Browse Conspiracy Theories

The false claim that the MMR vaccine causes autism, originating in a fraudulent 1998 study by Andrew Wakefield published in The Lancet, which the journal formally retracted in 2010 after investigation revealed data manipulation and undisclosed financial conflicts.

The phenomenon where large groups of people share a vivid but false memory of historical events, objects, or media — coined by researcher Fiona Broome in 2009 after noticing many people falsely remembered Nelson Mandela dying in prison in the 1980s.

The claim that the US Navy conducted an October 1943 experiment at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard that made the destroyer USS Eldridge temporarily invisible and teleported it to Norfolk, Virginia — with horrific effects on crew members.

A sophisticated computer worm discovered in 2010 that sabotaged centrifuges at Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility — later confirmed to have been developed jointly by the US (NSA/CIA) and Israel (Unit 8200) under Operation Olympic Games.

The false claim that a child sex-trafficking ring linked to Democratic Party officials operated out of Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington DC, based on misreadings of John Podesta's hacked 2016 emails.

A sprawling conspiracy movement originating on 4chan and 8chan in October 2017, centered on anonymous "Q" posts alleging that a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophile elites controls government, media, and finance, and that Donald Trump is leading a secret war to expose them.

A loose coalition of researchers and activists who reject the official account of the September 11, 2001 attacks, alleging government foreknowledge, controlled demolition of the World Trade Center, or a staged Pentagon strike.

The Nixon administration orchestrated the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex, then engaged in a systematic cover-up involving hush money, witness tampering, and abuse of federal agencies. Led to the only presidential resignation in US history.

Internal documents proved that major tobacco companies knew cigarettes were addictive and caused cancer as early as the 1950s, while publicly denying both for decades. They funded fake research, suppressed internal findings, and targeted youth marketing. Settled via 1998 Master Settlement Agreement ($206 billion).

Volkswagen deliberately programmed 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide with "defeat device" software that detected emissions testing and temporarily reduced pollution output. During normal driving, the cars emitted up to 40 times the legal limit of nitrogen oxides. Exposed by West Virginia University researchers in 2014.

Major international banks including Barclays, UBS, Deutsche Bank, and Rabobank colluded to manipulate the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which underpins over $300 trillion in financial contracts worldwide. Traders coordinated via chat rooms to rig rates for profit. Exposed 2012; $9+ billion in fines; four convictions.

Facebook secretly manipulated the news feeds of 689,003 users for one week in January 2012 to test whether emotional contagion could be achieved through social media. Published in PNAS in 2014 without informed consent from subjects.

Forty-year (1932-1972) US Public Health Service study of 399 Black men with syphilis in Alabama. Researchers withheld treatment — even after penicillin became standard cure in 1947 — to observe the disease's progression. Exposed by whistleblower Peter Buxtun in 1972.

1962 proposal by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to commit false-flag terrorist attacks against American civilians and military targets to justify war with Cuba. Rejected by President Kennedy. Declassified in 1997.

FBI covert program (1956-1971) that surveilled, infiltrated, discredited, and disrupted American political organizations including the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panthers, and anti-war groups. Exposed when citizens broke into an FBI field office in 1971.

The second attack in the Gulf of Tonkin (August 4, 1964) — used to justify escalation of the Vietnam War — never happened. Declassified NSA documents (2005) revealed the Johnson administration knew the attack was fabricated.

Reagan administration officials secretly sold arms to Iran (under embargo) and diverted the proceeds to fund Nicaraguan Contra rebels (Congressionally banned). Exposed in 1986; led to 14 convictions.

US program (1945-1959) that secretly recruited over 1,600 former Nazi scientists, engineers, and technicians — including many with documented war crimes — and brought them to America for military and space programs, circumventing President Truman's anti-Nazi directive.

A CIA program (1953-1973) that conducted illegal, often horrific experiments on unwitting American and Canadian citizens using LSD, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, and torture to research mind control. Declassified in 1977.

The theory that cryptocurrency markets are systematically manipulated by whales, exchanges, and stablecoin issuers, with Tether (USDT) allegedly printing unbacked tokens to artificially inflate Bitcoin's price.

The theory that social media platforms deliberately design their algorithms to maximize division, radicalization, and addiction for profit, with full knowledge of the psychological and social harm they cause.

The theory that the Great Pyramids of Giza could not have been built with the tools and techniques available to ancient Egyptians, suggesting involvement of a lost civilization, advanced ancient technology, or extraterrestrial assistance.

The theory that governments and corporations use smartphones, smart speakers, social media, and other connected devices to conduct mass surveillance on citizens far beyond what is publicly acknowledged.

The theory that the white trails left by aircraft in the sky are not ordinary water vapor contrails, but deliberate chemical or biological agents sprayed for purposes ranging from weather control to population management.