The end times are no laughing matter, but when someone declares a particular day to be the start of the end, that can open the door for levity as well as lamentation. The most popular way to have a little fun with the Rapture — also known as Rapture bombing — has been to set out clothes to make it look as if the wearers were transported up to heaven.
There are literally scores of such pictures streaming onto Flickr, Yfrog, Instagram, Twitpic and other picture-sharing sites. Many of them have been flagged on Twitter with the hashtags #rapturebomb or #raptureprank. Here are a few of the favorites:
Thanks to Delos Johnson, Rob Sheridan and David Kinsey for sharing. And special thanks to California photographer Brian Helm, a Cosmic Log correspondent who went the extra mile by shooting a five-minute video about the day of the fake Rapture:
One of the other popular concepts for Rapture bombing was to set loose a load of helium-filled blow-up dolls, to make it look as if souls were rising up into the sky. The interesting thing is, that idea was already caught on tape five years ago, as a lead-in for an episode of the "Six Feet Under" series about a quirky funeral-home family. Here it is:
Again, religious beliefs are nothing to laugh at, and there will be very serious repercussions in the days ahead, particularly for folks who spent their assets with the expectation that they'd enter immortality on Saturday. I hope Rapture bombing isn't seen as a criticism of Christianity. Think of it as a stress-reliever for the people who have been inundated by all the hype over the past week.
More about the Rapture rumblings:
- All quiet on the Rapture front
- Why we're enraptured by the Rapture hype
- Rapture prophet says he'll be watching the action on TV
- Digital Life: Post-rapture video reveals stunning lack of zombies
- The Last Word: Only hours to go until the (fake) Rapture
- End of Days? Believers enter the final stretch
- End of the world? How about a party instead?
- Slate: 144 scenarios for America's apocalypse
- Pet sitting offered during Rapture
- Doomsday facts (or fictions)
Even though Saturday is already finished with in some parts of the world, I'll still be blogging about the Rapture hype until the day is totally finished. You can follow the updates by checking CosmicLog.com/Rapture. You can also connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. And for something completely different, check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
