Three Reasons Why You Should Never Name Your Child "Richard Parker"

1. In Edgar Allen Poe's 1838 novel, a character, Richard Parker, gets eaten by his crew mates.
2. In 1884, a real person named Richard Parker gets eaten by his crew mates.
3. Are reasons number 1 and number 2 not enough for you?
   
   
   
    
   Edgar Allen Poe is known as a horror master for writing weird poems and short stories. Did you know he also wrote a novel? Only one. One novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
   
   
   In 1838, Poe wrote a story about Arthur Gordon Pym. Pym was an adventurous youth, who eventually becomes a stowaway on a whaling ship. The ship, named Grampus, is the target of a mutiny and a shipwreck, Pym is one of the survivors. While waiting to be rescued, the survivors run out of food and in their deprived state of mind come up with the idea that one of them should sacrifice himself to feed the others. The survivor named Richard Parker draws the short stick and gets chosen for the honor. (Insert here grisly Poe descriptions of the cannibalistic scene.) Shortly after eating their shipmate, the remaining ships crew are rescued.
   
   
   The story goes on and at the end Pym sails off into the sunset heading for the South Pole. Poe himself, called it a silly story, but Jules Verne and Herman Melville mined that silly story for their stories afterward, namely, An Antarctic Mystery, and Moby Dick.
     
   Fast forward to from 1838 to 1884, and a ship carrying a cabin boy named Richard Parker, unsuccessfully tries to sail from from England to Australia- it encounters a storm, and is wrecked and sinks. The few survivors, unprepared for being lost at sea and in fear of starvation, decide to eat fellow crew member and cabin boy Richard Parker (!), who is conveniently already sick, and happens to be the youngest one aboard the lifeboat. They say a prayer over him then promptly slit his jugular and carve him up for food and drink his blood. They do get rescued, just a few days after eating their crew mate, and are eventually tried for his murder. (It eventually becomes a precedent setting legal case.) 
   
   
   
    
   Talk about uncanny coincidences! How is it that Poe writes this story, uses a particular name and then this grisly story becomes a reality. Both Richard Parkers get shipwrecked and are eaten by their crew mates! Clearly there is enough eerie evidence here for you to to never name your kid Richard Parker, especially if you live by any body of water. Beware all you Richard Parkers that already are...if you ever wanted to try sailing or boating or even go on a cruise, don't! You have been forewarned of what could be your fate!
   
   
   Incidentally, fast forwarding to 2001, (or 2012 for the movie version),Yann Martel writes a story about a young man who is shipwrecked while sailing across the ocean with his parents, The Life of Pi. In this shipwreck story there is a character named (you guessed it), Richard Parker! But, this Richard Parker turns out to be a character who does the eating, he does not get eaten. To find out more about that Richard Parker you'll have to read the book or watch the movie. Kudos to the author for inserting an inside joke, having a Richard Parker involved in yet another shipwreck story.
   
   
   
    
   
   
   Sources: http://mentalfloss.com/article/30093/edgar-allan-poes-eerie-richard-parker-coincidence
   http://www.cracked.com/article_18421_6-insane-coincidences-you-wont-believe-actually-happened.html
   This coincidence is also mentioned in the book: She is Not Invisible by Marcus Sedgwick.