Mayan 'Apocalypse' 2012: 10 Doomsday Predictions That Captivated World's Imagination
The book was written by two astrophysicists, John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann, which in the eyes of many gave the theory credibility. Gribben denied that he was trying to make an actual prediction about the end of the world, but many took the March 10, 1982 date seriously and believed world-ending cataclysms were on the way.
6) Pat Robertson – Judgment Day
Evangelist Pat Robertson, a former Southern Baptist minister and chairman and host of the Christian Broadcasting Network, also began predicting the end of the world by stating he had figured out when Jesus Christ would return to Earth.
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"I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world," Robertson said during a May 1980 broadcast of "The 700 Club" show on CBN. As a popular preacher, Robertson's message spread out to millions across America, claiming that God Himself had hinted at the date – although the year went and passed without incident.
7) Nostradamus – "Great King of Terror"
The 16th century French prophet Michel de Nostredame, or Nostradamus, has captivated people for more than four centuries with his many predictions about world politics and culture, a number of which have come to pass with striking accuracy.
One of his predictions, made in 1955 and translated into English, read:
"The year 1999, seventh month / From the sky will come great king of terror," which led many to believe that he was talking about the end of the world, possibly from a meteor crashing down from the sky.
This was one Nostradamus prediction, however, that led to nothing – other than more doomsday predictions about the end of the millennium.
8) Y2K – Technology "Apocalypse"
The specialness of seeing the turn of the millennium is still alive for many who welcomed the year 2000, and many still remember the hysteria that spread concerning the predicted "technology apocalypse" that was coming. Many predicted massive computer and software crashes that would cause a global commerce meltdown and send the financial system into chaos, virtually putting human civilization on hold.
"The End Of The World As We Know It?" – ran a Time Magazine headline in 1999. As the clocks passed midnight on Dec. 31, 1999 however, few technological problems were reported then or in the days after the New Year.
9) Large Hadron Collider – Massive Black Hole
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), constructed between 1998 and 2008, stands as the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. Its purpose is to allow scientists to test different physics theories, such as the Higgs Boson and a number of fundamental laws of physics that could only be theorized until then.
When the Collider was first launched in Sept. 2009, however, rumors started flying rampant around the globe that the atom smasher could generate such incredible energy that it could spawn a black hole, which could in turn devour the entire planet. A group of physicists suggested that there could be something to those fears, and said that there was only a very small chance such a black hole could be created – but it was enough to spread doomsday talk and concerns across the globe.
The Large Hadron Collider has been put to use very sparingly since 2009, but so far has led to no signs that such a threat could come to pass.
10) Harold Camping – Biblical Armageddon
The 90-year-old Family Radio Stations Inc. founder and chairman has been predicting the end of the world since 1994, and he predicted May 21, 2011, as the day mankind would face Judgment Day as foretold by the Bible. He claimed to have discovered a numerical code with which he deciphered clues about the End Times, and used more than 5,000 billboards and 20 recreational vehicles to spread his prophetic message.
"God has given so much information in the Bible about this, and so many proofs, and so many signs, that we know it is absolutely going to happen without any question at all," Camping said weeks before May 21, convincing many to give away their earthly possessions and prepare for the judgment of Christ – not unlike William Miller in 1843.
When nothing happened on May 21, Camping said that he had "miscalculated" the date and adjusted it for Oct. 21, 2011. After nothing happened then either, the Family Radio founder finally repented and retired from biblical predictions – although mainstream Christians and the general public had mostly stopped taking him seriously by that point, as it was widely reported by The Christian Post.
