# Did nostradomous really predict the end of the world in 2006? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869 "2004-12-28T02:45:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chefIL11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/1 "2004-12-28T02:45:44Z")
What were his predictions? are they coming true? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/2 "2004-12-28T02:54:37Z")
Did nostradomous really predict the end of the world in 2006? Yes. Also 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010… …and all the other years before or after. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/3 "2004-12-28T03:12:27Z")
> [@chefIL11](#): > > What were his predictions? are they coming true? Nostradamus predicted nothing or everything, depending who’s reading him. I am assuming you have not read Nostradamus. His “predictions” are quatrains, four-line stanzas, that rarely include anything too specific. Good examples include: > [@](#): > > From the human flock nine will be sent away, > Separated from judgment and counsel: > Their fate will be sealed on departure > Kappa, Thita, Lambda the banished dead err What the hell does THAT mean? Well, some have said Nostradamus predicted the Challenger explosion. Weird, since 7 people, not 9, died in the explosion, but there it is. > [@](#): > > Beasts mad with hunger will swim across rivers, > Most of the army will be against the Lower Danube. > The great one shall be dragged in an iron cage > When the child brother will observe nothing. This one is really popular because people think “Hister” means “Hitler.” Actually, Nostradamus was referring to a place, not a person, that used to be called that. But folks read predictions into it that aren’t really there. In fact, believing in Nostradamus’s predictions is so popular that people have passed around phony quatrains and SAID he wrote them. A popular recent example was one referring to a “Village idiot” who would rise to power, supposedly a prediction of Bush 2.0; the stanza was phony. Another popular one is changing one of his actual quatrains to claim it predicted 9/11: > [@](#): > > The year 1999 seven months > From the sky will come the great King of Terror > At forty-five degrees the sky will burn, > Fire to approach the great new city: I’ve seen this one reprinted as saying “From the year 2001, nine months,” but that’s fake. His original words in French were “L’an mil neuf cent nonante neuf sept mois,” which means “The year 1999, seventh month.” July 1999, not September 2001. Furthermore, New York City isn’t at 45 degrees of latitude, it’s between the 40th and 41st degrees. Reading his vague, train-of-thought quatrains, you can convince yourself, if you are determined to do so, that he predicted almost anything you want. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/4 "2004-12-28T03:35:13Z")
Centuries before the Beatles, Nostradamus discovered combining poetry and hallucinagenic drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/5 "2004-12-28T03:40:49Z")
> [@](#): > > The year 1999 seven months > From the sky will come the great King of Terror > At forty-five degrees the sky will burn, > Fire to approach the great new city. This quatrain is a combination of two different quatrains. [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/rumors/predict.htm) ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/6 "2004-12-28T03:44:29Z")
Nostradamus died in 1566 and 2006 hasn’t even happened yet. So no. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/7 "2004-12-28T04:14:28Z")
The Master speaks: [Was Nostradamus really able to predict the future?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_051.html) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/8 "2004-12-28T04:20:06Z")
Cecil Adams speaks: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1\_051.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_051.html) Ol’ Nost seems to be good at predicting…nothing. Since 1900, wacko preachers have predicted the end of the world dozens of times. Nostradamus has a worse record than that. If he were a stock picker, sadly, he would still have lots of clients (He’s due!.) Modern economists have predicted 11 of the past 4 recessions. Prediction is a tricky science, especially when it involves the future. It is also a science that attracts hordes of suckers. My prediction for 2005 is that many people will continue to believe in Nostradamus, against all reason. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/9 "2004-12-28T06:10:24Z")
Economist/demographer Julian Simon used to hate prophets of gloom and doom, and used to love making the challenge I’m about to make. So… if ANYBODY buys into Nostradamus’ “predictions” that the world will end in 2006, here’s my offer: I’ll give you $50 right now, if you’ll sign a contract saying that I can have ALL your worldly possessions on January 1, 2007. If you really think the end is nigh, you’ll take my offer in a heartbeat! You can spend my $50 on something fun right now, secure in the knowledge that the world won’t be here in the year 2007, and you’ll never have to give me any of your possessions. You should sign on the dotted line, and laugh at me for giving away $50 for nothing. IF you really believe the end will come in 2006, that is. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/10 "2004-12-28T06:29:05Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/11 "2004-12-28T11:55:39Z")
…but the **Bible Code** _does_ predict nuclear Armageddon in 2006. I read it\*. In a book, and everything! It must be true — it had Hebrew and stuff in it!!! OMG!! :eek: \*Well, I flicked through it at a friend’s house, and thought my eyes were going to roll right out of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-nostradomous-really-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2006/281869/12 "2004-12-28T14:43:03Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Centuries before the Beatles, Nostradamus discovered combining poetry and hallucinagenic drugs. Though he never wrote anything as catchy as “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?”