Can a history teacher explain this?

Question

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.


Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.


Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both wives lost a child while living in the White House.


Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.


Now it gets really weird.


Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's Secretary was named Lincoln.
Both were assassinated by Southerners.
Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson,! who succeeded Lincoln, was born in1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Now hang on to your seat !

Lincoln was shot at the theater named "Ford."
Kennedy was shot in a car called "Lincoln" made by "Ford."
Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.

And here's the "kicker":

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.

Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin ran to a warehouse.

Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and ! the assassin ran to a theater.

Answer 1

Yes, coincidence. If you study any two events with great scrutiny, you can always come up with an arbitrary list of similarities that spooky.

However, you have some SERIOIUS FACTUAL ERRORS:

1. Marilyn Monroe died on August 5, 1962. Kennedy was shot on November 22, 1963--MORE THAN A YEAR after Marilyn died. There's no way Kennedy was with Monroe the week before he died. I'm shocked a double-degreed history teacher wouldn't check his/her facts.

2. Most criminals are known by all 3 names, look at any notorious criminal on the news, known by three names (e.g. Gary Mark Gilmore, Brian David Mitchell (kidnapped Elizabeth Smart), Joseph Edward Duncan (kidnapped Shasta Groene and murdered her brother, etc.)

3. Lee Harvey Oswald ran from a library book depository (a stretch to argue that it's a warehouse) to a cinema not a playhouse (theatre). And John Wilkes Booth did not run to a warehouse he ran to a barn on Garrett's farm in West Virginia.

4. Also don't forget that Lincoln was a Republican and Kennedy was a Democrat--no parallel there.

Answer 2

The coincidences are easily explained as the simple product of mere chance. It's not difficult to find patterns and similarities between any two marginally-related sets of data, and coincidences similar in number and kind can be (and have been) found between many different pairs of Presidents. Our tendency to seek out patterns wherever we can stems from our desire to make sense of our world; to maintain a feeling that our universe is orderly and can be understood. In this specific case two of our most beloved Presidents were murdered for reasons that make little or no sense to many of us, and by finding patterns in their deaths we also hope to find a larger cosmic "something" that seemingly provides some reassuring (if indefinite) rhyme or reason why these great men were prematurely snatched from our mortal sphere.
It seems freaky on the surface, but once you analyze each "fact" it seems less weird. The person who wrote this even made some of them intentionally misleading. For example,
Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.

Another "coincidence" that is both inaccurate and superficial.

Booth shot Lincoln in a theatre of the type where live stage shows are held, then fled across state lines before being trapped and killed in a tobacco shed several days later.

Oswald shot Kennedy from (not in) a textbook warehouse, then remained in Dallas and was caught and taken alive in a movie theater a little over an hour later.

Read here for more info:
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/linckenn.htm

Answer 3

Coincidence. These things happen a lot more often than people realise, but our lives are a lot less well documented than those of the Presidents.

Otherwise......Could Kennedy have studied Lincoln are not been shot in Dallas? Do we believe the world works that way? If we're rational then we must accept that 'weird stuff' must happen (thinking of someone and then meeting them).

Try thinking of the weird stuff that has happened in your life. Look hard enough and you will find it. It does not have a cosmic significance; it's a big universe with a lot of time in it: weird stuff is bound to happen, especially if you hunt it.

History sometimes looks like it has a real pattern, but we can only see these backwards. It's just a whole lot of stuff that happens that we then try to make sense of later (often badly and coming to the wrong conclusions).

Answer 4

Yeah, yeah, yeah.... but who was elected 100 years before Bush and was he by any chance shot? Just hoping, then we can have a list of coincidents like this too
The CIA really do their research don't they!

Just a couple of points though, Kennedy was sat in a car and Lincoln was sat in a theatre, Kennedy was shot with a rifle and Lincoln with a handgun so not the same at all.

Answer 5

The coincidences do not end here. Both presidents, as well as many American presidents in between, fell victims of what may be called "The Zero Factor." There has been a certain pattern, since the assassination of President Lincoln that all presidents elected in a year ending with zero (e.g. 1860, 1960) died of fatal diseases or were assassinated before finishing their four-year term of office for that "zero" year.

Answer 6

What you mention has been analysed and re-analysed time and time again by experts, historians, and more importantly, conspiracy theorists.

I say more importantly because conspiracy theorists seem to look at things in a different angle than the usual experts or historians, yet...

No-one has been able to prove a thing.

You have a valid point - it is very strange that these events all coincide - but it could be just that: mere coincidence.

The world is a strange place full of mystery, but without things like this happening, the word "coincidence" would not exist...

I did enjoy reading your question though - got me thinking...

Maybe there is something more to it, but no-one has found the answer yet... and maybe no-one ever will...

Answer 7

There are such things as coincidences and you can find them in anything. For example I can tell you that the Pentagon was built on 9/11/44 and was attacked on 9/11/01 therefore the Pentagon can be associated with everything on 9/11 of a certain year. The paraelles are drawn because we are looking for them and taking the lives of two people can more easily be looked upon as "more than mere happenstance" than just one object in time.

Answer 8

To much for me to confirm all of it though I cant refute any off the top of my head. But to answer your question I guess it means that if your name is lincoln or kennedy stay out of the north.

Answer 9

There's nothing to explain.

Just some interesting facts.

I doubt it has anything to do with astrology, numerology, mystics, or government planning in the assassination of JFK.

Answer 10

The next step is make an aluminum foil hat so the CIA can't read your brain waves. Don't delay!