10 Historical Predictions That Actually Came True

Why are people so obsessed with predictions? At the end of every year, the bigger publications and media outlets always interview a psychic to share their forecasts for the following year.

This fascination usually peaks when a prediction is so accurate that it borders on the eerie.

For instance, Paul the Octopus was hailed a celebrity between 2008 and 2010. To be fair, the common octopus had an 85.7% success rate in foretelling the winning teams of some of the Euro 2008 and 2010 FIFA World Cup matches. He did so by eating at the food box with the right flag.

Unfortunately, Paul died just a few months after correctly predicting that Spain would win the 2010 World Cup.

As long as some predictions come true, even if they are just 5% of all forecasts, then people will always be enthralled. Some of the biggest events in the world were predicted by famed futurists, and they come with historical backing.

Let’s take a look at the 10 most uncanny predictions that came true.

Jules Verne Imagined A Man On The Moon - 1865

It was not until July 20, 1969 that Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon. But in the 1860s, Jules Verne already imagined men traveling to the moon. Did he predict the future? Perhaps, Verne just had a creative imagination, but it is still quite bizarre.

Verne was a French novelist who wrote From the Earth to the Moon, which was published in 1865. The novel tells the story of a group of weapons enthusiasts who attempted to build a space gun to launch people to the moon. In it, Verne also wrote about a light-propelled spacecraft that NASA eventually invented and called solar sails

The author is known not just for being a prophet of scientific invention. He penned some of the most famous science fiction novels in the world as well, including Journey to the Center of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Arthur C. Clarke Imagined The iPad - 1968

The first iPad went on sale in 2010. Decades before its launch, multi-hyphenated writer Arthur C. Clarke already envisioned it in his short-story-turned-movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, which Stanley Kubrick directed in 1968. The tablet was called a Newspad in the film.

Even more interesting, the Newspad was used by Samsung in its intellectual property rights battle with Apple. The American brand wanted to stop the Korean brand from selling its Galaxy tablet because the iPad design has been patented. Samsung argued that Apple should not be able to patent the iPad since the Newspad design already existed years prior.

The iPad wasn’t the only thing Clarke predicted. He was known to spew imaginative digital products in essays and interviews between the 1950s and 1960s. Those devices are now realities—from online banking to the millennium bug.

Nostradamus Predicted The 1666 Great Fire Of London - 1555

Nostradamus is probably the most popular futurist. People all over the world credit him for foretelling the rise of leaders Napoleon and Adolf Hitler, and the two World Wars, among many others. Others claim, though, that the predictions in his 1555 book, Les Propheties, are heavily subject to interpretations.

Perhaps you can make your own evaluation on whether he actually predicted the Great Fire of London, which raged for four days in September 1966. In his book of 942 quatrains, Nostradamus declared:

“The blood of the just will commit a fault at London,

Burnt through lighting of twenty threes the six:

The ancient lady will fall from her high place,

Several of the same sect will be killed.”

Take note of the numbers: twenty threes the six, which could be interpreted to mean 66 (20 x 3 + 6).

John Brunner Predicted President “Obomi” - 1968

Science fiction writers are commonly regarded as futurists and John Brunner is one of the perfect examples. Brunner’s book, Stand on Zanzibar, was published in 1969. It was well received and even won the Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Over the years, the book continued to make waves as certain parts of its contents seemingly predicted some of the biggest events in the modern world. Stand on Zanzibar is set in 2010 where people owned wearable technology, practiced same-sex marriage, and used cannabis. One of the characters is a progressive president named Obomi.

Nikola Tesla Predicted WiFi And Smartphones - 1926

Everybody knows Nikola Tesla was a genius, but many do not realize he could also predict the future. In a 1926 interview, the famed scientist implied the use of smartphones and WiFi.

He told American journalist John B. Kennedy: “Through television and telephony, we shall see and hear one another as perfectly as though we were face to face, despite intervening distances of thousands of miles.”

Did he just describe FaceTime? Now that is creepy! Remember, he said those things close to a hundred years ago. Although it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that he had such foresight because Tesla was so smart that even Albert Einstein was in awe of him.

Ray Bradbury Foretold Earbuds - 1953

Decades before earbuds became a thing, Ray Bradbury already talked about it in his 1953 dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451. According to the New York Times, Bradbury’s description of a futuristic radio sounds exactly like the iPod headphones.

However, the author said he did not like predicting the future. Rather, he wanted to prevent the future he created in his stories. It is too late now. The other things he seemingly predicted in Fahrenheit 451 include closed circuit television or surveillance cameras, social media, and media sensationalism.

Edward Bellamy Envisaged The Credit Card - 1888

The first credit card was introduced in 1958—it was made of cardboard. A year later, the first plastic card came out. However, the first mention of credit cards dates back to 1888 in Edward Bellamy’s book, Looking Backward: 2000-1887 .

The setting is a socialist utopian world in 2000 where people were given credit cards to receive their share of the national wealth. At least, it was not that accurate, since credit cards today are more about spending money that you do not have. Maybe the national wealth description actually sounds better.

You know what else Bellamy predicted? Amazon—or a version of it. In the same book, he described a meatspace where buyers choose meat products on display, which will then be delivered right at their doorstep.

Mark Twain Forecast His Own Death - 1909

Did the greatest humorist the United States has produced predict his own death? Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens, is considered the father of American literature. Some also call him a fortune teller for prophesying the year of his demise.

While his prediction was based on astronomy rather than clairvoyance, that does not make it any less eerie. Twain said about his death: “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it.”

Halley’s Comet is considered the most famous in history because it is visible to Earth’s inhabitants every 75 years. Mark Twain was born in 1835, just before the celestial body became discernible to earthlings’ eyes. He died of a heart attack 74 years later.

Morgan Robertson Predicted The Sinking Of The Titanic - 1898

Morgan Robertson is the self-proclaimed inventor of the periscope, who may have also predicted the Titanic tragedy in his books. He wrote Futility in 1898 and revised it as The Wreck of the Titan in 1912.

Robertson’s book is about Titan, a British ship that sinks in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg. The only difference between his vessel and the historic ocean liner are the letters “i” and “c.” Another similarity—the Titan was 882 feet long while the Titanic was 800 feet. These parallels prompted people to call the author a clairvoyant, which he denied.

For logical thinkers, the coincidence was due to Robertson’s extensive maritime knowledge.

Robert Boyle Anticipated Organ Transplants - 1660

In 1660, philosopher and chemist Robert Boyle made a wish list for the future. He wished that people would discover the secret to eternal youth and invent an unsinkable ship. There were 22 more items, including “the cure of diseases at a distance or at least by transplantation.”

The first successful human transplant surgery happened 300 years later, in 1954 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Joseph Murray transferred a kidney to Richard Herrick from his twin brother, Ronald. Murray won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for it. But Boyle seemed to be the biggest winner that day as one of his wishes came true.

It would be interesting to see how many more of Boyle’s wishes will be granted in the future.

Predictions or Coincidence?

If only people can truly predict the future, then many tragedies could have been prevented. However, in many instances, prophecies are noticed only after the event has already happened.

Based on these historical visions that came to pass, maybe we should start poring over novels of science fiction writers to see what is in store for us.