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The US seems to be the home sweet home of conspiracy theories. From Area 51 and Bigfoot sightings to chemtrails, New World Order, Freemasonry, Illuminati, Sandy Hook, “stolen election,” COVID-19 pandemic… Well, we don’t have that much time for naming them all. But you get an idea.

But wouldn’t it be great to look at the minds of people who actually believe the conspiracy theories and see what it is in there that makes them tick? Thanks to a redditor who posed the question “What conspiracy theory do you believe to be true? What evidence led you to this conclusion?”, we are now able to do just that.

Let’s see what exactly made people believe in one conspiracy or another, and don’t forget that the truth, it’s just out there.

This post may include affiliate links.#1 

Women’s fake pockets are a marketing ploy.
Women’s pants have fake pockets to make us buy purses.

Knightskye02 , Laura Report108pointsPOST

ThatOneCrazyFanGirl14 hours ago

YES. i have soooo many jeans, but their front pockets are either fake or have the size of a quarter full of room. smh17ReplyView more comments#2 

Modern art exists solely for money laundering.
I believe that modern/minimalistic art exists solely for money laundering. It’s just a way for rich people to move money around. There’s a reason why paintings of plain geometric shapes sell for millions of dollars, and it’s not because the buyers are really into shapes

WildlifeAnalysis , Thomas Chung Report97pointsPOST

troufaki1314 hours ago

This I could totally believe!59ReplyView more comments#3 

The US will never publicly fund college because no one would enlist in the military.
The US will never add colleges to public funding like they did high schools because then the enlistment rate for the military would plummet.

Green_Ari , The U.S. Army Report96pointsPOST

Jacob Allen14 hours ago

Definitely. Same goes for universal healthcare, the US government’s first priority is the military; the people who elected them come second. They could use 50% of the military’s budget to be the first country to completely eradicate homelessness and drastically improve quality of life for all of us AND still have the almost powerful military in the world but no.28ReplyView More Replies…View more comments

Conspiracies are covered under a veil of unknown, much like these theories they represent. They appear from seemingly out of nowhere, start surfing around on social media, some become a part of urban legends, while others disappear until new speculations emerge.

To find out how exactly conspiracies work and what goes on inside conspiracy theorists’ minds, Bored Panda reached out to Thomas Roulet, a Senior Lecturer in Organisation Theory and the Deputy Director of the MBA Programme at the University of Cambridge. Thomas is also the author of the 2020 book “The Power of Being Divisive: Understanding Negative Social Evaluations” published by Stanford University Press.

When asked a rather broad question on why people believe conspiracies, Thomas said that there are two main mechanisms in charge: “a sensemaking one and an identity one.”#4 

That the government uses social media to manipulate, and measure public sentiment and opinion.

Toke_A_sarus_Rex , terimakasih0 Report86pointsPOST

Truth Monster14 hours ago

This is true for some countries. Britain, Australia, Scotland have prosecuted people with the wrong opinions on social media. China is a few steps ahead, using social media to “ferret” out nonconformists and their friends. They also track Uighurs this way.8ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#5 

All my devices listen in on me. The other day I was arguing with my Dad about some chicken I thought had gone off (it was frozen for about a month so we weren’t too sure but my Dad was insistent that it was still edible). Dad decided to ask Google, and low and behold the related searches even from the first letter were: “Is chicken edible after being frozen for a month” and “How long can you freeze chicken before it goes off”.

Also, my Mum and I use this tactic where if we need to ring up a company about something and it puts us in a queue, we swear at it. It then puts you on a priority list and you don’t have to wait as long. Kinda sketchy on the company’s behalf.

anime_lover_420 , kaboompics Report73pointsPOST

Darko Pešić14 hours ago

I do legit belive in this, for example i was talking with a gf about matracess, and look at that, add on facebook suddenly become an ad for matracess… And no, i didnt google it28ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#6 

The 10-year challenge was used to collect facial recognition data.
The 10-year challenge all over social media is actually a way to record and gather more facial recognition data.

Emdizzle22 , JESHOOTS Report68pointsPOST

Bill Cipher12 hours ago

That’s why I refuse to show my face unless I’m in cosplay on the internet somehow I’m to shy to put my cosplay on and take a couple photos8ReplyView More Replies…View more comments

“In an increasingly complex world, people want to make sense of their situation and their social environment. Seemingly unconnected events or clues are constructed as a coherent whole in the most successful conspiracy theories.”

Thomas added that “in a world where social connections are numerous but often meaningless (for example, on social media), people want to feel part of a crowd and a group—there is a need to find a tribe and identify with it.” As a result, “Conspiracy theorists have a strong sense of group identity, which made them attractive to those who might feel marginalized or excluded in society,” he explained.#7 

I believe that the government probably makes some conspiracy theories to try to make questioning the government seem somewhat crazy.

luke-dies-at-the-end , Nic McPhee Report65pointsPOST

Scyth14 hours ago

Definitely. Which is why whenever anyone questions the government they get branded as conspiracy theorists, placing them at the same level as flat earth believers or something else ridiculous.15ReplyView more comments#8 

Area 51 is not a place for secret government/military testing with aliens and stuff, instead Area 51 is a scapegoat while shady behind the scenes stuff is going on at another military base that the general public doesnt know about.


I mean if you were really going to do something in secrecy, would you do it in the place where everyone thinks it is? Hell no! I dont have any specific evidence to back this up but it makes sense right?

_coyotes_ , Wikimedia Commons Report48pointsPOST

Tomas Holicka13 hours ago

Not necessarily true this, but CIA does operate in that way. When their ultra-secret A-12 plane (a variant of the famed SR-71 Blackbird) crashed in 1963, CIA went to great lengths to pretend the crash happened elsewhere – including “secret” truck convoys for everyone to see going to the wrong location. Jeremy Krans has a fascinating story on finding the actual crash site which was kept so secret that even the locals barely knew about it.6ReplyView more comments#9 

Banks and landowners conspire to manipulate urban land prices. Turn an area into a ghetto by marking it as a high-risk loan proposition, denying loans in the area. Property values plummet on a down-town area because no one can sell, because no one can get a loan. Once things are down enough, you can buy up prime location land at pennies on the dollar then re-develop it into being worth the ‘real’ market value of such a central location, plus what you invested in the actual development.

00zau , pedro layant Report36pointsPOST

Eslamala10 hours ago

How is that a conspiracy theory when it’s already been proven??21ReplyView more comments

According to Thomas, “People buy into conspiracy theories are in all parts of society—from the most to the least educated, from the richest to the poorest,” so no particular group of people is safe from believing in conspiracies. It’s because “everybody needs to be able to make sense of their reality, and everybody needs to feel part of a group and socially integrated.”#10 

Priceless artwork and historical documents are replicas.
I’ve always speculated that a lot of priceless artwork and historical documents are actually replicas or copies.

Obviously a painting by a world-famous artist using a very specific technique would be very hard to fake, and I don’t think that every art scholar in the world is paid off in some grand conspiracy. Rather, I just think that either the national treasures never left their vaults or that some national treasures actually were lost to history but they were copied.

LeatherAir , Wikimedia Commons Report35pointsPOST

chi-wei shen14 hours ago

A few museums actually place their most expensive items in a secure vault and only display replicas to the public. However, according to all information available, the original Mona Lisa is on display.33ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#11 

I used to tell people that I believed the government listened to or phone calls. Years later some guy named Snowden proved me right.

Jim3001 , Didgeman Report35pointsPOST

Konpat13 hours ago

Actually, there was a surveillance program called Echelon which was about to be uncovered. Then 9/11 happened…1ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#12 

I believe the US military went to Afghanistan in order to seize control of the Poppy fields and instead of destroying them they manufactured black tar and other forms of heroin and sent it back to the states. I have several friends that were marines in Afghanistan and they’ve confirmed these suspicions. The drugs got worse after being in Afghanistan not better or more contained. The USA military is the biggest cartel in the world

FrolicTheCat_YT , Wikimedia Commons Report34pointsPOST

Scyth13 hours ago

That’s a conspiracy theory? It is well known.13ReplyView More Replies…View more comments

Many new conspiracies have emerged in times of the worldwide pandemic, and Thomas says that it has to do with the fact that the current situation adds complexity and changes on a daily basis.

“It is hard to comprehend, to understand, and it’s brutal and sudden. All of this makes people want to make sense of an incredible, unprecedented, and difficult-to-accept situation. Such a unique situation calls for an out-of-the-ordinary explanation—and lends itself well to conspiracy theories.”

Moreover, “People are looking for information, and they are looking for culprits to explain the terrible situations they have to experience. They want to believe this can be pinned on a specific actor,” he concluded.#13 

The lines on the detergent caps are higher than they should be so you use more detergent for each load of laundry. It’s so easy for them to get away with it

Shoemagoo52 , Mr. Brian Report30pointsPOST

JaimeFookin’Lannister14 hours ago

Lol, i dont use the caps at all! Eye measurement above all22ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#14 

Modern drug prohibition is a “for profit” endeavor perpetrated by governments for the benefit of pharmaceutical corporations, prison industrials, and warlords.

baronvonbee , Clean Wal-Mart Report28pointsPOST

soni w10 hours ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.View More Replies…View more comments#15 

The countdown timers on ads for games or streaming services are actually longer than seconds. Seems too long sometimes.

danielle8088 , John Johnston Report26pointsPOST

Thijs L.14 hours ago

I think they just count the 0 and delay the countdown itself as well6ReplyView more comments#16 

23 and Me is run by the government to collect your DNA and database it for later.

RogerPackinrod , Wikimedia Commons Report25pointsPOST

Truth Monster13 hours ago

How is this a conspiracy? They are already using the DNA collected to solve ‘cold case’ murders. I don’t know about this company specifically, but all it would take is a warrant for them to have to share their data.17ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#17 

I’m starting to believe anti-dandruff shampoo actually causes dandruff.

just__Steve , Mike Mozart Report25pointsPOST

von Krawall13 hours ago

Anti-dandruff shampoo is only for people with an oily scalp. If you have dandruff caused bydry, scalp this shampoo will only make it worse. Then you need a mild shampoo tgat will moisturize your scalp.22ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#18 

Apple started the AirPod memes.
I believe that Apple started the ‘wearing AirPods = cool/rich’ meme intentionally to boost sales. They became the best-selling wireless earbuds worldwide after the meme.

superflyjasper , Maurizio Pesce Report24pointsPOST

Rick13 hours ago

Or it could be that the users of the best selling phone naturally continued on to the accessory that accompanies in. iPhone users are generally known to constantly update. “What!? They’ve REMOVED a button from the latest handset? I must buy”!15ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#19 

The Hawaii nuke false alarm was a test.
The Hawaii nuke false alarm last year was actually the US government testing to see how the general population would react if an actual nuclear war broke out.

AvailableWrongdoer Report24pointsPOST

Annette_14 hours ago

When it took place? I never haered about this but i’m form Europe14ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#20 

Disney only named a movie Frozen to distract from ‘frozen head’ Google searches.
That Disney made a movie named Frozen so that when people google things like ‘frozen’ and ‘Disney’ together, info about the movie comes up instead of stories about Walt Disney’s frozen head.

g_stokes12 , disney Report23pointsPOST

ThatOneCrazyFanGirl14 hours ago

wait…what??17ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#21 

I believe in the mattress store conspiracy, so the conspiracy is that mattress stores are for money laundering. I went onto google maps and typed in ‘mattress stores near me’. There were 4 MATTRESS STORES IN THE SAME SHOPPING CENTER. There was a road that had 5 mattress stores less than a mile apart. So I definitely believe in it.

idk1010101 , romana klee Report20pointsPOST

Just a Marine Veteran14 hours ago

Or places like vacuum stores or fan stores that only sell one type of thing in a small town. If there is no way they could possibly get enough business to make it; it is suspicious.7ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#22 

When Ted Kaczynski (the unabomber) was at Harvard, he participated in a brutal psychological experiment led by professor Henry Murray. The experiment lasted for three years and by many accounts they seemed to have an extreme impact on Kaczynski’s psyche. I think this experiment was part of the CIA’s MKUltra project and destabilized Kaczynski enough to where he eventually went on his reign of terror of sending bombed packages around the country.

During the MKUltra project, the CIA collaborated with university professors on these mind-control experiments but a lot of the documentation was destroyed when people started to look into it.

TL;DR: The unabomber participated in an experiment that was a part of the MKULtra project that eventually led to him becoming a mass-murderer.

rolo1323 , Wikimedia Commons Report20pointsPOST

Bacony Cakes9 hours ago

Makes sense, the US did experiment on its own civilians before.9ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#23 

UFO sightings are just humans from the future on a time-traveling safari.
All the UFO sightings throughout history are just humans from the future on a time-traveling safari meant to observe how we were in the past. They are supposed to keep out of sight, but thanks to human/mechanical errors, there have been hiccups with their cloaking which have resulted in being seen. That’s why there have always been so many reports of them throughout history, but there has never been an attack. It’s just us.

Also the reason why we don’t see as many examples of UFOs now even though pretty much everyone has a camera is because people are not that interested in this time period since we already document aspects of human life all the time.

-eDgAR- , Wikimedia Commons Report18pointsPOST

Jimi Laoshi14 hours ago

This sounds like a 3.00 AM thought42ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#24 

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 wasn’t an accident. There were definitely external forces that catalyzed its disappearance. The flight path was diverted many times and there was a lot of shady stuff about some of the passengers and the pilot of Flight 370. We may never know unless the plane is found.

AnsweringQuestions4G , Wikimedia Commons Report18pointsPOST

Truth Monster14 hours ago

There were far too many failed safeguards for it to be an accident. Why the plane was taken and the people aboard kidnapped and what is happening to them, I fear to think.1ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#25 

I believe that chapstick causes lips to become more dry a couple hours after usage. I base this on the fact that my lips are more dry 5 hours after using chapstick than 2 days after using it

sharvey4994 , Tools of Men Report18pointsPOST

Truth Monster14 hours ago

Depends on the formula. Cheap chapstick = bad time18ReplyView more comments#26 

Restaurant owners sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to embarrass you.
Restaurant owners know how awkward it is to be sung to in front of the whole establishment, and they do it to discourage people from taking advantage of their free birthday food.

ThatQueerWerewolf , lokate366 Report13pointsPOST

Lululoohoo14 hours ago

I’ll never be discouraged from cashing in on free birthday food. Sing to me, dance for me, whatever..give me my free sundae37ReplyView More Replies…View more comments#27 

Tinder gives fake ‘You got a new match!’ notifications to get you to swipe more.
I have a theory that Tinder gives fake ‘You got a new match!’ notifications so people get excited and open Tinder, which leads them to swipe more.

BatSwinger Report12pointsPOST

troufaki1314 hours ago

I would say “you got new people like you” not “you got a match”. Matching would mean both people liked each other so you would know if you liked them. But you can’t know if someone liked you without actually swiping right!6ReplyView more comments#28 

Michael Jordan’s father was murdered in retribution for Jordan not paying off massive gambling debt. Jordan didn’t retire and then come back, he was suspended for gambling. In the mid 90’s, Michael Jordan was an industry. The truth about his gambling habits may have cost a lot of people a lot of money, so the cover story was presented.

duh_metrius , Wikimedia Common Report12pointsPOST

Eslamala10 hours ago

I absolutely believe this0ReplyView more comments#29 

The bacon industry is ever so slightly making normal sliced bacon thinner every few years,so that eventually,what was once considered normal sliced bacon becomes thick cut,thus saving the big bacon industry money.

My only evidence is the fact that my bacon,which I have always and will only buy from a specific brand,seems to be getting thinner and thinner,more flimsy,more likely to fall apart as I get it out of the package.

NBr33zii , Didriks Report11pointsPOST

Sue Hazlewood13 hours ago

So the one brand you use is doing this, according to you, so all the industry is?18ReplyView more comments#30 

Gas station owners are the ones putting the card scammers on the pumps. They don’t want your info, they want you to distrust pay at the pump so you’ll come inside and make an impulse buy. Most stations barely make any money of gas, the money is in the stuff they sell inside.

biggins9227 , NNECAPA Photo Library Report9pointsPOST

Sue Hazlewood13 hours ago

Good grief8ReplyView more comments

Note: this post originally had 42 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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Liucija Adomaite is a creative mind with years of experience in copywriting. She has a dynamic set of experiences from advertising, academia, and journalism. This time, she has set out on a journey to investigate the ways in which we communicate ideas on a large scale. Her current mission is to find a magic formula for how to make ideas, news, and other such things spread like a virus. Read more »

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