Have a "Hell" of a time in Michigan this Tuesday

[Rover_Wow]

The re-makers of The Omen are making a point of releasing it on June 6 (even here in Thailand), but they're not the only (sane!) ones taking 6-6-6 somewhat seriously... A town in Michigan has decided to do a little tongue-in-cheeking about Tuesday's date.

Hell, Michigan, heats up for 6-6-6 party

(6/03/06 - HELL, MI) - They're planning a hot time in Hell on Tuesday.

The day bears the date of 6-6-06, or abbreviated as 666 -- a number that carries hellish significance.

And there's not a snowball's chance in Hell that the day will go unnoticed in the unincorporated hamlet 60 miles west of Detroit.

Nobody is more fired up than John Colone, the town's self-styled mayor and owner of a souvenir shop.

"I've got `666' T-shirts and mugs. I'm only ordering 666 (of the items) so once they're gone, that's it," said Colone, also known as Odum Plenty. "Everyone who comes will get a letter of authenticity saying you've celebrated June 6, 2006, in Hell."

Most of Colone's wares will sell for $6.66, including deeds to one square inch of Hell.

Live entertainment and a costume contest are planned. The Gates of Hell should be installed at a children's play area in time for the festivities.

"They're 8 feet tall and 5 foot wide and each gate looks like flames, and when they're closed, it's a devil's head," Colone told The Detroit News for a Saturday story.

Mike "Smitty" Hickey, owner of the Dam Site Inn, wasn't sure what kind of clientele would show up Tuesday.

"We're all about having fun here. I don't think we're going to get the cult crowd, the devil worshippers or anything like that," said Hickey, whose bar's signature concoction is the Bloody Devil, a variant of the Bloody Mary.

Colone, meanwhile, has been in touch with radio stations as far away as San Diego and Seattle that are raffling off trips to Hell in honor of 6-6-6.

The 666 revelry is just the latest chapter in the town's storied history of publicity stunts, said Jason LeTeff, one of its 72 year-round residents -- or, as the mayor calls them, Hellions or Hell-billies. But LeTeff wasn't particularly enthused.

"Now, here I am living in Hell, taking my kids to church and trying to teach them the right things and the town where we live is having a 6-6-6 party," he said.

According to the town's semiofficial Web site, there are two leading theories about how Hell got its name.

The first holds that a pair of German travelers stepped out of a stagecoach one sunny afternoon in the 1830s, and one said to the other, "So schoene hell" -- roughly translated as, "So bright and beautiful." Their comments were overheard by some locals and the name stuck.

The second holds that George Reeves was asked after Michigan gained statehood what he thought the town he helped settle should be called, and reportedly replied, "I don't care, you can name it Hell if you want to." The name became official on Oct. 13, 1841.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

In other news, Charita Goshay (http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=289719&Category=14) writes about the date, while The Modesto Bee (http://www.modbee.com/local/story/12274254p-13010640c.html) chips in not one, but two (http://www.modbee.com/local/story/12274254p-13010636c.html) stories about triple 6.

[Martianinvader]

This date is gonna be a mess--if not now then eventually. I expect to hear isolated incidents about parents who killed their babies because they were born on 6-6-06.

Anyone born on this day who becomes a celebrity or politician in the future will be targeted by people who say they want to take over the world, and possibly shot. And the thing is, 666 is not that helpful a hint when the Antichrist is concerned, as you can calculate that number out of anything. (Some actually accused Ronald Reagan of being the Devilspawn because each of his names were six letters long.)

[Stewie]

In case the world ends tomorrow, I just want to say Hi to everyone on TZ right now.

"Hi."

Oh, and don't get fooled into thinking that the George Reeves that founded this town back in the 18whatevers is the same George Reeves that was Superman. Because that would be silly.
But it would have been cool.

[Bubblegum Girl]

I expect to hear isolated incidents about parents who killed their babies because they were born on 6-6-06.

I've been thinking some Christain family might do that if one of their kids was born on 6/6/06. I certainly hope that won't happen...:sweat:

Though I wonder why didn't the world end in 6/6/1906? After all those dates have 6-6-6 on it but we're still here. Odd...

[Stewie]

I've been thinking some Christain family might do that if one of their kids was born on 6/6/06. I certainly hope that won't happen...:sweat:I just read a bit about an expectant mother in Britain trying to get the hospital to induce labor so the baby isn't born before tomorrow.

[Kury Wagner]

Hah, I love those people who do anything to make a buck. They remind me of my father.

The point about 6/6/06 that I keep making is that it's not the year 6; it's the year 2006. Technically, great evil should've happened two-thousand years ago. But that's anticlimactic, so continue on with the faux fear of the beast.

[Fifi Fanatic]

Nah. Tomorrow is not likely to be any more sinister than any other day. Here is what it specifically says:

Revelation 13:16-18 "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to recieve a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

The number 6 is used throughout the Bible as "the number of man". But I don't think a particular date like 6-6-06 has anything at all to do with the end times. It could begin next week or it could be another thousand years from now.

Interestingly, I've found out that all bar codes have the number 666 in them. Note that it says "recieve a mark IN their right hand, or IN their foreheads". A microchip or some other type of implant?

[Carolina Red]

I may not be much of a religious person, but I have read that some people say it was a misprinting. There have been some instances and beliefs of the number really being 616.

I have been hearing stories about parents in my area being worried, but I do not see any real concern. Then again some people get worried about certain dates all of the time, one of my aunts induced labor so her child would be born on September 10, 2002.

[Stewie]

I may not be much of a religious person, but I have read that some people say it was a misprinting. There have been some instances and beliefs of the number really being 616.You mean the world ended last Thursday?

I have been hearing stories about parents in my area being worried, but I do not see any real concern. Then again some people get worried about certain dates all of the time, one of my aunts induced labor so her child would be born on September 10, 2002.So rather than "being born/giving birth on the same say as a terrorist attack" as a point of conversation, they have "induced labor to avoid being born/giving birth on the same day as a terrorist attack."