Though history may be defined by its stand-out moments — births, deaths, and the battles and incidents in between — sometimes it's hard to tell where, exactly, on a timeline these events fall ... especially when two have gone down on the same day.
From Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett passing away within hours of each other to two separate Dennis the Menace comics debuting on both sides of the pond, here are 23 strange coincidences that happened on the same day.
1
“TIL the painting 'The Scream' was stolen the same day as the opening of the 1994 Olympics; the thieves left a note saying ‘thanks for the poor security.’”
2
“TIL a man was fired, mauled by a bear, and shot by police in the same day.”
3
“TIL Hong Kong was attacked by Japan the same day as their attack on Pearl Harbor.”
4
“TIL that Blade Runner and The Thing both came out on the same day, received mixed critical reception, and were considered box office flops, and are both now considered masterclasses in their genres.”
5
“TIL that Zambia entered the 1964 Olympics as a British Colony and exited it as an independent country, gaining independence on the same day as the closing ceremony.”
6
“TIL that two founding members of the rock band Jefferson Airplane, lead singer Signe Anderson and guitarist Paul Kantner, die d on the same day, Jan. 28, 2016 , both at 74.”
7
“TIL that both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, two of the Founding Fathers of the United States and later Presidents, died on the same day: July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.”
8
“TIL Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same day in the same year.”
9
“TIL that the mom and dad from Family Ties, Meredith Baxter Birney and Micheal Gross, were born on the same day. June 21, 1947.”
10
“TIL On May 10, 1994, a solar eclipse occurred during both the execution of John Wayne Gacy and the baptism of Jeffrey Dahmer.”
11
“TIL Anne Frank's diary entered the public domain the same day as ... Mein Kampf. And that a copyright dispute still swirls around the diary.”
12
“TIL Theodore Roosevelt's wife and mother both died on the very same day of unrelated health issues.”
13
“TIL President Lincoln formed the Secret Service on the same day that he was assassinated.”
14
“TIL that in 2017, CBS and NBC put an ad on New York Times claiming they're the most watched network in US, at the same day in just 3 pages apart.”
15
“TIL of actor Josh Ryan Evans who played Timmy Lenox on the soap opera Passions. When the episode where his character passes away aired, Josh died the same day of a heart failure.”
16
“TIL Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley died on the same day: April 5th. Also, if the coroner's estimate was correct on Layne's time/date of death, it did, in fact, rain when he died.”
17
“TIL about Whataburger, and What-a-burger. They're both different restaurants that opened on the same day without the knowledge of each others existence.”
18
“TIL two different comic strips named “Dennis the Menace” both debuted on the same day: March 12, 1951. They were created completely independently of each other, and neither creator knew of the other’s existence.”
19
“TIL Ren and Stimpy, Doug, and Rugrats all premiered on the same day.”
20
“TIL Mark Twain was born on the day when Halley’s Comet flew by Earth. He said “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.” Halley’s Comet next appeared on April 21, 1910 - which is the day Mark Twain died.”
21
“TIL Aldous Huxley, CS Lewis and JFK all died on the same day.”
22
“TIL Farrah Fawcett died on the same day as Michael Jackson, whose death overshadowed hers.”
