Today was the date of the Great Disappointment in 1844, a landmark event in American Christianity.
In a wave of publications and public events taking in tens of thousands of believers, the independent Baptist scholar William Miller had predicted the world would end on February 28, 1844, and then April 18. Despite the failure of Miller's second prophecy, the movement bearing his name had gathered its own head of steam. In August 1844, a Millerlite named Samuel Snow proposed Jesus would return on October 22, and this prediction proved the most popular of all.
The dismay of Millerites across America after the Great Disappointment led to a flurry of other suggested end dates. One group believed per Revelation 14:14 that Jesus was stuck on some kind of a cloud, and needed to be "prayed down"; another concluded, after Mark 10:15, that Christ's followers needed literally to act like children to bring on the apocalypse.
Most importantly, the Adventist movement began, which led to a number of new American denominations including the Seventh-Day Adventists, Davidians, and Branch Davidians. Adventism also influenced Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
