10 Most Chilling Doomsday Scenarios That Could Actually Happen
3. Shoko Asahara Doomsday Predictions
The only thing better than waiting for the apocalypse is to create the apocalypse yourself. That’s what Shoko Asahara, born Chizuo Matsumoto, did in 1995. Shoko Asahara was a Japanese doomsday prophet who became a cultic leader after his arrest for selling fake Chinese cures.
Asahara started amassing a following after establishing a yoga studio in 1984, claiming he could levitate and had reached enlightenment. In 1987, he created the Aum Shinrikyo religion, naming it after a Japanese word that means “Supreme Truth.” With an estimated following of 10,000 people in Japan and 40,000 in Russia, Asahara’s religion even had some candidates running for Japanese legislative elections in 1990.
As his popularity grew, so did his superiority and god complex. Asahara encouraged his followers to drink blood and bathwater to save them from the apocalypse. Asahara predicted that the apocalypse would happen between 1997 and 2000 through gas poisoning. Some members of Aum Shinrikyo decided to take matters into their own hands and, quite literally, create the apocalypse.
On March 20, 1995, members boarded five trains and released toxic sarin gas, killing 12 people and injuring at least 5,500 others. Asahara was later arrested by Japanese authorities and sentenced to death in February 2004.
4. Halley’s Comet
If you’re one of the firm believers of the existence of some form of life on other planets, then it’s good that you weren’t born when the apocalyptic prophecy of Halley’s Comet happened. We know that Halley’s Comet is a ball of dust visible every 76 years based on our current scientific knowledge.
But that’s not what people knew, or at least believed, back in the day. When astronomers announced that the comet was scheduled to pass in 1910, it led to fear and confusion in a surprising number of people. Claims that the comet’s tail contained poisonous cyanogen gas led to widespread doomsday predictions. The media also contributed to the widespread panic by publishing alarming headlines about a doomsday caused by a comet’s poisonous tail.
People stopped working, opting to seek refuge in their homes. As the doomsday approached, people covered their windows, airways, and keyholes with towels and papers to prevent the poisonous gas from getting into their homes. The “unbelievers” who didn’t fall for the apocalyptic predictions watched as the night passed silently, with others holding “Comet Parties” on their rooftops to commemorate the night.
