Conspiracy Theories: Here Are the 5 Most Famous Ones

…What do you think about conspiracy theories?

Even though we live in a world with information at our fingertips, fake news is still at its peak. It’s getting harder and harder to make the distinction between what is considered to be fake and what is actually true. And let’s not forget about conspiracy theories. This isn’t something brand new for the United States. From the corridors of Congress to popular Facebook, blush-pink Instagram postings, and TikTok videos, these theories are in full swing.

But with more and more people connected on different social media platforms, conspiracy theories have gained traction over the past few years. It’s easy to get distracted, scroll for a few hours daily, and read all sorts of things people post. As good as social media can be, unfortunately, it’s the simplest way to amplify and spread false information.

The coronavirus pandemic, for instance, was the ideal time for all types of conspiracy theories to flourish and lie to millions of people. According to a few experts, people frequently gravitate to false knowledge when they’ve lost control and are scared or nervous about what’s going to happen next. When something is so bad, it’s simpler and more convenient to think that there’s no way it’s true.

For instance, shocking events like the SARS-CoV-2 virus made people lose control and become more vulnerable to false information. When we lose control, we’re actually more drawn to things that offer us an action path. If we’re being honest, believing that there’s an invisible virus in the air that is able to kill millions of people is way harder than denying its existence. Speaking of that, here are the 5 most popular conspiracy theories in recent history.

1. The moon landing was fake

The first humans to set foot on the moon’s surface were astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in July 1969. But did they really arrive on the moon? Just joking. They most certainly did. However, by the 1970s, 30% of American citizens thought the moon landing was a hoax.

And alternative stories quickly appeared. In the “false moon landing” scenario, Bill Kaysing started writing the book “We Never Went to the Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle” as satire, but the whole process actually made him completely believe the fake rumors.

The main thesis in his book was the fact that the footage of astronauts taking their first steps on the moon’s surface was in fact shot at Nevada’s Area 51 (more on that later). There were hundreds of millions of people who watched the moon landing live on TV, but many of them thought it was fake.

In conformity with a short survey that was conducted in 2019, 10% of Americans still believe that this huge step for humankind was simply a hoax. Even NBA star Stephen Curry said that he doesn’t believe the moon landing was true, so in order to prove him wrong, in 2018, NASA gave him a tour of the lunar lab.

2. CIA was involved in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy 

On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine veteran, was detained for the murder of President John F. Kennedy Jr. that same day in Dallas, Texas. Two days later, Jack Ruby, the owner of a Texas nightclub, shot and murdered Oswald while he was being driven to a nearby jail.

Ruby said that the reason he shot Oswald was that he killed the country’s President. Some people considered the club owner a hero. Some said that violence shouldn’t cause more violence. Whatever the public opinion was, Ruby was charged with first-degree murder for killing Oswald.

This terrible series of events encourages a lot of speculation about a cover-up: how was it possible to assassinate the President in broad daylight, then make someone else kill the killer only two days later? In the 1960s, more than 50% of Americans believed that Oswald had acted alone. Furthermore, according to a 2017 report, 61% of American citizens thought there was some form of conspiracy involved in the assassination.

There are plenty of conspiracy theories regarding the death of JFK. One of them says that he was actually killed by the CIA in revenge for the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion attempt to topple Fidel Castro. The reason why people might think so is that the President’s brother, Attorney General Bobby Kennedy, initially believed that a group of renegade CIA officers were responsible for his sibling’s death. However, shortly after he changed his mind, as biographer Philip Shenon said.

People can hardly be blamed for thinking that Oswald hadn’t acted alone, especially when the House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations ruled that there was “probably” a conspiracy, including a second shooter. The third version of this sad story is that the President was killed to get back at Bobby Kennedy for trying to fight the mafia.

3. Princess Diana didn’t die in an accident 

Princess Diana, a young, beautiful, sensitive, and beloved royal figure, lost her life in Paris in 1997 due to a terrible car accident. The tragic event took place one year after she divorced Prince Charles. Diana was known as the “people’s princess”, as she was very friendly and down to earth, and when news about her death broke, many conspiracy theories emerged. Each one of them said that the royal figure didn’t die because of an accident; everything was planned because someone wanted her out.

At the time of her death, Princess Diana was dating an Egyptian film producer named Dodi Fayed, a man who died at the same time as her. Some sources even say that Fayed was planning on proposing to Diana the night of the accident.

Dodi’s father, Mohamed al-Fayed, claimed in court testimony that the reason why they were assassinated was that the monarchy couldn’t abide the idea of the British throne’s future successors, Prince Charles and Diana’s sons, having an Egyptian and Muslim stepfather. He even stated that Diana was pregnant with his son’s kid at the time of their deaths, but the coroner who examined her said that there was no pregnancy.

Another theory says that the man who drove the limo, Henri Paul, was actually drunk, and he crashed the car on purpose. Given the fact that he was the head of security at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, where Diana and Dodi had departed shortly before the accident, conspiracy theorists believe that Paul might have worked for a national intelligence service organization that wanted Diana dead.

There’s also a third version of the story, which says that the Princess’ medical care was purposely ravaged. This theory was developed by conspiracy fans in the United States, who created this story as a result of the disparities between French and American approaches to emergency care.

In France, the protocol says that emergency medical workers have to stabilize the patient before sending them to a hospital. In the United States, on the other hand, hospital admission is the top priority. Some people believe the fact that the princess of people received medical attention on the spot rather than being sent to the nearest hospital is evidence that she was murdered on purpose.

4. Area 51 is full of aliens and Government secrets 

This one is probably the biggest alien conspiracy belief in the United States, and it has inspired a number of memoirs and movie screenplays. We have to admit that all the films and books about this theory are quite interesting, but let’s not jump to the conclusion and say that we actually have aliens in our country until we have facts. Real facts.

Area 51 is situated in the High Desert and, in conformity with several sources, has long been the setting for several UFO reports. Of course, we don’t have a clear idea regarding the things that get done at Area 51, although we do officially know that the government is interested in gathering and analyzing anything that could pose a threat to our aerospace, as officials from the Pentagon said in 2017.

Given the fact that the work that gets done at Area 51 is still a complete mystery to us, conspiracy theorists couldn’t stay away from developing all sorts of stories. For instance, in 1947, a farmer named William “Mac” Brazel discovered some unusual metal fragments and other debris on his property in Roswell, New Mexico.

He claimed that after the government found out about the incident, they gathered the metal pieces and took them to Area 51 for tests. As we all know, it’s incredibly hard to stop someone’s imagination. Other people prefer to stay away from aliens and UFOs but prefer to believe in all sorts of sci-fi things, such as saying that scientists use this place to test teleportation, time travel, and weather modification technologies.

5. 9/11 was only a cover-up

Everyone knows about the tragic things that took place on September 11, 2001, on our beautiful country’s territory. Roughly 3,000 people lost their lives due to a dangerous series of coordinated terror attacks. During that time, Americans watched in shock how two planes attacked the Twin Towers in New York City, a third hit the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and a fourth fell into a field outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

As we’ve already stated at the beginning of the article, when people are in shock, they lose their control and it’s easier for them to start inventing things rather than actually paying attention to what is really happening. As you can imagine, the events of 9/11 have always been a useful topic for those who love conspiracies. Some of them stated that the ones who were responsible for this were actually the people who were part of President George W. Bush’s administration. Others say that at the very least the President’s people knew about it and permitted it to occur because they intended to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq for oil.

The most popular conspiracy that circulates around 9/11 is that it was an inside job and that the Twin Towers allegedly fell in the manner they did as a result of deliberate demolition. No, these are not true! Another famous conspiracy theory among conspiracy theorists is that a missile, not a plane, struck the Pentagon.

If you think politicians know more about the world than you do, think again. Even well-known conservatives, such as Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), have promoted 9/11 conspiracies. According to several sources, instead of telling the population to get informed and read from multiple sources instead of making a public statement, the political figure is actually popular for believing in false theories.

…What do you think about conspiracies? We are curious to know, so leave a comment down below! 

…If you liked reading about conspiracy theories and now you want to know more about what actually happened in the world, we recommend checking this one out: 8 Most Notorious and Dangerous Killers From the USA!