All the planets were on the same side of the Sun at the same time. I believe some crackpots said the combined gravity would pull giant protuberances from the Sun, grilling all (never mind that the combined gravitational pull of all the planets on the Sun is little more than that of Jupiter alone), while others said the combined gravity would pull Antarctica up to the Equator, leading to upheaval and sharks (again never mind that Jupiter etc., plus it's ridiculous). Our local newspaper had a spread with big graphics showing the planets drawn out of scale and looking a lot more in line than they actually were, but I think they were pretty level about the fact that nothing was going to happen, and no one I knew thought anything would.
