NATALYA SARKARI 

     STAFF WRITER

     It is common knowledge that many people believed the world would end on December 21, 2012. While we may still be living and breathing nearly seven years later, there are several examples, such as the Mandela Effect, pointing to 2012 being an important year.

     Many people remember things differently, but when an entire population, generations even, remembers something different, then we know something is up. The Mandela effect is one of the primary reasons that people still believe the world ended in 2012. It was named The Mandela effect after Nelson Mandela; a lot of people swear they remember Nelson Mandela passing away in prison in the ‘80s, and subsequently being shocked when he actually died in 2013, therefore leading to the naming and creation of The Mandela Effect. Many people believe that this is an example of how the world ended: alternate memories. For example, take the movie ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ from Star Wars. Plenty of people think of the series-defining moment when Darth Vader tells Luke Skywalker, “Luke, I am your father.” The thing is, Vader never said that. The actual quote reads “No, I am your father”. This led to a plethora of people, Star Wars fans or not, to be confused about the original script.   

     Of course, the reason this whole thing started was because of how the ancient Mayan calendar was designed. The calendar, which spanned more than 5,000 years, ended abruptly on the winter solstice of 2012. Logically, many people believed that the world would end on December 21, 2012. Some scientists have tried to reason with this by saying that, just like how our calendars end in December and reset in January, the Mayan calendar would end on December 21, 2012, but would simply reset after that. Since the Mayans are not around today, we can only presume that this explanation, being the most logical, is what the ancient society really meant.  

     There are more than enough conspiracy theories, online sites and threads, and conversations trying to explain if, how, or why the world ended (or should have ended) in 2012. Some of them take scientific, religious, or even supernatural stances. All of them, no matter what stance they took, centered around one subject: 2012 was a pretty crazy year.