The September 11 Terror Attacks
Wikimedia CommonsThe World Trade Center smoking after the 9/11 terror attacks.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the United States suffered the deadliest terror attack in its history when two planes struck the World Trade Center in New York City, killing 2,753 people. That number rose to 2,977 after the assault on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the plane crash outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Thousands of others were left injured, and the resulting damage cost trillions of dollars. In the span of about two hours, America was changed forever.
And hundreds of years earlier, Nostradamus wrote:
“The sky will burn at forty-five degrees.
Fire approaches the great new city.
By fire, he will destroy their city,
A cold and cruel heart, blood will pour.
Mercy to none.”
Once again, it may seem like a stretch to suggest that Nostradamus actually predicted the disaster, but one key detail from the prediction has some believers convinced. Specifically, the first line could refer to New York City’s proximity to the 45th latitude, rather than the angle of the buildings or the smoke.
As for the rest, well, it’s not hard to see why it has some people convinced. If any city were to be hailed as “the great new city,” New York City certainly fits the bill, and it would be fair to say that anyone who orchestrates a deadly terror attack has “a cold and cruel heart.”
Again, this isn’t to say that Nostradamus truly could see the future. There is still a fair amount of interpretation that must be applied to his admittedly vague prophecies, and given the total number of predictions he wrote down, it’s fair to assume that at least a few could later be applied to any number of situations.
Still, some of Nostradamus’ predictions are frighteningly accurate — which is even more terrifying when you stop to consider the ones that are still yet to come.
After reading about the scarily accurate predictions of Nostradamus, meet King Jayabaya, the 12th-century Nostradamus of Indonesia. Or, learn about six historic catastrophes seemingly caused by small mistakes.
