You Can't Make This Stuff Up

Mark Twain was born in 1835, the same year Haley’s comet appeared in the sky.

Twain loved pointing out this coincidence, and he even joked that he would “go out with it” when it returned 75 years later. True to his word, that’s exactly what happened: Mark Twain died in 1910, the same year Halley’s comet reappeared in the sky above our planet.

Roughly 76 years later (the period varies a little each time), I got to see a tiny little blur in the sky with my young naked eye. I was not impressed, having been spoiled by everyday wonder all around me. I did not come in with Halley’s comet, nor do I have any intention of “going out” with it when it returns in mid-2061, but it’s interesting and noteworthy that Mark Twain did this.

If you were crafting the perfect biography of Sam Clemens (Twain’s name to those who knew him personally), it would be tough to imagine a more poetic set of birth and death years, wouldn’t it?

In that period between the time Halley’s comet escorted Twain off the planet, and my own time seeing it, there was another incredible coincidence. On March 12th, 1951, something hard to believe happened completely by accident.

Dennis the Menace, the popular newspaper comic I grew up reading every morning with my Grape Nuts or Peanut Butter Crunch, debuted on this day. This was about a rebellious, troublemaking kid who finds different ways to terrorize his neighborhood. If you’re US Gen Xer or a Boomer, you almost certainly remember this skit.

Also on March 12th, 1951, a comic strip featuring a kid who terrorized the neighborhood with his rebellious antics debuted in the UK.

It was called Dennis the Menace.

I need to emphasize: this was not one of those royalty deals like you might see today, where a product will simultaneously debut in multiple locations around the world. No, this wasn’t coordinated in any way.

Devlin Thompson

The two strips do have some notable differences—American Dennis gets into trouble unintentionally most of the time and has blonde hair, while UK Dennis has dark hair and a more deliberate rebellion. With that being said… so what, who cares? This has to go down as one of the all time greatest coincidences in history.

What about the greatest coincidence, though? I know of at least one solid contender, and it has a lot to do with me. If Mark Twain was tied to Halley’s comet, I am connected to earthquakes in Mexico, if tenuously.

My birthday happens to fall on September 19th, and I was born during the 70s. By the time Halley’s comet returned in 1986, I had already read a lot of Dennis the Menace comic strips by this time.

A year before this, on September 19th, 1985, a devastating earthquake rocked Mexico City. Some 10,000 people were killed, and many thousands more were injured—and hundreds of thousands made homeless or forced to move immediately. The world watched in shock and horror as buildings that weren’t up to any sort of modern codes simply collapsed.

On September 19th, 2017, another earthquake struck Mexico City, Puebla, and Morelos, killing hundreds this time and injuring thousands. The government took some of the lessons from the 1985 earthquake and applied them here, and it was easy to compare this to the previous Mexico City earthquake because of the coincidence of the date.

On September 19th, 2022, buildings swayed in Mexico City as a 7.6 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter near the coast of Michoacán, west of the city. This time, improved building codes and measures taken by the government and businesses paid off, with relatively few casualties this time around.

Today, September 19th is commemorated with national earthquake drills. Mexico is determined to be prepared for any future earthquakes, and the powerful coincidence of 3 major quakes falling on the same day makes this the ideal day to run drills and test emergency response systems.

Like Twain, I won’t put too much stock into something that corresponds with my life by way of coincidence. He came into and out of the world with Halley’s comet, or so he liked to say, and I came into the world on a particular date that happened to correspond with other particular dates.

Even still… you can’t make this stuff up!

There are loads of wonderful coincidences out there in the world. What are some of your favorites?