Melissa Garcia is certain that the planet will suddenly die. She doesn't know when, but she's ready.

"In the blink of an eye, the world won't exist some day," said Garcia, 33, of Pharr. "It could be four years from now or many years from now."

Others expect something much more exact.

What appears to be a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar has left people all over the world pondering Earth's destruction in December 2012. Dozens of Web sites dedicated to the apocalyptic event also reference historical figures such as prophet Michel de Nostradame, known as Nostradamus, claiming that he predicted the third world war would be preceded by many large-scale natural disasters.

One Web site — www.december212012.com — even references Albert Einstein, quoting him as saying: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

The site offers viewers survival tips and a "disaster watch" with links to news articles about the 2012 phenomenon.

As the world swiftly approaches the date, people's fear is fueled by Hollywood productions such as Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, a film about Mayan civilization, and 2012, due for release July 2009. December212012.com even features a list of celebrity believers with names like Janeane Garofalo, the Smashing Pumpkins, Lil Wayne and Montel Williams.

"I'm scared is the world gonna end in 2012 that's my high school grad. year help!!!!!!!!?" asked user lexibexi in a Yahoo! Answers forum. "oh my gosh!! i always think that too. and it freaks me out. but i guess we will see what happens :(" responded user juliaa..

It probably doesn't help that a world-renowned expert on Mayan history has a "demented sense of humor," according to him.

"I get e-mails from some real weirdos," said Arthur Demarest, an anthropology professor at Vanderbilt University. "So I tell them, yes, the world is going to end. It's good for business. It keeps people interested in anthropology and hopefully you can teach them something important if they're interested enough."

Demarest said the date only represents the beginning of a new cycle in the Mayan calendar, not too differently from when the world entered a new millennium in the year 2000.

"In 1999, everyone was fretting about the year 2000," Demarest said. "Some people in that same group are latching on to their death wish."

The professor explained that the date is of significance in the Mayan calendar because it marks the end of the 13th bak'tun — a time unit which translates to 394.5 years. He said that although the Mayans may have anticipated a traumatic time to mark the beginning of a new age for Earth, the civilization certainly did not predict its demise.

"I guess the reason people make such a big deal out of it is because of the number 13," Demarest said, explaining that the number held a sacred and important connotation to the Mayans. "It doesn't necessarily mean a good or bad thing ... we'll never know the specifics because it never really came up for them."

Jesse Montalvo, 23, of Edinburg, said he doesn't take any of it too seriously.

"I'm still gonna go to school and work," he said, shrugging. "Nothing's gonna change."

The supposed prophecy is not the first to get the modern world's attention. Dozens of similar predictions have been announced over the past century.

Recently Shelby Corbitt claimed God told her the second coming would take place in 2007. Harold Camping, a television and radio broadcast host; David Berg, leader of a religious sect; and Edgar C. Whisenant, a former NASA engineer, all predicted the second coming of Jesus Christ to take place on various dates through the late 80s and early 90s.

"They've announced the apocalypse how many times already?" said Norma Silva, 22, of San Juan. "I honestly don't believe in it."

In 1973, Berg predicted that comet Kohoutek would destroy the planet, causing mass hysteria and the formation of communes throughout the world. Similarly, the sighting of comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 triggered the mass suicide among followers of the Heaven's Gate cult, who thought they were leaving their physical bodies to travel on a spaceship and follow the comet.

"There are also some people that are so clearly loco," Demarest said, "there's really nothing you can do for them."

Ana Ley covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4428.

CELEBRITY BELIEVERS

Mel Gibson
Joe Rogan
Darren Daulton
Montel Williams
Janeane Garofalo
Mark Thompson
Canibus
Smashing Pumpkins
Shirley MacLaine
Jack Van Impe
Lil Wayne
Source: http://www.december212012.com

2012 AND BEYOND

>> 2012: New Age writers cite Mayan and Aztec calendars which predict the end of the age on Dec 21, 2012.

>> 2012: Michael Drosnin, author of The Bible Code, found a hidden message in the Pentateuch (the first five books in the Bible) that predicts that a comet will crash into the earth in 2012 and annihilate all life.

>> 2016: An article in Weekly World News describes a find by a Professor Lloyd Cunningdale of Salt Lake City who was excavating with his students at the site of the famous Donner party disaster of 1847. The latter were a group of settlers bound for California who became trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Cunningdale and students have found a time capsule left by the settlers which contains many predictions for the future. They predict that nations will abandon traditional methods of conflict and resort to the use of biological warfare. In 2016, one such disease will spread and kill all of the humans on the planet.

>> 2047 According to The Church of !BLAIR!, the human race will probably be terminated at 3:28 AM (Soho, England time) on Sept. 14. The church teaches that if the human race does not discard their plastic conformity, then the Gods will withdraw their protection. The Gods don't want us to worship them; they don't want sacrifices or even offerings. They just want us to rid itself of our excessive "Normalcy." At that point, Astro-Lemurs (extra-terrestrials similar in shape to lemurs, but with rainbow colored bodies) will attack the entire human race and beat them to death with gigantic burritos.

Source: http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm