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One moment you're eating lunch at Wendy's, the next Bill Murray is stealing your fries. Sometimes, life truly is stranger than fiction.

And even if you think you don't like surprises, your brain does. According to research, our reward pathways respond much more strongly to the unexpectedness of stimuli instead of their pleasurable effects. In other words, our inner workings are much more active when they are exposed to the unanticipated.

So we at Bored Panda decided to take a closer look at all the ways the universe likes to surprise us, and gathered a bunch of stories from all over the internet that sound made up but are supposedly 100% true.

At least their authors claim so.

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

I'm not sure if it's coincidental or not, but celebrities die after getting their pictures taken with me.

First it was Storm Thorgerson. I met him at an art gallery in Chicago and got my picture taken with him. 9 months later, dead.

Then it was Carrie Fisher. I met her at Chicago Comic Con and got a photo-op with her. 6 months later, dead.

I'm trying to get a photo-op with Donald Trump, if anyone wants to help me test out my potential super power.

floydfan Report

Final score:
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#2

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I was eating lunch at Wendy's when Bill Murray sat down at my table, stole a fry, dipped it into my Frosty, and ate it. He then looked at me and said, 'Nobody's gonna believe you,' and walked away.

Wes Helgeson , en.wikipedia.org Report

Final score:
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#3

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I went from homeless drug addict to a director position at a tech company in a span of 15 years.

stevenbrown375 , Jonathan Rados Report

Final score:
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#4

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True My father had a heart attack many years ago, and I showed up to the hospital at 3 a.m. Given the time and the fact that he was in ICU, I initially wasn’t allowed in. However, I was finally let in by a nurse who calmed me down and allowed me to see my father. He was so kind to our family throughout my dad's hospital stay. About six months later, my paternal grandmother was in the ICU for a medical issue, and again, we were cared for by this nurse. About a year later, I received a call from my dad telling me to turn on CNN. Turns out, the nurse was Charles Cullen, who famously confessed to murdering up to 40 patients.

Chari Kupstas-Cribb , www.stamfordadvocate.com Report

Final score:
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#5

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True During my sophomore year of high school, my sister and her friend tried to set me up on a blind date with the guy who mowed her parents' lawn. It never worked out, and we never met. Two years later, during senior year, I met and started dating the guy who I'd eventually marry. A couple years later, we discovered that we were supposed to have been each other’s blind date sophomore year. We'll have been together 17 years this March!

Susan Ewen , Images Alight Report

Final score:
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#6

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True When I was around 8, my dog followed my dad to wait with me for my school bus. While they were waiting, my dad saw Fluffy get hit by a truck, so he took him and buried him. We then went out of town for the weekend. But on Sunday evening when we got home, Fluffy was standing on our porch! Dad couldn’t believe it and told us, 'I buried him on Friday!' Turns out, Fluffy had just been knocked out cold, so he rose from the dead and waited on us to come home.

Tamara Baker , Brooke Cagle Report

Final score:
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#7

I graduated 12th grade when I was in 9th grade.

My sister had a huge mental breakdown her junior year of high school and dropped out of public school. She enrolled online for her last two years of high school. She refused to do any of the work so I, who was in middle school at the time, was forced by my dad to do her schoolwork. I finished 8th grade and 9th grade at public school during the day and, in the evening, I did her 11th and 12th grade schooling. The lowest grade I earned masquerading as my sister was a 94 so I’m secretly pretty proud of that considering the age difference

EDIT: To clarify, my sister is regarded as “broken” by herself and all of my family members so I, being the “strong one” according to my dad, have to pick up the extra slack. Thank you for the kind responses also, it means a lot that I’m getting at least a little credit for the two years of work I put in lol. I come from a dysfunctional family of high school dropouts who think school is mainly a waste of time so I’m glad my fellow redditors are here to back me up. Education is important!! :)

PremiumMoose Report

Final score:
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Katie Nelson
Katie Nelson
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yeah, you get credit. When a toxic parent forces everything on you, there are people you can talk to and people that are on your side.

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#8

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I accidentally set my best friend up on a blind date with her ex-husband. I was going out on a first date with a guy, and he asked if I had a friend for his friend, so I invited my best friend along...and then the guys showed up, their jaws dropped, and we had many margaritas.

Alyssa Armand , Gus Ruballo Report

Final score:
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#9

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True My boyfriend and I moved into the same apartment my grandparents had lived in after World War II. We didn’t know until my mum was going through their old stuff to make a Remembrance Day piece for her front hall and found an old letter addressed to them at my address.

thelategreatnobody , Anne Nygård Report

Final score:
212points
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Robert T
Robert T
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My parents moved to the village where some 200 years earlier my great-great-great-grandfather had been the vicar. His name appears above the door of the current church. We had no other family in this area.

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#10

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I have been struck by lightning, bitten by a copper head, burned in a house fire, broken six ribs, lost most of my left lung, and dislocated my eyeball. All in the same year.

darthbiscuit80 , en.wikipedia.org Report

Final score:
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#11

I had a litter of kittens born in my hair when I was seven or eight years old. My cat loved and trusted me so much that she decided to have her babies on my pillow... on my head... while I was sleeping.

ratsandfoxbats Report

Final score:
186points
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Šimon Špaček
Šimon Špaček
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cats are amazing in this. Our cat had her kittens in our daughter bed and all I can say is that it was not the most pleasant wake up

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#12

In college I had a bunked bed with my desk under it. I was in bed reaching for my cell on the desk and lost my balance, fell off the bed, did a full flip and landed in a perfect sitting position in my chair unharmed. My roommate witnessed everything but nobody we believed us.

Hobg0blin Report

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#13

My daughter met a little girl at the park last summer, and it turned out that they were both going into kindergarten at the same school. They ended up having the same teacher. This little girl also lives on our street. In fact, when we were house hunting, we toured their house. I also found out that when they were infants, they were both at the same center for a few months. I actually remember meeting her mom when we toured the room. And, very recently, we both discovered that we had gone to the same college and graduated the same year.

GreenVeep Report

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Bear Hall
Bear Hall
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"And finally, my parents revealed I'm adopted and she's actually my sister."

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#14

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I drove 14 hours one way just to go to the International SPAM Museum. Like that was the entire point of the trip. Nothing else.

spamjam09 , peachsmack Report

Final score:
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#15

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True My brain associates people with colors when I first meet them. The only color I ever pay attention to is yellow. Yellow people are usually really s**y people that I don't like. It's alarmingly accurate.

Edit: RIP my inbox. I tried to answer some questions today but can't get to all of them. To answer the repeating ones: I only get colors in person unless I'm watching videos or seeing pictures of myself. I'm purple. Generally I gravitate towards people in the cooler color spectrum. My wife is coral and is only one of two corals I've met. My mom is most unique in that I pick up earth tones with her and she's the only person I've met that I get multiple colors from. Yes to a certain extent there could be some self-fulfilling prophecy going on with my assumptions, though the color pairing is very real and annoying. I realize my comment was accidentally racist, but we all know what I'm meaning lol. Thanks for all the interest, glad I'm not as weird as I thought!

birdman133 , Claudio Marinangeli Report

Final score:
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ShareMusic
ShareMusic
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sounds like a form of synesthesia. The OP wrote that colors are associated with individuals, not that their skin, hair, etc. are those colors.

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#16

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I went to the hospital once with, what felt like, really bad period cramps. They cut me open and pulled out an 8lb human being.

bookluvr83 , Solen Feyissa Report

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#17

A Victoria Secret model married me.

I wrote a song that was played on the radio for years.

I won a college bowl game.

All of the above is true, but not nearly as impressive as it sounds.

She was a catalog model, not the runway type. We were young. She was pretty damn amazing.

I was 12 and got a keyboard for Christmas. I called the Friday night request DJ in my podunk town and told him I wrote him a song. He recorded it and opened his show with it for years because it was so campy.

It was a community college bowl game.

CatchingRays Report

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#18

I was having lunch with a new coworker once, and he was telling me about his apartment and how haunted it was. He didn't tell me where it was, but the haunting sounded familiar — like an apartment I had once lived in. I told him the address, and he turned as white as a sheet. He was living in that same haunted apartment! When I told him a few details only he could know, he freaked out and moved out of the place that very week.

wendyf4d8cb74fc Report

Final score:
155points
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TyrantrumGogoat
TyrantrumGogoat
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think I've been in an actual haunted house, I can't imagine how anyone could live alone in one!

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#19

Neither my mother nor my father have wisdom teeth, and no one on either side of the family has had wisdom teeth as far back as we know. My sisters also don't have any wisdom teeth.

Somehow, I ended up with eight...

thatyellowishthing Report

Final score:
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#20

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True My grandmother was traveling to the Philippines with her sister who was ill. When they got off the plane and went into JFK airport, Harry Connick Jr. helped pick her up after she collapsed onto the floor. My grandmother looked up and said, 'You look a lot like Harry Connick Jr.' He responded, 'That's because I am Harry Connick Jr.'

Rachael Lynnae McGrath , en.wikipedia.org Report

Final score:
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#21

I have an inverted heart. My blood pumps the opposite way in my body than everyone else. You guys are pumping East. I’m pumping west

TomoIsMyNameO Report

Final score:
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#22

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True The first time I ever went to the casino, on the first slot machine I ever touched, I bet 80 cents and won a jackpot of $800. It paid rent that month.

bibeauty , xersti Report

Final score:
126points
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#23

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I have full-spectrum synaesthesia, meaning that all of my senses are crossed with one another. As a result, I can quite literally taste the rainbow, I can see why kids love the flavor of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and whenever The Rock flexes, I can smell what he's cooking.

No, it doesn't make life more interesting for me. Keep in mind, I've never known anything different.

Yes, it does have some small benefits. The condition often helps me with any writing that I do.

No, it isn't a superpower, despite what you might have seen on whatever show that got it wrong.

Yes, I get asked these questions whenever I mention having the condition.

TL;DR: According to some, my life is a permanent acid trip.

RamsesThePigeon , Frida Aguilar Estrada Report

Final score:
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Jonathan
Jonathan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You should try an acid trip, maybe everything goes "back to normal" on acid. J/k don't try acid, or do but don't.

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#24

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True A couple of years ago, I was flat broke and in a store spending my last couple of bucks on ramen to get me through pay day. The lottery happened to be high, so I decided to spend my literal last $2 on a ticket. Well, this little old lady walked up behind me, and since the store was packed, I let her go ahead of me in the line. She purchased one quick pick lottery ticket. I then purchased my lottery ticket and ramen and went home. A couple of days later, I saw her on the news: She was the only winner of a $90 million jackpot. If I hadn't let her in front of me, I would've purchased that ticket, and I'd be millionaire right now.

j49a3a8931 , Erik Mclean Report

Final score:
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#25

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I have seen my own intestine.

Since somebody asked: Semi-Truck blew a red light as I was pulling out of the hospital I worked at. The ED crew ran out, shoveled me off the asphalt, and ran me inside. If it had been anywhere else I'd have bled out before an ambulance arrived. It broke my left everything, including ten ribs, many if which wound up in my lung, one of which is still unaccounted for. I was fortunate enough not to suffer any spinal damage, but I did lose my left leg below the knee. I've made a mostly full recovery, less the.leg and significant lung functionality.

If you think about how a grape splits open when you squeeze it too hard you'll have the right idea.

timetobeatthekids , John Campbell Report

Final score:
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Devil's Advocate
Devil's Advocate
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Glad you survived, but can I just say that this is why a green light means "proceed with caution" and not just "go".

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#26

Tea makes me drunk. A single glass of standard Lipton's Iced Tea and I am giggly, silly, fall down drunk. Look me dead in the eye and deadpan say "Joke" and I will piss myself laughing for half an hour. All well and good, cheap drunk, right? But I get a devastating hangover the next day -- head pounding, throwing up, the whole bit. Alcohol almost never gives me a hang over, but tea hang overs are absolutely miserable.

pbrim55 Report

Final score:
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Anna Snorrepot
Anna Snorrepot
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

weirrrrd! Obviously something in the tea doesn't get broken down in your brain. I assume it doesn't happen with real tea, like leafs and hot water? I looked at the ingredients… maybe it's the Steviol sweetner? or the various sugars your body converts to alcohol or something.

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#27

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True My uncle is Bill Gotez. Its pronounced Gates. I told some people at my elementary school and one of the teachers called a parent teacher meeting to talk about me lying all the time. My mom came in and backed up my story. At the time I didn't even know who Bill Gates was and didn't understand why no one believed me.

Uncle Bill isn't very good with computers. In my early teens I would give him tech support.

davidisgreat , Beth Macdonald Report

Final score:
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GirlFriday
GirlFriday
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can relate to this because when I was young, I had told my teacher I wouldn't be in class on Friday because I was going out of town for my uncle's wedding. The teacher knew my uncle (small town and they went to school together) and asked who he was marrying, I said Megan Rhyan (pronounced the same - and I did say MEGAN not Meg). The teacher called me a liar and signed me up for detention for lying to her in front of the class. I came home with the slip for my mom to see and she had to go to the school and explain that I was not lying. In all fairness, I was not really aware of who Meg Ryan was at that age. It would be a year or two before she became wildly popular and I was old enough to appreciate her work.

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#28

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True My wife is a childcare provider, and some years ago one of her clients was a couple with a little girl about 2 years old. They dressed her up as a prisoner in an orange jumpsuit with makeup eyebrows and scars on her face. She became the non-crying half of the 'timeout changes a man' meme. The crying boy in the picture is a neighbor.

russellk404d731f1 Report

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Bear Hall
Bear Hall
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Welcome to the "Scare for life" preschool. This week's theme: serial killers. We still have Ted Bundy and the Beltway Sniper to choose from."

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#29

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I was once picked up by a large bird when I was younger. (Around 3 ) Lifted me at least 4 feet off the ground then dropped me and flew away.

kiddelrey , Richard Lee Report

Final score:
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#30

I don't get tired from running, and I can continually run without stopping for extended periods of time, and only tend to stop cause get bored from running. Other than having larger than average lungs due to being active, and also having a slightly larger heart than normal, I (along with everyone else) cannot figure out why I do not get tired from running... it doesn't make sense. In soccer games, people I play against tend to slow down as the game goes on, as their energy drains, but mine never lets up, and I can play multiple games with the exact same stamina as before, and looking at me, I look very regular, no six pack or anything, it's very strange.... I do also have very large Calf muscles, that could also be factor

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I DO NOT GET BRUISES. That may be also something to note that can correspond with my lack of tiredness. I've been kicked so hard in soccer, my Shin Bone Swells, but no bruises ever occur. I have friends test it on me and punch me as hard as they can, but no bruise will ever come. I think it's a chemical thing in my body

Branden_the_Dj Report

Final score:
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I’ve Seen Things
I’ve Seen Things
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wasn’t this one of Michael Phelps advantages? 🤔 Poor to no Lactic acid production.

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#31

My great grandfathers story

He was born in Estonia, and after getting in trouble with the Russian mafia there as a teenager he fled to Sweden where he joined the military. Cue WWII and he’s sent to Italy to help some friends of friends get out of trouble with his brothers. Battle between the Italians and allies goes south, and one of his brothers is killed. The other two, along with himself, are captured and sent to a POW camp in Italy. A couple months in another of his brothers is killed in the camp. Following that Mussolini shows up to the camp and talks with my great grandpa. Why, I couldn’t tell you. After that him and his last surviving brother attempt a jail break where he escapes, but loses his brother. My grandfather goes north until he’s captured by the Russians, who he talks his way out of being a prisoner with and is rather treated as a guest until one day he’s summoned by none other than Joseph Stalin who he becomes friends with. At the end of the war Stalin sends him back to Sweden with a coin and a watch with the engraving “from Joseph to Reinhardt”

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TyrantrumGogoat
TyrantrumGogoat
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Man that's a cool story, but it sounds so traumatic. I hope he's okay.

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#32

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I can change my eye color between brown and green at will. Takes a minute but I can.

gamedemon24 , takwa abdo Report

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Tobias Reaper
Tobias Reaper
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

sounds like a rejected x-man "so hear me out i am shape shifter but only my eye colour can change"

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#33

I was briefly the suspect in a mini-horse murder investigation.

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#34

35 Stories That Sound 100% Made Up But Are Actually True I can’t get brain freeze. Not sure how unbelievable that is, but most people are pretty confused by it. I have some extra bone growth, called a torus, that presses up against my soft palate and prevents me from getting brain freeze.

[deleted] , ide alien Report

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#35

I was hit in the face by the nozzle of a gas pump because the guy on the other side of the pump from me didn’t take the nozzle out of his car before he drove away. The rubber tube stretched forward, sprung back and WAM! the whole thing hit me right in the face.

catdogyosh Report

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Katie Nelson
Katie Nelson
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Da da da da duhhh, covering a not so nice comment... Bye!

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