The Apocalypse is near. In fact, it will release its catastrophic effects, in a theatre near you, in the form of '2012', Hollywood’s latest end-of-the-world offering.
And while John Cusack and Amanda Peet have had to battle global cataclysm predicted by an ancient Mayan calendar, historical documents, astronomy and biblical and scientific data (whew!), we’ve just sailed by several hundreds of dooms day predictions.
Here’s a list of some apocalyptic dates that have passed us by:
2800 BC: One ancient Assyrian tablet dating to 2800 before Christ was born predicted the end of the world with these ominous words: "Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end..." Guess that didn’t come to pass!
1537: According to French astrologer Pierre Turrel's calculations the world was to end this year. He also provided three alternative options: 1544, 1801 and 1814. Hmm. Maybe he wasn’t so good at math.
1794: Charles Wesley, a founder of the Methodist Church predicted the end of the world this year; his brother John, a fellow co-founder later said the beginning of the end would begin in 1836!
1814: A self-proclaimed British prophet, Joanna Southcott, announced that she would give birth to the Messiah and that the end of the world would come at the year's end. But the end, when it did come, was only for her. She died in December that year.
1910: Did you know that the May 18, 1910 passing of Halley's Comet was to be accompanied by death due to gassing – the comet's tail was said to be giving of poisonous gases. This is perhaps the first doomsday theory based on scientific fact.
1914: Members of the Jehovah’s Witness sect believed whole-heartedly in the end of the world theory and issued its first date of apocalypse in this year. They subsequently issued end of world warnings in 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994. Guess they were using Turrel's calculator!
1935: In 1931, one Wilbur Glen Voliva claimed the world would, rather undramatically, go up in a puff of smoke in September 1935.
March 10, 1982: This end of the world theory is something Hollywood would have been proud of. According to the book 'The Jupiter Effect', published in 1974, certain planetary alignments would create a gravitational pull that would create solar flairs, sun spots and/or earthquake. The most that happened that day was that the tide rose .44mm higher than normal.
March 8, 1998: An Indian doomsday cult, based out of Karnataka, proclaimed the world would end with a series of earthquakes; that the Indian subcontinent would sink into the ocean a la Atlantis and that Lord Vishnu would put in an appearance. El Nino and weird weather would signal the end.
1999: Everyone's favourite seer, Nostradamus, chose July of 1999 as the day the world would end. He predicted, very ominously, that a 'Great King of Terror' was to descend from the sky in the seventh month of the year.
2008: Last year, a British religious group, The Lord's Witnesses, predicted the end of the world, the result of a catastrophic (there can’t be any other kind!) world war. The prediction was made on the basis of 'codes' embedded in the Bible.
(Research sources: A Brief History of the Apocalypse; Listverse.com, Timesonline.co.uk)
And while John Cusack and Amanda Peet have had to battle global cataclysm predicted by an ancient Mayan calendar, historical documents, astronomy and biblical and scientific data (whew!), we’ve just sailed by several hundreds of dooms day predictions.
Here’s a list of some apocalyptic dates that have passed us by:
2800 BC: One ancient Assyrian tablet dating to 2800 before Christ was born predicted the end of the world with these ominous words: "Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end..." Guess that didn’t come to pass!
1537: According to French astrologer Pierre Turrel's calculations the world was to end this year. He also provided three alternative options: 1544, 1801 and 1814. Hmm. Maybe he wasn’t so good at math.
1794: Charles Wesley, a founder of the Methodist Church predicted the end of the world this year; his brother John, a fellow co-founder later said the beginning of the end would begin in 1836!
1814: A self-proclaimed British prophet, Joanna Southcott, announced that she would give birth to the Messiah and that the end of the world would come at the year's end. But the end, when it did come, was only for her. She died in December that year.
1910: Did you know that the May 18, 1910 passing of Halley's Comet was to be accompanied by death due to gassing – the comet's tail was said to be giving of poisonous gases. This is perhaps the first doomsday theory based on scientific fact.
1914: Members of the Jehovah’s Witness sect believed whole-heartedly in the end of the world theory and issued its first date of apocalypse in this year. They subsequently issued end of world warnings in 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994. Guess they were using Turrel's calculator!
1935: In 1931, one Wilbur Glen Voliva claimed the world would, rather undramatically, go up in a puff of smoke in September 1935.
March 10, 1982: This end of the world theory is something Hollywood would have been proud of. According to the book 'The Jupiter Effect', published in 1974, certain planetary alignments would create a gravitational pull that would create solar flairs, sun spots and/or earthquake. The most that happened that day was that the tide rose .44mm higher than normal.
March 8, 1998: An Indian doomsday cult, based out of Karnataka, proclaimed the world would end with a series of earthquakes; that the Indian subcontinent would sink into the ocean a la Atlantis and that Lord Vishnu would put in an appearance. El Nino and weird weather would signal the end.
1999: Everyone's favourite seer, Nostradamus, chose July of 1999 as the day the world would end. He predicted, very ominously, that a 'Great King of Terror' was to descend from the sky in the seventh month of the year.
2008: Last year, a British religious group, The Lord's Witnesses, predicted the end of the world, the result of a catastrophic (there can’t be any other kind!) world war. The prediction was made on the basis of 'codes' embedded in the Bible.
(Research sources: A Brief History of the Apocalypse; Listverse.com, Timesonline.co.uk)
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