Browse Conspiracy Theories

The Dulce Base legend claims a multi-level, jointly-operated human-alien facility hides beneath Archuleta Mesa near Dulce, New Mexico, complete with genetic experiments, a 'Nightmare Hall,' and a 1979 firefight between aliens and human security. No physical evidence for any such base has ever surfaced. The story's documented origin is far stranger than the myth: a real U.S. Air Force disinformation campaign, run through AFOSI, that targeted Albuquerque businessman Paul Bennewitz and helped manufacture a modern UFO legend.

The claim that Bitcoin was secretly built by the NSA (or another intelligence agency) as a surveillance tool, honeypot, or stepping stone to a controllable cashless currency. Proponents point to two real facts: the NSA designed the SHA-256 hash function Bitcoin uses, and NSA cryptographers co-authored a 1996 paper on anonymous electronic cash. But no evidence connects the agency to Bitcoin's creation, the technology it uses is public and standardized, and the code and history point to an independent cypherpunk lineage.

A 19-foot granite monument erected in 1980 near Elberton, Georgia, by an anonymous commissioner using the pseudonym 'R.C. Christian,' inscribed with ten 'guides' whose first line called to keep humanity under 500 million. Conspiracy theorists read it as a globalist/Illuminati blueprint for depopulation, and it was bombed and demolished in 2022.

The claim that artificial intelligence poses an existential or catastrophic risk to humanity has been advanced by Nick Bostrom ('Superintelligence,' 2014), Stuart Russell ('Human Compatible,' 2019), Eliezer Yudkowsky and the LessWrong rationalist community, and — in more measured form — by Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio. The Future of Life Institute open letter (22 March 2023) calling for a six-month pause on large AI experiments attracted over 30,000 signatories. The Center for AI Safety statement (30 May 2023) was signed by Hinton, Bengio, Sam Altman, and Demis Hassabis. The AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park (1-2 November 2023) convened 28 countries plus the EU. Counter-arguments from Andrew Ng, Yann LeCun, and Melanie Mitchell hold that existential framing overstates near-term risk and distracts from concrete algorithmic harms including bias and labour displacement.

The claim that Vladimir Putin uses one or more body doubles — lookalike stand-ins who appear at public events in place of the real president — has circulated persistently since at least 2015 and intensified after Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Proponents point to perceived variations in ear shape, facial proportions, gait, voice cadence, and posture across photographs and video appearances. Former Russian political science professor Valery Solovei has publicly made the claim in numerous interviews. The Kremlin denies it. No documentary evidence — photographic, biometric, or testimonial from a confirmed insider — has been produced that definitively establishes the existence of an operational double programme. The claim remains plausible-but-unverified given the opacity of the Russian presidency and the precedent of Soviet-era deception practices.

Recurring claims — circulating most intensely during Kim Jong-un's extended absence from public view in 2014 and again during a two-week disappearance in 2020 — assert that one or more body doubles routinely substitute for the North Korean leader in public appearances. Evidence cited includes perceived variations in facial features across years (particularly ear-shape analysis and apparent weight-gain/loss cycles), gait changes, and a general argument from the known authoritarian-leader tradition of using doubles for security. South Korean intelligence (NIS) has not confirmed the claim; NK News, Reuters, AP, and BBC cover the gaps in what can be verified. The theory is treated here as plausible-but-unverifiable speculation.

The grassy knoll second-shooter claim is the most prominent sub-theory of the JFK assassination conspiracy. It holds that a second gunman fired from the wooden fence atop the grassy knoll north of Elm Street in Dealey Plaza on 22 November 1963. Evidence for the claim rests primarily on acoustic analysis of a Dictabelt police-radio recording (the basis for the HSCA 1979 conclusion of probable conspiracy), some witness testimony, and a perceived head-movement in the Zapruder film. The acoustic evidence was subsequently rejected by a National Research Council panel and the FBI. No physical evidence — no second bullet, no shell casings, no blood-spatter consistent with a frontal shot — has been produced. The Warren Commission found no credible second-shooter evidence; the HSCA concluded probable conspiracy based on the acoustic evidence; the NRC and FBI rejected that acoustic evidence. The claim is unsubstantiated but not fully resolvable.

In November–December 2024, a wave of unidentified drone sightings over New Jersey and surrounding states generated significant media and political attention. NJ Governor Phil Murphy, FBI, FAA, and DHS acknowledged the sightings but offered no definitive explanation. Multiple theories circulated: foreign-adversary surveillance, US military testing, hobbyist drones, misidentified aircraft. The FBI and DHS investigation concluded that many sightings were explained by misidentified commercial aircraft, hobbyist drones, and stars/planets. The "foreign adversary surveillance" and "advanced military testing" framings remain unsubstantiated.

One prominent hypothesis for the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on 8 March 2014 is that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah deliberately depressurised the cabin, incapacitated or killed the passengers and crew, and flew the aircraft south into the remote Indian Ocean until fuel exhaustion. This hypothesis — most publicly argued by journalist William Langewiesche in The Atlantic in 2019 — is consistent with some evidence but is not supported by conclusive proof. No motive has been established, no suicide note was found, and the recovered debris does not definitively establish pilot intent.

Marilyn Monroe died on August 4–5, 1962 at her Brentwood home. The Los Angeles County coroner ruled probable suicide by acute barbiturate poisoning. Persistent claims hold that she was murdered — by the CIA, FBI, or individuals connected to President Kennedy or Attorney General Robert Kennedy — to prevent her from disclosing sensitive information. The FBI surveillance file on Monroe is real. Multiple forensic re-examinations have not produced new evidence supporting the assassination claim, which remains unsubstantiated.

Claims that the US government or USGS is concealing evidence of an imminent Yellowstone supervolcano eruption that would devastate North America, or that seismic and geothermal data are being misrepresented to prevent public panic. The USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO) publishes its monitoring data in real time. The current probability of a large-scale Yellowstone eruption in any given year is approximately 1 in 730,000.

Claims that governments run hidden breakaway space fleets or off-world bases.

Claims that Coca-Cola intentionally launched New Coke to revive demand for classic Coke or switch sweeteners.

Claims that Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt was abducted, defected, or killed rather than drowning.