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The Legend:
It's coming... the end of the world as we know it. Massive upheavels, death, destruction, and maybe a new world order. The only real question is... when? Luckily, many gifted prophets have left clues; properly examined, these can give us the date of the end... and possibly the means to prevent it.

It's the end of the world as we know it?
As the year 2000 approaches, so also do a large number of predicted ends of the world. Rather than going into too much detail about them right now, though -- I may be on an awful tight deadline, after all -- instead I'm compiling a chronological list of end of the world predictions, in order by the predicted date of doom. Please note that I am ignoring vague dooms, such as worries of a super virus, unless a specific date has been predicted.
It should be noticed that there are some definite repeating themes; namely, most predictions are likely to be attributed to Biblical interpretation first, Nostradamus second, Edgar Cayce third, and everyone or thing else coming in last.

Main types of end of the world predictions
Most of the predictions I have at the moment fall into definite groupings based on just how the end is expected to come. Not surprisingly, as most of the predictions I have are from America and Europe, Biblical themes are the most common, followed by newer worries about world-wide war and mass destruction weaponry.

• World War III -- Many predictions feature the idea that a major war/conflict will trigger the series of events leading to the end, though there is some difference in opinion as to how the actual end will play out.
• Antichrist -- Many people see the end as being predicted by the appearance of an Anti-Christ, the evil opposite of the Biblical figure, Jesus the Christ, as mentioned in the Book of Revelations in the New Testament. I find this interesting, mainly because I was under the impression from reading this text that the Anti-Christ wouldn't appear until -after- the end of the world had started.
• Judgement Day -- This refers to a day when the Biblical God will call up all the dead to stand side by side with the living; then God will judge each person, sending them either to hell or heaven, leaving no one behind on Earth. This is also mentioned in the Bible's Book of Revelations.
• The Second Coming -- This is a variation on the idea of the Judgement Day, as mentioned above. In this version, Jesus the Christ reappears on Earth to do the judging; in a popular verion refered to as "The Rapture", it's believed that Christ will then re-ascend to heaven with all worthy humans, leaving the remainder of humanity to suffer and die on Earth, presumably then to go to hell or simply cease to exist.
• Second Great Flood -- This is a far less common belief, but one I wanted to point out for one reason. The first great flood is an event told of in the Bible's Book of Genesis that alledgedly almost destroyed humanity; but the people predicting a second great flood probably forgot the part of the story where God distinctly promised never to destroy the world in -that- particular fashion again. Whoops.

Chronology Sources:

AP - Associated Press
	1995	article in Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California newspaper), April 16, section A11: "No rapture for South Korean churches"
Branch, Rick
	1998	Watching Watchtower History, researched by Rich Branch, written by Rich Branch and James Walker, article under the Watchtower Observer web site at http://watchtower.observer.org/
Cheetham, Erika
	1973	Prophecies of Nostradamus, The, edited and translated, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 439 pgs., index.
Gardner, Martin
	1952	Fads & Fallacies in the Name of Science, rep. 1986 New American Library, 320 pgs., index.
Mackay, Charles
	1841	Extraodinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (original title: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions), 1980 rep. by Crown Publishers, Inc., 724 pgs., index, illustrations.
Macklin, William R.
	1994	article in Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California newspaper), October 2, Section A8: "End of the world? Christian broadcaster says today"
Randi, James
	1995	An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, St. Martin's Griffin, 284 pgs., index, bibliography, illustrations, photos.
RD - Reader's Digest Association, Inc.
	1976	Strange Stories, Amazing Facts, Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 608 pgs., index, limited bibliography, illustrations, photos.
Rubinsky, Yuri and Ian Wiseman
	1982	A History of the End of the World, William Morrow and Co., 191 pgs., index, bibliography, illustrations, photos.
Watanabe, Teresa
	1999a	article in Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California newspaper), April 2, section A12: "Prophets of apocalypse stir crowds as millenium nears"
	1999b	article in Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California newspaper), April 2, section A13: "Millenial fever as old as Bible"
Williamson, Clyde D.
	1999	Emails sent to author of this page, mainly pertaining to correction of dates attributed to Watchtower.