In 1178 the crescent moon shone down in Canterbury, England.   A group of monks observed the strangest thing, and due to their lack of scientific - know- how, caused quite a ruckus, leaving tragic results across England.

It is in our nature to observe the night sky and pondered God (or lack there of, for those atheists out there).  One of the monks was named Gervase, not such a popular name these days, wrote an account of what these brothers of God witnessed that evening;

"On the evening of June 18, 1178  after sunset when the moon had first become visible a marvelous phenomenon was witnessed by some five or more men...Now there was a bright new moon...its horns were tilted toward the east; and suddenly the upper horn split in two. From the midpoint of the division a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out, over a considerable distance, fire, hot coals, and sparks. Meanwhile the body of the moon which was below writhed, as it were, in anxiety...the moon throbbed like a wounded snake. Afterwards it resumed its proper state. This phenomenon was repeated a dozen times or more, the flame assuming various twisting shapes at random...Then after these transformations the moon from horn to horn...took on a blackish appearance. The present writer was given this report by men who saw it with their own eyes, and are prepared to stake their honour on an oath that they have made no addition or falsification in the above narrative." [ref. 1]

The monks assumed they had seen a large object strike the moon - so hard that it a large new hole was made ! in the next day the named the crater that this object created the "Giordono Bruno Crater".  And, of course, the next logical assumption was that the world was coming to an end. [ref. 2].  They spread the word across England - and poor people everywhere panicked.  Biblical end-times had arrived according to the men of God, and many committed suicide because of this bad science mixed into theology.

Astronomists (including the late Carl Sagan) debated what was observed that night.  Some think it was a meteor shower that passed the moon [ref. 3]. Or a single meteor that passed in front of the moon [ref.1].  Almost no one thinks that an actual object struck the moon that evening, because if it had, it would have made rocks rain down on the earth for a number of days.

Some people are always afraid the end of the world is just around the corner; life is precious; enjoy this single moment for what it is, smell the roses, drink your lemonade, and smile at the people that you love. 

ref. 1 http://www.planetary.org/html/news/articlearchive/headlines/2001/1178noimpact.html

ref. 2 http://althistory.blogspot.com/2004/06/lunar-explosion-martians-move-in.html

ref. 3 http://www.spaceref.ca/news/viewpr.html?pid=4367