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?

Aww sorry to rain on your parade but Lucy Sky Diamonds song is code for LSD. It's not about a real girl
Not according to John Lennon. It’s about one of Julian’s friends from when he was a small child, he drew a picture of her. Her name was Lucy O’Donnell.

When I was 10 I went on holiday to Florida, I took a school library book with me (naughty I know!) and in the front of it was my school name stamped in ink along with a little library card with the date I’d checked it out and my surname. I read it there and absolutely loved it, was my favourite ever book (The wild flower girl...not sure it was age appropriate mind!) and I was devastated when I accidentally left it in the villa we had been staying in in Florida. And I got a stern telling off from the school!

Years later, when I was in my early twenties a boyfriend asked me what my favourite book was as a kid. I told him it was The wild flower girl and how I lost it. A few weeks later I got a phone call from the boyfriend (he lived about 40 miles from me) asking me what school I’d gone to. I told him and it turned out he had tried to order my favourite book but he couldn’t get hold of it so went on eBay and ordered a copy of it...from the US! And when it arrived stamped in the front along with a little library card was my school name and the date I’d checked it out along with my surname! It was the copy I’d left 13/14 years ago. It’s now one of my most treasured possessions, it makes me so happy that the book that helped me discover the joy of reading found its way back to me.

My dad and DH's parents went to school together. We'd been together about six months before he mentioned in passing the school that FIL went to and we realised our parents were the same age.

It was so lovely when they were all reunited, our dad's had been really good friends at school. It turns out DH and I had met a few times as toddlers when our families had run in to each other locally.

Another one - When DS1 was three weeks old we took him to have his tongue tie clipped. He'd been really perky afterwards but that evening we snapped a picture of him and he pulled a really sad face. He looked absolutely bereft, when seconds before he'd been perfectly content.
The next day DH was summoned to his parents on his way to work to be told his grandmother had died the evening before. She passed away at the same time as we took that picture of DS1.

My 4 siblings and I all have the exact same birthday.

My 2 youngest children had the same due date as each other;apparently the odds of this are about 1 in 500,000.

However my 2 nephews (DH's sister's children) had the same due date as each other too.

I've no idea what are the odds of it happening to twice in the same family.

@thenewduchessofhastings the odds of me and all my siblings having the same birthday we were told is about 1 in 3,000,0000

Peacemaking to read these with a hot chocolate later when I have peace

Yes I'm not sure I believe the non verbal cousin with autism story only speaking at six as they had nothing else to say before my son is elevan and has severe autism and learning disabilities and non verbal,the reasons he doesn't speak are complex ,not just because he has nothing to say

When I was around 7, we had a new teacher at school. She asked us to draw some pictures of our families, house, pets, etc. to get to know us.

I showed her a picture of my house and she looked rather shocked. I said the road I lived on and she said 'No 8?'

She'd lived there in the 1960s as a child.

At Christmas in the 1980s, I also used to help my Dad out with his charity stuff - visiting elderly people in a local sheltered housing & giving them Christmas cakes.

We met a lady called Miss Williams who I distinctly remember as she was 100 and I'd never met anyone that old!!

To cut a long story short, we found out that she also lived in my childhood home in the 1920s!!! That was before it had an indoor toilet & she remembered having to use the outside privy.

Childhood home is a rather non-descript Victorian semi. Be more of a coincidence if I met someone who hasn't bloody lived there 🤣

A minor one, but at a time when I was very hard up, I lost $20 and was pretty gutted.

Over the next 2-3 weeks, I kept finding $5 notes out in the street, in different places. I think I finally found $15, so not quite the $20 I lost but pretty close!

@GizmoBasil

My 4 siblings and I all have the exact same birthday.

@GizmoBasil Are you quintuplets?

My cousin has asd and was non verbal for the first 6 years of his life. When he was 6 we were all sat round the big family dining table at my grandparents house for Sunday lunch and he piped up to ask 'can somebody pass me the ketchup?' There was absolute silence as he had literally never spoken a word before. When asked why later he said he had never had anything worth saying before!! He talked a fair bit after that and is now a normal talking adult!

🙄

I actually do know an autistic child who didn’t speak until around 8 and when they started it was in full sentences, but it wasn’t because he had nothing to say before then. It was because he had good understanding but coordination issues (apraxia) - once resolved he could talk very easily.

As a parent to non verbal autistic twins I find this so offensive. Believe me, there is plenty my twins would say if they could, the amount of frustration a child of four experiences because they can’t communicate their basic wants and needs is staggering. ASD or not, not being able to speak is a huge challenge for those it affects.

I share the last 4 digits of my home phone number with my parents in the exact same order. They got their phone in 1970 mine was in the 90s. For example 0208* 5678.
Several years later when my son got his first flat we couldn't believe it when his landline had the same last 4 digits but in a slightly different order.

I had moved to another part of London, and lost touch with friends from my old church; shame, but life moves on......
One lunchtime, I collected a friend from the local station, and they suggested a pub lunch rather than going straight home. There was a pleasant one nearby; I'd never been in there, but local reputation was good, so why not?
Another group came in for a meal; a works leaving "do", it turned out. Among them, I spotted a familiar face; she was nowhere near home, but the pub had been selected as near to their workplace. She, like me, had never set foot in there before.
She was so pleased to see me, especially as she was in the middle of organising a youth club reunion, and nobody had my contact details....

@GizmoBasil Are you quintuplets?

I wondered that but I think GB wrote 1 in 300,0000 which is relatively more common than quins at about 1 in 55million (altho' that might be for spontaneously conceived rather than those with intervention).

My great grandmother had two sons. Both were in the forces before WW2 started. Both were believed lost in the last year of the war. In fact they were both alive. The first she knew of it was when she received two telegraphs announcing their arrival back in Britain. One in Liverpool, one in Southampton. Both on the same day.

Oh I also once got one of those 'guess how many pennies are in the tub' thing right to the exact amount. Think I guessed like 1702 or something and it was exactly right. I put the lottery on that night. Didn't win.

I'd forgotten this, but I did exactly the same thing for smarties in a jar. The annoying thing is the prize was a super-bumper hamper of chocolate, and I guessed the number on behalf of a lady from church who couldn't stop for the fete, but just gave me her quid and asked me to take a guess on her behalf.

Only time I've ever won anything - and she didn't even give me a bar of chocolate out of it the tight old bat.

@GizmoBasil

My 4 siblings and I all have the exact same birthday.

Are you quins?

Nope, not quins! I meant one in 3 billion but got the number of 0's wrong

We are all on 4th November so we joke that our parents only had sex in and around valentines day

@TangoWhiskyAlphaTango

I was only around 10 years old and sleeping over at my cousins house. We were sharing a double bed in an upstairs bedroom with a huge bay window. I woke in the middle of the night to see a shadow of a human on the curtains in the bay and this figure was throwing a ball up and down but the ball was floating up and down up and down. I was terrified shoved the covers over my head and went back to sleep. Next morning cousin and I both woke up and she told me how she had seen a figure throwing a ball up and down in the night...........30 years later I can still see that figure in the window. It was bizarre and my only brush ever with something I just cannot explain.

I for real just got chills from this!

Place marking love a thread like this.

@blissfulllife

5 years ago my then 7 year old daughter kept telling us she was having a cat for her birthday. And we kept telling her she wasn't and that we'd take her to choose a toy cat on her birthday. Everyday she would still insist she was having a real cat. She told everyone lol.

Day of her birthday comes and she opens her gifts then gets ready to head out to the toy shop. Opens the front door to leave and in walked a little black and white cat!!!!!! "Yay he's here!" I was speechless

We asked around, took him the vets to check if he was chipped, put posters online etc. He was never claimed and has been here ever since.

What a great story! :)

I invented the 'sounds good on paper' saying

Years ago when I was very hard up for money, I returned to my car 10 minutes late and there was a parking fine for £15 (in those days). I sat in my car weeping because I just could not afford that extra expense. The car in front of me drove away leaving a piece of paper in the car space. I got out to pick up the litter and throw it away grumbling. It was £15! Thank you Angels!

“ Not according to John Lennon. It’s about one of Julian’s friends from when he was a small child, he drew a picture of her. Her name was Lucy O’Donnell.”

Apparently Dave Gilmour, from Pink Floyd, owns the picture that Julian drew.