Sigh. Let's take a look back at the good times. Give me some cheer, 1993!
Sightings – S2E20 – “Countdown to Doomsday” – April 9th, 1993
“Since our last report on predictions and prophecies, the response from our viewers has been overwhelming. There appears to be an inexhaustible fascination with the future. Now, with the approach of not only a new century but a new millennium, the number of people making long-range predictions is growing. Some of these modern-day prophets are obviously more reputable than others, but might one of them be the new Nostradamus?”
FIVE EPISODES REMAIN! Until the show leaps to syndication. But the show did change format after the move to syndication, so these are the last five episodes of original recipe Sightings.
We start with a Zuni priest, who says “like our ancestors said, the world will capsize, and you will be destroyed.”
“Spring of ‘93 will be remembered in the future as when it all began, and life changed as we know it.”
Meet Gordon Michael Scallion, who has had visions since 1979 & claims to have predicted Hurricane Andrew and the Landers earthquake. What's his prediction? Take a guess. Take a guess what it is.
“In 1998, perhaps sooner, the United States will look much different than today – 25% of its landmass will have gone underwater. Denver is a seaport…” He says California will experience a quake "greater than eight" between March and May. This will reduce California to islands. Of course, because he's like the fifth psychic to predict the Big One, we already know that didn't happen
"Earth Changes", a term used throughout this segment, was coined by Edgar Cayce. It was the name of a newsletter put out by Scallion, who also ran a website for his group, Matrix Institute, though it's now defunct; oddly enough, looking up his name mainly brings up rare map dealers selling his future map.
Actual scientist Dr. Kate Hutton from Cal Tech points out that there have been recorded quakes above 9.0 that didn't destroy civilization. Didn't even completely destroy the city or place where they happened, even
Richard Kieninger is what we would now recognize as a Doomsday Prepper. He believed that in the year 2000, a rare alignment of the planets would result in vast "Earth changes" that might bump us back to the Stone Age "for a generation or two". So he's founded the town of Stelle, Illinois...then we're told, vaguely, that he's "no longer associated" with Stelle, and has a new town, Adelphi, TX. And their dream is to build planes that could keep them above the surface of the Earth for three days, while the alignment happens in '00, and to buy a Pacific Island and make it into a paradise and new cradle of civilization.
The New York Times wrote a brief story on the towns he founded in 2011, and how the community survived his incorrect predictions; Kieninger died in 2002 and allegedly never explained the failure of his prophecies.
Stelle is said to have cut ties with him in 1985; while Adelphi remains true to its roots, with residents having to become members of the Adelphi Organization committed to their founder's teachings, Stelle is now an ordinary town with a focus on sustainability and "green" resources (i.e., sticking solar panels everywhere).
Stelle is trying to survive off of “common sense, logic, and forethought.”
Next up is David H. Childress, who believes in cataclysmic geology. “The evidence for ancient catastrophes and cataclysms is overwhelming to us”; he cites the existence of over 200 sunken cities in the Mediterranean. Childress is not a scientist, he's an "explorer", and a huge ancient aliens guy - in that he has appeared in over a hundred episodes of Ancient Aliens and serves as a "consulting producer". Look him up if you want to find dozens of accusations of racism and conspiracy theories in his work!
We close where we began; Tim White says "perhaps the answer lies in ancient Zuni wisdom." We return to the priest from the beginning: “The ancestors said if you don’t love each other and behave in a good manner, it might rain hot water. The stars may fall, towns will be destroyed, and the end will be near.”
Actual scientist Terence Sandbek is asked why we prefer doomsday predictions to predictions of hope; he says it's for the same reason we “follow a fire engine to a fire, rather than a limousine to a wedding”. He states the year 2000 will have more prophecies than the year 200 or the year 20, and they’ll have no more validity or realism. Oh hey, a correct prediction!
