Freaky Coincidences - Part III

Sometimes novelists unwittingly write fictitious stories that end up coming true or they have weird experiences that cannot be explained rationally. It seems that sometimes people's fates are inexplicably intertwined somehow. Here is another entry belonging to the Freaky Coincidences umbrella - which already includes parts #1 and #2 - but the theme here is authors and novels. Some of these may have been repeated in previous entries, some of them are prophetic in nature, and some of the are just bizarre.

Anne Parrish

While American novelist Anne Parris browsed bookstores in Paris, in the 1920s, she stumbled upon one of her childhood favorites, entitled Jack Frost and Other Stories. She showed her husband, remarking that she the book had been one of her favorites as a girl. Her husband opened the book and was astonished at the inscription inside, which read: "Anne Parrish, 209 N. Weber Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado". As it turned out, the book was her very own copy from her childhood.

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhome Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was a popular American author of such books as the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He was born on the day that Halley's Comet appeared in 1835, and died on the day of its next appearance in 1910. In fact, he himself predicted this a year before his death when he said: "I came in with Halley's Comet in 1935. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it."

Edgar Allan Poe

Famous horror writer Edgar Allan Poe wrote a book entitled The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket in 1838, actually his only complete novel. The story is about four shipwreck survivors who were in an open boat for several days before they decided to kill and eat Richard Parker, the cabin boy. Forty-six years later, the Mignonett foundered, with only four survivors, who were in an open boat for many days. Eventually the three senior crew members killed and ate the cabin boy. The cabin boy's name was Richard Parker.

Morgan Robertson

In 1898, Morgan Robertson wrote a novella entitled Futility (or The Wreck of The Titan. It was about an Olympic-class ocean liner called Titan, which sinks in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg.

• The Titan (800' long) was considered to be "indestructible", the Titanic (882' long) was described as being "unsinkable".
• Both ships had three propellers and two masts.
• The Titan was launched in April from Southampton, so was the Titanic on her maiden voyage in April 1912.
• The Titan carried 24 lifeboats, less than half required for her 3000 capacity, whereas the Titanic carried only 20 lifeboats, less than half the number needed for a passenger capacity of 3000.
• The Titan struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic, 400 miles from Terranova (Newfoundland) while traveling at 25 knots, the Titanic traveled 23 knots too fast, 400 miles away from Terranova.
• The indestructible Titan sank, with over half of her 2500 passengers drowning, the "voices raised in agonized screams", whereas the unsinkable Titanic sank with more than half 2207 passengers dying screaming for help.

Prophetic coincidence? Could be, but there are also a few differences between the Titan and the Titanic. These can be viewed on Wikipedia.

Norman Mailer

When Norman Mailer started work on his novel Barbary Shore, he had no plans on having a Russian spy as a character. However, as work continued on it, he introduced a Russian spy in the US as a minor character, who soon became the dominant character in the novel. After completion of the novel, the US Immigration Service arrested a man living one floor above Mailer in the same apartment building. His name was Colonel Rudolf Abel, allegedly a top Russian Spy working in the US at the time.

Émile Deschamps

In 1805, stranger Monsieur de Fortgibu treated French writer Émile Deschamps to some plum pudding. A decade later, in a Paris restaurant, he saw plum pudding on the menu and decided to order some, but the waiter told him that the last dish had been served to another customer, who turned out to be Fortgibu. Years later, in 1832, Deschamps was at a diner and was once again offered plum pudding. He remarked to friends that only de Fortgibu was missing for the setting to be complete - and at that same moment the now aged de Fortgibu entered the room!