Editor’s note: This is an entry documenting the online activity associated with the May 21st, 2011 Rapture prediction.
About
According to a Christian Evangelical movement, May 21st, 2011 will bring the “Rapture” -- the day when those who follow the Christian faith will be taken to live eternally in a place called “heaven”, leaving the rest of the non-believers behind. (See also December 21, 2012)
The movement became a popular topic online and has been the subject of several image macros.
Origin
Harold Camping, a Christian radio broadcaster, has preached to followers about the end of the world for several years. He published a book in 1992 titled 1994? in which he makes the claim that the world would end in September 1994. After it turned out to be wrong, he revised the dates to be a May 21st, 2011 Rapture, followed by an October 21st, 2011 annihilation of the world.
Operation Rapture
A thread titled “Operation Rapture” was posted to Reddit on May 19th, 2011 that included an image with instructions to wake up early on May 21st, and throw clothes on to the street to make it appear as if a mass amount of people were teleported to the after life.1
On Twitter
Derivatives
External Links
1 Reddit – Operation Rapture / 5/19/2011
Versaries – End Of The World