Ben Smith
The World Ends Today: 7 Modern Doomsday Predictions that Didn’t Pan Out
by Ben Smith - June 12, 2008 - 4:27 PM

hawkins.jpgFor centuries, people have claimed to know when the world would end. Last Thursday, the House of Yahweh group from Texas announced that the end of the world was to begin June 12, 2008 (today). Not exactly the gift I had in mind for my 20th birthday. However, this isn’t the first time the group has claimed the end was nigh. Yisrayl Hawkins (pictured) had previously predicted that nuclear war would start September 12, 2006. When the date passed with no war, it was instead called the start of a nine-month gestation period for the “nuclear baby,” which would be born June 12, 2007. The group now claims that this is the year the end is coming. For real this time. While I cower in my basement waiting for the nukes, here are 6 more doomsday predictions from the past to consider.

Margaret Rowan, 1925

Out in California, a young girl named Margaret Rowan claimed the angel Gabriel had visited her and proclaimed the end of the world would be February 13th at midnight. The message was brief, but powerful. Robert Reidt, a housepainter from Long Island, was especially taken by the proclamation, buying advertising space to spread the word and promote a hilltop get-together for the faithful. People swarmed to the hillside at the appointed hour, lifting their arms skyward and shouting “Gabriel!” again and again. Midnight came and went, with no one taken to the heavens. Reidt calmed the crowd by rationalizing that Margaret’s prediction must have been made for Pacific time, as she was in California, and the faithful waited another 3 hours. After the extra time still produced nothing, the throng dispersed, and Reidt blamed the failure on the “Satanic” flashbulbs of the reporters that had shown up.

Dorothy Martin, 1954

Around Christmastime in 1954, Dorothy claimed peapod-like ships able to hold 6-10 passengers each would descend upon Oak Park, IL, and take those who believed away. Members believed that after the ships left, a new sea would be formed, cleansing the area of human life and creating a new order. No metal would be allowed on board, so all zippers and metal clasps were removed. Anxious for first contact, the faithful took an invitation by phone to a party as a sign, returning dejectedly after discovering it was merely a prankster. However, once the appointed time came and went, the followers did not see the error of their ways. Instead, they became more fervent in their beliefs, with members of the group researching ancient South American civilizations in search of their space saviors. The reaction of the group interested psychologists, who used the situation as a chance to study cognitive dissonance and understand what happens when a group finds something they thought to be true is actually false.

Church Universal and Triumphant, 1990

Located in Montana, the Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) and spiritual leader Elizabeth Prophet became famous in the 1980s for claiming a nuclear holocaust would happen at the end of the decade. Members built shelters and stockpiled weapons and food in preparation for the predicted date of April 23, 1990. Nuclear war didn’t occur, and disillusioned members left the group despite CUT’s claims that their fervent prayer had prevented the disaster. Nowadays, membership has declined, staff and property have been downsized, and Elizabeth Prophet is in home care for Alzheimer’s. The group still maintains the end is close.

Heaven’s Gate, 1997

hglogo.gifHeaven’s Gate is remembered for the mass suicide tied to the Hale-Bopp comet in 1997, but the group’s motivation is just as interesting. Believing the Earth was to be “recycled” (wiped clean and rejuvenated) after the comet passed, the group saw their bodies as vessels to help them journey away from the planet, and true “suicide” to turn away from the chance to reach the “Next Level.” Members of the Marshall Applewhite’s group replaced their last names with an “-ody” at the end of their first names, and funded the group by providing professional web development services through their business Higher Source. Preparing for departure, members donned matching black shirts, sweatshirts, Nikes, and armbands reading “Heaven’s Gate Away Team”. Leaving a press release on their website to explain their reasoning, suicide was conducted in shifts as the members anticipated joining a ship hidden beyond the comet as it passed by Earth. The group’s website remains intact, a lasting record of their time on Earth.

Richard Noone, 2000

In 1982, Richard Noone published his book 5/5/2000—Ice: The Ultimate Disaster, in which he claimed the Earth’s crust would shift horribly, causing massive earthquakes and volcanoes and ultimately ushering in a new Ice Age. This shift, a result of the alignment of the planets, was supposed to have huge repercussions, with oceans becoming “maelstroms of death” and three-quarters of the human race being killed. Noone’s claims didn’t come true, and while he doesn’t seem to have written any other books predicting more destruction, 5/5/2000‘s 1997 revised edition can be picked up at Amazon.com for a cent. Any takers?

UNARIUS (UNiversal ARticulate Interdimensional Understanding of Science), 2001

Founded in 1954 by Ernest and Ruth Norman (who went by Ioshanna and Uriel, respectively), UNARIUS is one of the more flamboyant groups in this list. Believing Earth to be a “kindergarten for spiritually debased souls,” followers study a weird mix of flying-saucer theories and past-life regression in an effort to move to the next level. A local access show was used to recruit new members in the 1980s, with messages (featuring Uriel’s unique wardrobe) such as this appearing in the California area:

Ioshanna wrote of a 2001 mass space fleet landing. When that didn’t happen, the organization decided to return to its roots. Roots, in this case, being a belief in a future extraterrestrial landing that will assist humankind.

This is by no means a complete list. To read more past prophecies and predictions, check out:
A Brief History of the Apocalypse
It’s the End of the World As We Know It…Again
Apocalypse Now. No, Really, Now!

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Comments (26)

  1. Tomorrow: 7 Doomsday predictions that did come true.

    posted by pg on 6-12-2008 at 5:18 pm

  2. I was talking about Heaven’s Gate like two days ago. If I remember correctly I made a seriously tactless joke about phenobarbital and vodka… oh well. Cool article, Ben. And pg’s comment is hilarious, you should look into that.

    reCaptcha: ’50,000 fixed’ lol

    posted by adrienne on 6-12-2008 at 6:30 pm

  3. I thought today felt a little apocalyptic. Now I know why!

    posted by pc on 6-12-2008 at 6:53 pm

  4. Another big one (still has a couple years before it will be debunked) is the Mayan prophecy saying that the world will end on December 21, 2112. Its quite alarming watching videos and in general reading what these people believed. I’ve always wondered if the leaders in the cults who make it up truly believe it. I mean, surely to some degree they remember when they thought it up!

    posted by Josiah on 6-12-2008 at 7:05 pm

  5. Elizabeth Prophet: her real name?

    And Josiah, I believe you mean 2012, not 2112.

    posted by Pointy-Hatted Geek on 6-12-2008 at 7:37 pm

  6. Well, it’s already Friday here in New Zealand (and now in Europe), so I’m guessing the world didn’t end. I’m only guessing we’d know first?

    posted by Dawn on 6-12-2008 at 8:02 pm

  7. Rowan & Martin? Really?

    posted by roddiohead on 6-12-2008 at 8:59 pm

  8. I believe 2012 (or whatever) is the end of the current cycle of the Mayan calendar, not a prediction of the end of time. Our Gregorian calendar works in a cycle as well, repeating every 400 years or so. If we only made astral charts and such up to some arbitrary point, you can bet someone in the future would assume that meant we foresaw the end of days (assuming we’ve been wiped out by the giant kudzu by then, and they use a different system to organize time).
    Don’t forget the Seventh Day Adventist movement. It’s not just a faith based upon the taking-out-of-context of “the Lord rested on the seventh day”, thus Saturday should be the sabbath (again, Gregorian calendar, codified thousands of years after the writing of Genesis). It is also a faith born of a guy who “literally interpreted” the Bible to predict the second coming would occur on 10/22/1844. When armageddon failed to arrive, most of his followers headed for other, hopefully truthier, pastures. Those who remained concluded his interpretation was correct, yet his timeline was off.
    I sure hope the world doesn’t end tomorrow, or I’ll feel awfully silly.

    posted by El Tigre on 6-13-2008 at 5:45 am

  9. Can I add CNN to this list of fear mongers? They’re pretty much intimating the nearing apocalypse every five minutes, or however long it takes to auto-refresh the Breaking News banner.

    My last name is Italian for “Prophet”, my spidey sense should have informed me that yesterday was the Apocalypse. But nooooo.

    posted by Lauren on 6-13-2008 at 6:51 am

  10. El Tigre – “Those who remained concluded his interpretation was correct, yet his timeline was off.”

    Actually, you got that backwards–SDAs believe that the timeline was correct, but the interpretation was wrong. In other words, the date was correct, but the event was not the end of the world, but the beginning of what SDAs call the “investigative judgement.”

    posted by Scott A. on 6-13-2008 at 7:27 am

  11. Pointy-Hatted Geek: It’s her real name, by marriage. There’s a wealth of information on her at Wikipedia.

    posted by Ben Smith on 6-13-2008 at 8:46 am

  12. i saw that yisreal hawkins guy getting grilled on nancy grace a few weeks ago. it was pretty darn funny. usually i can’t stand nancy grace but i couldn’t think of a better punishment for that jerk than to be yelled at by her shrill voice. there are a bunch of civil paternity suits against him apparently by different women who say he used his power in his church to take advantage of them and that he has regular affairs. nancy made fun of his doomsday predictions and when she asked why the “nuclear baby” hadn’t been born he said “yahweh held it back, but can’t keep holding it back forever. that’s why we need to be faithful and keep praying to yahweh” or something like that. but isn’t yahweh all-powerful? why can’t he hold it back forever? or if he can’t hold it back, why not cause a still-birth (if we’re staying with his crazy terminology)? why does yahweh need our prayers? is he vulnerable to disbelief like tinkerbell? quick, everybody clap your hands for yahweh!!!

    posted by lindsay m on 6-13-2008 at 9:55 am

  13. Just an archaeologist pet peeve – we only say “Mayan” to refer to the language, in ALL other contexts it is Maya. It is unbelievable that museums, Discovery shows and plenty of educated people believe it is Mayan but alas, it is not.
    Sorry for the rant, it has been drilled in my head.

    posted by Katie on 6-13-2008 at 10:02 am

  14. You have a fantabulous title, and lucky birthday gift of this prophecy. May the next 4 years be very exciting indeed — a party then to celebrate at the 1st of december?

    posted by K. C. K. on 6-13-2008 at 10:24 am

  15. Read Apocalypse Pretty Soon. I think y’all might like it.

    posted by Benjamin Baxter on 6-13-2008 at 2:56 pm

  16. I recently read Current Events, Conservative Outcomes by Freiman who makes lots of predictions about the future. It is kind of his thing. He makes it clear that end of the world prophecies are pointless as when the apacolypse occurs largely depends on how believers act in relation to God’s will. He also makes the point that end of the world predictions should be focused on the Middle East as that was the known world at the time of Christ. Freiman claims to be psychic but is very honest in how he makes his predictions and how many psychics stretch there abilities to be popular and Make money. He tends to agree with the article in that way.

    posted by Wende on 6-13-2008 at 6:48 pm

  17. Amongst all this craziness, I recently came across ‘something’ new that suggests some profound changes may be on the way. But not the way anyone or any religion expected? Google something called The Final Freedoms.

    posted by Robert Landbeck on 6-17-2008 at 11:57 am

  18. Lauren your post was hystarical. Loved it

    posted by Nicole on 8-22-2008 at 4:20 pm

  19. Wow, nice reference to the HoY. I actually live in the little town in Texas, that Yisrayl Hawkins calls home.

    posted by Joshua on 11-12-2008 at 10:55 am

  20. You should be able to add this to your list shortly.
    “An independent Christian group in the U.S. even predicts the end will come more quickly: 21 May 2011.”

    This was in the Washington Post a few days ago, but I can’t find that link, so here is a different article on the same woman.

    http://www.coffetoday.com/the-doomsday-is-on-may-21-2011/907618/

    posted by Nicole on 1-5-2011 at 9:58 am

  21. Oh no, Nicole—May 21 is the day of my wedding reception!

    posted by KerriD on 1-5-2011 at 12:32 pm

  22. Just yesterday I was looking at the website of a group claiming that (poorly interpreted) Scripture says the world ends on May 21 of this year. I hope I see one of them interviewed on May 22.

    posted by Ben H. on 1-5-2011 at 1:36 pm

  23. It is inevitable that someithing catastrophic on a grand scale will happen. It makes me wonder if anyone will predict it correctly and be mocked or if it will completely blindside everyone.

    The article does bring to mind the Restaurant at the end of the Universe and the jokes at the expense of people waiting for their religions second coming

    posted by hockeyzombie on 1-5-2011 at 4:03 pm

  24. There is no FOOL LIKE AND OLD FOOL. People read the bible no one knows when the world will end yes we are leaving in our last few day which is far from now. The warnings like world disaster are happening which is a warning to let everybody know that we need to get our spiritual life in order, but its not the end. So all the followers of Harold at 6pm when the world doesn’t end i hope they stop being followers and become leaders. Harold calculations are wrong once again. He made up his own equation and explain it so ya’ll would believe him.. Its shopping time I’ll talk to ya’ll on SUNDAY MAY 22.

    posted by toya on 5-21-2011 at 12:03 pm

  25. wrong again freaks

    posted by ronnie on 5-21-2011 at 9:16 pm

  26. People who love God and His son, Jesus, are not freaks. They just appreciate that He gave his life for them. And even you. If you don’t believe that’s okay for you. It’s a choice. God set it up that way to accept or deny. I know he’s real, so I chose to accept and when I did, he came into my heart, spiritually, and made his presence known. How can anyone say they think it’s hogwash, if they haven’t given the Lord a chance. So call me crazy. When the world is finally over, and it’s coming someday, only God knows, you can’t say you weren’t warned. But you can get out of sin city and get into God’s eternal kingdom and be part of his family. Where you belong. Hell was created for the devil and his angels. If the rich man could come back and talk to you he’d say, “Get true salvation, Christ as your Lord. Get saved, born again. Don’t come here to this place of torment.” And I know this for sure: Everyone knows there is a God. That’s why you dispute Him, because you can’t deny Him and it’s really bothering you. If it wasn’t then people who say they are athesist wouldn’t even say it. By saying it you’re admitting there is a God. If you are anti-God, then you know in your heart there is one. Now, will you take him as your own personal savour. Any one seeking to be right with God, he will save. May God bless you all. Get out of Babylon, sin city, and get into God’s Kingdom, the New Jerusalem set above, the mother of us all. God Bless.
    Good night.

    posted by SPARKS on 5-21-2011 at 11:20 pm

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