credit The Art Archive
1000
description It’s the biggest unsolved mystery: how the world will end. Here, we present our favorite expiration dates. With turn of millennium, Christians across Europe wait eagerly to welcome back Messiah. Messiah blows it off. 
credit Corbis
1284
description Pope Innocent III http://www.armageddononline.org/failed_armageddon1.php does the math: It’s been 666 years since Islam ramped up. Time for the Second Coming, right? Right? 
credit Mennonite Archives of Ontario
1533
description Anabaptist prophet http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/H646.html/ Melchior Hoffman claims Jesus will return—to Strasbourg, Germany. Hoffman dies in prison, 1543. 
credit Corbis
1844
description Across US, 50,000 Millerites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Disappointment prepare for Second Coming on October 22, now known as The Great Disappointment. 
credit Corbis
1910
description Imminent return of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Halley Halley’s Comet sparks fears that nasty tail gases will snuff out humankind. http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/clemens.htm Mark Twain dies instead. 
credit Corbis
1914
description Battle of Armageddon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah%27s_Witnesses#Doctrinal_changes is upon us, Jehovah’s Witnesses say. Rain dates (1925, 1975) also pass uneventfully. 
credit Corbis
1982
description According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jupiter_Effect The Jupiter Effect, rare planetary alignment threatens massive quakes. Result: High tide up by 0.04 mm. 
credit Corbis
1997
description With Earth about to be "recycled," 39 http://www.time.com/time/reports/cult/heavensgate/heavensgate1.html Heaven’s Gate cultists catch ride on comet Hale-Bopp—via mass suicide in new Nikes. 
credit Corbis
2000
description New millennium once again inspires countless visions of religious apocalypse. Not even Microsoft Windows crashes. 
credit Getty Images
2012
description http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Doomsday_Prediction Mayan calendar’s 5,125-year cycle ends December 21—along with human civilization. We’re doomed for sure!
Apocalypse Then: Our Favorite World Expiration Dates
credit The Art Archive1000 description It’s the biggest unsolved mystery: how the world will end. Here, we present our favorite expiration dates. With turn of millennium, Christians across Europe wait eagerly to welcome back Messiah. Messiah blows it off. credit Corbis1284 description Pope Innocent III http://www.armageddononline.org/failed_armageddon1.php does the math: It’s been 666 years since Islam […]
