The Prophet Nostradamus and His Shocking Predictions

The prophet Nostradamus is known for making predictions that have shocked the world. Some of his prophecies have proven to be accurate, while others have not yet come to pass, but all of them have captured people's attention. Nostradamus claimed that his predictions about the future were based on calculations of the planets and stars in relation to Earth.

Even 400 years after his death, Nostradamus remains famous worldwide due to his 1555 book Les Propheties. Let’s revisit some of his astonishingly accurate predictions.

Who Was Nostradamus?

Nostradamus (1503-1566) was a French apothecary and prophet. He was also known by the nickname "servant of the devil" because all of his prophecies were not written in common, clear language, but instead in a cryptic style, full of wordplay, and using difficult languages such as Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, and Italian. This was a careful choice because Nostradamus did not want to be accused of heresy, witchcraft, or superstition.

Eerily Accurate Predictions

Throughout his life, Nostradamus predicted numerous disasters with remarkable accuracy, such as plagues, earthquakes, wars, floods, droughts, and battles. His followers have linked his prophecies to significant events in world history, including the French Revolution, World Wars I and II, the deaths of Napoleon and Hitler, Princess Diana's passing, and even the Apollo moon landing.

Nostradamus claimed that his predictions were based on ancient historical texts and medieval chronicles. Many scholars believe that Nostradamus interpreted the end of the world from ancient prophecies (mainly from the Bible) and used past astrological readings to forecast future events.

One of the first to be shocked by Nostradamus’ predictions was King Henry II of France. At 46 years old, after noticing his declining health, he summoned Nostradamus to the palace to inquire about his fate. Nostradamus predicted, "One day, your head will be pierced by a sharp object, and that will be the cause of your death. This will happen within 10 years."

He warned the king to avoid participating in a jousting match. However, in June 1559, ignoring Nostradamus' warnings, King Henry II took part in a joust against Count Montgomery during his sister’s wedding. Both opponents wore shields engraved with a lion, and Montgomery, six years younger than Henry, managed to strike the king. A lance pierced through the king’s face shield, went through his eye, and pierced his temple. King Henry II died at the age of 51 after lying in bed for 10 days. This event had already been predicted by Nostradamus a year earlier in Les Propheties.

The fate of another monarch, Napoleon, was also foretold by Nostradamus. Napoleon, the undefeated general who ultimately failed in Russia and lost his empire, was predicted in the following verses: "The great emperor will start from humble beginnings/And quickly rise to greatness/When he gains supreme power/The defeated king will be exiled to Elba/He will return to Marseilles via the Gulf of Genoa/But he will not overcome foreign powers/He may survive but will still shed blood."

Nostradamus also predicted the great fire in London in 1666: "The blood of justice will cover London/The city will burn in the year 66/The lady of the highest place will lose her status/And many places will be destroyed."

A massive fire did indeed occur in London in 1666, one of the rare predictions of Nostradamus that explicitly included a year. Even the harshest skeptics had to admit the accuracy of this prophecy. The fire consumed three-quarters of the city.

The crimes of Hitler, the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the explosion of the American space shuttle in 1985, and the assassination of President Kennedy have all been linked to Nostradamus’ prophecies.

The Seer's Prophetic Verses

In 1554, Nostradamus decided to dedicate all of his energy to his writings. He planned for each book to consist of 10 chapters, with each chapter containing 100 predictions written in quatrains. In 1555, he published Les Propheties (The Prophecies), a collection of his major, long-term predictions. To avoid scrutiny, he devised a method to obscure the meanings of his prophecies by using various languages, such as Greek, Italian, Latin, and Provençal, along with dialects from southern France.

He almost never specified the time or location of the events, so no one could use his prophecies to predict what was to come. In most cases, they were only able to reflect on them after the events had unfolded.

The book sparked much controversy. Some believed Nostradamus was a servant of the devil. Others thought he was a fraud or suffering from mental decline. However, many people believed his prophecies came from divine sources. Nostradamus became more famous and was highly revered by the upper class of Europe and Asia. One of his biggest admirers was Catherine de Medici, the wife of King Henry II of France.

After reading the 1555 almanac, Catherine de Medici noticed that one of Nostradamus’ quatrains seemed to indicate an unspecified threat to her family. She invited Nostradamus to Paris to explain and cast her horoscope.

Over the past 400 years, Nostradamus’ prophecies have continued to puzzle scientists. Out of over 1,000 predictions, more than half have come true. Researchers of Nostradamus believe that he foresaw the future of humanity all the way to the year 7000, predicting that by 3979, the Gobi Desert will turn into a sea. With the current year being 2014, humanity still has much time to reflect on the accuracy of Nostradamus’ prophecies.