And then in a weird case of irony, immediately afterwards, the world actually ended.
I was just reading this thread for recreation and didn't intend to post to it, but your statement there actually strikes me as having a ring of possibility to it. Maybe it's the irony of the situation.
I have on occasion had this dream where Buddy Holly turns out to be actually still alive (he's been stranded on some deserted island or something). The news electrifies the world, he releases a new hit single, than he dies for real.
This actually sort of happened with Lefty Frizzell in 1975. He'd been a giant in the Fifties and early sixties but then suddenly just sort of disappeared. Then one day in 1975 he releases his first single in years and promptly dies.
Bobby Fischer seems to have played by the same scenario. He becomes world chess champion, defaults the championship, goes absolutely crazy and disappears. Then one day he suddenly shows up, blames the Jews for Communism, plays in Yugoslavia, and then he up and dies.
This is all very unnerving.