Retiree Bets Life Savings on May 21 Doomsday

He finances $140K warning campaign on NYC transit
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 12, 2011 4:39 PM CDT
Updated May 15, 2011 12:44 PM CDT
Family Radio Follower Spends Life Savings on May 21 Doomsday Warning Campaign
A former public transport worker has spent $140,000 on an ad campaign warning of the end of the world.   (Flickr)

A retired public transportation worker in New York City is sure the world will end on May 21st—and he wants everyone to know it. He’s put his life savings—$140,000—into an ad campaign across city transit announcing doomsday, reports the New York Daily News. “I'm trying to warn people about what's coming,” says 60-year-old Robert Fitzpatrick. “People who have an understanding” of the matter “have an obligation to warn everyone.”

To that end, his poster warns: “Global Earthquake! The Greatest Ever—Judgment Day: May 21.” More than a thousand others like it adorn subway cars and bus shelters. Fitzpatrick picked up the information listening to Harold Camping on Family Radio. “It'll start just before midnight, Jerusalem time: It'll be instantaneous and global,” he says. But others aren’t so sure. “"My sister doesn't believe it," he says. "I've tried to tell her. But that's pretty much the story with most people.” (More end of the world stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X