Bored Panda has put together a list of 103 amazing coincidences, and the collection ranges from a praying mantis climbing a painting of itself to a tree growing over a sign while leaving the paint beneath untouched. The site gathered these moments from posts people have shared online, and it wants readers to enjoy scrolling through them and vote on which ones feel most like fate.
The list is titled “103 Amazing Times Something Synced Just Right,” and it is designed to stop you in your tracks. Some of the entries are genuinely delightful. Others are so slight they barely qualify as coincidence at all. Either way, the collection leans on the idea that timing feels magical when two separate threads come together without anyone arranging it.
What Counts As A Coincidence
Paul Brooks, writing for The Guardian, offers a framing for why coincidences feel meaningful. He argues that believing in coincidences may be a “necessary illusion, rooted deep in our evolutionary history.” The experience itself causes us to wonder if there is something magical at play, even if there isn’t a greater purpose or entity behind it.
Brooks notes that many phenomena fall under the umbrella of “coincidences,” including cosmic events and a husband and wife having the same birthday. But the definition is flexible. If you don’t notice a coincidence or don’t believe it had any meaning, you might not consider it one at all.
Research suggests that people who score higher on measures of schizotypy, which includes similar symptoms to psychosis, may be more prone to experiencing coincidences and magical thinking. Perspective matters. What one person finds amazing, another finds mundane.
The Psychology Behind Pattern Seeking
The concept of synchronicity was developed by psychiatrist Carl Jung in the early 1900s. He believed in the idea of “meaningful coincidences” and wrote in depth about the topic. Psychology Today notes that many modern researchers consider synchronicity to be pseudoscience. But people can believe whatever they want to believe.
The human brain is hardwired to spot patterns, even when they don’t really exist. This is likely because ancient humans needed to rely on pattern recognition to spot potential threats. If you feel like you see the same word or number all the time, it might simply be confirmation bias. Look for another number, and you’ll start noticing that one instead.
The Most Common Coincidences
Bernard D. Beltman, MD, wrote a piece for Psychology Today discussing the most commonly noticed coincidences. Research from the University of Cambridge identifies the top examples:
- Sharing a birthday with someone
- Connections involving books, TV, radio, or the news
- Vacation-related coincidences
- Meeting people in transit
- Coincidences related to marriage or in-laws
Beltman notes that many of these coincidences can be easily explained. The birthday one is particularly striking. You only need to be in a room of 23 people for there to be a 50/50 chance that two will share a birthday. In a room of 75 people, there’s a 99.9% chance of birthday twins.
Break down these coincidences scientifically, and they’re often not as mystical as they first appear.
The Entries That Actually Work
Some moments truly do feel serendipitous. Here are a few that land well on their own terms:
- A pilot found out that the OH58 Kiowa helicopter he’d been flying was the very same aircraft that made him want to become an Army pilot in the first place
- A police Facebook page posted a picture taken by a speeding camera, and a bird saved the day
- A character in the show a viewer was watching had the same mug they were drinking out of
- A tattoo recipient got ink yesterday and their son pulled a good-looking lady out of the lake today
- A brother hit every pin except 7, 8, 9, and 10
These are the entries that reward a second look. They involve specific people, specific objects, and specific circumstances coming together in ways that defy easy explanation.
The Entries That Stretch The Definition
Not every entry holds up. Consider the window that makes a backyard look like it’s in four different seasons, or the trees along a street that matched the colors of the buildings. These are pleasant enough, but they aren’t coincidences in any meaningful sense. They’re just natural variation.
The same goes for the leaf veins aligning on the creases of a hand. That’s a pattern, not a coincidence. Patterns are everywhere; coincidences are rare.
The Birthday Problem Explained
The birthday problem is a classic statistical curiosity. Put 23 people in a room, and there’s a 50% chance two of them share a birthday. Put 75 people in a room, and the odds climb to 99.9%. That’s a remarkable shift.
| Group Size | Chance of Shared Birthday |
|---|---|
| 23 people | 50% |
| 75 people | 99.9% |
The effect is so strong that it feels wrong. We expect uniqueness; we get overlap. The mathematics is simple, but the intuition fails.
Astrology And The Survey Numbers
A 2025 survey by the Pew Research Center found that nearly a third of Americans consult astrology, tarot cards, or fortune tellers. Forty-three percent of women under the age of 50 say they believe in astrology. So it’s not too farfetched for these people to believe in signs from the universe and synchronicity as well.
A scientist would likely say “absolutely not.” But if you find it helpful to believe that these synchronicities have some deeper meaning, go ahead. The survey numbers suggest plenty of company for that belief.
What The List Actually Proves
The list is a curated selection of moments people have posted online. It is not a scientific study. It is not a comprehensive record of coincidence. It is a collection of amusing synchronicities, and it is presented as entertainment.
That’s fine. Amusement is a legitimate category of content. But calling these moments “amazing” in the title frames them as something more than they are. They are funny. They are charming. They are a reminder that the world is full of unexpected connections.
What they are not is evidence of anything beyond human pattern-seeking.
The Verdict On The Collection
The list is a fun browse. It rewards a few minutes of scrolling with genuine delight. It also rewards a few minutes of scrolling with mild eye-rolling.
The best entries are the ones that involve specific people and specific objects coming together in surprising ways. Those are the moments that feel magical, even if science can explain them. The weaker entries are the ones that lean on natural variation dressed up as coincidence.
The psychology is real. The pattern-seeking is real. The entertainment value is real. The evidence of anything beyond that is not.
Read the list for what it is: a collection of amusing moments posted online. Vote on the ones that feel like kismet. And remember that kismet is a feeling, not a fact.
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