A look back on the ends of the world that were, well, not.
1814: Joanna Southcott
A self-proclaimed English mystic, Southcott believed she had supernatural powers and would give birth to the Biblical Messiah. Despite declaring that the world would end in 1814, she died two months later. Her followers hoped she would raise herself from the dead but gave up when she started to decay.
1938: War of the Worlds
Directed by Orson Welles, the CBS radio drama of HG Well’s alien invasion novel was presented as a series of simulated newscasts. People who missed the disclaimer panicked, flooding media outlets with calls. Later, some listeners sued the station for “mental anguish.”
1997: Comet Hale-Bopp
When Hale-Bopp passed close to the Earth in early 1997, UFO enthusiasts saw images of a “Saturn-like object” trailing it. Mistaking it for a spaceship that signaled the end of the world, members of the Heaven’s Gate cult committed suicide so their souls could board the ship.
2000: Y2K
Up until 1999, computers listed years in two digits, hence the change from 99 to 00 was a bit of a problem. All computer systems were predicted to crash and the world would descend into utter chaos. People stocked up on food, water, and even weapons in fear. Thanks to a lot of meticulous programming, though, disaster was mostly averted.
2011: The Rapture
After unsuccessfully predicting the Rapture in 1994, American evangelist Harold Camping revised his prediction to May 2011, which later was revised to October 2011. “Judgment Day” billboards were erected worldwide, including the Philippines. Camping is now retired and believes nobody can know when the end will take place.
