Was the coronavirus predicted all the way back in 1981? Kim Kardashian seems to think so after she shared a message her sister Kourtney Kardashian had sent to the family group chat, which was a screenshot of a Facebook post sharing an excerpt from a book the poster claimed was from the late psychic Sylvia Browne. The passage is not from Brown but is actually an excerpt from Dean Koontz’s 1981 horror novel The Eyes of Darkness.
Kourtney just sent this on our group chat pic.twitter.com/XyjGajY71d
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 12, 2020
“In around 2020 a severe pneumonia-like illness will spread throughout the globe, attacking the lungs and the bronchial tubes and resisting all known treatments,” the passage reads. “Almost more baffling than the illness itself will be the fact that it will suddenly vanish as quickly as it arrived, attack again 10 years later, and then disappear completely.”
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The Eyes of Darkness describes a bio-weapon called “Wuhan-400,” a coincidence due to the fact that the coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China.
It’s important to note that while the disease Koontz described is a virus, it has some important differences from the coronavirus. Reuters points out that Koontz’s creation has an incubation period of “only four hours” and a “kill-rate” of 100 percent, while the coronavirus’ incubation period is between 1-14 days and the case-fatality rate is between 2 and 4 percent in Wuhan and 0.7 percent outside the city, according to the WHO.
In addition, the fictional “Wuhan-400” was a biological weapon and was developed by labs outside of the city of Wuhan. The current coronavirus is believed to have originated in a food market in Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife and health experts believe that the virus may have originated in bats and then passed to humans, possibly via another species.
After the reality star shared her post, a number of people expressed skepticism about the passage.
This is irresponsible ma’am. Smh. U have literally millions of ppl who follow u who r probably on edge, and sending an “end time” message from a PSYCHIC is just……
— D.D. King (@LookatDee614) March 12, 2020
I could make ten thousand random suggestions and have a couple be right 🤦🏽♂️
— Jim Jordan’s Jiraffe 🦒 (@JimJiraffe) March 12, 2020
even a broken clock is right twice a day
— Sterling Crispin 🕊️ (@sterlingcrispin) March 12, 2020
Psychics can make predictions like this but never the winning lottery numbers. pic.twitter.com/7xGe5IkSBJ
— common sense currently out of stock (@Hazel_i) March 12, 2020
Several others also pointed out that the writing was from Koontz’s book and not from Browne.
Now read this.. published in 1981! pic.twitter.com/tz9DhF54RE
— Viv🌹 (@hhanaiviv) March 12, 2020
It’s originally from the book eyes of darkness by dean koontz written in 1981. pic.twitter.com/hKTK5tQqVp
— Craig Baldwin Vlogs (@itsCraigBaldwin) March 12, 2020
Kardashian has been busy on social media when it comes to the coronavirus, sharing a number of posts by others discussing the disease, including a photo of a Kanye West fan repurposing their Yeezy sneakers into a face mask. Health experts are warning against regular citizens wearing face masks for multiple reasons.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 13, 2020
On her Instagram Story, she shared that she had a doctor visit her home and showed off a new greeting style of bumping feet.
As of Friday morning, the coronavirus has over 125,000 confirmed cases around the world and over 1,600 in the United States. Concerts, festivals and other events have been canceled and multiple movie release dates have been pushed back. The NBA suspended its season this week after a player tested positive for the virus and the NCAA has canceled all of its March college basketball tournaments.
Photo Credit: Getty / Axelle/Bauer-Griffin
