# Fictional events that eventually become reality? (Read the OP.) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077 "2025-07-19T13:20:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/41 "2025-07-20T13:04:39Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > This book was first published in 1914. AFAIK, it’s still in print. Another Tom Swift invention is the “electric rifle” from the book Tom Swift and his Electric Rifle. When the electric rifle (okay, not a rifle) was invented it was called a “taser” from Thomas (A) Swift’s Electric Rifle ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/42 "2025-07-20T14:15:04Z")
The 1994 Tom Clancy novel “Debt of Honor” featured the crashing of a hijacked jetliner into the U.S. Capitol. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/43 "2025-07-20T14:42:15Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The 9/11 attacks came seven years after Tom Clancy’s novel _Debt of Honor,_ in which someone crashes an airliner into the U.S. Capitol building, and the Capitol was a possible target on 9/11. But that may not be as specific as the OP wants - it didn’t involve the World Trade Center. The same year the Dale Brown book _Storming Heaven_ had an airliner attempt to crash into the White House but was stopped at the last second. The White House was damaged by debris. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/44 "2025-07-20T14:56:45Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The 9/11 attacks came seven years after Tom Clancy’s novel _Debt of Honor,_ in which someone crashes an airliner into the U.S. Capitol building, and the Capitol was a possible target on 9/11. But that may not be as specific as the OP wants - it didn’t involve the World Trade Center. Hijack: I swear I did a ‘control f’ search on this thread for the word ‘Clancy’ before I posted, and nothing came up. It comes up now. Has anyone on here encountered this? Possible Discourse problem? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/45 "2025-07-20T15:07:24Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The 9/11 attacks came seven years after Tom Clancy’s novel _Debt of Honor,_ in which someone crashes an airliner into the U.S. Capitol building, and the Capitol was a possible target on 9/11. But that may not be as specific as the OP wants - it didn’t involve the World Trade Center. Clancy also wrote _The Sum of All Fears_ in 1991 where Palestinian terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in Denver during the Super Bowl. Clancy sort of wrote himself into a corner with this. In his universe, the nuclear attack in Denver would have been the defining event in the history of terrorism. But in the real world, it was the 9/11 attacks. So in Clancy novels written after 2001, he sort of had to have his characters act as if the Denver attack and the Capital attack hadn’t happened in order to keep them relevant to his readers. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/46 "2025-07-20T15:15:14Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Hijack: I swear I did a ‘control f’ search on this thread for the word ‘Clancy’ before I posted, and nothing came up. It comes up now. > > Has anyone on here encountered this? Possible Discourse problem? Belongs in Site Feedback, but unlike in VBulletin in Discourse only a small proportion of posts are loaded into _active_ screen memory: you have to do an hourglass search instead to make sure you’ve covered the entire thread. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/47 "2025-07-20T16:20:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in Denver during the Super Bowl. Why do terrorists with access to a single nuclear weapon pick Denver as a target? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/48 "2025-07-20T16:22:45Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in Denver _during the Super Bowl._ > > Why do terrorists with access to a single nuclear weapon pick Denver as a target?. You quoted the answer right there. Emphasis mine. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/49 "2025-07-20T16:22:49Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in Denver during the Super Bowl. > > Why do terrorists with access to a single nuclear weapon pick Denver as a target? They picked the Super Bowl as a target. Seems like a pretty big target to me ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/50 "2025-07-20T16:24:43Z")
The Super Bowl? As opposed to NYC or Washington D.C.? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/51 "2025-07-20T16:26:02Z")
Millions of people worldwide are not watching NYC or DC live. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/52 "2025-07-20T16:31:43Z")
> [@Tibby](#): > > It serves the traditional Dagwood: multi-layered with ham, turkey, roast beef, American & Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, all piled on onion-poppy seed bread As someone whose regular sandwiches consist of a single slice of cheese or cold cut between two buttered slices of bread: how do you eat such a monstrosity without all of it falling apart and making a mess? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/53 "2025-07-20T16:32:06Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > The Super Bowl? Note that it wasn’t an original plot idea, either. The 1977 film _[Black Sunday](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sunday_(1977_film))_ (based on a 1975 novel of the same name) has terrorists planning to detonate a large (conventional) bomb aboard the Goodyear blimp, over the Orange Bowl stadium in Miami during the Super Bowl, killing the ~80,000 people in the stadium. As with the Clancy novel, the goal wasn’t necessarily maximum casualties, it was visibility. The “unrealistic” part of the Clancy novel is the location: with one exception\*, the NFL always selects a host city for the Super Bowl based on many factors, but one is that weather is unlikely to significantly affect the game; hence, host cities are either warm-weather cities or those with domed stadiums. Denver is highly prone to cold and snow in late January and February, and has an open-air stadium. \*- One Super Bowl was held in the New York area; this was originally chosen to symbolize the U.S.'s, and the New York area’s, recovery from 9/11, and they got lucky that the weather was mild that day. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/54 "2025-07-20T16:35:22Z")
The _Black Sunday_ scenario makes more sense: if you’re limited to a conventional weapon a tightly packed crowd in a stadium is an optimal target (and it being the Super Bowl helps). ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/55 "2025-07-20T16:47:00Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > The Super Bowl? As opposed to NYC or Washington D.C.? In the novel and movie, it wasn’t just about the Super Bowl - it was also that the President and various important government officials were supposed to be in attendance at that game. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/56 "2025-07-20T18:23:43Z")
I don’t eat Dagwoods myself, but I suppose having an alligator-size mouth would help. A Katz’s-size sandwich is as big as I can handle. [![](https://d2zyb4ugwufqpc.cloudfront.net/media/wysiwyg/Homepage/pastrami_r7.jpg) ](https://d2zyb4ugwufqpc.cloudfront.net/media/wysiwyg/Homepage/pastrami_r7.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/57 "2025-07-20T18:31:05Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Same with Jungle cruise. Jungle Cruise was based on _The African Queen_. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/58 "2025-07-20T18:39:07Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > The 9/11 attacks came seven years after Tom Clancy’s novel _Debt of Honor,_ in which someone crashes an airliner into the U.S. Capitol building, and the Capitol was a possible target on 9/11. But that may not be as specific as the OP wants - it didn’t involve the World Trade Center Then there’s the episode of the X-files spin-off “[The Lone Gunmen](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0635314/)”, in which they thwart an attempt to fly an airliner into one of the WTC towers. Aired in March of 2001. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/59 "2025-07-20T21:20:46Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > > [@Lumpy](#): > > > > The Super Bowl? As opposed to NYC or Washington D.C.? > > In the novel and movie, it wasn’t just about the Super Bowl - it was also that the President and various important government officials were supposed to be in attendance at that game. I don’t remember everything about the book since it’s been so long since I read it (and the movie changed so much). I do remember that Clancy did a good job of having a bunch of plot threads that seemed completely unrelated to each other come together at the end. Several high ranking officials were at the game (including the head of NORAD and SECDEF). The president is in the White House and has a couple more drinks than usual while watching the Super Bowl. One of the many things that almost leads to a full nuclear war. In the movie I believe the president was at the game. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077/60 "2025-07-20T21:27:50Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > > > terrorists detonate a nuclear bomb in Denver during the Super Bowl. > > Why do terrorists with access to a single nuclear weapon pick Denver as a target? One thing I forgot was this was a false flag operation. The German terrorists were trying to start a war between the US and the Soviet Union. They weren’t looking to do the most damage. They were using it as a trigger. It took an 800 page book to explain how it was supposed to work. I’m not going to attempt here with my faulty memory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fictional-events-that-eventually-become-reality-read-the-op/1021077.md?page=4)