13 we visited old family friends. Friend told me her 17 yo DD, let’s call her Jane, was pregnant. We agreed I’d tell myDD later. On our way home I told DD that Jane was pregnant. There was a moment’s silence before DD said. You know Jane is going to have a miscarriage. Later that evening Friend called to say that shortly after we left Jane had started to miscarry. When I toldDD she said quite calmly “Poor Jane, but I knew she would.
Not the first or last time DD has caused me to get goosebumps.

If you are interested in coincidences you might like this radio 4 programme. Really fascinating.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09v2x58

I’ve seen a ghost

I woke up at 3years old screaming the house down that ‘Granny’s dead’. My mother had a phone call at 8am saying that granny had died and my mother calmly replied ‘Thank you, but I knew at 3am when my son told me, thank you for calling and I’ll be in touch later’.

Mine is quite low-key but I will share.... when I was little we had a storybook in the house that I loved, and had doodled in...it vanished in one of my stepmother's clearouts once she decided I had outgrown it. About 15 years later I was at a jumble sale and rummaging on the book stall, I found my book, doodles and all. I didn't buy it, which I now regret, but hopefully someone else is enjoying it still.

@Ratched

My dad was killed when I was four years old, in the Far East. When I was getting married, my mam gave me her wedding ring, which needed adjustment to fit me. I took it intoma back street jewellers in the north east, only for the chap to say ' oh my goodness.....Singapore late 50s, early 60s???'. When I said yes, he told us he had actually made the ring. He made the ring my mam had, in Singapore in 1959. He adjusted the ring for her daughter to wear in 1977 in Sunderland .

This is my favourite

How lovely!

@garlictwist

I don't get the millennium twin one?

Nor me!

Mine is quite low-key but I will share.... when I was little we had a storybook which I loved and had doodled in. My stepmother got rid of it at some point when she decided we had outgrown it. Fast forward about 15 years, I was at a jumble sale and rummaging on the book stall, I found my book, doodles and all. I didn't buy it back, which I now regret, but hopefully someone is enjoying it still and adding their own doodles.

Oops I thought my original post had not saved!

When I was about 16 we went on a family holiday on a canal boat. During the holiday we passed a boat full of very drunk and lairy lads. 2 years later I met my now DH at uni in Scotland. Turns out he once went on a lads holiday, on a canal boat, on the same canal ring at the exact same time as our family holiday but going in the opposite direction.

I'm convinced he was one of the blootered lads we passed.

On a bit of a tour trip for our honeymoon, me and my dh got chatting to a fella in a Bangkok bar. He said he had lived all over the world as his father was in the army, he added we wouldn’t know the place where he was born. Turned out it was the same small village we were both from in Scotland.