This 2001 TV Show Might’ve Predicted New York’s Worst Tragedy

If you haven't heard of the show The Lone Gunmen, then believe me, you're probably not alone.

A spin-off series from the popular show The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen debuted in March of 2001. Less than three months after the pilot episode had aired, the first season ended, and the series as a whole was cancelled. Low ratings plagued the show throughout its run, as the supporting characters from the original series didn't have nearly as much fanfare as David Duchovny.

While the show lasted just three months, it aired in the same year as the most notable tragedy to hit New York, and the country, in this century.

Not only did it air during the same year, but the plot of the first episode may have predicted the tragic events that happened on September 11th.

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Airing on March 1, 2001, the plot of the first episode of the series was described as this:

"The Lone Gunmen investigate the suspicious death of Byers' father, a top tier government agent, and discover a top secret plan for a false flag operation to crash a plane into the World Trade Center." - IMDb

No, really. That's exactly what the plot of the first episode was.

Don't believe me? Here is a trailer of that episode.

Now, this is not an attempt to spread a conspiracy theory, and is not being written in an accusatory manner. This is simply bringing to light an extremely bizarre coincidence, one that accidentally foreshadowed an incredible tragedy.

At the time, viewers thought nothing of it. The show would air its subsequent 12 episodes, and would watch its ratings slowly cascade down, from 13.2 million viewers watching episode one, to 3.6 million viewers by the 12th episode.

The show would be cancelled after its final episode of the first season, in which viewers were left with a cliffhanger. Though the storyline would be partially resolved in a later episode of The X-Files, creator Vince Gilligan said on-record that he believed the show had ended far before it should've.

The show came, and the show went, and life moved on. When September 11, 2001 happened, however, what started as an innocuous plot of a new television show, became one of the most grim examples of foreshadowing in television history.