The end is nigh. Blame Caitlyn

Apparently Jenner is "one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse", and an Illuminati puppet, and part of the systematic emasculation of the male population. Which means the end of the world is nigh. Or something. File photo
Image by: EPA

Here we go again. Brace yourselves, everybody - the world is reportedly going to end in September, according to a prediction made by Isaac Newton.

If you're exhausted by constantly being told that you could be smashed to bits by an incoming asteroid at any moment, take heart in the fact that you're not the first to feel that way. You're probably not the last, either. unless the doomsayers actually get this one right.

Early Christians believed the Second Coming could happen at any moment. William Miller convinced his followers the world would end in 1844. Harold Camping predicted the end of the world in 2011. So where do these prophecies come from? And are they ever likely to be right?

Nostradamus

You can blame 16th-century prophet Nostradamus for a lot of it. His 1555 book Les Propheties apparently predicted the Great Fire of London and the rise of Napoleon and Hitler. Some say it also predicted the end of the world would take place this year.

However, others seem to think that he gave the world 5500 years after he wrote his prediction in 1553, which gives us another 5038 years. Yippee.

Religion

Unsurprisingly, religion is behind many prophecies that have predicted the end of the world.

No fewer than three people predicted that Jesus would return in the year 500, and Seventh Day Adventists followed the teachings of William Miller to give all their possessions away with the expectation that the world would end in 1844. Surprise: It didn't.

Evangelist Harold Camping ended up red-faced, too, after predicting "the rapture" on May 21 2011, and the end of the world on October 21 2011.

The internet

Nowadays you can't move for people on the internet predicting that the world will end in such-and-such a year, based on things like the Lego Movie, Caitlyn Jenner's transition and earthquakes in Papua New Guinea.

Apparently Jenner is "one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse", and an Illuminati puppet, and part of the systematic emasculation of the male population. Which means the end of the world is nigh. Or something.

Doomsday YouTube is a very special corner of the internet filled with clip-art videos with retro typefaces and eerily deadpan voice-overs.

They seem to be mostly based on biblical prophecies and fearmongering about technology, with the odd bit of Illuminati and Freemasonry imagery thrown in.

It's only remotely persuasive if you are extremely gullible or12 years old.

Asteroids

Asteroids seem to be the source of much end-of-days fearmongering. Dr Daniel Brown from Nottingham Trent University thinks we're obsessed with asteroids in the same way that medieval people were obsessed with comets.

September's threat is ostensibly meant to be from an asteroid, but Brown is reassuringly certain that there is nothing to worry about.

"It's a definite misunder-standing," he says. "I don't see that there are any asteroids that are going to be impacting us in the near future."

What's the near future? Up to the next hundred years.

So no need to stockpile water and blankets - the world probably isn't going to end in September. Not due to an asteroid, anyway.