# Origin of "The End Is Near" weirdos **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 12, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078 "2010-08-12T19:55:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/1 "2010-08-12T19:55:39Z")
Sorta like [this guy](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OUy9j_OCoaM/SO0CdxcQwpI/AAAAAAAAAGU/OD-uDGONS4E/s400/EndIsNear1.jpg). Sometimes they carry the message on a sign instead of on sandwich boards. That is, the origin (or first reference)of them in pop culture, not the real world. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/2 "2010-08-12T19:57:45Z")
I’ve seen them in movies and on TV shows; but do they exist out in the wild? ---
**Author:** ![retterath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@retterath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retterath)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/3 "2010-08-12T20:00:12Z")
I’ve seen them in Las Vegas, on Fremont street. But then, what \*haven’t \*I seen in Las Vegas? ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/4 "2010-08-13T00:13:45Z")
With regards to European/Western culture: As far as I know, Jesus Christ was one of the more popular proponents of this mind set. ETA: I’m not joking. Jesus taught that the world would end in a few years/decennia after his death. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/5 "2010-08-13T00:30:16Z")
I would swear that Cecil once had a column discussing how people thought the end of the first millenium would be the end of the world, but after checking several terms, including, apocalypse, armeggedon and epistemology, I can’t find it. ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/6 "2010-08-13T10:31:56Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I would swear that Cecil once had a column discussing how people thought the end of the first millenium would be the end of the world, but after checking several terms, including, apocalypse, armeggedon and epistemology, I can’t find it. Article? I dont know. But they indeed did burn all their possessions and started roaming around Europe. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/7 "2010-08-13T15:06:48Z")
No trip to San Francisco is complete without a [Frank Chu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Chu) sighting. ---
**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:** [August 13, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/8 "2010-08-13T15:08:16Z")
> [@FuzzyOgre](#): > > Article? I dont know. But they indeed did burn all their possessions and started roaming around Europe. They? Who are “they”? It’s possible that some tiny sects did that. It seems likely that various holy men and would-be prophets and fanatics did go around preaching apocalypse. But mainstream historians say flatly that the tales of entire populations going crazy because the year 1000 was coming are urban legends. See _Century’s End: A Cultural History of the Fin de Siecle; From the 990s Through the 1990s_, by Hillel Schwartz. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/9 "2010-08-13T15:34:46Z")
I worked for a number of years in the Social Services field, working with people with schizophrenia. For whatever reason, some people with schizophrenia have a compulsion to broadcast messages to anyone who is near. Usually these messages make no sense to anyone other than to the schizophrenic, and to the schizophrenic it is perfectly clear; when reading about Mr. Chu, I recognized a lot of my former clients. And often, even people without mental illness simply have an axe to grind. I remember a guy walking around Daytona Beach, Florida with a sandwich board bemoaning his treatment at the hands of the local judiciary because he is a Christian nudist and prefers to visit the local beaches without clothing, as per his religious beliefs. So, in summary: mental illness, religious fanaticism, or both, can lead a person to take to the streets with whatever their message is. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/10 "2010-08-13T16:27:45Z")
So… back to the OP. Did anyone REALLY paint an “End is Near”/“World Will End Tomorrow” sign? I’d bet good money that it was a magazine cartoonist back in the 50s… ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/11 "2010-08-13T20:06:23Z")
> [@digs](#): > > So… back to the OP. Did anyone REALLY paint an “End is Near”/“World Will End Tomorrow” sign? > > I’d bet good money that it was a magazine cartoonist back in the 50s… There was a street preacher back at my college in CA (late 90’s) who did wear such a sign. Of course, talking to him revealed that he meant your personal world - as in, you might get hit by a car, contract a disease, have a heart attack, etc. Since you didn’t know exactly when the end was, you ought to be sure you were ready for it now. But going back into history to address the general question… how about this: > [@](#): > > 1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” > > 3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. He didn’t use a sandwich board, I’m sure (literacy was not so big deal then) but the message is the same. Whether you ascribe any literal historicity to that story or not, clearly the idea of odd people going around proclaiming the end is a very old idea. ---
**Author:** ![Add99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Add99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Add99)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/12 "2010-08-14T15:09:43Z")
A few days ago I drove to Huger (that’s pronounced U G) South Carolina, an old and decrepit black community dating back to slave times. There, nailed to the side of what perhaps was a church, was a badly painted sign informing all passers-by of the end of the world. I believe it said March 12, 2011. So, I should probably give all my stuff away. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/13 "2010-08-14T15:16:59Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > With regards to European/Western culture: > > As far as I know, Jesus Christ was one of the more popular proponents of this mind set. > > ETA: I’m not joking. Jesus taught that the world would end in a few years/decennia after his death. Correction- He taught the “aion” would end- translated wrongly as “world” in the KJV & correctly as “age” in most every modern translation. And that aion was the aion of the Temple, which did indeed end within forty years of his death. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-end-is-near-weirdos/550078/14 "2010-08-14T15:17:20Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I would swear that Cecil once had a column discussing how people thought the end of the first millenium would be the end of the world, but after checking several terms, including, apocalypse, armeggedon and epistemology, I can’t find it. Can’t find Cecil’s column but AD1000 millennialism is a [disputed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennialism#AD_1000) phenomenon among historians. > [@](#): > > There have been many claims that a millennial panic gripped Europe in the years approaching AD 1000. Historians disagree over the veracity of these claims, with some arguing these stories were first told hundreds of years later, and others arguing the Catholic Church intentionally suppressed writings which could have stirred up a panic over the end of the world. A variety of different calendars were in use in Europe at the time, with the Anno Domini system adopted primarily only in England and France.