This is a list of predictions about the end of the world which, clearly, never came true. For the sake of fairness I have included five predictions based on religious beliefs, and five based on science or pseudo-science.
Montanus was an early “heretic” in Christianity who predicted that the end of times were upon the world. Joined with two “prophetesses”, Montanus claimed to be the embodiment of the Holy Spirit and began to preach a third testament. Montanus’ beliefs became fairly widespread and caused a great deal of confusion and dissent within the early Christian church. Tertullian, the Christian writer (pictured above) rejected mainstream Christianity and converted to montanism. Montanus was eventually condemned at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD.
Interesting Fact: Montanus taught that Turkey would become the “New Jerusalem” and that all of Christianity would settle there before the final judgement.
Charles Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist church believed that the world was going to end in 1794. This view concurred with that of the Shakers who also predicted that year as the end. Despite his error, Charles’ brother John also later made a prediction of the end times; John predicted that 1836 would be the year that the Great Beast would come to earth, marking the beginning of the end.
Interesting Fact: Despite being a founding member of Methodism, Charles Wesley begged an Anglican minister to bury him in an Anglican graveyard, stating: “Sir, whatever the world may say of me, I have lived, and I die, a member of the Church of England.”
The Jehovah’s Witness religion has made a number of predictions about the end of the world. The first was 1914 – they based their prediction on prophecies from the Book of Daniel. After the end did not come, they changed the meaning of the prediction and stated that it was the date that Jesus would begin to rule invisibly (yes – invisibly). Some other years that the group have predicted the end of the world to come are: 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994, etc. One member of the cult actually built a house for the Jewish prophets to live in when they returned to earth as part of the end times.
Interesting Fact: Charles Taze Russell (pictured above pretending to understand Ancient Greek or Latin) – the founder of the cult sold “Miracle Wheat” at extremely inflated prices, promising wheat of miraculous proportions.
Between the years of 1831 and 1841, William Miller (a Baptist minister), predicted the return of Jesus and the end of the world based on prophecies in the Book of Daniel (Daniel 8:14). “My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same, with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844.” The day came and went and the Millerites kept their faith. After further discussion, the date of the end of the world was changed to April 18th. Again the day came and went. Again the date was changed – this time to October 22, 1844. Miller continued to wait for the end until his death in 1849.
Interesting Fact: The Millerite religious movement eventually became the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They believe that the prediction was correct, but that it referred to an event in Heaven not on earth. They continue to believe that to this day. Members of the Bahá’í Faith also believe the prediction – they think it referred to the coming of a forerunner of their own religion, the Bab.
Joanna Southcott was a self-proclaimed English mystic, born in 1750. She was originally a Methodist, but she became convinced that she had supernatural powers and declared herself the woman spoken of in Apocalypse — in the King James Version, Revelation 12:1-6: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars”. Joanna predicted that she would give birth to the Messiah – hailing the end of the world, on 19 October, 1814. The world didn’t end on that date, but two months later it did end for Joanna who died. Her followers kept her body for some time in the hopes that she would raise herself from the dead. They finally handed her over to authorities when she began to decay.
Interesting Fact: Joanna left behind a sealed box which she claims contained a series of prophesies. The box is not to be opened until 24 Anglican Bishops gather together for that purpose. Will the secret of Joanna’s box every be revealed?
Even though Haley’s Comet had been visible many times before without any reported deaths, the passing of the comet on May 18, 1910 was thought to be a deathly threat to people because of poisonous gas coming from its tail. It is not only religious misapprehension that can cause apocalyptic panic. This may have been the first time science caused this grave fear.
Interesting Fact: Mark Twain was born in 1835. Haley’s comet had made an appearance this same year. He has been quoted as having said he would “go out with comet.” Mark Twain died in April of 1910.
Respected meteorologist Albert Porta predicted that on December 17, 1919 a conjunction of six planets would “cause a magnetic current that would pierce the sun, cause great explosions of flaming gas and eventually engulf the Earth.” This prediction led to some mob violence and a few suicides. It also caused Albert to lose his job as a “respected” meteorologist and he ended up working for a local paper writing the weather column.
Interesting Fact: The study of meteorology dates back to Ancient times with the first book on the subject being written by Aristotle in 350 BC. The book was called “Meteorology”.
The Jupiter Effect came out in 1974 and was written by two astrophysicists, John Gribben and Stephen Plagemann. It was about all nine planets aligning on March 10, 1982 to create a gravitational pull that would cause a huge increase in sunspots, solar, flares, and/or earthquakes. Many credophiles took this as a prediction. Although author Gribben even came out and said it was a theoretical “what if” festival without much of any real substance behind it, people believed it was going to happen and would not be deterred.
Interesting Fact: While the effect did not cause major catastrophe, there was some influence by the planets, with high tide calculated at 0.04 millimeters higher than normal.
The comet Hale-Bopp was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months. Amateur astronomer, Chuck Shramek “observed” a companion object following the comet. He then called the Art Bell radio show to report his findings. This led many to believe a variety of “end of the world” theories. The internet helped spread the word even faster. The Heaven’s Gate cult felt this was their signal to commit mass suicide in March of 1997. The cult believed the companion object was a spaceship coming to pick them up only to be reached by leaving their Earthly vessels behind.
Interesting Fact: You can watch a fascinating video clip of the Heaven’s Gate cult on youtube. The video is here.
Nostradamus, arguably the best-known seer of all time predicted July of 1999 to be the chosen date of Armageddon. A “great King of Terror” was to descend from the sky. When that didn’t come true the doomsayers began spreading rumors that the Cassini space probe was going to crash on Earth. The Cassini probe was filled with radioactive fuel. If this was spilled in a crash it would fulfill the prediction in Revelation 8:11 “And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” And of course, no one can forget the years leading up to 2000 in which doomsayers the world over predicted catastrophe for man due to the Y2K bug.
Interesting Fact: Nostradamus was, by profession, an apothecary – which, in modern terms, is a pharmacist.
Contributing and Editing: JFrater, JwJwBean
Great list,
I see the world is still hanging on for dear life. I believe the next time the world will end is in 2012? I sure hope not, England is hosting the olympics then and I would hate to miss it…
Oh and i’ve got dinner with Osama Bin Laden on the date predicted… *rolls eyes*
Not at all. The world will end if Obama is elected president because he’s the anti-christ. Woogie-Boogity-Boo!
Just kidding. I just like making fun of all these morons who think they know the end of the world. If you’re right, who’s going to know?
I bet every dollar I have that every apocolyptic prediction ever made is false. If I’m wrong, I’ll be more than happy to pay up.
Wait, I forgot. Homer Simpson made a correct prediction, but traded his glory to get his family and (specifically) Mo’s Tavern back. Such holy dedication…
I predict that many people will read this list and write comments about it.
I predict that these people will eventually predict everyday will be an apocalypse then they’re bound to be right.
Great list jamie, although I think #2 was not a prediction by scientists or astronomers that supposed satellite would cause any harm/damage on Earth or even if it existed. A fringe group and UFO enthusiasts blew it out of proportion.
As for the bottom five in the list…no wonder they all come from one religion.
One of the ‘religious’ guys, I forget who it was, claimed that the world didn’t end on the day that he predicted because he prayed hard enough to God that God changed his mind.
Wasn’t that nice of him?
It was Pat Robertson. He did that again in 2007 when he predicted that there would be a nuclear war, and then at the end of the year said that he could only think of one possibility. God had mercy on humanity because of his prayers.
Joanna Southcott is buried in my local churchyard, alongside the great artist John Sell Cotman. I’m pretty sure they did open her box in the 20s and it was discovered to contain some papers and lottery ticket….
Eventually in 1927 one reluctant prelate (the Bishop of Grantham, not even a diocesan bishop but a suffragan of the diocese of Lincoln) was persuaded to be present at the box's opening, but it was found to contain only a few oddments and unimportant papers, among them a lottery ticket and a horse-pistol.
It’s funny how people try to predicte the end of the world when Jesus said that “no one knows of the day and time, not the angels in heaven neither the son of man, only the Father in Heaven knows.”
I try to be as compassionate as possible, even in the face of ignorant dogma (‘blind faith’), because I know that people are generally well intentioned… but the more I ponder the issue, the more I can’t come to any other conclusion aside from religion being a form of spiritual poison… a mental illness, possibly the greatest evil in humanity.
I obviously don’t deny people’s desire for spirituality and to have a life of meaning, what I mean is (as evidenced in all of the religious entries on the list) when people start claiming they are the midle man between God and humanity and they deserve some form of authority and automatic subservience, this is what separates religion from spirituality- religion has nothing to do with God, and everything to do with controlling human beings.
Q: What’s the difference between a cult and a major world religion?
A: Nothing. The major world religion is so large it can force society to accept it, even if it is completely ignorant.
Q: What’s the difference between a cult and a major world religion?
A: Nothing. The major world religion is so large it can force society to accept it, even if it is completely ignorant.
True, so true. The same can be said for ancient mythologies.
And I seriously doubt Nostradamus predicted Y2K.
Anyway, let’s all prepare for 2012……
Do Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Zoroastrians or Great Green Arkleseizurists ever make predictions about the end of the world?
I second what Juan said. Anyone “Christian” who claims to know when effectively claims to be greater than Jesus.
I second (only) part of what Mr Graves said: “[it has] everything to do with controlling human beings”.
Some other notable predictions:
Harold Camping of Family Radio, which features his program, “The Open Forum” wrote a book back in 1992 called “1994?” that predicted the end of the world would occur on September 6, 1994. He has sinced revised his prediction to end the world in 2011. (Is he trying to upstage the Mayans or something?)
Edgar Whisenaut was a NASA scientist who predicted the end of the world with his book “88 Reasons why the Rapture will Occur in 1988.” Some folks actually began selling off their property and giving away their possesion in preparation of the September 11, 1988 event.
After selling 4 million copies, 1988 came and went, much the the begrunge of people who bought into it. But never fear. Whisenaut revised his prediction stating he was off by one year and published another book based on his findings that the end would occur in 1989. However, that one didn’t sell quite as well as its predecessor. Fool me once….
Ghidoran- Dang, I had effectively blocked 2012 from my mind, then you had to bring it up.
I’m outta here, I gotta go stock up on oil lamps and canned food…
The only problem with predicting the end of the world is that you’ll only ever be proved wrong because if you’re right then you’ll no longer exist and people won’t be able to write lists for us to take the pee out of.
Comment #12 got me thinking…I’m a Christian, so I know what the Christian Bible says about the return of Jesus/armageddon, but I’m curious to know what other religious texts say about “the end times.” Do they even mention it at all? If not, then that’s why you usually only hear Christians talk about it. If the other religions do, well, then they’re doing a good job in keeping the information to themselves.
Actually, about nº 1, there is a really spooky theory which compares that “King of terror” coming from the sky with Chernobyl’s 1986 disaster. It speaks about a “Red star that will fall from the sky”…Survivors say that when the reactor exploded, what they could see was a giant red bubble slowly falling.
“And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.”. Radiation was spread by air and water, and it will stay there for thousands of years.
But here comes the spookiest part of all: “Chernobyl” is supposed to mean “Wormwood”…and, thinking about it, if a disaster of that kind went uncontrolled, that could really be the end of the world…
(And by the way, none of these said anything about the LHC?
)
Peri:
Not all religions are apocalyptic. In fact, few extant religions are. Christianity (at least certain varieties of it, which emphasize the apocalyptic) retains this mythology as a sort of hand-me-down from Hebrew theology of the day (i.e., when Christianity was born) some elements of which were *highly* apocalyptic. Some Hebrew Zealots, for instance, believed that it was right around the corner.
Today, however, only Christianity really has this, of the major religions. And then it isn’t emphasized except by those who profess to *literal* translations of the Bible. Which is not to say that other Christians don’t believe, let’s say, in the second coming—but they don’t follow word-for-word the so-called prophecies of Revelations—which many scholars have established actually referred to ancient Rome, not our modern world.
Only 10? Haven’t they all been failures by definition? Waitaminute. Is anyone still there??? HELLO????
What about October 14, 2008. Some nutjob at work told me that there would be a giant spaceship landing some were in the sothern hemesphere on that date…. Not exactly the end of the world but a prediction none the less, look it up.
IT`S SAD TO SAY THAT SOME OF THIS FALSE PREDICTION PUSHED SOME PEOPLE TO COMMIT SUICIDE AND YET IT WAS JUST A FALSE PREDICTION.
I want to hear more about predictions from American Natives. I remember some chief saying that end days will come when humans finish a house in the sky (International Space Station).
wow, so i guess the lesson to learn is, don’t make apocalyptic predictions. like was said above, all you be is wrong.
it’s like saying that chocolate and strawberries don’t belong together, all you can be is wrong.
btw, i don’t know if i like the new font for the comments being the same as the font for the headings.
Mr. Graves #10 – I can’t agree more. Thank you so much for putting it so eloquently.
This was a great one! There has certainly been a lot more than this. Unfortunately there are religious figures out to make money on fear with such predictions. “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988″ Edgar C. Whisenant is just one example. 4.5 million copies were sold!
And wasn’t it the Mayans who predicted the worlds end in Dec. of 2012?
Jesus ruling invisibly made me laugh out loud…reminds me of the time my tattoo artist told me he wanted to do a whole back piece- in clear.
Glad to see Jehovah’s Witness predictions were included – I grew up as one and clearly remember being in service (going door to door proseltyzing) and having various members point out particular homes that they would claim as their own – once the present owners died off in Armageddon, of course (which was due “any day now”. Even as a child I remember being horrified at this blithe acceptance and outright joy in the death of others.
You seem to think that Jehova’s guy was stupid because he is trying to read latin or greek but acutally he is very smart for tricking people into buying his wheat, I bet he made a bunch of money off of that wheat.
The world is going to end on December 25, 2008 at 6:00 am Mountain Time, the only way to be saved is to buy my Holy Candy Canes and put them on your tree so you can give them to Jesus when he comes to judge you.
Russell was not expecting “the end of the world” in 1914. From 1904 to 1914 he wrote many times that he was expecting the “time of trouble” to begin in 1914. He stated that he did not know how long the time of trouble would last but that he thought it would not be long. Toward the end of 1913, Russell prepared a tract, entitled: “The End of the World in 1914 – Not the View of Pastor Russell or of the I.B.S.A.” This tract was circulated in January of 1914. No, Russell was not expecting “the end of the world” in 1914.
http://ctr.reslight.net/1914.html
Christian love,
Ronald
Come on this prediction is within the next month (October 14th, 2008) some body say something about it.
Charles Taze Russell, who knew nothing of, and did not believe in such an organization as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, did not believe in Armageddon as is taught by the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
It was Joseph Rutherford, who, after Russell died, gained control of the Watch Tower Society, reportedly by dubious methods, and then used that legal entity to form a new religious organization that he later called “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” (Russell believed that local congregations should be free of any central control.) Rutherford’s new organizational ideas along with his new teachings regarding Armageddon, the second death, etc., led most of the earlier Bible Students to withdraw support from Russell.
Regarding Russell’s knowledge of Greek, see:
http://rlctr.blogspot.com/2008/09/russells-perjury.html
Regarding “Miracle Wheat,” see:
http://ctr.reslight.net/miracle-wheat.html
http://ctr.reslight.net/reply.html
http://www.pastor-russell.com/life/rich1.html
http://www.pastor-russell.com/life/rich2.html
Christian love,
Ronald
Well I guess you have a few weeks to get your signs made.
UFO Video, you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRcQPyBn_Iw
I beileve the world is going to end of December 21 2012 because it is my younger brother’s 16th birthday. scary he will be able to drive.
Great list JwJw and Jamie. . . very well done, personally would have liked to have seen what some of the Ancient cultures believed but hey that’s just a wicked idea for another list.
And this on the veritable eve of the full test of the LHC!
You’re timing couldn’t have been better!
Just thought I’d mention regarding number 8 – Charles Russell never claimed to be able to read Greek or Latin. The record on this is still public domain if anyone wants to check (Police Court of the City of Hamilton, Ontario, March 17, 1913). A section of the transcript reads:
Q. You don’t profess, then, to be schooled in the Latin language?
A. No, sir.
Q. Or in Greek?
A. No, sir
Russel was then asked if he could recognize Greek letters and he said yes. That appears to be where the rumors began.
I love this list! Very interesting!
like george carlin says, I LOVE to see when these religious robots crash and burn.
fromthefuture – can you please extend that by 48 hrs. Its my birthday bash and you will be invited, that way we can all go down under (or up) singing and making merry with a glass in your hand.
No problems about hangovers – or did I make a fool of myself last night.
Ja re cheak your pc. time machines and try and calculate if you can extend by a day or three.
Also with number 8 – Miracle Wheat. It was donated to the Watchtower Society in 1911, and they did what any corporation would do – they sold it. It was sold for 1 dollar a pound, which was the price suggested by the two men that donated it. The money recieved from selling it went to support the missionary work. Russell didn’t get a penny of it for himself.
When some people criticized this sale, all who had contributed were informed that if they were dissatisfied their money would be returned. The money received for the wheat was held for a year for that purpose. But not one person asked for a refund.
Meh… an apocalypse ain’t such a bad way to go.. I just hope I get to see the new season of Lost before it happens..
p.s. has anyone seen the pics of Katie Holmes’ new play.. a ton of an anti-scientology group showed up with signs and ***** saying SAVE KATIE.. it’s really funny..
who was that guy on the internet who said he traveled back in time and Russia and the USA will go to nuclear war in 2008, or something?
Preston Nichols? that montauk project dude?
The heck of it is, Jesus himself told his disciples: “Not even I know when the hour will come … only the Father knows.” Yet all these self-proclaimed Doomsday prophets claim to know better than Jesus. Whatever happened to “Do not presume to know the mind of God?” Just live a decent life, don’t ***** too many people over for the fun of it, and — well, you’re supposed to keep duct tape, drinking water and flashlight batteries around the cave *anyway*.
Weird that you wrote this list. I just had a dream the other night about the end. I read Revelation when I was 6 years old, and fell in love with it. I don’t really know if I believe it so much now, but all such end of the world things have always been my passion.
35. segue
And this on the veritable eve of the full test of the LHC!
You’re timing couldn’t have been better!
Are you talking about Dec. 21st 2012? Same day the Mayans predicted the end of the world? I thought the LHC would be at full power next year.
Context is so important when pulling stuff for the Bible, for example, #1, read the verses before it, you’ll see why wormwood was way out of context.
Didn’t John Titor predict/inform that there would be a global holocaust a while back? I don’t remember anything happening quite on the scale he envisioned but Joan Rivers does now have a starring role in her own TV show. Coincidence?
segue #35:
You’re timing couldn’t have been better!
Nice grammar.
Well October 14th is my birthday, and you know we all have a fear of getting older so now I guess I won’t have to worrry about it. lol
46. Sedulous, the synchronization tests were run, clockwise and anticlockwise, in August.
The particle accelerator was tested in one direction on September 10.
It will be tested in the opposite direction sometime this month (if all goes according to the latest info I’ve read).
After that, the scientists working on the LHC will make the decision when to shoot the particles at each other, but I suspect it would be sometime this year.
This is a great list and a nice idea to include 5 religious and 5 based on pseudo-science.
I also enjoyed the interesting facts at the end of each description. Nice job guys.
By the way my birthday is December 21st (Date of end of the world prediction)
It also happens to be the 1st day of winter. I remember my sister teasing me when I was a little kid that my birthday didn’t last as long as hers because mine was on the shortest day of the year.
That wasn’t very nice of her.
13. Spocker: I actually own both of those books. I bought them for my mom when I thought she was being a little ansy about scripture predictions.
Just pointing out about March 10, 1992- that might be an error. I was told I was born on a day of great planetary alignments (I think all the planets lined up on one side of the sun), and I was born exactly 10 years before that. So it may be 1982, or it may be a completely different thing.
There’s an entire webpage devoted to apocalyptic predictions.
You are right that was a typo on my part. It should be March 10, 1982. Jamie can you fix that please?
And there are many many websites dedicated to this subject. I bet I know the one you are thinking. It had like 9 pages of apocalyptic predictions. This could have easily been a mutch larger list.
Sidenote: Today is International Talk Like a Prirate Day. Arrrggg. Walk the plank.
Number 4 says Aristotle wrote ‘Meteorology’ in 350 A.D.; he lived 384 to 322 B.C.
Segue,
thanks for the clarification, I’m so freakin’ excited about it!! Even if it does mean death by tiny blackholes…
I copied this from wikipedia, clarification on the planetary alignment thing:
“The word ‘syzygy’ is often loosely used to describe interesting configurations of planets in general. For example, one such case occurred on March 21, 1894 at around 23:00 UTC, when Mercury transited the Sun as seen from Venus, and Mercury and Venus both simultaneously transited the Sun as seen from Saturn. It is also used to describe situations when all the planets are on the same side of the Sun although they are not necessarily found along a straight line, such as on March 10, 1982.”
smurff: I don’t know I’ll check with the dicnitaries of light and see if I can make it October 25th that way the hangover will be long gone.