Who doesn’t love a good mystery let alone a juicy and scandalous conspiracy theory? History is full of crazy to down right disturbing conspiracies, some have a been debunked and some remain unverified.
Then there are the ones that turned out to be true. From power hungry politicians to brave activists uncovering corporate negligence, here is a list of the top 10 conspiracy theories that come true!
10. Operation Mockingbird
In the 1950’s the CIA started to recruit and pay leading American journalists to write propaganda to influence american opinion and further the CIA’s agenda. They even went so far as to fund some student and cultural organizations and magazines as fronts. Since journalists will often cite leading journals via a wire network, the CIA propaganda would spread to unassuming journalists. During the operation, the CIA got ambitious and spread its influence abroad to foreign media, and tried to influence foreign political campaigns as well. The CIA also funded the animation film “Animal Farm” having the end rewritten to influence public opinion on socialism and communism.
9. Operation Northwoods
Top secret Department of Defense records uncovered plans to gain US support in a war against Cuba in 1962. These acts included staged terrorists attacks targeting US cities and its citizens and a communist Cuban Terror Campaign in Miami and its surrounding areas. There were also plans to sabotage the Guantanamo Base, e.g. start rumors, kick-off riots, blow up ammunition and ignite fires, capture militia group storming the base and sabotage ships in harbor, and lastly hold mock funerals for fictional victims. Luckily the draft was denied by President John F. Kennedy.
8. Iran-Contra Affair
The White House in 1985, authorized a secret sale of arms to Iran, which was under an arms embargo, in order to trade the freedom of held in Lebanon US hostages. The proceeds from the sale would go to help fund the Nicaragua-Contra affair, a secret plan funnel funds to rebels overthrowing marxists Sandinista government. Any funding to Contra was previously banned by congress. Only a few of the hostages were released and it’s unclear what happened to the rest. Shortly after the exchange the affair was uncovered. Some say Oliver North took the fall for Reagan, whatever the case, during the George H. W. Bush, vice president to Reagan, later pardoned six of the administrators of the scandal, including North, before his presidential term expired.
7. Mafia or Cosa Nostra
The mystery surrounding the Mafia didn’t become public nation-wide till the 1960’s, well after the Mafia had been formed and operating for some decades on American soil. Its roots came from La Cosa Nostra (translated as “our thing”), a sicilian mafia formed to protect its clans and families, enforce contracts, and settle disputes, since there was a shortage of any kind of police enforcement and crime was rising. It eventually turned into a secret criminal society often referred to as a mafia “family” or clan. Italian Immigrants settling in American brought with them this secret society. Organized crime was generally known but publicly no one knew how wide spread its influence was, e.g. union organizations, and CIA, and buying politicians.
6. Watergate Scandal
The 1972 break-in at the Democratic National committee headquarters located in the Watergate Office Complex, lead to a full investigation of the abuse of power by Nixon and his top administrators. It uncovered the administration using the FBI, CIA and IRS for Nixon’s agenda, as well as its administrators instructed to harass activist groups, political figures, spy on champaign opponents to name a few. This lead to 43 convictions and the resignation of president Nixon, who was later pardoned by president Gerald Ford, Nixon’s vice president. Till his death, Nixon proclaimed innocence despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
5. The Jewish Holocaust
Sadly many didn’t want to believe that another human beings could be capable of such atrocities that the Jewish suffered in German concentration camps during WWII, or that a whole nation would stand by and watch these horrors take place without a rebellion. Some believed the events of the holocaust were exaggerated, numbers inflated, that extermination camps, gas chambers to mass murder was jewish propaganda. After German’s defeat, president Eisenhower forced himself to take a thorough tour of a camp to witness first hand its horrors within. He encouraged Britain to send several journalists to document and photograph the evidence to dissuade any future denial of these events, though some will still deny those events ever happened.
4. Operation Paperclip
After the end of WWII, some higher US military officials thought it would be advantageous to smuggle some of Germany’s most talented and leading scientists of chemical, medical and rocket engineers. Because president Truman ordered that any of these scientists that would be given security clearance and be working for the US government, could not have been a Nazi party member or had any active support for nazi militarism, these scientists were given new identities and fake biographies, even the german public records had been expunged from the record to safeguard their true identities.
3. Project MK-Ultra
Once again the CIA dirties its hands with scandal. This program for mind control started in the 1950’s. The CIA worked with other government divisions to conduct experiments on mind control drugs like LSD, amphetamines and mescaline and truth serum, as well as mind control tactics like hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation and verbal abuse. Experiments were said to be conducted on prisoners, prostitutes, and the mentally ill. Though, the CIA destroyed any documents revealing deaths relating to this experiment, it’s unknown today how many have lost their lives under these risky experiments.
2. Silkwood
The death of Karen Silkwood remains a mystery today. This activist was known for raising concerns about corporate negligence relating to the safety of workers in a nuclear facility she was working in. After becoming a union representative, she fought on behalf of the nuclear plant’s employees at Kerr-McGee, to raise the neglectful health and safety standards. She was to meet up with a New York Times journalist, who was interested in her story, she left alone and with incriminating documents. She had been found dead in her car, run off the road and into a ditch, the documents missing. An autopsy revealed a sedative in her blood stream double the recommended dose. Her car also had new signs of damage on the bumper, even though it was a frontal crash. Who is responsible for her murder goes unsolved today.
1. NSA Scandal
Edward Snowden leaked classified government documents of the CIA and NSA, to the media about the global surveillance programs with foreign government cooperation, uncovered the existence of a massive data base to obtain all collected data on its civilians. Snowden thought the public had the right to know its government is spying on their personal calls, tracking users internet searches and history, gathering data and storing it, and using surveillance to spy on Americans. Snowden is currently in Russia awaiting asylum within the European Union. Some hail him a hero, others target him as a traitor.