Following the viral news of a Baltimore Bridge collapsing, social media users are claiming The Simpsons predicted the tragic event.
At about 1:30 am ET on Tuesday, March 26, the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed suddenly after being struck by a Singapore-flagged ship Dali as it was departing the port.
News spread quickly as a video of the unsettling tragedy was released online. In addition, some speculators online are questioning the validity of the situation, questioning how a ship collision could make the bridge completely collapse.
This abnormality has led to online chatter, with some now claiming that previous episodes of The Simpsons predicted the bridge collapse.
Did The Simpsons Predict the Baltimore Bridge Collapse?
The iconic FOX animated comedy, The Simpsons, is known for "predicting" certain events historical events before they happen in real life. Included on that list are the Donald Trump presidency, Super Bowl winners, and Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
Now, social media users have quickly begun drawing connections to previous episodes of The Simpsons, sharing video clips from the series that they claim predict/foretold the real-world Baltimore bridge collapse.
The first connection (via Mamma Gypsy on TikTok) is from a recent episode, Season 35, Episode 8, where Homer screams out in Scotland, before cutting to a bridge that looks similar to the Francis Scott Key Bridge with a boat close to it.
While the bridge in the episode bears some resemblance to the one in Baltimore, the one in the episode is actually the Forth Bridge in Scotland.
Therefore, there is clearly no indication that this episode of The Simpsons predicted anything related to the March 26 incident.
A more logical connection, albeit still a stretch, was pointed out by TikTok user Canaanite in a recent video. This loose connection points to a 1996 episode of the series where Hank Scorpio creates a Doomsday device and shows off its capabilities to the government by blowing up a bridge.
However, the "59th St. Bridge" mentioned in the clip refers to the Queensboro Bridge in New York City, not the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, nor does it make much of a prediction.
Possibly the most notable video related to this event is an edited depiction of The Simpsons news anchor Kent Brockman reciting the real-life news about the Key Bridge in Baltimore.
This is clearly a manipulated video clip, using editing or possibly AI to have Kent Brockman's voice state the recent news. The video can be found here, but it is not in any episode of The Simpsons.
How Did The Baltimore Bridge Collapse?
The Science Media Centre interviewed several scientists in related fields to try and explain how the Francis Scott Key Bridge truly collapsed.
To begin, when the ship collided with one of the bridge piers (as clearly seen in the released footage), it led to the metallic truss failing.
This resulted in a progressive collapse, as removing one support caused a redistribution of loads that the truss couldn't bear, leading to the full bridge failure.
The force exerted on the pier by the collision was significant, likely exceeding the bridge's design capacity for ship impacts.
Essentially, think of a Jenga Tower or the command phrase, "A chain is only as strong as the weakest link." In this case, the link (pier) was hit by a Dali.
Despite the bridge being relatively modern, built in the 1970s, it was not designed to withstand the lateral forces of a current-day ship collision at this scale. This highlights the need for robust structural design and protective measures against ship collisions in future bridge construction and improvements.
The Simpsons is streaming on Disney+.
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