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The Missed Doomsday of 2012

December 21, 2012

The much-anticipated apocalypse of 2012 – unsurprisingly – didn’t happen. Some people looked to December 21, 2012, as the end of the world due to a particular interpretation of the ancient Mayan calendar. But instead of catastrophe, we got... nothing. So why do people keep believing this kind of nonsense? Let’s take a closer look.

History Repeating Itself

The phenomenon of doomsday prophecies is nothing new. For centuries, people have been making predictions about the end of the world, and they’ve consistently turned out to be completely unfounded. But why do people believe in them?

The belief in apocalyptic events is often rooted in deep psychological reasons. Uncertainty about the future, the desire for simple explanations in a complex world, or just plain fascination with dramatic events can all draw people into the web of such predictions. Then there's the powerful influence of group dynamics: the more people believe in an impending apocalypse, the harder it is to escape that belief.

History Repeating Itself

In 2012, some people were so convinced the world was about to end that they made radical life choices: some quit their jobs, spent their savings, and prepared for what they thought were their final days. But when December 21, 2012, arrived... nothing happened. No fireballs, no comets crashing into Earth, no end of civilization. So now what? I’m really curious about what absurd excuse the die-hard believers came up with this time to wriggle out of the mess. Or are there actually a few who admit to their foolishness? Probably not – people have a remarkable talent for rationalizing their mistakes.

A Look Back – and Forward

History is littered with failed doomsday predictions. Any lessons learned or moments of clarity after all these misses? Nope.

Here are a few of the most famous prophecies that also failed to deliver:

1997: The 1st-century bishop of Edessa predicted that August 10, 1997, would mark the birth of the Antichrist and the end of the universe. As you may guess, nothing happened.
1999: In December 1999, the "Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments" sect in Uganda expected the end of the world on December 31. When it did not occur, it led to a mass suicide in March 2000, in which 780 members died.
2000: At the turn of the millennium in 2000, a crisis was feared to be triggered by the so-called Y2K bug. The problem was that many computer programs recognized only the last two digits of the year, making it difficult to recognize the year 2000. It was feared that this would lead to a global collapse of computer systems and infrastructures. In the end, it was mostly uneventful.
2003: In Eatonton, southeast of Atlanta, 80 African Americans, led by their chief Black Eagle Malachi York, created a refuge called Tama-Re. They believed a spaceship would land there to take 144,000 chosen ones. The spaceship, however, never showed up.
2008: Critics of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland, feared that the activation of the machine on September 10 would create miniature black holes capable of destroying the Earth. Fortunately, no such thing occurred.
2011: The 89-year-old radio preacher Harold Camping and his fundamentalist Christian followers anticipated the end of the world on May 21, 2011 (after already miscalculating it in 1988). When nothing happened, they revised their date to October 21, 2011. That day also came and went without the apocalypse.
2012: And of course, the most recent flop – the supposed end of the world according to the Mayan calendar, which, as we all know, simply didn’t happen.

But don't worry, for all doomsday fans, there are already new dates for the next possible doomsday.

2020: American psychic Jeane Dixon predicted Armageddon for 2020. She had previously predicted the end of the world on February 4, 1962, so this was not her first miss.
2026: The spiritual organization Messiah Foundation International predicts the end of the world in 2026, when they expect an asteroid to collide with Earth.
2060: This prophecy dates back to the English clergyman Isaac Newton, who believed that the world would end in 2060.
2076: Several sects predict the end of the world in the year 1,500 of the Islamic calendar, which corresponds to 2076 in the Gregorian calendar.
2240: The French astrologer and seer Jean-Charles de Fontbrune predicted that a comet would collide with the Earth in the year 2240.
3797: The French physician and seer Nostradamus predicted that the world would end in the year 3797.