Fans of conspiracy / alien theories had hoped the new millennium would finally prove them right, not necessarily in the sense that it would bring about the end of the world, but that some sort of catastrophe would hit, just like they had predicted years before. 06/06/06 came and went rather uneventfully, to their rather disappointment, but that still leaves the inverted number, which is today, 09/09/09, as a piece in the Daily Mail points out.

Several websites dedicated to such topics are overflowing in comments from those who believe today is a significant day for representing the inverted Number of the Beast, as we all know it. As such, only bad things can happen, with one in particular being the most circulated and accepted as probable: the end of the world. This, doom-mongers say, can take place in many ways, with some theories indicating the swine flu virus as a likely cause or some cataclysm perhaps generated by the Cern particle collider in Switzerland.

“Note that 999 is 666 upside down. Did Nostrodamus warn us from 400 years ago about creating a Doomsday Machine with the Cern LHC?” one commenter on the Alien-Earth website writes. “The world population officially reaches 6.8billion near November 2009, and Revelation 6:8 is about the fourth horseman, Death, so will death ride then? Could this be a mutation in swine flu H1N1 making it a deadly worldwide plague? Note that ‘nein’ in German means ‘no’ so 9-9-9 could mean ‘no-no-no.’” another one opines on Revelation13.

However, all these theories could stem from people’s desire to try to find a pattern in the sometimes chaotic lives they lead. Rationalizing everything means having some sense of control over what happens, it is being said, and the same would apply here. At the same time, other numerologists believe the 9-9-9 combination is anything but malefic, since the number 9 represents completion, which could mean that our future is about to start changing for the better today, even as we speak.

Other experts call bogus on all the above. “Numerology, like any other system of divination, has no validity whatsoever with the exception that sometimes your belief that a day is auspicious may affect your behavior. If a deeply superstitious person is anxious about driving on Friday 13th it’s possible they may be more likely to crash. We are very good at seeking out meaning and patterns in randomness – it’s one of the reasons humans are such a successful species. But the price is that we see significance in things that aren’t there at all.” Professor Chris French of Goldsmiths of the University of London and editor of The Skeptic Magazine tells the Daily Mail about the predictions on today, 09/09/09.