- [Narrator] Human history
has only been recorded for the last 5000 years, a fraction of the 80,000 years we've been knocking around on this planet. And in that short space of
time since history began, we've packed in a whole
lot, from Empires rising and falling, to space travel, to the creation of the internet's busiest
monkey cage, YouTube. Nevertheless, even in
those five busy millennia, a strange pattern has started to emerge. Every 100 years, a fatal
and infectious event has struck like clockwork. It's hit in 1720, 1820,
1920 and the infamous 2020. That just can't be a coincidence, can it? Well, grab your hazmat suits,
because we're going to explore some of the most contagious and strangest historical
coincidences of all time. (upbeat music) Let's begin in the year 1720, in the French city of
Marseille, where the locals were suddenly struck down
by a grotesque sickness. Pus-filled black boils the size of eggs erupted in their armpits,
groins, and necks. These super gross symptoms were also accompanied by
vomiting and high fevers. What a combo, this is the
dreaded Bubonic Plague, a bacterial infection spread by the bite of the common flea. It's a sickness that's really made a mark on human history, decimating populations all over Europe in pandemics back in the 6th and 14th centuries. But this particular outbreak of plague in the 18th century would
result in the deaths of some 100,000 people
in the city of Marseille and the surrounding provinces. It was such a deadly
event, it became known as The Great Plague of Marseille. However, this outbreak was tiny compared to the pandemic that ran rampant through Eurasia only 100 years later. In the year 1820, most of South Asia was infected with Cholera, Cholera is a bacterial infection of the small intestine,
which causes the body to expel large amounts of watery diarrhea. And this non-stop pooping can be deadly, as your body loses a huge volume of water resulting in dangerous
levels of dehydration within hours. Cholera is spread through dirty water or undercooked food
which has been in contact with infected human feces. (person retching) Undercooked shellfish are a
common source of infection, so always make sure your prawns are pink all the way through, otherwise you're in for a
krilling time on the toilet. Fortunately, in the 21st century, we have antibiotic
treatments to cure cholera. But back during the South
Asian pandemic of 1820, this outbreak of cholera
resulted in 3.2 million deaths. The colossal death toll
was due to the fact that this pandemic had spread
further than any other. It originated in the
Indian city of Calcutta but spread as far as China and the Mediterranean Coast
before finally subsiding. However, even this high
death toll was nothing compared to the next pandemic
that shook the world. The date, 1920, are you
starting to see the pattern? Creepy, right? They say that history repeats itself, but this is just too
similar, and in this case, the world was only just
starting to recover from the aftermath of World War I, when it was hit with one
of the deadliest pandemics of all time, it was
known as the Spanish flu and was a strain of influenza that successfully infected
500 million people, 1/3 of the global population at the time. And this flu wasn't just a bad case of the sniffles that could
be cured with chicken soup, rather it was a virus that
triggered a cytokine storm in the immune systems of young adults. A cytokine storm is where
the body's immune system goes into overdrive,
releasing a huge surge of proteins, known as
cytokines, which flood the body. This condition can be life threatening and result in multiple organ failure. Ultimately Spanish flu
resulted in a death toll estimated to be between
17 million to 50 million. Though other historians
argue its death toll could be as high as 100 million. Without a doubt, it was one
of the deadliest pandemics of all time, now with modern medicine and annual flu vaccinations,
some might have believed the Spanish flu would be
the last worldwide pandemic. But then the curse of
the 20s struck again. As you probably remember,
in 2020 the whole world was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the virus itself wasn't as deadly when compared to other pandemics on this list such as Spanish flu, it was by far the most transmissible. The virus jumped borders
and crossed oceans, spreading through the human
population like wildfire. In total, a jaw-dropping 655 million cases were recorded worldwide. And for those with
underlying health issues or compromised immune systems,
getting ill with COVID often proved fatal, sadly resulting in some
6.6 million deaths. Due to COVID's highly infectious nature with no immediately available vaccine, many governments issued lockdown orders, with citizens of many nations forced to stay in their homes with minimal social
contact for over a year. And my god was it dull, I was so bored I watched the entire
back catalog of Netflix, even its terrible dating shows. However, watching Love Is
Blind made me want to go blind. But that wasn't the only
disappointment during lockdown, as even when the
stay-at-home orders lifted, the COVID-19 virus still hung around. Fortunately, these days many of us are vaccinated and can
fight off infection. But given the pattern we've discovered, does that mean the world is due for an even deadlier pandemic in 2120? I mean, it seems the world
is destined to suffer from a global pandemic every 100 years. At least that's what article headlines all over the internet
would have you believe. But it turns out that this entire concept is a total historical hoax. To break this down,
first we need to address what a pandemic actually is. A pandemic is defined as a disease that has spread over multiple
countries or continents. Therefore, that rules out
the Great Plague of Marseille as a pandemic; rather it was an epidemic, as it was a disease that affected a large number of people but only within the borders of France. As for the 1820 cholera outbreak, which did cross international borders therefore making it a pandemic, the outbreak actually began in 1817 and continued until 1824. Meanwhile, the Spanish flu
pandemic actually began in 1918 and ended in 1920, and
it's not just the dates that are wrong, but the
name of the pandemic too. Even though this deadly disease
was known as Spanish flu, modern scientists have tracked the source of this particular influenza strain to the heart of the Southern US, to Fort Riley in Kansas. The disease only became
known as Spanish flu as Spanish newspapers were the
only ones who freely reported on the pandemic at the time. Other countries, the US
included, had wartime censorships in place that suppressed
any bad news stories to maintain morale, meanwhile,
Spain was neutral in the war. As a result, the disease gained
the nickname Spanish flu, [MH32]though it would be more accurate to call it the Kansas flu. Which sounds like the
sort of fever you'd have where you'd hallucinate
visiting the Wizard of Oz. Now for the last piece of flimsy evidence for this historical hoax,
the COVID-19 pandemic. There's no denying this
pandemic did force us to stay in our homes and listen to the terrible off-tune
singing of bored celebrities in the year 2020. However, the actual first cases of this previously unknown
strain of coronavirus were reported to the
World Health Organization from Wuhan City in China,
on 31st December 2019. Hence this strain of
coronavirus is called COVID-19, as that was the year it
was first identified. And technically the COVID-19
pandemic has yet to end, having evolved into different
strains such as Alpha, Epsilon, Theta, Kappa, and Omicron. This disease has had more
comebacks than Madonna. But COVID-19 hasn't been
the only viral celebrity of the 21st century. Rather huge areas of
West Africa were overrun with the Ebola virus epidemic
between 2014 to 2016. And Brazil was severely impacted by the Zika virus epidemic
between 2015 to 2016. Therefore, though this pandemic meme would like you to believe
that disease outbreaks occur precisely every 100 years,
history is never that neat. Rather pandemic outbreaks
are far more random and often caused by
unsanitary close contact between animals, such as bats, and humans, causing pathogens to jump
from one species to the other. Whilst in our ever more
interconnected world, with transport and trade links, diseases have never been able to spread across continents so easily. So, we simply can't predict when the next global pandemic will strike. Though to be prepared, you can always have your sanitizer spray at the ready. Now if this video has successfully made you a total germaphobe,
hit that like button. Don't worry, the rest of this video is entirely disease-free,
as we'll be diving into more bizarre historical coincidences. But before we get to that, why not hit that subscribe button? I promise it's been completely
sanitized, all done? Great, now, let's see what
other even stranger coincidences have cropped up in history. (music whooshing) Tomato, Tomato. In 1788 the first British settlers arrived in Australia. And a few deadly bites later, they soon discovered how
dangerous its wildlife is. But of course, the British
weren't the first to arrive. Australia has been populated by aboriginal tribes for centuries. European culture and aboriginal cultures had developed independently,
with different practices, beliefs, and languages. True to this, aboriginal peoples had their own unique vocabulary, worlds away from English. Or at least that's what
linguists thought until 1964. It was this year that
one linguist professor, Robert M.W. Dixon, committed himself to the study of the
language of the Mbabaram, who were native to Queensland
in north-eastern Australia. Now, here's a crash course in linguistics, in order to study a new language, you usually begin with basic nouns. You might point to
different objects in a room and call them a table
or a chair, for example. To learn these words, Professor Dixon would regularly meet with a
native speaker of Mbabaram, known as Albert Bennett. In their first meeting, the professor only recorded 28 words. But over the course of five months, he learnt 250 words and
300 short sentences. Though imagine the Professor's surprise when in one such meeting,
he requested the word for dog and got the
exact same response dog. Professor Dixon at first thought Albert had gotten mixed up with his English. But when he repeated the question, pointing to the pupper, he
got the same response, Dog. By complete coincidence the pronunciation of the Mbabaram word is
identical to the English version. [MH47]But there was no
discernible relationship between Mbabaram and
English, and the countries are almost 10,000 miles apart. It truly was a wild coincidence. Sometimes the world is just barking mad. (dog barking) A Fateful Meal. Have you ever dealt with a
case of mistaken identity, where someone comes up to you and is sure they recognize
you from somewhere? But did you know that the chances of someone being your perfect doppelganger is about one in one
trillion, crazy, right? But that's not even as
impossible as the odds of what supposedly happened
to King Umberto I of Italy. On July 28, 1900, it's
claimed that King Umberto decided to go for dinner
in the city of Monza. He was joined by his trusted assistant, and the pair chose a random
local restaurant to dine in. They were enjoying their
meal, when, as is customary, the owner of the restaurant came out to greet the prestigious guests. But as King Umberto looked up, he thought the restaurant owner
was holding up a mirror. Because, unbelievably,
the restaurant owner and King Umberto looked exactly alike. They were a pair of
real-life doppelgangers. The uncanny resemblance didn't just end with the men's appearance. The restaurant owner
was also called Umberto, and both men had been
born on the exact same day in the city of Turin. But it gets even spookier, as both men had married on the same day, both to women named Margherita. Even more astonishingly, the 2nd Umberto, had opened his restaurant on the exact same day of
King Umberto's coronation and both had sons named Vittorio. The two men couldn't believe the stunning set of
coincidences they shared, they were almost too similar. The meeting was so strange,
that the King decided to meet the other
Umberto the very next day to further discuss the
similarities between them. Though, tragically the
restaurant owner died the next morning, after being shot in unexplained circumstances. But in a shocking twist of fate, King Umberto himself was also assassinated in a shooting incident. Now, one popular theory
is that the two Umbertos were actually twins that
had been separated at birth. Furthermore, it's thought
that King Umberto's assassin, an Italian American anarchist
known as Gaetano Bresci, had also attended the
restaurant that fateful night. Gaetano had possibly seen
the identical Umbertos and assumed, to be on the safe side, that he should take out both men. However, despite all my digging, I couldn't find a single reputable source from this time that backed this story up. While I want to believe
Umberto found his doppelganger, I wonder if their sons and wives really had the same names, or if they really shared a birthday. Either way, without proof, this one is just a historical rumor. And a killer rumor, at that. (music whooshing) Bye Bye Baby. Can you imagine walking down the street, when all of a sudden it
starts raining money? Now that would be a sweet green miracle. But in the case of Joseph Figlock, the miracle that fell out of the sky gave him more of a fright. When Joseph was walking
down a neighborhood street in Detroit in the 1930s, he heard a wail and looked up to see a falling baby. Thankfully, Joseph caught the
baby, and the day was saved. But by some wacky coincidence, one year later Joseph found
himself in Groundhog Day, as he caught the same baby falling from a window again. Or at least that's how the story is told, as urban legends such as this tend to take on a life of their own. You see, Joseph was a
street worker, which is why he spent so many of his
days out on the sidewalk. And he did in fact
catch two young children falling out of windows. However, it was two separate children at different locations, the
first being a baby girl, and the second being a two-year-old boy. And Joseph didn't so
much catch the babies, rather they landed on him. Though thanks to Joseph
breaking their fall, neither child met a fatal
end on the concrete sidewalk. But why were there so many
babies falling out of windows? Well, that was the result
of an insane baby cage trend that literally swept the nation. The parenting myth at
the time was that babies needed to be aired for their health. And so many over eager,
but ignorant parents literally hung-up chicken wire cages outside of their apartments
to air their babies. The trend was popularized by
President Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor, who hung a baby cage outside of her New York City apartment to place her daughter in for naps. Because what better
way to ensure your baby has a peaceful sleep than
to hang them out a window four stories high, breathing
in the city's air pollution? Thankfully, in the 1950s people
finally came to their senses and realized that babies
and heights don't mix. Forget the baby boomers, the generation before were baby droppers. First & Last. World War I was one of
the deadliest conflicts in all of human history,
with 20 million deaths and 21 million people
wounded all over the globe. You might think after such
a catastrophic death toll, the world would learn its lesson, that it would be the war to end all wars. But of course, we all know
how history turned out, it's called World War One for a reason. However, there is a chilling coincidence linked to the St.
Symphorien military cemetery in Belgium, where many of
the fallen British soldiers of World War I are buried. As, without any deliberate planning, the first recorded British
casualty of the war, 17-year-old soldier John Parr is buried just 15 feet away from the
last recorded casualty, 30-year-old George Ellison. The two graves even face one another, like haunting bookends of the war. Private John Parr's death was recorded just 17 days after Britain declared war. Whilst Private George
Ellison died just 90 minutes before armistice was declared. A morbid reminder of the
cost of war, but a testament to the fact that war does end, eventually. Double Take. We all like to think we're unique, but what if there was
someone else out there who'd lived your exact same life. Well, that's exactly what
happened to two twin boys put up for adoption separately in 1940, at only three weeks old. Both sets of adoptive
parents named the boys James, though they both went by Jim instead. Both Jim's had beloved
childhood dogs, both named Toy. And at school they both excelled at math and woodworking, but neither
had a knack for spelling. As adults, both Jim's were heavy smokers, drove the same Chevrolet car, and even vacationed at
the same Florida beach. They even had identical taste in women, as both Jims married women named Linda, though neither marriage worked out, and instead both men
divorced and went onto marry a pair of Betty's. Nevertheless, the creepy coincidences of the Jim Twins even carried
onto the next generation, as both men named their sons James Alan. This train of coincidences
just ain't stopping. Eventually, at age 37,
one of the Jim's was able to get the contact details
of his twin brother through the Ohio courthouse. He tracked him down, and the pair spoke on the phone, eventually agreeing to meet. But it wasn't until February
9th, 1979, the Jim Twins were finally reunited. From baby boys to full grown men, it was practically impossible
to tell them apart. Given the striking
similarities between the lives they had led, they were
invited to take part in a study conducted at the
University of Minnesota. The study found that
their medical histories and brain-wave tests
were almost identical. And so were the results of
their personality tests. So, is that the whole nature vs nurture debate completely settled then? Does our DNA determine
our entire personality over the environment
we're raised in after all? Well, it's worth noting that the two Jim's only grew up 40 miles
apart from each other in small midwestern towns. So, they were raised with the same suburban American culture of apple pies and white picket fences. And it's likely that if one of the boys had been adopted internationally, things might have turned out differently. But y'know, even I've been hearing rumors that there might be some
international versions of me out there, ha, could you imagine. (music whooshing) She'll Sea Ya Later. Crossing the ocean used to
be a pretty dangerous affair, and there are enough shipwrecks at the bottom of the seafloor to prove it. That's why sailors have
developed a whole hoard of superstitions over the years, such as never whistling into the wind, in case you conjure up a storm. Though one of the strictest rules of all was to never set sail with a woman on board, as they'll make the sea angry. Seems like a load of old nonsense, however after hearing
about Miss Violet Jessop, perhaps there was reason to
this superstition after all. Violet was originally born in Argentina to Irish immigrant parents. To support her family,
she became a stewardess for the Royal Mail Line shipping company and was assigned to the
RMS Olympic in 1911, the largest civilian
liner ship at the time. However, it wasn't all smooth sailing, as Violet found out on 20th September 1911 when the RMS Olympic collided
with the HMS Hawke warship. The two ships were sailing parallel to each other through the Solent. A small stretch of water
between southern England and the Isle of Wight. However, when the RMS
Olympic turned right, the ship swung into the
path of the HMS Hawke. The Hawke's captain couldn't
steer the warship away in time before its hull crashed into the Olympics' starboard side. Two giant gaping holes were
ripped into the ship's hull and its compartments took on water. However, miraculously the
Olympic managed to stay afloat. It sailed back to port for repairs, with no one harmed in the crash. Following this, Violet was assigned to sail aboard the Olympics'
sister ship, the RMS Titanic. And at the time, this was ironically known as the unsinkable ship. Though as most of you probably know, the Titanic is the most
famous ship to ever sink. The Titanic struck an
iceberg on 15th April 1912, which ripped open the
ship's starboard side and caused it to sink to its watery grave at the bottom of the North Atlantic. Though the giant iceberg
wasn't the only thing the ship's crew overlooked. Shockingly, the Titanic was only equipped with 20 lifeboats for a
total carrying capacity of 1,176 people. Which was barely over half
the total of 2,224 people sailing aboard the Titanic. But that's because the
lifeboats were only designed to ferry people to nearby rescue ships, rather than as a complete
evacuation measure. Though tragically, the
Titanic sank rapidly, before any nearby ships
could come to its rescue. Fortunately, Violet was one of the few who managed to get into
a lifeboat and survived. Though more than 1,500
people lost their lives to the disaster. Now you'd think two shipwrecks is enough of an unlucky streak to never set foot in a paddling pool, let alone the ocean, again. But Violet was unfazed,
and she went onto serve upon the HMHS Britannic. During World War I, it was
refitted as a hospital ship, and Violet served on board
as a British Red Cross nurse. But on November 21st,
1916, the ship was struck by a sea mine planted by a
German U-boat in the Aegean Sea. The explosion wrecked the ship, causing such extensive
damage that, you guessed it, the Britannic sank in less than an hour. But having learnt from the
tragedy of the Titanic, the boat was equipped
with far more lifeboats and as a result, there
were only 30 casualties out of 1,030 survivors. Despite her string of shipwrecks, Violet kept working on cruise ships for the rest of her 42-year long career. This woman knew no fear, but
I'm sure other passengers would get super nervous
when they discovered the infamous Violet Jessop was on board. However, it's not fair
to put all the blame of this shipwreck curse upon Violet, despite having sailed on
three ships that sunk. There's a far more important
common denominator, all three of these ships, the Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic, were all owned by the White Star Line company as part of their Olympic
class of steamships. Maybe they should have spent longer on the design process before
putting these ships out to sea. Because it turned out that the Titanic was never the unsinkable one, it was Miss Violet Jessop all along. Shock Horror. They say that art imitates life, but what if art could predict life? It sure would be fun if we could have Iron Man's cool gadgets or
explore the galaxy like Han Solo. But unfortunately, the only time real life was accurately predicted was
from a dark, gothic novel. As before there was Stephen King, the world's premier horror
writer was Edgar Allan Poe. Though he preferred short stories, he did publish one novel, known as The Narrative of
Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, published in 1838. The most memorable scene
in the book features a crew of sailors stranded
in the ocean without food. The men draw straws to decide which one of them will be sacrificed to become a steak meal for the others. The character who lost was
known as Richard Parker. But in a stunning coincidence in 1884, over 46 years later, the crew aboard the Mignonette ship found themselves in the same situation
after their boat sank in a terrible storm. Stranded without food in a lifeboat, the men had no hope for survival. Until a 17-year-old-crew member decided to drink salt water to quench his thirst. A fatal mistake to make
as drinking saltwater causes an excess of salt in your blood that your kidneys have to
filter out with more water. As a result, drinking seawater makes you even more dehydrated. The boy's health was
rapidly deteriorating, and the sailors were very hungry. So, they sacrificed him for
their grizzly meal instead. The spookiest thing of
all was the boy's name, one Richard Parker. An impossibly creepy coincidence. Maybe Edgar Allan Poe had
a vision of the future predicting these cannibal sailors? Although it's more likely
that Richard Parker was just an incredibly
common name at the time, one that these two happened to share. Still, I've got goosebumps from
that real life horror story. I sure do hope none of
Stephen King's novels predict the future. Otherwise, clowns at children's parties will never be the same again. Which did you think was the
strangest coincidence of all? And do you know of any other
weird twists in history? Let me know down in the comments
and thanks for watching. (upbeat music)
