What People Are Getting Wrong This Week: Eclipse Myths
America witnessed a total solar eclipse this week. While most of us said, “I think this is cool,” some Americans expected more than just the moon blocking the sun and day turning to night—people wanted action . Therefore, in the days leading up to the solar eclipse, these people were feverishly spreading eclipse predictions to all their friends on social media. Now that the dust has settled, let’s see if their predictions came true and look at other common eclipse-related myths, both old and new.
Myth 1: “The path of the total eclipse goes through all the places in the US called “Nineveh” and that’s bad/important.”
The ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh in Upper Mesopotamia was described as a place of evil in the biblical Book of Jonah, so some Christians thought that an eclipse passing through all seven (or five ) places in the US with that name meant that God had ascended to heaven. to something, I think? Hard to say.
Depending on which sources you consult and what you mean by “places called Nineveh,” there are nine, seven, or six in the US. They’re mostly very small rural communities— Nineveh , the largest, has 3,987 people—and they don’t seem particularly evil (but I’ve never visited them, so who knows). In any case, only two Ninevehs were on the path to totality. Did the people living in these two villages repent and follow God like the people of Nineveh did in the Bible when Jonah showed up and yelled at them? Does not look like it.
Verdict : ruined
Myth 2: The stock market falls after a solar eclipse
Technically this is true, but not in the way some people think. Since we began keeping accurate records of stock prices, there have been seven total solar eclipses in the United States, and after five of them, markets fell slightly. But this is not a large enough sample size to draw any meaningful conclusion. However, it makes sense that the eclipse would have some effect on the economy – more people travel and buy paper sunglasses, everyone stops working for an hour and feels some kind of dissatisfaction with the sun being absorbed, etc. – but that’s not true. You can tell how this affects the Dow Jones Industrial Average because there are too many other variables.
Verdict : Not enough information.
Myth 3: Eclipse rays are harmful and will blind you
It is clear that the people in charge with the platforms are shouting: “Don’t look directly at the eclipse, you are impossible idiots!” drum quite hard in the days leading up to the eclipse. This doesn’t seem to work all that well —searches for “why do my eyes hurt” spiked after the eclipse —and it can also lead to the belief that there’s something particularly harmful and blinding about the eclipse’s rays. No. It’s just sunlight. But staring at the sun for too long will damage your eyes, whether there is an eclipse or not.
The competing conspiracy theory : “It’s actually okay to look at the eclipse, but THEY are trying to hide something from you” is also untrue. I think it’s mostly a joke, but I can’t say anything more.
Verdict : Partially true.
Myth 4: The government will use the eclipse to create fear among the population or as a distraction to further its mad quest for power.
Many variations of these theories come from the comments generated by Alex Jones’s lazy shit post on X. There is a tiny bit of truth to this: Some states mobilized the National Guard and FEMA units during the eclipse, but that was because a lot of tourists were expected or it was for traffic control. The same thing happened in 2017. As far as I can tell, there were no mass roundups of patriots under the sun.
Verdict : ruined
Myth 5: The Rapture will coincide with an eclipse.
As described in the Book of Revelation, the Rapture will occur in the last days of mankind, when believers, both living and dead, will ascend to heaven. This actually happened on Monday! The good people flew to heaven with all the angels and skeletons, and everyone went to heaven and met God. It was pretty cool. I’m surprised you’re still on Earth.
Verdict : Confirmed.
Myth 6: “Zeus, the father of the Olympians, turned the noon into a black night, blocking the light of the blooming sun, and now a dark horror hangs over humanity. Anything can happen.”
This golden antique comes from the poet Archilochus, who wrote these words in the seventh century BC after seeing an eclipse on a Greek island. Eclipses are the interaction of the Moon, Earth and Sun, not the shield of Zeus, but a dark terror does hang over humanity, and anything can happen. So Archilochus deserves some of the credit here.
“Anything can happen” is similar to how modern radical Christians view eclipses as a sign of humanity’s final days, as well as countless other variations on the theme from other cultures. Eclipses are often perceived as bad omens, predicting dire future events. I think a lot of people are depressants. However, it cannot be said that they are wrong, because terrible events are definitely approaching, as they always do. But you also cannot draw any meaningful correlation between eclipses and catastrophes. It’s more realistic to say that something bad always happens over time, and eclipses sometimes happen too.
Verdict : mixed.