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Quiz about End of the World This Year and Every Year After
Quiz about End of the World This Year and Every Year After

End of the World, This Year and Every Year After Quiz


I was tired of hearing end of the world predictions back in the year 2000, but clearly it's happening all over again in 2012. Here are some other famous dates and predictions!

A multiple-choice quiz by drowsteel. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
drowsteel
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
345,855
Updated
Jun 20 23
# Qns
25
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
18 / 25
Plays
640
Awards
Top 20% Quiz
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Question 1 of 25
1. Which of the following was NOT predicted as a cause for the world's end in the year 2000? Hint


Question 2 of 25
2. Which of the following groups did NOT attempt to commit mass suicide over an expectation of the end of the world? Hint


Question 3 of 25
3. When Charles Piazzi Smyth predicted the world's end in 1881, then again at various times between 1892 and 1911, on what was he basing his reasoning? Hint


Question 4 of 25
4. Edgar Whisenant, author of "88 reasons why the Rapture will be in 1988", got a lot of attention because of his previous occupation. What was that occupation? Hint


Question 5 of 25
5. A lawsuit from Hawaii (which was defeated in 2008) was attempting to stop the destruction of the Earth. What was the lawsuit supposed to do? Hint


Question 6 of 25
6. Pope Innocent III predicted Armageddon in the year 1284, because it was exactly what? Hint


Question 7 of 25
7. According to Charles Mackay, a chicken in the town of Leeds, England caused a mass panic in 1806 when it started laying eggs with what phrase printed on them? Hint


Question 8 of 25
8. On 16th July 1945, what potentially world-shattering event took place? Hint


Question 9 of 25
9. Armageddon has been predicted on years in which the date of the Annunciation (the day the angel Gabriel told Mary she was pregnant with the Messiah) coincides with what other religious date? Hint


Question 10 of 25
10. All the failed predictions for the Millennial Apocalypse in the year 2000 resurfaced in 2001. Why? Hint


Question 11 of 25
11. What 16th century poet is known for his psychic rhymes of four lines (or "quatrains"), predicting among other things disaster in 1999? Hint


Question 12 of 25
12. There were a mass of predictions of an Armageddon in the year 1000.


Question 13 of 25
13. Which 1938 radio teleplay caused people to think the world was ending? Hint


Question 14 of 25
14. Which of the following people has NOT predicted the end of the world? Hint


Question 15 of 25
15. When Harold Camping's prediction of the Rapture (the event when some people are taken directly to Heaven prior to Armageddon) taking place on May 21st, 2011 came and went without incident, what did Camping do? Hint


Question 16 of 25
16. Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult led by Shoko Asahara, carried out what event in 1995, in preparation for the world's end? Hint


Question 17 of 25
17. According to the Talmud and the Zohar, how long will the world exist? Hint


Question 18 of 25
18. There were a lot of predictions of the end of the world in the year 500.


Question 19 of 25
19. A prediction of Armageddon in 634 BCE coincided with what prophetic anniversary? Hint


Question 20 of 25
20. The Great Fire of London managed to convince many people that the Apocalypse was at hand. What year did it take place? Hint


Question 21 of 25
21. In May of 1780, in the midst of the American Revolution, something happened to convince citizens of New England that the world was ending. What would this event be called? Hint


Question 22 of 25
22. New Mexico State Police arrested Michael Travesser, leader of the Lord Our Righteousness Church (and self-proclaimed Messiah) in 2008 on charges of child molestation. Had the world ended on Travesser's predicted date, he would have avoided the indignity ... When was the prediction? Hint


Question 23 of 25
23. In 1986, what heavenly body was predicted to cause untold devastation when it struck the Earth? Hint


Question 24 of 25
24. What religious group was blamed for the Great Fire of Rome, which took place during the reign of Emperor Nero? Hint


Question 25 of 25
25. Which of the following is NOT predicted to end the world in 2012? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Which of the following was NOT predicted as a cause for the world's end in the year 2000?

Answer: The funniest joke ever written would cause death by laughter

There were far, far too many year 2000 doomsday predictions to list them all here. Many numerologists were disturbed by the repeating 6 possibility, though a more solid 666 as the Number of the Beast had passed in 1998. William Cooper, leader of a militia group in Arizona, made the prediction about the pyramids.

The "Y2K Bug" was a supposed malfunction of electronic dates, which alarmists jumped on as a HUGE disaster. Other predictions for 2000 included planetary alignments shifting, expectation of a star appearing like the one over Jerusalem, massive cosmic disaster, the return of the Antichrist, and others.
2. Which of the following groups did NOT attempt to commit mass suicide over an expectation of the end of the world?

Answer: The Bible Student Movement

The Bible Student Movement was founded by Charles Taze Russell, also considered one of he founders of the Jehovah's Witness Movement. Though both groups have predicted many different dates for the end of the world (Among them 1874, 1878, 1881, 1908, 1914, 1916, 1918, 1920, 1941 etc), they have always been peaceful and measured in their response to the possibility. By contrast, Korea's Hyoo Go Sect had to be physically restrained by police on October 28th, 1992 to prevent their mass suicide, and again on October 29th to prevent them killing their leaders.

The Ugandan Movement for the Restoration committed mass suicide in the year 2000, and the Heaven's Gate cult in 1997.
3. When Charles Piazzi Smyth predicted the world's end in 1881, then again at various times between 1892 and 1911, on what was he basing his reasoning?

Answer: The measurements of the pyramids

The dimensions of the pyramids at Giza, Smyth thought, were handed down to the Egyptians from the descendants of the Biblical Noah, survivor of the Great Flood. They were supposed to be a coded message detailing the Apocalypse. The Pyramids fascinate a great many people for a great many reasons, but it's pretty amazing how often they're cited in connection to the end of the world.
4. Edgar Whisenant, author of "88 reasons why the Rapture will be in 1988", got a lot of attention because of his previous occupation. What was that occupation?

Answer: NASA Engineer

Whisenant was a NASA Engineer, which made the press sit up and take notice of his Armageddon predictions. He claimed to have deciphered a mathematical formula in the Bible which predicted the end of the world. His background in higher math gave Whisenant a veneer of credibility. He went on to continue predicting the end of the world almost every year for a long time.
NASA, keep in mind, was responsible not only for putting a man on the moon and inventing Teflon, but also for destroying the Mars Lander through faulty calculations.
5. A lawsuit from Hawaii (which was defeated in 2008) was attempting to stop the destruction of the Earth. What was the lawsuit supposed to do?

Answer: Shut down the Large Hadron Supercollider

Many people panicked about the possibility that the Large Hadron Supercollider would create a miniature black hole, which would destroy the entire world (and presumably later the solar system). The lawsuit was defeated on the grounds that the Supercollider was in Switzerland, and American courts had no right to intervene against it.
6. Pope Innocent III predicted Armageddon in the year 1284, because it was exactly what?

Answer: 666 years after the rise of Islam

Pope Innocent III was relentless in his war against Islam during his papacy, and encouraged future Crusades against Muslims. By the time of Innocent III's ascent in 1198 there had already been three Crusades, each of which resulted in massive loss of life with no significant positive results.

Innocent III decided to go for more, inciting the Fourth Crusade and preparing for a fifth by the time of his death in 1216.
7. According to Charles Mackay, a chicken in the town of Leeds, England caused a mass panic in 1806 when it started laying eggs with what phrase printed on them?

Answer: Christ is coming

In his book "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds", Mackay records the extraordinary event. He claims that the people of Leeds went into a frenzy, attending church and repenting of their sins in preparation of the Second Coming. The excitement died down, however, when a man was caught re-inserting eggs with writing on them back into the chicken.

It seems he would write on the shells with corrosive ink, then shove them back inside the unfortunate bird to create the appearance of the miraculous layings.
8. On 16th July 1945, what potentially world-shattering event took place?

Answer: Detonation of the first atomic bomb

Some scientists involved in the Manhattan Project had calculated the possibility that a nuclear blast might actually ignite the Earth's atmosphere, destroying all life as we know it. In the fashion of true mad scientists, however, they went ahead and took the risk. After all, the bigger the explosion, the more successful the bomb. Right?
9. Armageddon has been predicted on years in which the date of the Annunciation (the day the angel Gabriel told Mary she was pregnant with the Messiah) coincides with what other religious date?

Answer: Good Friday

The collision of these two dates has caused predictions of doom from astrologers in a few different years, and some people believe it was on one such collision that the creation of the world occurred.
10. All the failed predictions for the Millennial Apocalypse in the year 2000 resurfaced in 2001. Why?

Answer: 2001 was the actual start of the new millennium

Though this is a bit pedantic, 2000 was actually the last full year of the Second Millennium AD/CE. People whose predictions had foundered on December 31st, 1999 sometimes just shifted the same prediction to December 31st, 2000 but they were wrong then, too.
11. What 16th century poet is known for his psychic rhymes of four lines (or "quatrains"), predicting among other things disaster in 1999?

Answer: Nostradamus

Nostradamus is probably the most cited of all history's psychics. His prediction for 1999 was, roughly translated:
The year 1999, seventh month,
From the sky will come a great King of Terror.
To bring back to life the great Angolmois,
Before and after Mars to reign by good fortune.
Followers of Nostradamus have twisted his words to mean various things. This particular quatrain has been used as evidence of prediction of the September 11th attacks, Hiroshima, and others.
12. There were a mass of predictions of an Armageddon in the year 1000.

Answer: True

Predictions of the world's end seem to coalesce around numbers people consider significant. Among those to predict the year 1000 was Pope Sylvester II, who was himself said to be a sorcerer who had constructed a mechanical head he could ask questions of, and receive answers about the future. How cool is that?
13. Which 1938 radio teleplay caused people to think the world was ending?

Answer: War of the Worlds

Despite warnings played at the beginning and the end of the radio drama, Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" was so well put together that people believed the bizarre reports they were hearing of an alien attack. The teleplay took the form of a series of news reports interrupting regular music broadcasts.
14. Which of the following people has NOT predicted the end of the world?

Answer: Mary Roach

Mary Roach, author of "Stiff", "Spook", and "Bonk", probably believes the world will eventually end, but she has yet to name a specific date. Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell each believed the world would end in the year 2000. Isaac Newton, whose creation of calculus has been irritating high school and college students for centuries, actually wrote more about religion than he did about math. Newton spent much of his life calculating the world's end.
15. When Harold Camping's prediction of the Rapture (the event when some people are taken directly to Heaven prior to Armageddon) taking place on May 21st, 2011 came and went without incident, what did Camping do?

Answer: Changed the date

Camping said it would happen on October 21st of the same year. Unbeknownst to some people, this was not the first time Harold Camping had predicted the Rapture. He had also predicted the apocalyptic event in 1994.
16. Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult led by Shoko Asahara, carried out what event in 1995, in preparation for the world's end?

Answer: Sarin gas attack

The Sarin gas attack, which took place in the Tokyo Subway on 20th March, 1995, killed thirteen people and hospitalized more than a thousand. Shoko Asahara, who believed himself to be Jesus Christ reincarnate, predicted the Apocalypse would take place in 1997, and somehow thought the world might be cleansed with toxic gas.
17. According to the Talmud and the Zohar, how long will the world exist?

Answer: Six thousand years

By scientific estimates, the Earth is around 4.5 billion years old, and the Universe is about 9 billion years older than that. By strict scriptural interpretation, though, it began around 3760 BCE and will end roughly 2240 CE. Of course, most theologians interpret the use of "day" and "year" in scripture as more of a metaphor, referring to some far greater measure of time.
18. There were a lot of predictions of the end of the world in the year 500.

Answer: True

There seems to be a link between big, round numbers and predictions of Armageddon. Among the predictors to claim the year 500 was Saint Hippolytus, who used as part of his calculations the dimensions of Noah's Ark. Both odd, and oddly familiar.
19. A prediction of Armageddon in 634 BCE coincided with what prophetic anniversary?

Answer: 120 years after the founding of Rome

The mythical founding of Rome involved a dispute between the twins Romulus and Remus, over who would be king of the new city-state. One twin each went to a separate hill, and waited a sign from the gods. Six eagles landed on Remus' hill, but as he was running to claim his right of superiority, twelve eagles landed near Romulus.
So twelve eagles times ten years equals 120 years. Some Romans thought it was not only a sign of Romulus' superiority, but also of the time limit for Rome.
20. The Great Fire of London managed to convince many people that the Apocalypse was at hand. What year did it take place?

Answer: 1666

When a great catastrophe coincides with the Number of the Beast, can predictions of doom be far behind? Huge portions of London were indeed destroyed, and rebuilt. The architect Christopher Wren was very influential in redesigning the destroyed city's churches, maybe even better than they were before.
21. In May of 1780, in the midst of the American Revolution, something happened to convince citizens of New England that the world was ending. What would this event be called?

Answer: Dark Day

A dark fog engulfed the sky at about 10:30 in the morning of 19th May 1780. The darkness lasted so long (the fog did not lift until the following night) that many people believed the end times were upon them. There is no certain cause of the darkness, but it may have been smoke from a forest fire.
22. New Mexico State Police arrested Michael Travesser, leader of the Lord Our Righteousness Church (and self-proclaimed Messiah) in 2008 on charges of child molestation. Had the world ended on Travesser's predicted date, he would have avoided the indignity ... When was the prediction?

Answer: Halloween 2007

Many cult leaders have been accused of similar activities, including David Koresh of the Branch Davidians, Dwight York of the Nuwaubian Nation, and Warren Jeffs has been accused of running a polygamous sect.
23. In 1986, what heavenly body was predicted to cause untold devastation when it struck the Earth?

Answer: Halley's Comet

Leland Jensen made this prediction, which came on the heels of his failed prediction that World War III would take place in 1980.
24. What religious group was blamed for the Great Fire of Rome, which took place during the reign of Emperor Nero?

Answer: Christians

It was claimed that Christians had started the fire, and that they had run into the streets joyously crying out that the Kingdom of God had arrived. It's thought that Nero trumped up these charges to throw blame away from himself, since he was suspect #1 on the list of arson instigators.
25. Which of the following is NOT predicted to end the world in 2012?

Answer: Violent attack by Snap, Crackle, and Pop

After looking through all the other ludicrous predictions throughout history, hopefully they all look as silly as this one.
Source: Author drowsteel

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
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