Of course, ever since that time, works of this man have been claimed to have foretold just about everything, including wars, rise and fall of empires, assassinations and disasters, as well as just about anything else.

Anyone who has ever really read these prophecies will immediately realize that they are written in such a vague way that they could mean almost anything. Nostradamus was purposely vague in his writings, as he was constantly being harassed and watched by church.

Naturally, there are many people who claim right away that Nostradamus predicted September 11th disasters. In fact, following "prophecy" circulated within hours of attack.

In City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while fortress endures, great leader will succumb, The third big war will begin when big city is burning

- Nostradamus 1654

It's interesting to note how stupid some people are - Nostradamus died in 1566. If you are going to make a hoax at least get your facts right! By way, this actually was created by a student at Brock University in Canada in 1990s, appearing on an essay on Nostradamus. He was trying to show how anyone could make something that looks like a prophecy.

Someone obviously mistook this for a real prophecy and added a few lines of his own.

In City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while fortress endures, great leader will succumb, The third big war will begin when big city is burning

On 11th day of 9 month, two metal birds will crash into two tall statues in new city, and world will end soon after.

I received another with a slight variation. Note that Nostradamus is misspelled and that New York is at 41st degree of latitude, not 45th (the email author pointed out 45 was latitude of New York). By way, none of these lines has anything to do with anything that was written by Nostradamus, except that someone went to some trouble to mix and match a few lines here and there.

In year of new century and nine months, From sky will come a great King of Terror. The sky will burn at forty-five degrees. Fire approaches great new city

In city of york there will be a great collapse, 2 twin brothers torn apart by chaos while fortress falls; great leader will succumb; third big war will begin when big city is burning

-NOSTRIDAMUS

and yet another variation:

As man talked he was interrupted by a horrified announcer - a second plane had crashed into second tower of World Trade Center. The world watched in horror as, on live television, a plane blew through one side of building and flames jetted out hundreds of feet. By time I arrived at work, first tower had collapsed.

I rushed into office to discover this was a major terrorist attack. Three targets had been hit - both towers of World Trade Center and a substantial portion of the Pentagon had ceased to exist. There were reports of a forth attack, a crash, a car bomb and dozens of other stories of incredible violence flying around news. It was terrifying, horrible and without doubt one of worst things that I have ever seen.

What has happened? A small army of terrorists, forces of evil, have taken their war to shores of United States. They have struck a blow typical of all cowards - they have convinced simple-minded, easily manipulated people of necessity to kill thousands or even tens of thousands of innocent human beings. They have caused mindless destruction in name of their cause. These are forces of chaos, and make absolutely no mistake about it - today we have seen effects of pure, evil unmasked.

What is a terrorist? This is a special brand of scum. They are not fit to be called human beings, and I would not call them animals as that would be degrading those other beings that share our planet with us. Terrorists are kind of scum that even drug dealers and hardened criminals would not want to be associated with.

Why didn't United States see this coming? The people of United States are, for most part, civilized, good human beings. It can be very difficult for a good begin to recognize evil in first place, and it can be virtually impossible for any of us to understand to what this kind of scum is capable of.