I just got the latest issue of The Skptical Inquier yesterday, the May/June issue. In it I find an article entitled “The Antinous Prophecies” (with an unlaut over the u. If I knew this system better I’d try to put it in). The premise is that the author, Clifford A. Pickover (of whom I know nothing) made up a series of Nostradamus-like “prophecies” that were appropriately vague. He tried to pass these off as real prophecies and asked people to interpret them, his contention being tha such things act as a sort of “Rorschach test” into whichpeople project theor own expectations.
I’m a little surprised that people belived these were old prophecies – he uses a lot of terms and concepts that are decidedly modern. But what really caught my eye was his second “prophecy”, which seems wonderfully weird:
“An ape came from the North, cool and damp.
The stegosauri cry, poe, poe, loe.
My rear end hurts beneath the lamp.
Thirty thousand opalescent lamps are low.”
He claims that respondents interreted this as referring to the fate of the Jews under Hitler, or to the Carthaginian general Hannibal (in which case it couldn’t be a “prophec” unless it was supposed to be REALLY old), or tothe ppearance of the Yeti/Bigfoot. Me, I think Pickover’s frends were having him on.
Oooookaaay. I can’t believe that anyone accepted that little clot of weirdness as a prophecy, either, Cal. It’s too goofy. One of my little specialties is writing prophecies, riddles, and cryptic verse for IFGS games; I would render that verse more like this:
“A beast came from the North, swathed in chill and damp.
The beasts that are not lament, woe, woe, woe.
Pain falls upon the end above the lamp.
Thirty thousand shimmering lights burn dim and low.”
Then attribute some of the quirky wording to translation from ancient Hebrew/medieval French/Mayan.
Should we start a prophecy game? We could pick the best ones and try 'em out, then send the results to the SI to show them how it’s done.
Balance - I like your idea, but instead of submitting them to SI, I think it would be fun to create a web page with suitable hocus-pocus, the “prophecies” and a guestbook for people to post their interpretations.
A web page could work. I’ll try to come up with a good quatrain or two to start us off with. If this thread’s dropped off the radar by then, I’ll start a new one dedicated to the game.