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The moon-landing was faked, the Royals killed Diana, 9/11 was an inside job and Elvis is alive.... We all know the most insane conspiracy theories of all time, but 2014 was a bumper harvest with a few kooky theories to rival any of those.
They range from the laughably stupid, like the conspiracy around a certain rapper's lyrics, to the certifiably dangerous, the myth that Ebola is being spread by brave healthcare workers, putting them at risk.
Here are some of the most ridiculous theories underneath the internet's couch cushions.
10 Conspiracy Theories
Rapper Pitbull predicts the Malaysia Airlines plane will go missing in 2012 track Get It Started(01 of10)
The disappearance of MH370 can be traced back to Pitbull and Shakira's 2012 track "Get It Started," according to YouTube commentators.Pitbull's lyrics include "Now it's off to Malaysia" and "Two passports, three cities, two countries, one day."
Conspiracy theorists have said that the two passports relate to the stolen Austrian and Italian passports used by two Iranians to board MH370, the three cities refer to the capital cities of Malaysia, China and Vietnam and the two countries are Malaysia and Vietnam. Obviously.
The lyrics "No Ali, No Frasier, but for now off to Malaysia" meanwhile were linked to the "Mr Ali' the press have been referring to for one of the two Iranian passengers – despite Malaysian authorities having confirmed the 19-year-old is actually called Pouria Nourmohammadi. (credit:Dan Harr/Invision/AP)
Conspiracy theorists have said that the two passports relate to the stolen Austrian and Italian passports used by two Iranians to board MH370, the three cities refer to the capital cities of Malaysia, China and Vietnam and the two countries are Malaysia and Vietnam. Obviously.
The lyrics "No Ali, No Frasier, but for now off to Malaysia" meanwhile were linked to the "Mr Ali' the press have been referring to for one of the two Iranian passengers – despite Malaysian authorities having confirmed the 19-year-old is actually called Pouria Nourmohammadi. (credit:Dan Harr/Invision/AP)
Senator John McCain met representatives from ISIS(02 of10)
A wild claim bouncing around the Internet links ISIS and former presidential candidate John McCain, a vocal proponent of escalating the US response to the militants. It started with a photo McCain posted online of a meeting with Free Syrian Army fighters during a 2013 trip to Syria.
The photo was later inaccurately framed as showing McCain meeting ISIS militants and posted on social media and conspiracy theory blogs. From there, speculation grew, suggesting McCain had a role in ISIS’ creation, and had a relationship with ISIS leader al-Baghdadi, with photoshopped images of McCain pinning a medal on the chest of the ISIS leader as evidence.
Senator Rand Paul referenced the McCain-ISIS conspiracy in an interview with The Daily Beast, saying, "Here’s the problem. He [Sen. John McCain] did meet with ISIS, and had his picture taken, and didn’t know it was happening at the time."The theory has been thoroughly discredited. According to The Washington Post's fact-checker, "there is zero evidence that any of the men that McCain met with in Syria are linked to the Islamic State." (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The photo was later inaccurately framed as showing McCain meeting ISIS militants and posted on social media and conspiracy theory blogs. From there, speculation grew, suggesting McCain had a role in ISIS’ creation, and had a relationship with ISIS leader al-Baghdadi, with photoshopped images of McCain pinning a medal on the chest of the ISIS leader as evidence.
Senator Rand Paul referenced the McCain-ISIS conspiracy in an interview with The Daily Beast, saying, "Here’s the problem. He [Sen. John McCain] did meet with ISIS, and had his picture taken, and didn’t know it was happening at the time."The theory has been thoroughly discredited. According to The Washington Post's fact-checker, "there is zero evidence that any of the men that McCain met with in Syria are linked to the Islamic State." (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi is an American Jewish actor(03 of10)
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis, was trained by Mossad and the CIA, and his real name isn't Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai but Simon Elliot.
According to internet kooks, he's a Jewish actor who was recruited by the Israelis to play the part of the world's most wanted terrorist, and that the beheadings of journalists like James Foley and aid workers like Alan Henning were staged.
There's also a claim that NSA documents released by Edward Snowden "prove" the US and Israel are behind al-Baghdadi's actions has gone viral.
"It's utter BS," Glenn Greenwald, the investigative journalist who helped break the NSA story, told Mehdi Hasan. "Snowden never said anything like that and no [NSA] documents suggest it." Snowden's lawyer, Ben Wizner, has called the story a hoax. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
According to internet kooks, he's a Jewish actor who was recruited by the Israelis to play the part of the world's most wanted terrorist, and that the beheadings of journalists like James Foley and aid workers like Alan Henning were staged.
There's also a claim that NSA documents released by Edward Snowden "prove" the US and Israel are behind al-Baghdadi's actions has gone viral.
"It's utter BS," Glenn Greenwald, the investigative journalist who helped break the NSA story, told Mehdi Hasan. "Snowden never said anything like that and no [NSA] documents suggest it." Snowden's lawyer, Ben Wizner, has called the story a hoax. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
'Password 360' proves the US created IS(04 of10)
It sounds like an absurd rant on Facebook, but the conspiracy theory that either Mossad or the CIA are funding and advising ISIS in order to "smear" Muslims is an idea gaining traction across the Middle East.
The swirling and obviously false rumours, which are particularly widespread in Lebanon, have even forced the US government to publicly deny any links to Islamic State (IS).Social media users across the Arab world have shared screenshots entitled “Password 360”, which they allege is an admission by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an excerpt from her book, which theorists say "admits" the US has been engineering IS.
The screenshot does not bear any reality to what is in the book, which is not even called "Password 360", nor is there any mention of such a thing in the book, which is called "Hard Choices". (credit:Adam Berry via Getty Images)
The swirling and obviously false rumours, which are particularly widespread in Lebanon, have even forced the US government to publicly deny any links to Islamic State (IS).Social media users across the Arab world have shared screenshots entitled “Password 360”, which they allege is an admission by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an excerpt from her book, which theorists say "admits" the US has been engineering IS.
The screenshot does not bear any reality to what is in the book, which is not even called "Password 360", nor is there any mention of such a thing in the book, which is called "Hard Choices". (credit:Adam Berry via Getty Images)
MH17 was shot down by Ukrainians who thought it was Putin's plane(05 of10)
This notion was given credence by Russia Today, who filed a report suggesting that Putin’s plane flew on the same flight path less than an hour after the attack.
Cue frantic speculation that everyone from President Obama to the Rothschild family were to blame for an attempted assassination on the Russian leader that went wrong.
This theory was significantly beefed up in an editorial on the website Before It's News: "Adding in the fact that dozens of Malaysian passports were conveniently found at the scene of the crash, we can clearly see an attempted false flag to launch WW3 unfolding.
The occult/illuminati connection to this plane crash are laid out in the 2nd video below and are absolutely stunning as the NWO [New World Order] attempts to start WW3 as their grip on power falls apart as the US dollar dies and on the same day TWA Flight 800 was shot down in 1996." (credit:MENAHEM KAHANA via Getty Images)
Cue frantic speculation that everyone from President Obama to the Rothschild family were to blame for an attempted assassination on the Russian leader that went wrong.
This theory was significantly beefed up in an editorial on the website Before It's News: "Adding in the fact that dozens of Malaysian passports were conveniently found at the scene of the crash, we can clearly see an attempted false flag to launch WW3 unfolding.
The occult/illuminati connection to this plane crash are laid out in the 2nd video below and are absolutely stunning as the NWO [New World Order] attempts to start WW3 as their grip on power falls apart as the US dollar dies and on the same day TWA Flight 800 was shot down in 1996." (credit:MENAHEM KAHANA via Getty Images)
MH17 was actually MH370(06 of10)
One of the more bonkers theories suggested that the plane that was attacked over Ukraine was actually the still missing MH370, the Malaysian aircraft that disappeared over the Indian Ocean earlier this year.
How or why is not expanded upon. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
How or why is not expanded upon. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
MH370 was abducted by North Korea(07 of10)
This theory has had a lot of circulation on the internet, that the North Koreans hijacked the plane and flew it back to Pyongyang, for some reason.
A reddit user wrote: “There’s no telling what crazy logic they [North Korea] might have for taking a plane. They literally have no grasp of reality and have been caught red handed kidnapping foreigners, making s**t up and generally being d****es.” (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
A reddit user wrote: “There’s no telling what crazy logic they [North Korea] might have for taking a plane. They literally have no grasp of reality and have been caught red handed kidnapping foreigners, making s**t up and generally being d****es.” (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The Philae comet lander is an alien ‘cover-up’ (08 of10)
The Guardian quotes an email published on the website UFOSightingsDaily.com which claims a to be from a whistleblower from the European Space Agency. “Comet 67P is NOT a comet,” the letter says. “Some 20 years ago Nasa began detecting radio bursts from an unknown origin out in space. It would later be known that these had likely come from the direction of the now named comet 67P. It does show signs on its outside of machine like parts and unnatural terrain.
“Do not think for ONE MOMENT that a space agency would suddenly decide to spend billions of dollars to build and send a spacecraft on a 12-year journey to simply take some close-up images of a randomly picked out comet floating in space.”Ending on an ominous note, it adds: “Whatever this object is, it did not ask to be found or scrutinised.”
One of the site's users said that he believed the comet was emitting signals to humans, friendly ones. “I believe the landing of the ESA craft was the equivalent of a first handshake," he is quoted as saying. "They will make another move soon probably. Alien structures are on the comet.” (credit:Handout via Getty Images)
“Do not think for ONE MOMENT that a space agency would suddenly decide to spend billions of dollars to build and send a spacecraft on a 12-year journey to simply take some close-up images of a randomly picked out comet floating in space.”Ending on an ominous note, it adds: “Whatever this object is, it did not ask to be found or scrutinised.”
One of the site's users said that he believed the comet was emitting signals to humans, friendly ones. “I believe the landing of the ESA craft was the equivalent of a first handshake," he is quoted as saying. "They will make another move soon probably. Alien structures are on the comet.” (credit:Handout via Getty Images)
The Ebola outbreak is being used as a form of population control(09 of10)
This is an incredibly serious problem that has led to aid workers being put at real risk, chased out of villages and contributed in part to the difficulty in stopping the spread of the infection, because people have begun to believe aid workers are spreading the virus.
Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, was one of the key proponents of the theory that Ebola had been developed to kill Africans, saying the virus had been designed for that purpose. “If you are black or brown, you are being selected for destruction," he said.
Iran's PressTV even ran a debate on the subject " to see whether or not Ebola is a man-made phenomenon used by the US as an excuse to control more African resources." (credit:ZOOM DOSSO via Getty Images)
Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, was one of the key proponents of the theory that Ebola had been developed to kill Africans, saying the virus had been designed for that purpose. “If you are black or brown, you are being selected for destruction," he said.
Iran's PressTV even ran a debate on the subject " to see whether or not Ebola is a man-made phenomenon used by the US as an excuse to control more African resources." (credit:ZOOM DOSSO via Getty Images)