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15 Famous & Popular Conspiracy Theories

It is often said that truth is stranger than fiction. Conspiracies are the grey area; that slippery turf in-between, and they often sound stranger than both.

The mention of the word ‘conspiracy’ is sometimes enough to shift the trajectory of a debate over almost anything. Yet, conspiracy theories have been around for a long time, and some are as bizarre-sounding as it gets!

From claims of cloned celebrities, and faked deaths, to disputes over the occurrence of events in history such as the moon landing and the holocaust, we’ve come across baffling theories for sure.

Some have been proven to hold some truth over time, and others remain debatable. In this article, we take a look at some of the conspiracies that remain a topic for hot debates, and newer ones from recent happenings. Take a look!

1. The moon landing was faked

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When NASA landed astronauts on the moon in 1969, the event was televised.  The first moon landing mission by Apollo 11 was hailed as a remarkable achievement for man, but soon enough, skeptics begun spawning theories to discredit the event. The event has been a matter of debate, and several documentaries have been made to debunk whether it was all a hoax.

 So, could it be that the giant leap of mankind was the greatest hoax of the 20^th century? 60 Minutes Australia hosted Bart Sibrel, an American conspiracy theorist. He is known for his works that support the idea that the Apollo Moon Landings were staged. His methods of collecting information, including cornering officials and asking them to swear on the Bible have been termed unconventional.

While his theories have been debunked, many Americans still believe that the government lied. NASA has never given a detailed response to most of these theories. Some think that it would be below them to do so, or that responding would give credibility to the claims. However, this has only strengthened the conspiracy theorists’ beliefs; that if NASA cannot comprehensively respond, then indeed it was a lie.

2. President JFK was assassinated by the CIA

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President John F. Kennedy met his tragic death in November 1963, in a Dallas motorcade. His assassination is one of the most dramatic turns in America’s history, and conspiracies surround it. He was fatally shot, and Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and killed during transit two days later. Conspiracy theorists have however alleged that Harvey Oswald may have just been a scapegoat; That he did not act alone.

These claims have been a source of several publications, and some indeed believe that the whole thing was an inside job by the CIA. The reason here is that the killing was in retaliation for the failed invasion to overthrow then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Others have suggested other culprits, including Fidel Castro’s government, organized crime groups, and Vice President Lyndon Johnson. Despite the Warren Commission report finding no evidence of the theories, they still abound.

3. The 9/11 attacks were an inside job

The tragic events of September 11, 2001, saw nearly 3,000 people lose their lives in a series of terror attacks. Two lanes hit the Twin Towers in New York City, one struck the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and another in a field outside Shanksville. It is reckoned as one of the most devastating attacks on American soil in history.

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This event has been subject to conspiracies too, and several theories have been advanced. One of the most common is the claim that President George W. Bush’s administration had intelligence about it but still let it happen. The reason often cited is that the administration wanted to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq because of oil deposits.

Another reason given for the inside job claim is that the towers could only have collapsed the way they did due to controlled demolition. This claim has been dismissed. Then there’s the theory that the Pentagon was not hit by a plane but a missile.

4. Princess Diana’s death was a planned accident

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There’s no doubt that Princess Diana was a darling to the masses, and the circumstances surrounding her death remain one of the most contested. August 31, 1997, was the unfortunate day that saw the vehicle she was in a crash at a Â鶹APP highway tunnel, and a few hours later, the breaking news took the world by storm.  The very idea that such a high-profile figure could be killed in such circumstances was shocking, and theories to explain her death began to swirl almost immediately.

Dodi Al-Fayed, Diana’s lover at the time was also killed in the crash. His father and Egyptian businessman, Mohamed Al-Fayed claimed that the accident was an assassination ordered by the Royal Family.

He alleged that Princess Diana was pregnant with his son’s child, and that the idea did not sit well with the Royal Family. He stated that they ‘could not accept that an Egyptian Muslim would eventually be the stepfather of the future King of England’. 

Mohamed’s claims were however dismissed by a 2006 inquiry as baseless. The post-mortem examination did not reveal any signs of pregnancy either. Another common claim is that her treatment after the accident was deliberately sabotaged. This is mainly linked to the fact that she was treated at the scene rather than being rushed to a hospital.

In 2008, the coroner’s jury concluded that the accident was a result of a drunken driver’s negligence and pursuit of paparazzi, dismissing all other claims. 

5. Vaccines are designed for mass control

Although conspiracy theories about vaccines gained particular prominence with the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been there for years. Vaccine skeptics have advanced several theories claiming they are harmful. These have often been debunked by scientists.

From claims that vaccines cause autism, or contain harmful chemicals, to propositions that they are used by governments to control people, these theories have led to vaccine hesitancy even in a pandemic.

Have a look at the history of vaccines.

6. The COVID-19 pandemic conspiracies

If a global event ever spawned conspiracy theories to such insane levels, it has to be the COVID-19 pandemic. The daily death scores, complete lockdowns of cities and even countries, worldwide panic, and severe economic hardship took the world by storm in 2020. As governments span into action to mitigate the effects, conspiracies took center stage among the masses.

To begin with, the virus was alleged by some to have been manufactured in a lab in Wuhan, China for use as a bioweapon. Then U.S. President Trump is cited to have even called it a ‘Chinese virus’.

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The origin of the virus remains one of the most debated to date. As death tolls rose to ridiculously high levels, some accused the doctors of lying about Covid-related deaths, and the media for spreading fear.

Vaccination was the other big source of these theories. Some blatantly refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine, claiming a suspicious agenda to alter DNA and control the masses. Some also claimed the vaccines contained microchips to track people. Did I mention the oddest one yet on 5G technology? According to the COVID-19 5G conspiracy, the electromagnetic frequencies from cell phone towers gravely undermined the immune system, increasing the risk of infection.

None of these have been proven true.

7. Aliens are being harbored in Area 51

Area 51 is a highly classified U.S. military base located in the High Desert. It has been a hotspot for conspiracy theories especially on aliens and UFO sightings. Perhaps the fact that the facility is quite classified offers some breeding ground for such claims.

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A popular claim is that aliens  from an accidental crash that landed on Earth are being hidden in the desert for testing and experimentation. In 2017, the Pentagon officially stated that the U.S. government was not collecting or analyzing anything that could pose a threat to national safety or aerospace. Nonetheless, whatever goes on in Area 51 remains shrouded in mystery.

8. The New World Order Conspiracy

There’s nothing like a government-control conspiracy theory. The New World Order conspiracy hypothesizes a totalitarian world government takeover in the near future. It is actually a series of several theories that somehow lead to the same conclusion; that there is one big elite group that runs the world behind the scenes.

This group is allegedly planning a centralized world government with negative intentions according to the theorists. The term itself is also used in the global governance discourse concerning significant restructuring of the world’s systems.

9. Tupac might still be alive

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Who killed Tupac? Better yet, is Tupac dead? The renowned American rapper has been the subject of some of the wildest conspiracy theories since his untimely death in September 1996. Most of the theories are quite speculative but they have surely captured the imagination of fans and conspiracy theorists alike.

Perhaps the most common one is the claim that Tupac Shakur faked his death to escape his legal woes. Despite official reports and eyewitnesses confirming that he was indeed killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, proponents of this theory remain doubtful.

Some point to the lack of a definitive autopsy photo, and the fact that he was cremated a day after his death. The faked death theory is also linked to his ‘Makaveli’ alter ego, an Italian philosopher who proposed faking one’s death to achieve a greater goal. The other theory is that Tupac fled to Cuba after his faked death. However, no credible evidence has been adduced in support of both.

10. A reptilian elite runs world governments

The lizard people conspiracy theory claims that there is a secret reptilian humanoid population running world governments. You’ve probably seen some videos alleging that a celebrity or some popular leader was caught shapeshifting. Whether these are edited or real, remains debatable.

The idea of reptilians was made popular by David Icke, an English conspiracy theorist who believes that these reptilian, shapeshifting guys are infiltrating governments and controlling world systems. The creatures are products of extraterrestrial beings interbreeding with the human population.

Some have even claimed that top members of the Royal Family are shapeshifters. Others have alleged that celebrities are not real humans either and can shapeshift. As bizarre as it gets, this idea has been linked to the New World Order theories and the Illuminati. Some believers of the idea have done some real damage too such as murdering people they thought were reptilians.

11. We are living in the Matrix

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From movie quotes to song lyrics, the idea that we’re living in a real-life simulation is not new at all. It has been explored in science fiction severally, and some people are convinced it could be true. (P.s; Check out the movie The Matrix if you haven’t yet). This theory is linked to the absurd coincidences and events that occur whenever there is a ‘glitch in the matrix’.

The Fermi paradox questions why we have not yet encountered evidence of extraterrestrial life. Those propagating that we are in a simulation suggest that the ‘simulators’ have intentionally hidden such evidence from us. The lack of concrete scientific evidence, however, puts this theory to the test. The philosophical implications such as the idea of reality and the meaning of life also contest the theory.

12. The government is spying on its citizens

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This is a rather popular one and has been around for many years. Unwarranted collection of citizenry data by government agencies has driven many to consider that there is a sinister plan behind the ‘spying’.

One of the most famous examples of government spying is the NSA’s PRISM program, which was revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden. PRISM was a program that allowed the NSA to collect metadata from phone calls and emails of millions of Americans without a warrant.

The NSA has also been accused of spying on other countries, including allies. In 2013, it was revealed that the NSA had been spying on the German government. The government has defended its spying programs, arguing that they are necessary to protect national security.

However, critics of the programs argue that they violate the privacy of Americans and that they are not effective in preventing terrorism. The theory remains a complex one, since evidence to support and refute it exists.

13. The earth is flat

Is the earth flat or a sphere? Some don’t even care. But, flat-earth conspiracy theorists have been adamant in their position that the earth is flat; a circular disk with a wall of ice surrounding its edges. The theory began in ancient times but is still propagated by some to date. It received a modern revival in the 1950s by the Flat Earth Society in Britain.

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Is it bizarre, given that astronauts have since gone to space and seen the blue, round, marble that is earth? Scientific evidence has proved that the earth’s shape is spherical, but the persistence of this theory has risen to alarming levels, especially through social media.

14. Chemtrails are poisoning us

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You’ve probably seen the thin cloud-like tracks sometimes left behind by planes in the air. These are condensed water vapor droplets called contrails. While science would term it a purely scientific phenomenon, conspiracy theorists hold that there is a large-scale harmful agenda.

They claim that these trails contain chemicals intentionally being discharged into the atmosphere. Why? The reasons are as many as they come. Some claim it is biological warfare or population control, others think it has to do with geo-engineering or even weather manipulation. These claims have been dismissed in various scientific studies, conspiracy theorists are not convinced.

15. Medicine corporations are hiding real cures

Big pharma conspiracy theories are no less popular on the internet. Health is a critical issue worldwide, and theories that accuse medicine corporations of sabotage, controlling the masses, and exploiting disease for profits abound. Some Americans believe that the Food and Drug Administration is suppressing natural cures for terminal illnesses such as cancer for profit.

Many natural drug promoters also accuse the food nutrition systems of pushing for unhealthy diets to make populations sick in the long run. One of the well-known ‘natural health’ promoters is Kevin Trudeau.

He authored the controversial book, ‘ Natural Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About’, and was convicted of fraud in 2013 for false informercials. His legal woes were seen by some of his audience as targeted ‘silencing’ by mega-corporations.

Read more on the Top 50 Healthtech Companies in the world.

Clearly, numerous conspiracy theories persist, and you can be sure to encounter more in the future. Some of these are as bizarre as it gets, but others may surprise you as true when you least expect them to.