Comet Scammers

Most of us think of scammers as being a rather new thing that has developed with phone and internet technology, but it had really been around for many years. One event that had scammers all over it, was the 1910 appearance of Halley’s comet. This event was charged with superstition, panic, and yes…scammers. Qn May 6, 1910, England’s King Edward VII died, and for some reason, the death triggered a superstitious panic. This superstition caused fear over the comet’s arrival and led to panic as astronomers believed that the comet’s tail contained cyanogen, a deadly gas. Most astronomers dismissed this theory, but the damage had been done and a door opened. Many scammers started selling anti-comet pills, gas masks, and umbrellas, all of which were supposed to “protect” against this imagined threat.

People really bought into the hysteria and the panic reached such a peak that people actually rushed to buy these supposed safeguards. Panic can cause people to try things they wouldn’t otherwise be foolish enough to try. Two scammers from Texas were caught selling sugar pills at as meds for an exorbitant price. The reality was that the Earth passing through the tail of a comet was an extremely unusual event, and it seems to have only happened twice. Not knowing what is in the tail of the comet, I can see how people might be nervous. After the arrest of the Texas scammers, their customers went to the extent of riots demanding their release to get their hands on these anti-comet pills. They believed the scammers over the truth. This weird historical episode shows how fear and misinformation can drive desperate measures.

In an odd coincidence, Mark Twain, who was born in 1835 when Halley’s Comet passed by Earth, famously predicted he would die upon its return. Remarkably, he passed away on April 21, 1910…just a day after the comet’s closest approach. He said, “I came in with Halley’s Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: “Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together”. It is hard to say if he just convinced himself of it, thereby triggering the heart attack that killed him, or what. Nevertheless, his prediction came to pass.