Rapture Pet Rescue Creator: It Was a Hoax

The guy behind the company offering to look after believers' pets after the Rapture has admitted that the whole business was a hoax. Bart Centre says he decided to come clean after New Hampshire authorities launched a probe of Eternal Earth-Bound Pets for engaging in "unauthorized business of insurance," USA Today reports. Centre says the business never collected a penny, and never recruited any atheists to look after left-behind pets—despite his claims business was booming last year because of Harold Camping's predictions.

Centre says he decided to start the business as a "social experiment" after wondering "How much do believers really buy into this? How committed are they to their pets? How much do they trust atheists?" He says only two people contacted him looking for post-apocalypse pet care, and he told them that no atheists in their area were available. "The last thing I wanted to do was start getting involved in actual contracts," he says. State investigators say they're continuing the probe because of Centre's contradictory remarks to the press. (More rapture stories.)