Nostradamus "Prophecy" Is a Fake...

In the times like this rumors, legends, hoaxes start circulating over the Net, distracting us from the sane analysis of how this tragedy happened and what lessons are to be learned.

Here is the report courtesy Barbara Mikkelson:

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Claim: * A 1554 Nostradamus prediction said World War III would begin with the fall of "two brothers," a reference to the destroyed World Trade Center towers.
Status: * False.
Example: * [Collected on the Internet, 2001]
"In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb, The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"
Nostradamus 1654
Origins: * The turmoil of recent events has us all scrambling, some to look for solace and meaning, others for the terrorists responsible, and yet others for signs that what happened could have been prevented or at least foreseen. The 11 September 2001 attack on America destroyed not only the two World Trade Center towers in New York City, a chunk of the Pentagon in Washington, and caused untold loss of life, it also shook America's sense of invulnerability. No longer do Americans presume safety in an unsafe world.

For some, that realization is an eye-opener, unsettling but necessary, in that a child's blissful unawareness has been replaced (at great cost) with an adult's more clear-eyed view of the world and its sometimes horrifying ways. For others, it spells the beginning of the end, in that they equated an illusion of safety with its reality and thus now feel their world is ending. It is the fears of that second group that are given voice in the Nostradamus prediction circulated on the Internet even before the dust had settled in New York.

The French physician and astrologer Nostradamus (1503-1566) penned numerous quatrains populated by obscure imagery that the credulous have ever after attempted to fit to the events of their times. These predictions can often ring somewhat true in that the images employed are so general they can be found in almost every event of import, but by the same token, the prophesies are never a dead-on fit because the wordings are far too general. Not that this stops anyone from believing in them; our society's need for mysticism runs far too deep to ever allow for that.

Those looking for the certainty of a Nostradamus prophesy come true have been known to sledge hammer the results to force a fit by inventing fanciful translations from the original French, bend over backwards to assert one named term is really another, and (as in this case) outright fabricate part or all of the prediction.
Nostradamus did not write the quatrain now being attributed to him. (One wonders how a guy who died in 1566 could have written an item identified as being penned in 1654 anyway.) It originated with a student at Brock University in Canada in the 1990s, appearing on a web page essay on Nostradamus. That particular quatrain was offered by the page's author, Neil Marshall, as a fabricated example to illustrate how easily an important-sounding prophecy can be crafted through the use of abstract imagery. He pointed out how the terms he used were so deliberately vague they could be interpreted to fit any number of cataclysmic events.

It appears someone mistook Marshall's illustrative example for an actual Nostradamus prophecy and, not content to let well enough alone, added "The third big war will begin when the big city is burning." A fabrication was thus further fabricated.

But that wasn't the end of it. More fakery was piled on in later versions that now included all of the text quoted in the Example section above but now concluded with:

"on the 11th day of the 9 month that...two metal birds would crash into two tall statues...in
the new city... and the world will end soon after"
Similarly, another enhanced version incorporates the Example text into a more detailed prophecy:

And Nostradamus predicted this (who knows how long ago):
"In the year of the new century and nine months,
From the sky will come a great King of Terror...
The sky will burn at forty-five degrees.
Fire approaches the great new city..."
"In the city of york there will be a great collapse,
2 twin brothers torn apart by chaos
while the fortress falls the great leader will succumb
third big war will begin when the big city is burning"
Needless to say, these versions are as fake as the first was.

Barbara "la cosa nostradamus" Mikkelson

11 September 2001

Thanks for the post, Simon. I've passed it on to a friend who is convinced the world is coming to an end based on the prophecy and is totally irrational about it. Hopefully, it'll calm him down.

Bob

Hi Simon,

Thanks for that interesting article on "fabricated" Nostradamus prophecies!

In fact, many people were expecting the world to end before the year 2000 based on Nostradamus.... When he's given precise dates, he's apparently been wrong....

Here's one of his quatrains:

In 1999 and seven months,
From the sky shall come the grand King of Terror,
He shall resurrect the great King of the Mongols,
Before and after, Mars shall reign happily.

This looks like an end-of-the-world scenario. But as we know, the world didn't end in 1999.... No Mongols attacked, and no World War III (Mars is the God of War)....

- Dien

[*]I knew that would happen.
[*]I'm gonna die one day
[*]The sun will shine
[*]Someone will be assassinated
[*]Death, tragic. Life. JFK [some kind of death related in any way shape or form with JFK airport?][/i]
[*]A man will come. Many will think he speaks the truth. Lies. Deception. Many taken up. The Zebra overcomes [anyone care to decipher this?]
[*]A house will collapse
[*]Fire
[*]In 2002 the ground will shake. Candles in the wind. Darkness. Cold. Oh, it's just the snow plough going by during a blackout in winter. Oops, not vague enough

And my all time favorite...
[*]When all the leaves are brown. And the sky is grey. Someone will walk. On a winter's day.


How to write a prophecy

Step 1: Realise that whatever you can imagine is possible - you wouldn't be able to imagine it if it wasn't possible. And realise also, that this thing you imagine, while not yet here or happening, will happen some time in the future. And also realise, history repeats itself.

Step 2: Write about it in such a way no-one can pin point exactly what you are saying. Then when it happens, claim the event is what you meant. Or write about some historical event in a very vague way so you cannot be pinned down and claim it's what you meant when it happens.

Step 3: Make sure you use short sentences and generic words.

Step 4: Make sure you use words that have mutiple meanings - literal and figurative.

Step 5: Mix letters up. Throw in words from other languages. Mention whole continents indirectly. Mention points of the compass.

Step 6: Never write them in plain ordinary English with clear and precise dates - never write so they can be clearly understood.

E.g. Never say, "a boat named Rider's Challenge will lose its steering and crash into the docks killing five people and it will happen on the 2nd of February 2002".

Instead, say something like,

"The ride is lost. Death. Five is the number and two."

This could mean five die, or two die - five could also be the sound of the five bells tolling. Five and two could also be dates 05/02 or 52 or 25 or 02/05 or 7 or 02/###5 or 05/###2 or numbers on something or co-ordinates of any combination with those numbers. Ride could mean anything like a name - back or forward - or be taken as in to ride something, thus making it apply to a theme park or any joy ride anywhere. And what the hell is meant by lost? That's for you to make fit. And death could also be figurative or literal.

Writing like the above - using general terms without precise details - will enable you to be right 100% of the time, as time time in the future.

Step 7: Cloak your writing in mystery. To aid in this, grow a beard, say mystical things, act as if you're in a trance, and create a group of followers (made up by yourself using false names or otherwise), change your name or use an alliase, give yourself a title, create groups and associations and have them bestow things on you.

Try it, it's fun and real easy to do.

Dr Michael Ross
Pychic. Alchemist. Scholar of the Royal House of St Jumbali. Appointee of the Court of Civil Councils. Entrusted Keeper of the scrolls of Molex. Reverend of the Priory of South Portia. And Author of "How To Write A Prophecy For Fun And Profit"

Hi Michael,

I agree with you....

Back in high school, we had to choose a topic to write about for an essay. I chose to write about "Nostradamus."

When I started my research for my essay, I was intrigued. Was there really something here? There certainly seemed to be some strange coincidences....

But further research showed that there wasn't really anything there which was concrete. Nostradamus wrote a LOT, and it was almost all very obscure. Most of his quatrains could be applied to lots and lots of possibilities....

When he's been specific, such as regarding a particular year, Nostradamus has been wrong. To me, this shows that in reality, he didn't know the future.... But he did know how to stimulate people's wonder and imagination with his vague predictions. That was his real skill....

- Dien