Doomsday: fact or fiction?

Whether it’s fact or fiction, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of doomsday.

Centuries ago the Mayans marked Dec. 21, 2012, as the end point on their long-form calendar.

Since then, the date has been feared, anticipated and laughed at as the end of mankind as we know it.

Now we’re only one month out.

The Mayans aren’t the only group linked to predictions about world-changing events in 2012.

Famed prophet Nostradamus and the Hopi Indians have pointed to catastrophies on the same date.

Together, these prophecies have drawn a lot of attention to the end of this year.

We’ve all seen the reality shows or know a family who says doomsday is imminent and won’t be caught unprepared.

But is the end really so close and what makes the Mayans experts on it?

To answer these questions, we spoke with author Bruce Burtenshaw, who recently published a book detailing all the predicted events of 2012.

Burtenshaw said Dec. 21 just happens to be the end of the Mayan’s long-count calendar, but they also wanted to point out a pattern.

“There is a re-occuring cyclic event that is destroying the Earth every 5,125 years,” said Burtenshaw.

The infamous date has only been thrust more into the spotlight with drawings allegedly penned by Nostradamus 500 years ago.

Modern-day decipherers said the Capricorn sign points to December and the lifted veil to the apocalypse, which in Greek means “uncovering.”

“Currently many of the predictions from 2012 and the end of days are already occurring,” said Burtenshaw.

Burtenshaw referred to the Book of Revelation, which speaks of a final battle called Armageddon centered around Israel.

For many Christians, it seems conflict in the Middle East is escalating into what may be that dreaded war.

Over at The Preparedness Store in Idaho Falls, owner Rusty Kappel said demand is higher than ever for emergency essentials.

“People don’t like what they see with the economy. They don’t particularly like what they see with the government, and so you add just two of this things together and they decide that there’s something that they need to do,” said Kappel.

Even newbies are turning into preppers.

“We see people who have done none of this who are coming in and saying ‘I just think it’s a good idea that we do something’,” said Kappel.

It seems that most people aren’t too stressed about doomsday.

According to a fact sheet posted by NASA, only 1 in 10 Americans actually worry about whether or not they will survive past Dec. 21 of this year.