The Comet of June 13, 1857
Paris, 1857: A Comet Will 'Dash Its Head or Tail Against Our Globe' on June 13
Word spread from Paris that a giant comet would smash the Earth on Saturday, June 13, 1857. Astronomers said no; almanac sellers and the nervous said yes.
What was claimed (paraphrase)
A giddy comet is coming with great velocity to dash its head or tail against our globe and reduce it to powder, and the shock is to take place on June 13, 1857.
— Popular comet scare of 1857 (Paris, then Europe and America) · said Mar 1857 · due June 13, 1857
June 13, 1857 passed quietly. A Philadelphia paper filed mock bulletins through the day: '7 A. M., June 13th, 1857. We have not yet heard of the comet.'
The Story
Paraphrase of a Paris letter reprinted in American papers: the astronomers 'announce the journey of a giddy comet with great velocity, which is coming to dash its head or tail against our globe with the intention of reducing it to powder. It is on the 13th of June the shock is to take place.'
The same letter tied the scare to the Scottish preacher John Cumming's earlier talk of 1857 as the end, and noted that the astronomer Jacques Babinet said any collision would be like 'a fillip on the back of an elephant.' Some papers gave June 18 instead. Compare falb-comet-1899 and halley-comet-gas-1910.
Receipts
- The End of the World - Southern Sentinel, Plaquemine, Louisiana (March 28, 1857), Library of Congress Chronicling Americaaccessed 2026-10-09
- The Comet: Minute and Particular Account of its Trip (from the Philadelphia Evening Journal) - Ellsworth American, Maine (June 26, 1857), Chronicling Americaaccessed 2026-10-09
As of Oct 9, 2026
since it didn't happen
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