The Ghost of a Story

Dear fellow author,

Did you ever read a story and thought, "Damn it! This is so close to what I wrote months/years/eons ago, and mine isn't not even been published yet!"
Pure coincidence if it happens once, right? What do you think if it happens twice, thrice, or four times? What if different pieces of work paint a complete picture of your main character?
Are we - as authors - stuck in a collective rut? Are we unimaginative beyond belief? Could we not come up with something - well - different?
Or is our precious Muse a promiscuous bitch kissing more than one author with the same fervor? Is the elusive Muse really nothing but a ghost? A haunting? An unfinished story; a remnant of energy wanting to materialize?

Even the names of the MCs are sometimes the same! Now... they might not be particularly uncommon names. Still...
Is a paranormal hand guiding our fingers across the keyboard? Is our mind possessed by an almost-material idea? Can we avoid it at all, or do we have to go along like puppets on a string?

I wonder if you encountered the same.
Does it dishearten you? Does it spur you on to elevate your story?

Or do you think it's part of writing and re-writing stories? Fresh takes on old favorites. Painting the evil witch in a new light.

Let me know what you think & thanks for reading this.