In 1639, Tommaso Campanella died. A Dominican astrologer and political radical who spent 27 years imprisoned in Naples, Campanella had predicted that the sun would collide into the Earth in 1603.
In 1972, a Hungarian geologist named Laszlo Toth came to realize that he was Jesus. This meant, of course, that he should travel to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and attack Michelangelo's Pieta with a hammer. Many marble chips from the statue, including Mary's nose, were snatched up by Basilica visitors and never recovered. Years later, Toth's legacy was assured when his name was appropriated by the comic writer Don Novello ("Father Guido Sarducci") as a pseudonym in writing three volumes of crank letters.
In 1999, Marilyn Agee of "Bible Prophecy Corner" announced that this day of Pentecost would be the date of the Rapture. She has announced at least one dozen other dates for it since. Her website currently posts April 16, 2016 as the date of the Second Coming.
And finally, in 2011, Harold Camping of Family Radio in Oakland, CA declared the Rapture would occur on this day. It was to be followed by five months of Tribulation, with Judgment Day due for October 21. The 5/11/2011 prediction became the subject of an extensive national advertising campaign. (Earlier in his career, Camping had predicted the Rapture for 1994.) When no visible signs of the Rapture took place on May 21, Camping, "flabbergasted", called a press conference two days later to announce his conclusion that the Rapture had indeed happened, only "spiritually". The Tribulation was in effect - meaning it was now too late for unbelievers to become saved - and Judgment Day was still on track for October 21.
The picture is one I took about a year ago now on a New York subway car, a week after the 5/21 deadline had passed.
Here's a great article following up a year later on the lives of the 5/21/2011 prophecy's most dedicated adherents (thanks to Jim).
