The spookiest Simpsons predictions that came true in 2024 – and one that crashed and burned-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro

They’ve done it again! (And again, and again) (Picture: 20thCentFox/Everett/Shutterstock)

Several times this year, The Simpsons did it again, adding to their list of chilling predictions that have come true.

For more than three decades, loyal fans have been left astounded time and time again over the residents of Springfield finding themselves in major world events before they’ve even happened.

From Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl, the Titanic submersible tragedy and even the Coronavirus pandemic, the list goes on.

There have been plenty of conspiracies (and even some reasonable answers) as to how creators of the animated cartoon series manage to do it – but that doesn’t make the predictions which do ‘come true’ any less spooky.

As we await to see what 2025 has for us in store (and whether any more storylines will come true), let’s take a look back at what they got right this year, and one prediction we wished had come true…

Glasgow’s chaotic Willy Wonka experience

We noticed some similarities here… (Picture: Jenny Fogarty/Fox)

In February, the nation was left gobsmacked by the ‘Willy Wonka experience’ fiasco in Glasgow after it went viral on TikTok, but it turns out The Simpsons were somewhat ahead of the curve.

The child-friendly event saw visitors left beyond disappointed after being promised ‘a universe where your dreams come true’. They were instead treated to an almost-empty warehouse sparsely decorated with cheap props.

A similar nightmare was recreated in a season five episode titled Bart’s Inner Child, where the family patriarch bought a trampoline and explained to Marge that he planned to open a play park for children in their back garden.

Although the park was never actually made, Homer dreamt of charging $50 for tickets to ‘Homerland’, which featured Trampoline World (one trampoline per four children), Muckville USA (a large mud puddle), and Fort Adventure (a pile of dirty mattresses).

Unfortunately for Homer, his dream never turned into reality in The Simpsons.

However, The Simpsons really hit the nail on the head when a much later episode, broadcast in 2002, saw a depressed, cigarette-smoking Oompa Loompa make an appearance after Homer attempted to smuggle sugar into Springfield before being stopped by police.

As part of a deal to give up the sugar, Homer demanded to see an Oompa Loompa in real life, and was given access to one sitting on a box in Springfield harbour, smoking and sighing – and looking just as happy as those at the ticketed Willy Wonka event.

Raygun’s viral Olympic moment

Fans were quick to notice some comparisons here… (Picture: AP)

Australian breakdancer Raygun, real name Rachael Gunn, became a breakout star of the Olympics after her unique performance.

She failed to score any points following three rounds of heats in her sport, but did manage to build a loyal following with her moves, which included hopping like a kangaroo and writhing on the floor.

Some fans even started comparing her routine to a 1993 episode, titled Last Exit to Springfield.

In it,Homer becomes president of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant’s trade union and leads the workers of the plant in a strike in order to restore their dental plan to avoid the family having to pay out-of-pocket for Lisa’s new braces.

After Homer somehow manages to lead the union through negotiations, Mr Burns agrees to their demands, but on the condition Homer resigns from his role.

Clearly happy to do so, Homer celebrates and lets out a celebratory ‘woo’ before jumping on the floor and dancing around on his side, and fans were quick to point out the comparisons after watching Raygun’s performance.

Apple’s Vision Pro

This one freaked fans out! (Picture: Fox)

With the exponential rise in technology over the last few decades, it’s easy to see how The Simpsons creators saw this one coming, but fans were still left freaked out.

This year, Apple launched the £3,400 Vision Pro, a mixed reality headset in which digital media is integrated with the real world, and physical inputs — such as motion gestures, eye tracking, and speech recognition — can be used to interact with the system.

Were they inspired by The Simpsons? We certainly think so, after a similar product was featured in a 2016 episode.

In Friends and Family, Mr. Burns hired Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie to play his virtual reality family, which eventually became a technology everyone had access to.

A montage showed all The Simpsons characters wearing virtual reality sets as they walked into lamp posts and fell into potholes while getting caught up with the goggles.

Other characters were also seen immersing themselves in the VR experience, with Principal Seymour Skinner enjoying a virtual picnic while Homer and Marge lay side-by-side in bed as they virtually kissed each other.

The Simpsons prediction we wish came true

They got the outfit right, but we wish The Simpsons’ prediction on the first female President of the United States had come true this year (Picture: Fox)

A 2000 episode, titled Bart To The Future, imagined a world in which Lisa became the first female President of America.

Kamala Harris didn’t win the election this year, but in the episode, Lisa succeeded Trump – 16 years before his baffling rise to the White House.

 ‘We’ve inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump,’ she said, wearing a purple suit, pearl necklace and earrings that were almost identical to the outfit Harris wore in the Oval Office during her inauguration alongside President Joe Biden.

The Simpsons predictions turned seriously spooky this year when the voting results were revealed, as an episode appeared to show ‘the exact map’.

In it, a TV presenter stood in front of a map of the United States, showing which states have been declared in favour of Lisa, and which have been won by her running mate, an unnamed man.

This was seriously creepy! (Picture: Fox)

The map was almost identical to the one showing what states had been declared by the Democrats and Republicans, which is seriously terrifying.

Instead of getting the first female President right, The Simpsons did appear to predict Trump’s 2024 victory, after a 2015 episode saw a sign which had ‘Trump 2024’ flying in the background.

Donald Trump shooting

The Simpsons once mirrored a scene like the gun attack aimed at Donald Trump (Picture: Fox)

It wasn’t just The Simpsons that ‘predicted’ the gun attack at Donald Trump in July, after fans recalled a scene from King of the Hill.

But The Simpsons did also seem to have the same idea in mind, after a 1996 episode reflected the event.

It followed Lisa finding out that Springfield’s founder was a murderous pirate who tried to assassinate George Washington.

In true Lisa style, she takes it upon herself to spread to truth to her fellow citizens, and one scene seemingly mirrors the gun attack aimed at Trump, with a law enforcement officer taking aim at the podium at a rally.

In the aftermath of the shooting, Channel 4 was due to air The Simpsons episode titled Lisa the Iconoclast, however, it was later replaced with an alternative.

A three-eyed fish

Someone appeared to find a real three-eyed fish (Picture: Fox)

Another prediction which appeared to come true this year involved a three-eyed fish.

In June, a Reddit-user posted what appeared to be a cod with three eyes, which had been caught off the coast of Greenland.

And after the shock over the image of the mysterious creature wore off, people were quick to point out they’d seen something like this before, in a 1990 episode titled Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish.

It saw Bart catch a three-eyed fish named Blinky, which Mr Burns eats, and it’s said to be mutated by pollution from his nuclear power plant.

The same episode arose last year when  The Simpsons viewers saw a link between it and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida eating a fish.

The politician was videoed eating ‘safe and delicious’ fish from waters off the Fukushima coast to dispel safety concerns over the release of radioactive water.

The exact date of a sporting event

They somehow got the exact date of a major sporting event right, nearly a decade before it happened (Picture: Fox)

Back in April, fans discovered that The Simpsons somehow managed to anticipate the exact date that North Carolina State would play Duke as part of the March Madness NCAA basketball tournament.

In the season 27 premiere, Every Man’s Dream – which aired on September 27, 2015 – Homer battled with narcolepsy and took steps to improve his marriage to Marge by behaving for the entirety of March.

One scene saw the family sitting down at the dining table on March 31, a date clearly flagged at the beginning of the clip, while the homemaker praised her husband for lasting the month without embarrassing himself.

In particular, she flagged his ‘impeccable behavior watching the NCAA basketball tournament’, as he popped up on screen wearing a blue T-shirt emblazoned with Duke, while waving a red NC State pennant. (In the real world, NC State did end up beating Duke 76-64…)

Cypress Hill fulfil their destiny

Cypress Hill fulfilled their destiny (Picture: FOX/ The Simpsons)

A decades-old Simpsons gag finally came true this year when Cypress Hill seemingly fulfilled their destiny through a performance with the London Symphony Orchestra.

A 1996 episode of the cartoon, Homerpalooza, saw Homer attempt to prove that he is still cool by attending a music festival with kids Bart and Lisa.

The American hip-hop band cameoed in the episode, with one scene seeing a roadie asking which of the acts had booked the London Symphony Orchestra to appear on the line-up.

After admitting that they might have, Cypress Hill asked the orchestra whether they knew their hit song Insane In the Brain, before the two collaborated.

This year, it all came true, when the band, made up of B-Real, Sen Dog and Eric Bobo, hit the stage with the London Symphony Orchestra in July at the Royal Albert Hall.

The LSO performed unique orchestral arrangements of the band’s most iconic songs including Insane in the Brain and I Wanna Get High, with Cypress Hill sharing a series of photos and videos taken by both them and fans in the lead up, and during, the historic moment.

B-Real – real name Louis Mario Freese – explained that the idea of performing with the acclaimed orchestra ‘always followed’ them after the episode aired, describing it as ‘inspiration’.

Cypress Hill really did perform with the London Symphony Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall in July (Picture: Lorne Thomson/Redferns)

‘After the episode came out, our producer DJ Muggs was like, “That might actually be a cool idea, we should probably do that,’” he previously told PA.

‘He was talking about it with management and our agents for quite some time, then his schedule got demanding, and we all forgot about it, and before you know it, Wu-Tang was doing a symphony show.

‘And we thought, well f**k, that’s our destiny, we should be doing this, because we’re with the Simpsons, and that’s where the idea spawned for a hip-hop group to do an orchestra or a symphony in the first place.’

We wonder what 2025 has in store for us…

The Simpsons is available to watch on Disney Plus.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

Entertainment – MetroRead More