Criswell(1907-1982)

"87% of Criswell's predictions have come true!" -- The ones he reminds you of. Whereas it is true Criswell made an amazing forecast on The Jack Paar Program (1962) on March 10, 1963: "I predict that President Kennedy will not run for reelection in 1964, because of something that will happen to him in November 1963." Criswell also predicted the destruction of Denver, shifting polar caps, Castro's assassination and the end of the world. To start at the beginning, the world's most famous predictor was born Jerome King Criswell on Sunday, August 18th, 1907 in Princeton, Indiana. Criswell went to high school, and did some newspaper work for the local paper. Later he attended the University of Cincinnati, studying at their Conservatory of Music. After college, Criswell returned to newspaper work, making more and more predictions and having his forecasts printed in more and more papers. Over the years, an ever-increasing number of people followed his syndicated column. Criswell married a former speak-easy dancer who went by the name of Halo Meadows. She appeared on an episode of You Bet Your Life (1950) with Groucho Marx. She spent a great deal of time sunbathing and had a poodle named Buttercup that she was convinced was the reincarnation of her cousin Thomas. Criswell was almost 50 when he became associated with Edward D. Wood Jr., however this did little to further his reputation contrary to what some believe. Criswell played himself in Wood's movie Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957) providing predictions at the beginning and end of the movie. Although the movie was filmed in 1956, it wasn't released until 1959. His next venture fared even worse, even though Criswell had a more substantial part. In Night of the Ghouls (1959), Wood was so broke he couldn't pay the lab to develop the film. It wasn't until 1983, after both Criswell and Wood were dead, that entrepreneur Wade Williams paid the 24-year-old lab bill, and the movie was finally released. Criswell's third movie with Wood, Orgy of the Dead (1965), provided Criswell with the most screen time, and the film was actually released. As Criswell's fame grew, he appeared a number of times on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962)'s and on December 31, 1965, Criswell predicted that Ronald Reagan would be California's next governor. In 1969, Criswell wrote a book, Criswell Predicts: From Now To The Year 2000! This book was Criswell's journal of the future--his only book of prophecy. It contained hundreds of predictions covering the following thirty years. Readers were asked to keep score on the accuracy of his predictions until, as Criswell predicted, August 1999--- after which it will not matter, thanks to doomsday. Whereas the end of the world did not occur in August of 1999 as he had predicted, Criswell had already departed our world on Monday, October 4, 1982.