The Diaries of Flash Hearth
Edited by Nunu Jumps
Journal entry Starting 7th August 2011
“The mountain is special. It has a special magnetism that comes from the alien ships buried deep inside of it,” said Heinrik, a wiry 40 year old German with the haunted look of someone who had seen things he shouldn’t have.
I’d been on the road for 4 days and after a brief stop off in Toulouse, I had made the final part of my journey from Tunbridge Wells to the French Pyrenees.
A few weeks prior to this, I had found a website (now disabled) called Heinrik and the End of the World. In it he describes the end of the world and its connection to the Mayan calendar. After a series of email exchanges with Heinrik, he had invited me to visit him in his converted stone chalet and discuss his visions.
I sat down with him next to his large open fireplace, and over a few glasses of Pastis, he told me about the special mountain-top nearby which would be the only spot on the planet where people would be safe from the coming apocalypse, and this could be because the buried aliens lie waiting to come out at just the right moment, and help those who are there to escape. The mountain, Bugarach, and its village of the same name, were just a few kilomters from where we were sitting. And Henirick is not the only person to be taken with this idea.
Next year there could be a surge of an estimated 3 million people travelling to Bugarach, a village of just 200 on the side of the mountain. Visionaries, paranoids, spiritual seekers, and just the plain curious have been busily exchanging information and ideas about the End of Times and how Bugarach is potentially one of the only places where people will survive on December 21st of 2012.I of course, planned to investigate these claims and to visit the site, and see for myself if there was anything special about the mountain.
Heinrik moved to another small village near Bugarach in 2007 and has been preparing in his own way for the coming Apocalypse. I asked him what his vision of the apocalypse was. Raining frogs? Massive earth-splitting earthquakes and giant world-swallowing tsunamis? Would he take the ride with the aliens to another place, leaving a totally destroyed planet behind him?
“No, I believe that I will survive the apocalypse on Mt. Bugarach, and then afterwards, my careful and precise preparations will be fruitful,” he answered thoughtfully.
“You see, I have been preparing for this for years now. I have taught myself the skills I will need. I can find my own food, and grow some vegetables. I have guns. I can scale most of these cliffs and mountains without ropes and know the area like the back of my hand. I am in exquisite physical condition.” His bicep flexed reflectively. Heinrik actually looked like the kind of man who could and would hunt you down, and kill you if he had to.
I searched his face for any sense of irony or humour but there was nothing but determination in his eyes.
The road to Bugarach was almost empty of cars as I wound my way up to the village. There was no evidence of spacemen or loonies yet. When the mountain came into full view, I had to admit it had a strange and dramatic look. There were veins of colour running down the rock faces, into the green fields below – I wasn’t sure what they were. I could see a few points near the base that looked like cave entrances. Geologists have actually found many large caves within the mountain and if they are followed far enough, you will reach large salt deposits. These caves and their openings inspired local imagination, and rumours that the caves lead to other worlds began to circulate. Jules Verne visited the area and the mountain is said to have inspired him for his book Journey to the Centre of the Earth after seeing an entrance to one of these caves. So it would seem that the newer idea that alien spaceships are buried under the mountain is just another myth in a long line of them.
Heinrik had decided not to come with me in the end and seemed suspicious of how serious I was about the coming events. He had been friendly enough to begin with but the more I talked to him the more guarded he became.
Without Heinrik, I needed to find another guide to help me in my quest to find the truth about the mountain. Half a kilometre before arriving into the village of Bugarach, I found the perfect person. He was riding an old bike, was shirtless, bare foot and laden down with a guitar and all manner of other equipment. On his back he had an intricate tattoo of Jesus on the cross. He had stopped by the side of the road to rearrange some item, and I pulled over and got out to greet him. He had that same slightly vacant look that Heinrik had acquired and he greeted me back with a slow nod of his head. He wore a tattered straw hat and his grizzled look put him to be about in his 50’s. I tried some French but he answered in English with a strong American accent.
“I’m on my way to the church,” he informed me. I glanced at my watch and it was 11.12 a.m. on a Tuesday. I started to tell him that I had come to investigate the mountain and its supposed mystical properties. Before I could finish he jumped in to interrupt me.
“This mountain here is a holy mountain. And I’ll be on it when the time comes for the Rapture, when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back for his true believers, his children, and takes us up to abide with Him in the eternal Kingdom of Heaven.”
From his attire I was expecting a strange response but this was more intense than I had expected. I had had no idea that certain Christians were in on this as well. It was getting more and more intriguing.
Diary entry ending 11th August 2011
We are still piecing together the rest of Flash Hearths Diary and will be bringing you more of it in due course.
