Rumours the tiny French hamlet of Bugarach will be spared by a looming Apocalypse sparked a storm of media interest, with journalists flocking in search of Doomsday believers who had proven few and far between.
At last count on December 20, eve of the supposed day the world would end, some 250 journalists were accredited for the much-anticipated event, outnumbering the 200 or so locals, who were becoming increasingly irate.
Mayor Jean-Pierre Delord said he expected Bugarach to still be standing next week, along with the rest of the world. His message: Don’t show up, not even if you’re curious.
“Don’t come here. You’ll only be making things hard for yourself, and there’s even a risk of physical danger. So just don’t come,” he told reporters.
Yes, the world didn’t end on December 21, although reports say the day regarded as December 21 according to the Mayan calendar may not be over till December 24, and so the world could still end if any of their predictions were true.
The origins of Bugarach’s supposed immunity are unclear, although the area has been steeped in legend for centuries. But Bugarach was said to be harbouring an alien spacecraft in a nearby mountain that would enable people to survive an apocalypse, take off on Judgment Day, or even that it conceals a door to another world.
It was also once inhabited by the mysterious medieval heretics the Cathars, and is even said to be the burial site of Jesus and possibly Mary of Magdalene.
The Pic de Bugarach, meanwhile, is said to be upside down, containing older layers of rock at the top than at the bottom.
In 2011, the government’s anti-sect watchdog Miviludes warned of a possible influx of New Age believers, after spotting six settlements in the area and noting that messianic groups had been holding conferences at local hotels.
Since then, media speculation has raged.
As a precaution for Friday authorities have closed off access to the village and mountain and drafted in extra police.
Some locals are even cashing in on the exposure, setting up a makeshift “End of the World” bar and selling a local wine labeled “Bugarach – The End of the World – I Was There.”
Just in case the world does end, however, they’ve thoughtfully laid on a first-aid tent.
Now that the world may still end, you guys should go back to business. But if the world does end, where are you guys going to spend the money? Okay, you’ll be spared in Bugarach, and will turn out being one of the wealthiest in the age. *Chuckles*
Meanwhile in New York, Buck Wolf, executive editor of crime and weird news for the Huffington Post, organized an end of the world party at Manhattan’s Hotel Chantelle on Thursday night.
Wearing a gray T-shirt with a black Maya calendar on it, Wolf said he was inspired by a similar party he had attended in 1999 related to Nostradamus’s doomsday prophecies. “It’s all a big scam,” Wolf said. “You might as well throw a good party.”
