Browse Conspiracy Theories

On the night of July 15–16, 2016, a faction of the Turkish military seized the Bosphorus bridges, bombed the Grand National Assembly, and flew F-16s over Ankara in an attempt to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Approximately 250 civilians died defending democratic institutions after Erdoğan's televised FaceTime call urged citizens into the streets. The Turkish government attributed the coup to the Gülen movement (designated FETÖ), demanded the extradition of Fethullah Gülen from the United States (denied), and launched mass purges dismissing or arresting over 150,000 people. A minority of independent analysts — notably economist Dani Rodrik — raised unanswered questions about pre-coup intelligence and Erdoğan's foreknowledge, generating a contested alternative framing. The coup itself is confirmed; the attribution of orchestration solely to FETÖ with possible US support remains contested.

On February 3 2023, a Norfolk Southern freight train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, sending 38 cars off the tracks. Eleven cars carried hazardous materials including vinyl chloride. On February 6, Norfolk Southern and local officials conducted a controlled burn of vinyl chloride to prevent a potential boiling-liquid expanding-vapor explosion; the burn released hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air. Conspiracy framings have alleged deliberate media suppression, water test manipulation, and a coordinated cover-up of health impacts. NTSB, EPA, and Ohio EPA investigations found documented response failures. The "deliberate cover-up" framing goes beyond documented negligence and response errors.

On December 3 2024 at approximately 22:30 KST, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law in a live televised address, citing "anti-state forces" and North Korean infiltration of the National Assembly. The National Assembly convened an emergency session and voted unanimously to lift the declaration approximately six hours later; troops that had been deployed to the Assembly were withdrawn. Yoon was impeached by the National Assembly on December 14 2024, arrested on January 15 2025 by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, and subsequently convicted of insurrection by a court. The conspiracy element — Yoon's framing that opposition lawmakers were North Korean-linked anti-state agents — was the justification for the declaration and was not supported by public evidence.

Operation Crossfire Hurricane was the FBI counterintelligence investigation opened July 31 2016 into possible Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and possible coordination by Trump campaign associates. The Mueller investigation (2017-2019) found extensive Russian interference but did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia in a manner meeting the criminal standard. DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz's December 2019 report found 17 significant errors and omissions in FISA warrant applications targeting Carter Page. Special Counsel John Durham's May 2023 report (306 pages) found that the FBI opened the investigation with an insufficient factual predicate and exhibited confirmation bias. The conspiracy framing — that the investigation was a fully orchestrated Deep State frame-up — has partial documentary support (FISA errors) but the "completely fabricated" version exceeds the evidence.

In March 2012, the NGO Invisible Children released a 29-minute documentary calling for the arrest of Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony. The video reached 100 million views in six days — the fastest a YouTube video had spread to that point. Underlying LRA atrocities (child soldiers, abductions, killings) are extensively documented by the UN, ICC, and human-rights organisations. Critics raised substantive objections: the information was outdated (Kony had left Uganda by 2006), the framing oversimplified a complex conflict, Invisible Children's spending breakdown drew scrutiny, and the campaign's "white savior" framing was widely criticised. A US Congress bill supporting deployment of military advisers to assist the African Union mission passed before the video; the campaign amplified public and legislative attention to the LRA. The underlying claim about LRA war crimes is solidly documented; the campaign's proposed solution and framing are legitimately contested.

In January 2022 a federal district court ordered the FDA to release Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine clinical-trial documents at a pace far faster than the FDA had proposed (75 years vs the court-ordered monthly schedule). Social-media commentary framed the documents as proving concealed mass harm. In reality, the documents are routine pharmacovigilance data — adverse-event tables compiled because post-market safety surveillance is legally required. The "75 years to hide it" framing misrepresents standard FOIA processing timelines; the underlying documents are real and are publicly available.

In June 2020, Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum (WEF) published "The Great Reset" agenda — a real document proposing a COVID-19 recovery framework centred on sustainability, stakeholder capitalism, and digital infrastructure. The conspiracy framing holds that "The Great Reset" is a coordinated globalist plan for world takeover, secretly being implemented by governments and corporations in concert with the WEF. What is true: the document and agenda exist, WEF does convene world leaders and executives at Davos, and specific policy proposals within it (central bank digital currencies, digital ID frameworks, ESG disclosure mandates) are active real-world policy debates. What is not supported: the existence of a secret implementation timeline, the claim that governments are covertly executing a WEF master plan, or that Schwab secretly controls heads of state. The ADL has documented that some variants of the WEF conspiracy invoke antisemitic-adjacent framings around Schwab's identity.

On January 8, 2023, thousands of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed and ransacked the Presidential Palace, the National Congress, and the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF) in Brasília — Brazil's Three Powers Plaza. Two framings have competed since: that the events were a spontaneous protest that got out of hand; and that they were a coordinated coup attempt with logistical support and advance planning from within Bolsonaro's outgoing administration. Brazilian Federal Police investigations and STF indictments have substantially supported the second framing while acknowledging that many participants were swept up in the moment rather than part of any central conspiracy.

Project 2025 is the informal name for a policy initiative led by the Heritage Foundation, formally titled "Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise." Published openly in 2023, the 900-page document lays out detailed proposals for restructuring the federal executive branch. During the 2024 campaign, Trump publicly distanced himself from it; after January 2025, multiple Project 2025 contributors joined the administration. The document and its authors are publicly known. The conspiracy framing — that it constitutes a secret shadow-government playbook being covertly implemented — overstates what is already openly documented.

Jeffrey Epstein operated a documented criminal network involving the sexual abuse of dozens of minors over many years. In 2008, then-US Attorney Alexander Acosta negotiated a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) that shielded Epstein and unnamed co-conspirators from federal charges, in what a federal judge later ruled violated victims' rights laws. The Miami Herald's 2018 "Perversion of Justice" investigation, by Julie K. Brown, documented systematic obstruction and the NPA's unusual terms. Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal trafficking charges. The claim that investigations into broader networks of powerful associates have been suppressed is partially documented — specific obstruction is confirmed; the full extent of prosecutorial suppression and the identity of all beneficiaries of the NPA remain disputed and partially unresolved.

AROPL is a small new religious movement led by Abdullah Hashem Aba Al-Sadiq, who claims succession to Ahmed Al-Hassan, who himself claimed in the early 2000s to be the Mahdi (the prophesied figure in Islamic eschatology). Multiple ex-members and journalists have documented cult-like high-control dynamics, leader-devotion, financial extraction, and serious allegations against named figures in the leadership. AROPL denies the allegations and continues to operate openly. The movement is unrelated to and frequently confused with the mainstream Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, an established religious community founded in 1889 with no connection to AROPL.

In September–November 2001, letters laced with weapons-grade anthrax spores were mailed to news outlets and US senators, killing five people and infecting seventeen others. The FBI's Amerithrax investigation ultimately focused on Bruce E. Ivins, a USAMRIID scientist who died by suicide in 2008 before charges were filed. A 2011 National Academy of Sciences review found the FBI's scientific case "not as definitive as portrayed."

Claims that private equity ownership degrades hospital care, sometimes inflated into total health-system control narratives.

Claims that BlackRock secretly owns or controls all major companies, governments, media, and housing markets.

Claims that cashless payments or central bank digital currencies are designed to surveil, freeze, or socially score all citizens.

Claims that genetically modified crops are categorically unsafe or part of a hidden population-control plan.

Claims that smartphones constantly record conversations to serve ads or feed government surveillance.

Claims that most online activity is now synthetic bot or AI content controlled to manipulate public perception.

Claims surrounding Korean Air Lines Flight 007, including espionage, cover-up, and intentional provocation narratives.

A label for liberal or anti-Trump conspiracy claims, including overextended claims about hidden coordination or staged events.

The Milwaukee Police Department's May 27, 1991 return of 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone (fleeing from Jeffrey Dahmer's apartment) back to Dahmer, despite bystander objections. The victim was killed that night. This incident and broader investigative failures are well-documented; claims of intentional protection remain contested.

CIA program from the 1950s onward to cultivate relationships with American journalists and influence media coverage, particularly during the Cold War. Partially confirmed through Church Committee findings and documentary research.