It is quite a time to be alive and a witness to "reality." The world is in upheaval and everybody is searching for answers. The problem is.... nobody has any... so people are starting to believe just any old thing. I suppose it brings some false stability, but that breeds false comfort so when one starts spouting off conspiracy nonsense, that can lead to a world of trouble. Facts are indeed facts. Do your research, think before you speak.
Redditor u/moon0750 wanted everyone to discuss the stories that others believe that are too unbelievable to digest by asking.... What is the strangest conspiracy theory you've ever heard of?We Dare You!
The Cold War was actually America and Russia saying "we will nuke this place try us" to the orbiting aliens intent on invasion.
Tiny Spies
The government has tiny helicopters that are injected into your bloodstream and fly around in your blood vessels and control you. They never clarified if the helicopters were being piloted by tiny people.
Plus, why not submarines? Didn't they ever see Fantastic Voyage? Never mind, hasn't been on TV lately. And were the helicopters black?
Those Homo Floresiensis
That leprechauns were actually a smaller hominid species that migrated to Ireland from Africa way before humans got there but the Irish wiped them out.
That one could theoretically be true (unlikely, but possible). Homo Floresiensis is believed to have been a separate species of archaic hominids that were 3-4ft tall.
So the possibility of another similar species in Ireland is theoretically possible.
Of course the idea that they survived long enough to enter into folklore while simultaneously leaving no traces is a lot less likely.
The Devil's Deal
My uncle strongly believes that all celebrities have sold their souls to the devil to be famous. He really believes in most of conspiracy theories.
The Order
Project Blue Beam is arguably the weirdest one of all. It's about NASA creating a advanced projection device to simulate the Second Coming of Christ to trick the world to believing it while the Antichrist is orchestrating a New World Order.
Yup that's the gist of it.
Right? It was the plot of a Heinlein novel. I mean, not NASA, but the projection device.
Revolt in 2100.
One of the main characters used to work in "Applied Miracles", which was essentially "Using special effects to depict miracles being performed on 'live' TV."
The backstory is actually more frightening than people believing in this:
In the fictional history, written in 1940, the First Prophet, a televangelist named Nehemiah Scudder, rode a populist, racist wave of support to the Presidency in 2012, named himself dictator, and no elections were held in 2016 or thereafter.
Electric Wrath
Aunt of a friend believes ball lightning is gods punishment for atheists. Not regular lightning, only ball lightning.
The logic is rarely that well developed. I remember my dad was just dumbfounded that I called it bad luck when he showed me a video of a thief's car getting struck by lightning. He literally could not process why it would matter that non-thieves also get struck by lightning and many thieves don't. He just saw it and thought "yup, that's god's wrath."
The Biggest Secret
My particular favorite is that all world leaders are baby eating shape changing lizards from outer space.
I've actually read that book, The Biggest Secret, it's quite clever in the way that it tries to persuade the reader.
It starts off with a lot of reasonable assertions: people through history have depicted snakes and reptiles... royal families have bloodlines... powerful people tend to protect their power... it gets you nodding along then hits you with 'therefore the Queen is a baby-eating reptilian shapeshifter that uses monoatomic gold to maintain human form'.
Seriously?
My particular favorites are 'JFK shot first' And 'Australia doesn't exist, it's just a scam by the government to sell plane tickets'
Sir Paul. Is that you?
That the real Paul McCartney died in the 60s and was replaced by a look a like.
I was 15 when that whole thing was the craze. I read the stupidest newspaper article "explaining" it. That was when I found out not all reporters actually research a subject.
Mischaracterizing the whole point of Fool On The Hill, misquoting lyrics I had heard hundreds of times, the whole shot. Still somehow royally creeped me out.
And as I keep saying, if it were true, the guy who replaced Paul has been Paul way longer than Paul was Paul.
The Wonder
My top has to be the conspiracy that Stevie Wonder isn't actually blind.
5G
Coronavirus is spread by 5G masts. How would that even be possible!? The earth being flat is also a good one.
Came here to say the 5G towers too. lol i'm positive schools cover bacteria and virus in science class... at least in depth enough to know a cell tower can't give you a viral or bacterial infection. lol.
Theories and theories....
I like the "conspiracy theory" conspiracy theory best. The term is made up by the CIA, to hide the real secrets by throwing in a bunch of crazy stuff. If you believe 9/11 was a inside job, you are probably one those crazies who believes in the illuminati ruling the world.
"the otherside"
Guy at my GFs work thought that there were people who lived under the world, like the world is a flat disk and people lived on the otherside.
It gets weirder, on the otherside there is no light as the sun doesn't rotate below the Earth, so these under-folk are very sensitive to the light.
This meant that when they come to our side, as like secret spies, they must wear glasses to be able to see properly. So basically anyone with glasses was suspicious AF to him.
Anyway, what I'm wondering is how this guy can get a job but I'm rejected from toilet cleaning jobs.
So many areas....
I honestly believe something along these lines: that Area 51 is set up to appear like the hub for the US Government's knowledge on alien visitors and whatnot, but that's all really just smoke and mirrors, and the REAL alien tech and evidence is kept somewhere far away from Area 51 at some location we've never even heard of.
That's Quacked.
Birds are cameras. The quarantine was made to replace the battery in them.
This.
UFO Plans
Nazi UFO Bunkers. The theory of Hitler escaping to Antarctica and managing to set up UFO bunkers which in turn allowed the nazis to establish secret bases on the moon.
I loved browsing the conspiracy wiki back in the day. Lmao. I went from a wiki stating humans never made it to the moon. Then reading about a Hitler Colonization on the moon. And somehow some tiny little craters make a swastika.
Stephen Knew
The events of Stephen King's IT were true, simply because he hasn't gone on record saying his inspiration. Guess we really do float cause of these airheads.
That actually kinda works, in a horrific and disgusting way, and as long as you take away the supernatural stuff.
He was the age of the Losers in 1958 and they were all old enough for that orgy (barely) and while I don't know anything about King's upbringing, turning a serial killer or even just one killing, a fear of sewers, clowns and giant spiders in the basement might be what you get if you separate enough of elements of the supernatural extradimensional super god that fights a turtle after years of life and cocaine.
Project Birdseye.....
About 20 years ago I worked at an apartment complex. As a joke I made this one up.
Project Birdseye. The DEA planted cameras in pigeons eye so they could tune in and watch drug deals. Pigeons stay in high crime areas because garage door opener remotes (like in affluent neighborhoods) mess with the circuits and give the birds a headache so they stay away. I told my boss this as a joke.
He must have spread it around because a week later I watched a drug deal start to go down and a pigeon landed nearby and the dealer took the customer away from the bird to finish.
Either others had the same idea as me or mine grew because I have seen it mentioned on other websites many years later.
Sad Beliefs
Magic Johnson never had HIV/AIDS. He was paid by the government to publicly announce that he was positive to change the negative stigma around the disease.
"save us"
I have a friend that believes John F. Kennedy Jr. is alive and is going to come back to "save us" very soon. Yes, she is into Q. I hear theories several times a week. It's exhausting.
These are the same people that believed Hillary had him killed. But they seem to believe he's working WITH Trump on this.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
- People Debate Who—Past Or Present—Should Represent Humanity During An Alien Invasion - George Takei ›
- People Divulge Which Conspiracy Theories They Believe In That Most Haven't Heard Of - George Takei ›
- People Break Down The Most Outlandish Conspiracy Theories They've Heard - George Takei ›
- People Confess The False 'Facts' They Believed For Way Too Long - George Takei ›
- People Explain Which Conspiracy Theories They Genuinely Believe - George Takei ›
Not all television and movies are loved by all.
A story and its characters have to appeal to you in order for you to be engaged.
It can take next to nothing for us to lose interest and let the screen go black.
Redditor BarooTangClan wanted to compare notes on all the entertainment we've said "that's enough" to.
"What will make you instantly stop watching a movie or show and why?"
I hate bad acting, writing, storytelling... I hate bad anything.
Stop Jumping
"Fight scenes with a million visual cuts. Gives me motion sickness. Contrast the absolutely masterful work in John Wick. long cuts, realistic use of weapons (mostly), 100% skill."
StabbyPants
Louder
"When the actors whisper the whole movie and you have to crank the volume to hear what's being said - but the soundtrack or some other misc noise starts blaring at a higher volume directly after."
Blaze*itch
"I basically had to watch Stranger Things up in my attic with the windows and doors closed. I was worried the neighbors would think something was wrong or be annoyed if I watched it downstairs in my single family home. It was ridiculous."
ForecastForFourCats
"spice things up"
"Love triangles out of no where in a second or third season to 'spice things up' because studio writers are hacks and their idea of relationship drama is 'potential infidelity' at all times. It's the most tired trope on the go**amn planet and the second I see it rear its head I dip right the hell out."
amalgamas
"The whole concept of a love triangle to begin with an incredibly juvenile. Any healthy functioning adult who found themselves in a love triangle would soon choose to find themselves single."
Ouch_i_fell_down
Save your lips...
"When couples in a movie/show have a fight and one of them instantly goes to a friend and end up kissing her/him after talking for 5 minutes. I cringe so hard i turn it off and never watch it again."
Dry-Mycologist3966
"This pissed me off so much in Manifest. Girl is desperate to get back her ex-fiancé, he finally breaks up with his wife to get back with her and she's like 'nah, it's not fair to your wife, let me do this other dude I just met through a calling and be pissed at you for being jealous.' Michaela was the worst and everyone acted as if she were a saint the entire time."
gingerisla
Talk to Me
"Shows where a single polite conversation could fix everything."
Horror_Librarian_133
We are going overboard with the witty repartee. Talk normal...
Shut Up
"Annoying main character, especially if it's a kid."
abananation
"Kids who have a quippy, sassy retort to everything, and everyone just kind of crumbles before their wit."
CarpetPure7924
Speak Good
"Shows where kids in high school talk like they are 30 years olds who have done everything, been everywhere, know it all and use a ridiculously flowery and extensive vocabulary in every conversation. Like, have any of these writers ever been to high school? Literally no one talks like that. Even worse is when, in addition to this, all the adults talk normal or are just plain stupid, like so weird parallel universe."
StretchArmstrong74
Nonsense
"If the movie is too dark. Not graphic, just literally dark. I lose all sense of intensity in dark scenes and I'm not straining my damn eyes trying to figure out what the hell is going on."
TheShadowOfKaos
"I've seen about 10 percent of all DC movies recently. I've seen all of the individual films in full, just actually saw 10% of each of them."
Mortlach78
"Movies in the late 80s had a lot of dark but you could see the depth because of different shooting techniques. Now you cant see crap because its a CGI fest drowned in black color so you can't see crap because you have no depth in a scene. Compare night scenes in dark alleys in 80's movies and movies now. Utter crap show in the new ones."
Bombzey
Pay Attention Storytellers
"Bad editing would be a big one. A lot of modern horror movies can't help but edit the movies like they're trailers, with added noises to scare the audience because they are afraid the script alone isn't enough to keep people watching."
ThisIsCreation
"I remember this is where the first transformers movie lost me. When the transformers are fighting at the end, it's all a big, jumbled mess of metal and I can barely tell what's going on or who is who."
1840_NO
Drama
"When they go straight to relationship drama right away when it wasn't the selling point of the show."
LightInthewater
Do better, Hollywood. It's not that hard.
I fear death.
I wake up in cold sweats dreaming about it.
I think about it in my waking hours.
It's an obsession and clearly, I'm not alone.
But there are more preferred ways to exit.
All we can do is hope to be lucky enough to skip the mercilessly awful.
Please just let me go quick and in my sleep.
RedditorCallMehRiverwanted to hear about all the ways none of us what to leave this life.
"What Do You Think Would Be The Worst Death Imaginable?"
My list of the worst deaths is long. My imagination runs amok.
Trapped
"For me? Being trapped in a small tube or cave (like the ones you have to wiggle through) and getting stuck to where you can’t move your arms. And all you can do is wait to die. I’m getting chills just thinking about it."
Stuck
"The more I hear about cavers that get stuck, the more I think that's a crap way to go."
- braydenmaine
"There’s a great YouTube channel called Ask a Mortician and this was her #1 worse way to die. I can’t remember the exact details or their names, but two well-known divers went into an underwater cave."
"One of them became entangled and died. Years later, his friend dives back down there to try and retrieve his body, the body itself is rotten and his head comes off and the other guy also becomes tangled and dies. Really sad."
- melancholybuzzard
A Long Process
"Believed to be in a coma but coherent through the whole 20 year process until they pull the plug."
weebeardedman
"Oh man this just reminded me of a story I read on here about a guy who lost the ability to move and speak but was completely conscious. Had to just lay there and be awake but trapped in a useless body. His family thought he was brain dead or something and he couldn’t communicate to them that he was 'all there.' Crazy"
habeeb51
Slow & Steady
"Being slowly impaled by a growing bamboo. It was a form of torture probably used by the japanese during WW2 against Allied prisoners."
JazzySocrate
"My uncle who served back in the day said that people would have the bamboo slipped under their fingernails because it would continue to grow still. It would just continue growing into the body."
Payness0826
Excruciating
"Rabies."
Santolmo
"The scariest part is that once you have symptoms, you 100% will die. A 100% mortality rate has to be a psychological torture in itself."
RonaldRawdog
"Not only that, you feel irrational fear. Your brain is literally being eaten apart by the virus and it fu*ks up everything on it. You can't drink water because it hurts you. You feel dizzy, present a fever, excessively salivate, everything hurts and it only gets worse. I'd rather take a bullet and die when the symptoms are still tolerable."
Santolmo
Why can't we all just go engulfed in calm and quiet?
Suspended
"Some pulpy sci-fi book I read a while back had one of the best deaths of this real piece of crap bad guy. Left to die in a drowning sea lab under the Antarctic ice, he freezes himself in a state of the art suspended animation pod with some kind cold fusion power source that would keep it running for millions of years."
"But he forgot to inject himself with the drug that would put him to sleep. So basically he is in suspended animation at the bottom of the Antarctic ocean while his mind is perfectly awake and conscious in a near unbreakable machine that won't run out of power for millions of years and nobody knows about it."
DubiousAlibi
No Cure
"As an RN I have always thought that the worst way to die (natural process) is ALS. Lou Gehrig's Disease."
randymn1963
"My mom and grandmother have Huntington's disease, which is essentially ALS, Alzheimer's, and Dementia combined into one really messed up genetic disease. I have a 50% chance of inheriting it and if I hit 40 and there's still no cure I can't promise I'll feel like continuing on with my life because that disease is absolutely freaking miserable."
DevTheDummy
Agony...
"Radiation poisoning."
binhan123ad
"The fact your chromosomes can be so destroyed your body basically lost it's genetic code and with it the ability to make any new cells. It's literally a 'dead man walking' and you slowly rot away in agony. Stuff is so unimaginably f**ked up."
yea_nah448
"What's also bad about radiation is that it affects your nerves and brain cells last, so you have everything in place to feel all the pain of the rest of your cells being destroyed."
nosmelc
Goo
"I want to believe anything that slowly kills you painfully to be the worst. Such as slowly being crushed or something where the pain is beyond compare and yet not enough to throw you into shock or unconsciousness."
Beardless_Man
"Alternatively, being rapidly crushed into goo would probably be the least painful. I'm talking one of those massive industrial hammers they use for large steel work. Basically smooshed before the nerve signals make it to the brain."
Bannon9k
Now I'll never sleep again without nightmares of death.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
Foreigners Explain Which Stereotypically American Things They've Always Wanted To Try
Most Americans think nothing of their humdrum daily activities or amenities available to them.
However, others with a different perspective might romanticize the things that are otherwise commonplace ideas and concepts for US citizens, like going to a diner or riding the school bus.
One Redditor looked to foreigners to hear of their American desires to respond to the following:
"Non-Americans of Reddit: what is an American thing you have always wanted to try?"
The things depicted in film really captivated foreign audiences.
Casual Dining
"To visit a diner like in the movies. In the middle of the night, it’s raining and just a few people there with great music from a jukebox."
– TotalAd6225
Iconic Student Transport
"Ride a yellow school bus even if I'm too old. Growing up I always loved seeing them on TV."
– infiresemo
Just Like The Ones We Used To Know
"A white Christmas."
"Living in an Australian state where I've never even seen snow in our winter, let alone experiencing that classic Hallmark movie moment of waking up to a street full of it and sitting around a fireplace while opening gifts/preparing a feast."
"Guess it's not strictly American, but the imagery and trope is something I've only really seen from American Films."
– Stoibs
They may be ubiquitous for us, but they sure seem to be novel ideas to foreigners.
Let's Be Frank
"One of the hotdogs from those little street cart things."
– Who_is_lost
Kitchen Marvel
"A friend of mine from Indonesia said, 'the food chewer in the sink.'"
"Garbage disposal."
– Mnemonic22
American Pie
"Apple Pie made by white-haired grandma, placed near window, who says 'oh dear...' as I levitate towards it."
– MegaJoltik
Pre-Game Ritual
"Proper tailgating before a ball game, the kind where there's ribs and stuff."
– SpiralToNowhere
Fried Delicacies
"Deep fried foods at a state fair. I'm from Scotland and we love to deep fry everything and I wanna know if it's just as good or better."
– fenrisulfr94
There are places to see!
Places To See
"National parks."
– nhungoc1508
"America’s greatest invention!"
– nhungoc1508
Backpacking In Nature
"I always wanted to hike The Appalachian Trail if that counts. Or see Yellowstone."
– EphemeralRemedy
New Chapters
"Being able to start a whole new life 'elsewhere' without having to leave my country and going through an arduous immigration process."
– Gmtfoegy
My cousin told me she looks forward to visiting a Trader Joe's someday when she visits America for the first time.
Her bucket list option was hardly surprising. My parents used to bring treats from TJs as a novelty souvenir gift item, and my relatives ate it up. Literally.
Let's face it. The snacks at TJs rocks.
Even store locations in New York City would have ridiculously long lines during busy hours because the West-coast-based grocer was a novelty on the East Coast.
Many people work hard from the moment they are on the clock until their respective shifts are over at the end of a long day.
For many of those in the workforce, the wages barely sustain a comfortable living, especially for those who are raising a family.
Yet, there are jobs that are known to pay a higher salary without requiring extreme physical labor, or the requirement of higher education.
Curious to hear what those jobs might be, Redditor ImAMasterBayter asked:
"People Break Down Which Professions Are Completely Overpaid"
Extensive training requirements are not a thing, apparently, with these professions.
Daily Dairy Duty
"I watch milk powder go into a bag and out on a conveyor and get paid $37 an hour."
– Stacwe3
Eyeing Dirt In Motion
"Mine? I get paid $20.50 a hr to watch dirt go by on a belt all day."
– trudmer
The Handy Man Is Happy To Help
"I am a handy man that charges $50/hr with a 3hr minimum, a couple months ago I got a call for service that consisted of changing 9 smoke detector batteries, 2 light bulbs, and rehanging a picture. I felt bad taking the money but the guy couldn’t have been happier to have that stuff finally done. He asked for my card and is now a very good client."
– iznmehra
Words From An Appraiser
"I make about 40 an hour after tax in the US as a real estate appraiser. You just need a college degree and a year of training and there is a huge shortage of appraisers right now."
"Edit because this post blew up: I only perceive this job as being overpaid because I used spent most of my 20's making pizza for minimum wage and imposter syndrome is a thing. Also, OP said he was looking for a possible career, and I felt like my job post was better than a troll post."
"Appraisers are not real estate agents or brokers. I do not buy or sell property."
"I do not, 'look at zillow and copy the number' and I don't just, 'make the number' in valuation. While I agree there are some appraisers who may lie or exaggerate, the same could be said of nearly any job. However, if I were to intentionally try hit some goal and got caught fudging the numbers, I'm looking at permanently losing my license and possible jail time depending on the severity. It's actually pretty common for me to, 'tank a deal' if someone is paying too much. This isn't the wild west of valuation anymore; FIRREA is a thing now. Appraisal reports aren't just 3 pages of photos with a cover page anymore; my typical appraisal is 30-50 pages with long boring typed pages of market data that I type and research myself."
"Let's talk about the appraisal gap. In most of the US, we are experiencing a, 'sellers market' meaning houses are selling for higher than what they normally sell for. A lot of people at this thread are blaming appraisers for driving housing prices up. Let me be perfectly clear about this: appraiser's valuations are based off of past data. That is it; we look at closed sales from the past. Realtors and brokers speculate on future markets, because they are motivated by profit. If anyone is driving this current market trend, it is the people buying properties over listing price, local government/laws willingness to allow foreign investors, the people who are raising rents, and the people who are making big risky developments. The appraisers have little to nothing to do with market perception of value; in my area at least many market participants are paying over 30% of listing price. Trust me when I say these people are not satisfied when my appraised value comes in less than that."
"The hardest part of the job is definitely the occasional angry phone call. Let's look at an example. Say someone lists their house at 100k, and they accept an offer for 150k, or 50% over listing. Well the appraisal is based off of past closed sales. The bank will only finance up to the appraised value. So if the appraisal comes in at 110k, meaning the subject in relation to comparable sales from the past year in the subject neighborhood equate to roughly 110k, they will either need to renegotiate the price, or be willing to put up 40k of their own money."
"In a sellers market, it's often better to accept a deal with better financing than a higher price. Let's say in this situation instead of taking the 150k offer with a mortgage, you take a smaller offer for 140k that is all cash, no financing. Well if there is no financing involved, meaning no bank, than no appraisal is needed."
– f4gmo
Landing work in software seems to be like hitting the jackpot of success.
High Commissions
"I’m in software sales, software sales. Coworker got 100k commission on a deal."
– The_GOATest1
So-Called Analysts
"There are an incredible amount of 'analysts' who just 'own' automated excel sheets they received from developer teams."
"Low to mid six figures is common in HCOL areas."
– Shoddy_Bus4679
The Successful Client
"I do the tax returns for a guy who paid 20k for demographic research software and made something like 40M over the last 3 years. His costs are almost nothing and admitted he does like 5 hours of work a week on it."
"I got more likes and comments than I thought I would, and wanted to add some more detail. The guy himself is super nice and easy to work with. It's hard not to feel jealous even though I make good money myself. His business and personal returns are super simple so we don't even charge him that much for them."
"The software is something proprietary he paid a third party for, and I don't know the name of that developer. The data output is sold to political campaigns and he's compensated more if the campaign wins. He did have some clients on both sides but now exclusively works on one side of the aisle."
– Todders8787
Salaries in the world of academics got a closer inspection.
The Administrators
"University administrators and board members."
– MayBeckByDay
A Stark Contrast
"I'm a professor. I love it. But the 'president's office' contains a staff of 5 people with a total payroll of just under $500k/year. Meanwhile, all the PhDs, MFAs, and DMAs who teach all the classes, advise all the students, and serve on all the committees bring home a whopping $50k-$65k/year, dependent on rank, tenure, etc. It's real fun...
– LPHaddleburg
Unfair Privileges
"The president of my institution makes a approximately $500k/year and is provided a house on campus alongside reserved parking if he so chooses to use it. He also gets a country club membership. Meanwhile I have to pay $200 to park at the school where I TA and do research, and I get paid maybe 1/20th of what he does. I genuinely do not understand why the f'k the dude who makes six figures doesn't pay for parking, but I do."
"Edit: that should be half a million."
– DADPATROL
Some of the cushiest jobs that require less time actively toiling away seem to be paying significantly more than the average livable wage offered in the US.
Perhaps the biggest indicator of what that might be was summed up best by Redditor iadasr, who said:
"Whatever you guys are all doing that lets you browse Reddit all day..."
Word.