Don't be Scammed!

There are some things you need to know about the rumors of the "end of the world" or "Planet X" or "Nibiru" in 2012¹.

The "2012 doomsday" is a hoax, a fraud, and a con job. It is a cruel and disgusting lie being promoted by scam artists after money; First they scare people to death that something terrible is going to happen, then publish books and videos on "how to survive the apocalypse". Get the scam?! You're not going to fall for something like that… right?

The problem is that some people will fall for the scam. Some people will believe it. Some people will waste their money buying fake information on "how to survive". They will buy worthless survival kits or spaces in shelters that are not going to be built - ever!.

Some people will die because of these rumours, and we are trying our best to stop them

If you think we are being overly dramatic, then think about this. In September, 2008, Chayya, a young woman in India became distraught and depressed after watching poorly made and over-hyped reports about the Large Hadron Collider. She believed these shows when they said that the LHC would cause a 'miniature big bang' or a create a black hole, and destroy the world. She drank insecticide. She was 16.

Why we made this site

One of us regularly visits local school classrooms, giving an astronomy talk and Q&A session, and has been doing this for 5th and 8th grade classrooms for about three years. Beginning in 2008, a shift in the nature of the questions was noticed over the year before. Instead of "What would happen if you fell into a black hole?" the questions were more along the lines of "I heard that there's a planet that is going to hit us in 2012." When the students were asked where they had heard this information, the top two responses, far in advance of any other source, were YouTube and Yahoo! Answers.

A visit to Yahoo! Answers disclosed that A) There were a lot of people asking 2012 questions and B) there were a lot of people giving incorrect information about 2012. We began writing a "2012 hoax" page in January of 2009, and immediately began getting feedback from many different people who were scared and confused by all of the 2012 doomsday talk. Each time a new issue was raised, the article grew.

By April 2009 the article had swelled to several thousand words, and it became apparent that it needed to be broken up into smaller topical articles. In conjunction with other authors, amateur astronomers, astrophysicists, chemists, and school teachers, this site was born.

In May 2009, a teacher left a comment on Astrogeek's blog, commenting on his 2012 hoax article.

…[I] am a teacher and my 3rd graders are hearing about this - A small child is talking about how if its ending, and why she shouldn't just end it now. This isn't anywhere close to funny any more.

On the comments page on this site, a mother of a 7 year old says:

I have a 7 year old that happened to see a documentary on the history channel that scared him so bad, that he became depressed and often questioned the meaning of life.Like I said above, he is only 7 years old! This nonsense is scaring our children - it must stop immediatly. I found this website and tried the best I can to explain to him it was all a hoax.

In order to make some money, several authors, video producers, and producers for the History channel have whipped up an international hoax, which is scaring young people, children to the point where they are talking about suicide, or questioning the meaning of life (by the way, we have an article on how to help your kids deal with this hoax).

Fear and ignorance can kill.

This has gone too far.

Recently, one of us decided to see just how bad these '2012 explanations' are, and subscribed to a daily feed of the fake information. At the end of the first e-mail received was:

''P.S how do I know what's going to happen in 2012? Well I cannot explain in exact detail, but I have researched enough to know how much danger humanity is in.''

This is proof that most of the 2012 books are false. 'I cannot explain in exact detail, but I have researched'. What a big, fat, cynical, cruel lie.

This site is dedicated to exposing and debunking the many claims made about an apocalypse in the year 2012. Hopefully it will be read by those who need to see it. Hopefully they will see in time that this is not true at all. Are you listening, History Channel? You HAVE TO STOP

Who are we?

Several of us are astronomers, employed in various fields, and some are still in school. Some of us are fairly young, and some of us are retired. Some of us are not astronomers, but have an interest in astronomy and space. Some of us are professionals in the sciences: Astrophysics, chemistry, etc. Some of us are teachers. We come from all over the world: The U.S., the U.K., Australia, Germany. A few of us contribute directly to the site. Many of us contribute by proofreading or giving feedback, or by contributing to one of the main authors by e-mail.

None of us are part of any vast conspiracy to hide anything.

Feedback

Some recent comments have given the impression that some people doubt that there is a need for this site. We present some of the comments received on this site and on Astrogeek's site as a counterpoint.

Feedback from Astrogeek's Page

This is one of the MOST TRUE articles I have come across in recent times! Down here in South India, local channels are agog with this terrible rumour and believe me, it is very hard to come across anyone without shuffling towards this topic! And this article goes a long way in dispelling this myth.

Thank you so much, I was one of the many people scared about all of this and you have really opened my eyes. I really enjoyed reading what you wrote for us, and thank you very much!

This article is truly amazing. I was terrified after I heard all the 2012 hype, but now after thoroughly reading this article, I understand how poorly educated I was about the facts.

Thank you Astrogeek, for providing true information free from ads and money-making scams, and putting my mind at peace.

Feedback from 2012hoax.org

All I have to say is thank God there is one decent website on here that tells the truth. Anyone that believes the 2012 doomsday theory is just as crazy as the ones that created the hoax.

I want to thank you for putting up this sight and debunking all the rumors.

Thank you for your logical and well-informed site exposing this hoax. I am sending this link to many of my friends.

For those of you who criticize about how they only quote 1 or 2 children becoming fearful from the hype - trust me, MANY MANY adults are also becoming scared. I can't tell you how many of my adult, well-educated (college and beyond) friends and acquaintances are asking me about this. I can only think they come to me because of my background in math and science (aerospace engineering) as well as my reading in various philosophies (mostly Eastern).

I have told them over and over it all crap (and now I can send them your link) ….

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