life is funny

Have you ever been struck by the weird coincidences of life and how it's twists and turns, at times, seem to have a darkly comedic undertone? If so, then you're not alone. Charles Fort (he of Fortean fame) came up with the idea, although possibly not the name, of the Cosmic Joker. However, this figure does have his precursors throughout history - Loki of the Norse Gods and the Coyote in Native American culture being just two examples of his various incarnations. And here is an example of his work, condensed slightly from an article in the Fortean Times.

"Around Mid Januay 1922 the Farm of Alexander McDonald in Antigonish, Nova Scotia accquired a poltergeist. Iniitally the house was plagued by mysterious fires forcing the family to move out... Speculative explanations include that Mary Ellen set the fires while seleepwalking and unconsciously choreographed the phenomena using the energy supplied by the radio current. That the radio current and her intellectual impairment allowed a roaming spirit, perhaps that involved in the Amherst case, to manifest as a poltergeist and to use Mary Ellen's body as a tool for setting the fires, since the area did not have enough energy to let it manifest independently. Nevertheless it seems a satisfactory theory will never be found. "

"In 1913 a similar but totally unconnected case occurred in Missoula, Canada where a farm owned by an unrelated Alex MacDonald with an adopted daughter Mary Ellen. The reported phenomena however were limited to a series of knockings from the room next to that where their Mary Ellen slept. The knockings seem to have been produced by Mary Ellen. A few months later their farm burned down. Maybe there really was a poltergeist there. "

And so, two completely unconnected families, and the coincidence that binds them. Somewhere up there, the Cosmic Joker was probably laughing his ass off.