From Nostradamus’ famous prophecies to a woman who foretold the assassination of a
US president, here are 9 people who predicted historic events:
Number 9 Nostradamus Born Michel de Nostradame and commonly Latinized
as Nostradamus, this 16th century physician and reputed oracle is best known for ‘The
Prophecies’, a collection of 942 poetic quatrains.
These four-line poems have been often credited with predicting historic events.
Since his work was first published in 1555, Nostradamus’ alleged predictions have amassed
many followers and often benefited from the support of popular media.
However, his work is rejected as genuine foretelling in most academic circles, which also doesn’t
support the notion that Nostradamus had any supernatural abilities.
Aside from mistranslations, which were sometimes done on purpose, the quatrains are described
as vague enough to apply to virtually any scenario.
There’s an argument that Nostradamus didn’t make predictions- statements about events
that are known before they happen, but post-dictions- statements that ring true only after the events
have occurred.
Interpretation is usually where the line’s drawn between skeptics and believers.
For example, there are lines in his work which can be accurately translated as ‘Earth-shaking
flames from the world’s center roar/And make the world around a New City quiver’.
For some people that may sound like Nostradamus predicted 9/11 while to others it might be
open enough for any interpretation.
Other lines may seem to be harder to deny such as ‘The blood of the just will be lacking
in London/Burnt up in the fire of ’66 –which seems to predict the Great Fire of London
which took place in 1666.
Other notable predictions attributed to him include world wars, the atomic bomb, the French
Revolution as well as the rise of both Napoleon and Hitler.
Regardless of where you stand when it comes to Nostradamus’ work, a conversation on
people who predicted the future undoubtedly warrants his inclusion.
Number 8 Scrubs Maybe it was merely a coincidence or maybe
one of the writers of the TV series ‘Scrubs’ had a prophetic moment.
In a 2006 episode, the janitor, a character played by Neil Flynn, makes a rather eerie
comment to the show’s main protagonist.
He claims that, in his opinion, the US armed forces should be looking for Osama Bin Laden
in Pakistan.
At the time, nobody thought much of the comment regarded as part of the show’s comedic writing
and the character’s typical dry delivery.
Then, in 2011, Osama was found to be hiding out at a compound in Pakistan where he was
killed by members of SEAL Team Six.
This has sparked several conspiracy theories, most of which don’t go too far in terms
of credibility.
Number 7 Tana Hoy American psychic Tana Hoy reportedly predicted
a deadly terrorist attack on a building in Oklahoma City 90 minutes before it took place.
Hoy made his prediction in 1995, during a live radio program in Fayetteville, NC.
About an hour and a half later, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols unleashed what would be
the worst terrorist attack on US soil, prior to 9/11, on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
At least 168 people were killed and hundreds were injured.
However, this wasn’t the first time that Hoy had made this prediction.
He’d allegedly told the FBI about the attack months before it took place.
Number 6 Simpsons It’s well known that, during the show’s
30-year-long airtime, writers for ‘The Simpsons’ have made several predictions.
Among the most significant was the presidency of Donald Trump and, according to writer Dan
Greaney, the joke was meant to reflect a ‘vision of America going insane’.
Other notable predictions that came true include Disney’s bid to acquire Fox, Greece’s
debt default, several technological developments and the NSA spying scandal.
Perhaps one of the most fascinating aspects about the show’s predictions involves the
discovery of the Higgs boson.
The ‘God Particle’ was confirmed by scientists at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012, but
Homer Simpson might have hinted at its mass in 1998.
In an episode entitled ‘The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace’ Homer decides to become an inventor.
He’s pictured standing in front of a blackboard with an equation on it.
It’s been reported that, once the equation is worked out, the result is the mass of a
Higgs boson only slightly larger than it’s actually been discovered to be.
That’s still quite remarkable when considering that Homer made the prediction 14 years before
the Hadron Collider discovery.
Number 5 Ferdinand Foch Marshal Ferdinand Jean Marie Foch served as
the Supreme Allied Commander during World War I.
After the war was over, Foch accepted the German request for an armistice.
However, he believed that the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were too lenient on Germany
and that the country should have been further weakened of the resources to rise again.
One June 28, 1919, as the treaty was being signed, Foch declared ‘This is not a peace.
It is an armistice for twenty years.’
In saying so, the military commander essentially predicted World War II, which by general consensus
began with Germany’s invasion of Poland.
It took place on September 1, 1939, precisely twenty years and 65 days after Foch uttered
those infamous words.
Number 4 Jules Verne Jules Verne has been credited with making
a number of predictions, particularly regarding scientific achievements.
In 1865 Verne published a novel called ‘From the Earth to the Moon’.
He described a manned vehicle launched by the US in a projectile, aiming to land on
the Moon, over a hundred years before Apollo 11.
The shape and size of the projectile closely resembled that of the Apollo spacecraft.
Just as the Apollo 11 mission, the launch takes place from Florida and the crew consists
of three men who splash down in the Pacific Ocean on the return to Earth.
Without knowing how a trip to outer space would affect gravity, the author also predicted
weightlessness.
However, he wasn’t correct in his interpretation of where it would take place as he described
it at the midpoint of the journey, when the gravity between the Earth and the Moon is
balanced.
Nevertheless, when considering the fact that his novel was written more than a century
prior to the moon landing, Verne’s foresight is still quite remarkable.
Number 3 William Lendrum Mitchell Often regarded as father of the US Air Force,
General William Lendrum Mitchell produced a rather visionary intelligence report in
1925.
When asked to describe how a future war with Japan would unfold, Mitchell wrote that the
Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor on Sunday at 7:30 AM and Clark Field, in the Philippines,
at 10:40 AM.
While he was a bit off on the dates, the rest unfolded with remarkable accuracy 16 years
after Mitchell’s report.
Sunday, December 5, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor at 7:55 AM and Clark Field at
12:35 PM.
Number 2 Morgan Robertson Morgan Robertson novella ‘The Wreck of the
Titan’ isn’t a case of art mirroring life but rather a case of art predicting it, with
incredible accuracy.
Written in 1898, before the RMS Titanic was even conceptualized.
The novella describes a fictional ocean liner named Titan, the largest of its kind, which
is described as unsinkable.
The Titan does eventually sink after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic and there
aren’t enough lifeboats for everyone onboard.
So far the similarities between the novella and the real-life events surrounding the RMS
Titanic are uncanny, but it doesn’t end here.
Both the Titan and the Titanic had similar proportions and struck the iceberg on an April
night while travelling at similar speeds, 25 and 22 knots.
Both struck the iceberg on the starboard side while they were 400 nautical miles from Newfoundland.
In the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic, the only explanation that some people could
find for the similarities was that Robertson was clairvoyant.
The author denied the claim and attributed the similarities to his extensive knowledge
of maritime trends and shipbuilding.
Be that as it may, some still aren’t convinced that Robertson lacked supernatural abilities
while others have created several conspiracy theories about the sinking of the Titanic,
based on his novella.
Number 1 Jeane Dixon Jeane Dixon was a famous self-proclaimed psychic
and astrologer who reportedly predicted the election and death of US President John F.
Kennedy.
In a 1956 issue of Parade Magazine, Dixon wrote that the 1960 election would be won
by a Democrat, who would die or be assassinated in office.
She became known to the general public through the 1965 book ‘A Gift of Prophecy: The Phenomenal
Jeane Dixon’ which was written by Ruth Montgomery and sold over three million copies.
Dixon’s foretelling of the Kennedy assassination soon made other people in the White House
follow her predictions.
They included President Richard Nixon, who set up a committee on counterterrorism after
Dixon claimed attacks would take place on US soil.
She was also one of the astrologers that gave advice to Nancy Reagan.
However, the psychic wasn’t always right.
She’d predicted the Soviets would be the first to put a man on the moon, circumstances
for the beginning of WW III and other things that didn’t happen.
A mathematician coined the term ‘The Jeane Dixon Effect’ in reference to the fact that
people often tend to focus on the predictions that came true instead of those that didn’t.
Dixon was a devout Roman Catholic and claimed that her prophetic abilities came from God.
When she died, in 1997, her last words were ‘I knew this would happen’.
Thanks for watching!
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