Earth to face a 6-day blackout, viral hoax cites NASA as saying

The latest space hoax claiming NASA confirmed six days of 'total darkness' in December has been debunked – but not before it had been spread worldwide via Twitter.

The original report was published on a satirical news site Huzlers.com, citing NASA administrator Charles Bolden as the source.

Titled ‘NASA Confirms Earth Will Experience 6 Days of Total Darkness in December 2014,’ is said the space agency “confirmed” that there will be six days of darkness on Earth from December 16 to 22.

It argued that this was due to a solar storm, which would block 90 percent of sunlight with dust and debris.

Bolden’s emergency preparedness video was taken out of context to add weight to the report.

When viewed as a whole, however, it becomes clear that Bolden was discussing emergency preparedness in case of an earthquake or hurricane, in order to help US families to be ready for such scenarios.

Still, many people reacted in panic, as the story went viral on Twitter.

6 days of complete darkness in December!? OH WOW http://t.co/SAGS1dcUdX

— Matthew Schueller (@booshoe37) October 28, 2014

NASA has confirmed that the Earth will experience 6 days of almost complete darkness and will happen from the dates 16 – 22 in December.

— HANNAN DURRANI (@HannanDurrani) October 29, 2014

Meanwhile, NASA has not made any official statements regarding this report.

Back in 2012 a similar rumor made the headlines, when a report claimed a worldwide blackout was coming due to the Earth passing through ‘Photon Belt’ on December 21 that year.

Huzlers.com describes itself as offering “a combination of real shocking news and satirical entertainment to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief.” It is responsible for other hoaxes such as Ebola victims rising from the dead and Tupac Shakur claiming he was alive.