An estimated 20,000 New Age believers who say the "upside down" mountain is home to aliens who will rescue them from an impending apocalypse have saturated a small French commune near the foot of the picturesque Pic de Bugarach.
The Independent reports the growing flock, whom locals refer to as "esoterics," believe the world will come to an end on Dec. 21, 2012. They also reportedly believe that the unique mountain is in fact home to a race of alien beings that will emerge to rescue the gathered humans and transport them to a new civilization.
Pic de Bugarach has long been famous because rock samples taken from its peak are actually older than points measured at lower elevations. Scientists say that is because when the 1,230-meter (4,040-foot) mountain erupted, its peak flipped upside down before crashing back down upon the mountain's base. The mountain is said to have played a role in inspiring everything from Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" to Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
The BBC reports that the French government is concerned about mass suicides taking place near Pic de Bugarach in advance of the Dec. 21 date and that there have been reports of "strange rituals" taking place there as well.
Last year, CNN filed a report on the apocalyptic rumors surrounding Pic de Bugarach:
The Independent notes some other rumors surrounding Pic de Bugarach, which included speculation that both Israel's Mossad and Nazis have performed "mysterious" excavation digs there.
"The apocalypse we believe in is the end of a certain world and the beginning of another," one of the New Age pilgrims going only by the name "Jean" tells the paper. "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."
Up to 100,000 visitors are expected to flock to the scene before Dec. 21.
It has stood tall for over 4,500 years, withstanding wars, freak weather events and even the occasional revolution. But on Friday Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza was confronted with what some feared would be its biggest threat yet: two crystals, a "ceremony of love" and several hundred "human angels" seeking to form a protective shield around the earth.
The tale of Giza's brush with new age spiritualism – which ended with the popular tourist attraction being partially closed off to visitors following newspaper reports of planned Masonic rituals inside the pyramid – has gripped Egypt for days, after reports surfaced that shadowy groups were planning events at the site to mark the palindromic moment when the clock ticked over to the 11th minute of the 11th hour, on the 11th day of the 11th month in the 11th year of the new millennium.
What began as a single meditation ceremony planned by a Polish organisation – who claimed their activities would help save the earth from cosmic catastrophes – quickly mushroomed into something far larger, with outfits as diverse as the "Universal Kabbalah Network" and the "11.11.11 Gathering of Souls" announcing that they too would be converging on the last remaining ancient wonder of the world to hug, worship or simply climb inside the structure and be healed by the sacred power within.
Panicked by unconfirmed rumours in the local press that the activities would include Masonic rituals and the attempted placing of a Jewish Star of David atop the pyramid itself, the authorities moved this week to shut down access to the Great Pyramid altogether, blaming essential maintenance work for the move. The decision was taken after Egyptologists denounced the various ceremonies and a series of campaigns sprung up online to oppose them, including one spearheaded by an offshoot of the revolutionary April 6th movement, whose members vowed to hold a sit-in at the Giza complex and block access to new age revellers.
On Monday Egypt's ruling generals, whose reputations are also in need of healing following clashes with anti-junta activists on the streets, promised to investigate the organisations behind the events. "The [military] council and its members reject completely that kind of celebration in the land of Egypt, which is the cradle of monotheistic religions and should not be desecrated with satanic celebrations," announced the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on its Facebook page.
Sure enough Egypt's antiquities authority sealed off the Great Pyramid, which serves as a tomb for the fourth dynasty pharaoh Khufu, claiming the closure was unrelated to the 11.11.11 parties.
"It has been a big cause now on Facebook and Twitter for many people to write about," said Ali al-Asfar, director of the Giza complex.
He confirmed that an Egyptian company had filed a request to hold a "hug the pyramid" event, in which 120 people would hold hands around the base of the structure, but insists official permission was denied. Antiquities head Mustafa Amin also dismissed the rumours, saying they were "completely lacking in truth". The pyramid is was set to reopen on Saturday.
Giza has long been a magnet for pyramidologists who argue the awe-inspiring scale of the ancient monuments and their remarkable geological accuracy indicate they were built by otherworldly forces.
In the 17th century Isaac Newton was among those who questioned whether the Great Pyramid was divinely-inspired, and a large number of mystical cults and proponents of extraterrestrial life forms have since made the pyramids part of their belief system.
But archaeologists have succeeded in answering most of the age-old questions about how the pyramids could have been constructed and proved that they were indeed the product of human endeavour, showing that their design stems from earlier versions of Egyptian tombs and uncovering both the quarries from where the stones were cut and hauled and the barracks in which labourers lived.
