We Are Conspiring is a segment where we go through the most popular conspiracy theories of all time! This week is: Conspiracy Theories 101!! We will be discussing conspiracies that you have most likely heard of but probably don’t know the actual story behind. We will be going over a brief history, the theories behind it, and the reasoning for these conspiracy theories & their popularity.     Â
    Â
- Fake Moon Landing
The first Conspiracy Theory 101 we will be going over is that the United States created a Fake Moon Landing.
In 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon which is where he said his famous line “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”. This event was celebrated across the United States, but conspiracy theories started quickly forming thereafter. Some skeptics questioned the authenticity of the footage and photographs, claiming that it was a fake moon landing, that the footage was staged and actually taken on a soundstage on Earth. These skeptics pointed out perceived anomalies, such as shadows and the waving flag, as evidence of this fake moon landing. Some even claimed that the government staged the entire event just to win the Space Race against the Soviet Union.
In the decade after the moon landing many books, documentaries, and even public figures questioned the validity of the event which heavily popularized this conspiracy theory to the masses. One of the most popular examples of fake moon landing media was a 1976 self-published book by Bill Kaysing which was titled “We Never Went to the Moon” in which Kaysing discussed his belief in the previously mentioned conspiracy theories and argued that technology was not yet advanced enough to do such a mission. Scientists and experts have done their best to debunk this conspiracy theory by showing evidence such as the reflectors left on the lunar surface that bounce back laser beams, independent tracking of spacecraft, and by pointing out the sheer complexity of orchestrating a cover-up involving hundreds of thousands of people.
Today, this theory has been mostly debunked yet it is still a very well-known and debated conspiracy. Do you think the Moon Landing was fake? Comment below your Moon Landing theories!!
2. Area 51
The next Conspiracy Theory we will be investigating is Area 51. Within the Nevada desert, Area 51 is a highly classified U.S. Air Force facility. The conspiracy theory about Area 51 is that the United States government is using the facility to hide extraterrestrials, or aliens, along with their spacecrafts.
This theory first appeared in the 1950s, back when Area 51 was still hidden from maps and the general public, as well as not even acknowledged by the United States government. This speculation was started due to UFO sightings near the area of the facility, specifically in a small town called Rachel, Nevada. It is said that these sightings mixed with the secrecy surrounding Area 51 is what heavily contributed to the development of these theories. However, this conspiracy theory was not widely popularized until 1989 when a self-proclaimed physicist named Bob Lazar claimed that throughout the 80’s he worked on reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology at a secret facility near Area 51. Lazar also claimed that the US government was in possession of flying saucers and that he had firsthand knowledge of their propulsion systems, although he never presented any physical evidence to back up his claims.
Despite this, Lazar gave many interviews about his experience and his testimony led to widespread media exposure of this conspiracy theory and therefore widespread popularity of it. In fact, the theory became so popular that Area 51 and the supposed aliens inside of it began being portrayed in a multitude of entertainment media like television shows, movies, and books. The most popular of these being the 1996 movie “Independence Day” which was released in 2,433 theaters throughout the world. The film ended up becoming the highest-grossing film of 1996 and the second highest-grossing film of all time, also winning an Academy Award. All the popularity of the conspiracy theory and the facility forced the US government to officially acknowledge Area 51’s existence in 1997.
This theory has continued to be a popular one in the conspiracy theory area throughout the past decades. It even had a resurgence of media coverage in 2019 when a Facebook event titled “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” went viral. Although it was a joke post, shown by the creator pinning a statement that read “Hello US government, this is a joke, and I do not actually intend to go ahead with this plan.”, it still became an internet sensation.
After this event was posted, people immediately began creating memes which took over the internet for months and led to the event receiving over 2 million sign-ups. It was covered by popular US news channels like the New York Times, CNN, and Time Magazine, as well as international channels like the BBC. All this coverage led to the US Air Force having to make a statement in which they said they “highly discourage” this event and any attempt at illegal access to the facility. Along with this, authorities took the event post down in fear of “disaster”. Yet still, somewhere between 40 – 3,000 people and many news anchors showed up at Area 51 on the day of the event, leading to at least 2 arrests.
As demonstrated by this recent “raid”, the Area 51 theory is still very alive and well within the conspiracy theory realm. Do you believe Area 51 has aliens? Did you attend the Area 51 raid?? Let us know below! We would love to hear about your experience!!
3. Bigfoot
The next conspiracy theory we will be discussing is Bigfoot. According to theories, Bigfoot, sometimes referred to as Sasquatch, is a very large ape-like creature who inhabits remote wilderness areas in North America.
This theory dates much earlier than most, originally appearing in Indigenous Folklore which mentioned legends about large, hairy, human-like creatures living in the wilderness. However, Bigfoot did not develop into the conspiracy theory we know today until 1958 when a construction worker named Jerry Crew discovered large, mysterious footprints at a logging site in Northern California. Crew had the footprints cast in plaster and this event drew significant media attention, it is now marked as the beginning of widespread public interest in large, unidentified creatures in the wilderness.
The most famous incident in Bigfoot’s lore came nearly 10 years later in 1967 when two men, Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin, claimed to have filmed the Bigfoot creature in Bluff Creek, California. The short video displayed a supposed Bigfoot walking through the woods and became known as the Patterson-Gimlin film.
Although the film was subjected to lots of skepticism and controversy, it has since been used as a central piece of evidence in Bigfoot’s existence. The film only increased the Bigfoot conspiracy theory’s popularity, leading to the creation of many entertainment media about it including books and documentaries. There was also a large increase of supposed sightings of Bigfoot reported throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s due to its rise in popularity.
Although there are many skeptics of this theory because of the lack of evidence surrounding it, the theory is an extremely popular debate within the conspiracy theory area and has continued to be within the past 70 years. In fact, there are still Bigfoot sightings reported to this day throughout North America and some organizations still actively investigating claims hoping to get a shot of him with modern technology. Do you believe in Bigfoot? Would you ever consider searching for him (or other large creatures in the woods!)? Comment below!
4. The Bermuda Triangle
The final conspiracy theory we will be investigating is the Bermuda Triangle. Within the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean is an area dubbed the Bermuda Triangle, famously also referred to as the “Devil’s Triangle”.  This nickname comes from the conspiracy theory about it, that supernatural incidents occur within the area causing a high number of mysterious disappearances of both ships and aircrafts that attempt to pass through the triangle.
Speculation about the area first emerged in December of 1945 when Flight 19, a squadron of five US Navy bombers, disappeared within the Bermuda Triangle during a training exercise. It is said that during the exercise, the pilots suddenly became disoriented, and all the aircrafts were lost. The disappearance launched a subsequent search which led to some rescue planes also vanishing in the Triangle. This incident is still a mystery to this day and is the first of many that fueled conspiracy theories about the mysterious nature of the area. The next well-known incident occurred only three years later in 1948 when a British South American Airways aircraft disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle, another incident that is still a mystery to this day, only adding to the growing rumors.
This conspiracy theory was then popularized by Vincent Gaddis in his 1965 book, “Invisible Horizons: True Mysteries of the Sea” where he coined the term Bermuda Triangle. In this book, Gaddis discussed many of the mysterious disappearances of both ships and aircrafts in detail that have occurred within that region and made the claim that the area had a disproportionally high number of incidents compared to the rest of the sea. Gaddis also suggested that the Bermuda Triangle might be a region where a mysterious and unexplained phenomenon takes place. This book laid out the groundwork for a multitude of conspiracy theories about the area, the most popular being that it is cursed, that it is controlled by extraterrestrials, or that this phenomenon is simply caused by deep-sea trenches. Overall, though, the most prevalent theory is that there is some supernatural element that is causing these disappearances. This conspiracy theory became even more popular with the publication of Charles Berlitz’s book “The Bermuda Triangle” in 1974 in which he upheld the supernatural and extraterrestrial theories as well as added to them by suggesting that there are also underwater crystal pyramids and time warps in the Triangle.
Many scientists have disregarded the validity of the area possessing a supernatural element, claiming that the conspiracy theory rests solely on cherry-picked incidents. They argue that statistically, the area does not have a higher rate of disappearances compared to other heavily traveled regions and most incidents can be accounted for by natural factors such as human error, navigational challenges, and severe weather conditions. Despite the criticism, the Bermuda Triangle theory is still one of the most popular conspiracy theories in the world to this day and has maintained its popularity over the past nearly eight decades. Would you ever consider taking a trip over the Bermuda Triangle? Comment below!
Thank you for reading We Are Conspiring!
That was We Are Conspiring where we went over the history and lore of some of the most well-known conspiracy theories in the world! We hope you enjoyed this week’s post and come back next week for We Are Conspiring: Historical Figures on Tuesday (or hear these theories early through our stream on Wednesday, the link is above)!! Lastly, remember to comment any conspiracy theories you want our blog to cover. From everyone at We Are Conspiring, we hope you have a great day!
