Aliens, reptilians, royals, and clowns, what is scarier? Or, should the question be, what is more believable? We travel down the conspiracy rabbit hole to investigate the top 10 theories that have circulated throughout the world.
Conspiracy theories question the possibility of extra-terrestrials, government cover-ups and otherworldly beings more capable than we ever thought possible. Are these just fictitious speculations or are they more grounded in reality than we would believe?
Here are the top 10 conspiracy theories.
Moon Landing
The moon landing was faked. In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin allegedly took the first giant mankind leaps onto the Moon. People in the United States thought this to be all a hoax, with a survey in 1970 concluding that 30 per cent of the population believed the moon landing to have been faked.
The theory is that Stanley Kubrick, who directed classics such as The Shining, filmed the moon landing on a sound stage in London. This was all part of an elaborate plan by the United States government to reach the moon before the Soviet Union.
One point of the theory states that the flag planted into the Moon’s surface was flapping in the wind. However, the moon doesn’t have an atmosphere, therefore there is no wind. NASA and other “untrustworthy sources” have explained just how this flapping occurred. The American’s didn’t want a limp looking flag, which is what the flag would have done if stood in the ground. They, therefore, installed an extendable metal pole on the longer edge of the flag to hold it straight. Aldrin and Armstrong, however, couldn’t fully extend the pole and it appeared to be waving.
Today the number of deniers has decreased, but it stills stands at a significant 10 per cent of the population.
The CIA killed JFK
It has long been believed that the man behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy was Lee Harvey Oswald as he had been the only known person to be in the building that overlooked the drive where the president was killed and was the owner of the alleged murder weapon. But before police could question him further, he was suspiciously killed by nightclub owner Jack Ruby. So, when the Warren commission, instated by Lindon B Johnson, concluded that Oswald had killed the President people were not convinced.
Theories quickly began to circulate the globe, with 61 per cent of Americans believing that others were assisting in the event.
Theories spoke of a suspicious umbrella man, the mob, a second shooter on the grassy knoll and that Ted Cruz’s father played a part in the assassination.
Donald Trump discussed the last theory during his 2016 presidential campaign. The theory that stuck throughout the years is that the CIA was involved in Kennedy’s death. It’s theorised that the CIA was frustrated with the way Kennedy was handling the war on communism. This caused anti-Communist and anti-Cuba CIA agents to turn rogue to kill him in an attempt to maintain tension with the Soviet Union and Cuba. There are reports that Kennedy was planning on pulling out of Vietnam and work on ending the Cold War. This further confirms the suspicions that agents within the CIA would have found this undesirable and thought it to be a traitorous move.
Qanon
The blood of young children allows the elites to maintain their health. These elites have formed a global deep state satanic paedophile ring that goes as high as the American Government. This is what Qanon supporters believe.
It started online, where Q, an anonymous 4chan user began to spread his theories on the worlds political environment. One of the first theories to spread online is known today as Pizzagate. This theory states that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of a pizza joint in Washington. This led to an armed man travelling across the US to stop the operation. When he arrived, however, he did not discover any evidence of a child sex ring.
Today, the theory that has immersed itself into the heart of Qanon members is that of cannibalistic celebrities and politicians. According to QAnon, the US government is a satanic cult and people like Ellen DeGeneres, Barrack Obama, Tom Hanks and Hillary Clinton are not only paedophiles, but they drink the blood of children to maintain their healthy lifestyles.
In the past two years, they have begun to disprove the COVID pandemic, stating that it was a hoax to damage President Trump’s chance at re-election. Australia is also home to a large Qanon following, with many protesting the COVID lockdowns adhering to Qanon core beliefs.
Since 2016, when Qanon gained traction online, a large following around the world began to develop. Earlier this year, the group sieged the US capital and it was found that 56 per cent of Republicans in the US followed Qanon.
This is all a Simulation
The phrase, “There’s a glitch in the Matrix,” is often thrown around when a coincidence occurs. Such as two people wearing the same outfit to work. This is related to an idea raised by philosopher Nick Bostrom that reality as we know it, is all a simulation. He has five assumptions:
The first assumption is that it is possible to generate consciousness. This means that our consciousness has been created and is now controlled by others. The second is that technology will continue to advance and that there may be a civilisation in the universe already capable of creating a simulation where we can prosper. The third assumption is that advanced civilisations do not destroy themselves.
Now, we see no other civilisations in our universe because they have not passed the Great Filters, such as climate change, nuclear destruction, and a black hole. However, what if this advanced civilisation has removed themselves from the simulation to make us believe that all societies including their own have been destroyed by these great filters? We would then believe that we are alone in the universe with no one else to create this simulation for us, thus we do not believe we are simulated.
The fourth assists this theory, as super-advanced civilisations would want to and could run a simulation. Advanced civilisations could be using us for their comical efforts, how else would you explain reality TV? Or they could even be using us scientifically. It could be possible that these god-like aliens treat us the same way we treat ants.
Assumption five advises that if there are many simulations out there, there is a possibility that we are in one of them. These god-like aliens could be running multiple simulations; which further proves the third assumption, in which they would want us to think that they have been destroyed to show that there is no simulation.
Modern Art Shows are a front for money laundering
This interesting Reddit theory questions every modern art show that occurs, stating that every show is a front for money laundering schemes. It’s no lie, that modern art is… interesting. So, it makes a lot of sense when people believe that art shows allow people to make purchases to convert their illegal money into art.
This theory has been proven true. In 2007, a Brazilian banker was found to have converted his illegal makings
into a 12,000-piece art collection. He was caught when an $8 million artwork was discovered at a New York City airport. Authorities uncovering later that this artwork was one of the thousands being sold to hide profits and assets attained illegally.
Even though this has been proven to occur, the theory states that all modern art shows are money laundering fronts, not just the rare few.
Area 51 and the number of theories
We have all heard of Area 51. The army base is home to UFO’s and aliens. In recent years, however, Area 51 has been uncovered to be a secret army base, where the US test new technology and weapons. Boring.
One Reddit theory has suggested that the American government allowed the population to believe that this was an “alien base” as a diversion from the real location or locations. That’s right. There is another location or
multiple locations out there where aliens run free. Even though quite a few people believe that the hype around alien existence was a distraction from what really occurred at the base. The idea that there are multiple locations out there truly studying the world of extra-terrestrial lifestyles is fascinating, to say the least. One Reddit user states that Area 51 is a decoy and Area 52 is the real thing.
Another theory states that a Nazi doctor enlarged the heads of abducted teenagers.
The doctor, ordered by Joseph Stalin to cause Cold War terror, medically enlarged teenager’s heads in an effort to have them fly UFOs over America. You can’t deny that they failed in their attempts though, as the teenagers would later crash the UFO in what is now known as the Roswell incident.
Jack the Ripper was a royal
The most infamous serial killer to have ever roamed a city’s streets, Jack the Ripper was indeed a royal. There are many theories on the identity of Jack the Ripper. To many, he is still shrouded in anonymity, however, some believe he was Prince Albert Edward Victor.
A physician in the 1970’s concluded that Prince Albert was suffering from insanity caused by syphilis. The theory states that the prince contracted the disease through multiple visits to local brothels. After contracting syphilis, he became enraged with revenge and brutally murdered prostitutes in the streets of London.
Another theory is that the prince began a love affair with a commoner, eventually having a daughter. However, the royals were unhappy with the idea of a commoner becoming heir to the throne. So, they ordered agents to kill whoever may have known about the suspected affair and it wasn’t long after the bodies of prostitutes began to appear across London. It may not be as exciting as a Royal himself committing the murders, but it is still controversial.
So, was the grandchild of Queen Victoria and second in line to the throne a grizzly murderer? Just imagine, if he hadn’t died at the young age of 27 from Tuberculosis, Jack the Ripper could have been King.
Killer Clown pandemic in 2016 was one huge advertisement for the movie IT
Remember 2016? No Covid, no lockdowns, just clowns.
Before the current pandemic, there was a pandemic of another kind. Hundreds of “Killer Clowns” were sited across the globe. In 2016 people thought it was a good idea to dress up as creepy clowns and stalk others with knives and other weapons. In September, it allegedly started in the UK, when reports of a creepy clown scaring
children were released. Not long after this, reports around the globe began to appear. Police in the US were inundated with 911 calls regarding clowns chasing unsuspecting victims. Arrests were made, and citizens started to ask if they could shoot the clowns.
This was all around the time when an advertisement for the upcoming 2017 Stephen King reboot of IT was being released. Online, people started to link the creepy sightings to the remake. The theory is that the clowns were a part of the IT marketing campaign which gained so much traction that the producer of the film had to come out and deny any connection to the clowns.
The Earth is Flat
According to Flat-Earther’s, the earth is a flat disc. It means that we were created by someone greater and there is no existence of other lifeforms in the galaxy, oh and there is no galaxy. Mark Sargent, who is a leader of the Flat Earth movement, states that the north pole is at the centre of the Earth. Surrounding the North Pole are the continents and surrounding the continents is Antarctica that creates an ice wall around the entirety of the earth. The sun and moon are small, and the stars are simply lights. Flat-Earthers also state that NASA was founded to falsely advocate for a spherical Earth. Any video that you have seen of astronauts in space, and yes, even the moon landing, is all fake.
This is a growing movement. It has gained enough traction to convince two per cent of Americans which may not sound like a lot, but two per cent is roughly 6.5 million people. And to put that into perspective, Sydney’s population is 5.3 million.
The Reptilian Elite
The Queen is a lizard person. So is Obama, Beyonce, Hillary Clinton, the list goes on. These reptilian hybrids are responsible for some of the world’s most horrific events. They have caused traumatic moments in history such as the Holocaust and 9/11. People who adhere to this theory believe that these reptilian Aliens are here to enslave us and control our every movement. This is similar to the simulation theory, however, instead of being an Alien race that controls us from afar, they are very much close by. And guess what, some Qanon supporters believe this conspiracy, with one supporter murdering his brother with a sword because he thought he was a lizard.
This is not a new conspiracy theory. A British sports reporter fuelled this through his reptilian ramblings stating that there is enough evidence to prove it. This has started a large movement, and as we saw with Flatearther’s, it quickly gained a large following of Americans. In a 2013 survey, 12 million Americans admitted to believing this conspiracy – that’s Sydney and Melbourne’s populations combined.
