Which of Edgar Cayce's predictions are cited as accurate for events in the 20th century?
Executive summary
Edgar Cayce is credited by multiple popular and specialist accounts with a handful of 20th‑century “hits” commonly cited as the stock‑market crash of 1929 and several World War II‑era forecasts; his supporters point to thousands of medical readings and a reputation for accurate health advice as additional evidence [1] [2] [3]. Critics and neutral histories note interpretation, selective quotation, and retrospective fitting of vague passages to events—sources vary between hagiography and popular press [1] [4].
1. The 1929 stock‑market crash: the clearest frequently‑cited success
Biographical and popular accounts repeatedly report that Cayce warned of a “considerable break and bear market” before 1929, with at least one biographer and contemporary retellings calling this an “uncannily accurate” prediction of the crash—sources cite readings in 1925 and again in 1929 as the basis for that claim [1] [2] [5]. Supporters treat these readings as explicit forewarnings; critics included in the reporting stress that such financial warnings are often general and retrofitted to events [1].
2. Predictions about World War II alliances and “the world set on fire”
Accounts attribute to Cayce a 1935 reading that anticipated an unprecedented military alignment involving Germany, Austria and Japan and warned that “the whole world will be set on fire by the militaristic groups,” wording that later writers link to Axis alignment and global war [1]. Popular outlets present this as a notable wartime prediction, while other sources imply that language is open to broad interpretation and was publicized mainly after the fact [6] [1].
3. Medical readings and contemporaneous reputation for effective cures
Cayce produced more than 14,000 trance readings that included medical diagnoses and remedies; biographers and Ripley’s note hundreds of testimonial patients who claimed benefit and argue that many of his 1920s–30s health recommendations “hold up to today’s standards” [1]. The reporting treats this as a different category of “accuracy” than geopolitical prophecy—empirical testimonials versus predictions about future events [1].
4. Long‑standing “Earth changes,” Atlantis, and catastrophic city‑destruction claims
Cayce’s readings about polar shifts, “Earth Changes,” Atlantis, and dramatic tectonic events (including predictions reportedly about Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York) are widely circulated among New Age authors and fan sites; these remain controversial because the large-scale cataclysms he forecast for the 20th century did not occur in the way some interpreters expected [7] [4]. Institutional descendants of Cayce (the A.R.E.) and sympathetic authors present these as prophetic threads that may unfold over longer cycles, while skeptical histories treat them as unfulfilled or metaphorical [3] [4].
5. Discoveries cited after the fact: the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Essenes
Supporters highlight that Cayce described a sect resembling the Essenes years before the Dead Sea Scrolls became public in 1947, which advocates use as evidence of prescience [5]. Available reporting treats this as an intriguing coincidence often raised by Cayce’s proponents; alternative readings point out that religious‑historical speculation was common in Cayce’s milieu and that such post‑hoc claims require careful sourcing [5].
6. How much is “accuracy” and how much is retrospective framing?
Popular pieces and fan sites list multiple “hits” (stock market, WWII alliances, medical successes, prophetic cultural forecasts) but the same sources and biographies reveal that many claimed accuracies rely on selective quoting, broad language, or interpretations applied after events unfolded [1] [2]. Neutral summaries such as encyclopedic entries document both Cayce’s influence and the contested status of his prophecies without endorsing them outright [4].
7. The institutional and cultural afterlife shapes evaluations
The Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) and New Age authors have curated Cayce’s legacy and emphasize prophetic successes and long‑range forecasts for global shifts and China’s future; mainstream and critical sources place those emphases in the context of mid‑20th‑century spirituality and later New Age expansion [8] [3] [4]. That institutional advocacy creates an implicit agenda to present readings as verified or pending fulfillment.
8. Bottom line for readers wanting a short checklist
Sources most consistently credit Cayce with: warnings of a major market collapse associated with 1929 [1] [2]; general predictions about international militarism and Axis‑style alliances preceding WWII [1]; a strong contemporaneous reputation for medical diagnoses and prescriptions from his trance readings [1]. Claims about specific cataclysms, city destructions, and precise prophetic dates are prominent in fan and New Age literature but are disputed, reinterpretations, or unfulfilled in mainstream summaries [7] [4].
Limitations and methods note: this piece relies only on the documents you provided; where those sources do not address a particular claim (for example, exhaustive archival textual comparisons of every reading) I report that the sources do not mention such analysis rather than asserting its falsity [1] [4].