While the Mayan apocalypse theory appears to have been a dud, it's remarkable how far it spread.
In China, the United Nations were forced to use their Weibo account to deny rumors it was issuing tickets for an ark that would save people from the apocalypse. “The United Nations sincerely has not issued any boat tickets,” the message read (next to an angry emoticon).
AFP reports that the tickets, featured below, had been "widely available on Chinese auction websites and each retail for around 10 yuan (US$1.60) – although their face value is 10 billion yuan".