the dawn of reason, self-proclaimed prophets have warned that the end of the world is approaching. While many have claimed to foresee what horrors lie ahead, no one has seen them more clearly than the world's most famous prophet, Nostradamus. About 2/3 of the prophecies of Nostradamus have already come to fruition.
That's why people keep looking to him for truth. NARRATOR: Nostradamus has successfully predicted countless historical events-- the rise of Hitler and World War II, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But his most chilling predictions are those which have yet to come to pass. Nostradamus has predicted earthquakes, famine, war, everything that can wipe out humanity. MICHAL DECHAUSSES: We're living in an age where we will see the fulfillment of the remaining 1/3 of his prophecies.
DOLORES CANNON: Nostradamus saw all of these things happening. And this is what he wanted to warn us about-- that we were heading down into a terrible time that could destroy the world. NARRATOR: But who was the man behind these cataclysmic prophecies?
MICHAL DECHAUSSES: Michel Nostradamus was one of the most enigmatic and interesting men in history. He was a man of science and intellect, but he was also a man of great mysticism. He was an apothecary, a prophet, an astrologer, and an alchemist.
JOHN HOGUE: Nostradamus was a stargazer. He had a passion for celestial mysteries, and he used them to build a structure of the repetitions of history, using astrology. NARRATOR: Nostradamus's supernatural visions have elevated him into the realm of legend.
And a look at his early years may shed light on how a prophet is born. MICHAL DECHAUSSES: Basic history records Nostradamus as having been born in Saint-Remy-de-Provence in France in 1503. He grew up in a Jewish family.
They were forced to change to Catholicism during the Inquisition, so they became what was known as Jewish Christians. DOLORES CANNON: So even though he didn't want to, the whole family had to say they were Catholic. This influenced Nostradamus the rest of his life.
Because he had an actual hatred of the Catholic Church. NARRATOR: At age 19, young Michel de Nostredame set out for the University of Avignon in France, where he studied medicine and quickly made an impression among his peers. DOLORES CANNON: He was way ahead of his time, so they began to have spies watching him.
The other doctors were very jealous. How is he doing these things? He must be working with the devil.
JOHN HOGUE: If he had never written a single prophecy, he would have gone down in history as one of the great healers of the 16th century. NARRATOR: Nostradamus would soon test his medical aptitude when the bubonic plague, or Black Death, broke out across medieval France. MICHAL DECHAUSSES: Nostradamus developed a method of treating patients of the plague by developing a rose pill, which helped build immunities.
He became very famous for his rose pill. NARRATOR: Many believed that Nostradamus's cutting-edge medical techniques were not simply a result of his heightened intellect, but rather a gift that bordered on the supernatural. DOLORES CANNON: We think the advanced techniques he was using in medicine, he learned from seeing the future.
That was why they were different. NARRATOR: Nostradamus achieved great levels of success and was hailed as one of the most renowned specialists of his time. Then, tragedy struck at home.
DOLORES CANNON: When he came back, his wife and two children had died of the plague. He wasn't able to heal his own family. So he walked away from the medical profession for a long time and actually turned inward toward spiritual studies.
DOLORES CANNON: So fate dealt him a hand that changed his whole future. NARRATOR: Grief-stricken after the death of his wife and children in 1534, Nostradamus mysteriously disappeared. And he began to wander, and it's always been a mystery, where did he go.
NARRATOR: Although scholars still debate the lost years of Nostradamus, one thing is certain. He left home as a famous doctor, a man of science and medicine, and returned over a decade later as a seer and a weaver of prophecy. VICTOR BAINES: And it was at this time that he wrote his first almanacs.
And the Almanacs that he published also had prophecies in them. NARRATOR: But while prophecies would bring him fame and immortality, his penchant for looking into the future challenged the status quo and put him at great risk. MICHAL DECHAUSSES: One thing you have to understand about the prophecies is this is material that could cost Nostradamus's life.
It was a very dangerous undertaking to go against the church and actually be called a prophet. The church defined the prophets. NARRATOR: But despite the dangers, Nostradamus persevered and published his masterwork, "The Prophecies," in 1555.
In it, he provides hundreds of predictions, which have proven strikingly accurate over the years. The book is considered one of the greatest works of prophecy in human history. Nostradamus wrote each prophecy in four-line stanzas called quatrains, using a combination of coined words, coded language, and symbolism.
VICTOR BAINES: He tells us that he wrote his quatrains under a cloud of veil in order to make it a little bit more difficult to understand. But he tells us that people of good intelligence should be able to comprehend what it is that he was trying to say. NARRATOR: While some believe his quatrains are vague and can be interpreted in many ways, what is beyond dispute is that these prophecies have stood the test of time.
DOLORES CANNON: People are always intrigued by a puzzle. That's why his works survived for 500 years. People are still trying to figure them out.
What is this man trying to tell us? NARRATOR: Scholars have studied Nostradamus's prophecies since the 16th century and have identified many quatrains suggesting a looming apocalypse is in store for mankind. After the series of catastrophes that Nostradamus has prophesied for us, we will have to reassess our place on the Earth and how we live on it and what we do to survive.
