Bugarach in southwest France is preparing itself for a possible deluge of visitors who believe that the mountain over the picturesque village has special powers which could save them from the end of the world, scheduled, according to some interpretations of the Mayan calendar, for December 21st. According to several doomsday groups, UFOs will come to the mountain to save the lucky few who make it to the top on the appointed day. The extra-terrestrials, so the story goes, may already be in hiding inside the mountain, just waiting for the right time to come out.
But as far as residents are concerned, talk of the end of the world threatens to ruin the charms of the village.
Valerie Austin, Bugarach resident: "Holiday visitors in some respects have been put off by the publicity. They don't want to come to a place where they think they will be accosted by strange people in the streets. They come here for the peace and quiet, beauty and tranquility and so on and they don't want other things happening."
Bugarach's mayor has arranged for hundreds of police to seal off the area from December 19th to 23rd to keep out curious onlookers and die-hard followers of the doomsday cult. He says there will be nothing to see; no UFOs, spaceships or aliens and maintains that come December 21st, the world will carry on, just as we know it.
