# Did any psychic predict Covid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2021, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529 "2021-09-12T01:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/1 "2021-09-12T01:17:39Z")
I mean it seems like such a big event. How did they miss it? I haven’t even heard anyone trying to twist a Nostradamus quatrain into an after-the-fact prediction. They really let us down. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/2 "2021-09-12T01:25:02Z")
There are enough of them that someone’s bound to have come close enough to convince those who want to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/3 "2021-09-12T01:27:26Z")
Nostradamus Century 2, Quatrain 6: “Near the gates and within two cities “There will be two scourges the like of which was never seen, “Famine within plague, people put out by steel, “Crying to the great immortal God for relief.” So, basically, no. [Source. Daily Express](https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/1260158/Nostradamus-2020-predictions-true-coronavirus-COVID19-latest-news) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/4 "2021-09-12T01:59:11Z")
People have been predicting plagues since forever. They undoubtedly started changing their vocabulary decades ago. I’ve seen several dredged up references to people talking about coming pandemics, some of them forecasts, others just general talk. None of them were specific to this particular pandemic, but what does that matter? ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/5 "2021-09-12T03:26:41Z")
No psychic predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union, perhaps the most important event of the end of the 20th century, a series of events that affected millions of people. As evidence (if any was needed) that psychics are frauds. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/6 "2021-09-12T12:28:36Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > I mean it seems like such a big event. How did they miss it? I haven’t even heard anyone trying to twist a Nostradamus quatrain into an after-the-fact prediction. They really let us down. [https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-coronavirus-nostradamus-idUSKCN21R388](https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-coronavirus-nostradamus-idUSKCN21R388) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/7 "2021-09-12T12:34:04Z")
[I found this post.](https://www.facebook.com/Rt62mx/posts/2020-is-gonna-be-sick-super-excited-to-be-a-part-of-the-oma-this-year-we-will-an/2792153797509029/) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/8 "2021-09-12T12:50:15Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > No psychic predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union, perhaps the most important event of the end of the 20th century, a series of events that affected millions of people. **As evidence (if any was needed) that psychics are frauds.** - I saw that one coming. 🔮 ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/9 "2021-09-12T14:52:05Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > No psychic predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of the Soviet Union, perhaps the most important event of the end of the 20th century, a series of events that affected millions of people. As evidence (if any was needed) that psychics are frauds. I have never understood this “all or nothing” mentality. Your post makes just as much sense as saying, “Because car mechanics sometimes make mistakes, all mechanics are frauds.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/10 "2021-09-12T15:55:09Z")
If car mechanics were as reliable as psychics, we’d all be riding horses. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/11 "2021-09-12T16:07:57Z")
Me too, but I did not indicate a date. I only said that when the wall started crumbling, it would be very fast. Living in Berlin, it was pretty clear the wall could not last forever. The pandemic was not predicted by any psychic AFAIK, only sane people warned, pleople like Fauci, Bill Gates and so. And some psycho too, but they don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/12 "2021-09-12T17:16:42Z")
It’s not “this particular psychic failed to predict this one specific minor event”. It’s “every psychic in the entire world all failed to predict this extremely major event”. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/13 "2021-09-12T18:31:01Z")
You know, if every car mechanic ever failed to fix a single part on a single car, eventually most sane people would begin to wonder why they were called car mechanics. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/14 "2021-09-12T18:35:23Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > I have never understood this “all or nothing” mentality. Your post makes just as much sense as saying, “Because car mechanics sometimes make mistakes, all mechanics are frauds.” It is hard, but not impossible to find car mechanics that are not frauds. For your statement to make sense it would have to possible to find a real psychic. Got one? ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/15 "2021-09-12T18:42:36Z")
Don’t know if it helps, but I think my car mechanic is psychic. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/16 "2021-09-12T19:01:28Z")
One prophet, Chuck Pierce, began prophesying in late 2019 that “massive plague-like conditions” would come through April 2020. But since he said it would end in April 2020, he was wrong about that portion of it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/17 "2021-09-12T19:03:15Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > “massive plague-like conditions” A term so vague as to be useless, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/18 "2021-09-12T22:11:03Z")
Nobody can really predict anything anymore with any degree of certainty. Look at how many political experts predicted 2016 was going to be a landslide electoral victory for Hilliary Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2021, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/19 "2021-09-12T23:27:27Z")
Predicting things that come true isn’t really a big deal. You just predict lots and lots of things, some contradictory, and ignore the ones that don’t come true. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2021, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529/20 "2021-09-13T01:58:54Z")
You just have to be vague enough with your predictions to be able to shoehorn them into eventual reality. Or vice versa. Take right wing crank and supplement pusher Mike Adams of Natural News (a bizarrely popular website for dimwitted paranoids and alt med enthusiasts). Looking at his 3/14/20 predictions regarding Covid-19, you’re struck by how grotesquely overblown and stupid they were. He can probably crow about this final one though: **10. The United States of America as we know it today will not survive the next two years**. Something will change the landscape in a dramatic way, either a geopolitical breakup of the nation, the suspension of elections followed by civil war, a foreign invasion of the USA during our summer of chaos, or other similar events that will end the nation as we know it." Assuming we avoid civil war and/or a Chinese invasion, lots of things can be said to “end the nation as we know it” - for instance, Biden’s vaccine mandate is unprecedented. Just ignore all his ludicrously false predictions, and stock up on the prepper supplies he’s selling. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-psychic-predict-covid/950529.md?page=2)