Solar Eclipse Sparks Avalanche of 'Rapture' Jokes, Memes

Some people wrongly predicted the Rapture would occur during Monday's solar eclipse, but that did not stop others making jokes about it.

The total solar eclipse—when the sun is completely blocked out by the moon—was visible from northern Mexico, across the Midwest and up into New England. It reached across 13 states and was also seen in other parts of the world such as the United Kingdom.

Ahead of the rare lunar event, many worried the eclipse would signal the end of times also known as the Rapture. It is a belief held by some Christians, mainly American Evangelicals, where a judgement day would befall on Earth. Only those who were true believers without sin would be taken to heaven and everybody else would stay on Earth.

Many point to the passage known as the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 of the Evangelical Bible that refers to the end times which will be signaled by a darkened sun, according to religious website The Harvest.

The Rapture did not happen and people took to social media to joke about the failed prediction.

"The eclipse was cool and now it's over and there was no rapture and so now I have to go home and make dinner. 0 stars," joked @SnarkyMommy78 on X, formerly Twitter.

Another person shared a meme showing a man's clothing laid on a chair, with a laptop on the jeans and cup of coffee on the armrest to make it look like someone had been in the clothes but was no longer there.

"When my wife gets back from watching the eclipse, she is going to be SOOO freaked out to learn the doomsdayers were right and she missed the rapture," @israelwayne captioned the meme.

One person, @DannieD01, posted a photo of actress Vanessa Hudgens at the Met Gala, dramatically flaring her sheer dress and captioned the post: "Here's my outfit for the Eclipse Rapture."

Another GIF showed a man smiling excitedly while looking at the sky, then the smile fading quickly.

"The rapture people tomorrow when they realize it was just a solar eclipse," @northernagent4 captioned the post.

Some memes also recreated an eclipse using real life objects, with some even using cats. One showed a black cat passing a ginger cat in a triptych of photos with the caption, "total eclipse of the cat," with @rpmwriter posting it to X, writing, "Or the Catpture..."

People on the internet were not the only ones to call out Rapture conspiracy theories. Whoopi Goldberg shut down the idea during Monday's episode of The View.

Her co-host Sunny Hostin had spoken about how her make-up artist said she was afraid of the Rapture and believed it was happening during the eclipse.

But Goldberg was having none of it.

"They've known about the eclipse coming because eclipses happen and they actually can say when these things are gonna happen," she said, and added: "So all these folks who are saying, you know, it's a sign from God—God doesn't give you warning. OK? You think he gave people at the Tower of Babel a warning? 'Oh, I'm about to jack y'all up.' No!"