Devil theories spread across Internet on '666'

The web was rife with warnings of bad things expected to happen on June 6, 2006, the first time in 100 years that the date coincided with 666.

Websites devoted to 666 were the reference point for rumours of meteors smashing into earth or of pregnant women trying to avoid giving birth to prevent their babies being born with the mark of the devil.

The figure 666 is named the "number of the beast" in the closing chapter of the Bible, the "Book of Revelation", otherwise known as "The Apocalypse of John".

Chapter 13, Verse 18 of the book, with its apparent reference to the coming of the Devil -- "his number is six hundred threescore and six" -- has for centuries absorbed meanings its author never intended. There is even a name for the fear of the number: hexakosioihexeko-ntahexaphobia.