Was Hergé a Seer?

By Tony Tan

25 December 1998

Hergé might have fixed his predictions into the Tintin comics he created.

The Shooting Star is about a meteor hitting Greenland. In the story, writer Eric Bjorgenskjold accompanies the expedition searching for the meteorite. The expedition encountered wet weather. Interestingly, according to a recent article in Scientific American: on 9 December 1997, a meteor streaked across the sky in the northern hemisphere, exploding above Greenland. A team of astronomers set out to find the fragments of the meteorite, and in their company was Scientific American's senior writer, Wayt Gibbbs. The search was no holiday. Fog and wet weather prevented the team's aircraft from landing. Furthermore, in both cases, real life and comic fiction, a ball of fire was witnessed by many. Coincidence or a predicted event?

Summary of some of Hergé's "predictions"

Book	Prediction(s)
Tintin in Tibet	Eco-tourism in Tibet. Discovery of the Yeti. There is steady increase in the number of mountaineers in Tibet, and a reward given for the capture of the 'cutey' Yeti.
Explorers on the Moon	Ice on the Moon. Discovery was confirmed by the American probe Clementine on 2 December, 1996.
Land of Black Gold	Accidents caused by fuel doctoring. War in the Middle East. Air accidents that have been suspected to be caused by doctored fuel. Threat of war from Iraq.
The Blue Lotus	The increasing trafficking of narcotics, and papers thought to lead the police to hideouts seized.

Had Hergé lived long enough to see these events, I think he might have also been famous for his predictions.