claim: author dean koontz predicted the 2020 new coronavirus outbreak in his 1981 novel "the eyes of darkness."
question: was coronavirus predicted in a 1981 dean koontz novel?
origin: when readers first came across a biological weapon named “wuhan-400” in dean koontz’s novel “the eyes of darkness,” we doubt anyone had the notion that the famous thriller author was “predicting” a real-world outbreak of covid-19, coronavirus disease. but in february 2020, after such an outbreak had occurred, eagle-eyed koontz fans shared this passage as if the famous thriller author was a prognosticator.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  this is a genuine page from the novel “the eyes of darkness.” the passage can be seen in amazon’s preview of a mass market paperback edition of this novel that was released in december 2008.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  it’s true that koontz named a fictional biological weapon “wuhan-400” in this novel. it’s also true that wuhan, china, is the city at the center of the 2020 coronavirus outbreak. however, that’s pretty much where the similarities end.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  here are a few things this “prediction” gets wrong:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  but there’s more bad news for this prediction.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  while the page from koontz’s novel displayed above is genuine, other iterations of this book used a different name for the fictional biological weapon. in fact, when we searched a 1981 edition of this book available via google books we found no references to “wuhan.” in that edition, this biological weapon is called “gorki-400” after the russian city where it was created.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  we’re not entirely sure when or why this change occurred. from what we can tell, the biological weapon was originally called “gorki-400” when this book was published in 1981. but by 2008, the name had been changed to “wuhan-400.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  regardless of when “wuhan-400” made its way into koontz’ novel, this is not a prediction. koontz did not claim that the events that took place in his novel would later come to fruition, and the similarities between “wuhan-400” and covid-19 are minimal. furthermore, readers only noticed this “prediction” after an outbreak of coronavirus was reported in wuhan, china, which makes this “prediction” nothing more than a coincidence.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  another image supposedly showing a second page from koontz’ novel “the eyes of darkness” was also circulated on social medias as further evidence that the author had “predicted” the covid-19 pandemic:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  this page does not come from koontz’ novel “the eyes of darkness.” this actually comes from a book called “end of days” by self-described psychic sylvia browne. you can read more about browne’s “prediction” here.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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comment: a speculative anticipation of a possibility is very different than a 'prediction.'
summary: dean koontz named a fictional biological weapon “wuhan-400” in his novel ‘the eyes of darkness.’ in february 2020, after such an outbreak had occurred, eagle-eyed fans shared this passage as if the famous thriller author was a prognosticator. this is not a prediction, and the similarities between the fictional weapon and covid-19 are minimal.