Top 10 Failed End of the World Prediction Dates

Perhaps the most famous apocalypse date occurred on the winter solstice of 2012, aligning with an ancient Mayan calendar, a meteor from outer space, or another interplanetary object. I was in high school at the time, and it was obviously proven false. So much was made of this date that a film directed by Roland Emmerich was created and naturally bombed.

I was worried before. It was so scary. I didn't think Christmas would still continue. Fortunately, it didn't happen. I don't believe in that prediction.

This was the rapture date set by zealot priest Harold Camping, who claimed that earthquakes would ravage the Earth and that the world would be destroyed on October 21. Again, nothing happened that day or afterward.

Numerous sources claimed that Y2K would mark the end, whether through divine intervention, economic chaos, or the "computer bug." I was only seven at the time, so I didn't know about it, but we're all still here in the new millennium.

I remember some people committed suicide when it didn't happen.

Five months after his initial failed prediction, Harold Camping proposed a "spiritual judgment," predicting the world's end and a physical rapture. Again, none of this came true.

Ronald Weinland is similar to Harold Camping in that he predicted many religious events that turned out to be untrue. On this date, he claimed that Jesus would return and that the world was doomed. He largely abandoned this prophecy in 2019 after his final failed prediction.

Neal Chase predicted that New York would be obliterated by a nuclear bomb and that the Battle of Armageddon would take place just 40 days later. This prediction was far-fetched, and New York was not nuked.

One of the sillier predicted dates. A Taiwanese man named Hon-Ming Chen stated that God would come to Earth in a flying saucer at 10:00 a.m. He didn't account for time zones, and no God arrived.

The "Star Holocaust" theory claimed that the planets would align and head straight for the Sun.

Amid the commotion surrounding predictions by Camping and Weinland, some fears centered on Comet Elenin, which traveled directly between the Sun and the Earth. People feared it would collide with Earth or cause disturbances in the crust, triggering earthquakes. Predicted end-of-the-world dates related to this comet dated back to August, but the October 16 theory involved the comet hitting the planet itself. Scientists, of course, disproved all fears.

Nancy Lieder fixated on Nibiru, a planet she predicted would collide with Earth. She claimed to have been in contact with aliens from the Zeta Reticuli system, who warned that Nibiru would cause the poles to shift. None of this proved true, and no aliens were involved.