Are psychics real? Some will say yes, it is possible for some people to sense (either through feeling, sight, or sound) when something is about to occur. Others will say no, that it’s all a bunch of mumbo jumbo. Whether you believe in psychic abilities or not, there have been plenty of incidences throughout history where an event was predicted long before they occurred. Although it may be purely coincidence, these happenings will have even the the most cynical skeptics re-evaluating their stance on clairvoyance.
Discovery Of New Stars
Titanic
Jonathan Swift, an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist and poet, may have been an astronomer as well. In his 1726 novel Gulliver’s Travels, he mentions “two lesser stars, or satellites, which revolve about Mars,” describing the Red Planet’s moons, which had yet to be discovered. Later in 1877, American astronomer, Asaph Hall discovered the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos.
There are many eerie similarities between the ship in Morgan Robertson’s novel Futility, or The Wreck of the Titan (1898) and the Titanic (1912). Both British-made ships were 800 ft. long, made of steel and said to be “unsinkable” and “one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind”. Each ship’s starboard bow collided into an iceberg 400 miles from Newfoundland at around 20-25 knots. The two ships sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic around midnight during the month of April. Both ships, as it turns, out also had too few lifeboats to accommodate every passenger aboard, leaving many to die in the icy waters.
Invention Of Talking Books
World War II
The first audio books or “talking books” were played via gramophone in 1934. But in 1650, French dramatist Cyrano de Bergerac predicted the invention of audio books. In his novel The Other World: History of the States and Empires of the Moon, he describes a box-shaped device that was a book and musical instrument at the same time. His prediction became even more accurate as we graduated to audio books for smartphones and MP3 players when he said that the instrument would be small enough to fit in your pocket and allow the user to select specific chapters they wanted to hear.
When the Treaty of Versailles was signed, officially ending World War I in 1919, French Marshal Ferdinand Foch warned that this world war would not be the last. He stated that, “This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.” Twenty years later, World War II erupted just as Foch had predicted.
Pearl Harbor
Upon returning from a trip to Asia in 1925, U.S. Army Air Service General Billy Mitchell submitted an intelligence report warning of a future war between the US and Japan. His submission stated: “Attack will be launched as follows: Bombardment, attack to be made on Ford Island (in Pearl Harbor) at 7:30 a.m. Attack to be made on Clark Field (Philippines) at 10:40 a.m.” despite the fact that there was no reason at the time for the two nations to go to war.
But lo and behold, on Sunday December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. and Clark Field at 12:35 p.m., causing the US to join World War II and go into combat against Japan.
Manhattan Project
H.G. Wells was not only a prolific English writer in many genres (including the novel, history, politics, and social commentary), he was also a clairvoyant. In his novel The World Set Free (1913), he predicted the creation of nuclear weapons and how they would become more destructive and uncontrollable than anything the world has yet to see. Twenty-six years later, the Manhattan Project began and the first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima, Japan, causing mass destruction and killing thousands of civilians.
Invention of Earbuds
In 1953, Ray Bradbury released his popular dystopian novel Farenheit 451. In his book, he described: “And in her ears the little Seashells, the thimble radios, tamped tight and an electronic ocean of sound., of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the short of her unsleeping mind.”
Although at the time, radio headphones were already in use, it was actually Bradbury who first discussed the idea of earbuds, which was later popularized by Apple in 2001.
Columbia Shuttle Mission
In 1999, a Japanese anime series called Cowboy Bebop had an episode revolving around an antique spacecraft being used in a rescue mission. The mission nearly failed when the shuttle’s heat resistant tiles peeled off during the launch. Fast forward four years later in 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia (commissioned in 1981) launched on a research mission. During the launch a piece of insulation broke off and the shuttle disintegrated, killing all seven crew members.
Falling Of The Berlin Wall
In a 1969 episode of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, a sketch called “News Of The Future” not only accurately predicted that Ronald Reagan would be elected president in 1988, but also foresaw the exact year the Berlin Wall would fall.
Invention Of The Internet
In 1835, Prince Vladimir Odoevsky predicted Internet messaging in his novel “Year 4338.” He stated: “There is a magnetic telegraphy system connecting the houses of people who know each other which allows for unplanned communications. People who live miles apart can use it to speak to each other.”
Em Forster, an English novelist and short story writer, also predicted the invention of the Internet in his 1909 short story “The Machine Stops”. An excerpt from the story reads: “Then she generated the light and the sight of her room, flooded with radiance and studded with electric buttons, revived her. There were buttons and switches everywhere – buttons to call for food, for music, for clothing. There was the button the produced literature. And there were of course the buttons by which she communicated with her friends. The room, though it contained nothing, was in touch with all she cared for in the world.”
Russia-Georgia War
In 2001, Tom Clancy, an American novelist and historian known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines, released a series of military tactical shooter games called Ghost Recon. The game was set in April 2008, where civil unrest grew in Russia. Ultra-nationalists had seized power with plans to rebuild the Soviet Union with the support of rebel forces in Georgia and the Baltic States. Like Clancy’s video game, the real Russia-Georgia War erupted in 2008 when Russia attacked Georgia for geopolitical reasons.
Twin Towers + 9/11
There have been multiple things throughout history that people have claimed predicted the 9/11 disaster that launched US Iraq War, the most commonly known theory being Nostradamus. But did you know Super Mario Bros also predicted the falling of the Twin Towers? In a scene in the 1993 film adaptation, King Koopa leaves Koopa Kingdom and enters our dimension. When he does, the Twin Towers lit up in smoke.
Another 9/11 prediction occurred closer to the incident. American progressive metal/rock band, Dream Theater, was set to release a 3-CD album of their live performances on September 11, 2001. The original cover artwork for the album titled Live Scenes From New York featured the entire New York City skyline lit up in flames. This was, of course, later changed after the terrorism attacks.
Iraq War
After the First Gulf War where the US expelled Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, Dick Cheney, the Secretary of Defense at the time, was quoted suggesting the possibility of a war in Iraq. Cheney commented saying: “I think the proposition of going to Baghdad is also fallacious. I think if we were going to remove Saddam Hussein, we would have to commit a lot of force because I do not believe he’d wait in the Presidential Palace. I think we’d have to hunt him down. And once we’d gotten rid of Saddam Hussein and his government, then we’d have to put another government in its place.” Twenty-three years later the US found itself warring in Iraq for the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Another prediction of the Iraq War came from satirical news publication The Onion. On January 17, 2001 (8 months before 9/11), The Onion sarcastically welcomed President Bush into office by running a story in which he promises that “the US will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.
Obama Winning Presidency
British author of science fiction novels and stories, John Brunner takes the cake as he predicted that President Barack Obama would be elected into office in his dystopian New Wave science fiction novel, Stand on Zanzibar (1968). The book takes place in the US in 2010 where a popular leader named President Obomi was elected into office. The kicker? President Obomi was African-American. Mind blown.
