Conspiracy Theory: A theory that explains an event or situation, as the result of a secret plan by usually powerful people or groups. Something as simple as questioning the government’s honesty or as complex as believing in parallel universes could be considered a conspiracy theory.  Since some of these theories are undoubtedly far-fetched, like the belief that the moon is indeed not real, but instead a hologram designed by aliens, or the popular ‘Bush did 9/11’ it raises the question: are conspiracy theories even viable? Should we even give conspiracy theories thought, let alone believe in them?

If these theories are as ridiculous as doubters say, why isn’t it easy to prove it? After all, popular conspiracy theories have more than enough evidence backing them up. Most people who claim they don’t believe never take the time to research. In fact, multiple former conspiracy theories have turned out to be true. Someone saying they don’t believe in conspiracy theories is saying they think the government is 100% honest or they’ve never questioned them, which very few people can say.  Although it’s agreeable that a lot of theories are quite improbable, these next three are scarily believable.

Imagine someone, along with many others, remember something. They remember something so vividly that you’re 99% sure it existed. But, what if someone told them this memory never happened, that this whole time it was something totally different. That is the idea of the Mandela Effect.

This phenomenon all started when Nelson Mandela passed away in 2013. Hundreds to thousands of people remember him dying in the 1980’s, rather than the early 2010’s. Believers think this theory could be explained by the existence of parallel universes that interact with each other. Another argument for this theory, and the one that caused the most internet buzz, is the book/show the Berenstain Bears. Many people remember the spelling to be the Berenstein Bears with an “E” rather than the Berenstain Bears with an “A”.

Other points include the famous Snow White phrase, “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall” when in reality it’s “Magic Mirror on the wall” and it seems to have always been that way. Of course, some opposers counteract this theory with people simply having false memories. However, it’s very hard to believe that hundreds to thousands of people remember the exact same thing being the exact same way.

It’s now been a little over four decades since Neil Armstrong made his famous “giant leap for mankind”- but what if I told you he never even stepped foot off this planet? This, is the Apollo 11 moon landing theory.

Conspiracy theorists say the United States, being extremely desperate to be the leading country in the space race, completely faked the first moon landing. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin supposedly performed the landing on a discrete set, somewhere no one would find. There are a series of arguments to support this conspiracy.

In the film broadcasted to Americans, Aldrin was shown planting a waving American flag on the surface of the moon. The waving flag shows an obvious presence of wind. The only problem is that there’s absolutely no wind in space. NASA quickly contradicted this statement by saying this movement was the effect of Aldrin twisting and turning the flagpole into the moon soil. Another argument is the impact, or lack thereof, of the spacecraft. Anyone with common sense would recognize that when a large, and very heavy object lands on the moon, it should leave even a little evidence of impact on the surface. In the film and pictures there is zero evidence of any sort of collision made by the spacecraft. The next piece of evidence is the light source. Being in space, the only light source should be the sun. There were shadows of objects facing in several different directions. Believers of this theory say this can be explained by numerous light sources on the set.

The scary thing is, this isn’t the only information proving the supposed hoax. Many doubters may ask why NASA made so many mistakes. They should be extra careful to make it believable, right? However, these doubters have to remember Apollo 11 took place in the 60’s. They didn’t have high-tech equipment that modern society is so used to.

When watching the news, one is constantly exposed to tragedy, whether it’s war, shootings, or even a robbery. While viewing these unfortunate events, the news consistently interviews citizens who witnessed or were affected by them. However, news audiences started to see too many familiar faces. A girl will be an eye witness for a bombing. Then, a year or two later, the same girl will be interviewed for a mass shooting, and a couple more years down the road be a witness for another tragedy. Now, this girl could just have horrific luck, or she could be what conspiracy theorists call a crisis actor.

A crisis actor is a professional actor hired by the government or mainstream media to fool the public with a scene of trauma and distress. Believers of the theory claim these organizations hire these actors because these disasters are all staged. Some say these people are simply hired to make the disaster appear more dramatic than it actually is. Either way, the thought is quite alarming and makes you question the honesty of mainstream media.

Whether you’re practically a certified conspiracy theorist or you didn’t know people actually believed in these, you can’t deny how eerie conspiracies can make one feel. The idea of being lied to by people you trust or something as crazy as parallel universes is a scary thought. It’s encouraged that next time a theory comes up, don’t just dismiss it. If you find it to be interesting, take the time to do a little research. You never know how much of a “theory” something is.