Brothers Grim

the wrong time. Sometimes those coincidences are just that, the unintended consequences of a random choice mining up with a specific moment, no premeditation, no effort. These things, as some might say, just happen. And sometimes the coincidence we find ourselves in is a little too perfect, almost as if fate had been planning it all along. That's how seventeen year old Erskine Evan might have described what happened to him.

Erskine was a teenager in ninety He went to school, hung out with his friends, and he swam in Bermuda's shimmering blue water every day. You know, usual teenager stuff. Okay, maybe not exactly typical. Because Erskine lived in Bermuda, a group of islands often thought of as paradise, white sandy beaches, water so clear you can see straight to the bottom,

and more than three hundred shipwrecks lying beneath the waves. Yes, Bermuda is also home to one of the most mysterious and dangerous parts of the Eastern Seaboard, the Bermuda Triangle. But to the locals and thousands of yearly tourists, Bermuda is merely a beautiful collection of beaches and British history.

But it's definitely not like other places. Sure, people drive cars to get from point A to point B, but almost everyone trapped by bus, bicycle, taxi, or, in Erskine's case, moped, a zippy little two wheeler that allows citizens and tourists alike to navigate the island's narrow streets with ease. On July twenty one, Erskine had been riding through the city of Hamilton's British Territory, situated along one of Bermuda's main ports, lined with colorful homes and shops along its wide roads.

Summer was a busy time to be out and about on the island, and that meant that the roads were crowded for a tourist, that can be a frustrating thing. But Erskine was not a tourist. No, he was a local. He'd lived there his whole life and knew what to expect from the vehicles that whizzed by him each day. However, on this day, Erskine ran into some unfortunate luck. To be more specific, a bit of bad luck actually ran

into him in the form of a taxi cab. On an island known for its high rate of traffic fatalities, Erskine became one of the twenty six automotive deaths reported in five We don't really know what caused the accident. We don't know whose fault it was, or what sort of mistake the driver has made. Maybe Erskine was in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe it was the cab driver who slipped up. We don't have answers to a lot of the questions we might want

to have answered. All we know is that Erskine collided with the taxi cab as they both reached the intersection. He was thrown from his scooter and died a short while later from his injuries. Like I said, there are a few details we don't know about this accident, but there are other details that we do know, and they are eye openers, to say the least, because this wasn't the first time this taxi driver had been involved in

an accident. One year earlier, almost to the day. In fact, the exact same taxi driver passed through the exact same intersection, colliding with another vehicle. Even more bizarre, the CAB's passenger in both accidents was the exact same person, which should take the award for the most amazing coincidence ever, and it would in any other story, but not this one, because the victim in the earlier accident had also been a young man writing the very same moped, not the

same model or color, the exact same moped. It was all just too much of a coincidence to fathom. Yet it happened nonetheless, which is why it's so memorable and so fascinating. The same cab, the same passenger, the same driver hitting two men writing the same mop head one year apart. Some might call it a coincidence, but others see it as something bigger. Some might even call it a curse. Why because erskine Evan actually knew the first man to die very well. In fact, you see his

name was Neville Eban Erskine Ebans brother. Variety maybe the spice of life, but I like to think that there's something comforting about routine. Routine is familiar, It keeps us on track focused. Even routine can be the difference between exercising daily or gaining ten pounds in a month. Routine can also be the difference between life and death. For the choir members of the West Side Baptist Church in Beatrice, Nebraska,

routine was key to their daily lives. Every Wednesday afternoon, at four thirty PM, Reverend Walter Klemple would like the furnace so the church would be warm enough when practice started. He'd go home enjoy dinner with his family, and then he, his wife, and his daughter would go back to the church at seven fift PM for choir rehearsal. And every Wednesday at pm, Mrs fe Paul, the director of the West Side Baptist Choir, would begin practice for the fourteen

other members who had arrived at seven twenty. This had been their routine every single week for years until the Wednesday of March one, nineteen fifty. That is, on that day, Reverend Clemple lit the furnace, just as he had done every Wednesday afternoon prior. Furnaces don't always stay on, however, They run for a time and fill the space with heat until the desired temperature is reached. Then they shut off and wait for the chill to return and begin

the process all over again. But when Reverend Clemple turned on the furnace that afternoon, he was not aware of the broken gas pipe behind the church. He had no idea that when he turned on the furnace he was filling the church with natural gas rather than heat. The reverend went home as usual. He relaxed for a little while before he, his wife, and his daughter enjoyed their

supper together. Afterward, his daughter changed out of her school clothes and into address her mother had ironed earlier, and all three Clemples bundled up against the chilly pre spring air for a walk to their weekly choir practice. PM, the furnace started up once more. The gas had been building up inside for hours, working its way into every nook and cranny of the modest church. The gas ignited in a fiery blast that shattered every window in the

building and sent the walls flying outward. The roof collapsed straight down over where the choir stood during practice. The explosion even took out a local radio station. Firefighters quickly arrived to put out the blaze, and once the fire had been extinguished, there was the task of recovering remains, except there weren't any. Reverend Clemple's daughter had spilled something on her dress that evening. Her mother ironed a new one for her to wear, which kept the family home

much later than anticipated. They were still at home when the church exploded. Choir member La Donna Vandergrift always arrived practice early, but on that night, the high school sophomore had been stuck on a particularly tricky math problem as part of her homework. Rather than give up and head to rehearsal, she decided to stay home and finish the problem first. Acquires pianist Marylyn Paul was supposed to be at the church by sixty five PM, but she'd fallen

asleep after dinner. Her mother, also acquire member, woke her up at seven fifteen, and the two of them never made it to practice. Every member of the West Side Baptist Church choir had a reason for being late that night, from car troubles to feeling under the weather. Not a single one was in the church when the explosion happened. A choir had never experienced such a night. I don't mean the explosion, which was definitely a first, but an evening when each person had been running late once in

a lifetime occurrence, definitely a break in the routine. Call it a miracle or vine intervention, or even the luckiest of coincidences, but you have to admit this may be the only occasion of Acquire performing at its best, because it couldn't keep proper time. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by

me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.