The events that occurred in the Ural Mountains at the beginning of February 1959, what would become known as the Dyatlov Pass incident, remain one of the 20th century’s most mysterious encounters—not least because we still don’t have a satisfactory or widely accepted explanation for why nine experienced hikers lost their lives in brutal ways.

Their tent was found in ruins, cut from the inside. Several of the hikers were discovered barefoot and almost naked near the original campsite around a month after their disappearance. What is interesting is that a trail of footprints—some barefoot—led from the tent and then simply stopped. The rest were discovered almost three months later, buried under snow in a ravine.

Just what happened to them? Why did they leave their tent, some barefoot, in the middle of the night in brutally cold temperatures, an act that would certainly guarantee their deaths? Here are ten theories as to just what happened.

10 It Was An Avalanche, Right?

The most obvious explanation would be that the group, for all their experience, were the unfortunate victims of a freak avalanche. Case solved, right? Well, not quite. First of all, the area has absolutely no history of avalanches, certainly none that would cause outright death.^[1] Secondly, even if this was a freak occurrence that just happened to hit on the night when hikers just happened to be on that part of the mountainside, there was simply no evidence of an avalanche when searchers eventually combed the area in search of the missing hikers.

Aside from there being no evidence of an avalanche, the injuries eventually discovered on the recovered bodies didn’t line up with such an incident. Although this explanation was very much promoted at one time—and even now, some people insist this is what happened—it simply does not add up. Furthermore, such insistence, against the obvious facts, could be argued to suggest a cover-up of sorts.

9 It Was A UFO

Okay, let’s get this one out of way. It was a UFO! That is certainly the theory of some researchers.^[2] And while there is no evidence to suggest they are correct, there are some interesting details to examine that might suggest involvement of a highly advanced craft from another world.

For example, where two of the hikers were discovered, next to the burned-out remains of a campfire, there was substantial damage to the trees that overlooked their makeshift base. The damage was around 4.6 meters (15 ft) high. Some researchers have theorized that this was the result of a UFO hovering just above the treetops.

Furthermore, some of the group who would be discovered months after they disappeared were found with pieces of skin, lips, and eyes apparently surgically removed. While some claim these “injuries” were merely the result of decomposition, others say the seemingly precise cuts suggest intelligent action.

8 The Yeti Claims

Perhaps one of the most interesting claims is that the group met their grisly end at the hands—or should that be claws—of a Yeti or Bigfoot-like creature that inhabits the remote regions of the Ural Mountains.^[3] The local Mansi tribe has legends of a Yeti-like creature called the Menk, and furthermore, it is said to roam the area of the incident.

There is a famous picture recovered from the belongings of the group on Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolle’s camera. On a shot known as “Frame 17,” there is a strange picture that seems to show a figure that bears a resemblance to a Bigfoot-type creature.

Some people believe that this “figure” was actually one of the hikers returning from a raised piece of land, probably looking to get their bearings. The fact that it was the last picture Thibeaux-Brignolle took, though, leads to some people perhaps reading more into what there actually is. Or perhaps it wasn’t a Bigfoot or one of the group? Perhaps, as our next entry looks at, it was something potentially more menacing.

7 Escaped Prisoners

Less talked-about is the claim that the hikers were the unfortunate victims of escaped prisoners from the gulags in the region.^[4] Many such prisoners, who very well may have been incarcerated since World War II and wouldn’t be at all up to speed with world events, would have been imprisoned in these facilities. To them, the conflict could very much have still been taking place unless they had other, inside knowledge.

Furthermore, being spotted by strangers could result in an attack from these desperate people—themselves potentially hardened from the war and untold time behind bars with no freedom whatsoever. They would, one would imagine, weigh up the options of attacking a (relatively) small group against the risk of being reported to the Soviet authorities, which would lead to many years back in the brutal gulags.

6 The Gulag Authorities Killed Them By Mistake

In addition to the potential threats from escaped gulag prisoners, the gulag authorities themselves were likely to shoot first and ask questions later, particularly in the region the hikers were.^[5] We should bear in mind that they were off-course and somewhere they had not planned to be.

Might the gulag authorities, perhaps conducting a standard patrol of the area or maybe looking for an escaped prisoner, have been a little eager for a potential apprehension and killed the hikers in error? Imagine the anger from the local population if this was to become known. Perhaps, then, a cover-up was decided upon? Note, however, that a potential hole in this theory and the one above is that the nearest gulag was reportedly about 100 kilometers (60 mi) from where the incident took place.

While there is no proof that gulag guards killed the hikers and covered it up, there is certainly enough murkiness around the incident for people to be suspicious. Also, it was the Cold War, a time when distrust, even among a country’s citizens, ran deep. In fact, the notion that the Cold War played a major part in this mysterious incident carries over into our next entry.

5 American Intelligence Involvement

There are some claims that the incident was a result of a CIA/KGB meeting involving the handing over of radioactive materials which ultimately resulted in the deaths of nine Soviet citizens.^[6] There is no real proof to these claims, and they rely heavily on the simple fact that the Cold War was in its heyday at the time. And, if there was any chance at all that the United States could have been placed in a negative light, the Soviets would have taken it.

However, there is reason to believe there could have been a type of “entrapment” scenario unfolding. For example, there were considerable indications of radiation, both in the area itself and on some of the dead hikers.

Rumors would surface that the incident was an attempt to plant radioactive materials on CIA agents “caught” behind Soviet lines. Somehow, the operation went wrong, and the hikers were killed. If this theory was true, then that would mean that at least one of the hikers was a KGB operative. And that is the subject of our next entry. What’s more, there is sufficient reason to believe that there really could have been a KGB presence in the Ural Mountains.

4 A KGB Plant?

There are several theories that the “hike” into the mountains was secretly, and against the majority of the hikers’ knowledge, a KGB operation.^[7] Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of these claims is the fact that the oldest member of the group, 37-year-old Semyon (aka Alexander) Zolotaryov (second from right above), was not only a last-minute addition but also reportedly had extensive military and combat training. Why, exactly, was he there?

Perhaps the tattoo on his body is worth paying more attention to by researchers into this most mysterious case? The tattoo read “DAERMMUAZUAYA.” According to those who have researched the word, there is no translation in any known language. Many assume it to be either a secret military tag or some kind of secret society moniker.

If there is any truth to Zolotaryov, or any of the Dyatlov crew, being KGB agents, what their mission might have been is still anyone’s guess.

3 Local Tribes

Some theories would persist that the deaths were the result of attacks from local tribes in the area, most notably the Mansi tribe.^[8] There is no real evidence of this; the Mansi were largely peaceful and uninterested in the outside world.

Furthermore, much like the details already mentioned when examining the apparent “escape” from their tent, there was no evidence in the surrounding snow—which was largely undisturbed—of such an approach by a tribe, who wouldn’t have been thinking at all of covering their tracks, certainly not after an attack. And for an attack to happen at night in the middle of an apparent blizzard is even more unlikely.

While they certainly make a convenient scapegoat, there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that the Mansi, or any other tribe in the area, were responsible for these most sudden and strange deaths. It perhaps should be noted, tough, that the local tribes did refer to the mountain where the incident took place as the “Mountain of the Dead.”

2 The Gravity Fluctuation Theory

Perhaps one of the most bizarre theories, albeit one that is grounded in scientific thought, is the gravity fluctuation theory.^[9] What this theory essentially argues is that there was a sudden drop in gravity in a “corridor” that the hikers were unfortunately camped in. This is a little-known (and unproven) phenomenon, but it does, at least in theory, explain the eventual location of the campers’ bodies.

For example, it is argued that those who first rushed outside the camp were essentially placed into a non-gravitational situation where they died instantly—as if they were in a vacuum. The others were dragged from the tent, which would explain the “tears from the inside.” They were literally ripped from the tent due to the sudden and dramatic drop in gravity. It is argued that this unusual phenomenon occurs more than people realize but rarely results in such a drastic situation, as people aren’t usually caught in the event. Some researchers even claim that if the hikers had simply kept their tent shut, they would have survived the rare incident.

1 Secret Weapon Tests

This theory could explain the mysterious deaths, reports of strange lights, and the air of secrecy with which the Soviet authorities handled the incident.

Many rumors persisted in the area that the Soviets would regularly test secret weapons. Some have even claimed that “neutron weapons” were in use.^[10] The injuries of some of the campers—who had severe internal trauma but little external damage—would certainly suggest some sort of advanced and secretive technology.

Might it be possible that the Soviet military were testing weapons designed to “scare” the United States, for example, only to kill nine of its own citizens? Much like the gulag theories, this scenario would result in an instant and deep cover-up.

+ The One That Got Away

Perhaps one of the most intriguing aspects of the whole dire and terrible situation is that of Yuri Yudin.^[11] Only 24 hours into the ill-fated excursion, Yudin (pictured above being hugged) would come down with an illness, severe enough that he had to return to their set-off point. Knowing what we now know of the group’s situation, it was perhaps the most well-timed illness in the entirety of the 20th century.

Whatever the sickness was, it ultimately saved his life. Indeed, it perhaps makes one ponder the precariousness of our existence, where one circumstance seemingly as innocent and trivial as being too ill to participate can ultimately result in saving one’s life. Regardless, the decision would allow Yudin to live to old age, which he did, although he never had anything of significance to add to the investigations into the deaths of his colleagues.

It’s been a while since a new Jason movie featured on the big screen or a green and red striped jersey brought terror to our dreams. While those horrors have been left behind in their own era, a host of new scary movies exist to keep us shivering. And as with most movies, the fan theories follow close behind. WARNING: spoilers ahead!

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Must-See Recent Genre-Defying Horrors

10The Cabin in the Woods

You would be forgiven for thinking of The Cabin in the Woods as the horror movie starring Thor and the hot doctor from Grey’s Anatomy. This popular horror film surprised audiences in 2011 with its fresh approach and massive plot twist at the end.

However, not all viewers were convinced that the twist at the end was all it seemed to be. A fan theory has it that Chris Hemsworth’s character, Curt Vaughan, was in on the plot from the beginning. Proof of this theory is presented in the fact that Curt is the one who gets the group of friends to go to the cabin. Curt is also the only one who doesn’t choose a summoning object down in the basement.

More ‘proof’ indicates that Curt knew his girlfriend Jules had to die first according to the rules, so he made sure to get her alone so the zombies could kill her. It is also thought that Curt would have been given the title of ‘hero’ if he played along with the Facility.^[1]

9The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 classic horror is one of the creepiest movies on this list. The killer, Leatherface, dons a mask made of human skin and runs around with a chainsaw and an insatiable bloodlust. Not to mention the Leatherface character is based on real life murderer, Ed Gein.

As such, it has always been assumed that Leatherface is a man, but a Reddit fan theory has it that the crazy murderer might in fact be a woman. Proof of this is said to be the way the killer applies lipstick and blusher to another mask. Leatherface also goes mental when the freezer is tampered with and makes very high-pitched sounds for what is supposed to be an above-average sized man. It is also alleged that since Leatherface prepared the food and probably ‘decorated’ the creepy house depicted in the movie, he is probably a she.^[2]

8Halloween

The most recent Halloween movie was a huge box office hit in 2018. In it, Michael Myers allegedly crashes the bus he was being transferred in, to return to Haddonfield to kill a bunch of people. He also goes after Laurie Strode, who has turned her house into a fortress.

Eagle-eyed viewers were quick to notice something off about Laurie, however. While sitting in her truck, drinking, she waits for the bus to leave for the maximum-security prison. She then pitches up at a family dinner drunk and starts crying. A fan theory has it that is wasn’t fear causing her to react like that, but guilt. The theory goes that Laurie, and not Michael, was the one responsible for the bus crash. It is also said that her almost non-reaction to the news report on the crash is a further indication that she planned the whole thing. Why would she do such a thing? Well, because she had been waiting for her fight with Michael for 40 years and wasn’t about to be unprepared for when he arrived at her house.^[3]

7 Us

Michael Myers has also been tied to the popular 2019 horror movie Us. The sequel to Get Out has spawned quite a few fan theories including one that says Michael is a Tethered and was swapped with a clone and trapped for 60 years.

Not only has Jordan Peele, writer and director of US, referenced Halloween during several interviews about his movie, he also mentions the rabbits that feature in the film and how if you should put a rabbit brain in a human body, you’d end up with Michael Myers. What further gets the theory going, is that Michael doesn’t talk, but rather grunts much like the Tethered in Us. Also, in Halloween Resurrection it is revealed to viewers that a tunnel system runs under the Myers house linking to the basement and ultimately enabling the clone swapping.

Moreover, Michael’s psychiatrist, Dr Loomis, tracks him using a ‘Rabbit in Red’ matchbox and describes his patient as not having a soul. Which pretty much describes the Tethered.^[4]

6 Hereditary

Hereditary is arguably the most disturbing entry on this list. There is bleakness and gore and shock value all culminating in a terrifying reveal involving a demon king named Paimon.

Fans were quick to come up with theories involving aspects of the movie, such as linking it to Midsommer (another disturbing horror flick by Hereditary director: Ari Aster). The theory says that since both movies feature cults, they must play out in the same universe. Some fans are also convinced that the couple walking past Annie in Hereditary is the one and only Dani and Christian from Midsommar.

Another popular theory supported by many fans says that none of the horrifying things in the movie, such as Charlie’s decapitation, actually happened. Instead it was the manifestation of both Annie and Peter’s mental disorders.^[5]

5 A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place took what we knew about horror and turned it on its head. Featuring silent characters and monsters reminiscent of the Demogorgon in Stranger Things, this movie made for a unique cinematic experience. Many movie-goers reported feeling uneasy throughout the movie because of the ongoing silence.

In the movie, the monsters are extremely sensitive to noise and attack anyone that makes a sound (as is evident in the very disturbing scene with the little boy and the toy rocket). Hence the silent characters.

These monsters, if one goes by the newspaper clipping on the wall, came from outer space when a meteor hit Earth. However, some fans think that is only a red herring and the creatures are in fact biological weapons left over from WWIII. Others believe that the only way the creatures could have spread so fast if they did indeed crash in only one spot in Mexico, is with the help of the meteor impact. If they had crashed during the spore stage of their lifecycle the impact would have sent the spores flying to the upper atmosphere where they would have caught a ride to locations all over the US.^[6]

4 It Follows

When it comes to psychological horrors, It Follows is a great example of how to do it properly. Rated 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, most reviewers agree that this movie is truly frightening without trying too hard or relying on tired jump scares.

The plot of the movie centres around a curse in the form of a shape-shifting entity passed on to Jay Height after she has casual sex with a guy in the backseat of his car. She then must pass on the curse to another man, otherwise she will be killed by the entity that presents itself in the form of the loved ones of its victims. And so on and so forth.

A twisted theory appeared on Reddit that says the young people in the movie, running from the sinister shapeshifter, were kidnapped from different decades by demons and sent to Hell. On Earth, they had been replaced by changelings. This would mean the monster that follows Jay in the movie, is just another inhabitant of Hell. And the monster doesn’t choose its own form, but rather the victim determines its shape by what may have happened to them in the past such as abuse, rape, attempted murder etc. Since Jay has suffered a sexual assault, the monster chasing her takes the form of a naked woman.^[7]

3 The Babadook

The Babadook is yet another psychological horror that features a creepy kid and even creepier monster. When labor pains overtook Amelia, her husband drove her to the hospital only to get into an accident. Her husband didn’t make it and the movie follows Amelia’s struggle to cope with being a single parent. She reads a book about the Babadook to her son but starts feeling uneasy with the content, especially when her son claims that the Babadook haunts him at night. Amelia then tears up the book and throws it in the bin.

The book shows up on their doorstep, glued back together, and things take a turn for the worse in the household. It seems that the Babadook possesses Amelia with her voice changing during fits of rage. She also kills their dog and eventually goes after her son. When she vomits up black goo, it seems that the Babadook has lost, but instead it runs to the basement where it seems to be fed maggots by Amelia at the end of the movie.

A fan theory has it that the Babadook is a physical manifestation of Amelia’s hatred for her son, since she gave birth to him on the same day her husband died. When the Babadook is heard making weird noises in the movie, Amelia’s rage is evident, giving more weight to this theory. Another theory says that it is not rage, but Amelia’s intense grief that brings the Babadook to life.

A very popular theory claimed that the Babadook is gay, which was eventually acknowledged but not entirely confirmed by filmmaker Jennifer Kent.^[8]

2 Carrie

Carrie is a lesson on the consequences of bullying. And a very disturbing movie to boot. Carrie started out as Stephen King’s first published novel that spawned a film in 1976 and then a remake in 2013.

As with most Stephen King novels and movies, there are many theories surrounding the plot. In this case the main theory seems to be that Matilda, the main character in the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, grows up to be Carrie.

After Miss Honey and Matilda move to Chamberlain, Maine, they change their names to Margaret and Carietta. Much like Carrie’s mother, Honey/Margaret becomes very religious which leads to Matilda/Carietta hiding away her telekinetic abilities. Which then leads to the start of the story of Carrie, according to theory. This would essentially mean that Matilda is the prequel to Carrie. More proof that these two stories take place in the same universe comes in the form of a car named Christine (another Stephen King title), which is a 1958 Plymouth Fury sold by Matilda’s father. The car caused the death of a passenger, leading to Matilda’s father being arrested and Miss Honey and Matilda’s move to Maine.^[9]

1 IT

The craziest theory by far, on this list anyway, is the one that connects Disney’s Mary Poppins and Stephen King’s IT. Considering that Mary Poppins is a sweet lady that flies around with an umbrella and IT is a killer clown, it might seem ridiculous. However, the theory points out that Poppins and IT share a similar power. They are able to tap into children’s innermost thoughts, whether it be for good or evil.

Both movies feature a young boy named Georgie. While Poppins returns to Cherry Tree Lane after 25 years and relies on children’s joy to keep her energy levels up, IT returns to Derry every 27 years and uses the fear of children to keep his power levels up. In both movies, the children’s encounters with IT and Poppins seem to fade from their minds. Not to mention, Poppins and IT both seem to like dancing. The final thread connecting these two movies comes during the scene where the characters in Mary Poppins grab balloons and float away. Since “floating” and “balloons” are synonymous with IT, the theory seems plausible to many viewers.^[10]

Tupac Shakur was only twenty-five years old when he was ambushed while he sat in a parked car on a Las Vegas strip on 7th September 1996. The attack came following the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight which Shakur had attended. He died in hospital six days later on 13th September.

See Also: 10 Crazy Conspiracy Theories Clouding The Music Industry

Conspiracy theories almost immediately began to fly. Many claimed that he was killed by fellow rapper, Biggie Smalls, who himself would be gunned down several months later. As time went on though, the theories strayed into “Elvis” territory, with claims that the rapper and actor had faked his own death, theories that still circulate today. Here are ten reasons some people firmly believe Tupac Shakur is alive and well . . . somewhere . . .

10 Lock Down At The Hospital

After he was admitted to hospital following the shooting, it is claimed only his mother, very close friends and certain designated medical staff were allowed to see Shakur. Perhaps because of this lock down, people began to speculate there was possibly more going on behind the scenes.

The rapper spent six days fighting for his life, during which time it was said he had to be revived several times, eventually succumbing to internal bleeding as a result of his gunshot wounds.

Perhaps the most controversial statement came recently from author Michael Carlin who claimed that the rap star was likely “finished off” in hospital by persons unknown. Carlin has worked closely with Los Angeles Police Department in researching Tupac’s killing. One thing he claims he is certain of is that the police and medical records regarding the rapper’s death are “bogus!”^[1]

9 The Person Who Performed His Cremation Disappeared

Perhaps one of the most mysterious parts of the Tupac Shakur murder is that the person who performed his cremation has apparently since vanished from the face of the planet.

Close friend of Tupac, and the person who was in the car he was riding in when he was ambushed and shot, Marion “Suge” Knight, reportedly claimed that he paid for the rapper to have a private cremation. Not only has the person in question allegedly disappeared, but the amount that Knight claimed he handed over for his services is also questionable given that it was $3 million. Was this part of the “missing millions” as they came to be known?^[2]

8 Tupac’s Missing Millions

It is claimed that Tupac Shakur was worth a little over $100,000 when he died, which doesn’t make him a pauper by any stretch of the imagination, but when considering the immense wealth he had accumulated from his music and his acting career, it is a drop in the ocean of the money he would, at one time, have surely had.

Furthermore, he had no property in his name when he died and his only possessions appeared to be two cars. There seemed to be concerns about the rapper’s contract with his record label, and exactly how much money he was actually paid, while his record company, the infamous Death Row Records, claimed it was Tupac’s own lavish lifestyle that had left him (relatively speaking) destitute.

Others though have speculated that the “missing millions” may have been discreetly “moved” elsewhere – remember the $3 million paid for the cremation?— in anticipation of a life to be lived out in secret.^[3]

7Detective Claims He Was Paid To Help The Rapper Fake His Death

In September 2015 a former detective, David Myers, made the claim that Tupac Shakur had faked his own death, and what’s more, he had been paid $1.5 million to help the rapper achieve it. Myers made the announcement from his death bed while in critical condition in hospital, stating that he “could not die without letting the world know” and that he was “ashamed” of his involvement. According to Myers, a body double was even arranged to be taken to the morgue in place of Shakur.

It should be noted however, that while this story appeared on several well-known web sites, there does not appear to be a definite source. Myers, if indeed he did exist, also didn’t state why the rap star wished to have the world believe he had died. One thing of interest though is the claim of a body double, particularly when inconsistencies concerning the mortuary records came to light.^[4]

6 Different Height and Weight Records

According to official records there was some discrepancy regarding Tupac’s height and weight as recorded by the mortuary. His driver’s license, as well as various celebrity “measurements” sites, listed Shakur’s height at 5” 10 and his weight at 168 pounds. But the mortuary records showed him to be two inches taller at a straight six feet and at a weight of 215 pounds – considerably heavier.

Could this simply have been sloppy record keeping at the mortuary? It’s certainly a possibility and realistically most likely, but nevertheless it has been a talking point for those who believe there is something being hidden about the rapper’s alleged death.^[5]

5 Alleged Last Photograph Inconsistencies

One of the most famous photographs of the Tupac Shakur murder, was said to be taken in the immediate minutes before his death. It shows him in the passenger seat of a car, with none other than larger than life, Suge Knight driving.

However, eagle-eyed fans and researchers quickly spotted that the date on the photograph was incorrect, and appeared to have been taken on the 8th of September – the day after the shooting had taken place. While in all likelihood the camera was just set to the wrong date in error, some believed the photo had been “set up” to circulate to the media following the rapper’s “death”.

Furthermore it was also pointed out that there didn’t appear to be any keys in the ignition of the car. There were automatic-start cars in 1996, albeit not as widespread as they are now, but to some this was further proof that the photo was staged.^[6]

4 No Bulletproof Vest The Night He Was Shot

Since his shooting in New York several years earlier, Shakur had become increasingly paranoid. He had suspected Biggie Smalls and people close to him to have been behind the shooting on the east coast, and was increasingly convinced that people wanted him dead. So much so that he had taken to wearing a bullet proof vest everywhere he went.

However on this evening, with the “East Coast-West Coast War” in full swing, and despite being in a very public place, he suddenly decided not to wear one. It was rumoured by some that Knight had told the rapper to remove his vest because “it was hot” inside the arena where the Tyson-Seldon fight was being contested – there is said to be footage of this conversation although it certainly doesn’t appear to be widely available. There also appears to be confusion as to whether the rapper had a bulletproof vest on at all that evening, with some sources that Knight and others close to Shakur had tried to insist he wear one that evening but he declined.^[7]

3The Makaveli Conspiracy

Tupac was known to be a huge fan of Italian renaissance man Machiavelli, and was particularly enthralled by his line, “To fool your enemies, fake your death.” For his last album, “The Don Killuminati – The 7 Day Theory” Tupac changed his on-stage moniker to Makaveli and, as he had done in many of his songs before, spoke of how he would fake his own death and then return to enact his vengeance on those that had wronged him.

When Biggie Smalls was himself gunned down only six months later, conspiracy theories began to circulate that perhaps Shakur was making good on his promise. Incidentally, Smalls’ death also remains unsolved.^[8]

2 Tupac Is Alive and Well, and Living In Cuba

This particular theory would be regarded as complete nonsense by even the most enthusiastic conspiracy theorists, particularly the claims that he was “seen” partying with Rihanna recently, were it not for the fact that the rapper does have a genuine connection to the country of Cuba.

His aunt, Assata Shakur, was a political activist and former Black Liberation Army member. She had fled to Cuba in 1979 following her conviction for the 1977 murder of a New Jersey State Trooper and sought political asylum there. Given Shakur’s political awareness, he almost certainly would have been very much aware of his aunt’s situation and possibly her whereabouts.

As Cuba is one of the few countries that the United States (at the time) had no access to, it is an ideal place for anyone who is looking to disappear.^[9]

1 Scores Of “New” Songs Released After His Death

Since his death there has been a litany of new material released by the rapper. This has fuelled speculation from some that Tupac is alive and well and recording new material from afar. It is true that a wealth of new material has seen the light of day in the years following Shakur’s death. What’s more is that these new releases have arguably netted as much profit, if not more, than the rapper managed to while he was alive.

While the theory sounds plausible, the fact is that Tupac was well known for being a seriously hard worker in the studio, sometimes recording several songs in a session – sessions that could last for days at a time. It is not at all beyond the realms of possibility that he would have had hundreds of unreleased tracks waiting in the wings when he died. His estate and any royalties from his music were in the control of his mother, Afeni, until her death in early 2016.^[10]

About The Author: Marcus Lowth—writer at Me Time For The Mind—http://www.metimeforthemind.com/
Me Time For The Mind on Facebook—https://www.facebook.com/MeTimeForTheMind/

The actual day-to-day of archaeology and other similar professions may not be that exciting, as they often have to carefully spend time removing dirt from artifacts that may not be worth much of anything individually. Still, their collective work has inspired our imaginations and helped create countless fantasy works, as well as many lively discussions about the ancient past. 

That work has also given us a window into what we know to be true about these ancient civilizations, and also what we have come to suspect could be true based on archaeological evidence. Let’s take a look at some of the most fascinating theories of historical cultures, based on what’s been gathered by these curators of the past…

10. The Aztecs Sacrificed Countless People Due To A Protein Shortage

It’s pretty widely known that Aztec people took part in cannibalism during their human sacrifices, but it was anthropologist Michael Harner who put forth a controversial theory in an attempt to further explain the “why” behind their religious ideology. The theory goes that their population was booming, but at the same time, the available game for protein was decreasing. Getting all eight essential amino acids and protein from maize and beans would require large quantities of food, making it relatively impractical. He also cited times of famine where even nobles sold their children into slavery to buy food and suggested the poor class could fight in wars to get POWs so they could cannibalize them in a blood ritual and eat them for protein.  

Of course, there’s a competing theory by anthropologist and historian Bernard Ortiz De Montellano who argues that the rituals where cannibalism occurred were nearly always done at harvest time, as part of a celebration, and not during times of famine. Further, the cities where these blood sacrifices were known to take place were the bigger cities that received food tributes and weren’t particularly worried about food, even in general times of famine. Montellano argues that sacrificial victims’ bodies were sacred and that the reason for ingesting the body was to ingest a part of the gods themselves and was never connected in any official literature to protein deficiency. 

9. The City Of Pavlopetri Was The Fabled Lost City Of Atlantis

In 2009, a group of Anglo-Greek marine geologists and archaeologists went to work to survey a promising area off the Southern Peloponnese that more primitive technology had suggested was a hotspot for discovery some 40 years earlier, and they made an amazing discovery. They found the ruins of an ancient city, mostly intact, that had sunk beneath the sea floor about 5,000 years ago, during the days of Homer’s epic legends. 

The researchers believe it could have sunk due to a tsunami, earthquake, or both, somewhere around 1000 BC, leaving it resting below the waves for future discovery. While mapping it with modern digital technology they discovered 9,000 square meters of new buildings, and a very large Megaron, which was a structure used by elites for public gatherings, suggesting the city was used by important members of Mycenaean society. Due to the time period to which the city is dated, how quickly it disappeared beneath the waters, and the potential elite status of its inhabitants, some have suggested it could have been the fabled lost city of Atlantis. 

8. Noah’s Story Was An Allegory For Survivors Of A Really Bad Local Flood

Even those who aren’t Christian are well aware of the story of Noah’s Ark, and his quest to save two of every animal from a great flood that would encompass the entire earth. But Noah’s was not the only similar story. The epic of Gilgamesh, the Qur’an, and many others have a story of an all-encompassing flood in which people had to go to great lengths, often using boats to survive. Now, while stories about bad local floods, or even allegorical stories of worldwide floods, are not confined to one area, there is a very large concentration of them coming from Ancient Mesopotamia — which is now modern-day Iraq. 

This has caused researchers to consider whether the stories could have been allegories about a really bad local flood. While the geological record of the earth does not support a global flood, the geological record of Iraq does support the possibility of a bad flood, or even floods, back in the days of Ancient Mesopotamia. This flood (or floods) could have drowned many, destroyed their homes, and taken months to properly recede due to the geography of the area. With no internet or telephones to check outside their area, and all their known geography flooded, they wrote stories of the entire world being lost beneath a catastrophic deluge because as far as they knew, their entire world was flooded.

7. Contrary To Recent Popular Belief, Some Christians May Have Been Thrown To Lions

It used to be accepted that Christians, and many other malcontents, were thrown to the lions during the days of the Romans and it was believed to be a fact. Now, many historians and debunkers have told you that it isn’t true and that there is not a single corroborating text that states Christians were thrown to lions. However, the Romans didn’t always keep the best records. 

During the early era of the Christian Church, when many Christians were being executed, throwing people to the beasts was a popular method of execution. This method involved all kinds of animals including lions, and one text tells of a Priest called Saturas, whom they first tried to kill with a boar, then with a bear, and then finally finished off with a leopard. As for the crueler Roman Emperors, Nero was known to cover Christians in animal skins before throwing them to the dogs. Now, as we stated, there is no extant evidence of lion-on-Christian action, but considering how popular it was to throw people to the animals, it would seem more like a bizarre accident than anything if they never got their chance to sink their teeth into any early Christian flesh. 

6. Spartan Warriors Were Not That Amazing, It Was Mostly Propaganda

The Spartan reputation today is such that many still see them as the epitome of the most fearsome and powerful warrior. However, the truth is that much of what we think about the Spartans may have been nothing more than propaganda by the Greek historian Herodotus, and much of it from the Spartans themselves.

The Spartan state had a population of slaves known as helots that consisted, at any given time, of a much larger percentage of the population than the free Spartans themselves, and the Spartans felt fear was a good way to keep people in line, which only worked for a time as the helots did ultimately successfully rebel.

Now, when it comes to the facts, the Spartan won-loss record in battle was a little under 50%, which for warriors with such a reputation, is pretty bad. There is still some reason to believe that Spartans had slightly better unit organization and that many of their regular troops were slightly above the regular Greek average in terms of skill, but not to any amazing level. Further, individual skill only mattered for so much, as most battles back then consisted mainly of forming into a phalanx and smashing your soldiers into your enemy counterparts.

5. Scientists Have New Evidence Of City-States Dotting The Maya Lowlands

Back in 2016, surveyors flew over the area that once comprised the Ancient Maya Empire, and used laser imaging to map 830 square miles of the ruins — which is an area larger than the island of Maui. When the surveyors looked at the results, it proved a theory that had fallen out of favor and took their breath away. Many archaeologists had theorized that the Maya, who had an extensive economic and social system, had interconnected city-states dotted throughout the Maya Lowlands. But that theory had started to fall out of favor for lack of direct evidence. 

However, this laser imaging changed everything, and in one fell swoop revealed over 60,000 new potential sites of interest. These included 60 miles of causeways, roads, and canals to connect cities, large maize farms, houses of all sizes, and even defensive fortifications that suggested they had come under attack from the Western edges of their borders. All in all, it has given researchers a wealth of new Maya ruins to explore, and reminded us all just how advanced many ancient civilizations were. 

4. Are The Hanging Gardens Of Babylon Myth, Or Were We Looking In The Wrong Place?

The ancient stories tell of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Amytis, because she missed the lush gardens of her native lands. They were said to have flowing waterfalls and all types of vegetation, with wonderful aromas of various plants wafting through the air — a magical oasis, in the middle of the desert. Now, the problem is that no evidence has ever been found in the site where Babylon once lay, and all records about it are after-the-fact stories, so some historians have started to believe it is nothing more than a historical mirage in the desert. 

However, Dr. Stephanie Dalley, a research fellow at the Oriental Institute of England’s Oxford University, believes that the only reason we have not found evidence of its existence is because we are looking in the wrong place. According to Dr. Dalley, who is an expert at reading ancient Mesopotamian texts, the Hanging Gardens were actually built in nearby Nineveh by King Sennacherib. Now, this is something that archaeological evidence backs up, as the ruins of Nineveh (Mosul in modern-day Iraq) have remnants of an aqueduct system, artwork depicting lush, hanging gardens, and an inscription from Sennacherib bragging about how he had managed to bring water a long distance. 

3. Homer’s Epics Iliad And Odyssey Were First Written Down By A Woman

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey combine to create one of the greatest epics of all time, but for all the cultural importance they have had over the years, we know precious little about their actual origination. This is largely because Homer remains a pretty big mystery to historians, other than his being an ancient bard who didn’t actually put pen to paper himself. That second part is quite normal, of course, as most Ancient Greek legends were passed down through oral storytelling and embellished over time. 

The bigger question for many historians is who really transcribed them. Andrew Dalby, the author of “Rediscovering Homer” suggests that it was a woman who finally recorded the stories for posterity. He theorizes that because being a public poet and getting to put on a live performance was a male’s job, they wouldn’t want to give up that position for a long slog writing down a poetic epic, especially since it was unlikely to net them much of a return. He suggests that a rich backer, who would have had to buy all the necessary goatskin, had a woman pen the epics anonymously. 

2. Permanent Human Settlements May Have Predated Ancient Agriculture

One of the most commonly accepted pieces of wisdom when it comes to the rise of human civilization, is that humans only formed communities after they created agriculture, which they did as a necessity. In other words, the human community only exists because we had to stop being nomadic hunter-gatherer raiders who clubbed each other to death over territory, and settle down and grow food instead. However, recent evidence has not only put that theory into question but almost entirely overturned it, at least as any kind of absolute truth. Archaeologists have found evidence of permanent human settlements from hunter-gatherer tribes in the area that is now Israel and Jordan, some dating as far back as 14,000 years ago. 

This suggests that the idea that humans could only come together and stop being loosely connected tribes of a few nomadic hunters (at best) when they had no choice but to work together is nothing more than hokum. Humans are social creatures who generally like being around other humans, and would want to have their company to enjoy whether they needed that arrangement for efficient resource management or not. 

1. Ancient Native Americans Burned Down Many Trees In The Plains States

If you’ve ever visited the area, you might wonder why the Great Plains of the United States have so few trees. Many of the early settlers were so shocked by these long grasslands they were convinced that the plains would be a bad place to grow crops, and often made dangerous trips up to Oregon instead.

The truth is, long before European settlers came to the continent, there is reason to believe the Great Plains were once covered in forestland. As to how most of it disappeared, multiple potential explanations have been put forth. The area, while still getting a lot of rain, has more of a chance to experience temporary drought than many surrounding areas, gets hit by a lot of lightning strikes, which can cause fires, and the Native Americans were known to burn down trees to create land better for grazing for game animals. 

What we don’t know is how much effect the Native Americans’ burning had, as we have no idea how sophisticated their methods were. We also don’t know how big an offender lightning strikes may have been, creating fires that could race across the landscape at speeds of 15-20 kilometers per hour. Either way, the landscape was irreparably altered, and we can only imagine what it once looked like.

The internet seems to run on conspiracy theories. There are so many of them around that you probably have a favorite one of your own. Half of Americans believe at least one medical conspiracy theory, like the FDA, is secretly hiding a cure for cancer. Maybe yours is about who shot JFK. Or if the moon landing was faked. Heck, maybe you think the Earth is secretly flat and the governments of the entire planet have been conspiring to dupe us into thinking it’s round for generations for some reason. 

Out of context, the term conspiracy theory is often used disparagingly. You think of people who believe in conspiracy theories as on the fringe of society, or somehow paranoid and unstable. But numerous conspiracies appeal to people across the board. They don’t adhere to one political ideology. And the fact that some conspiracies are true, like Iran-Contra, bolsters the belief in all the other conspiracies that have not been proven.

Whatever the case, there’s a conspiracy theory for almost everything you can think of and twice as many for stuff you never thought of. But where do these theories come from and how do they gain popularity? Maybe that’s a conspiracy too. Let’s find out. 

How Conspiracy Theories Start

Because so many conspiracy theories take root online these days it offers a unique ability for researchers to discover how these things form and spread. Research has shown that conspiracy theories tend to form very quickly when they’re based around false information, as opposed to genuine conspiracies which take much longer to break down and discover.

While a real conspiracy has many working parts, you can remove any of the elements and the story still makes sense. That’s because it’s a real thing and it really happened. All the ways the conspiracy connects still make sense even if you don’t include this part of that part. However, with a false conspiracy theory, if you remove elements, the entire narrative falls apart because it was never true and doesn’t make sense to begin with.

A good example of how a conspiracy is born is the DMSO conspiracy. This chemical is a waste product of paper production. Manufacturers wondered if it had a purpose and a scientist testing it determined it could be a sort of miracle cure. 

The FDA didn’t want to approve it because this was the 1960s and it happened just after the thalidomide crisis. Drug testing was a relatively new idea, and they were not keen to approve a new drug without proof it was safe and effective. So the FDA would not approve DMSO, which had not been thoroughly tested, and in the media, the story was that the government had banned this miracle cure. Thus, a medical conspiracy is born. 

Conspiracies tend to take root most easily during times of upheaval, confusion, and unrest. In studying over a century of articles and letters in newspapers, researchers found more conspiratorial language and ideas at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, a time with new technology and new ideas being spread around, and then again as the Cold War took off. In that burst of conspiratorial thinking, people were focused heavily on Communism-related conspiracies. 

While it seems like the US is more inclined to conspiracy, that may just be a result of the prevalence of US media and control of social media spaces. Evidence also shows conspiracy theories are widespread in all cultures, making it a solid and reliable aspect of the human experience in general. 

Why We Believe Them

One of the largest studies ever on who believes in conspiracy theories came up with three tendencies that most believers have. They perceived threats and danger. They rely on their intuition and also express “odd” beliefs and experiences, and finally, they tend to be antagonistic and feel superior to others. We’ll dive into all of that. 

Conspiracy theories often give easy answers to complex questions. Even if the conspiracy is not technically “easy,” it may seem vastly complex. But it can boil down to “the government” or “Big Pharma” or some other nefarious cause behind an issue. That simplicity offers security to many people. They feel better now that they “know” why something happened. It also can offer a sense of belonging because the believer is now a part of this inner circle, the truth holders. That’s a comforting thing. 

Tim Wise, a critical race theorist, defined conspiracy theories as being for people who don’t understand how societal systems work. They take an individualist look at society and expect everything to be reduced to good people and bad people and not large, complex systems. It’s easy for these people to reduce a thing to an evildoer instead of historical and complicated traditions and systems that allow for things to happen a certain way. 

Wise also argues a conspiracy gives comfort in the face of things over which we have no control. This is backed up by additional research suggesting that belief in a conspiracy affords the believer a sense of control that they now know something valuable and unique. 

Research has shown that people who do poorly on critical thinking tests, in particular those related to evaluating arguments, are more likely to believe conspiracy theories. Ironically, when you call a story online out as fake or a conspiracy, that label is actually more likely to get people to read and believe other stories that have not been tagged even if it’s the same false info. 

The American Psychological Association identified a number of personality traits and motivators that can make someone more prone to believe. People who believe strongly in their own intuition may be more inclined to be swayed by a conspiracy theory, as are those who feel a strong sense of antagonism or superiority to others. 

Conspiracies allow people, who are by no means unintelligent, to make sense of things that don’t make immediate sense. They need to understand in order to feel safe, and a conspiracy theory can offer that because it gives an easier answer than something that may not be easy at all. 

While safety is a cushy-feeling motivation, the need to feel superior is also a big factor. People want to feel that they, or the community they identify with, is better. Those who strongly believe are often insecure, paranoid, egocentric, emotionally volatile, and suspicious. 

Conspiracy theories start to take hold of people when they’re young. Obviously, older people are just as inclined to spread a conspiracy around, but if you’re wondering when people start believing in conspiracy theories it seems to be around the age of 14. As teens get older their willingness to believe in conspiracies increases with their age. This trend diminishes somewhat into adulthood and reaches a plateau where it no longer increases.

Oldest Conspiracy Theories

The modern world is full of conspiracy theories. There have been conspiracy theories around COVID-19, Donald Trump’s presidency, Jeffrey Epstein, every war that America has been involved in,9/11, and so on. 

You could, of course, go back in time and find conspiracies about whether Tupac Shakur is still alive, whether Elvis is still alive, if Hitler’s brain is in a jar, if Walt Disney froze his head, and so much more. But where did it all begin?

If there’s a first conspiracy theory you’re not likely to ever find it. The first instance of that specific term in writing was from a column in the New York Times in 1863 discussing European affairs in the US. Another dates back to 1870 in The Journal of Mental Science. These are not where the idea comes from, of course. These are just the first times anyone labeled anything as such.

In reality, we can find conspiracies that date back to the Medieval period. Anti-Judaism conspiracies from that period said that Jewish people had conspired with the devil to take back the Holy Land. King Phillip of France in 1307 produced a conspiracy theory to banish the Templars by accusing them of Satan worship and sexual deviancy. It worked, too, and he had them all arrested within a night. 

In the 1800s, American newspapers were rife with conspiracy theories about politics, religion, and more. The Illuminati, the Europeans, witches, and more were being blamed for all manner of social ills. 

In an online world conspiracy theories may seem more prevalent, but they really aren’t as far as anyone can tell. There’s not a lot of research that has been done to try to compare modern conspiracies to ancient ones, but there is enough to suggest that conspiracies have always been a way of life.

The Spread of Conspiracy Theories

There’s more than one reason for someone to spread a conspiracy theory. It’s possible that the person sharing the information genuinely believes what they’re saying. Your uncle Gary may really believe the Earth is flat, and that NASA has been keeping you in the dark. But there’s a second, more nefarious reason as well.

Some conspiracy theories are hatched, and spread, with full knowledge that they are complete lies. The purpose is to sow discord, paranoia, mistrust, and chaos. There are organizations that employ people solely to be trolls on the internet, to share specific hashtags, and stories, and ideas meant to overwhelm and undermine confidence in governments and institutions. They work tirelessly to spread conspiracies, misinformation, and outright lies.

The purpose for spreading these lies is twofold. One, maybe someone truly believes them and has a change of heart. Conspiracy theories do work to bolster people’s opinions even in the face of evidence to the contrary. A 2022 poll found that 29% of Americans believed Joe Biden won the 2020 election due to fraud. That’s a large number that could have a serious impact.

The other reason for the widespread dissemination of conspiracy theories is to overwhelm and undermine. If social media is flooded with conflicting information all the time, the truth will always be watered down. 

In one study related to the COVID-19 pandemic and associated conspiracies, the authors noted that people who feel a national narcissism which is defined as feeling one’s ingroup, in this case, their nation, is exceptional compared to all others and deserves special recognition, spread conspiracies more readily. 

For a national narcissist, COVID-19 showed the weakness of their nation – and it could be any nation affected by the pandemic. It showed a lack of preparedness and an inability to overcome a challenge. That bred conspiracies blaming other countries, poor government systems, politicians, and healthcare workers. Someone had to be the scapegoat. And these conspiracies spread very fast because it was a time of confusion so everyone, national narcissist or not, wanted an explanation and someone to blame. It allows people to defend their sacred national image, and it’s easy because it supports what they want to believe already, whether it’s true or not.

Online communities allow these theories to breed and spread rapidly and intensely. The information shared reinforces the beliefs of those involved so it’s often never questioned. This is likely something we have all experienced online – you are attracted to online forums and communities that deal with your interests and it’s more enjoyable and affirming to see things shared that support what you already believe and feel to be true. 

The theories born on one forum are picked up and shared on another and another as like-minded individuals want to inform those who they share interests with while also challenging those they feel oppose them. They gain legitimacy when high-profile members of the media, online influencers, and even politicians share them. 

In the modern world, social media has allowed for unprecedented spread of misinformation and conspiracy. These theories can be weaponized, intentionally or otherwise, to harm people like when an armed man who fell for the Pizzagate conspiracy that said a non-existent basement below a pizza restaurant was a place where politicians were worshiping Satan and sacrificing children opened fire on the restaurant.

There’s also a lot of money to be made in spreading conspiracies. In September 2024 a number of high-profile right-wing YouTubers were found to have been getting paid large sums of money to spread conspiracy theories and misinformation on behalf of Russia. These influences had millions of followers each making the spread of the conspiracies incredibly fast and wide. 

Fighting Conspiracy Theories

The consensus seems to be that conspiracy theories are on the rise and are potentially becoming more dangerous. Trying to directly talk someone out of believing a conspiracy theory, even if you have evidence to support your point, rarely works.

There are methods to combat conspiracy theories, but they do take time. One thing is to focus on what people “actually” believe. Conspiracies offer comfort, safety, and explanations for most people. Because a believer likely talks to people and visits forums that bolster these beliefs, they’re inclined to think more people believe the conspiracy than actually do. Learning how few people believe a thing, and how many believe the truth, can help bring people back to reality. 

Generally, to get someone away from conspiracy requires receptiveness, patience, and a willingness to not be defensive. That’s why it will probably never work with a stranger on Twitter, but it can be done.

There are far too many celebrity hoaxes as it is. If it isn’t Avril Lavigne being replaced by a doppelganger, then its Jeff Goldblum falling off of a cliff in New Zealand. While these are often laughed about and forgotten very quickly, there are still people out there that believe to have seen The King clear as day and in the rotting flesh. Here are the top 10 places Elvis’s cold, dead feet are supposed to have grace-landed in recent years.

Top 10 Rockers Who Are Better Than Elvis

10 Elvis is an Undercover DEA Agent

During his career, Elvis was known to have worked alongside president Nixon in spreading awareness against drugs. He was even known to have denounced the Beatles for their “hippy” and “anti-American” lifestyle. But rather than dying on the toilet from long term drug-abuse, some sources say that his massive image in american culture was too dangerous for someone with a Bureau of Narcotics badge. So they faked his death to keep him safe, now he appears around the world in various disguises to continue the fight against drugs.^[1]

9 Elvis Is An Extra In Home Alone

In this clip from Home Alone (1990), you can clearly see someone who resembles The King delivers one of his famous head tilts. It’s an uncanny resemblance, right? Actually it’s entirely ‘canny’; the extra used in this scene was confirmed to be none other than Gary Grott.

Grott was a close friend of Home Alone’s director, Christopher Columbus (yes that really is his name) and he appears in several of Columbus’s lesser known films. The head tilt was actually Grott’s best attempt at acting like an annoyed airport civilian. Maybe there’s a reason he never hit the big time. Unfortunately, Gary Grott passed away due to a heart attack in 2016 but as his family can attest, he was said to have enjoyed wearing the suede shoes for awhile. Who knows, maybe Grott is still out there too!^[2]

8 Elvis Is A Groundskeeper In Memphis

If you lived a crazy life as the world’s biggest rock star, you’d most likely end up retiring as an 83 year old groundskeeper. Right? It sounds far fetched, but there is a clinically insane fan base that would tell you otherwise. This clip shows “Elvis” doing various groundskeeper tasks. The real identity of the man in question is still unknown. He does, in fact, wear an Elvis t-shirt. So, by that logic, anyone wearing an Elvis t-shirt right now could very well be The King, Keep your eyes peeled.^[3]

7 Elvis Attended His Own Birthday Party

Photographs surfaced of Elvis’s 82nd birthday celebration in Memphis where a man with similar stature is in attendance. He wears a black baseball cap and glasses, has a bushy white beard and is seemingly accompanied by a small security detail which leads people to believe that Elvis was attending his own birthday in disguise. And if that’s not him, fans will have you believe it’s his stillborn twin, Garon. Although, Garon seems to be brought up any time there is a hole in an Elvis-is-alive argument. If it isn’t Elvis, it’s his brother, who also died.^[4]

6Elvis is in Argentina Under Witness Protection

Shortly after Elvis’s death, there were several claims that he was seen checking into a Memphis airport under the name John Burrows, which was an alias he was said to have used throughout his career. The plane was set for Argentina and as an Argentinian military member once claimed, a Pan Am flight did land there in 1977. With the knowledge that Elvis had a relationship with American government and a Bureau of Narcotics badge, an attempt to infiltrate a criminal organization called “The Fraternity” went sour. Elvis was found to be a mole for the government and was quickly escorted out of the country.^[5]

5 Elvis Is At Home, Kickin’ It By The Pool

Yep, you read correctly. In 1978, there was a heated debate surrounding a photograph that was taken by a poolside in Graceland. It shows a pool house screen door with a familiar face lurking behind it. The photograph even made it on CNN as Larry King and several other people involved went back and forth discussing its legitimacy. The photograph was taken by Mike Joseph who initially claimed it to be The King but later went back on his statement saying he had met with two of Elvis’s friends who were able to confirm that the photograph was not of Elvis, but of his cousin Jimmy, whom Elvis never got along with.^[6]

4 Elvis is Sending Roses To His Exes

What would you do if everyone thought you were dead? Mess with people’s heads is the only correct answer. Only a day after Elvis’s death, Lucy De Barbin, one of his ex girlfriends, received a single rose in the mail sent by none other than El Lancelot. This was apparently her odd term of endearment for Elvis and is a name only she would have been able to recognize. We are only left to assume that this was his way of telling his loved ones that he was not dead.^[7]

3 Elvis Escaped In A Helicopter

In a novel titled The Presley Arrangement, Monte Nicholson describes an experience he had working with the Los Angeles Police Department. He was informed that not only was there a suspicious helicopter hovering over Graceland the night of Elvis’s death, but that there were photographs taken of Presley himself getting into that helicopter from earlier. Some theorize that somehow, Elvis was replaced with a wax figure look alike moments before he was found dead. Could he have made the switcheroo?^[8]

2 Elvis Is A Ghost That Talks Through People

An entire book was written by Hanz Holzer about a housewife from New Jersey who claims that Elvis could speak through her and to his family. Elvis even pops up in modern day articles where people with psychic abilities decide to take on messages from the Late King. One including someone named Amy, or as she is also referred to as “The Closet Clairvoyant.” In the article titled, “Conversations With Dead People: A Medium’s Session With Elvis Presley” Elvis is quite the chatterbox. He rattles off some obvious buzzwords like, “sugar” and “honey.” Or maybe that’s just what was in the room at the time.^[9]

1 Elvis Is In Vegas

Elvis comes in droves if you’re in Vegas. They’ve got old Elvis, young Elvis, short Elvis, fat Elvis. What better place for an Elvis to retire and stay hidden than a city full of people pretending to be Elvis? I have my own personal theory that if he were to be alive to this day, he would be smart enough to hide in plain sight. Of all the theories you’ve heard today, which one sounds the most believable? Just sayin. We will most likely never know whether Elvis has truly left the building or not.^[10]

About the Author: I play in a San Diego rock and roll band called Lefties. @lefties_sd on media platforms. I’ve always had top 10 lists rolling around in my abstract head, its nice to have an opportunity to drain my brain.

Antarctica is surrounded by conspiracy theories and ice… lots of ice. Both are unsurprising considering that the continent is the most remote and the least understood on Earth.

It is practically impossible to live there without specialized gear, buildings, and support from humans on a more livable continent. This has made Antarctica the perfect candidate for conspiracy theories ranging from aliens to UFOs, secret government bases, and even some strange pyramids.

SEE ALSO: 10 Fascinating Wonders Of Antarctica

10 Some Ancient Civilization Built Pyramids In Antarctica

In 2016, the internet went wild after three pyramids were discovered in Antarctica. The pyramids measured over 1,220 meters (4,000 ft.) tall, making them about 10 times the height of the famous Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. This was strange as there is no record that any ancient civilization existed in Antarctica. Besides, such massive construction would have required unbelievable resources and manpower to complete.

Nevertheless, conspiracy theorists jumped on board, claiming that the pyramids were built by some undiscovered ancient civilization that had lived in Antarctica 100,000 million years ago. They say that Antarctica was at the equator at the time, so living conditions were more tolerable. However, they added that the government is hiding information and has even blocked pictures of the pyramids on Google Earth.^[1]

Scientists counter that the supposed pyramids are either horn or nunatak mountains. A horn is formed after erosion washes down the sides of a mountain, making it appear like a pyramid. Nunataks are a category of mountain that are so tall that they rise above the permafrost covering Antarctica.

According to scientists, the supposed pyramids could not have been built by an ancient civilization because Antarctica was actually at the South Pole 100 million years ago. The ancient civilization part could not be true, either, because the earliest human species appeared two million years ago.

As a result, the so-called pyramids could have only been built by dinosaurs. That is, if they are truly pyramids. However, there is no evidence that dinosaurs built pyramids, either.

9 The Nazis Have A Secret Base In Antarctica

There is a conspiracy theory that the Nazis have a secret base in Antarctica. This idea began after conspiracy theorists discovered that the Nazis had launched an expedition to Antarctica in 1938 which presumably consisted of several military and scientific ships.

While there, the Nazis supposedly discovered several underground caves and rivers and later converted the largest cave into a secret city where they lived with the Illuminati. Some conspiracy theorists speculate that Hitler fled to this secret base after losing the war.

Believers also claim that the Nazis somehow managed to lay their hands on alien technology at the secret base. They exploited this to build the weapons they tested at the smaller caves.^[2]

In truth, the Nazis do not have a secret base in Antarctica. There is no evidence that they made weapons with alien technology or tested any weapon in Antarctica, either. Besides, the Nazis only sent one ship to the region around 1938 in search of new whale hunting grounds. They abandoned the expedition after World War II broke out.

8 The Lost City Of Atlantis Is Under Antarctica

Some conspiracy theorists claim that the fabled Atlantis is under Antarctica. Interestingly, the idea kicked off in the 1950s after Professor Charles Hapgood, a historian, suggested that Antarctica was home to some undiscovered ancient civilization. Hapgood’s belief hinged on the theory that Antarctica was not covered with ice 11,600 years ago.^[3]

Conspiracy theorists claimed that Hapgood was right. However, they added that the civilization was actually Atlantis, which remains covered in ice today. In 1995, Graham Hancock asserted in his study, Fingerprints of the Gods, that the people of Atlantis had migrated from Antarctica to found the Aztec, Mayan, and Egyptian empires.

7 Rectangular Icebergs In Antarctica Were Built By Aliens

Scientists have revealed the existence of weird, almost perfectly rectangular icebergs in Antarctica. They are often huge and are sometimes visible from space. The rectangular icebergs look more man-made than natural. It is almost as if they were neatly carved out of a larger iceberg. That is true, except that they are really natural.^[4]

Scientists call them tabular icebergs. They are naturally formed when part of an iceberg breaks off from a larger one. However, conspiracy theorists do not believe this. They say that the icebergs were either made by humans or aliens.

Some of them also suggest that it could be a secret government facility. Conspiracy theorists hinge their arguments on the fact that perfect shapes rarely exist in nature, which is true. However, scientists have pointed out that not every corner of the iceberg is usually perfect.

The debate rages on.

6 A UFO Crash-Landed In Antarctica

Some conspiracy theorists called “alien hunters” claim to have discovered evidence of an alien UFO that crash-landed in Antarctica. The hunters reached this conclusion after analyzing a suspicious trail, which they found with Google Earth, on the continent’s surface.^[5]

The trail starts from what appears to be the collapsed peak of a mountain. This suggests that the UFO hit the peak as it crash-landed. However, geologists don’t agree. They insist that the trail was caused by an avalanche.

SEE ALSO: 10 Extraordinary Creatures Of Antarctica

5 A Crater In Antarctica Is Actually An Entrance Into The Earth

In January 2019, it was reported that scientists from NASA and the German Aerospace Center had discovered a crater deep under the permafrost of Antarctica.

Although it was only recently reported, the crater was first discovered during an analysis of satellite images of Antarctica in 2006. Scientists think the crater was formed by one of the asteroids that hit the Earth millions of years ago and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.

However, conspiracy theorists do not think so. They have suggested that the crater is part of the secret Nazi base that we mentioned earlier. Others believe that the crater was discovered during a US Navy operation to find the entrance into the Earth. They think the crater is the entrance.^[6]

4 Google Knows Something We Do Not Know About Antarctica

In March 2018, a pro–conspiracy theory YouTube channel claimed that Google knows some secrets about Antarctica. And it seems like Google is doing all it can to hide that information from us. However, a rebellious Google employee is supposedly trying to reveal the conspiracy to us.

The presenter of the YouTube channel said that a red cross appears whenever he hovers over a location in Antarctica—but only when he has enabled the weather feature on Google Earth. The conspiracy theorist believes that this occurs because an unidentified Google employee wants us to see whatever is hidden there.

The presenter suggested that it could be a UFO base, some secret treasure, or a glitch in Google Earth.^[7]

3 Two Craters In Antarctica Are Entrances To A Secret UFO Base

There are two craters along the coast of Antarctica. Both go deep below the surface into the permafrost as if something had dug its way in. Conspiracy theorists have jumped on board to suggest that the craters are the entrances to a secret government facility, an alien base, or the secret Nazi base mentioned earlier.

Scott Waring, a UFO conspiracy theorist, said that the craters were formed by a UFO buried in the permafrost. He claimed that he spotted the UFO in the original image he viewed on Google Earth. However, he explained that the UFO is no longer visible because Google edited the original image.^[8]

2 Antarctica Does Not Exist

There is a weird conspiracy theory that the whole of Antarctica and the South Pole do not exist. This belief is most common among flat-earthers who claim that our planet is flat. Flat-earthers believe that the North Pole is at the center of the world while the South Pole surrounds the Earth.

According to flat-earthers, Antarctica is actually a thick wall about 30 to 60 meters (100 to 200 ft.) high that surrounds our planet. The wall stops everything from falling over the edge of the Earth. Flat-earthers say we cannot confirm the existence of the wall because world governments and the United Nations have strict no-fly and no-sail zones around Antarctica.

Conspiracy theorists believe that the British Captain Cook is one of the few humans to have ever seen the wall apart from government agents. Supposedly, Captain Cook reported seeing the huge wall during the three voyages he made to Antarctica. The wall covered the entire coastline, and he could not land anywhere because it was just too tall to climb.^[9]

1 The Nazis Hid UFOs In Antarctica

Another conspiracy theory involving the Nazis asserts that they hid UFOs somewhere in Antarctica. The Nazi UFOs have even been linked to the supposed pyramids mentioned earlier.

Believers insist that the Nazis operated a secret UFO in the Antarctic during World War II. US and British forces repeatedly tried destroying the base during the war but were unsuccessful. They only managed to demolish it after dropping an atomic bomb on the base in 1958. Conspiracy theorists claim that the Nazis destroyed a US airplane during this operation.

This idea is regarded as false because the Nazis never had a base or any military interest in Antarctica. As mentioned earlier, they only went to Antarctica with one ship to find new whaling grounds. They did not have enough supplies to build an underground base.^[10]

The so-called operation to expel the Nazis from the secret UFO base was actually a military training to simulate the invasion of the icy cold Soviet Union. This involved 13 ships, 33 airplanes, and 4,700 soldiers. The Nazis did not shoot an airplane down during the training, either, as there were no Nazis.

Lastly, the atomic bomb supposedly used to destroy the UFO base was actually detonated 2,400 kilometers (1,500 mi.) off the shore of Antarctica. Nevertheless, conspiracy theorists insist that the Nazis did have UFOs tucked somewhere in Antarctica and even used the technology to create alien weapons which were then hidden in Antarctica, South America, and the Arctic.

+ A UFO Flew Directly Above A Research Station In The Antarctic

In 2012, there were claims that a UFO was flying over the Neumayer-Station III in Antarctica. A video shot on August 10, 2012, showed an object flying above the research station. Other conspiracy theorists suggested that the object was part of a new weapon the government was creating.

However, it turned out to be a weather balloon. This was evident from the video because the object had the shape of a balloon. Besides, researchers in Antarctica are known to fly weather balloons directly above their research station. Lastly, what sort of alien leaves his saucer flying directly above a research station?^[11]

Panic over Ebola has reached absurd heights, with people paying far more attention to worst-case scenarios than to likely outcomes. However, mainstream media alarmism looks almost reasonable next to some of the more absurd conspiracy theories currently circulating about the disease.

10America Manufactured Ebola

Delaware State University professor Cyril Broderick published a letter in Liberia’s Daily Observer in September accusing the US government of manufacturing the Ebola virus. Broderick alleges that Ebola is a genetically modified organism that America weaponized and tested in Africa under the guise of distributing vaccines. He further names Canada, the UK, and France as being in cahoots with America, with the WHO and the UN somehow involved as well.

For sources, Broderick primarily quotes Leonard Horowitz, an opponent of vaccination who thinks American scientists also invented AIDS. Broderick further quotes some speculative conspiracy theorist article and the book The Hot Zone—a legitimate work of nonfiction that does not actually support his claims.

Delaware State did not fire or discipline Broderick for his wild, reckless claims. The University instead said that the professor has the right to say whatever he wants in his free time. But they made sure to clarify that they do not endorse his letter, and he has no expertise in the subject.

9The Ebola Virus Doesn’t Exist

A former nurse caused a violent uprising at a Sierra Leone hospital when a crowd heard her say that the Ebola virus doesn’t exist at all. The outbreak, she claimed, is really just an excuse for doctors to perform cannibalistic rituals at the hospital.

It didn’t take much to convince the crowd. Many in Sierra Leone and surrounding countries naturally distrust hospitals. Most patients and their families choose traditional healers over foreign doctors and nurses. One woman infected with Ebola was removed from a treatment center by her family and taken to a traditional healer. A search for the woman paid off, but on her way to the nearest hospital, she died in the ambulance.

Toward the end of July, the violence escalated as more people started believing the conspiracy. People threated to burn down clinics and treatment centers and remove the Ebola patients by force. At that point, Sierra Leone had the highest number of Ebola patients, and police officers had to stand guard at the main hospital in Kenema. They hurled tear gas into the crowd and accidentally shot a nine-year-old boy.

This incident also led health organization Samaritan’s Purse to stop their outreach to patients in the area. Their health workers had been attacked by community members after they tried to collect a patient.

8Saltwater Cures Ebola

False claims of cures have been making the rounds in parts of Nigeria. One of these cures is drinking saltwater—which, far from curing any disease, can dehydrate drinkers to the point of death. At least four people died of drinking saltwater in an attempt to protect themselves from Ebola. These people had been healthy and lived hundreds of miles from the nearest outbreak.

The World Health Organization issued a statement to warn people against treatments not given by doctors or nurses. They especially warn against believing anything about remedies that are posted on social media platforms. Patients should instead turn to health centers and doctors.

However, again, many in the affected region heartily distrust doctors and dismiss anything they say as lies. One man even told the Wall Street Journal that since he had never seen anyone die before his eyes of the disease, it must be only a rumor.

7God’s Wrath

In July, more than 100 Christian leaders met in Liberia’s capital of Monrovia to discuss how to respond to the Ebola threat. After a day’s discussion, the group unanimously declared that God was angry with Liberia and had sent Ebola as a plague to punish its people.

He was punishing them for corruption—for homosexuality, among other things. And the absolute best way for the country to respond would be three days of fasting and prayer. The government should join in the observation, said the group, shutting down for the period.

A Liberian Muslim cleric, Salafia Mosque chief imam Sheikh Salah Sheriff, echoed the sentiments. He blamed the outbreak on such sins as homosexuality, fornication, adultery, armed robbery, general wickedness, and disrespect of the authorities—all grave affronts to Allah. Asked, he conceded that followers should follow medical advice to avoid exposure, but to really defeat Ebola, Liberians had to “begin to fear God rather than the virus.”

6Witchcraft

One other rumor infecting parts of West Africa is that Ebola comes from witchcraft. The consequence of this is that people consider Ebola as a total and supernatural death sentence—even though treatment can help stop the spread and sometimes even save sufferers.

For example, when Doctors Without Borders took two sick sisters to an eastern Guinea hospital in July, both totally lost hope. Neither tried to fight the disease. They just lay still and waited for death. But Rose, the 12-year-old daughter of one of the sisters, apparently did not believe in witchcraft. She assured her mother and aunt that all three of them could survive, staying cheerful and ensuring that they all followed the doctors’ instructions. They all did recover, which makes them more fortunate than most.

The other consequence of irrational fear of Ebola is that sufferers become needlessly ostracized. Patients at the hospital, especially children, should ideally receive regular visits from their family. But family members are so scared of the disease that they often refuse to come in, despite doctors’ requests.

At the same time, the persistent belief in witchcraft is putting a serious dent in efforts to stop Ebola in its tracks. Some refuse to get medical help because they believe witches and sorcerers are cursing people and causing them to die. They simply refuse to believe that a virus is to blame for the deaths of patients.

5Doctors Are Purposely Infecting People With Ebola

In some villages, people don’t just think that doctors are useless in fighting the disease. They think that the doctors are actively spreading it, so they avoid or even fight doctors who try to help. This irrational fear may stem from incidents where patients went to the hospital for separate medical issues only to be infected by deadly diseases while there.

In extreme cases, villagers have threatened to kill any medical doctor or assistant who comes to treat patients. In the village of Kolo Bengou, Guinea, townsfolk blocked roads with logs to prevent Doctors Without Borders from entering. As a result, the disease spread further.

The persistent rumors that witch doctors can cure the sick also contributes to a lack of faith in real doctors, hampering effective treatment.

4It Started With An Evil Snake

One story tells of a woman with a bag at the border of Guinea and Sierra Leone. Someone opened the bag and saw a snake inside it, and as soon as they looked at it, the woman died. The person who’d opened the bag died next, and the snake slithered off in the nearest bush. And that was how Ebola entered Sierra Leone.

This odd tale is actually consistent with one part of the true story of Ebola. This outbreak is theorized to have started in Guinea before coming to Sierra Leone.

Those who believe in the Ebola snake say that those who show symptoms don’t have a disease at all. They’ve been cursed.

3Ebola Is Spread By White Demon Worshipers

The above image appeared on a Nigerian website in September. Along with it came a story that seems to combine the worst aspects of several dangerous Ebola rumors.

That anime-style nurse holding the skull is named “Ebola-Chan,” said the site. Cults in Europe and America worship her as a goddess. They perform blood sacrifices at altars to Ebola-Chan and eat the hearts of victims, and in return for their patronage, the goddess spreads Ebola throughout Africa. In league with the cult are doctors who manually infect victims with Ebola while pretending to treat it.

The posting did not come from a concerned Nigerian, despite what it claimed. It was from a user of the image board 4Chan, where Ebola-Chan is a meme. When a 4Chan user sees Ebola-Chan, they’re supposed to say “thank you, Ebola-Chan” and joke about the extermination of all Africans.

It’s uncertain if anyone in Nigeria was taken in by the website, but nearly all Internet hoaxes manage to fool someone.

2An Ebola Bomb

Dr. Peter Walsh, a biological anthropologist at the University of Cambridge, claims that terrorists could build bombs containing a powdered form of the Ebola virus. Such a bomb could kill huge numbers of people in a major British city, Walsh told a UK tabloid. This threat may seem particularly serious in the UK because there is otherwise little reason to expect that the disease will enter the country.

In reality, while bioterrorism is always a possibility, it’s unclear why any terrorist would choose to weaponize Ebola of all diseases. Unlike many diseases, Ebola is neither airborne nor waterborne. It is far less contagious than most other viruses.

1The Ebola Crisis Will Launch The New World Order

Perhaps the strangest conspiracy theory of them all claims that the New World Order elite created the Ebola virus as a means of depopulating the Earth. The number of people who must die to reach a “manageable population” is a staggering five billion.

According to this insane conspiracy, the New World Order elite have three primary ways of ensuring depopulation. These include famine from unsustainable development, war from artificial conflict, and manufactured diseases. The cure for the diseases will only be held by the elite.

The elite created the Ebola epidemic to depopulate Africa, with the rest of the world their next target. The news that Ebola has reached the US and killed a patient in Dallas only fueled the fire around this theory.

Estelle lives in Gauteng, South Africa. She usually loves conspiracies, but these ones are far too crazy.

Everyone loves a conspiracy, don’t they? Hollywood, especially, thrives on them. Sometimes they make them up, and sometimes they’re even part of the conspiracy itself, but when there are so many great conspiracy theories and cover-ups to choose from in real life, it’s easy to see why they don’t often bother.

Top 10 Conspiracy Theories That Were Actually True

Conspiracy movies always involve a “Good Guy” and some “Dark Forces”—usually represented by corrupt businesses and/or self-serving and secret government agencies with far too much autonomy and far too little regulation. In other words, the alphabet agencies, chemical and pharmaceutical companies, and anyone who deals with money.

In the interests of Truth, Transparency, and standing against the latest attack on free speech from Google, which is now banning all conspiracy related content, we have put our feet up, watched a load of films, and come up with the ten greatest conspiracy movies based on real-life conspiracy theories.

Pass the popcorn and enjoy.

10 The Lincoln Conspiracy
1977

In 1865, Abraham Lincoln was shot in the head whilst watching a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington. Coming as it did just at the end of the Civil War, the assassination caused intense feelings across America. John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, was trying to start a new war, in which Lincoln’s assassination would be the flash-point, thus resurrecting the Confederate cause.

This, at least, is the authorised version.

In The Lincoln Conspiracy, director James L Conway put forward a different theory. Instead of being the work of a few fanatical Confederates who could not accept defeat, The Lincoln Conspiracy proposed that the assassination was engineered by powerful government and business forces that opposed Lincoln’s programme of reconstruction in the South.

It even suggested that the man who was so famously shot dead at Garrett’s Farm, Virginia, was not John Wilkes Booth at all, but James William Boyd, a recently released Confederate soldier who had the misfortune of having a similar sounding name to Booth.

The film, which starred Bradford Dillman as the unfortunate Booth, was largely ignored on its release in 1977 but has helped to increase the speculation on the death of a president ever since, and it continues to spark debate.^[1]

9 Capricorn One
1978

In 1969, America sent Apollo 11 to the moon, and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings to set foot on a different planet (yes, we do know that the moon is not an actual planet, but you know what we mean). The world stopped spinning, and for a brief moment, everyone looked towards the stars (no, not a star either) and watched Armstrong descend that ladder and leave his footprint in the dust of a planetary satellite.

Or did he?

In 1973, a self-published book, written by a man with no experience of space travel, aeronautical engineering, or well, anything, first cast doubt on Man’s Greatest Achievement. The theory that the whole moon landing was a giant hoax gained popularity in 1978 with the release of Capricorn One. The plot of that film was, ostensibly, about a faked space mission to Mars, but conspiracists soon noted that Capricorn One bore an uncanny resemblance to Apollo 11. The movie explained just how a sufficiently motivated and well-funded space agency might have pulled the hoax off.

In the movie, bewildered astronauts are removed from the shuttle just as the countdown begins and driven in secret to a military airbase in the desert. The empty shuttle is launched into space, and news briefings keep the public in the dark while the astronauts fake footage of themselves in space and landing on the Red Planet.

The Fake Moon Landing Conspiracy gained much ground after the release of the movie, which starred Elliot Gould and Josh Brolin (with OJ Simpson as a rather unlikely astronaut), even though, in the film, the hoax is quickly uncovered by technicians at NASA and just as quickly leaked to the press.

That point seems to have been missed.^[2]

8 Z
1969

On May 22, 1963, Greek politician and activist Grigoris Lambrakis was struck over the head with a club by two men after delivering an anti-war speech to hundreds of supporters. His death in the hospital five days later sparked an intense protest against the right-wing Greek government and inspired thousands of Greek youths to form leftist political organisations.

The investigation into Lambrakis’s death revealed a to the army and the police. Investigators and attorneys who looked into the death were relieved of their position or even jailed for a time. Eventually, under extreme pressure, the Prime Minister resigned. In 1974, the military dictatorship in Greece finally ended.

Greek director Costa-Gavras used this premise for his 1969 film Z, which he offered as a modern political thriller. In the movie, an unnamed deputy is killed after a political rally—struck in the head by a passerby in a truck, dying five days later—and the subsequent investigation reveals a conspiracy that the military police and army were involved in the murder.

With charges filed against several officers, it appears that justice will be served. But, alas, that is not the case. The military is ultimately able to overthrow the government in a successful coup and then proceeds to ban modern art, pop music, and even the letter “Z,” a symbol of the young Greek protest movement.

Z won an Oscar in 1969 for Best Foreign Language Film.^[3]

7 Nixon
1996

Like his political nemesis, John F Kennedy, Richard Nixon has been the subject of countless conspiracy theories. And the conspiracy theories about Nixon seem small in number compared to the vast number of conspiracies that Nixon himself believed were being orchestrated against him.

No matter how you look at it, Richard Nixon was a paranoid man.

Having scrutinized the madness surrounding the death of President Kennedy, it seemed inevitable, perhaps, that Oliver Stone would turn his attention to Nixon.

Which was difficult because Nixon was a private (paranoid) man. Stone’s movie opened with a warning that the movie was “an attempt to understand the truth … based on an incomplete historical record.”

The film opens with the break-in at The Watergate building then documents his strange relationships with his staff, his growing secrecy (paranoia), recordings of conversations in his office and over the phone, which he obsessed over and which, in the end, caused his downfall.

Nixon, played by Anthony Hopkins, was portrayed as a brilliant if not a strange (paranoid) man, slowly succumbing to his delusions induced by all the scheming he had done to obtain high office and by the conviction that others were now scheming against him.

While JFK had received mixed reviews from critics, Nixon was considered a tour de force and was nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins.

Hopkins lost out to Nicolas Cage’s Leaving Las Vegas.

Had he still been alive, no doubt Nixon would have been paranoid about that too.^[4]

6 The China Syndrome
1979

Timing is everything, they say, in the movie business. It certainly was for James Bridges, who directed The China Syndrome, the story of a journalist who discovers that the nuclear power station, which has just had a meltdown, had repeatedly breached its safety procedures.

While that story was entirely fictional, 12 days after the movie’s release, a nuclear disaster occurred at 3 Mile Island. Not only that, but it soon became clear that the nuclear plant had been breaching its own safety procedures for several months. Operators repeatedly manually overrode the faulty cooling systems, which should have been impossible to do.

The parallels between the movie and the “incident” were chilling. The incident no doubt helped the film’s success, with both its stars—Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon—being nominated at the 1980 Oscars. Unfortunately for The China Syndrome, that was also the year of Kramer vs. Kramer and Apocalypse Now, and while a nuclear meltdown is interesting, it just can’t compete with a “three-sided” love story or “the horror” of Marlon Brando in eye makeup.^[5]

10 Outlandish Conspiracy Theories About The USA

5 The Constant Gardener
2005

John Le Carre is best known for his spy novels, but when he wrote The Constant Gardener, he shifted his focus to the pharmaceutical industry to find the machinations of such companies every bit as brutal as any secret service.

The novel was made into a film, starring Ralph Fiennes, in 2001. Fiennes plays a British diplomat trying to solve the murder of his wife, who had been investigating a drug company that had been testing their TB drugs on poor African women.

Although the film was not a reference to one particular drug scandal, many drug trials were undertaken in Africa, especially for diseases such as meningitis and HIV, where dubious consent was obtained. There are also allegations that even less ethical drug trials were conducted, where subjects were infected with polio and HIV to test vaccines, although this has never been conclusively proved. The film also resembles the plot of the recently released Dark Waters, which highlights the duplicity of an international chemical company and their careless dumping of dangerous chemicals, suggesting that the big companies are still polluting at will and infecting customers and employees with impunity.

The Constant Gardener did win multiple awards, however, including an Oscar for Rachel Weisz.

So there’s that.^[6]

4 The Insider
1999

Michael Mann’s 1999 film, The Insider, told the true story of one whistle-blower’s exposé of the tobacco industry. Russell Crowe played the real-life whistle-blower, Jeffrey Wigand, while Al Pacino co-starred as the documentary maker who broke the story, despite the NDA agreement that protected the company.

Wigand worked as a research chemist for a tobacco company, researching cigarette production with lower levels of tobacco. He claimed that while the company was reducing the amount of nicotine, they also added other chemicals, such as ammonia, to increase the effects of nicotine, thus keeping the customer hooked. As a result of his whistle-blowing, Wigand was harassed by his employers and even received anonymous death threats.

Michael Mann’s film was very well received and was nominated for 7 Academy Awards. Including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (for Russell Crowe), and Best Screenplay. Crowe was beaten out by Kevin Spacey and American Beauty, as was Michael Mann.

American Beauty scooped Best picture and Best Director too.^[7]

3 The Big Short
2015

Not so much a conspiracy theory as a conspiracy, The Big Short documented the way that banks, stockbrokers, and all-round shysters all got in on the sub-prime mortgage gravy train and bankrupted the entire world in the process.

A film about mortgages would normally be a hard sell and an even harder watch. Mortgages are not interesting.

So, Adam McKay directed it like a slick heist movie.

Which, in a way, it was.

Like Oceans 11, but with less sex appeal and better acting (Don Cheadle’s accent. That’s all we’re going to say), The Big Short managed to explain exactly how sub-prime mortgages worked, why it was inevitably going to crash, and more importantly, how everyone in the banking world knew but were too busy getting their snouts in the trough to care.

The film won multiple awards and was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning 1 for best-adapted screenplay. No bankers were harmed in the making of the movie.

Unfortunately.^[8]

2 The Manchurian Candidate
1962

The Cold War during the 1950s had created a deeply hostile and suspicious atmosphere in international relations. Intelligence agencies of every nation spied on their enemies and their allies alike. John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate, released in 1962, summed up this atmosphere of mutual distrust.

The film starred Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey as captured soldiers in the Korean War, subjected to brainwashing through hypnosis. Whilst Harvey returns to his dysfunctional and ruthlessly ambitious family, Sinatra begins to have strange dreams.

Realizing that he has been implanted with false memories, Sinatra fears that Harvey has been brainwashed as an assassin and is being manipulated to make him shoot a presidential nominee.

The film heavily references the McCarthy witch hunts of the 1950s, the uneasy international situation, and the distrust of secret government-backed organisations, which seemed to be making up their own rules of engagement, without regard to the Geneva Convention or any other convention, for that matter.

The film even hinted that disreputable foreign governments might seek undue influence in the affairs of other nations by spreading disinformation.

Surely not.^[9]

1 JFK
1991

There are almost as many films about the death of John F Kennedy as there are conspiracy theories about who killed him.

By far the best, however, is Oliver Stone’s JFK. Stone himself described his film as “counter myth,” countering the Warren Commission’s myth about who killed the president.

Stone’s film suggested that, far from a single shooter acting alone, the assassination of JFK was facilitated and encouraged by the CIA. New Orleans District Attorney, Jim Garrison, played by Kevin Costner, suggested that there were 3 shooters and 6 shots fired from the grassy knoll.

The film was not received well by critics, though the public loved it. Many reviews focused on the conspiracy theories rather than on the merits of the film, and Stone himself was severely criticized. An Op-Ed in The Washington Post called him “a man of technical skill, scant education, and negligible conscience.”

Despite the poor reviews, JFK had great popular success. However, far from settling the question of who killed Kennedy, Stone’s film merely added one more theory, or counter myth, to the very large pot.^[10]

If you think we’ve left any great movies off the list, let us know in the comments below!

10 Creepy Pop Culture Conspiracy Theories

Project MK-ULTRA was a series of human experiments conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency from 1953 to 1973, when it was reportedly stopped. Its goal was to create and use methods of mind control, sometimes on people unaware of it. Test subjects were placed in sensory deprivation, given hallucinogenic drugs, allegedly tortured, and even abused sexually as well as mentally. From these experiments, CIA operatives hoped to develop techniques to get criminals and enemy prisoners of war to confess the truth of crimes committed.^[1]

A number of MK-ULTRA experiments were conducted illegally on subjects without their knowledge or consent. Several deaths and lawsuits against the federal government followed. During the Watergate scandal, most of the records of Project MK-ULTRA were destroyed, except for a cache of documents later discovered in a different storage location. Further documents were declassified and released in 2001 and 2008. A complete investigation of MK-ULTRA is therefore not possible, which has sparked many conspiracy theories to this day. Here are ten which you may not have heard of.

10 Alcohol Was Regularly Used In MK-ULTRA Programming

While many have heard of LSD and other powerful hallucinogens being given to MK-ULTRA subjects, they were also prompted or perhaps coerced to drink alcohol at various points in time.

Alcohol can act as a low-grade truth serum, and it also affects a neurotransmitter called glutamate in the brain. Alcohol intoxication slows down the signals traveling along glutamate pathways, leaving many subjects more open to suggestion.^[2]

9 MK-ULTRA May Be Behind The Pharmaceutical Industry

The widespread prescription of psychotropic medications has drawn criticism from theorists who believe it’s a step toward mass mind control.^[3] These drugs include Prozac, Ritalin, and Zoloft. Allegedly, the medications curb “unruly” thought processes and facilitate the effectiveness of propaganda and social engineering.

Similar criticisms have been directed at the use of mood-stabilizing drugs and required vaccines. Some in the anti-vaxxer community make the jump into the conspiracy theory that tiny mind control microchips are embedded in people through vaccines.

8 Alien Abduction May Be A Smoke Screen For MK-ULTRA Programming

People who report alien beings abducting them for experimentation may have been taken for mind control operations instead. With the use of drugs, hypnosis, or other methods, MK-ULTRA programmers allegedly alter the abductees’ unconscious or subconscious minds for their own objectives. Then, false memories of alien abduction are implanted so that the subjects will be discredited once they’re returned.

Outside of alien abductee circles, no one else is likely to believe the victim’s story, even though it’s really a false memory.^[4] According to some conspiracy theorists, the CIA got the technology for implanting false memories from the reptilian race that supposedly lives in secret locations on Earth.

7 There’s A Connection Between Ear Candling And MK-ULTRA

Ear candling is an alternative medicine practice used to remove excess wax from the ear canal. Some conspiracy theorists report they’ve become subjects of remote MK-ULTRA programming due to implants placed in their ear candles. The implants slipped into place in their ear canals as the candles melted down. They report strange buzzing noises that no one else can hear, headaches, and physical discomfort whenever they encounter information that the MK-ULTRA handlers want to steer them away from.

One person has reported finding and cutting one of these implants out of an ear candle before getting the chance to use it. The implant was supposedly shaped like a small, round piece of plastic, yet it moved like mercury when placed in a glass jar. Overnight, the implant also somehow dissolved itself and disappeared. The ear candle conspiracy is just one example of how one can supposedly fall victim to MK-ULTRA programming from the most unlikely and innocent-seeming sources.^[5]

6 Instructions For Creating A Mind-Controlled Slave

In a book titled The Illuminati Formula to Create an Undetectable Total Mind Control Slave, writers Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler go into detail about exactly how to become an MK-ULTRA “handler.” PDFs of the book can be found online. Instructions include how to select and torture a victim, how to administer specific drugs, how to use hypnosis and behavior modification, and how to manipulate an MK slave remotely.^[6] Exact reasons why such a detailed manual is freely available and who its exact audience is are open to speculation.

The writers claim that knowing the step-by-step formula for creating a mind-controlled slave will actually destroy MK-ULTRA programming. They also write in the book’s introduction that anyone with dissociative identity disorder due to programming is strongly advised not to read it because the consequences could actually be fatal. Early in their book, they indict a long laundry list of people and organizations that allegedly practice MK-ULTRA mind control programming. These include the Mormon Church, the Church of Satan, all branches of the US military, the IRS, and many others.

5 The Origin Of MK-ULTRA Programming Methods Depends On Who You Ask

The extreme trauma, forced drug use, and exploitation of MK-ULTRA subjects follows a prescribed set of steps, and there’s debate among conspiracy theorists where those steps came from. Some believe the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele developed them during his tortuous human experiments in Nazi concentration camps during World War II. He then brought his knowledge to the US and shared it with the CIA as part of what’s known as Operation Paperclip. Others believe reptilians taught the methods to CIA officials, who then became involved in Project MK-ULTRA. Still others believe it’s a combination of both.

Those who insist MK-ULTRA is still going on often tie it to theistic satanism and its secretive cults, echoing the satanic panic of the 1980s and 1990s.^[7] Supposed survivors of mind control-based trauma report that satanic rituals were a regular part of their programming, even including human sacrifices.

4 There’s A Secret MK-ULTRA Base Underground At Ford Hood, TX

According to YouTuber Katy Groves, the CIA and US military have been conducting MK-ULTRA training and ritual abuse on countless children in a subterranean facility located in Central Texas. She describes her life spent as an MK-ULTRA slave who endured terrible abuse and was forced to carry out the same on other children. The end goal was to train her to become an MK-ULTRA programmer and handler. And the underground base at Fort Hood isn’t the only one. Everyone has walked over or driven over one at least once in their life, no matter where in the US they’re located.

Supposedly, these MK-ULTRA programming facilities are behind the large number of children who go missing every year.^[8] There’s a concerted effort to keep the truth covered up by hiding behind a law called the National Security Act. The CIA also reportedly blackmails parents who have committed serious crimes by threatening them with long prison terms unless they sell their children to mind control programmers.

3 MK-ULTRA Has Helped Spawn The Gang-Stalking Phenomenon

Some individuals who report they have been gang-stalked claim it began with remote verbal abuse and harassment, where unknown MK-ULTRA programmers planted very negative thoughts or insults directly into the victims’ brains. The perpetrators could also make them hear the verbal abuse coming from the walls or furniture. For some victims, this escalates into shady, unfamiliar individuals following and threatening them both online and offline in attempts to exert even more mind control over them. The extent of the mind control’s success depends on the individual.

This use of MK-ULTRA is reported to be just one of many concerted efforts to manipulate the actions and mental states of the general population. The subjects more likely to be picked for gang-stalking mind control are those more prone to mental dissociation due to a number of factors.^[9] These can include a history of childhood trauma, certain mental illnesses, or a lot of time spent in meditation. Mind control handlers consider these types of minds to be the most malleable and therefore the easiest to split into different personalities through continued mental trauma over a long period of time.

2 MK-ULTRA May Be Incorporated Into Future Satellite Technology

The US military has reportedly been experimenting with ways to use satellites to manipulate the populations of enemy countries, inducing higher rates of psychological distress or even physical ailments. Other unsettling possibilities include using mind control for desired outcomes of elections on both sides of the aisle.

This use of MK-ULTRA via satellite could possibly be used to quiet subversives and keep the desired leaders in power. It’s especially unsettling to think this might be used to counter supposed “thought crime.”^[10] Another two alleged sources of mass mind control are cell phone towers and the electromagnetic pulses used in the HAARP program, which was allegedly used to control weather patterns as well.

1 Facebook, 4chan, And 8chan Are Rumored To Be Tools Of Mind Control

Using subtle versions of the same gaslighting used in MK-ULTRA trauma-based conditioning, these popular sites are said to be engineered to alter and control their users’ moods, thought patterns, and behavior. The notorious 4chan and 8chan anonymous forums are reportedly secretly owned by the US government, and their content can make some users question their own sanity, even in the face of posted evidence. An unknown number of members on both forums are shills paid to perpetuate this gaslighting.

Data scientists have conducted experiments on Facebook users to track how much their moods and interactions on the social media site changed, and the results were startling. Judging from their subsequent Facebook posts, the test subjects displayed a more pessimistic outlook and even seemed more wary of the future. This kind of social media manipulation could potentially become a digital version of racketeering.

Some theorists also refer to this type of mind control as psychotronic abuse, attacks, or at the very least manipulation. This refers to the use of certain electromagnetic frequencies that have been scientifically proven to affect the human brain. If the mind control operatives could get enough people thinking and despairing over the world’s problems, then the government could present one of their leaders as a solver of those problems if elected to office.^[11]

Pen name of a Las Vegas writer, author of Behind Locked Doors, available on Amazon
Contributor of the bizarre on , currently at work on a second expose book.