About

The March 2023 Doomsday Warning, also written 3/23 and specifically made about the date 3/3/23, refers to memes made in early 2023 about the upcoming month of March that was portrayed and speculated to be a horrific apocalypse and overall having bad vibes. March 2023 memes trended en masse on Reddit's /r/memes subreddit in late January 2023, sparking interest as to what was going to happen in March. The fear is essentially unfounded and nonsensical, with the meme trend sharing many similarities to other doomsday dates like September 24th, 2022, and the May 21st, 2011 Rapture.

Origin

On January 27th, 2023, Redditor Theodore_Goude posted a Baby Voldemort meme to /r/memes^[1] that followed the What Happened To Him? format. In the meme, Dumbledore's answer read, "March 2023." Over the course of three days, the meme received roughly 22,300 upvotes (shown below).

Although many on Reddit^[2] emphasized that the meme was a nonsensical "doomsday date," other Redditors^[2] likened the fear of March 2023 to the Nintendo eShop being discontinued for the 3DS in late March 2023.^[3] Memes about March 2023 appeared on the /r/3DS^[3] subreddit as early as June 2022.

On January 27th, 2023, Redditor^[4] Equal-Rutabaga-8104 commented on Theodore_Goude's meme, writing the date, "03/03/2023," and earning roughly 1,400 upvotes in three days (shown below). The comment then prompted others to be afraid of the specific date.

Spread

Following the viral meme, many Redditors shared similar memes that hinted at an apocalypse in March 2023. For instance, on January 28th, 2023, Redditor louietp posted a meme to /r/Memes^[5] using the Undertaker Standing Behind AJ Styles format, gaining roughly 34,500 upvotes in two days (shown below, left). Also on January 28th, Redditor GreenGoat03 posted an I Don't Understand This Meme And At This Point I'm Too Afraid To Ask meme to /r/memes,^[6] gaining roughly 5,300 upvotes in one day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

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External References