CORDOBA – It was circulating on social media before finally reaching the desks of Capilla del Monte police: an anonymous person on Facebook was inviting people to “a spiritual magical suicide on December 21 at 21:12 on Uritorco Mountain.”
The invitation received (virtual) RSVPs from about 150 people. Following this, the owners of the mythical Cordoban mountain shut the site and banned access on Dec. 21 – 21-12 – a key day in the Mayan calendar representing the end of a cycle.
The closure will occur just days before the city and Cordoba region, in the center of Argentina, are due for a tourism boom with the arrival of around 15,000 people.
“The truth is that we have been working on the issue ever since we learned about it. We are concerned that while it may be a joke, you never know what could happen,” Rafael García Pérez, the manager of Uritorco Mountain told Clarín.
The Uritorco is 1979-meters high and became internationally famous when, in Jan. 1986, a flash of light left a 120 x 70 meter mark on one side. Since then, there have been numerous UFO and alien sightings, attracting many New Age tourists.
The event created on the social networking site is called “Massive Magical Suicide 21/12/2012.” On the page, the following can be read: “To all the believers, beings and warriors of the light, I invite you to a spiritual suicide en masse in Uritorco, Cordoba, Argentina. We will abandon our unclean flesh and transport our spirit through the inter dimensional portal at 21 hours, 12 minutes on 21/12/2012 and from this will be created an army of light that will save humanity … in this change of era.”
Mass meditations are not cancelled
Notified about the invitation, in which 150 people clicked that they would be “attending” the event, the Anchorena family, private owners of the mountain, contacted their lawyer, who advised them not to open on that day. The mayor of Capilla del Monte, Gustavo Sez, has himself organized meetings on the issue. The biggest worry is that in a town of just 16,000 inhabitants, the number of people in the streets would double in just a few hours.
“We do not want to be too careless or contribute to any action that may serve such ideas, however crazy they sound,” said Rafael García Pérez, adding that, “the priority is to protect every visitor.”
Sources close to the Anchorena family told Clarín that “there is a 95% chance that we will decide not to open. We are awaiting formal notification of the municipality to inform the tourism office.”
The family insider added: “Surely they will ask the authorities to help us block all access to the mountain, including for all the various alternative paths that exist to go up to the top. However, the bar-restaurant at the bottom will stay open.” Other activities planned for during the day, including the mass meditations, will take place as schedule.
So far, the creator of the group — posting under the pseudonym “Ente EBR” — has not been identified. On the Facebook page, there are images of the universe and statements like “The world will end on 21/12. What will you do?” There are various links and also, a lot of jokes.
