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Dedication
This book is dedicated to the many supporters of my nonprofit, Skeptoid® Media, whose generosity has made this work possible.
Contents
Introduction
PART 1: Those Who Run the World
The Knights Templar
The Rothschild Family
The Bohemian Club
The Bilderbergers
The North American Union
The Denver Airport Conspiracy
The Reptoids
PART 2: Government Oppression
Vaccines
Water Fluoridation
Plum Island
FEMA Prison Camps
The Branch Davidian Assault
Chemtrails
PART 3: Suspicious Deaths
Amelia Earhart
JFK
Paul McCartney
Elvis Presley
Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.
Princess Diana
PART 4: The World at War
Nazi Wunderwaffen
Holocaust Denial
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The Philadelphia Experiment
Nuclear War and Nuclear Winter
9/11 Building Collapses
The Pentagon and the Missile
PART 5: Suppressed Science
The Hollow Earth Theory
The Flat Earth Theory
Nikola Tesla
Free Energy
The Big Pharma Conspiracy
PART 6: Space Conspiracy Theories
The Black Knight Satellite
Roswell
Area 51
The Lucifer Project
The Moon Landing Hoax
The Face on Mars
PART 7: Urban Legend Conspiracy Theories
Hearst and Hemp
There Is No Finland
Men in Black
Polybius
HAARP
TWA Flight 800
Malaysia Airlines MH370
PART 8: Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out to Be . . . True?
Numbers Stations
MKULTRA
COINTELPRO
The Gulf of Tonkin
Military Dolphins
CIA Drugs for Guns
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Resources
Index
Introduction
Did you know that the Earth is flat? That the world is run by a shadowy cabal of reptilian beings who wear human disguises to avoid detection? That Finland doesn’t really exist, but aliens (who are kept hidden by the government) do? That powerful navies across the globe trained dolphins to act as weapons of war? Welcome to the world of conspiracy theories—where members of the powerful elite fight for control of your mind, your money, and even your health.
If you’re nervous about entering this world of conspiracies alone, don’t worry. I’ll be here to walk you through it, every step of the way. As a professional science writer, I’ve been hosting and producing the weekly podcast Skeptoid® (https://skeptoid.com) for more than a decade, revealing the true science and real history behind conspiracy theories. My job has been to do the research and separate the fact from the fiction. I’ve found the most success by examining each conspiratorial belief purely upon its actual merits and how well it fits with the proven historical record.
So here in Conspiracies Declassified we’ll take a look at fifty of the most notorious (and well-known) conspiracy theories of all time. To qualify for inclusion in this book, each must satisfy two criteria:
1. They must be specific enough to be falsifiable. Too often, proposed conspiracy theories are so uselessly vague that they are always going to be true. The government is up to something secret. Well, of course they are, nobody doubts that. There are still unknown details about Lee Harvey Oswald. Of course there are, probably unimportant ones that weren’t published. Claims such as these are always going to be true. They don’t prove you’ve uncovered a conspiracy theory.
2. They must be known by the conspiracy theorist before being revealed by the media or law enforcement. Many times, conspiracy theorists will look back on historical conspiracies and claim they are examples of conspiracy theories proven true. But in so many cases, the story never existed as a conspiracy theory; history shows that it remained unknown and unsuspected until it was revealed to the world by investigators or whistle-blowers.
For each entry that meets these criteria, you’ll learn the who, what, when, where, and why of the theory; you’ll discover how each theory was formed, why it exists, and the historical or sociological context that allowed it to thrive; and you’ll see each and every theory either debunked or proven.
Debunked or proven? Yes, it’s true that most of the conspiracy theories in this book, and most conspiracy theories in general, are just that: theories. This is what you’ll see when we investigate various conspiracies having to do with suspicious deaths, government oppression, suppressed science, and more throughout the book. But the conspiracy theories that we’ll investigate in the final section of the book? Well, some of these have elements of truth that are tough to deny. And, as frightening as it may be to examine these theories, it’s worth it to know just what those in power are really up to.
So lock your doors, make sure your phone’s not tapped, and let’s take a look at these conspiracy theories that are now declassified.
PART 1
Those Who Run the World
The ultimate conspiracy theory is that the illuminati run the world, and that all governments and corporations are willingly subservient to the secret powers that be. It is the conspiracy theory that best satisfies our most primal need to believe that everything happens for some reason, according to some plan; that there is a method to every apparent madness; and that we ourselves are the ultimate targets of this simmering malevolence.
The conspiratorial mind-set compels us to look everywhere for them They who run the world. They who know the secrets. What they don’t want us to know. Wherever their secret headquarters is, it must be a busy place, for just about every group you can think of has been charged by someone somewhere to be secretly running things from it.
What the conspiracy theorist’s special insight does not ever seem to reveal to him, though, is why? Why would nations and corporations give up their sovereignty? For money they already have? Wouldn’t they rather control their own destinies than become powerless pawns of this shadowy global cabal? This is a pretty large and glaring question, and it’s one for which the conspiracy theorists don’t seem to have a very persuasive answer.
The big question is: Who are these illuminati? In this part, we’ll look at some of the candidates most often proposed for who really runs the world.
The Knights Templar
* * *
Date: 1119–Present
Location: All Christian nations
The Conspirators: The Knights Templar
The Victims: Christians worldwide
* * *
The Theory
According to conspiracy theorists, a legendary Catholic order called the Knights Templar has been involved in just about every major power shift of the past thousand years. Although the popular story says that
the Templars were all simultaneously executed in 1307, and the official story says they were formally dissolved in 1312, conspiracy theorists believe that the order of Templars survived and operate today as a secret society whose unidentified members include many of the world’s elite, who use the order’s vast hoard to finance wars and manipulate global events.
The Truth
The Templars did have a colorful (and powerful) history, but they were disbanded by the church after the Crusades. Since they no longer exist, they have no influence.
The Backstory
The Knights Templar was one of many monastic orders created under the authority of the Catholic Church following the success of the First Crusade. During the Crusade, which was started to reassert the control of the fracturing church, the land that now makes up modern Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan was conquered. To try to maintain control of this enormous empire, the pope ordered this land subdivided into four new “Crusader states”—Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, and Jerusalem—which the Crusaders would now have to protect.
Jerusalem proved the most troublesome to defend, and Christian pilgrims who traveled to the Holy Land were under constant threat of attack from Muslims, from Eastern Orthodox Christians who did not recognize the authority of the Catholic Church, and even from ordinary highwaymen. Crusader knights petitioned the pope to create a monastic order that would protect these pilgrims. Once approved, the order chose Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the traditional location of Solomon’s Temple, as their headquarters and took inspiration from the location for their name: the Knights Templar.
Skeptoid ® Says . . .
There were already a number of other monastic orders created for similar purposes. The Knights Hospitaller, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Order of Saint Lazarus were orders that were already headquartered in Jerusalem. The most famous and successful was the Teutonic Order, founded just to the north, and it soon controlled and defended much of what is now Transylvania and the Baltics.
The Knights Templar operated like a charity, and as a charity it sought wealthy donors and sponsors. Gradually the order’s holdings, and thus its influence, increased. For nearly 200 years, the Knights Templar was one of the most powerful institutions in the world. Economists have noted that they appear to have been the world’s first true multinational corporation. Eventually they were able to self-fund through investment and lending. Unfortunately, this very success is what led to their very public downfall.
As the story goes, deeply in debt to them, France’s King Philip IV ordered all the Templars, wherever they were, to be simultaneously executed. He sent hundreds of bailiffs all over France with sealed orders, and on Friday the 13th, the orders were carried out . . . supposedly. However, stories persist that say the Templars simply vanished, taking the secrets of their vast treasures with them, and surviving even today to wield the influence granted them by their unfathomable resources. Books and TV shows have characterized the Templars as shadowy overlords somehow involved in nearly every urban legend: pirate treasures, international finance conspiracies, Freemason mythology, the tomb of Jesus, the Holy Grail, the Nazis, even 9/11 and the assassination of JFK.
Today there is no headquarters, no publicly identified Templars, and no traceable bank accounts. So whatever these Templars are up to, it is done well out of the public eye.
The Explanation
The truth about the end of the Templars is more complicated than what you see in movies and TV shows. To start, all of these monastic orders had to compete against one another to secure the wealthiest patrons. Sponsorship was usually granted to the order that presented itself as the most exclusive and offered the best perks. The stories that connect the Templars to important historical events and artifacts like Jesus’ tomb and the Holy Grail were essentially stories invented by Templars to impress patrons.
Now, it’s true that King Philip IV was deeply in debt to the Templars. Not only that, many of his French officials were Templars who were more loyal to the pope than to him. He wanted very much to see the Knights Templar disappear. In addition, for some time Pope Clement V had been attempting to merge the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller to reduce the number of orders he had to contend with, and in 1307 he happened to have the heads of both orders in France for talks. Philip seized the opportunity. Using made-up charges such as heresy and corruption, Philip sent bailiffs out with secret orders for a simultaneous morning arrest of all Templars. However, his orders were to arrest the Templars, not kill them, and since Philip was the king of France, not of the whole world, his orders only applied to Templars who were located in France. Probably about 625 Templars were arrested. None were immediately executed.
The majority of the Templars confessed to heresy, since doing so allowed them to be released, retain their property, and either retire or join the Hospitallers. A month later, under pressure from Philip, Clement did make a papal order for the Templars located everywhere else to be arrested, but by then they had all had plenty of warning, and nearly all had either retired or joined another order.
So what about the Templars’ wealth and influence? History records no sudden disappearance of vast fortunes and treasures, but it did keep track of a well-accounted merging of the assets of the Templars and the Hospitallers. In fact, in 1312 the church formally merged these assets (although it had already long since been done), and the Knights Templar were formally dissolved.
So do the Templars control the world today? It would seem unlikely, since they have no authority to exist, no money, and certainly no influence.
Skeptoid ® Says . . .
A few dozen Templars were eventually executed for recanting their earlier confessions. Most famously, the head of the Knights Templar, Grand Master Jacques de Molay, together with the Preceptor of Normandy Geoffroi de Charny, were burned at the stake in 1314 after seven long years of imprisonment.
The Rothschild Family
* * *
Date: ca. 1800–Present
Location: Worldwide
The Conspirators: The Rothschild family
The Victims: Everyone anywhere who hopes to save money
* * *
The Theory
Long the subjects of conspiracy theory, the infamous Rothschild family is said to have been making international loans to finance wars in Europe since the 1700s. Believers claim that each time the family financed a war, the debts they held effectively gave them control over the governments on both sides—giving them nearly unlimited influence on every major nation in the world by the late 1800s. The Jewish Rothschild family is claimed to have financed both Nazi Germany and the creation of the state of Israel, profiting massively each time. Today they are described by some to be the single most powerful entity on the planet.
The Truth
Prior to the World Wars, Rothschild family banks were indeed quite large and powerful, but the family has since diversified and slid into relative insignificance.
The Backstory
Mayer Amschel Rothschild was born in 1744 in a Jewish slum of Frankfurt. As a teen he began working in the coin trade, assisting clients with buying and selling rare coins. He wisely sought out the wealthiest clients he could, and diversified the investment opportunities he offered them as much as he was able. Rothschild’s big break came at about the age of forty when his best client, Landgrave Wilhelm I, Elector of Hesse, inherited his father’s vast wealth and began looking to make some large international transactions.
By then, Rothschild had five sons, all of whom he brought into the family business. He sent his five sons out to be his agents in the five biggest financial centers of Europe: Frankfurt, Vienna, London, Naples, and Paris. When four of these sons had sons of their own, Mayer ordered that the trend continue, and most of his grandsons joined the business and opened offices of their own. Mayer even encouraged the intermarriage of first cousins to keep the family locked down tight against outsiders.
The Rothschild family business hit its height around th
e turn of the twentieth century. With agents in every major financial center, Rothschild banks did, indeed, as the conspiracy theorists say, finance both sides of European wars. They won no matter what. But most important, the Rothschilds filled a crucial role in international finance, one held today by the International Monetary Fund. Their investments greatly stabilized various currencies by facilitating international trade and credit. When a nation faced a crisis, the Rothschilds were always there to help—for a price. However, very soon the needs of nations exceeded what any one institution could provide.
The First and Second World Wars spelled the beginning of the end for the Rothschild dynasty. World War I was so great in scope that nearly every financial institution in the world had to pitch in to finance the massive buildups on all sides, which greatly leveled the playing field on which the Rothschilds competed. And as bad as World War I was for their dominant position, World War II was even worse. The Rothschilds were European Jews, with deep roots in the countries held by Nazi Germany. The family members escaped to the United States but it cost many of them nearly everything to do so: their fortunes were seized and their dozens of fantastic mansions were destroyed or given away.
Skeptoid ® Says . . .
Conspiracy theorists often cite certain early Rothschild transactions as important moments when they “took over” England or “took over” Europe. Generally, the versions of these stories told are grossly misrepresented or outright fabrications. The Rothschilds made savvy investments and profited from the losses of others. That’s business; it doesn’t require a secret cabal of evil.
The Explanation
Conspiracies Declassified Page 1
