The Millerites awaited the Great Disappointment
On this day · 22 October 1844
Tens of thousands believed Jesus would return on a single autumn day in 1844 — and then the sun set on an empty sky.
In the 1830s, a Baptist farmer-preacher named William Miller worked through the prophecies of the Book of Daniel and concluded that the second coming of Christ was at hand. His message spread across the northeastern United States during the religious revivals of the era, drawing a movement of followers who became known as the Millerites.
Miller first announced that Christ would return between March 1843 and March 1844. When that window closed quietly, the date was refined. After rereading scripture, his circle settled on a final, exact day: October 22, 1844. Believers sold property, settled debts, and gathered to wait, expecting the end of the world.
The sun rose, the day passed, and nothing happened.
The failed prophecy became known as the Great Disappointment. Many followers abandoned the movement in despair, but others reinterpreted the date — arguing it marked not Christ’s arrival on Earth but the beginning of a heavenly work of judgment. From that reinterpretation grew the Seventh-day Adventist Church, today a worldwide denomination born directly from a day that did not end the world.
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