Almost everyone goes through some sort of a ‘phase’; a double denim phase, that time you got a Mohawk, growing your own chilli peppers, getting weekly colonics. Some of these passing fads stick, growing into movements, lasting trends or subcultures, replete with specific conventions, jargon and even taking on a pseudo-religious air. Here’s a list of identities, clubs, hobbies…stuff people like to do, that are still around and show no signs of going away.

10 Times Popular Culture Actually Killed People

10 Goth

Who knew we’d still be seeing goths two whole decades into the 21st century? Why won’t they die? Well, in fairness, they seem to already be dead. It is mildly ironic that the go-to trend for outcast, non-conformist types turns out to be one of the most wide-spread, long-lasting subcultures of the 20th and 21st century. But goths don’t care. They don’t care about much of anything (except running out of ‘midnight onyx’ lip gloss).

Goth started in the 80’s, from the fragmentation of English punk. Why has it endured? Perhaps it is due to how it has drawn an aesthetic from many movements and eras of the past, (unlike the similar ‘New Romantic’ movement which focused more narrowly on the Georgian era). 50s monster movies, German expressionist cinema, gothic literary figures like Edgar Allan Poe, Victorian fashion and even darker elements of European folklore and African and Caribbean voodoo are all sources of aesthetic inspiration for goths, giving the subculture a timeless air. Goth, it could be said, is not the ‘New Black’ but more the ‘Perpetual Black’.^[1]

9 Hacker Culture

The Matrix is real, we all know that by now. I mean, 2020 has pretty much removed all conjecture on the subject—reality cannot be this crazy, this random. Hackers, a now venerable community that live beyond the digital fringe of civilisation, seem to have known this for a while.

Hacker culture is fundamentally about finding creative ways to solve difficult problems, primarily within software systems. One burning question they solved: How can you make an old fashioned dot-matrix printer play musical notes? Hackers will go into the belly of the mechanical beast and make it do whatever they damn well please. Dating from the early 20th century, hacker culture has developed alongside the growing free software movement, making this subculture perhaps the only one on this list that could truly change the world in a meaningful way. If the real world were ‘real’, that is, but given the ease that these guys and gals can manipulate our cyber reality, it seems to all be a simulation anyway.^[2]

8 The New Age Movement

“This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius” sang the band ‘The 5th Dimension’ in 1969. We’re still waiting, hippies.

From crystal healing and reflexology, reappraising defunct divination practices like I Ching and astrology to claiming belief in debunked myths like the existence Atlantis and ancient aliens forming everything before Christ came along, this movement is so loose it is a real miracle it’s still about. It seems to be a one-size-fits-everything-outside-science-and-organised-religion type of thing.

To be a bit fairer to this lot, there doesn’t seem to be much malice there (often… we’re looking at you, cults). A bit like Mormonism, they just don’t hold much stock in objective reality or the scientific method whilst making claims that should fall well within that sphere. Sure, crystal healers make money off people who may be very sick, but usually both parties actually believe in the power of lumps of pressurized rock. Have you ever met a new-ager that scared or offended you directly? Well, Charles Manson, I guess… then again, you probably never met him.^[3]

7 Furries

Don’t click away! This subculture may be inextricably linked to creepiness, but it actually has a fascinating history. First off, a little housekeeping. Is furry fandom all about sex? No it isn’t…for all of them, anyways. Still here? Good, it gets better, I promise.

Furry fandom finds its origins in an unexpectedly cool place—the ‘underground comix’ scene of the late 70s. By 1983, the term ‘furry’ was being used by fans of anthropomorphic animals in Sci-fi, cartoons and comic books, who’d meet at expos and conventions, setting up online communities as early as 1990, further growing the fandom through to the twenty-first century. These guys and gals like to dress up as cutesy-looking animals and… that’s it for many. For around 37% of furries, they like to dress up and then get it on like, well, cute little furry animals. If you love cartoon animals or want to make love to cartoon animals, maybe this lifestyle is for you.^[4]

6 Gopniks

You’ve seen these guys and gals, I can pretty much guarantee it. You see, gopnik culture is simply a regional flavour for, arguably, a ubiquitous and inevitable subculture which occurs anywhere that has sportswear brands, small cars that are easily modified and some form of electronic music. In Britain they go by many names, more commonly ‘chavs’. In South Africa they are a part of Zef culture. One could argue that hip-hop culture US cities and the latest manifestation of ‘Cholo/Chola’ culture in Latin America and the US can also be seen as a part of this. Some call it ‘Street Culture’, ‘Working Class Drop-outs’ or ‘Gutter Stargazers’. Essentially, all these similar subcultures involve young, uneducated, disaffected people from lower class areas that society views as adjacent to, if not immersed in, loutish, sleazy and often criminal behaviour. Nice, right?^[5]

10 Incredible Subcultures From Around The World

5 Naturism

Millennia ago, we didn’t wear clothes. This is the natural state for all other members of our shared animal kingdom. Having said that, we used to die pretty young, and being uncovered whilst having to face the elements may have contributed to that (alongside sabre-toothed cats, wood splinters causing sepsis and those pesky volcanoes dotted around the landscape).

Organised naturism started out in the British Raj in 1891 with the first recognised club, The ‘Fellowship of the Naked Trust’, formed by a judge in Bombay named Charles Crawford. Since this time, philosophical papers, pamphlets, films and documentaries have helped spread the utopian, stripped back way of life all through the world. But it’s not all hippy-dippy nonsense: Croatia, a real hotbed for naturism, has a booming tourism industry in the post-Yugoslav era. Nudist tourism accounts for 15% of the market. Not too shabby… although where you’d keep your wallet is a real head scratcher.^[6]

4 Surfer Culture

“Yeeeew! Look at that gnarly swell coming in! This is gonna be radical, dude.” What should be scary to all of us is that this piece of surfer sociolect, a sub-category of hobby-related jargon that should only be understood by a small clutch of people, will be understood by nearly all English-speakers who read it. Surf culture has made one hell of a mark for a very niche pastime.

One could claim that surf culture finds its origins in native Hawaiian culture, at least in terms of the sport itself. It was Duke Kahanamoku, an Olympic gold medallist in swimming and a native Hawaiian, who is credited with popularised the sport of surfing, first by introducing the sport in Southern California in 1912 and then to Australia in 1914 by giving demonstrations in both swimming and surfing at Sydney’s Freshwater Beach. From this enthusiastic yet typically laid-back introduction (“You wanna see me do that thing with a plank of wood from the islands? No sweat, brah!”), fashion, language, movies and people’s lives have been shaped by this sport and the subculture it spawned.^[7]

3 Punk

Who doesn’t love being spat on by a skinny yob with a safety pin through their nose? Punks certainly love this, and a whole load of non normative behaviours and political stances to boot. Many, many, many subcultures and musical genres have formed in the wake of both English punk and the New York scene, proving that punk is probably the most influential cultural movement of the latter half of the twentieth century.

So what is punk? Patti Smith seemed to think it was ‘freedom’. Joe Strummer said it was more about ‘attitude’ and ‘truth’. Author Chuck Klosterman seemed to partly agree with Strummer, adding that it was also defined by a ‘laziness’, a certain style over substance:

“…you didn’t even need to know how to play your instrument, assuming you knew how to plug it in. There was really no difference between Sid Vicious and anyone in London who owned a base”. Except Sid Vicious was, well, Sid bloody Vicious.

Punk, in it’ rawest essence, is about rebellion, about honesty and a very specific style that makes people looking at a punk say “hey, look at those ripped jeans and that mohawk hairdo. That person is a punk”. However this highly influential subculture is defined, punk’s enduring nature and ever evolving set of definitions shows no sign of dying and, unless the world falls into either an all consuming totalitarianism or nihilistic anarchy, will always live. Bollocks.^[8]

2 Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs

“My most basic credo is: I never said freedom was cheap. And it ain’t. Never will be. It’s been the highest priced and most precious commodity in my life.”—Sonny Barger, author, actor and Hells Angel.

When military personnel return from war, they often find it difficult to settle back into society. This was as much of a problem in the 1940s as it is today, probably more so (Thanks, Hitler and Hirohito). Fighter pilots found it especially hard, finding the ‘normal’ life they had to lead nowhere near exhilarating enough after spending the last few years strafing fleeing SS units from the skies above Europe or fighting propeller-to-propeller with Imperial Japanese Zeroes. The only way to reclaim that freedom? Found a motorcycle group and tear up and down US highways on some kick-ass hogs. Hate the rules of the American Motorcycle Association? Form an unsanctioned, ‘outlaw’ motorcycle group.

What could go wrong? Well, all that unbridled freedom doesn’t provide you with any of the stuff you need to live. Many, but not all, outlaw motorcycle groups are now dangerous gangs, considered as influential and dangerous as any organised crime groups. Huge street battles, drug trafficking and contract murders are common fare for many groups. Still, one cannot deny the romance of leaving polite society behind, mounting a Harley and riding off to the next adventure.^[9]

1 Ferroequinology

We’ll end on perhaps the most exciting, pulse-rate-increasing, in-your-face, tear it all down subculture on the list.

Train spotting.

No, not the debauched, heroin-taking guys and gals from the novel/movie ‘Trainspotting’. I mean the spotters, cataloguers and general lovers of trains. You bathed in sweat yet? Are your nerves ready to burst?

There are loads of terms for a person who enjoy this hobby—’rail fan’, ‘trainspotter’, ‘anorak’, ‘gunzel’ and ‘foamer’, but the term ‘ferroequinologist’ is the preferred one (‘Ferro’ is Latin for iron, ‘equine’ is horse). It is difficult to consider a more meaningless way to spend ones time than seeing, noting and then discussing trains, but there is a real world benefit to this seemingly nerdish activity. The British Transport Police often appeal for info from avid trainspotters, and the BNSF rail company have asked American rail fans to keep them informed as to anything out of the ordinary so they can keep the railroads safe. Just for this service, we promise not to feed ferroequinologists to the furries…^[10]

10 Cool Subcultures You’ll Want To Join

About The Author: C.J. Phillips is a storyteller, actor and author living in rural West Wales. He is a little obsessed with lists.

The pages of astronomy books are packed with old mysteries. Thanks to the advancement of technology, experts can now look back and solve some of the gnarliest space mysteries on record. From the sudden appearance of a “star” 900 years ago above China to the truth about the famous Wow Signal, here are ten cosmic enigmas that have finally been cracked.

10 Antarctica’s Missing Iron Meteorites

Some space mysteries exist on Earth. One such riddle can be found in Antarctica. This frosty corner of the globe is where most meteorites are recovered. This abundance has nothing to do with location but instead with color differences. It’s easier to spot dark cosmic debris against the white expanse of this region than in places with forests or sand dunes.

Thousands of space rocks enter our atmosphere every year, so one might think that every type of meteorite can be found in Antarctica. Not so. The snow-covered continent is strangely empty of iron meteorites.

The mystery lasted for decades until 2016. That year, UK researchers released a study that suggested Antarctica has plenty of iron meteorites—they are just well hidden. Their iron content ensures that these meteorites become hotter than other space rocks when they enter our atmosphere. Once they impact ice or snow, they’ll burrow under the surface (melt their way down, really) and completely disappear from sight. Antarctica probably has a treasure trove of iron-rich meteorites; we just can’t see them.^[1]

9 No Green Comet Tails

Astronomers have never recorded a comet with a green tail. This was odd because many comets develop radiant green heads as they fly closer to the sun. What was stopping the color from spreading to their tails? Interestingly, this question went unsolved for 90 years.

Since the 1930s, researchers suspected dicarbon could explain the whole thing. Dicarbon is a chemical that forms when the organic matter on the comet’s head reacts to sunlight, causing the green color. Unfortunately, sunlight also destroys dicarbon, which could explain why the chemical never survives long enough to reach a comet’s tail.

In 2021, this theory was proved in an amazing way. Scientists had to recreate the process, and that was no easy task. Dicarbon only exists in extreme places (like space), and it’s also a volatile chemical. In a world first, they created dicarbon, and while inside a vacuum chamber, it was brought into contact with gas and lasers to simulate the conditions in space. The lasers, in particular, proved that the sun’s radiation ripped apart the dicarbon before it could turn a comet’s tail green.^[2]

8 The Mystery of Jovian Lightning

Ancient astronomers theorized for centuries that the largest planet in the solar system had lightning, but it wasn’t confirmed until 1979 when NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft hurtled past Jupiter. However, apart from confirming an old suspicion, Voyager 1 also discovered that Jovian lightning only appeared near the planet’s poles. In comparison, Earth’s lightning is more common among the equator.

It took another flyby to understand why lightning bolts avoided Jupiter’s midriff like the plague. In recent years, the craft Juno buzzed Jupiter and identified heat as the reason why lightning never zings the planet’s equator.

Earth catches the brunt of the sun’s warmth around the equator which fuels rising hot air—the very thing that lightning needs to form. The process is reversed on Jupiter in a peculiar way. Once sunlight makes Jupiter’s equator toasty, the world’s upper atmosphere stabilizes in such a way that it suppresses rising warm air. For this reason, lighting strikes freely at the poles where there is no atmospheric stability, and heat from inside the planet pushes hot air upward.^[3]

7 A Strange Light Show

In 2022, the James Webb Telescope beamed back a fantastic photograph to Earth. It showed a bright light at the center of several rings. Cutting through the rings were eight spikes of light that radiated from the center outward, almost creating a spiderweb effect. When the bizarre but beautiful image hit social media, people had one question, “What the heck is this?”

Researchers quickly determined that the spikes were a “fault” on the telescope’s part. It tended to produce such anomalies when photographing bright objects in space. Since the spikes weren’t real, that left the unusual concentric circles around the star.

A closer look revealed that the “light” came from two stars. They orbited each other in an eight-year cycle, and each time the stars came close to each other and moved away again, that’s the moment when they produced dust and threw out another ring.^[4]

6 The Glowing Blobs

In 2000, astronomers stumbled upon a bizarre space… thing. Billions of light-years from Earth floated a blob. It was as big as a galaxy and also glowed as brightly as one. But here’s the mystery—the giant space bubble had no stars, only hydrogen gas. So, what caused it to shine so brilliantly?

All told, about 30 blobs were eventually discovered. However, it wasn’t until dozens of astronomers, countless telescopes, and advanced simulations came together that their light source was revealed. Unexpectedly, stars were involved—but in a very unusual way.

As it turns out, these mammoth orbs are star factories. Deep inside the blobs, fresh stars are being produced at a rate 100 times faster than those born in our Milky Way galaxy. For some reason, nearby galaxies also pour star-forming materials into the chaos. But the actual light comes from the moment when new stars are born. In that instant, the stars exude a burst of bright ultraviolet light, which scatters in the hydrogen gas, causing the blob to glow.^[5]

5 A 900-Year-Old Mystery

In 1181, Japanese and Chinese astronomers noticed a difference in the night sky. A new light had appeared, shone as brightly as Saturn, and stayed for six months. The description given by these early star gazers provided modern researchers with enough reason to believe that they were describing a supernova. This celestial explosion became quite famous in scientific circles, mostly because nobody could find any trace of it.

In 2021, roughly 900 years after the mystery of the missing supernova began, the origins of the so-called “Chinese Guest Star” were finally discovered. The ancient reports stated that the light had appeared between the Chinese constellations of Huagai and Chuanshe. In this region were a star and nebula thought to have been created when two White Dwarf stars merged. Such an event is known to trigger supernovas and the location, description of the light, and the age of the nebula all fit the events of 1181.^[6]

4 That Time When Betelgeuse Blinked

Stargazers are very familiar with Orion. This star constellation is also known as “the hunter,” and Betelgeuse is the red supergiant that marks Orion’s eastern shoulder. The star is among the most luminous in the night sky, so when it suddenly dimmed in September 2019, astronomers quickly noticed. For a while, the fading continued, and by February 2020, Betelgeuse had dimmed by an unprecedented 35 percent.

Although the star regained its former brilliance, experts were at a loss. Nobody could explain why the red giant had “blinked.” Putting their best guesses on the table, researchers theorized that the dimming was the result of a dust cloud or a drop in temperature. During a multinational attempt, researchers combed through observatory data and satellite images and realized that both theories were correct.

Betelgeuse had ejected a massive cloud of gas from its innards, but it wasn’t until the star’s photosphere started to cool that the gas condensed into dust. This dusty atmosphere temporarily cloaked the star’s light. ^[7]

3 The Lunar Fireball Photograph

In 1953, Dr. Leon Stuart from Oklahoma photographed an event on the Moon. He believed that the gigantic fireball he captured was a plume of vaporized rock. If true, that would make him the first person to witness and document a lunar impact. It became known as “Stuart’s Event,” but nobody, not even astronauts or space probes, could find the crater.

Yet, the photograph proved that something had happened on the Moon in 1953. In 2003, NASA researchers analyzed the image and calculated that the object would’ve left a fresh-looking crater up to 1.24 miles (2 kilometers) across. Taking cues from the lunar landscape, they searched a grid of roughly 22 miles (35 kilometers) using photographs taken in 1994 by the lunar-orbiting Clementine spacecraft.

Incredibly, the NASA team found Stuart’s crater. It was smaller, measuring 0.93 miles (1.5 kilometers) across, but it was fresh, had the right appearance, and was also located in the middle of the famous photograph. The size of the crater also matched the estimated energy output of the impact, which would’ve been 35 times stronger than the atomic bomb that had devastated Hiroshima.^[8]

2 The Impossible Twin Galaxies

No two galaxies are alike. Keeping this rule in mind, scientists were blown away when they discovered identical twin galaxies in 2013. The pair even sat next to each other, making it immediately obvious that they were freakishly similar. The odd phenomenon became known as Hamilton’s Object.

No theory made sense until someone suggested, in 2015, that gravitational lensing might be responsible. This rare phenomenon is bonkers. When large celestial bodies line up in a row, they can actually curve light and space-time in such a way that when astronomers view the objects through telescopes, they appear closer than they really are. Very often, they also produce mirages of themselves. The result? The illusion that two identical objects are sitting side by side.

When researchers looked closer at the setup that might be causing Hamilton’s Object, they discovered that between Earth and the “twins” sat a massive cluster of galaxies. The latter is causing the duplicate effect, but in reality, Hamilton’s Object is a single spiral galaxy.^[9]

1 Origins of the Wow Signal

In 1977, a legendary mystery was born. Astronomer Jerry Ehman captured radio waves from space that were unlike anything he’d ever seen before (or anyone else, for that matter). He wrote “Wow!” next to the printed signal, and the name stuck. Even today, the Wow Signal is touted as proof of alien contact or, at the very least, an unsolved mystery. In truth, the origins had already been discovered in 2017.

Researchers from St Petersburg College suspected that comets might be the culprits. More specifically, a pair called 266P/Christensen and 335P/Gibbs. Both were enveloped in clouds of hydrogen gas. This detail is important because hydrogen naturally emits 1420MHz. This was the same radio frequency the “alien” signal emitted.

The telescope that picked up the Wow Signal was pointing at a specific group of stars in the Sagittarius constellation, and both comets were confirmed to have been in the area at the time. A closer look also revealed that 266/P Christensen was probably the comet that sparked the 40-year-old mystery. When its radio signals were compared to those from the Wow Signal, they were a match.^[10]

The top 10 of the world’s most enduring conspiracy theories.

10. Electronic Banking.

The Theory of Electronic Conspiracy is said to be a variant of modern New World Order conspiracy theories. According to some conspiracy theorists, virtual money – credit and debit cards – was created by a “secret group” that plans to dominate the world.

The plan, according to theorists, is to completely eliminate paper and coin currency so that citizens rely solely on electronic banking. Once that goal is achieved, the “secret group” will cause a worldwide electronic blackout, which will simultaneously erase everyone’s bank account information, thus creating chaos and panic. The alleged motivation behind the plot is the reintroduction of slavery into the modern world. The benefactors vary – depending on which theory you subscribe to.

9. Secret Societies Control the World.

If you were really a member of the global élite, you’d know this already: The world is ruled by a powerful, secretive few. Many of the rest of us peons have heard that in 2004 both candidates for the White House were members of Yale University’s secretive Skull and Bones society, many of whose members have risen to powerful positions. But Skull and Bones is small potatoes compared with the mysterious cabals that occupy virtually every seat of power, from the corridors of government to the boardrooms of Wall Street.

Take the Illuminati, a sect said to have originated in 18th century Germany and which is allegedly responsible for the pyramid-and-eye symbol adorning the $1 bill. They intend to foment world wars to strengthen the argument for the creation of a worldwide government (which would, of course, be Satanic in nature). Or consider the Freemasons, who tout their group as the “oldest and largest worldwide fraternity” and boast alumni like George Washington. Some think that despite donating heaps of cash to charity, they’re secretly plotting your undoing at Masonic temples across the world.

Or maybe, some theorize, the guys pulling the strings aren’t concealed in shadow at all. They might be the intelligentsia on the Council on Foreign Relations, a cadre of policy wonks who allegedly count their aims as publishing an erudite bimonthly journal and establishing a unified world government — not necessarily in that order.

8. Landing on Moon.

According to conspiracy theorists, the moon landing that the world watched unfold live on July 20, 1969, was a hoax orchestrated by NASA and other key organizations. Theorists believe that the surface Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked upon was not a celestial body but a man-made soundstage.

Proponents of the conspiracy theory insist that the technology of the time was not sufficient enough to pull off such a feat. They claim that environmental obstacles alone – cosmic rays, radiation belts and solar wind – would have made the trip impossible.

As evidence of their belief, theorists point to photographs and video that were taken during the mission, which they claim contain several oddities; including inconsistent shadows, identical backgrounds and the lack of any visible stars.

Why fake the landing? Theorists claim the United States sought not only the prestige of the event, but also monetary gain.

In 2008, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, stars of the TV show MythBusters, examined several of the myths related to the moon landing. Upon conducting a variety of controlled tests with a team of scientists at a NASA training facility, they concluded that a conspiracy did not exist.

NASA puts little effort into debunking the claims, looking at them as ludicrous; however they did, in July 2009, use the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to take a photo of the Apollo 11 landing site, which they say shows remains of the 1969 landing site. Despite efforts to debunk the myths, conspiracy theorists stand by their claims.

7. The Reptilian Elite.

They are among us. Blood-drinking, flesh-eating, shape-shifting extraterrestrial reptilian humanoids with only one objective in their cold-blooded little heads: to enslave the human race. They are our leaders, our corporate executives, our beloved Oscar-winning actors and Grammy-winning singers, and they’re responsible for the Holocaust, the Oklahoma City bombings and the 9/11 attacks … at least according to former BBC sports reporter David Icke, who became the poster human for the theory in 1998 after publishing his first book, The Biggest Secret, which contained interviews with two Brits who claimed members of the royal family are nothing more than reptiles with crowns.

See also; Top 10 World’s Biggest Secrets of All Time!.

The conspiracy theorist and New Age philosopher, who wore only turquoise for a time and insisted on being called Son of God-Head, says these “Annunaki” (the reptiles) have controlled humankind since ancient times; they count among their number Queen Elizabeth, George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Bob Hope. Encroaching on other conspiracy theorists’ territory, Icke even claims that the lizards are behind secret societies like the Freemasons and the Illuminati. Since earning the dubious title of “paranoid of the decade” in the late 1990s, Icke has written several books on the topic, including his latest work, The David Icke Guide to the Global Conspiracy, while operating his own website — complete with merchandise and advertisements.

6. The CIA and AIDS.

Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention first reported the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1981, rumors have persisted that the deadly virus was created by the CIA to wipe out homosexuals and African Americans. Even today, the conspiracy theory has a number of high-profile believers. South African President Thabo Mbeki once touted the theory, disputing scientific claims that the virus originated in Africa and accusing the U.S. government of manufacturing the disease in military labs.

When she won the Nobel Peace Prize, Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maathai used the international spotlight to support that theory as well. Others insist that the government deliberately injected gay men with the virus during 1978 hepatitis-B experiments in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Still others point to Richard Nixon, who combined the U.S. Army’s biowarfare department with the National Cancer Institute in 1971. Though the co-discoverers of HIV — Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute and Dr. Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris — don’t agree on its origins, most members of the scientific community believe the virus jumped from monkeys to humans some time during the 1930s.

5. Holocaust Revisionism.

Despite overwhelming evidence and an admission and apology from Germany decades ago, revisionists continue to claim that nearly 6 million Jews were not killed by Nazis during the Holocaust. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for one, has called the Holocaust a “myth” and suggested that Germany and other European countries, rather than Palestine, provide land for a Jewish state.

Unlike Ahmadinejad, most revisionists do not deny that Jews were interned in prison camps during World War II; rather, they argue that the number of deaths was greatly exaggerated. Gas chambers are a particular sticking point: Holocaust deniers say they were purely a rumor or, if they indeed existed, were not powerful enough to kill — though evidence and history indicate otherwise. And the photographs of emaciated and dying Jews? Attorney Edgar J. Steele, a revisionist, says, “All those pictures of skinny people and bodies stacked like cordwood were actually of Czechs and Poles and Germans [who] died of typhus, which was rampant in the camps.”

4. Area 51 and the Aliens.

We may have Tang thanks to the space program, but who gave us such innovations as the Stealth fighter and Kevlar? Aliens, of course. Conspiracy theorists believe that the remains of crashed UFO spacecrafts are stored at Area 51, an Air Force base about 150 miles from Las Vegas, where government scientists reverse-engineer the aliens’ highly advanced technology. Fodder for this has come from a variety of supposed UFO sightings in the area and testimony from a retired Army colonel who says he was given access to extraterrestrial materials gathered from an alien spacecraft that crashed in Roswell, N.M. Some believe that the government studies time travel at Area 51, also known as Groom Lake or Dreamland.

See also; 10 Undeniable Signs That Prove Aliens Exist.

The government has developed advanced aircraft and weapons systems at nearby Nellis Air Force Base, including Stealth bombers and reconnaissance planes. And the government’s official line — that the details of Area 51 are classified for purposes of national security, is only seen as further proof that the military is hiding aliens or alien spacecraft.

3. The 9/11 .

Not since the JFK assassination has there been a national tragedy so heavily imprinted in American minds. or that has given rise to quite as many alternative explanations. While videos and photographs of the two planes striking the World Trade Center towers are famous around the world, the sheer profusion of documentary evidence has only provided even more fodder for conspiracy theories.

A May 2006 Zogby poll found that 42% of Americans believed that the government and the 9/11 commission “concealed or refused to investigate critical evidence that contradicts their official explanation of the September 11th attacks.” Why had the military failed to intercept the hijacked planes? Had the government issued a “stand down” order, to minimize interference with a secret plan to destroy the buildings and blame it on Islamic terrorists? In 2005, Popular Mechanics published a massive investigation of similar claims and responses to them. The reporting team found that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) did not have a history of having fighter jets prepped and ready to intercept aircraft that had gone off route. And while the team found no evidence that the government had planned the attacks, lack of proof has rarely stopped conspiracy theorists before.

2. The JFK Assassination.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963, struck by two bullets. one in the head, one in the neck, while riding in an open-topped limo through Dealey Plaza in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with killing him, and a presidential commission headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren found that Oswald acted alone. But that conclusion hasn’t passed muster with the public. There are countless conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

A 2003 ABC News poll found that 70% of Americans believe Kennedy’s death was the result of a broader plot. The trajectory of the bullets, some say, didn’t square with Oswald’s perch on the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Others suggest a second gunman, perhaps on the grassy knoll of Dealey Plaza, participated in the shooting. Others believe in an even broader conspiracy. Was Kennedy killed by CIA agents acting either out of anger over the Bay of Pigs or at the behest of Vice President Lyndon Johnson? By KGB operatives? Mobsters mad at Kennedy’s brother for initiating the prosecution of organized crime rings? Speculation over one of history’s most famous political assassinations is such a popular parlor game that most people have taken the rumors to heart: just 32% of those polled by ABC believe Oswald carried out the killing on his own.

1. Bermuda Triangle.

Is there a mysterious force that causes ships and planes to disappear in the Bermuda Triangle, or is this just another far-fetched theory? For hundreds of years people have told stories about strange happenings in the Bermuda Triangle.

See also; Top 10 Terrifying Mysteries of Bermuda Triangle.

Also known as the Devil’s Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle is Located in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean. It covers roughly 500,000 square miles of the ocean, with apexes in Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico. There is no mistaking that a large number of vessels have gone missing in the area. however the explanation for those disappearances is where the conspiracies come into play. According to theorists, supernatural elements are responsible for the disappearances. Some say extraterrestrial beings are to blame, while others point to the mythical lost continent of Atlantis.

The U.S. Coast Guard and other experts familiar with the triangle discount supernatural elements as being responsible. Instead, they point to the fact that the triangle is situated in a heavily traveled area of the ocean. They say that the number of incidents that occur there are no greater than those that occur in other parts of the ocean. They feel that any number of natural occurrences including tropical storms and rogue waves could be responsible. Also, they point to the possibility of pirates and mechanical failures. In regard to the compass problems, experts say that there are no unusual magnetic anomalies in the area and cite the fact that all compasses have natural magnetic variations.

Regardless of whom you believe, one thing remains certain. The Bermuda Triangle will undoubtedly continue to remain a source of mystery and intrigue.