26 years before Titanic, William Thomas Stead wrote a story called “How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid Atlantic by a Survivor.” The title’s pretty descriptive, with the concern of the story being a lack of adequate safety precautions, specifically lifeboats. Stead himself would die on Titanic.
Jules Verne’s shelved 1863 novel…
Jules Verne’s shelved 1863 novel “Paris in the Twentieth Century” predicted gas-powered cars, fax machines, electric street lighting, maglev trains, the record industry, the internet. His publisher deemed it pessimistic and lackluster. It was discovered in 1989 and published 5 years later.
A Vision of Isolating Technology from 1906…
Punch, the British weekly magazine of humor and satire, seemed to have a talent for uncanny predictions of distant technologies to come. See for example this vision of the Skype-like “Telephonoscope” from 1879. 00
John Lennon and Yoko Ono visited an astrologer…
John Lennon and Yoko Ono visited an astrologer Who told them John would be shot and die on an island. So disturbed were they that they cancelled their extended Greek Isles vacation. Ten years later he died … on Manhattan island. 00
In 1903 the New York Times predicted…
In 1903 the New York Times predicted that building a flying machine would be possible in 1-10 Million years. 00
Jean Jaurès, a French socialist, predicted world war one…
Jean Jaurès, a French socialist, predicted world war one and tried to organize global strikes to prevent it. He was assassinated before his plans could be realized.
Leroy Irwin, a 92-year-old farmer living in Allegan, Michigan…
Leroy Irwin, a 92-year-old farmer living in Allegan, Michigan, decided to have the dates of his life carved on his gravestone before he died, because (having no children) he wasn’t sure who would pay to do it after he died. He carved the dates 1856-1950, but it turned out he was a little too optimistic. […]
Paul the Octopus was so precise in his predictions during…
Paul the Octopus was so precise in his predictions during the 2010 FIFA World Cup that he received death threats from German fans and had to be offered state protection.
Back to The Future Part II correctly predicted the widespread use…
Back to The Future Part II correctly predicted the widespread use of wall mounted flat screen TVs, routine plastic surgery, handheld computer devices, hands free gaming, and the popularity of 3D movies in 2015.
There was a movie made 4 years before 9/11 that condemned the incompetency…
There was a movie made 4 years before 9/11 that condemned the incompetency of government officials to prevent the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center towers from happening again; it’s called “Path to Paradise” (1997). Prophetically, it ends with a terrorist being shown that the WTC is still standing and he says, “Next time we’ll bring them both down.” And in 1998, The Seige was released, about middle easterners attacking NYC, and The X Files predicted a plane crashing into NYC.