A hoax report has gone viral claiming that in December Earth will experience total darkness for six days.
A hoax report has gone viral claiming that in December Earth will experience total darkness for six days.(Representation Pic)Reuters

A recent report citing NASA claimed that there will be six days of total darkness in December. The report, however, turned out to be a hoax.

The story titled "Nasa Confirms Earth Will Experience 6 Days of Total Darkness in December 2014!" originated on satirical news website Huzlers.com, which in the past has published several fake stories such as 'Dead Ebola victims coming back to life' and 'American rapper Tupac Shakur is alive'.

The fake report that was shared by many on Facebook and Twitter stated: "NASA has confirmed that the Earth will experience 6 days of almost complete darkness and will happen from the dates Tuesday, the 16 – Monday, the 22 in December."

A Huffington Post report, calling the story "the latest major hoax", noted that this rather "bold -- and entirely fake" story was able to fool many as it listed Charles Bolden, NASA administrator as the source of the claim. But that is exactly what Huzlers does, as per its own admission on its homepage, it say that it uses "a combination of real shocking news and satirical entertainment to keep its visitors in a state of shock."

The hoax Huzlers report claimed that the six-day blackout would be "due to a solar storm, which will cause dust and space debris to become plentiful and thus, block 90% sunlight."

A similar days of darkness hoax had targetted NASA back in 2012. A Snopes report busting the hoax noted 'the universe is not about to realign in December 2014, nor will there be a multi-day blackout. "Neither NASA, nor any other credible scientific entity has made such a pronouncement, ever," stated.

The report noted that the days of darkness hoax originated in 2012, when interest in the belief that the world would come to end as per the Mayan calendar was at its peak. The same hoax simply been rehashed and circulated in 2014, replacing the original references to 2012, it noted.

The story, however, went viral after panicky citizens took to Twitter to voice their concerns about the worldwide blackout.

Twitter Reactions:

Bonnie Musambi ‏@bonniemusambi said:

NASA says, despite the six days of darkness soon to come(16-22nd Dec. 2014) the earth will not experience any major problems.

Brock ‏@SangYoon__ 9 tweeted:

 Six days of darkness cause solar storm in December.

Gerrard ‏@etonggg said:

Six days of total darkness? If that turns out to be true, let's take advantage and create a light festival of some sort!

Inua Ellams ‏@InuaEllams posted:

So, this six days of darkness thing. Is it legit, and does it also mean temperatures will drop rapidly?

Boris_Dr ‏@BORIS_DFB said:

Has anyone heard about NASA confirming that there will be six days of total darkness in December 2014 ?

However, Twitter user Ezekiel Briones ‏@Mozamzeke after realising that it was a hoax and said:

Lol the six days of darkness is BS. damn gullible mind haha I was actually excited and afraid for it. Oh well it's good that it's not true.