It was Laura Buxton's grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary and Laura's grandfather had a novel idea for finding Laura the penpal she'd been hoping for. He encouraged Laura to write a note and attach it to one of the golden helium balloons from the party. The note said: 'Please return to Laura Buxton', followed by her address. She let the balloon fly into the air and crossed her fingers that it wouldn't just get stuck in a tree.
Discover our latest podcast
Two days later, a farmer came across the deflated balloon stuck in his hedge. He was just about to throw it away when he noticed the note attached. He was taken aback - whilst the address was 140 miles away, Laura Buxton was also the name of his neighbours' daughter. He passed the balloon on to her and when Laura wrote a response to her namesake, the coincidence started to become even more uncanny.
Curiouser and curiouser
Not only were both girls named Laura Buxton, the two girls were also the same age and exactly the same height - 4 foot 7 inches, well above average for 10-year-old girls.
They both had brown hair and blue eyes and on their first meeting - without any prior arrangement - they had both dressed in jeans and pink jumpers. Both girls also owned the exact same pets: three-year-old female black labradors, grey rabbits and guinea pigs with identical orange spots on their hind legs.
Whilst none of these coincidences seem completely extraordinary on their own, it is the combination of all of them together - much as in the case of the Jim twins - that makes this a truly remarkable tale. Even better - the two Lauras became good friends and continued to meet up through their teenage years!
