Whether or not you believe in conspiracy theories or not, they are fun. Pop culture is filled with creepy coincidences that we can’t help think “predicted the future” in some way. Here is a list of 31 of those instances. Enjoy!
1. Super Bowl Sunday
In The Poltergeist, there is a poster from the 1988 Super Bowl on Robbie’s Wall. The film was released in 1982, but the creepy part is that on Super Bowl Sunday in 1988 Heather O’Rourke, who plays Carol Anne in the film, became violently ill. She died the next day at the age of 12.
2. It’s A Plane, It’s Superman…. It’s The Twin Towers?
Superman #596 was released on September 12, 2001 and included an image of the Lex Corp. buildings smoking from an attack. We admit this is a stretch, but an image later in the issue shows the actual World Trade Center in the background under attack. Unfortunately, the warning would come a little too late.
3. Not Above…. Suspicion
Christopher Reeve starred in a movie on HBO called Above Suspicion, which he played a character in a wheelchair. Two days after the films release he would have a horseback riding accident that would paralyze him. Forcing him to be wheelchair bound the remainder of his life.
4. We Miss You
Nicki Minaj predicted her cousin’s death, in a song We Miss You.
“Why’d you have to leave us in July? On a serene and peaceful summer night. Why the doctors couldn’t stop the bleeding? Now you see you not bullet proof. I could’ve told you about my intuition. Why’d you have to leave so soon?”
A year after she wrote this, her cousin was gunned down in July and left to bleed to death.
5. Not A Working Man
Warren Zevon predicted his own death in his song The Factory.
“Kicking asbestos in the factory. Punchin’ out Chryslers in the factory. Breathing in plastic in the factory.”
Zevon died from advanced malignant mesothelioma, which is brought on by the inhalation of asbestos. It wouldn’t be odd if he had written the song based off his own experience, but the singer never worked in such an environment and had not reason to believe he had such disease.
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6. A Second Chance
A 1987 sitcom named Second Chance, about people being given a second chance after death, predicted Gadhafi’s death within months of it happening. In the pilot Moammar Gadhafi shows up in St. Peter’s office in July 2011. Ghadhafi actually died in October of that year.
7. This Is Real Life
Albert Brooks predicted reality tv in 1979 with his mockumentary Real Life. The film is about an obnoxious and intrusive camera crew that follows a family around intentionally stirring up conflict. It was meant to be a PBS documentary series, but the twist was most of the drama was artificially created by the producer.
8. The Meat Machine
Have you ever order a KFC double down? You may also know it as the “Tracy Jordan Meat Machine” from 30 Rock. The episode aired in 2006 had Jordan selling the sandwiches that “saved you from suffering through the bread part of your sandwich.” The double down was released in 2009.
9. Terrorist Plot
The pilot episode of the X-Files spinoff, The Lone Gunmen, includes a plot to hijack a plane and crash it into the World Trade Center. The episode aired in March 2011.
10. My Heart Is Crying
In 1975, Jackie Wilson was was onstage singing his hit song Lonely Teardrops. When he sang the lyrics “my heart is crying”, the singer suffered a heart attack and collapsed onstage. The audience thought he was just being dramatic, but soon realized something more serious was happening.
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11. If I Stole It
In 1999, the writer’s of The Chris Rock Show predicted the title of OJ Simpson’s book. In a sketch, Rock held up an OJ video entitled “I Didn’t Kill My Wife, But If I Did Here’s How I’d Do It”. In 2007, OJ Simpson released a book titled “If I Did It”. We’re not sure if this is a prediction or OJ stealing the title.
12. The Mouse Problem
Furies aren’t a new fad that’s going around. In 1969, Monty Python did a sketch entitled The Mouse Problem, which explored a subculture of men who dressed as mice as a sexual fetish. They go to parties, squeak, eat cheese… all dressed in mice costumes.
13. Elementary My Dear, Watson.
HAL is no longer a fictional character from the 1968 film 2001 A Space Odyssey. IBM has introduced Watson to the world, which is so intelligent that it defeated two Jeopardy contestants…. without being connected to the internet.
14. Schwarzenegger For President
The film Demolition Man predicted many things driveless cars, skype, GPS, and the political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yes, you heard us correctly. Detective Huxley mentions doing research in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. The movie came out in 1993, ten years before the terminator would run for office.
15. Origin Of The Space Plane
A 1986 issue of Man of Steel had Lois Lane travelling on a space shuttle that would explode, but don’t worry Superman came to rescue her. Unfortunately, there was no Superman around to rescue the victims of the challenger disaster that happened while the issue was being illustrated by John Byrne. Byrne was able to redraw the shuttle as a “space plane” so not to draw comparisons.
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16. Let’s Get Visual
The song Video Killed the Radio Star did just that. The song by the Buggles was the first music video to play on MTV. Music video’s weren’t new, but after the release of the video for this song they became popular.
17. A New Device
A Superman comic from 1945 predicted the atomic bomb. It featured Lex Luther creating a new device to instigate chaos in the city of Metropolis. The US defence department ordered DC to pull the comic from shelves. Just months later the US nuked Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.
18. The Americathon
Americathon takes place in 1998. The US is depleted of oil and falling into bankruptcy to foreign lenders, Nike is a huge conglomerate, the USSR has collapsed, China is a global superpower that is leaning toward capitalism, and reality tv is out of control. The film was release in 1979.
19. Tall Buildings Shake
Wilco’s album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot predicted the 9/11 attacks.
“Tall buildings shake, voices escape singing sad sad songs. Voices wine, skyscrapers are scraping together. Your voices are smoking.”
Although the album was released in 2003, it was actually recorded in 2000, long before the attacks.
20. Strange Land
Stranger in a Strange Land is a science fiction book written by Albert Heinlein in 1961, which predicted the screensaver.
“They went into the living room; Jill sat at his feet as the applied themselves two maritinis. Opposite his chair was a stereovision tank that was disguised as an aquarium; guppies and tetras gave way to the face of the well-known Winston Augustus Greaves.”
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21. Kill The Drones
Drones have been under scutiny after multiple occasions have lead to more civillian deaths in the Middle East. So, you might be asking what prompted the use of this invention. Well, this nightmare may have all started in 1984’s The Terminator. Although the post-apocolyptic world knows them as HK-Aerial (which stands for Hunter-Killer.)
22. Are We Living In the Matrix?
Although it’d be a stretch to say The Matrix predicted 9/11, but the film does have an eerie connection to the tragedy. Neo worked in The World Trade Center, and his passport expires on September 11, 2001.
23. I Went To The Future And All I Got Was This…
The Jetsons is a beloved cartoon classic, and they had a lot of cool inventions we wish did come true. Unfortunately, all we got was the Roomba, the robot vacuum cleaner.
24. Trip To The Big Apple
The Simpons have come under the microscope for predicting a lot of things, so it’s no surprise one of their creepy predictions involves 9/11. One of the episodes includes the Simpson family taking a trip to New York, Lisa holds up a magazine that is $9 and the number conveniently is right beside the twin towers… making that 911, right? You be the judge of this one.
25. You Are Not The Mother
If you haven’t seen the Jack Nicholson film Chinatown skip this one because it contains a huge spoiler. In the film, Faye Dunaway’s character is raped by her father and impregnated. The baby is raised by her sister, not her mother-sister, but the mother’s sister… which we guess is her sister too technically, but that’s beside the point. Jack Nicholson hadn’t known this, but he was raised believing his mother was his sister, because his parents were actually his grandparents. He wouldn’t find out until years later, but it is odd that the film holds some parralel to his real life that he knew nothing about.
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26. Like Father Like Son
In Game of Death, Bruce’s Lees character gets killed on a film set that was thought to be loaded with blankets. This would predict the death of his own son Brandon Lee, who died under similar circumstances while filming The Crow.
27. Danger Ahead
The China Syndrome is a film about the dangers of nuclear power. Upon its release, nuclear power proponents criticized it for its inaccuracies about such dangers. Twelve days later, the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island overheated in a partial nuclear meltdown.
28. Not Funny Anymore
Pre-9/11 flying was easier, you didn’t have to be scanned by those pesky full body scanners to get through security at the airport. Airplane II: The Sequel included a joke about the scanners pornography potential, little did they know they were predicting the future of the TSA.
29. Apple Is King
In 1987, there was an Apple commercial going around that featured a tablet with a digital assistant that takes phone calls, video chats, and searches the internet for you. The video is set in September 2001, just weeks before Apple released the iPhone with Siri.
30. Nothing Good Can Come Of This
As if the Super Mario Bros. film wasn’t traumatic enough, it has a scene showing the destruction of the World Trade Center almost a decade before they would suffer their terrible fate.
31. Live Long And Prosper
Star Trek’s original run was short, but there is a reason it has held the test of time spanning decades and feature films. It gave us characters we love, and blue tooth? Yes, the Star Trek gang were using blue tooth devices long before they became the annoying gadget they are today.