For this list, we’ll be looking at conspiracies that really happened. Which entry shocked you the most?
Number 20. The US government investigated UFOs
For as long as aliens have been in human pop culture so has the fact that they actually exist and that the US government has been studying them secretly for decades. And honestly, it’s not completely false. 1 of the earliest programs was project sign, which began in 1948 and examined UFOs. By 1952, Project Blue Book started. It was one of the largest investigations in history when Finnish in 1969.And it’s not like this only happened years ago, from 2007 to 2012, the advanced aerospace threat identification program took place, which cost over $20,000,000. In 2022, the all domain anomaly resolution office was established to continue the hunt for extraterrestrial life, and the Pentagon is pretty public about its UFO exam nations.
Number 19. The Oak Ridge experiments
One of the most difficult aspects for a psychiatric patient is getting anyone to believe you when you speak about the atrocities happening in a hospital. Oak Ridge, in Pennantank Machine, Ontario, Canada was a maximum security psychiatric facility. By the sixties, the authorities drastically changed the way they treated patients. Instead, they initiated various experiments led by doctor Elliott Barker such treatments included giving patients LSD, putting them in an artificial room and placing them in a small room. But more concerning, some patients were given authority to treat other patients. We think the patients have really very great advantages as therapists for each other. By 1983, the government forced Oak Ridge to close, and it was later demolished. In 2023, 27 former patients were awarded $9,000,000 in damages for the horror they experienced.
Number 18. The Iran contra affair
In 1985, US President Ronald Reagan had a dilemma. Iran had approached the states to buy weapons from them, However, the country was backing Hezbollah, which had American hostages in Lebanon. Plus the US had an arms embargo on Iran due to the hostage crisis that began in 19 79. But the lure of using the proceeds of the weapon sale to fund the rebel group against the socialist led government of Nicaragua and get the hostages released was too much for the Reagan administration to ignore. Reagan initially denied the allegations when they leaked only to reverse that soon after. Oliver Nord, who helped move the money to the contrast, came forward to confirm the rumors.
Number 17. Canadian GEDAR
Starting in the 19 fifties, Canada was obsessed with finding out who in the civil service was gay. Once identified, they could be fired and prosecuted. at least until 1969 when same sex relationships were legal but to make the process quicker and more accurate, they decided to fund the creation of a gaydar. Known by the slur, the fruit machine, the device developed by professor Frank Robert Wake in the sixties and cost the government 1000. The sci fi-esque contraption that looked like a dentist’s chair measured the diameter of the person’s pupils, how much they sweat, breathing rate, and heart rate when introduced to erotic imagery due to this grim purge thousands of people lost their job.
Number 16. The Dalai Lama’s links to the CIA
In the early 19 fifties, Chinese forces annexed Tibet. After a failed Tibetan revolt in 1959, the Dalai Lama escaped and set up a government in exile. Chinese officials have tried to cast him as a western pawn. Tibetan rebels were fighting for their homeland. However, the CIA did fund their efforts throughout the 19 sixties. At the time, the CIA was doing their best to disrupt world communist governments. governmental documents showed the spy agency was handing Tibetan forces $1,700,000 a year. With inflation, that’s $17,400,000 in 2023. From this figure, the Dalai Lama was personally getting an annual fee of $180,000 from the CIA. That’s the equivalent of $1,800,000 in 2023. Reportedly, he contributed most of it to his government in exile.
Number 15. The FBI watched Ernest Hemingway
Near the latter half of his life, legendary author Ernest Hemingway was treated several times in hospitals for his mental health. He believed that the FBI was watching him, cataloging his every move. Most people wrote it off as paranoid delusions. Many friends believe that this belief of constant surveillance led to Hemingway’s untimely passing in 1961. However, in the 19 eighties, the freedom of information knack showed the feds had done just that. They reportedly had a file on him detailing the writer’s trips to places such Cuba where he had created an amateur spy network against fascism during World War 2. It also showed that FBI Direct J Edgar Hoover was distrustful of Hemingway and the information he passed on in Cuba.
Number 14. The CIA experimented on cats
If you’ve ever had cats, getting them to listen to commands can be very difficult, but that didn’t stop the CIA from attempting to turn them into mini furry James Bond. In the 19 sixties, the agency proceeded to insert a microphone in a cat’s ear, a transmitter in its skull and antennae laced throughout its fur. Even the cat’s hunger was apparently addressed in another operation, which sounds really dark. Known as acoustic kitty, this project cost $20,000,000. Scientists involved in the project have detailed the cat’s first and only mission sent to eavesdrop a conversation, the feline was instead fatally run over by a taxi.
Number 13. The US government poisoned booze
When the US prohibition came about in 1920, that was bad enough. but then people making and drinking bootleg alcohol were perishing suspiciously, while some believed it was just the risk that came with downing unregulated booze, others thought something more nefarious was going on, and the latter was correct. Hoping to put people off buying from bootleggers and organized criminals through fear, the government began adding toxins to booze making products such as industrial alcohol, making the illegal beverages unfit for consumption. Some of the additives included poisonous methanol, it’s believed that this caused thousands of people to die from tainted booze. Others thought something more nefarious was going on, and the latter was correct.
Number 12. Beaming messages.
If we told you that the US government had looked at beaming messages directly into our brains, you’d probably be concerned about us. However, this is a real thing. Uncovered due to the Freedom of Information Act, the report known as the bio effects of selected non lethal weapons became public knowledge. Within the details of various technologies the government had been working on were disclosed, including the concept of microwave hearing. The information details a frequency that could be produced akin to a microwave firearm that could direct discrete messages at a person such as a hostage. Frighteningly, the report hypothesized the tech could be used to make someone think they have voices in their head.
Number 11. Soldiers passed off civilians as rebels
As part of the Colombian conflict, where governmental forces fought against guerrilla groups for power, the government rewarded their soldiers whenever they showcased that they had slain a rebel. They were given time off promotions or financial boosts for doing so. However, folks became suspicious of the high casualty and the questionable identities of certain gorilla members. Family members especially, known as the false positive scandal in Columbia, it’s believed that between 2002-2008, over 6400 non guerrilla participants were killed and dressed to look like rebels. In reality, the victims were often poor farmers abducted by soldiers to boost their dark quotas. Several soldiers and officers have been sentenced for their crimes, but there are calls to do far more.
Number 10. Bayer sold medication at transmitted aids
Since pharmaceutical companies have existed, conspiracies that they’re maliciously causing illness for money have existed, and the idea isn’t completely unfounded. In 1982, stories of hemophiliacs becoming ill from blood clotting agents made by Qatar Biological, a division of the German firm Bayer started to come out. It turned out that the agents were infected with an HIV protein. In 1984, in response to the grim facts, the company created a new untainted version of the agent and began releasing it in the West. However, they continued selling the infected version in Latin and Asian countries to avoid being stuck with large batches of stock. Over 20,000 people are believed to have contracted HIV and AIDS from the infected agent.
Number 9. The US military plans to kill civilians and blame Cuba.
It’s no wonder the US government isn’t seen as the most trustworthy source when they devised proposals such as Operation Northwoods. In the 19 sixties, some figures really wanted the United States to go to war with Cuba so much so that in 1962, among less lethal ideas, they planned to use the CIA to attack military sites, boats, airplanes, and cities and make it look as though Cuba was responsible. known as Operation Northwoods, this false flag project theorized the possibility of slaying citizens and its own soldiers just to escalate the all of the joint chiefs of staff gave the go ahead for this possible destruction and handed it to the office of president John F Kennedy. However, thankfully, it was rejected. Number 8, Americans tried to weaponize the weather. The thought that a country could turn the weather into a weapon for its enemies seems like something that a science fiction book would come up with. But there have been attempts at doing that. From 1967 to 1972, as part of the Vietnam War, the US developed Operation Popeye. whimsical name aside, the plan was for planes to seed clouds in the country causing them soon to continue. The heavy rain would then in theory damage roads, destroy river crossings, and cause landslides, thus the supply lines for Vietnamese troops. Various officials protested the plan and the potential devastation it could do to the ecosystem. But still, the US went ahead with it, and it’s debatable whether it was successful.
Number 7. Planned obsolescence.
We’ve all heard older generations lament that products today don’t last as long as they did back in their days, and while we often dismiss that, it turns out they were on to something. Electronic companies have been known to slow down technology the older it’s gotten. Known as planned obsolescence, this is achieved either through introducing features that cut away at the product life or designing it from day 1 to crash eventually.
Once this happens, that leaves buyers with little choice but to splash out on a new machine. Until that breaks just as a new version is being released, On top of the financial implications for consumers, having to throw away bricked phones and other devices has vastly increased e waste.
Number 6. The sugar industry bribed scientists.
People will do anything to make cash even if it means putting people’s health at risk. In 2016, it was discovered that in 1967, the Sugar Authority had manipulated the results of a study and splashed out the modern equivalent tens of 1000 of dollars to make the sweet substance look better. The study pointed the health problem finger at fat as the leading cause of heart problems. This in turn caused the sugar industry’s profits to rise as people believed there was no damage from the product. Don’t worry about sugar. focus on cholesterol and fat. That really shapes the scientific agendas for scientists. It may even shape funding agendas. On top of this, the sugar authorities knew that their product caused tooth decay since the 19 fifties. Instead of warning people, they pushed investment in methods to fix damaged teeth rather than sorting out the cause.
Number 5. The CIA tried to control major media outlets.
As the Cold War began, so did the CIA’s plan to manipulate the masses. Known as Operation mockingbird, the group allegedly bribed or blackmailed newspaper journalists to create specific content or shut down stories. On top of doing this in the states, the CIA did the same abroad. They infiltrated foreign media to gain information that they found vital. In 1975, files within the Church committee show that the CIA had been involved in this conspiracy In 1977, investigative reporter Carl Bernstein claimed that the operation had resulted in over 400 journalists and media figures working for the agent at one point.
Number 4. The phones are listening.
When you talk about something and then see an ad for it online, it might just be because algorithms already have so much data on you, they can predict your interests and behaviors. I’m talking about the design, the trainers, and the name of the brand trainers. And I wanna see it on my Instagram. And within 5 to 10 minutes, it was one of the adverts that popped up on there. However, there is at least one way in which your phone might be listening. Some applications use device microphones to listen to ultrasonic audio beacons inaudible to the human ear embedded in the ads. They can also connect with the microphones of other devices. This can give this them data such as your location and how long you watched a certain ad for. It’s a good idea to review app permission to minimize.
Number 3. Project Sunshine.
With a name like this, images of happiness or some form of green energy Asians spring to mind. But in reality, it’s incredibly dark. Headed by the United States Atomic Energy Commission in 1955. Project Sunshine was created to see the effects of nuclear radiation on the human body. However, the group went morbid with it. In the fifties, around 1500 bodies were taken across Europe and Australia, often without the permission of the next of kin. Most of those stolen where children are younger. To hide the body snatching, one British mother was refused access by authorities to dress her daughter in a christening gown in 19 7 in case she discovered what the doctors had done.
Number 2. The CIA was involved in cocaine trafficking.
For decades, there were rumors that the CIA was responsible for turning US areas and places abroad rife with illegal substances. In 1996, the press accused the agency of involvement with cocaine in Nicaragua during the civil war. According to a report by former inspector general of CIA, Frederick Hicks, the agency had known that the contras, who the CIA backed, were involved in drug smuggling to fund their campaign. And some of the money that we’re making was going to support an army that the men who ran the cocaine ring worked for called the FDM. This was an army that the CIA started in 1981 and supported. Better known to us. Most of us who remember this, the contrast. The group had reportedly brought in co came from Miami to use in the Central American region. However, the agency did nothing to stop it. When the drug enforcement administration heard about the contras smuggling drugs, the CIA worked to put them off the scent.
Number 1. The CIA was developing a heart attack gun.
An untraceable firearm that can cause a fatal heart attack sounds like an idea Q from James Bond came up with after a fever dream. Instead, it’s very much real.in 1975, during the Church Committee, CIA director William Colby, brought the unique gun along. Created as part of the infamous project MK Ultra, it was a modified Colt M 1911 pistol that silently fired frozen darts that would melt on impact and contained shellfish toxin. KGBdefector, Bodan Szczynski, had famously used a similar but less advanced version during 2 high profile assassinations in the fifties. After being showcased, the CIA’s heart attack gun vanished into obscured. The special one was developed, which potentially would be able to enter the target without perception.
BY WatchMojo.com
