8 People Who Tried to Warn Us Before Infamous Assassinations

8 People Who Tried to Warn Us Before Famous Assassinations

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we are looking at individuals, from politicians and police chiefs to mystics and psychologists, who saw danger coming long before history changed forever. These individuals issued chilling predictions that were ignored until it was too late, resulting in a history full of moments that feel impossible in hindsight.

Spurinna

Sometimes, the most famous warnings in history sound like they belong in a movie script. Spurinna, a Roman haruspex or soothsayer, became legendary after warning Julius Caesar to “Beware the Ides of March.” Spurinna believed Caesar faced grave danger leading up to March 15th, 44 BCE. He wasn’t alone in his efforts, for a man named Artemidorus of Knidos tried desperately to hand Caesar a letter that named the conspirators of the impending attack on his life. Caesar never read the latter’s report and reportedly mocked Spurrina’s warning. Unfortunately, the day had arrived but had not yet passed. As predicted, Caesar would later be surrounded and stabbed to death by conspirators led by Brutus and Cassius, in one of history’s most haunting warnings.

Yitzhak Rabin

Not all warnings come from secret intelligence files. Sometimes the threat unfolds publicly for the world to witness. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin faced mounting hostility throughout the 1990s because of the Oslo Accords and his efforts toward peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Protesters portrayed Rabin as a traitor and enemy of Israel. Israeli intelligence services and security officials were aware that the atmosphere had become increasingly dangerous, but erred on the side of underestimation. On November 4, 1995, Rabin was assassinated by extremist Yigal Amir following a peace rally in Tel Aviv. The murder stunned the international community. His assassination forestalled the Oslo Accords and, in the eyes of many, killed the best chance for peace in the Middle East.

Georg Sieber

Before the 1972 Munich Olympics, German police psychologist Georg Sieber was tasked with developing hypothetical worst-case security scenarios for the event. “Situation 21” was one of these scenarios where Sieber projected the possibility of Palestinian militants infiltrating the Olympic Village before dawn, seizing Israeli athletes hostage, killing some captives, and demanding prisoner releases along with transportation to the Middle East. Sieber’s hypothetical “possibility” became reality by the actions of the Palestinian militant organization, Black September. Unfortunately for Sieber, Olympic organizers reportedly resisted adopting stronger security measures because they wanted the Games to appear open, peaceful, and welcoming rather than militarized. Following the Munich massacre, investigations largely avoided assigning institutional blame. Sieber himself was dismissed from his advisory position shortly after.

Charles Colchester (Spiritualist)

Long before conspiracy theories and modern intelligence agencies, America had a different type of warning system: spiritualists. Charles Colchester was one of them. A friend of Abraham Lincoln’s inner circle, Colchester, sent a disturbing letter to the White House in March of 1865. Claiming he foresaw danger surrounding the president, Colchester reportedly warned Lincoln that he could soon be assassinated. Unfortunately, Colchester’s reputation worked against him in this regard. Officials around Lincoln ignored his warnings. Just weeks later, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre. Whether Colchester genuinely sensed danger or simply recognized the increasingly volatile atmosphere surrounding the Civil War’s conclusion, his ignored letter became another eerie footnote in a tragedy that would forever reshape the USA’s political landscape.

Grigori Rasputin

Few warnings in history feel as prophetic as the final writings of Grigori Rasputin. The controversial Russian mystic and advisor to the Romanov family reportedly wrote a chilling letter to Tsar Nicholas II shortly before his assassination in 1916. In the letter, Rasputin warned Nicholas that if he were killed by ordinary peasants, the monarchy would survive. But if nobles or aristocrats murdered him, Rasputin warned Nicholas that the imperial family would collapse within two years. After his assassination, Rasputin’s prediction unfolded exactly as described. Within a span of two years, the Russian Revolution erupted, the Romanov dynasty fell, and the imperial family was executed. Whether Rasputin possessed genuine foresight remains a mystery, but his warning became inseparable from the downfall of Imperial Russia.

Byron De La Beckwith's neighbors

Individuals who live closer to danger can often recognize it before others. This was the case when white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1963. Several neighbors and acquaintances in Beckwith’s community allegedly warned local officials that he had become increasingly dangerous and openly talked about racial hatred and violence. At that time, tensions in Mississippi were reaching explosive levels as the Civil Rights Movement challenged segregation across the South. Yet despite these concerns, little meaningful action was taken before Beckwith ambushed Evers outside his home in Jackson, Mississippi. The assassination shocked the nation, and even more disturbingly, Beckwith avoided conviction for decades due to mistrials and systemic bias.

Adlai Stevenson & J. William Fulbright

In another terrible episode of warnings going unnoticed, prominent political figures Adlai Stevenson and Senator J. William Fulbright expressed concerns about President John F. Kennedy’s trip to Dallas in November 1963. The duo saw Dallas as a hotbed of anti-Kennedy sentiment that bordered on the dangerous. Stevenson himself had recently been harassed and spat on during a visit there, further fueling concerns that the environment posed a genuine danger for the president. Yet Kennedy’s trip moved forward. The duo wasn’t alone in their voicing of the issue. Psychic Jeane Dixon had publicly predicted years earlier that a Democratic president elected in 1960 would also die in office. That prediction came true when on November 22nd, Kennedy was assassinated while riding through Dealey Plaza.

Edmund Gerde (Sarajevo Chief of Police)

The worst guilt falls on those responsible for public safety. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand planned his 1914 visit to Sarajevo, Edmund Gerde, the city’s chief of police, implored the Austro-Hungarian General Oskar Potiorek about the lack of proper security. Gerde even warned Potiorek of a possible conspiracy against the Archduke, two weeks before his arrival. Complicating matters further, Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pasic (xref) had also reportedly received intelligence suggesting a possible assassination attempt connected to nationalist extremists. Despite these warning signs, security preparations remained dangerously inadequate. On June 28th, 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo, triggering the chain reaction that led directly to World War I, with Gerde’s ignored warnings altering the course of history forever.

CTA:

Which ignored assassination warning do you think, if taken at face value, could have changed history the most? Let us know in the comments below, and subscribe for more videos on historical mysteries, political scandals, and eerie predictions that came true.