This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global-news site that
translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. The article
below was originally published in Le Figaro.
On this rainy spring morning, the Pic de Bugarach in southern France is
completely shrouded in mist. But though the peak, at 4,000 ft., is invisible today, its rugged outline is known all over the world. Hundreds of
websites are claiming that after an apocalypse on December 21, 2012, only
the small village of Bugarach, at the foot of this rocky citadel, will be
left standing.
Apart from the free publicity, one of the first effects of the
end-of-the-world prediction was a boost to the village’s real estate market.
“Fifteen houses are currently for sale. I have been mayor of Bugarach for 34
years, and I have never seen this before,” says Jean-Pierre Delord. The
prices asked are four to five times higher than usual.
Not a day goes by without someone asking for information about Bugarach,
located in the county of Aude, and about its capacities for accommodation
and supplies. “Everyone knows that there might be snow and freezing
temperatures in December, and that sleeping bags might not suffice. So
people call us to rent rooms and ask us to stock food for them for the last
two weeks of 2012,” says a local saleswoman from behind her stall filled
with foie gras and sausages. “We always tell them no,” she says, visibly
exasperated by all the “lies” circulating on the Internet.
The mayor of Bugarach is also worried about this planetary publicity, which
has been attracting more than the usual number of esoteric-workshop organizers , therapists of all types, survivalists
counting down the days left to go, and New Age followers meditating to
connect to the cosmos. Some of them stay in the youth hostel owned by
Sigrid. Originally from Paris, she rather approves of the groups who discuss
mysterious matters behind the closed doors of the conference room she
provides. “They are very nice, calm clients. I have never had any problems
with them,” she says.
Dressed in white, these peculiar tourists can be seen strolling around the
town or taking refuge in the nearby caves for long contemplative retreats.
Some of them gather in supposedly magical sites, and others attempt to climb
the Pic de Bugarach. The automatic counters installed in the mountains are
showing record numbers of hikers: 10,000 last year, and an estimated 20,000
this year. In some cases, lack of training has proved lethal. Two weeks ago,
one of these hikers reached the peak only to succumb to a heart attack. “The
end of the world came earlier for him,” says the mayor with a touch of
irony.
But Delord does not hide his concern about the possible consequences of
his town’s extraordinary renown. Several months ago, he contacted the
Council, the police and Miviludes , a French government agency that
monitors potentially dangerous sects. The town is under guard.
This is because the apocalyptic prediction is only the latest in a long line
of crazy theories about Bugarach. “This place is bubbling with activity!”
admits the mayor. It seems there are a hundred reasons to come to this town
in the middle of nowhere. Ufologists often visit, convinced that the peak is
a garage for UFOs. None has ever sighted a vessel here, but believers say
this makes sense because they travel so fast. Other visitors are eager to
benefit from the magnetic waves emitted by the “magic mountain,” and find
its “vortex,” or the secret passage towards a lost civilization. And yet
others come looking for a treasure that an abbot is supposed to have hidden
more than a hundred years ago.
Around a year ago, yurts started springing up in the middle of the forest,
inhabited by tree huggers wanting to go back to a more community-based way
of life through Indian singing and nonviolent communication. They don’t
think that the end of the world is near … just the end of our world as we
know it. Hippie clothes and dreadlocks now mix with perfectly white togas.
But Bugarach is also attracting nature lovers who simply come to enjoy the
great outdoors, and they have accessories of their own: backpacks and
hiking boots.
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When the Euro Zone Gets Split In Two: Behold the
‘Nordeuro’— Die Welt
See cinematic visions of the apocalypse.
See “Hollywood Tips to Survive the Apocalypse.”
