Nostradamus is the 16th-century writer and supposed mystic who many believe had insight into the future. Nostradamus’ followers credit the man with correctly predicting many world events, including the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Nostradamus penned his predictions in vague, four-lined poems known as quatrains.
The bulk of Nostradamus’ writings was published in 1555, and one of his supposed passages is being circulated on the internet.
Thousands of people have shared the following words: “There will be a twin year (2020) from which will arise a queen (corona) who will come from the east (China) and who will spread a plague (virus) in the darkness of night, on a country with 7 hills (Italy) and will transform the twilight of men into dust (death), to destroy and ruin the world. It will be the end of the world economy as you know it.”
The passage is attributed to Nostradamus and accompanied by a picture of the French physician.
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Another person tweeted: “Looks like it’s the beginning of end of the world as per Nostradamus prophecies and theories.
According to the sleuths at Snopes, there is no evidence to support the claim Nostradamus wrote the words in the meme.
The passage is too long to be one of his quatrains and does not feature in his 1555 book Les Propheties.
Snopes said: “Nostradamus wrote a lot of stuff so general – and obscure – that with the help of a little imagination – and some liberal interpretations from the original French – people have claimed he has ‘predicted’ nearly every event of significance since the mid-16th century.
“But this particular viral prediction was not expressed in quatrain form, nor could we find anything like it published in ‘Les Prophéties’.
“We also found no mention of this supposed prophecy prior to the events of early 2020, which generally indicates it is a modern hoax.”
Nostradamus’ naysayers also say the French physician never made any genuine predictions of the future during his lifetime.
Brian Dunning, host of the Sketpoid podcast, said: “How accurate are his predictions? You could fill a library with books claiming to match quatrains with major events in world history — all, of course, deciphered and published after those events occurred.
“The straight fact is that nobody has ever used Nostradamus’ writings to predict a future event in specific terms which later came true.”
