Hippies head for Noah

[Hum]

A mountain looming over a French commune with a population of just 200 is being touted as a modern Noah's Ark when doomsday arrives ? supposedly less than nine months from now.

A rapidly increasing stream of New Age believers ? or esoterics, as locals call them ? have descended in their camper van-loads on the usually picturesque and tranquil Pyrenean village of Bugarach. They believe that when apocalypse strikes on 21 December this year, the aliens waiting in their spacecraft inside Pic de Bugarach will save all the humans near by and beam them off to the next age.

As the cataclysmic date ? which, according to eschatological beliefs and predicted astrological alignments, concludes a 5,125-year cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar ? nears, the goings-on around the peak have become more bizarre and ritualistic.

For decades, there has been a belief that Pic de Bugarach, which, at 1,230 metres, is the highest in the Corbi?res mountain range, possesses an eery power. Often called the "upside-down mountain" ? geologists think that it exploded after its formation and the top landed the wrong way up ? it is thought to have inspired Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Since the 1960s, it has attracted New Agers, who insist that it emits special magnetic waves.

Further, rumours persist that the country's late president Fran?ois Mitterrand was transported by helicopter on to the peak, while the Nazis, and, later, Israel's Mossad, performed mysterious digs there. Now the nearby village is awash with New Agers, who have boosted the local economy, though their naked group climbs up to the peak have raised concerns as well as eyebrows. Among other oddities, some hikers have been spotted scaling the mountain carrying a ball with a golden ring, strung together by a single thread.

A grizzled man wearing a white linen smock, who calls himself Jean, set up a yurt in the forest a couple of years ago to prepare for the earth's demise. "The apocalypse we believe in is the end of a certain world and the beginning of another," he offers. "A new spiritual world. The year 2012 is the end of a cycle of suffering. Bugarach is one of the major chakras of the earth, a place devoted to welcoming the energies of tomorrow."

Upwards of 100,000 people are thought to be planning a trip to the mountain, 30 miles west of Perpignan, in time for 21 December, and opportunistic entrepreneurs are shamelessly cashing in on the phenomenon. While American travel agents have been offering special, one-way deals to witness the end of the world, a neighbouring village, Saint-Paul de Fenouillet, has produced a wine to celebrate the occasion.

Jean-Pierre Delord, the perplexed mayor of Bugarach, has flagged up the situation to the French authorities, requesting they scramble the army to the tiny village for fear of a mass suicide. It has also caught the attention of France's sect watchdog, Miviludes.

A genial sexagenarian, Mr Delord says: "We've seen a huge rise in visitors. Already this year more than 20,000 people have climbed right to the top, and last year we had 10,000 hikers, which was a significant rise on the previous 12 months. They think Pic de Bugarach is 'un garage ? ovnis' [an alien garage]. The villagers are exasperated: the exaggerated importance of something which they see as completely removed from reality is bewildering. After 21 December, this will surely return to normal."

Masking his fears of what might happen on 21 December, Mr Delord jokes that he will throw a party and supply vin chaud and cheese. "I'm sure we'll have a little fete to celebrate that we're still alive," he smiles. "I suppose it's up to each of us to find our own way."

source

[ILikeTobacco]

If you take leap year into consideration, something that was not on the Mayan calendar, the end of the world was around 7 months ago. Just saying...

[Hum]

Pic de Bugarach, which, at 1,230 metres, is the highest in the Corbi?res mountain range ...

That's where the asteroid hits. :shiftyninja:

[TAZMINATOR]

If you take leap year into consideration, something that was not on the Mayan calendar, the end of the world was around 7 months ago. Just saying...

The end of the world would be December 21, 2012... which means it is coming here in a few months. I doubt it would happen. Remember Y2K? Nothing happened.

So, we will see.

[Hum]

^ I've already seen -- the Earth is around for thousands of years to come. ;)

[Astra.Xtreme]

Pshhhh, that's not Noah's Ark. This is:

http://www.noahsarkwaterpark.com/

[Detection]

So, we will see.

No, we won't see, either way :laugh:

[mudslag]

The end of the world would be December 21, 2012... which means it is coming here in a few months. I doubt it would happen. Remember Y2K? Nothing happened.

So, we will see.

Technically the Mayan calendar doesn't say anything about the end of the world. Given that date is based on the calendar, the idea of the end of the world is happening on that date is ludicrous in itself.

[Growled Member]

They sure are going to be surprised when 2013 rolls around. :laugh:

[+hedleigh Subscriber²]

Tom Cruise will save us. Dont worry.

Wouldn't he be on that peak though? :rofl:

[compl3x]

Can we have these peoples' names registered so when this 2012 bull**** is over and done with they can go down in history, infamously, as idiots? So future generations can mock and ridicule these folk by name.

Too often these doomsayers try to scare everyone and then get away with it when the world doesn't come to an end. I want a ****in' registry!

[scumdogmillionaire]

If you take leap year into consideration, something that was not on the Mayan calendar, the end of the world was around 7 months ago. Just saying...

When the calendar was translated it would have been done so using the gregorian calendar which accounts for leap year, so.... that's incorrect.

Not that I believe in this, just pointing it out.

[Rudie32]

A mountain looming over a French commune with a population of just 200 is being touted as a modern Noah's Ark when doomsday arrives ? supposedly less than nine months from now.

A rapidly increasing stream of New Age believers ? or esoterics, as locals call them ? have descended in their camper van-loads on the usually picturesque and tranquil Pyrenean village of Bugarach. They believe that when apocalypse strikes on 21 December this year, the aliens waiting in their spacecraft inside Pic de Bugarach will save all the humans near by and beam them off to the next age.

As the cataclysmic date ? which, according to eschatological beliefs and predicted astrological alignments, concludes a 5,125-year cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar ? nears, the goings-on around the peak have become more bizarre and ritualistic.

For decades, there has been a belief that Pic de Bugarach, which, at 1,230 metres, is the highest in the Corbi?res mountain range, possesses an eery power. Often called the "upside-down mountain" ? geologists think that it exploded after its formation and the top landed the wrong way up ? it is thought to have inspired Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Since the 1960s, it has attracted New Agers, who insist that it emits special magnetic waves.

Further, rumours persist that the country's late president Fran?ois Mitterrand was transported by helicopter on to the peak, while the Nazis, and, later, Israel's Mossad, performed mysterious digs there. Now the nearby village is awash with New Agers, who have boosted the local economy, though their naked group climbs up to the peak have raised concerns as well as eyebrows. Among other oddities, some hikers have been spotted scaling the mountain carrying a ball with a golden ring, strung together by a single thread.

A grizzled man wearing a white linen smock, who calls himself Jean, set up a yurt in the forest a couple of years ago to prepare for the earth's demise. "The apocalypse we believe in is the end of a certain world and the beginning of another," he offers. "A new spiritual world. The year 2012 is the end of a cycle of suffering. Bugarach is one of the major chakras of the earth, a place devoted to welcoming the energies of tomorrow."

Upwards of 100,000 people are thought to be planning a trip to the mountain, 30 miles west of Perpignan, in time for 21 December, and opportunistic entrepreneurs are shamelessly cashing in on the phenomenon. While American travel agents have been offering special, one-way deals to witness the end of the world, a neighbouring village, Saint-Paul de Fenouillet, has produced a wine to celebrate the occasion.

Jean-Pierre Delord, the perplexed mayor of Bugarach, has flagged up the situation to the French authorities, requesting they scramble the army to the tiny village for fear of a mass suicide. It has also caught the attention of France's sect watchdog, Miviludes.

A genial sexagenarian, Mr Delord says: "We've seen a huge rise in visitors. Already this year more than 20,000 people have climbed right to the top, and last year we had 10,000 hikers, which was a significant rise on the previous 12 months. They think Pic de Bugarach is 'un garage ? ovnis' [an alien garage]. The villagers are exasperated: the exaggerated importance of something which they see as completely removed from reality is bewildering. After 21 December, this will surely return to normal."

Masking his fears of what might happen on 21 December, Mr Delord jokes that he will throw a party and supply vin chaud and cheese. "I'm sure we'll have a little fete to celebrate that we're still alive," he smiles. "I suppose it's up to each of us to find our own way."

source

Am i the only one who when first read the headline, thought to themselves "They're going to wisconsin dells?"

[Cast Iron Leader]

Can we have these peoples' names registered so when this 2012 bull**** is over and done with they can go down in history, infamously, as idiots? So future generations can mock and ridicule these folk by name.

Too often these doomsayers try to scare everyone and then get away with it when the world doesn't come to an end. I want a ****in' registry!

I second this - for to damned long idiots like these have got away with claiming all sorts of dire events which never happen and yet many of them just turn around and walk away from all the trouble they have caused, including causing their followers, or just plain scared people, to commit suicide. These people should be held to account and should not be allowed to profit, like so many have in the past, through their lousy books and even lousier seminars and talks.

[remixedcat]

Did somebody say naked hikes???? Hell yeah!!!!

[Hum]

I second this - for to damned long idiots like these have got away with claiming all sorts of dire events which never happen and yet many of them just turn around and walk away from all the trouble they have caused, including causing their followers, or just plain scared people, to commit suicide. These people should be held to account and should not be allowed to profit, like so many have in the past, through their lousy books and even lousier seminars and talks.

^ Isn't this a good thing -- dire events did not happen ?

And for the record, all events do happen in some dimension of the Universe.

[compl3x]

^ Isn't this a good thing -- dire events did not happen ?

And for the record, all events do happen in some dimension of the Universe.

Oh Hum, I do enjoy your wacky take on existence. :) You make Neowin worthwhile for me. Truly.