LONDON -- The end of the world was scheduled for earlier this month, but it might be coming this week instead, if a church in south London is anything to go by.
The St. George the Martyr church on Borough High Street rang its bells nonstop for well over 24 hours, perplexing and irritating locals in equal measure.
Staff at the church became "hysterical" while passersby are scratched their heads and offered up theories.
Was it a sign of the apocalypse? Or perhaps a warning that London has fallen to invading forces? A battle cry from disgruntled campanologists? Is the vicar dead? Explanations varied.
@se1 Has the clock in St George the Martyr been chiming constantly since yesterday? Sounds like a weird apocalyptic death knell.— Greg Robins (@gj_robins) October 13, 2015
@se1 @georgethemartyr thought the plague was back or similar— Ravensbury Grove (@ravensburygrove) October 13, 2015
@se1 @georgethemartyr I thought there might have been a new Great Fire of London or the Shard was collapsing or something.— Mark Emlyn Evans (@marcooth) October 13, 2015
Actually, the truth turned out to be more prosaic: a technical fault was to blame.
The bells at the church, whose current bricks and mortar incarnation is not far off its 300th birthday, started malfunctioning Monday, and no engineer could be found to sort them out. So they just kept on ringing.
A church staff member told the London Evening Standard they did not know when it started exactly, but said: "It's a technical fault. We're trying to get someone in right now, we've been calling since first thing this morning, unfortunately there's no emergency bell engineer."
At first, the church offered profuse apologies.
Our most sincere apologies for our incessant bell ringing. This is not intentional!! We have a technical & our trying our hardest to solve— St George the Martyr (@georgethemartyr) October 13, 2015
Again huge apologies from us. Bell malfunction - trying desperately to fix. Emergency engineer on its way! #borough #se1— St George the Martyr (@georgethemartyr) October 13, 2015
Then they started to go a little mad with frustration.
WHY WON'T IT STOOOOP?!? After 24hrs of no sleep, our staff are now becoming even more hysterical.— St George the Martyr (@georgethemartyr) October 13, 2015
They kept locals updated throughout Tuesday morning.
RE the bell - no our Vicar hasn't died...well not until the angry sleepless mob with fire & pitchforks get him #borough #se1 #bell— St George the Martyr (@georgethemartyr) October 13, 2015
One church clock specialist we have tried to contact doesn't seem to have started work yet...perhaps he forgot to set his alarm?— St George the Martyr (@georgethemartyr) October 13, 2015
Finally, around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the bells stopped.
The emergency engineer has been & our bell has been stopped. Again a HUGE apology to our parish residents & workers who it disturbed (...)— St George the Martyr (@georgethemartyr) October 13, 2015