ENGLISH RECORD 128
QAnon’s ‘Storm’ and Mass-Arrest Prophecies
Large archives preserve timestamps and wording, but the poster's identity and claimed access to inside information were never established.Anonymous posts from 2017 onwardUnited States · global internetPolitical conspiracy · failed dates
01 · WHAT IT IS
Overview
Q drops forecast Hillary Clinton's arrest, a coming Storm, military action and mass arrests before growing into a political movement.
02 · ORIGINAL TEXT AND EARLIEST SOURCE
What can be traced?
03 · HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The world behind the text
128 · QANON PROPHECY CHECK
When was ‘the Storm’ supposed to arrive?
When dates failed, the prophecy changed shape instead of disappearing
QAnon was not only a sequence of anonymous predictions. Interpreters, video makers and participants collectively filled gaps in the posts. The archive must therefore separate Q's dated words from deadlines and meanings added by the community.01 · ORIGIN
28 October 2017: the traceable starting point
An anonymous account calling itself ‘Q Clearance Patriot’ posted on 4chan that Hillary Clinton faced passport controls and arrest on 30 October, with military and National Guard involvement. The first deadline failed. A clearance-themed username did not prove identity or government access.
02 · CLAIM LEDGER
Core prediction ledger
| Deadline | Claim | Source layer | Observed outcome | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Oct 2017 | Hillary Clinton would be arrested | First Q posts | No arrest | Did not occur within period |
| 2017 onward | The Storm and mass arrests of elites | Q posts plus expanding interpretation | No verifiable coordinated mass arrest | Low specificity · did not occur |
| 2018–2020 | Mueller's investigation was secretly part of the operation | Mostly follower interpretation | The Mueller report did not establish that narrative | Post-hoc interpretation |
| Nov 2020–Jan 2021 | The election would be reversed and Trump would remain in office | Varied influencer interpretations | Biden inaugurated on 20 January 2021 | Did not occur within period |
| 4 Mar 2021 and later | A new inauguration date, military intervention and return | Follower-generated dates after Q's main posting period | No forecast return to office | Earliest source must be separated |
03 · MOVING GOALPOSTS
Four moves after disconfirmation
04 · REAL-WORLD IMPACT
Separate a failed prophecy from real-world action
Some participants in the 6 January 2021 U.S. Capitol attack displayed QAnon symbols or described related beliefs, and criminal cases followed. That does not make the Storm prediction true. It shows that an unverified narrative can affect political action and violence. Belief in QAnon alone must not be used to label every individual as violent.
05 · METHOD
Verification rules
- 01Freeze the sourceStore Q posts and follower interpretations as separate records
- 02Freeze the deadlineDo not replace it after the event
- 03Use observable outcomesRely on public arrests, inaugurations and court records
- 04Keep the denominatorPreserve failed deadlines alongside alleged hits
- 05Judge claims, not peopleAssess each proposition rather than political identity
06 · VERDICT
SALGIL assessment
The original posts and failed deadlines are highly traceable. The anonymous poster's claimed insider access, the Storm, secret mass arrests and military-intervention forecasts were not verified.07 · SOURCES
Primary record, official material and research
Editorial review · 17 September 2026 · The score measures source traceability, not credibility.01BELLINGCATThe QAnon timeline↗02WEST POINT CTCThe QAnon Conspiracy Theory: A Security Threat in the Making?↗03FBI · DHSStrategic Intelligence Assessment and Data on Domestic Terrorism↗04U.S. HOUSEJanuary 6th Report↗05STANFORDPastels and Pedophiles · QAnon media study↗06ACM CSCWDissonance in online conspiracy communities↗