All abuzz with Nostradamus

SINGAPORE - Internet chatrooms are abuzz with talk that 16th century French astrologer Nostradamus forecast the attack on the World Trade Center.

Thousands of people have received e-mails purporting to contain this prophecy, often with a second part forecasting that the attack on the twin towers will mark the beginning of the Third World War.

Several versions are doing the rounds, most of them obviously flights of fancy. One says: "In the year of the new century and nine months/From the sky will come a great King of Terror/The sky will burn at forty-five degrees/Fire approaches the new city." This corresponds roughly to one of Nostradamus' verses.

Another says: "In the city of York there will be a great collapse/Two twin brothers torn apart by chaos/While the fortress falls the great leader will succumb/Third big war will begin when the big city is burning."

But New York lies just below 41 degrees latitude and Nostradamus' verse does not mention a great war, says a statement on www.nostradamus-repository.org, a web site for Nostradamus study.

Hoaxes or not, various versions are circulating throughout the worldwide web. Nostradamus prophecies surface after nearly every major news event. They have struck a chord in Singapore, where bookstores report strong demand for tomes on Nostradamus since the terrorist attacks in the US.

- REUTERS

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