conspiracy-theories

The Four Least Insane-Sounding Theories About Flight 370

Taylor Berman · 03/18/14 03:46PM

The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is now in its tenth day, and as authorities attempt to make sense of the plane's disappearance, and family members grapple with the likely loss of its 239 passengers, the internet is hard at work trying to figure out what happened. Some theories are obviously wrong (aliens?). Some are just probably wrong—but their plausibility has led to widespread dissemination online. Here are four of the least crazy-sounding:

RFK Probably Stole JFK's Brain

Max Rivlin-Nadler · 10/20/13 10:45AM

In the aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination almost 50 years ago, the nation watched as the casket carrying the body of the former president went through the process of a state funeral, eventually ending its journey in Arlington National Cemetery. The casket didn't contain all of JFK, however — his brain was missing. And a new book claims his brother stole it.

GOP Lawmaker Suggests the Boston Marathon Bombing Was an Inside Job

Robert Kessler · 04/23/13 07:31PM

This is Rep. Stella Tremblay. She is a Republican elected to New Hampshire's House of Representatives and she believes the government planned the bombing at the Boston Marathon last week that killed three people and injured more than 150 others.

Could the U.S. Have Assassinated Hugo Chavez Using Cancer?

Hamilton Nolan · 03/08/13 10:10AM

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, who for many years took great glee in voicing anti-American sentiments, died this week at the age of 58, following a long battle with "an unspecified cancer in the pelvic region." Just before he died, Venezuelan vice president Nicholas Maduro ejected two U.S. diplomats from the country and vaguely charged them with infecting Chavez with cancer, saying he was "attacked with this illness."

Behind the 'Sandy Hook Truther' Conspiracy Video That Five Eight Million People Have Watched in One Week

Max Read · 01/15/13 06:23PM

"This is a simple, logical video," the text on the screen reads. "No aliens, holigrams, rituals or anything like that, just facts." (All sic.) There's some light piano (from Guns 'n Roses' "Estranged") playing in the background. "New information comes up every single days, so by the time you see this video there may be a lot more evidence that has come to light." In a few seconds, the guitar solo kicks in.

Justin Bieber Has an Uncanny Doppelgänger, and He Isn't Even a Lesbian

Rich Juzwiak · 01/10/13 04:20PM

Meet Robin Verrecas, an 18-year-old owner/creative designer from Oostkamp, Belgium, who has worked for Coca Cola since birth, or so says his Facebook. This would be amazing in itself, but no matter what Verrecas accomplishes in life, it will always be overshadowed by his freakish resemblance to Justin Bieber. He seems at peace with this: one day when he was "B o r e d," he did a Chimpmunks-style lip synch to Bieber's "Girlfriend" and uploaded to Vimeo, and he often poses in pictures with the same, "I'm constipated...but should I be at this age?" look that Bieber is fond of.

Two Government Economists Who Were Obama Donors Magically Falsified the Unemployment Figures, I Bet

Hamilton Nolan · 10/05/12 02:00PM

When the sunny unemployment figures came out this morning, savvy conservatives knew that something rotten was afoot. A 0.3% decline in unemployment—one month before an election? Tell us another one, NObamatards. And now, these clear-eyed zealots may have found the smoking gun that they need to prove that something that is clearly not a conspiracy is, in fact, a conspiracy.

Breitbart's Death: The Conspiracy Insta-Theories

Maureen O'Connor · 03/01/12 11:22AM

Within an hour of the announcement of relentlessly partisan internet provocateur Andrew Breitbart's death, his most vociferous fans memorialized him in the most appropriate way possible: They launched conspiracy theories about his assassination on Twitter.