Don't come to my village for the end of the world, says mayor

Paris: The mayor of a French village has threatened to call in the army to seal it off from an influx of New Age fanatics and UFO watchers, who are convinced it is the only place on Earth that will be spared Armageddon in 2012.

Bugarach, population 189, is a peaceful farming community in the Aude region of southwestern France and sits at the foot of the Pic de Bugarach, the highest mountain in the Corbieres area. But in the past few months, the quiet village has been inundated by groups of esoteric outsiders who believe the peak is an "alien garage".

According to them, extraterrestrials are quietly waiting in a massive cavity beneath the rock for the world to end, at which point they will leave, taking, it is hoped, a lucky few humans with them. Most believe Armageddon will take place on December 21, 2012.