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Rapture 2011: Other 'End Of The World' Predictions From Around The World (PHOTOS)

The Strangest 'Rapture' Predictions From Around The World
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A fringe Christian radio group's prediction that "Judgment Day" will be upon us May 21 has created an international sensation, with devotees vowing to repent for their sins as atheists plan to party it up in the last 24 hours before the "rapture."

As the Miami Herald is reporting, Family Radio Network's founder Harold Camping predicts the "rapture" should begin at 6 p.m. on May 21. Interestingly, Camping's prediction just barely contradicts an older interpretation of the Mayan calendar, which many believe indicates the world will end in December 2012.

Of course, a host of "Judgment Day," "Doomsday" and "Rapture" predictions have abounded for centuries, from the famed teachings of Nostradamus to a British hen's egg-laying "prophecy."

Take a look at some past predictions from around the world here:

1806 (01 of06)
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As the Christian Science Monitor reports, the "Prophet Hen of Leeds," a domesticated fowl in England, began laying eggs that bore the message "Christ is coming" in 1806, leading locals to believe the end of the world was upon them. Charles Mackay's 1841 book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, describes it thus:
"Great numbers visited the spot, and examined these wondrous eggs, convinced that the day of judgment was near at hand. Like sailors in a storm, expecting every instant to go to the bottom, the believers suddenly became religious, prayed violently, and flattered themselves that they repented them of their evil courses. But a plain tale soon put them down, and quenched their religion entirely. Some gentlemen, hearing of the matter, went one fine morning, and caught the poor hen in the act of laying one of her miraculous eggs. They soon ascertained beyond doubt that the egg had been inscribed with some corrosive ink, and cruelly forced up again into the bird's body. At this explanation, those who had prayed, now laughed, and the world wagged as merrily as of yore."
 (credit:Getty )
October/November 1982 (02 of06)
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U.S.-based religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told followers: "I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world." As the Christian Science Monitor reports, Robertson has said that God told him about pending disasters on numerous occasions -- including a West Coast tsunami in 2006, and a terrorist attack in 2007 -- neither of which occurred. "I have a relatively good track record," he has said. "Sometimes I miss." (credit:Getty )
Oct. 28, 1992(03 of06)
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Followers of the "Hyoo Go" (Rapture) movement, a collection of Korean "end-times" sects, firmly believed that Jesus was coming in 1992. When the prophesied events failed to pass, much turmoil broke out among the sects, and some followers tried to attack their preachers with knives. (credit:Getty )
July 1999(04 of06)
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The teachings of Michel de Nostrdame (or Nostradamus) have been translated and re-translated over time, but many of his followers believed that in the seventh month of year 1999, "a great king of terror will come from the sky," and would thus end the world. (credit:Wikicommons )
May 21, 2011(05 of06)
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Harold Camping, the head of a Christian broadcast group called Family Radio, has been predicting for years that the day would take place on May 21, 2011. Though he had claimed earlier that the world would end in Sept. 1994, that month passed without cataclysmic results. He has since said he'd miscalculated and that the apocalyptical flood would take place in May 2011. (credit:Getty )
December 21, 2012 (06 of06)
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Several scientists and speculators had proposed numerous astronomical alignments hinting at the planet's demise, based on the view that the calendar of the ancient Mayan civilization ends on Dec. 21, 2012. There is a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012, which is said to be the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mayan long count calendar. (credit:AP )

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