Cheltenham website becomes Hollywood sensation

Bruce Fenton has long been a prophet of doom – and now Hollywood has caught on.

As the latest end-of-the-world blockbuster 2012 hits movie screens today, the 32-year-old says he will be first through the cinema doors.

Bruce, from Cheltenham, claims to runs the UK's most popular website dedicated to the cataclysmic Mayan prophecy from which the film takes its story.

The estate agent has spent the past 10 years researching the Mesoamerican culture, which predicts the earth will undergo a series of powerful transformations on December 21 or 23 of that year.

The forecast is based on what's thought to be the end-date of the Mayan Long Count calendar – 5,125 years after it was drawn-up.

Bruce, who lives in Clarence Street, has been running his website for two years, but in recent weeks visits have gone through the roof with more than 1,000 hits a day.

He said: "I'm looking forward to watching the film but I know I'm going to be critical.

"I've been genuinely surprised by the number of people who've been clicking on my site in the past few weeks.

"With anticipation building for the film I've been getting at least 200 more people a day checking out my blog."

Arguments supporting the dates are drawn from a mixture of amateur astronomy, mythology, numerology and alleged prophecies from extraterrestrial beings.

Some new age interpretations say the planet will undergo a positive physical or spiritual shift and that 2012 will mark the beginning of a new era.

Others, as in the film, which stars John Cusack, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton and Woody Harrelson, paint a bleaker picture.

Both ideas have been disseminated in books and TV documentaries over the years and have spread around the world through websites and discussion groups.

Bruce said: "I got involved through my interest in paranormal phenomenon. A lot of people are now saying what the Mayans said – that 2012 will be a milestone year in the history of civilisation.

"Nostradamus said the same thing and scientists predict anything from mini ice-ages to super-storms.

"I prefer to see it not as Doomsday, but as a chance to change the direction we're going in."

Visit Bruce's website athttp://2012Rising.com