April 18: William Miller's Second Disappointment, of Three

The New England Baptist preacher William Miller convinced a substantial following that the Parousia (Second Coming of Christ) would occur during the year 1844. When the world did not end by his first deadline on March 21, Miller recalculated and determined it would end on the current date, April 18. (When that date failed, he would go on to project a third Second Coming for October 22.) Miller's system drew loosely from the book of Daniel in claiming the world will end 2300 years after the Babylonian Captivity and reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Despite the failure of his predictions, Millerites went on to form the Seventh-Day Adventists.