By 2009, this idea had gone viral. Books like 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and websites dedicated to Planet X (Nibiru) had millions of followers. NASA received thousands of panicked letters from teenagers and adults alike asking if they should kill themselves before the end came.
Leading up to 2012, you couldn't scroll through the early internet (shout out to MySpace and Yahoo Answers) without seeing a blog about the Mayan calendar "ending." Conspiracy theorists claimed the galactic alignment would trigger a polar shift. Survivalist bunkers sold out. 2012 end of the world movie
The 2012 movie, directed by Roland Emmerich, takes creative liberties with the Mayan prophecy. The film's narrative revolves around a global catastrophe triggered by a series of massive solar flares and coronal mass ejections that cause widespread destruction. The story follows several characters, including: By 2009, this idea had gone viral