The mountains side will be closed off for three days before and two days after the ‘doomsday’.

A French village, Bugarach, is struggling to cope with the influx of Doomsday believers, mystical groups who believe a mountain in the village will help them escape the end of the world on December 21.

The doomsday cultists believe a mountain in the village contains an arsenal of UFOs that will catapult them to safety in another realm while the rest of the planet perishes.

The believers have held the belief since 2010 and have since then circulated rumours about the village’s ‘ability’ to provide shelter from an impending Armageddon expected on December 21, the end of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the ancient Maya calendar.

The village of Bugarach in South-West France has a population of 200.

Bugarach Mayor, Jean-Pierre Delord, said his village had been “overrun with esoteric weirdos” hoping to survive the doomsday.

“The mountainside is swarming with hippies, many of them naked, who drop litter and make a mess,” Mr. Delord said. “This is no laughing matter. If 10,000 people turn up on December 21, our village will not be able to cope.”

“There are already some websites in the US with some people selling tickets for trips to Bugarach. They are doing some business, and people are already organising visits and prayer and meditation workshops, etc,” the mayor told RTL radio.

The area’s regional prefect, Eric Freysselinard, has issued an order barring people from climbing the mountain on “Doomsday”.

“It will be closed off for three days before and two days after the world is supposed to end,” Mr. Freysselinard said.

The story about the world ending in December 2012 started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 — hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21.

“The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012,” NASA said on its website.