Claim:   In 1555 Nostradamus predicted that December 2000 would see “the village idiot will come forth to be acclaimed the leader in the home of greatest power.”

Status:   False.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2000]

Origins:   Yuk yuk. Nostradamus wrote a lot of stuff so general (and obscure) that with the help of a little imagination (and some liberal interpretations from the original French), people have claimed he has “predicted” nearly every event of significance since the mid-16th century. But nothing in his writings comes close to the quatrain quoted above, even when translated by a first-year French student. This is just another bit of election year humor that popped up in 2000.

Last updated:   21 March 2007