There are plenty of conspiracy theories that fire the imaginations of mystery-obsessed people: the moon landing was faked by NASA, Paul McCartney has been dead since 1967, the 9/11 attacks were staged, and reptilian humans secretly rule the world. While some of these theories fall flat when you look at them logically, others have proven to be true.
11. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
In 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service collaborated with the Tuskegee Institute to create a fraudulent syphilis treatment program. The experiment, which involved deceiving nearly 400 African-American men into believing they had syphilis, was originally scheduled to last only six months, but it lasted until 1972, when it was exposed by the public and forcibly shut down.
For 40 years, these men were subjected to painful treatments and unnecessary medical procedures, while being denied the knowledge that penicillin had become a recognized cure for syphilis. After an investigation, the government deemed the experiment “ethically irresponsible,” and in 1974, a class action lawsuit was settled with a $10 million settlement and lifetime health benefits for the survivors.
10. MKUltra: The CIA's Mind Control Project
In the 1950s, with the Cold War at its peak, the CIA launched a secret experiment to discover a “truth serum.” In this context, the agency unknowingly drugged American and Canadian citizens with LSD and then interrogated or tortured them.
The CIA paid hospitals, prisons, and universities to participate in the program and maintain silence. In 1973, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all documents related to MKUltra. Although the scandal was discovered, no one involved "remembered" the details, leaving much of the story unsolved.
9. Nayirah's false testimony in 1990
In October 1990, a 15-year-old girl named Nayirah testified before the U.S. Congress that she had seen Iraqi soldiers remove 15 babies from incubators in a hospital in Kuwait and leave them to die. The story was broadcast on about 700 television stations in the U.S. and was repeated by President George H.W. Bush dozens of times to justify military intervention in the Gulf War.
The problem was that this story was a well-organized lie. The CIA had given Nayirah acting lessons before the testimony, and it was later revealed that she was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US. Amnesty International accused the Bush administration of “manipulating the international human rights movement.”
8. Operation Snow White: The Clash of the Church of Scientology with the US Government
Në vitet 1970, rreth 5,000 agjentë të fshehtë të “Church of Scientology” ndërmorën një nga operacionet më të mëdha të infiltrimit në historinë amerikane, duke depërtuar në 136 institucione, përfshirë IRS, DEA, ambasada të huaja dhe agjenci të tjera shtetërore. Qëllimi ishte mbrojtja e kishës dhe shmangia e taksave që do të duhej të paguanin.
Në korrik të 1977-s, FBI organizoi një bastisje të gjerë në disa zyra të “Church of Scientology”, duke zbuluar dokumente që vërtetonin aktivitetet e paligjshme të grupit. Në vitin 1979, 11 anëtarë të rangut të lartë, përfshirë Mary Sue Hubbard (bashkëshortja e L. Ron Hubbard), u dënuan me pesë vjet burg. Vetë Hubbard mbeti një “bashkëpunëtor i pahetuar” dhe kaloi pjesën e mbetur të jetës në arrati.
7. Vrasjet nga CIA
Pas skandalit Watergate, senatori Frank Church krijoi një komision për të hetuar veprimet e CIA dhe FBI, duke zbuluar një rrjet ekzekutimesh sekrete të organizuara nga CIA.
Agjencia ishte përfshirë në eliminimin e liderëve si Mossadegh në Iran dhe Allende në Kili, si dhe figurave të tjera në Amerikën Latine, Afrikë, Lindjen e Mesme dhe Azi. Metodat përfshinin vrasje që dukeshin si aksidente, vetëvrasje apo sëmundje të natyrshme. CIA kishte krijuar madje edhe një “pistoletë për sulme në zemër,” e cila shkaktonte sulme kardiake pa lënë gjurmë.
6. The Business Plot
Në vitin 1933, një grup biznesmenësh të fuqishëm nga kompani si “Chase Bank”, “Goodyear”, “Standard Oil”, “GM” dhe familja Du Pont, organizuan një plan për të rrëzuar Presidentin Franklin D. Roosevelt dhe për të vendosur një diktaturë fashiste.
Ata rekrutuan gjeneralin e njohur të Marinës, Smedley Butler, pa e ditur se ai ishte një mbështetës i FDR. Butler, në vend që të bashkohej me ta, i denoncoi dhe paraqiti prova para një komisioni të Kongresit. Megjithëse komploti u konfirmua, asnjë nga të përfshirët nuk u ndoq penalisht.
5. Operacioni Mockingbird: Makineria propagandistike e CIA-s
Në vitin 1948, CIA krijoi një program të fshehtë për të ndikuar në mediat globale dhe për të përhapur propagandë kundër komunizmit.
CIA kontrollonte gazetarë nga The New York Times, Newsweek, CBS dhe shumë media të tjera. Në vitin 1975, Komisioni Church zbuloi këtë skandal dhe arriti në përfundimin se programi i propagandës kushtonte rreth 265 milionë dollarë në vit nga taksapaguesit amerikanë.
4. COINTELPRO: FBI kundër aktivistëve të viteve ’60
Nga 1956 deri në 1971, FBI përdori programin COINTELPRO për të infiltruar, sabotuar dhe diskredituar lëvizjet e të drejtave civile, të drejtave të grave dhe organizatat e indianëve amerikanë.
3. Operacioni Paperclip: Shkencëtarët nazistë punësohen nga SHBA
Pas përfundimit të Luftës së Dytë Botërore, SHBA nisi një operacion të fshehtë të quajtur Paperclip, me qëllim rekrutimin e shkencëtarëve më të aftë të regjimit nazist për të ndihmuar në avancimin e teknologjisë ushtarake dhe hapësinore amerikane.
More than 1,500 German scientists were secretly brought to the United States, including Wernher von Braun, one of the main architects of the American space program. To avoid prosecution of these individuals for their crimes during World War II, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) falsified their files and presented them as “clean” for employment in American government agencies.
Some of these scientists had worked directly for the Nazi regime in inhumane experiments, but the American government defended them with the excuse that their help was necessary to win the Cold War against the Soviet Union.
2. Operation Northwoods: The Plot to Start a War with Cuba
In 1962, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military body in the US, devised a secret plan called Operation Northwoods, which involved staging a series of terrorist attacks within the US to blame the Cuban government and justify a military invasion.
The plan included ideas such as:
• Shooting down a US civilian airliner and presenting it as a terrorist act from Cuba.
• Organizing an attack on a US military ship.
• Staging terrorist acts in various US cities to create panic among the public.
President John F. Kennedy, upon being informed of this plan, resolutely rejected it and dismissed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Lyman Lemnitzer. Documents on Operation Northwoods remained secret until 1997, when they were declassified by the US National Archives.
1. Bohemian Grove: Secrets of the Global Elite
Bohemian Grove is an exclusive complex in California, where every year, during two weeks in July, some of the world's most powerful figures gather, including US presidents, CEOs of major corporations and leaders of the financial industry.
This elite society has fueled many conspiracy theories due to its mysterious rituals and the secrets that surround it. For example, one of the annual ceremonies is called the Cremation of Care, where a large statue of an owl is worshipped on a theatrical stage, in which members of the club symbolically burn a figure representing their “care and responsibilities.”
Although club members have described the event as a "joke among friends," critics believe that these meetings are where key decisions about global politics and economics are made, away from the public eye. Presidents such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton have attended these meetings.
In 2000, journalist Alex Jones managed to infiltrate Bohemian Grove and published footage of one of the rituals, further strengthening doubts about the true nature of these gatherings.
Sources: Howstuffworks