7 Doomsday Prediction Fails

The world's going to end—just kidding! It's not the first time the world's going to end. Defy doomsday with Syfy's brand new series Defiance premiering April 2013.

1. 1806 - The Prophet Hen of Leeds

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In 1806, a hen in Leeds, England, began laying eggs that said "Christ is coming." This implied the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world as we know it, however, the hen was discovered to be a hoax. The perpetrator wrote in acid on the eggs and then reinserted them into the hen. Historians are still trying to decide whether the victims of the hoax, or the hen had it worse during the ordeal.

2. October 22, 1844 - Millerites

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William Miller, a farmer and Baptist preacher from northern New York, concluded that Christ would return on October 22, 1844 based on a strict interpretation of Biblical scripture and the Karaite Jewish calendar. Thousands of followers gave away all their possessions excitedly awaiting the date, but when the day uneventfully came and went, it became known as The Great Disappointment.

3. July 15, 1967 - Jim Jones

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Jim Jones, the founder of the Peoples Temple, claimed that the world would undergo a nuclear holocaust on July 15, 1967 which would lead to a new socialist Eden on earth.

4. 1910 - Halley's Comet

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Nicolas Camille Flammarion believed that Halley's Comet would destroy all life on Earth with a deadly gas from its tail when it passed by in 1910. Luckily the deadly cosmic flatulence was just a bunch of hot air.

5. Oct/Nov 1982 - Pat Robertson

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Pat Robertson, the host of "The 700 Club," a popular Christian news program, stated on air in May 1980 that "I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world." He was presented with an Ig Nobel Prize (a parody of the Nobel Prize) in 2011 for "teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations."

6. March 26, 1997 - Heaven's Gate

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Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the cult, claimed that a spaceship to heaven trailed the Comet Hale–Bopp and that the only way to escape Earth and into space would be suicide. Applewhite and 38 of his followers committed mass suicide on March 26, 1997.

7. May 21, 2011 - Harold Camping

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Camping predicted that the Rapture would take place on May 21, 2011 based on various calculations derived from the Bible. When nothing happened, Camping said "my bad" and revised the date to October 21, 2011, again to no avail.

Mayan Apocalypse? Forget it, we've all been through "the end of the world" before. Defy doomsday with Syfy's brand new series Defiance premiering April 2013.

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