2012 Mayan Apocalypse

Record	OBS-0621
Category	Religion/Relics and Prophecy
Status	DEBUNKED
Summary	The 2012 phenomenon was a belief that cataclysmic or transformative events would occur on or around December 21, 2012, based on the end of a 5,126-year cycle in the Maya Long Count calendar. Proponents predicted various doomsday scenarios, including planetary collisions, solar storms, and pole shifts. Scholars and scientists dismissed these predictions as misrepresentations of Maya culture and pseudoscience.
Origin	The belief gained widespread attention in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, particularly in the United States and Europe, fueled by New Age interpretations and media coverage.
Claimed	The Maya predicted the end of the world on December 21, 2012. Earth would collide with a mythical planet called Nibiru or Planet X. A solar maximum or galactic alignment would cause catastrophic events. Earth's magnetic poles would reverse, causing destruction. The date marked a transformation to a new era.
Evidence / consensus	Maya scholars state that no classic Maya accounts forecast doom, and the Long Count calendar simply resets, as it had before. Astronomers reject the proposed scenarios as pseudoscience, noting no such alignments or threats existed.

> OBSERVER NOTE:
A classic millenarian panic with a borrowed calendar. The Maya themselves called it a 'gringo invention.' The date passed without incident, as expected.

Sources

Sources are external and provided for verification. Listing does not imply the Observer endorses their claims.