Nostradamus, the 16th-century French prophet and astrologer who is believed to have predicted various notable historical events, supposedly also foresaw the new coronavirus.
Facebook posts featuring an image of the astrologer claim that he wrote the coronavirus passage in 1551. The posts share the following words:
“There will be a twin year (2020) from which will arise a queen (corona) who will come from the east (China) and who will spread a plague (virus) in the darkness of night, on a country with 7 hills (Italy) and will transform the twilight of men into dust (death), to destroy and ruin the world. It will be the end of the world economy as you know it.
We could find no passages in Nostradamus’ collective works that resemble these words.
The post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
Nostradamus is best known for “Les Prophéties,” a collection of poetic quatrains that are united in sets of verses, or “centuries,” that was first published in 1555.
This purported prediction does not follow the pattern of his typical vague, four-line poems, and we couldn’t find anything resembling it in Les Prophéties, or in various versions of his compiled works.
Recent social media posts also appear to be the first and only occurrences of this prophecy online, and none provide additional details or evidence as to where it was found, which typically indicates it was fabricated.
There is no evidence Nostradamus wrote this, it doesn’t follow the quatrain format of his predictions and the words cannot be found in his works.
We rate it False.
Our Sources
Nostradamus.org, Quatrain browser, Accessed April 3, 2020
Amazon, The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus, 2007
Google Books, The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus, Dec. 7, 2015
Snopes, Did Nostradamus Predict the COVID-19 Pandemic?, March 20, 2020
The Compleat Works of Nostradamus, Compiled 2003
