Browse Conspiracy Theories

The April 2016 leak of 11.5 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed an international network of offshore shell companies used by politicians, celebrities, and criminals for tax evasion, money laundering, and concealing ownership.

The 1950s-60s marketing of thalidomide (sedative, anti-nausea for pregnant women) by Chemie Grünenthal (Germany), Distillers (UK), and Richardson-Merrell (US) despite internal knowledge of risks, resulting in ~10,000 birth defects worldwide and a major documented corporate cover-up.

The July 17, 2014 destruction of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 (Boeing 777) over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people. The Dutch Safety Board investigation and Joint Investigation Team (JIT) concluded the aircraft was shot down by a Russian-owned Buk surface-to-air missile system from a field in Russian-separatist-controlled Donbas.

The October 1, 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in Las Vegas, which killed 60 and wounded over 400 — the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. Various conspiracy theories claim multiple shooters, ISIS involvement, MGM/security cover-up, or government-directed false-flag operations.

Condensation trails (contrails) are the normal ice crystal trails formed behind aircraft at high altitude when hot, humid engine exhaust meets cold air. Distinct from the "chemtrail" conspiracy theory, which claims these trails contain deliberate chemical spraying programs.

The documented failure and subsequent cover-up of the police response to the May 24, 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and 2 teachers were killed. Officers waited in the hallway for 77 minutes while the shooter remained in a classroom with surviving children and their mothers pleading outside.

The false claim that the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing was staged by the US government or involved "crisis actors" rather than being conducted by the Tsarnaev brothers. The real bombing killed 3 people and injured 260+.

The Bush administration's 2002-2003 claim that Saddam Hussein's Iraq had operational ties to al-Qaeda, used as a central justification for the 2003 US invasion. The 9/11 Commission, Senate Intelligence Committee reports, and a 2006 Pentagon IG report all concluded no such operational relationship existed.

The July 16, 1999 crash of a small aircraft off Martha's Vineyard piloted by John F. Kennedy Jr., killing him, his wife Carolyn Bessette, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette. Conspiracy claims allege assassination by the Clintons, a senior Kennedy family cabal, or staged disappearance — the latter a QAnon staple.

The long-documented relationship between Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and the US Central Intelligence Agency, including his role as a paid CIA asset (1967-1988) while simultaneously trafficking cocaine, running intelligence operations, and aiding US anti-communist operations in Latin America.

The July 20, 1993 death of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster in Fort Marcy Park, Virginia, officially ruled suicide by five separate investigations. Conspiracy claims allege murder by the Clintons or a cover-up of connections to Whitewater or Hillary Clinton.

The concealment by Boeing of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) from pilots and regulators, which caused two fatal crashes — Lion Air 610 (October 2018, 189 killed) and Ethiopian Airlines 302 (March 2019, 157 killed) — and led to a 20-month global grounding.

The US military's use of Agent Orange herbicide in Vietnam (1961-1971) and the decades-long effort by the VA and chemical manufacturers to deny connections to veteran illnesses — cancers, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's, peripheral neuropathy.

The 2014-2019 lead contamination of Flint, Michigan's drinking water following a cost-saving switch from Detroit water supply to the Flint River, and the systematic suppression of evidence by state officials.

The October 2, 2018 assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The US Intelligence Community's February 2021 declassified assessment concluded Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman approved the operation.

A satirical movement launched in 2017 by Peter McIndoe claiming that all birds in the United States were exterminated by the CIA between 1959-2001 and replaced with surveillance drones. Designed as parody, it was widely shared without the satire being recognized.

The claim, based on a 1984 packet of allegedly leaked documents, that President Truman in 1947 established a secret committee (Majestic 12 or MJ-12) of 12 scientists and military officers to study recovered UFO craft from Roswell.

The false claim, most prominently promoted by Alex Jones and Infowars, that the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut was staged by "crisis actors" to justify gun control legislation. The shooting killed 20 first-graders and 6 adults.

The claim that Earth is hollow, with inner surfaces, inhabitants, or openings at the poles. Versions include the 17th-century scientific proposal by Edmond Halley, 19th-century Symmes Hole theory, and 20th-century Nazi/UFO-adjacent versions.

The claim, popularized by British writer David Icke from 1999 onward, that a race of shape-shifting reptilian humanoids from Alpha Draconis secretly rule the Earth by posing as political and royal elites including the British Royal Family.

Claims that Denver International Airport (opened 1995) houses an underground New World Order bunker, hosts occult murals, and that its dedication capstone contains coded Freemason messages.

A fabricated antisemitic text, first published in Russia in 1903, claiming to document a Jewish plan for world domination. Extensively proven a forgery — plagiarized from Maurice Joly's 1864 Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu (a satire about Napoleon III, not Jews).

The claim that the antiparasitic drug ivermectin is an effective COVID-19 treatment being suppressed by pharmaceutical companies, regulators, and hospitals to protect vaccine profits.