Everybody wants to predict what is going to happen in the future, right? There is a reason that we are so fascinated by the concept of prophets, shamans and philosophers like Nostradamus. But what happens when someone actually predicts what is going to happen? Listed below you’ll find 20 predictions about the future that actually came true!
Chicago Cubs World Series Prediction
We are going to read a ton of crazy stuff on this list but nothing is quite as crazy as this. Back in 1983 a kid named Michael Lee said in his senior yearbook quote: “Chicago Cubs. 2016 World Champions. You heard it here first.” This prediction is insane because the Cubs endured the longest World Series drought in baseball history.
Chicago Cubs World Series Prediction
Nikola Tesla Predicts WiFi
Nikola Tesla will go down in history as a scientist who suffered personal injury, without a wrongful death lawyer to protect his estate, all to advance science. Tesla is at the forefront of many scientific discoveries and even a few conspiracies. One truth we can attest to is that the prolific scientist actually predicted the creation of WiFi — 60 years before cell phones existed and 90 years before WiFi existed.
Nikola Tesla Predicts WiFi
Cowboy Bebop Predicts the 2003 Space Shuttle Disaster
If you are an anime fan then you need to watch Cowboy Bebop. That being said: the space themed anime released an episode in 1999 that showcased a ‘old ship’ named the Columbia. The ship in the Bebop cartoon would fail in the show when its tiles peeled off during flight. In 2003 the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy occurred. If the future were a person then they’d be facing a family law attorney from the Columbia crew.
Cowboy Bebop Predicts The 2003 Space Shuttle Disaster
Jules Verne Imagines the Moon Landing
Would you say that the moon landing was a pretty important moment in human history? Well, back in 1865 science fiction author Jules Verne projected the world changing mission in a novel, From Earth to the Moon. Verne even predicted the launch site of the shuttle: Florida. In the novel two men were shot out of a cannon to the moon. A little different, but close enough.
Jules Verne Imagines The Moon Landing
Apple Predicted Touchscreen Devices
They also invented the touchscreen, too. In 1987 Apple, then a growing company, released a short video that featured projects coming to the future of technology. The video was labeled ‘Knowledge Navigator’ and it showcased a touchscreen device. In the video the projected date is September 16th, 2011 — only two weeks off the actual real life release.
Apple Predicted Touchscreen Devices
Nostradamus Predicts London’s Great Fire
The year of 1666 wasn’t particularly good for London but Nostradamus could have told you that. Nostradamus wrote in his book, “The blood of the just will be lacking in London/Burnt up in the fire of ’66”. That’s almost creepily on point. There is a reason that Nostradamus is the guy to turn to for projections. We should comb his writings to see if we can get an auto accident attorney on our side…
Nostradamus Predicts London’s Great Fire
Mark Twain Predicts His Death
Some predictions you might not want to be right about. In 1909 Twain told his biographer, Albert Bigelow, “I came in with Halley’s comet (in 1835). It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.” Twain would die the day after Halley’s Comet came back around: April 21, 1910.
Mark Twain Predicts His Death
Author John Brunner Predicts President Obama — in 1968
Perhaps the creepiest item on this list comes from John Brunner, a writer. Brunner wrote a novel titled Stand on Zanzibar. The book predicts a President Obomi in the White House in 2010. Now how about that? He was off a letter but who is going to be that pedantic?
Author John Brunner Predicts President Obama In 1968
Roger Ebert Predicts Netflix
Well, not Netflix specifically — but the business model. It’s hard to imagine, but back in 1987 the concept of wirelessly ordering up a new movie would have been unthinkable. Ebert is one of the most important movie critics of our time and he accurately ‘called it’ back in the ’80s.
Roger Ebert Predicts Netflix
Elena Sheppard Predicts the Golden Globes
This doesn’t sound that incredible until you really dig into the facts. Sheppard was a political blogger who was tasked with covering the award ceremony in 2013. She speculated all 25 categories — and guessed each winner correctly. How often has this happened? Well, it has never happened before that someone would go 25/25.
Elena Sheppard Predicts The Golden Globes
H.G. Wells Predicts Tanks
What makes science fiction novels so exciting is that one day they could become true. Hells wrote the famous War of the Worlds novel and in it he featured tanks. Well, he called them ‘Land Ironclads”. What makes this so fantastic and special? The first tank wasn’t built for another 15 years.
H.G. Wells Predicts Tanks
Robert Heinlein Predicts the Cold War
Again, science fiction is always going to be some kind of predictor for the future and Heinleins work, Solution Unsatisfactory, is no exception. In this short story Heinlein accurately predicts that the United States would become a global power after creating a nuclear weapon. He also accurately predicted an arms race that mirrored that of the Cold War.
Robert Heinlein Predicts The Cold War
Ray Bradbury Predicts Earbuds
When was the last time that you really thought about earbuds/headphones? Well, before they were even a thought in the head of scientists author Ray Bradbury dreamed them up. Bradbury wrote of ‘tiny seashells’ that sit within your ear to send and receive audio in his book Fahrenheit 541.
Ray Bradbury Predicts Earbuds
John Elfreth Watkins Predicts TVs
TVs are pretty much the center of the household nowadays, but back in 1900 they weren’t even a thought. Mr. Watkins, who was a curator at the Smithsonian, wrote an article for The Ladies’ Home Journal. In that article he accurately predicted both televisions and mobile phones within ‘the next hundred years’.
John Elfreth Watkins Predicts TVs
Philco Predicts Online Shopping
The year was 1967 and Philco, a name you’ve probably never heard of, was kinda-sorta at the front lines of the electronic manufacturing world. Philco was established in 1892 and they mostly created carbon arc lamps and radios. Then, in 1967, they released an advertisement that featured both the internet AND online shopping.
Philco Predicts Online Shopping
EM Forester Predicts the Internet
Edward Morgan Forester wrote a great many things in his life but his work, The Machine Shops, stands out quite boldly. In this short story, released in 1909, Forester describes a series of screens that allow people to link to anyone, anywhere, in the world from the comfort of their own home. Did we mention that this story even predates the widespread use of the radio?
EM Forrester Predicts The Internet
George Orwell Predicts All Things Surveillance
Orwell’s name has become another word for surveillance, referencing the infamous Big Brother government from his book 1984. Orwell wrote his iconic novel in 1949 and in it he accurately predicted the surveillance state that most Americans are now familiar with: satellite cameras, cameras on posts, the secret service, the NSA — everything.
George Orwell Predicts All Things Surveillance
The Simpsons Predict President Trump
When you are a weekly animated show you are allowed to lampoon pretty much every topic under the sun. You can look through decades of Simpsons episodes in order to find some pretty crazy and accurate predictions. No prediction is more out of this world than when they accurately predicted that reality star Donald Trump would become President of the United States, way back in 2000.
The Simpsons Predict President Trump
General Billy Mitchell Predicts Pearl Harbor Bombing
Gen. Mitchell was already famous for how effective and successful his flight plans were during World War I. In 1925, almost 20 years prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Mitchell would predict a bombardment on Ford Island (Pearl Harbor) at 7:30am. He was incorrect by only 25 minutes.
General Billy Mitchell Predicts Pearl Harbor Bombing
Morgan Robertson Predicts the Titanic Sinking
Morgan Robertson wrote a short story in 1898 that was titled Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan. In the story we read about the ‘largest ship ever made’ crashing into an iceberg and tragically sinking. 14 years later we would see the RMS Titanic, lauded as the largest ship ever made — a rival to God himself, sink after hitting an iceberg.
Morgan Robertson Predicts The Titanic Sinking
