Thousands of devotees have flocked to a mountain village in France praying that aliens will rescue them when the apocalypse comes
Police in France have blocked Doomsday followers from reaching a ‘mystical mountain’ which they believe will be the only place to be saved when the world ends tomorrow.
Thousands of devotees have flocked to the tiny village of Bugarach, southern France, praying that aliens will rescue them when the apocalypse comes.
They claim the mountain contains a garage for UFOs that will whisk them to safety ‘in another dimension’ while the rest of the planet perishes.
Bugarach mayor Jean-Pierre Delord today appealed to cult fanatics to stay away from his village, with a population of just 189.
He said: “I am making an appeal to the world - do not come to Bugarach.
“This is no laughing matter. If 10,000 people turn up on December 21, our village will not be able to cope.
After one hippie died climbing the mountain earlier this year, Mr Delord quipped to the French media: “The end of the world came a bit earlier for him than he expected.”
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Police and troops have now set up road blocks to stop hippies scaling the summit - and declared the zone a no-go area for five days from December 19.
Regional prefect Eric Freysselinard said: “I have issued an order barring anyone from climbing the mountain.
“And those trying to get into the village will be stopped and asked what their business is.
He said: “Bugarach and the mountain will then remain closed off until two days after the world is supposed to end.”
Hippies flooding into Bugarach are convinced the area has been selected by aliens as the only place to survive in the run up to Doomsday - when the Mayan calendar’s 5,125-year cycle finishes.
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Earlier this year, France’s Mission for the Fight against Sects also placed Bugarach under scrutiny due to concerns over possible mass suicides.
And it warned people in a report not to be taken in by ‘New Age clap-trap’ being peddled by cult leaders.
Their report also stressed that December 21, 2012, would be the 183rd time the world had been predicted to end in the last 2,000 years.
Local residents are angry at having their peace disturbed.
"What is going on here is the creation of an urban legend," fumed resident Michele Pous, who blamed those who spread internet rumours.
In the UK, hundreds of people have already converged on Stonehenge for an "End of the World" party that coincides with the Winter Solstice.
Arthur Uther Pendragon, Britain's best-known druid, said he was anticipating a much larger crowd than usual at Stonehenge this year.
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But he doesn't agree that the world is ending, noting that he and fellow druids believe that things happen in cycles.
"We're looking at it more as a new beginning than an end," he said. "We're looking at new hope."
Some Serbs are saying to forget that sacred mountain in the French Pyrenees.
The place to go will be Mount Rtanj, a pyramid-shaped peak in Serbia already drawing cultists.
A local legend has it that the mountain once swallowed an evil sorcerer who will be released on doomsday in a ball of fire.
The inside of the mountain will then become a safe place to hide as the sorcerer goes on to destroy the rest of the world.
In the meantime, some old coal mine shafts have been opened up as safe rooms for the dozens who have arrived already.
"We got calls from as far away as Holland from people trying to seek shelter," said Vlada Minic, a local villager.
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In China, a fringe Christian group has been spreading rumours about the world's impending end, prompting authorities to arrest more than 500 people this week and seize leaflets, video discs, books and other material.
Those detained are reported to be members of the group Almighty God, also called Eastern Lightning, which preaches that Jesus has reappeared as a woman in central China.
Authorities in the province of Qinghai say they are waging a "severe crackdown" on the group, accusing it of attacking the Communist Party and the government.
In Russia, a museum is offering salvation from the world's end in Stalin's underground bunker in central Moscow.
The charge is £920 - with a 50 per cent refund if nothing happens.
The bunker, 65 metres below ground, was designed to withstand a nuclear attack.
Now home to a small museum, it has an independent electricity supply, water and food - but no more room, because the museum has already sold out all 1,000 tickets.
The last time the world was due to end was May 21, 2011, according to a prediction by US-based cult Rapture.
Its leader Harold Camping said after the apocalypse failed to happen that he was ‘flabbergasted’ that the world was still there.
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