We asked listeners to send us their best coincidence stories, and we got more than 1,300 submissions! There were so many good ones that we decided to make a whole show about them. From a chance encounter at a bus station to a romantic dollar bill to a baffling apparition in a college shower stall. 

Start a<a href="https://thisamericanlife.supercast.com/?coupon=VIDEO?utm_id=lifepartners&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=shownotes">Life Partners free trial</a> to watch our new video A Night of Stories and Improv.(00:00:00) Prologue: Hannah Jacoby tells the story of when she and her best friend Lindsey bonded over those toy soldiers with the parachutes, called (really) Poopatroopers — and how the little jumpers perfectly bookended their high-school years. And guest host Sarah Koenig explains the very interesting trends we discovered in our listeners&#039; coincidences. (9 minutes)(00:09:23) Act One: A surprising number of coincidences involve grandmothers. One grandma has so many coincidences happen to her that it drives her granddaughter, 16-year-old Juliana Bontrager, to try to beat her at her own coincidence game. We also hear from Blake Oliver about a very strange appearance his grandma once made. (9 minutes)(00:18:27) Act Two: When it comes to love, coincidences tend to loom extra-large. Stephen Lee tells about the time his parents first met his fiance’s parents, and his future mother-in-law dropped a coincidence bomb. And we hear how a dollar bill ended up clinching a marriage, after floating around Chicago for years. (10 minutes)(00:28:15) Act Three: Ryan Rozar told us about a confounding coincidence that was visited on him in college. We didn’t think it was a coincidence at all, so we set out to prove him wrong. (8 minutes)(00:37:31) Act Four: More stories of dazzling coincidences: an old boyfriend is conjured in Morocco, a jazz singer seems to rise from the dead, and three boys believe they’ve seen a corpse. Plus stories of errant fathers, lost and found. (13 minutes)(00:49:47) Act Five: Kerry Weeks tells about the time he lost a pocketknife and turned to the galaxy for help. (7 minutes)Transcripts are available at <a href="https://www.thisamericanlife.org/489/transcript">thisamericanlife.org</a> / This American Life <a href=&#039;https://www.thisamericanlife.org/page/privacy-policy&#039;>privacy policy</a>. / Learn more about <a href=&#039;https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices&#039;>sponsor message choices</a>.

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489: No Coincidence, No Story!

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