Everyone can breathe a little easier. The dreaded Mayan calendar-inspired doomsday has arrived and everyone is, as expected, perfectly safe. However, the newest apocalyptic prediction has not been without its scary moments-the latest occurring in Argentina.
State officials in Cordoba, Argentina were forced to close access to Uritorco Hill, a mountain said to posses magical energy, after a mass suicide event was posted on Facebook. According to the International Business Times, the event was created by an anonymous person called "Ente EBR" and was open to people around the world.
The event, which was named 'Suicide 21/12/2012 massive magical,' read, "To all believers, beings and warriors of the light, I invite you to a spiritual suicide en masse in Uritorco, Cordoba, Argentina. We will abandon our unclean flesh and transport our spirit through the inter dimensional portal at 21 hours, 12 minutes on 21/12/2012 and from this will be created an army of light that will save humanity...in this change of era."
According to IBT, the event gained 150 RSVPs, forcing the private owners of Uritorco Hill, the Anchorena family, to close down the mountain and ban access to the public on Friday. Rafael García Pérez, head of Uritorco Hill, told news site Clarín, "The truth is that we have been working on the issue ever since we first learned about [it]. We are concerned that while it may be a joke, you never know what could happen."
The event listing was then send to the Capilla del Monte police department, Fox News Latino reported.
Capilla del Monte Mayor Gustavo Sez organized a meeting to discuss the even and said, "We do not want to be too careless or contribute to any action that may collaborate with such ideas, however crazy they said." He added, "The priority is always to safeguard every visitor."
The Anchorena family announced that there was a "97 percent chance" the mountain would be closed on Friday. However, a bar restaurant located at the foot of the mountain will remain open.
The rumored Mayan apocalypse has sparked hysteria around the world, with many people flocking so-called sacred mountains in France and Serbia. In Russia, government officials were forced to address the nation after bizarre events relating to the doomsday flared up in various cities and towns.
Here in the United States, both government officials and scientists at NASA have repeatedly refuted any claims of an impending doomsday.
The December 21 doomsday predictions were based on misinterpretations of the Mayan calendar, which ends its thirteenth cycle, or b'ak'tun, on Friday. While many stated that the end of the 349-year cycle signified the end of the world, experts say that the calendar will simply move on to the new fourteenth cycle.