Scary Conspiracy Theories People Actually Believe
Reddit user sublimefan123 asked: 'What’s the scariest conspiracy theory you believe is 100% true?'
We've all heard our fair share of conspiracy theories, like Big Brother watching us, or the Earth being flat, or birds not being real (seriously, what is that about?).
We've even seen some theories get confirmed over the years, like our mobile devices "always" listening to us, though some remain unconvinced about the purposes behind that fact.
But there are some conspiracy theories out there that are far more unsettling than others, and some people have some very good reasons for why they believe in them and are deeply terrified by them.
Ready to hear some theories, Redditor sublimefan123 asked:
"What's the scariest conspiracy theory you believe is 100% true?"
But Where's the Lie?
"Octopi are aliens, and you can't convince me otherwise."
"Those motherf**kers came from a meteor or something. Their brain development rate compared to all other species is off the charts."
- venom121212
"Right? Name me ONE other motherf**kier that has eight different brainlets hanging out in their thinky-feely tentacles. That s**t's wild."
- PepurrPotts
"Samuel L. Jackson would LOVE this conversation."
- TheBookishAndTheBard
The Mafia Makes the Best Pillows
"The excessive number of mattress stores in cities; often within close proximity to each other. Money laundering fronts for the mafia is a distinct possibility."
- mansonsturtle
"In reality, it's due to a certain type of marketing technique."
"A lot of times, people won't drive to multiple mattress stores. They'll just drive to one. However, if the other mattress store is right next door, they are more likely to check it out and see if they can find something better, comfier, at a better price."
"So you usually see them grouped together. You'll see the same with auto dealerships."
- MaxHannibal
"Says the mafioso!!!! Caught you!"
- RambisRevenge
Educating Future Laborers, Not Individuals
"US education system knowingly underfunded to maintain a large unskilled labor force."
"Originally this made sense as we needed people to work the world's largest breadbasket and mine raw materials. Now those jobs are highly mechanized and automated."
"Combine this with a shift to main US exports being tech- and chem-based, and our intentionally woeful education system is coming back to bite us."
"Students aren't being taught how to be self-sustaining individuals. They're being taught how to memorize, to forget, and to serve."
- 89inerEcho
A Voluntary Trend
"'Throwback Thursday' or '#tbt' just appeared one day out of the blue, with the distinct goal of being a silly internet craze to post pictures from the past and compare it to modern-day photos."
"But I believe it was a project created by three-letter United States federal government organizations to encourage large portions of the population to post weekly photos of their past and present to enhance their aging and genetic algorithms."
"It would be hard to get access to everyone's old photos unless they had physical access to everyone's houses and snuck into each house to make copies of said photos. Why do all that when you could make it a fun new trend and let the people voluntarily give you the photos en masse?"
- yourusernameistaken
Distractions in the Media
"Insane wackjob conspiracies purposefully get propagated to detract from actual shady s**t that goes on."
"What's more? It f**king works."
"If you see someone even mention something that might be a conspiracy, that person is automatically determined to be a lunatic. Dangerous when you consider just how corrupt government, military, and corporations are."
- somethingdarkside45
Let the Women Have Their Pockets
"Big purses... I think that pocket-book companies have strong-armed, bought, or convinced women's clothing companies to make pockets ineffectual so that purses remain relevant."
- roygbpcub
"To add onto this, tech companies have bought into big purses and that's why phones have gotten continuously larger, so they can't fit in pockets no matter what."
"Seriously, though, I think the true reason why pockets for women's pants are so ineffectual is that women's clothing is selling a specific body type (slim) that protruding hips would go against."
"This really needs to be talked about more. Not only does it set a standard for women to have to look a certain way, but it also sends the message that women should ignore their own comfort or needs in order to conform enough to be attractive."
- that_personoverthere
Gut Health and Mental Health
"Food quality is intentionally low to increase the "need" for medication & supplements. Adequate health care is unaffordable to keep the workers in the ACA gap from living long enough to benefit from the social security that they have contributed to for their whole working lives."
- borkydorkyporky
"The food we have been eating in the United States is a huge part of the mental illness going on today."
- TheBozKnight
"I started eating 'cleaner,' and I am not perfect, but I notice such a tremendous change in my energy and overall being for the positive."
- purplehotcheeto
"100%, it is now being accepted and studied that our gut is directly connected to our brain and has a huge impact on mental health."
- SeatLong5131
The Unusual Rich
"I firmly believe rich people (given the few I've interacted with) think way, way differently than normal people. That shouldn't be surprising given the fact that they have enough money and probably power to basically do whatever they want and nobody will stop and say, 'Not enough money in the world that I should let you.'"
"They live with far fewer boundaries than most of us."
- MisanthropeNotAutist
No More Dentist Appointments
"Scientists have found a way to protect our teeth from plaque and cavities years ago but because of the lobbying money, they have been stopped from commercializing it."
- sonia72quebec
Pluto Held a Grudge
"We live in a plutocracy."
- Bad_Inteligence
"That's impossible, Pluto's not even a planet anymore."
- zsero1138
"Why do you think they demoted it to begin with?"
- AlwaysSaysRobot
Passing the Test
"Remember when we redirected that asteroid last year as a test, called DART? Yeah, I don't think that was a test."
"It doesn't matter, though. I'm glad it worked."
- no_onion_no_cry
A Troubling Trade
"That Reagan conspired with the Revolutionary Iranian government to not free US hostages until and unless he was elected in 1980."
"The Iranian hostage crisis was very damaging politically for Carter, who was a very likable and decent man. Americans sitting in Iranian jail cells severely eroded Carter's political position going into the 1980 election, and Reagan knew it."
"The hostages were released on the very day that Reagan took office, 20 Jan. 1981, literally, just MINUTES after he was sworn in. To this day, Iran has offered no formal explanation."
- VibrantPianoNetwork
No Progress
"I wouldn't say 'believe' as it's more highly suspect that it's true:"
"The American political system has one party with two sides. One side placates the populace while making as little change as possible. When people get fed up with that side they vote in the other, who rushes in pro-one percent policy and other things that further consolidate power away from the populace."
"That way we are always taking one step forward but three steps back."
- Patcher404
The Uno Reverse Card
""Questions like this get posted online by Feds so they can aggregate popular or new conspiracies. (This is a sarcastic comment but also... not.)"
- FactualStatue
"I think about this sometimes. Create bulls**t online just to see which groups are the most susceptible, or post stuff like this to get new ideas of what to push."
- V1CTORW0ND00M
They're All We Have...
"No one is secretly in charge from the shadows. The politicians we have are actually the leaders of the world and are genuinely what people voted for."
"There are few things scarier than that."
- m0le
Whether or not we choose to believe in these theories, it's clear why they would be terrifying to those who choose to believe in them.
But also, some of these arguments are pretty compelling, and it's equally understandable how a person could come to believe some of these theories.
Conspiracy theories don't all have to be about bird props and witch hunts, after all.
People Confess Which Conspiracy Theories Made Them Think 'They Could Be On To Something!'
Now believe me, I'm not a rush to judgment conspiracy person.
In fact, those people tend to drive me crazy. How do you live in a constant state of paranoia?
You really don't believe there is a set-up behind every intention or hidden meaning behind every press release? That's no way to live.
I have argued and debunked many a nutty belief over the course of my life, but lately, a few thoughts have gotten me wondering. I'm not ready to join a club or even have a heated discussion but I may do a little research. It can't hurt.
Can it?
Redditor Zoozoo95 wanted to hear about the thoughts being floated about that sound suspect, but upon further examination made you wonder... could this hold some water? They asked:
What's a conspiracy theory that you heard that kind of made you think, "huh, what if they are right"?
There has got to be some shady goings-on with this supply chain nonsense. I refuse to believe we can't access our goods without this much drama right?
Meowwww....
Sasha Cougar GIF by University of HoustonGiphy"That the province of New Brunswick is denying the existence of Eastern cougars so they won't have to designate a huge bunch of land as protected wildlife habitat." ~ Numerous_Salt
Run the Clock!
"NBA refs are still rigging games. It's not as straightforward as making sure one team wins, since a lot of high-roller gamblers are betting on things like single quarters, individual players, or over/unders. One example that really stands out is last year, there was a game between the Mavericks and (I think) the Kings where it was the final seconds and the score wasn't close so the players were just letting the clock run out."
"And the ref called a technical on Luka Doncic for seemingly no reason. Turns out, the one free throw for the technical was the difference between the over and the under hitting. When Tim Donaghy was caught fixing games, he said he wasn't the only one and was going to wear a wire for the FBI, but someone tipped off David Stern and it never happened." ~ ElToberino
They were right...
"My mom's choir practice actually being my mom cheating. They were right. My mom had been acting strange and was irritable for a couple of months, so I talked to my friend about it and told him I assume she's going through menopause and it will eventually pass. He immediately said she might be seeing someone else."
"My parents have always been the type of people who cooked and gardened together, traveled and even worked together for a while. My mom never showed any interest in any other men, not even a comment about someone looking good. They got along really well so I just assumed there must be something else going on with her. Turns out he was right." ~ yukiatsusan
Miscavige!
"David Miscavige, the chairman of the Church of Scientology definitely murdered his wife and is getting off scott free for it. Him and his wife got into a pretty heated argument in 2007, and she hasn't been seen since. Lawyers hired by David claim she is still alive and devotes 100% of her time to work at the church of scientology, which is why she hasn't been seen since August 2007."
"In 2013, a former member of the church had filed a missing person report that was closed after a few officers had "spoken and seen Mrs.Miscavige", even though there's no evidence whatsoever of this meeting. All missing person's reports now are turned down since this investigation is forever closed." ~ ihatenuts69
Norma Jean
marilyn monroe hello GIFGiphy"Honestly, Marilyn Monroe's death. I know she was troubled and had her fair share of drug use but I think she got to a point where she was a liability with her involvement with JFK." ~ kyle71473
Poor Norma Jean. Hollywood, heck society as a whole, really ruined it for her.
Tragedy
Martin Luther King Jr Mlk GIF by IdentityGiphy"The FBI had many reasons to assassinate MLK. The FBI saw him as a threat to capitalism for supporting many socialist ideas like universal basic income, etc. The assassin even admitted he was hired by someone who may have been part of the government." ~ Rabbet_yt
Clues...
"There's one crank pushing the conspiracy that there was no single Zodiac killer. Rather the letters were a distraction created by dirty law enforcement officers to cover up killings connected to their drug trade. His theory doesn't quite hold together, but it's based on the idea that the murders were so different, different weapons, different kinds of victims."
"And that the letters and phone calls contain things found in initial police reports, but might have been falsely reported. The idea being that only someone with access to police records could write them. I don't remember all the details, but it's at least an entertaining theory. Much better than the books we get every year "My father was the Zodiac killer because he wore glasses in the 60s." ~ Pontus_Pilates
Genius!
"Germany's government opened the night clubs one week before elections. Some people joked that they did it so young people were to hungover to vote -> less progressive votes." ~ zimzilla
"The reason all UK elections are on a Thursday is because when the rules were written they thought the voters would be the least drunk on a Thursday." ~ TheNewHobbes
Well... DUH!
"A lot of rich and powerful people didn't want Epstein alive. With the number of millionaire/billionaires that are psychopaths or similar, there must be a few super rich serial killers out there. By extension there must be people making money supplying victims in the same way Epstein was supplying girls to the wealthy who wanted to scratch an itch."
"With the money, power and influence would come governments and intelligence agencies willing to overlook or cover up terrible actions for leverage. I'll take the low hanging fruit. The Epstein "suicide" was outrageous. I've never seen an issue in recent memory where the far left and far right were in complete agreement and equally outraged over the same issue."
"Calling it a "conspiracy theory" doesn't do it justice. It's a hypothesis, and a highly likely one, that he was killed or was allowed to kill himself. The cameras malfunctioned and the guards fell asleep... FFS that is some lazy plot writing." ~ ihatenuts69
A-HA!!!
The Goldbergs GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy"The government helps spread some of the more ridiculous conspiracy theories, so when a real conspiracy comes up, no one really cares because it's not anywhere near as wild as all the other dumb crap." ~ JerHat
Epstein is an obvious non-conspiracy. It's a disgrace.
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What to believe? Life is so much like a cartoon or an Onion article these days, who knows where the truth lies? As long as I can remember I've read about conspiracy theories and dark underground tales. Area 51, the Illuminati, a second government pulling the strings, two Melania's... the list is endless. We basically live in an "X-Files" episode.
But if we're honest, there are a few of these "ideas" that even the sanest of us will follow.
Redditor u/illuminatedbabe wanted to compare notes on what truths we're all certain of, by asking:
What's a 'conspiracy' you truly believe?
I'm not sure about aliens, but I do believe in ghosts, I think. Does that count? Is there such a thing a paranormal conspiracy? Hmmm...
Little Piggy
homer simpson wow GIFGiphy"The bacon hype that came about around the time Epic Meal Time started on YouTube was a marketing campaign by the pork industry."
- lorn23
Disposables...
"Big oil and plastics created the recycling campaign so people could still feel good about buying disposable plastic products. In reality, the majority of plastic cannot be recycled. Further, recycling isn't cost effective in the slightest. China was burying our recycling for years."
"This is sorta true if you look at the entire funding for the personal responsibility campaign it was by BP oil to shift blame into the consumer."
wasting ink...
"That the "printer alignment" page your printer makes you print when you install a new ink cartridge or plug in your printer or any other basic printer action is complete made up nonsense that makes you think your printer is doing important printer maintenance while needlessly wasting ink."
- wxmanify
A.I. Issues
"I think the trend where you show a picture of yourself now versus 10 years ago was promoted if not invented by Facebook owned social media companies in order to train artificial intelligence to be able to recognize and analyze how faces age."
"This is true for pretty much anything on social media. All those quizzes, post if you believe, whatever random meme just lets them collect data for A.I. modeling or more nefarious purposes. Never do the "your pornstar name is your mother's maiden name plus the last six of your social security number" posts. I seriously underestimated the number of penises and 69s my inbox was gonna receive."
"commoners"
Burning Tom Hanks GIF by 20th Century Fox Home EntertainmentGiphy"That most conspiracy theories are allowed to circulate by the powers that be and they let certain false info "leak" to add fuel to the fire so they can use these conspiracy theories as a distraction from their real agenda, part of keeping the "commoners" in a naive bubble. Conspiracy theories are the cover for the actual conspiracies."
Anytime I hear big oil, I know it's true. Cheery I know. But they know how to manipulate the world. It's all about the money...
Out There
Jurnee Smollett Hbo GIFGiphy"Aliens are among us just not how we think they're supposed to look like. I mean we have an immortal jellyfish in our ocean that looks right out of a HP Lovecraft book."
- k-rdy
The Strangest Superstitions People Actually Observe | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The world can be a superstitious place. If you've ever knocked on wood or thrown salt over your shoulder then you've run into one or two throughout your life...Paths
"That my navigation cares more about traffic flow than the best route for me personally."
- mrausgor
"I mean, to be fair, this can very often be "same picture" territory. If everyone's navigation tried to optimize for what's best for the driver, you'd easily get a situation that's worse for everyone... including you."
- xternal7
On the Floor
"Truly incompetent workers who get hired claiming 15+ years of experience but know nothing about their field are actually just people poorly placed by eyewitness protection. My nemesis who was our new industrial engineer who zip tied all the computer speakers to the floor made me think of this one XD Makes you wonder."
"Edit: lots of people concerned about the floor. Yes the floor had holes, it was a clean room. Iirc it was actually the cords truly zip toed to the floor, the speakers were zip tied to the tables' kick plates like 3 in above the floor."
Molten Salt Reactors...
"That nuclear technology and power was choked out by big oil and gas, and that fear of radiation was intentionally trumped up to incite public opposition to anything nuclear. A lot of folks seemed not to know that used nuclear fuel, often called waste, is recyclable"
"It can also be used directly as fuel for certain types of reactors that haven't seen a lot of research for political reasons, but for which several mature designs and several proofs of concept have been built (Molten Salt Reactors, if you want to research it)."
Big Brother
Explosion Reaction GIFGiphy"The government puts out really crazy conspiracies so the people that post about legitimate conspiracies come across as crazy and unbelievable."
Against the poor...
"The odds are very strategically stacked against poor people and even the middle class (America) so that we can never get ahead. We are kept in our place to do bullcrap jobs and buy bullcrap products to keep the ultra wealthy chugging along. Education is expensive so we don't think too hard, and the food is cheap and crappy to keep us fat, tired, and low ambition."
"Propaganda and identity politics keeps us in our own little stupid camps so we never come together to realize this. Our purpose is to purchase. And it will never change because for every 1 person who tries to buy local, learn, and take care of themselves, there are 100 morons who want everything fast and cheap." ~ Good_Piccolo4046
Dr. King
"That the government, more specifically FBI, was involved in the assassination of Martin Luther King." ~ Feisty-Inspection286
"I think it's assumed because we have the FBI letter to King that told him to commit suicide. We also have his file and how paranoid Hoover was about any of the black activists at the time. Sadly we don't have any links to the assassination but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck." ~ UCMCoyote
I Hate Ads...
"That YouTube gets mad at me for skipping all their quick survey questions for ads, and punishes me by giving me ads for feminine products." ~ Fancyliving228
"My YouTube ads are weird. Enough to make me think I'm part of some undisclosed, unethical social experiment, because google definitely knows enough about my internet habits to target their ads better. This last week they started advertising monster porn to me, which I didn't even realise was a thing."
"Before that I was getting ads for super woke online courses such as "pay $500 for this six week course that will explain why you're a racist cultural appropriater for doing yoga!" I mean, who the hell actually would sign up for something like that? YouTube ads are whack." ~ Reetniap
The Epidemic
"That the CIA/ Reagan Administration helped sell crack cocaine to African American communities in the 1980's and the reporter who broke the story, Gary Webb, was killed by the government and didn't commit suicide by shooting himself in the head twice." ~ unculturedswine420
Give me a Bud
"Not a very big conspiracy but someone told me they heard Corona (beer company) started paying off news companies to stop calling it corona and call it covid instead and I fully believe it. Everyone started calling it covid right after it came out that Corona lost a lot in stocks because of it." ~ Tyriad_
Sleep Lies
mess reverse GIF by Jordan FisherGiphy"Mattress firm is affiliated with money laundering. They have so many stores very close to each other in Chicago (miles apart)." ~ Nightcrawler999-
Damn Covid
"That if we were actually contacted by aliens our governments would 100% lie to us. Look at how people act toward COVID, if they thought aliens might invade we'd have idiots shooting at the sky and stabbing people to see if they're shape shifters while other idiots make up random crap like taking horse de-wormer and fishtank cleaner protects you from their mind control." ~ Im_No_Robutt
I'm not sure how much of this is actual information, but none is out of the realm of possibility. I don't know if that is an intriguing thought or terrifying. We'll find out.
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People Share The Wildest Conspiracy Theories They Actually Believe
Conspiracy theories are beliefs that there are covert powers that be changing the course of history for their own benefits. It's how we see the rise of QAnon conspiracies and people storming the capital.
Why do people fall for them? Well some research has looked into the reasons for that.
The Association for Psychological Science published a paper that reviewed some of the research:
"This research suggests that people may be drawn to conspiracy theories when—compared with nonconspiracy explanations—they promise to satisfy important social psychological motives that can be characterized as epistemic (e.g., the desire for understanding, accuracy, and subjective certainty), existential (e.g., the desire for control and security), and social (e.g., the desire to maintain a positive image of the self or group)."
Whatever the motivations may be, we wanted to know which convoluted stories became apart of peoples consciousness enough for them to believe it.
Redditor Lopsided_Confusion57 asked:
"What's the wildest conspiracy theory you fully believe?"
We can't say any of these are true but sometimes it's fun to speculate.
The time traveling cyclist.
"The Australian cyclist Mick Rogers is a time traveler."
"In the 2002 Tour Down Under, Rogers was in a great position in the breakaway and looking to move into the overall race lead but a collision with a motorcycle left his bike out of commission. With the team service car and mechanics way down the road, it looked like Rogers' chances were gone. Then a cycling fan, who just happened to be at that precise point in the road, offered Rogers his bicycle to continue on. The bike also just happened to be the *exact* model of Colnago that Rogers had been riding. It was the correct size, right down to things like the stem and crank lengths. It even had the same pedal system that Rogers was already using, so he could just clip in and be away. He finished that stage and took the race lead, which he held on to all the way to the end for his only career win in his 'home' tour."
"My theory is that in the original timeline, Rogers didn't win the 2002 Tour Down Under. He quit cycling in anger and devoted his life to theoretical physics and solving the problem of time travel just so he could arrange it to leave himself a spare bike where and when he needed it."
- jnhummel
"I'm on board for whatever book or screenplay you write."
"Wait, so if Rogers motivation to find ways for time travelling was losing 2002 race, and if he won, then Rogers never found time travelling and our time line is forever devoid of genius like Rogers who would have found time travelling and attended Hawkins party."
- Skulldab
"Yep, exactly. Our timeline is stuck with boring old Mick Rogers, 2002 TDU winner and 3x World Time Trial Champion while some other, much cooler, party timeline gets Mick Rogers, the second coming of Einstein. He probably even cures Covid for them."
- jnhummel
The best money making stunt.
"Information is leaked from a studio about an upcoming project that p*sses off the fan base. The studio will then change things to keep the fans happy. The conspiracy is the original leak was just a lie to drum up free publicity for the project."
"This made me think of the Sonic movie. No way in hell were they going to make Sonic look that bad. Put out a fake trailer with him lookin all scary, everyone is talking about it. Wala. Take a bit to say you're fixing his look, put out a new trailer. You just drummed up tons of publicity since people are now following the story."
"I have mixed thoughts to that one."
"I mean 'No way in hell were they going to make him look like that.' Buddy have you seen the cash-grab BS that Hollywood has pulled off before? Hell, when was there a movie based off a game that wasn't exactly as bad as that Sonic looked?"
"I will admit that they may have done that as a publicity stunt, but I also admit that they could have thought it looked fine."
"Have you seen … CATS?"
- off-chka
Governmental assassinations.
"100% of the population believes that Putin has had people killed for political reasons but only a very small percentage of Americans believe that American politicians would ever do so."
"I mean, there's a reason the joke/saying is, 'The highest award a journalist can receive is being assassinated by the CIA.' There's probably been a handful who may've found out one too many things on the elites, and then had an accident before they could publish their findings."
"Ohhhh boy then south american journalists in the 60s-80s have been awarded way too much."
"MLK was literally murdered by the government."
"Lots of Black Panthers were too."
'"As part of the larger COINTELPRO operation, the FBI was determined to prevent any improvement in the effectiveness of the BPP leadership. The FBI orchestrated an armed raid with the Chicago police and State Attorney on Hampton's Chicago apartment.'"
"Quote from the Wikipedia article on Fred Hampton."
Conspiracies for the conspiracies to cover up the conspiracies.
"The CIA creates conspiracy theories to provide cover for the real conspiracies."
- Argle
"It's actually kind of scary how smug anti-conspiracy discourse is used to derail actual conversations. A moment that chipped my faith in humanity just a little was when I was arguing with some people about Guatemala in 1954 and people denied my version of events happened 'because it's a conspiracy.'"
"Like no the parties involved admitted to it."
"If you don't know what I'm talking about and are from the USA you should have a google. But, basically the USA destroyed a democracy because it made a corporation sad."
"What's worse is when people will talk about how corrupt insert what politicians they don't like are, but then when you mention something that is actually confirmed to have happened, they pull the conspiracy theory card and act as if the idea people in power don't want to secure further power for themselves."
"We have been conditioned to think like that from since we started school though (I guess that's my submission for this ask post)."
"I think I remember reading about some CIA agents AMA. Someone asked him the question, 'What's the point of area 51?' The answer was, 'To keep your attention away from area 50 and 52.'"
"Obviously not an exact quote, but the idea of it has always stuck with me."
Extinct animals not actually being extinct for preservation.
"I think it is entirely plausible that the Thylacine still exists in the depths of the Australian mainland and the government knows it."
"It wouldn't be that crazy for misguided scientists to have moved or released a few in the late 1800s. Once the animal went extinct, they certainly couldn't reveal the existence of the mainland population lest poachers and local farmers destroy it. They also may have realized how significant the liability was for releasing large predators into farmland."
"Folks have found hair and scat samples that may be from the animal, but the university lab results always come back and say they are nonsense. That's probably the truth, but I wouldn't be entirely surprised if the government was strong-arming them into reporting BS results. TBH if I was a conservation scientist it wouldn't take much convincing for me to fake a negative test."
Robert 'Curt' Borton Jr.
"I believe in a LOT of really boring conspiracies. Stuff like. 'This person was about to expose corporate/government corruption, and then died suspiciously.'"
"But if you want to go for a more intense one, Robert Borton, who I just learnt about, takes the cake. tl;dr guy disappears in Vietnam and really strange sh*T happens to his family."
"This guy, Robert 'Curt' Borton Jr. turns 19 in 1965, he goes to fight in Vietnam. He lands in 1966 and vanishes 19 days into his deployment alongside 3 other soldiers."
"In 1976, two guys approach his dad and claimed to work for the Department of Defense. They asked him to sign a letter that would change his sons status from 'Missing in action' to 'Killed in action' and he refused. Arguing the military would not confront people in public to sign documents. However, in the following weeks he was approached again by these two guys in public places and eventually signed it out of fear. He later received money for doing so."
"His sister then claims that every time they've seen Curt's official files, the entries keep changing, and his sister claims her phone was being wiretapped. A cousin believes that everyone was being watched, claiming that he was followed to work several times and that two men would follow him from his home to his company and then back. After this went on for a month, he decided to confront them, but they denied following him. After that, for about a month, he was not followed."
"The family is convinced Curt was part of a secret government operation that brought him from Vietnam into the United States. Diane believes that he has tried to contact her and other family members on multiple occasions. She claims that she has talked to a man who is a "secret returnee" and that they are allowed to come back to the United States, as long as they do not contact their families. She believes that this was done because the U.S. government had already claimed that all of the living POWs had been brought home; since they were still left behind, they could not become known to the public."
We may never fully know if any of these are true. Given the track record and history of most governments in the world, maybe some of these aren't so far fetched.
Only you can decide what you believe or not.
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I am severely concerned about the level of brain power left on this rotting ball we call a planet.
We are in some serious trouble people. Simple facts are being distorted and obvious truths ignored. In the immortal words of Oscar winner Ms. Whoopie Goldberg as the brilliant Oda Mae Brown in "Ghost"... "World (Molly) you're in danger girl!"
Red alert, theories are not fact. So please do your research before you fall down a rabbit hole and follow the lies.
It's not that this sort of behavior is new, it's just gotten really out of hand as of late.
Redditor Superfrogboy wanted to discuss some ideas floating about that just don't add up by asking:
What is the worst and dumbest conspiracy theory?
The things I read on the daily scare me. Then I turn on the tv and see that members of our government believe the Easter Bunny is real and science is lies. And then I get frantic. Deep breaths....
Creative Writing
"The one that states that Middle Age never happened and that 800yrs of history were just invented by the Vatican. It is actually funny how much work was done to prove this theory."
- ThatOtherFrenchGuy
GiphyBeatlemania...
"Paul McCartney dying in a bicycle accident in 1966 and being replaced by a lookalike, and that the Beatles left clues on their albums.
Agents of the Pope
"In the new Irish exiles, however, many Protestants saw a papal plot at work. According to "Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia," some Protestants feared the pope and his army would land in the United States, overthrow the government and establish a new Vatican in Cincinnati."
"They believed the Irish would impose the Catholic canon as the law of the land. History The idea that Irish immigrants were agents of the Pope working to establish a Third Rome in Cincinnati is just hilarious to me."
- BohemondIV
Tartaria...
"Similarly, that there was a lost, technologically advanced global empire called Tartaria that collapsed in the mid-1800s, and for some reason it's been entirely wiped from history except for its architecture. Examples of "Tartarian" architecture include the Arc de Triomphe, old Chicago, and most late middle ages castles."
"At its core, it's similar to the Graham Hancock-style "history is lying to us" but unlike the Younger Dryas theories, which are still dumb but mostly hinge on "yeah, but we don't have evidence it's NOT true," the conspiracy requires significantly more heavy lifting to explain how none of this society survives except for a very specific and visible aspect. Check out r/Tartaria for the wildest rabbit hole you will go down today."
- blisteringchristmas
Silence
"Any of those which require an exceptionally large number of people to remain completely silent over the course of decades."
- ByzantineBasileus
GiphySilence is part of the problem. And religion is really feeling like a hostage taker, I grew up Catholic. But there is a lot to explain.
Endings
"Every "End of the World" conspiracy. It has been said so many times, yet the world hasn't ended."
- SumthnUnreal
GiphyIt's a Circle!
"Flat Earth."
- CorbuloDIY
"The one thing about flat-earth theories that has never been successfully articulated to me is: Why? What is the point of it all? Why are NASA and all the world's governments, astronauts, physicists, astronomers, cartographers, pilots, and sailors trying to trick people into believing the world is round? What do they gain from maintaining this charade, or what would they lose from its exposure? Just, why?"
- Dahhhkness
Watered Down
"As the womb is filled by water. Everyone is technically born at sea therefore only maritime law applies to them. I don't get it either."
- DucoNdona
"So they would claim a gallon of water is a sea? If I stand in a puddle I'm at sea? When I take a bath I'm at sea? I think if it can't float a vessel the size of a cargo ship, then it ain't a sea."
Oh the Q...
"The holocaust didn't happen. Like how are you gonna deny something with loads of witnesses, pictures, survivors etc?"
- PokerP*rn
"My sister is a hardcore QAnon type. She is adamant that the Holocaust never happened, all the pictures are fabricated, videos are all fake, etc."
- feed_me_churros
Nirvana
"Kurt Cobain faked his death and assumed the identity of Rivers Cuomo."
- morgance_lavellan
Giphy"they"
"Chemtrails. Doesn't matter what pilots, meteorologists, scientists, etc, tell them - they just think every contrail is a chemical spray 'they' use to... do something or other to us. Nutjobs."
ActiniumNugget
"They don't understand how much 'Chemical' would be necessary to get the dispersal patterns of contrails. There wouldn't be any room for passengers or fuel. I honestly thing the plane would be too heavy to take off."
Celica_Lover
"lizard people"
"Celebrities are reptiles wearing a disguise. A few years ago a lot of conspiracy theorists believed that celebrities and world leaders were a part of an organisation of 'lizard people' disguised as humans with plans to take over the world. There were so many videos of people analysing eye and tongue movements of famous people as proof that there were lizards."
RandomVampireUnicorn
'false flag operation'
"That Sandy Hook (or any other mass shooting or tragedy for that matter) was a 'false flag operation' designed so the 'government can come take your guns.' You had f**king lunatics writing books called 'Nobody Died at Sandy Hook,' which was a total slap in the face to all of the family members who lost loved ones (especially the ones who lost their little children)."
DJHJR86
Bad Egg
"Humpty Dumpty didn't fall - he was pushed.."
Back2Bach
"And they did everything not to help him! I mean, they gave the first shot at putting him back together again to the frickin' horses!"
GuardPerson
im dead humpty dumpty GIF by TRULY SOCIALGiphy???
"Vaccine has a tracking device in it lmao. posts rant about how vaccine has a tracking device on Facebook using tracking device."
aaronsacunt
"It baffles me. Microchips that are small enough to fit through the needle of a vaccine and transmit your locations simply don’t exist yet, they do have them for dogs but the needles are much bigger. Why spend billions inventing new technology when people willingly spend hundreds buying handheld devices that do just that?"
XxsquirrelxX
Andy Tales
"Andy Kaufman faked his death in the 80s and assumed the identity of then-eccentric billionaire Donald Trump. Donald Trump was at the peak of his career and wanting to retire, and they conspired for him to vanish from public view so Kaufman could take on what he would consider his magnum opus. Kaufman (as Trump) began saying more and more outlandish things, his business ventures went sideways, he started a television show where he fired people with 'his' kids, and the real estate mogul even began selling steaks. Andy Kaufman is truly a master of acting."
IZ3820
Not Again...
"Well apparently Trump is going to take back the presidency in August. I thought it was supposed to happen this month, and the month before that, and the month before that, and the month before that, and the month before that... it's probably nothing to worry about I'm sure it'll happen this time."
Interesting_Winter52
It's real
"My dad is convinced that coronavirus doesn’t exist. Like all the people that died from it would’ve died anyways and there isn’t a virus involved."
ImSoTiredLmfao
Omicron GIF by GIPHY Studios OriginalsGiphy"hints"
"That somewhere in Trump's government there was an operative releasing 'hints' to the public about ongoing investigations in to his political opponents, in an effort to prepare certain people for 'the storm' and... I can't keep this crap up. Q. Q is the dumbest crap ever, because anyone with an IQ above room temperature can figure out it's fake with a few seconds of effort."
EvidentlyEmpirical
2024
"My cousin was one of those people who thought Trump was going to become president again in March. It seems like that didn’t happen but according to her Trump actually is currently president and Biden is just there to keep the people happy. I’m curious to what she is going to say when a law she doesn’t like get passed. Or if Trump runs again in 2024."
OrangeTree81
I understand wanting to find truth and deciphering difficult questions, but some facts are just fact. How in 2021are we still debating this rotting ball's shape? The Earth is round. Period.
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