The internet is going wild over how “The X-Files” and “The Simpsons” supposedly “predicted” the hantavirus outbreak — with observers calling plot parallels a “crazy coincidence.”
“X-Files called the Hantavirus 20 years ago,” one user wrote on X.
In a scene from the 1998 movie, “The X-Files: Fight the Future,” a whistleblower meets Agent Mulder in a dark alley and reveals how a phony hantavirus outbreak was used as a cover-up for an alien virus.
“Are you familiar with the hantavirus, Mulder?” the informant asks.
“Yeah, it was a deadly virus spread by field mice in the Southwestern United States several years ago,” Mulder replies.
“FEMA was called out to manage an outbreak of the hantavirus … are you familiar with what FEMA’s real power is?” the informant asks. “I’m saying it wasn’t the hantavirus.”
“[It’s a] silent weapon in a quiet war,” he adds.
While dozens of hantavirus cases were reported in the US in the 1990s, some observers wrongly credited the movie with coining the name of the virus — which has been around since at least the 1950s.
“The X-Files predicting weird real-world scenarios years early is basically part of the show’s legacy at this point,” another user wrote.
“The Hantavirus scheme will be used during the UFO disclosure to serve as a form of distraction,” said another X user, referencing a trove of UFO files released by the Pentagon Friday.
Meanwhile, some people online pointed to a 2012 episode of “The Simpsons” in which a virus breaks out while the family is on a cruise.
“The Simpsons predicted the Hantavirus back in 2012,” one user tweeted, along with footage of the show.
In the episode, Bart starts a rumor that there’s a pandemic-level virus spreading back on the mainland so he can stay on the ship.
Observers drew comparisons between the fictional cruise ship and the MV Hondius, which had a deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard last week — even though there was never a virus on the animated ship.
Others pointed to a “purple” virus symptom referenced in the episode, titled “A totally Fun Thing Bart Will Never do Again,” noting a lack of oxygen from hantavirus can cause extremities to appear bluish or purplish.
“One woman’s tongue was purple and that’s like the symptoms of hantavirus,” one commenter wrote on X.
“Wow, they really are profits [sic] !” one user wrote about the “The Simpsons” writers, who have been credited with predicting everything from Donald Trump’s presidency to Siegfried and Roy’s tiger attack.
