In late 1981, horror and science-fiction author Dean Koontz published a spectacularly frightening novel titled The Eyes of Darkness, which told the story of the fictional disease “Wuhan-400,” a Coronavirus-like illness, which wipes out the world. Now, looking back at Darkness, it almost feels like the author predicted the 2020 pandemic. However, if you take a closer look at the evidence, things are not exactly as they seem…
Dean Koontz: Fortune Teller?
Unfortunately, we are months into the coronavirus pandemic with no end in sight. This will certainly be one of the history books. Of course, during times like these its rational for people to want to try and find an explanation for everything. However, in fear and desperation, some turn to conspiracy theories to solve their problems – which is never the answer.
One of the strangest conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19 popped up quite recently, thanks to Twitter user Nick Hinton. While reading the 1981 novel The Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz was surprised to find passages that almost seem to “predict” the current coronavirus. Of course, from there Twitter took the images and made it into a full blow theory, leading to even more “photographic evidence” aka more pictures of highlighted portions of the book.
So, is there anything to this strange theory? Well, let’s take a deeper looker…
Fact-Checking The The Eyes of Darkness Theory
As you can see in the photo above, the most questionable portion from the novel is this passage of text: “They call the stuff ‘Wuhan-400’ because it was developed at their RDNA labs outside of the city of Wuhan, and It was the four-hundredth viable strain of man-made microorganisms created at that research center.”
For all of you following the news, you can already start to see that this passage of text is already starting to fall apart. First, as many experts have explained, time and time again, COVID-19 came from animals, not a research facility. In fact, the Koontz writes in the book that “no other living creature can carry it,” outside of humans – the exact opposite of this is true with the 2020 coronavirus.
From here, the virus in The Eyes of Darkness not only gets more ridiculous, but it also gets less and less like COVID-19. In the novel, the virus has a 100% mortality rate and “eats away brain tissue like battery acid dissolving cheesecloth.” Meanwhile, in the real world, COVID-19 has a 2-3% mortality rate, and its symptoms are coughing, fever, and shortness of breath. So, outside of the name, Koontz’s “Wuhan-400” has little in common with the coronavirus. But that hasn’t stopped people from spreading the fake news…
How To Remain Calm During A Pandemic
We can all understand why some people jump to conspiracy theories in times like these. After all, this is a frightening pandemic! However, in order to remain calm, one must let go of false fears and simply hold on to the hard facts. So, while it can be fun and amusing to talk about Koontz predicting the future, just like the Simpsons predicted Game of Thrones, there’s no need to believe the author actually predicted anything.
And Dean Koontz is not the only one! Others have compared Stephen King’s novel The Stand to the current outbreak, which King hated. Meanwhile, others have found another curious passage from infamous psychic Sylvia Browne’s book End of Days. “In around 2020 a severe pneumonia-like illness would spread throughout the globe,” it reads. Of course, that ignores all the drivel in that book that has been proven false time and time again.
Plus, all this makes complete sense. Humans are frightened of any type of disease, so of course horror authors would use it in their novels! Films like Outbreak and Contagion also look like current new stories. However, these are simply fictions, created by talented professionals. Instead of using making these fictions fact, follow the advice of doctors: wash your hands, avoid touching your face, and practice social distancing.
Sources: The Guardian, Snopes.