Hey YouTube, Jim here! Welcome to Top 10 Archive! What does Tupac, Bob Marley, and Jimi Hendrix have
in common? Other than being talented musicians, they all actually predicted their early demise.
Today, we're looking at 10 Famous People Who Predicted Their Own Deaths! Do you think they
really predicted their own deaths, or do you think it's just a bizarre coincidence?
10. Jimi Hendrix
Hendrix is probably the most famous guitarist that ever lived. Before he hit big time,
he recorded “The ballad of Jimi” with Curtis Knight, which had the following lyrics:
“Many things he would try/ For he knew soon he’d die./
Now Jimi’s gone, he’s not alone/ His memory still lives on/
Five years, this he said/ He’s not gone, he’s just dead”
So, what happened five years later? You guessed it. Almost 5 years to the day,
Hendrix died from accidental asphyxiation while on barbiturates. Do you think he saw it coming?
9. James Dean It’s no surprise that not long
before his death, James Dean took up quite the dangerous sport, racing. His Porsche 550 Spyder,
with the tongue-in-cheek name the “Little Bastard” is well-known if you’re familiar with the actor.
When asked in an interview about the danger of the sport, Dean said it wasn’t the racing track that
was dangerous, it was the regular roads where you find a mix of amateur and highly-skilled drivers.
Well, he seems to have been on to something. On September 30th 1955, Dean crashed his Porsche
and died. The most haunting part? He wasn’t a “if I die driving, I’ll die happy kind of guy.”
In that same interview he said: “Take it easy on the highway, the life you save may be mine.”
8. James Hellwig If this name doesn’t speak to you much, you
may have known him best as The Ultimate Warrior, one of the most renowned characters of the WWE.
In his last appearance, as if he knew it to be such, he stated something chilling: “No WWE talent
becomes a legend on their own. Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat. His lungs breathe
their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of
others and makes them believe deeper in something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit,
will be immortalized.” It wasn’t months later, but rather the very next day that the Ultimate
Warrior met his Ultimate end when he had a heart attack at just 54 years old. It was as if his
heart knew he’d accomplished everything he’d ever wanted. He’d recently made amends with Hulk Hogan
and Vince McMahon, and was even inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame three days prior.
7. “Pistol Pete” Maravich Pistol Pete, one of the best ball-handlers
to ever play the game, is an NBA All-Star and one of the youngest players to be inducted into
the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He was in just his fourth year of playing in the NBA
when he said to the Beaver County Times: “I don’t want to play 10 years [in the NBA] and
then die of a heart attack at the age of 40.” 10 years later, he retired from basketball after an
injury and during a game of pick-up collapsed from a heart attack at 40 years old. Upon inspection,
medical experts explained his heart was actually missing a valve and that the fact that he had made
it past 20 was astounding. 6. Mark Twain
As if Mark Twain wasn’t extraordinary in talent alone, consider also that he was born the same
year Halley’s Comet passed. He always took that as a sign of what his life would be. In fact, in a
very writer-deadline fashion, he said he wanted to die the next time the comet passed. It seems some
higher power may have heard him because the day after Halley’s Comet passed for the second time,
Mark Twain passed away from a heart attack. He was keenly aware of the upcoming comet,
so it could have been that he died out of an innate need for irony or dumb luck. Regardless,
a year prior, in 1909, he said “I came in with Halley’s comet, It is coming again next year.
The Almighty has said, no doubt, ‘Now there are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in
together, they must go out together.’” 5. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Along with being an activist and outspoken leader comes great danger. Few knew that
better than Martin Luther King, Jr. At the end of his April 1968 speech titled “I’ve Been to
the Mountaintop,” King foresaw his own death that would happen just the next day. He prophesied:
“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life … But I’m not concerned about that now.
I just want to do God’s will. I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you.”
In the morning, he was killed by a sniper standing in front of his hotel.
4. Bob Marley Speaking of activists,
Bob Marley was one to always preach and live by those beliefs. He knew long before his death that
would die at 36 years old. In fact, one of his close friends named Allan “Skill” Cole, says he
was convinced Marley was psychic. In Jamaica, he’d tell people their future and read their palms.
Whether or not he did those readings accurately isn’t as carefully documented,
but after he announced he would die at the age of 36, and then dying from cancer at that same age,
his community looked back on his days of reading palms much differently.
3. John Lennon John Lennon did not predict his death
quite as clearly as the others on this list, but many read his song lyrics and wondered whether he
knew the whole time that he’d die young. The song “Borrowed Time,” especially brings people to think
he predicted his death. Additionally, he allegedly made eerie comments to The Beatles in private and
while others were around. He declared he wouldn’t make it to 40 years old, and later said he'd be
next, after their manager was shot. To add, he was oddly specific about his prediction, saying,
“I’ll probably be popped off by some loony.” At age 40, Lennon was shot five times by a stranger.
2. Abraham Lincoln We hear a lot about Lincoln’s life and death, but
not much about how he predicted he would die. In fact, it wasn’t so much a prediction as it was a
nightmare that haunted him... well, in his words, “annoyed him.” He would dream of a catafalque,
the wood frame that supports a coffin in the East Wing of the White House and next to it,
a Union soldier. He would then walk up to the soldier and ask who died, and he’d respond “The
president. He was killed by an assassin.” It’s said that he told a friend about these thoughts
and dreams, though we don’t know much about the conversation. Three days later, his nightmare
came true to a tee, with his body being put on display in the East Room of the White House.
1. Tupac Shakur In an interview in 1994, Tupac
Shakur was asked about where he thought he’d be in 15 years. He replied: “Best case? In a cemetery”,
and he wasn’t wrong. Of course, many know that the American Rapper and son of a Black Panther wasn’t
shy about his views or his talents. He lived his life inspired by the greats, like Shakespeare,
and died by the words of his very own lyrics. In a song released not long before his death,
he said ‘I been shot and murdered, can tell you how it happened word for word…” The loss
of Tupac was a huge hit to the culture and the arts, especially knowing he knew it all along.
Thanks for watching! I keep telling people I believe I’ll die on my 100th birthday,
so that gives me … let’s see, 1, 2, 3, … well, a much time longer here on Top10Archive! What
about you? Know of any other famous folks that predicted (somewhat accurately) the time of their
death? Let us know in the comments! We can safely predict that this channel will go on robustly
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