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People Shed Light On Conspiracy Theories That Actually Turned Out To Be True

Sometimes suspicion can turn out to be true. And when the truth does out... Lord do the conspiracy theorists love to let loose.

Every tall tale and drama can sound like a fairytale on the peripheral, but every now and again we're proven that the strangest, weirdest people, we're giving us some facts.

Redditorforthemotherrussiawanted to discuss all the "what ifs'?" They asked:

What Conspiracy Theories turned out to be true but most people still don't know about them?

I don't normally subscribe to "theory." Show me the proof! Why is that so hard?

Lights Up

hack my life kevin GIF by truTVGiphy

"The lightbulb conspiracy. A bunch of lightbulb manufacturers got together and agreed to lightbulb lifespans and costs for a few decades, holding technology back. Lightbulbs are supposed to outlast the people who buy them by now." ~ Wahooney

All the reasons...

"Chernobyl wasn't lost because of one mistake. Pre-crash checks revealed problems, but no one took it serious." ~ AngryPortal1234

"It's been a long time since I learned about it, but I'm pretty sure there were engineers/scientists that took it very seriously. They were just forced to proceed more or less. I'd be surprised if people didn't take it seriously, as it was a poorly designed reactor, and some people working there had to have known that." ~ somethingIforgot

One Shot

"CIA heart attack gun. A gun that shoots an ice block dart containing some animal Shellfish poison that dissolves destroys in the body. This poison would cause a heart attack, believing the victim dies under natural circumstances."

Societies...

"Propaganda Due, an Italian masonic lodge that included many high profile people. The stuff they were up to is insane, and also resulted in the government of Italy passing a law prohibiting secret societies. They were behind journalist murders, press takeover, government policy, bombings etc."

"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Due". ~ emix75

Undercover

Avoid The Office GIFGiphy

"The CIA was involved in smuggling cocaine into the U.S." ~ MrGiabris

Oof, that is a lot to digest.

dirty business...

Clutching Dave Chappelle GIFGiphy

"The King of Spain evaded money and had/has very very dirty business because of his total legal immunity that authorizes him (constitution hasn't changed as for the current King) to literally do anything." ~ Guipucci

Motor Issues

"The Great Street Car conspiracy -- the fact that the USA had one of the most advanced and developed public transit systems in the world in the 1950s, and it was deliberately curtailed, stopped, and dismantled in concert between the government, GM, Ford, and other car companies, leading to the promotion and expansion of the inefficient, wasteful suburban sprawls that dominate America today -- all for the principle purpose of selling more cars." ~ theDashRendar

Villains

"MK Ultra." ~ LyannaCeltiger88

"Part of why it seems so unreal is how much of a total freaking mess it was, and the incompleteness of our knowledge about it! There was no overarching hypothesis being tested, no proper scientific rigor. Just throwing crap against the wall to see what happens. Generally a lot of drugs given to people no-one would miss to see what the effects were, but also other substances to see what the effects could be."

"When we think of conspiracies, we typically think of competent villains, but this was just a mishmash of whatever questions popped into the brains of whoever was giving orders with a large dose of Red Scaremongering thrown in (if mind control exists, we can't let the Soviets discover it first!)." ~ Malaeveolent_Bunny

These Actors Seemed Miscast But Absolutely Nailed The Role | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

The Actors Who Seemed Miscast But Absolutely Nailed The RoleFew people bought into the idea of Bryan Cranston in the role of Walter White before Breaking Bad...

No Vegan

"Big Egg attempted to run a slander campaign against Vegan Mayo companies. They went as far as contaminating food and causing safety recalls in some cases until it was all exposed in a lawsuit." ~ shadowheart1

"I've worked in management positions in kitchens for over a decade. In the rare case I do receive proper training."

"There's always a section about people freaking with food. And I always think throughout the whole thing. Who the heck is gonna do that? I was always thinking psychos, killers, terrorists. My dumba** never though if the competition." ~ JillsACheatNMean

Into the Woods

Lyndon B Johnson Democrat GIF by lbjlibraryGiphy

"Didn't the US government try to commit terrorist attacks against Americans in order to blame Cuba as an excuse to go to war, but Kennedy wouldn't let them?" ~ LR-II

"It was proposed. Operation Northwoods." ~ Re-AnImAt0r

Founded: February 4, 2004

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_LifeLog

The objective of the LifeLog concept was "to be able to trace the 'threads' of an individual's life in terms of events, states, and relationships", and it has the ability to "take in all of a subject's experience, from phone numbers dialed and e-mail messages viewed to every breath taken, step made and place gone".[1]
The LifeLog program was canceled on February 4th, 2004, after criticism concerning the privacy implications of the system.[4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

Founded: February 4, 2004;

~ CompositeCharacter

Dear Fred

"Fred Hampton was assassinated by Chicago PD." ~ Wazula42

"Not only was he assassinated by FBI, the only reason we know he was is because a group of ppl broke into the pentagon on Independence Day or something when there was low security and leaked documents to press." ~ UCPines98

"man from Tuared"

"I don't think a lot of people know they found the origin of the "man from Tuared" story. Basically the story goes back in like the 50s a man was stopped at an airport somewhere in Asia. His passport said he was from a country called Tuared. The country does not exist."

"The police couldn't figure out who he was and took him to a 4th floor hotel room. The man disappeared without the guards seeing him. There has been plenty of speculation of who the man was. Secret agent was probably the biggest theory. The whole story was based on an actual event but nowhere near as intriguing as the conspiracy theories."

"Over time it became a legend that's mentioned a lot with stories like the Somerton man. Recently they have found the original story of the man from Tuared and it is very different then the legend it has become."

"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zegrus" ~ AlfaBetaZulu

Be Humane

Happy I Love You GIF by Looney TunesGiphy

"Rabbits were legally classified by the USDA as poultry at the behest of the rabbit industry so that they did not have to comply with the HUMANE SLAUGHTER ACT." ~ slonneck

Pandora...

"Anything regarding the Panama and Pandora papers. It's crazy how people just skipped over this to crap talk streamers for making money." ~ Revenge_Is_Here

"The Pandora Papers are new, so you're not going to see much. They also reported, as did the Panama Papers, that much of what they saw was perfectly legal."

"Panama Papers investigations are ongoing. As of April 2021, various countries had recovered at least $1.36 billion and filed charges against several people, garnering some guilty pleas and jail time. At least 80 countries have opened investigations." ~ NetworkLlama

Absolute Power

"Nixon wiretapped the democrat party headquarters to determine their strategy and then tried to use his power as president to cover the crime. Obviously it's now not seen as a conspiracy but I'm sure there were strong allegations at the time." ~ erisod

"Watergate was bad, and it rightly lost him the presidency. But his backchannel torpedoing of LBJ's Vietnam peace talks should have ended his career years before we got "gate" added to the end of all scandals ever." ~ meeeeetch

Wasted Time

"In the US, tax companies like H&R Block and Turbo Tax lobbied the government to intentionally keep taxes absurdly difficult to file so that you'd be more likely to pay for their services. The IRS has all the information needed to basically just send you a bill to review once a yeah, but they instead ensure that citizens have to fill out needlessly complicated and extensive forms confirming what the government already knows just so tax companies can receive an obscene amount of money annually." ~ Enjolraw

Who Cares?

Who Cares Judge Judy GIF by Lifetime TellyGiphy

"People don't care about the NSA monitoring and surveilling everything we do. The idea that the government is wiretapping every phone and computer in the US was considered tin-foil hat ridiculous just a few years back. Now it's been proven by heroes such as Snowden, and no one gives a crap." ~ Yusi-D-Jordan

Lights On

"Planned Obsolescence. Manufacturers actually design their products to fail so we become repeat consumers. I believe it started w/ lightbulbs. The in the 1920s the lightbulb competitors met and agreed to stop making the bulbs last long. There is currently a lightbulb that has been on since 1901–obviously a bulb before the plan was set in place." ~ rot10one

The drama is endless. What will this list look like in 10 years? I shudder to think. But now I have to start some research.

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People Reveal The Weirdest Thing About Themselves

Reddit user Isitjustmedownhere asked: 'Give an example; how weird are you really?'

Let's get one thing straight: no one is normal. We're all weird in our own ways, and that is actually normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't all have that one strange trait or quirk that outweighs all the other weirdness we possess.

For me, it's the fact that I'm almost 30 years old, and I still have an imaginary friend. Her name is Sarah, she has red hair and green eyes, and I strongly believe that, since I lived in India when I created her and there were no actual people with red hair around, she was based on Daphne Blake from Scooby-Doo.

I also didn't know the name Sarah when I created her, so that came later. I know she's not really there, hence the term 'imaginary friend,' but she's kind of always been around. We all have conversations in our heads; mine are with Sarah. She keeps me on task and efficient.

My mom thinks I'm crazy that I still have an imaginary friend, and writing about her like this makes me think I may actually be crazy, but I don't mind. As I said, we're all weird, and we all have that one trait that outweighs all the other weirdness.

Redditors know this all too well and are eager to share their weird traits.

It all started when Redditor Isitjustmedownhere asked:

"Give an example; how weird are you really?"

Monsters Under My Bed

"My bed doesn't touch any wall."

"Edit: I guess i should clarify im not rich."

– Practical_Eye_3600

"Gosh the monsters can get you from any angle then."

– bikergirlr7

"At first I thought this was a flex on how big your bedroom is, but then I realized you're just a psycho 😁"

– zenOFiniquity8

Can You See Why?

"I bought one of those super-powerful fans to dry a basement carpet. Afterwards, I realized that it can point straight up and that it would be amazing to use on myself post-shower. Now I squeegee my body with my hands, step out of the shower and get blasted by a wide jet of room-temp air. I barely use my towel at all. Wife thinks I'm weird."

– KingBooRadley

Remember

"In 1990 when I was 8 years old and bored on a field trip, I saw a black Oldsmobile Cutlass driving down the street on a hot day to where you could see that mirage like distortion from the heat on the road. I took a “snapshot” by blinking my eyes and told myself “I wonder how long I can remember this image” ….well."

– AquamarineCheetah

"Even before smartphones, I always take "snapshots" by blinking my eyes hoping I'll remember every detail so I can draw it when I get home. Unfortunately, I may have taken so much snapshots that I can no longer remember every detail I want to draw."

"Makes me think my "memory is full.""

– Reasonable-Pirate902

Same, Same

"I have eaten the same lunch every day for the past 4 years and I'm not bored yet."

– OhhGoood

"How f**king big was this lunch when you started?"

– notmyrealnam3

Not Sure Who Was Weirder

"Had a line cook that worked for us for 6 months never said much. My sous chef once told him with no context, "Baw wit da baw daw bang daw bang diggy diggy." The guy smiled, left, and never came back."

– Frostygrunt

Imagination

"I pace around my house for hours listening to music imagining that I have done all the things I simply lack the brain capacity to do, or in some really bizarre scenarios, I can really get immersed in these imaginations sometimes I don't know if this is some form of schizophrenia or what."

– RandomSharinganUser

"I do the same exact thing, sometimes for hours. When I was young it would be a ridiculous amount of time and many years later it’s sort of trickled off into almost nothing (almost). It’s weird but I just thought it’s how my brain processes sh*t."

– Kolkeia

If Only

"Even as an adult I still think that if you are in a car that goes over a cliff; and right as you are about to hit the ground if you jump up you can avoid the damage and will land safely. I know I'm wrong. You shut up. I'm not crying."

– ShotCompetition2593

Pet Food

"As a kid I would snack on my dog's Milkbones."

– drummerskillit

"Haha, I have a clear memory of myself doing this as well. I was around 3 y/o. Needless to say no one was supervising me."

– Isitjustmedownhere

"When I was younger, one of my responsibilities was to feed the pet fish every day. Instead, I would hide under the futon in the spare bedroom and eat the fish food."

– -GateKeep-

My Favorite Subject

"I'm autistic and have always had a thing for insects. My neurotypical best friend and I used to hang out at this local bar to talk to girls, back in the late 90s. One time he claimed that my tendency to circle conversations back to insects was hurting my game. The next time we went to that bar (with a few other friends), he turned and said sternly "No talking about bugs. Or space, or statistics or other bullsh*t but mainly no bugs." I felt like he was losing his mind over nothing."

"It was summer, the bar had its windows open. Our group hit it off with a group of young ladies, We were all chatting and having a good time. I was talking to one of these girls, my buddy was behind her facing away from me talking to a few other people."

"A cloudless sulphur flies in and lands on little thing that holds coasters."

"Cue Jordan Peele sweating gif."

"The girl notices my tension, and asks if I am looking at the leaf. "Actually, that's a lepidoptera called..." I looked at the back of my friend's head, he wasn't looking, "I mean a butterfly..." I poked it and it spread its wings the girl says "oh that's a BUG?!" and I still remember my friend turning around slowly to look at me with chastisement. The ONE thing he told me not to do."

"I was 21, and was completely not aware that I already had a rep for being an oddball. It got worse from there."

– Phormicidae

*Teeth Chatter*

"I bite ice cream sometimes."

RedditbOiiiiiiiiii

"That's how I am with popsicles. My wife shudders every single time."

monobarreller

Never Speak Of This

"I put ice in my milk."

– GTFOakaFOD

"You should keep that kind of thing to yourself. Even when asked."

– We-R-Doomed

"There's some disturbing sh*t in this thread, but this one takes the cake."

– RatonaMuffin

More Than Super Hearing

"I can hear the television while it's on mute."

– Tira13e

"What does it say to you, child?"

– Mama_Skip

Yikes!

"I put mustard on my omelettes."

– Deleted User

"Oh."

– NotCrustOr-filling

Evened Up

"Whenever I say a word and feel like I used a half of my mouth more than the other half, I have to even it out by saying the word again using the other half of my mouth more. If I don't do it correctly, that can go on forever until I feel it's ok."

"I do it silently so I don't creep people out."

– LesPaltaX

"That sounds like a symptom of OCD (I have it myself). Some people with OCD feel like certain actions have to be balanced (like counting or making sure physical movements are even). You should find a therapist who specializes in OCD, because they can help you."

– MoonlightKayla

I totally have the same need for things to be balanced! Guess I'm weird and a little OCD!

Close up face of a woman in bed, staring into the camera
Photo by Jen Theodore

Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.

Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?

But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.

It would be so great to be sure there is something else.

But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.

Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:

"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"

Sensations

Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy

"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."

PeachesnPain

Recovery

"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."

"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."

"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."

good_golly99

Take Me Back

"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."

"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."

rayrayrayray

Free

The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy

"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."

TooReDTooHigh

This is why I hate surgery.

You just never know.

Shocked

Giphy

"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."

Admirable_Buyer6528

The SOB

"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."

"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”

1-cupcake-at-a-time

Colors

"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"

Hannah_LL7

"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"

huntokarrr

The Fog

"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."

"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."

Fluffy-Hotel-5184

Through the Walls

"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."

"She's quite alive and well today."

Hot-Refrigerator6583

Well let's all be happy to be alive.

It seems to be all we have.

Man's waist line
Santhosh Vaithiyanathan/Unsplash

Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.

The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.

Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.

Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:

"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"

Redditors didn't see these coming.

Shiver Me Timbers

"I’m always cold now!"

– Telrom_1

"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."

– r7ndom

"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."

– mr_remy

Drawing Concern

"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."

– dee-fondy

"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"

"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."

– LizardofDeath

Unleashing Insults

"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”

"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."

– alanamablamaspama

Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight

"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."

– KeltarCentauri

"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."

– KatMagic1977

"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."

– Jaew96

These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.

Shopping

"I can buy clothes in any store I want."

– WaySavvyD

"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."

– ganache98012

No More Symptoms

"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."

– colleennicole93

Expanding Capabilities

"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."

– Ramblonius

People Change Their Tune

"How much nicer people are to you."

"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"

– LiZZygsu

"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"

"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"

– awholedamngarden

It's gonna take some getting used to.

Bones Everywhere

"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."

– Princess-Pancake-97

"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."

– bekastrange

Knee Pillow

"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."

– snic2030

"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."

– Strongbad23

More Mobility

"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."

"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."

– dma1965

People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.

But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.

That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.