Zach Braff & Mitt Romney Are Related In This Weird Way

If you think that Scrubs actor Zach Braff and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney have very little in common, you're wrong: They're actually (sort of) family. According to Braff, the pair have a common ancestor with a pretty fascinating — if tragic — story. TMZ caught up with Braff outside of Los Angeles hotspot du jour Catch, and Braff confirmed that he's — get this — related to an alleged "witch" from the 1600s. When a paparazzo asked Braff if he was related to a "witch from the Salem Witch Trials," the Garden State director stated that was true — and that he's not her only living relative. "I sat next to Mitt Romney on a plane once, and later we discovered we are related to the same witch." TMZ reports that the so-called "witch" was actually a woman named Rebecca Nurse, and that she was hanged in 1692 despite no actual evidence that she was practicing witchcraft. (Her accuser even apologized for making false claims against Nurse in 1706.) Nurse's tragic story later became a part of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.

Though finding out that a relative of yours was wrongfully hanged is a huge downer, it may have been the thing that bonded Braff and Romney. In 2014, Braff posted about having "the best conversation ever" with the former governor of Massachusetts.

Romney also shared this photo of him and Braff hanging out on the aforementioned plane.

The next time these two have a chat, it might just be at their family reunion.