Here’s a weird one.

Do you believe in reincarnation? (George S. Patton did, you know.)

In late 1977, the plane carrying the rock group Lynrd Skynrd crashed into a swamp outside of McComb, Mississippi. The crash killed “Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, Steve’s sister Cassie (a backup singer), and road manager Dean Kilpatrick.” One male rock legend, a lesser but still excellent male musician, and that musician’s no doubt talented but professionally unremarkable sibling. (And the road manager, Dean Kilpatrick.)

McComb is a town of about 13,000 people. It is a complete no-account burg, or would be if it weren’t for the connection with the famous plane crash – and for one other thing. McComb is the birthplace of a number of notable musicians, from King Solomon Hill (1897) on. After 1950, no musicians of account were born in McComb – except for Britney Spears (1981), Brandy (1979) and Brandy’s younger brother Ray J (also 1981).

That is, a rock legend, a lesser but still illustrious talent, and someone who hasn’t quite made the big time on their own, but who does have a connection to fame. All born within a few years of a tragedy that saw the deaths of some of rock’s great lights, within a few miles of the birthplace of the latter-day talents.

There are two possible reactions to this story. (Well, more than two, but two that lots of people would fall into.)

1) “This is weird. That’s too many coincidences to just be random chance. Something mystical or ghostly is going on.”

2) “This is weird. But it’s just a random concatenation of factors.”

Which of these reactions do you have? Or do you think something entirely different?