AOL
Posted: 2008-07-06 17:46:01
Filed Under: Weird News
(July 6) - Survival groups around the world are gearing up and counting
down to a mysterious date that has been anticipated for thousands of years:
Dec. 21, 2012.
Across the
Ancient Mayan
societies, known for their advanced mathematics and astronomy, followed a
"long count" calendar that lasted 5,126 years. When their charts are
translated to the Gregorian calendar, the international standard used today,
time runs out on Dec. 21, 2012.
Believers say there are other links besides just the Mayan calendar that
portend catastrophe. The sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way
for the first time in about 26,000 years on the same day, which marks the
winter solstice. Some say that will disrupt the energy flow to Earth, or that
the high rate of sunspots or sun flares that NASA has predicted for 2012 could
affect Earth magnetic fields.
Scientists have tried to squash the doomsday scenario as another empty
prophesy, but it’s clear there are thousands who consider the possibility of a
worldwide catastrophe occurring on that date very real.
"You have to understand, there will be nothing, nothing left,"
Patrick Geryl told ABC News. "We will have to
start an entire civilization from scratch." Geryl,
a 53-year-old former laboratory worker who lives in
Geryl is certainly not the only one. Searching for
"2012 the end of the world" on Google brings up nearly 700,000 hits.
More than 6,500 video posts about the day have been posted on YouTube. There are also countless books on the topic, many
published in the wake of the success of Daniel Pinchbeck's "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl," which has been selling
thousands of copies each month since it was released last May.
But what do
believers think will happen on Dec. 21, 2012? Some say a polar reversal, where
the north pole becomes the south, where the sun rises
in the west, triggering natural disasters around the world. Others say the date
marks a worldwide spiritual awakening.
Experts laugh off these notions. "These prophecies of doom really don't
have any basis in what we know about the Maya," said Stephen Houston, an
anthropology professor at
"Really, it's a conversion of people’s anxieties about our times, and
finding some remote mythological precedent or prediction of it," he said.
"People like to believe that ancient wisdom is somehow predicting this
time of upheaval."