10 End-Of-The-World Prophecies That Didn't Come True

Armageddon is here! No, wait, it's there. Sorry, in a year's time. Wait...

By Tom Baker /

Human beings are obsessed with death. Always fretting about our own mortality, enraptured by news reports of the latest celebrity to kick the bucket €“ hey, they're just like us after all! €“ and changing our diet, exercise regime, moving to a less smog-filled city in some vain attempt to artificially extend the purposefully short time we have on this Earth. Then there are the people who aren't just worried about their own, personal continued existence €“ oh no. Their concerns are far grander. They're worried that the entire planet is about to come crashing down, that some apocalyptic event will wipe out all of humanity, or else God will finally enact the rapture and be found wanting for true believers. In which case, hey, why worry about the amount of donuts you smush into your face? Armageddon is right around the corner! Okay, maybe not that corner, but definitely the next corner. Hm, the maths must have been slightly off there, the Book of Revelations definitely suggests that 1988 was the end of all things... Predictions that the world is about to end have been around for about as long as humanity itself. From the firm belief by the Pope himself that 500 AD was the last year we had to the endless cults who think God's UFO is going to cleanse the planet to the millennium bug, here are ten end-of-the-world prophecies that didn't come true.