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[u/yutani333](https://old.reddit.com/user/yutani333) answered this at https://old.reddit.com/r/linguistics/comments/r5gp90/why_do_so_many_languages_express_happening_as/hmspxm6/.

>The central idea of the metaphor of "fall" > "happen" is one of agency. When something happens to you, you are generally not the agent of that action (cf. I happen (to) myself, which sounds weird because the agent and patient are the same). Something falling out of the sky on you is also seen as an "uncontrollable" event; thus, when something, say rain, "falls" on you, it is occuring to you without substantial agency on your part. Using that as a starting point, it is easier to see how it may come to have it's various modern meanings.