News Claim: A 1654 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.
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Gossip 9/11/01: Tragedy in the US
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The Hoax
Another hoax has been making the rounds. Here is the text included in the hundreds of e-mail messages that I've received from people inquiring about authenticity:
"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
The third big war will begin when the big city is burning."
- NOSTRADAMUS 1654
The first supposed prophecy does contain a few elements from various quatrains written by Nostradamus; however, they were not written together as one prophecy. The second "prophecy" being sent with lightning speed across the Internet is completely bogus, as far as I can tell. Incidentally Nostradamus died in the year 1566
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