God abhors a naked singularity.Stephen Hawking1
A neat way of describing the
cosmic censorship hypothesis, by
Roger Penrose, which states that a singularity can only be seen from the inside of its own
event horizon. That doesn't mean that they can't be seen: just that if you're brave/stupid/well insured enough to go in and have a look, then you
ain't going to be coming back to tell us...
Stephen Hawkings lost a bet on this subject; his opponent showed that under certain (highly improbable and unstable) circumstances a singularity could exist without an event horizon forming. Under the terms of his bet, he had to 'clothe their nakedness'.
For further details, I suggest you read A brief history of Time by Professor Hawkings himself.
1: sometimes attributed to Roger Penrose. Anyone know which is right?