The 42 Most Well Known Tier 1 Conspiracy Theories

1.

Welcome to our definitive guide for all things conspiracy theories. In this first installment, we'll be going through the first tier of a ten-tier list, minus some of the unnecessary entries crossed off above in red, where we will be guiding you through the sick, twisted, and often times confusing world of internet conspiracy. So strap in and grab those tinfoil hats, things are about to get interesting.

2.

The New World Order

The New World Order (NWO) refers to a theory that claims a secretive group of elites are working to control the world's governments. This theory is often labeled as a 'right-wing conspiracy theory, though it has origins that pre-date many modern right-wing groups. The New World Order is often thought of as a "shadow government" type entity that lingers around power, yet never openly asserts it, which sounds a lot like a lobbying firm. You know, those people who buy politicians, a practice totally legal in the United States.

3.

Reptilians

The Reptilian theory claims that a secret species of reptilian aliens have body-snatched the most powerful people in the world. The theory has been around for over ten years and during Obama's presidency, it grew in popularity, often himself being called a reptile shapeshifter. Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg, and other prominent politicians and celebrities have also been accused of being shapeshifters.

4.

Satanism

Satanism is not exactly a conspiracy theory, as the Church of Satan is a real church that is pretty active in America. Most recently they sued the State of Texas claiming that having access to abortions is part of their religious freedom. So while it does appear on the Tier 1 list, it's more so a spook theory than a real conspiracy.

5.

Orbs

What might be the least interesting entry on this list is the Orb theory. What people claim, often in the ghost hunting community, is that Orbs are signs of the paranormal. People claim orbs have shown up in haunted places and even caused environments to change, usually becoming much colder. But in reality, orbs are just dots, or particles in the air that when caught in a camera look like floating bits. Most people don't take any Orb theories seriously, and neither should you.

6.

Pizzagate

Pizzagate is a well-known conspiracy theory that we have written about extensively here. You should read our full breakdown if you haven't already, but the short is this. People thought a DC pizza place was a cover for an underground child sex trade. Yeah.

7.

GMOs

There are more than a few non-conspiracy items on this list. One of them being GMOs, which haven't been much of a hot topic in recent years. The truth is that while organic food tastes better and can contain more nutrients, without GMOs the number of people who would die of starvation would rise. So on one hand, try to eat good clean food, but on the other GMOs are completely safe to eat.

8.

Skin Walkers

The skin-walker is an old Native American legend that claims people are able to turn into animals and then back into humans. While the skin-walker myth is mostly unknown to outsiders, the legend was made popular by author Tony Hillerman. Skin-walkers are believed to be witches and are associated with animals such as coyotes among the Navajo.

9.

MH370

Malaysia airline flight MH370 took off March 8th, 2014 from Kuala Lumpur International Airport and disappeared before it could land at its destination in Beijing. At the time it was a major news story and prompted an incredible number of conspiracy theories. It was later discovered that the pilot intentionally crashed the plane, but during the weeks before the wreckage was found, people postulated that it had vanished into thin air or was sucked into another dimension.

10.

The Mandela Effect

The Mandela effect is named after Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary who many people have false memories of dying. The effect is classified as having a distorted memory of an event or often time a product. The Mandela Effect can be seen in many forms of modern media. For example, The Berenstain Bears a popular children's book is misremembered by many as the Berenstein Bears.

11.

UFOs

UFOs don't need an intro, as you are all surely familiar with this phenomenon, however, the term UFO itself has been replaced with a new acronym, UAP which means unidentified aerial phenomenon. UFOs have reportedly been sighted in the US going back to the 40s and the UFO community is still one of the largest conspiracy groups on the internet.

12.

Vaccines

Before COVID, vaccine conspiracies were a relative niche conspiracy community, though the anti-vax mindset has since grown in size and influence. Pre-covid vaccine conspiracies consisted of autism scare posts and were occupied mostly by mothers and parents apprehensive about giving their children shots. Now anti-vaxxers come in all shapes and sizes and can be found in both small internet forums and on the line-ups of American sports teams.

13.

Chemtrails

Chemtrials or contrails are white lines of exhaust that are released by commercial jetliners. The chemtrail community has been active since the early 2000s, and while the community claims the contrails are full of chemicals aimed at controlling the minds of the affected population, there has never been substantial proof submitted to support these claims. In most conspiracy communities, contrail truthers are laughed at and not taken too seriously.

14.

Climate Deniers

This is not such a niche conspiracy theory as most of the items on this list are. Climate deniers often are people in power, and while the evidence for human-influenced climate change is pretty irrefutable, many people, even senators partake in spreading this misinformation. Here you can see Senator James Inhofe holding a snowball in Congress as proof that global warming is a hoax.

15.

Media Control

Now, this isn't really a conspiracy theory. Media control or media manipulation is a matter of fact. This quote from famed writer Noam Chomsky isn't exactly a statement of conspiracy, but rather a truth.

16.

Nostradamus

Nostradamus the French astrologer, physician, and writer is well known in conspiracy circles, and while his quatrains have been widely read, where he makes predictions on future events, he is often cast aside because anyone can write vague predictions, which is what most people accuse of being, vague.

17.

Atlantis

The lost city of Atlantis is one of, if not the most famous and dare we say accepted conspiracy theories on this list. Myths of great floods and lost civilizations can be found in mythologies from around the world and date back to the earliest records of human history. So while Atlantis itself hasn't yet been discovered, there is proof that lost cities and societies can be found all over the world in seas and along coastal cities.

18.

Big Pharma

Like other items here this isn't so much a theory as it is a truth. Big pharma is a blanket term used to refer to the major drug companies that have a vice grip over the U.S establishment. And depending on where you live Big Pharma might mean something different to you than it does to someone who lives in England, where most healthcare is affordable. For example, the price of insulin varries depending on where you live and that isn't a conspiracy but rather the product of laws passed by independent governmental bodies.

19.

Cryptids

Crytipds is another blanket term used to reference mythical and magical creatures. The most popular cryptids are Big-Foot and the Lochness Monster. These creatures appear in ancient myths and have been used in many modern forms of media, including movies and television. The Kraken is one such example that appears in Disney's Pirates of the Caribean series.

And while people have been searching for proof of the creatures for decades no sufficient evidence has been found proving their existence.

20.

Fake News

Fake news is a hot-button term today, but nearly a hundred years ago it was called yellow journalism. While there is certainly 'fake news' shared by people and even major news outlets, its origins date back to the over sensationalism of news. Something doesn't exactly have to be fake, to be unuseful, which is an issue we are still dealing with today.

21.

Multiverse

The multiverse is not a conspiracy theory, but rather a scientific theory that postulated our reality could be one of an infinite number of realities. Basically, it claims that we could exist, in the same carbon forms we do now, but in an endless set of alternative realities.

22.

Transhumanism

Transhumanism, back in the early 2000s became a hot topic and today it seems to have been widely accepted as truth, if not something science is striving to achieve. Take Elon Musk's NerualLink project and you'll see how far this community has come. And not to burst your bubble, but if you're reading this you already are an android or transhuman. Technology that improves the natural abilities of a human, like glasses or a knife, makes us more than human, they make us transhuman.

23.

Elisa Lam

Elisa Lam was a major story in 2013, in part because of how the authorities handled the investigation. It was the first case in modern life where the internet took part in an ongoing investigation, thanks to a video released by police. Her story has since been solved and most recently a Netflix documentary, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel was released which details her account in full.

24.

The Moon Landing

The Moon Landing has been one theory that has only gotten more popular with time. The claim is that the moon landing never happened and that NASA and Stanely Kubrick worked together to fake the mission. People claim that since we have never gone back to the moon, even after nearly 60 years, that is a sign that we never went in the first place.

25.

Area 51

Area 51 is possibly the most popular conspiracy theory of all time, and not just in the U.S but globally. Area 51 to this day remains a major tourist destination for internet truth seekers, and while it has been disproven time and time again, believers still hold out hope that a smoking gun with eventually be made public showing the U.S government shot down and captured aliens in the Roswell desert.

26.

Bilderburg Group

Now we're getting too good ones. The Bilderberg group is a real group of powerful businessmen and politicians from many sectors, who all meet in secret to discuss their private agenda. The group has been written about by almost every major news outlet and has had their meetings protested around the world. What exactly the group does and what their intentions are, are still yet unknown, but if anything on this list deserves greater attention it is this highly influential and incredibly secret group.

27.

Nibiru

Nibiru, also known as Planet X, is a conspiracy theory that has some overlap with other theories on this list, such as the Reptilian theory, and even the UFO theory. Basically, there is a planet out in space that people believe is called Nibiru, where the gods of early civilizations came from. This place is the home planet of the species of aliens which helped seed the fruits of life here on Earth.

28.

The Vela Incident

The Vela Incident, also known as the South Atlantic Flash, was an event recorded by the American Vela Hotel satellite on the 22nd of September in 1979. The incident was an unidentified series of flashes that were caught by the satellite, which later were believed to be the product of an undisclosed nuclear bomb test in the Indian ocean.

29.

Psyop

Psyop, also known as Psychological operations is a military term used to explain military operations that target a population's emotions and perceptions. The objective is usually to convey distrust or to muddy up the water of public opinion. In short, psyops are narrative disrupting techniques groups, mostly clandestine governmental bodies use to cause chaos and confusion.

30.

The Donald Trump Theory

The Donald Trump time traveler theory is a topic we have covered here before. This theory claims that Donald Trump is actually a time traveler who has been moving through time, with the help of hidden Tesla technology that his uncle John G. Trump was tasked with studying after the death of Nikola Tesla.

The theory is supported by a number of books written by author Ingersoll Lockwood, which follow a young boy named Baron Trump on a series of adventures through time and space.

31.

CIA Drug Trafficking

American investigative journalist Gary Webb wrote a three-part investigation that was published in the San Jose Mercury News in 1996 which linked CIA-backed drug cartels in a plot to overthrow the leftist Nicaraguan government. There are multiple branches to the 'CIA helped' run drugs theory, but Webb's work is most notable because he was able to prove his connections.

Other versions of these claims link the CIA with the crack epidemic of the 80s, and while there is evidence backing such claims, much of what is believed is still yet proven.

32.

The Basement Tapes

Before Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris stormed their high school with automatic weapons, the two made a series of videotapes which have been dubbed the basement tapes, on account they were made in the basement of Eric Harris' childhood home. The tapes include footage of the two killers discussing their plans and talking about their hate for a many numbers of things and people.

33.

Fake Celebrity Deaths

Celebrity-crazed fans have long struggled to cope with the deaths of their favorite stars. And while in recent years people have claimed that Avril Lavigne died and was replaced with a body-double, the trope is an old one. SInce the death of Tupac, people have speculated about his true whereabouts, but one name you might not know has been central to this theory is Paul McCartney, whom many people online believe died a long time ago and was replaced with a body double.

34.

Antartica and Hollow Earth

The Hollow Earth theory has a ton of cross-over with general theories about the secrecy surrounding Antarctica. These theories play on people's disbelief that world governments who argue and disagree on almost every major issue somehow got together and created a pact about what can and can't be done in Antarctica. They claim Antarctica is the entrance to the center of the Earth, and that this pact by the world governments is an attempt to keep this hidden from the public.

35.

Operation Northwoods

Operation Northwoods is more fact than conspiracy. The operation, which never was enacted, detailed a false flag attack on the American public, which would then be used to justify a U.S war with Cuba. The plan was to stage a number of attacks in and around Guantanamo in the hopes it pressured enough Americans to call for war.

36.

I-70 Killer

The I-70 killer is an American serial killer who is believed to have killed nine store clerks in the spring of 1992. His crimes spanned along the I-70 highway, hence the nickname, and occurred in Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, and Texas. His identity remains unknown, although there is a shortlist of potential suspects, no one has been arrested for the crimes.

37.

Max Headroom

You've probably seen this image before, as it is famous among online conspiracy circles, but did you know this character's name is Max Headroom, who was created by George Stone and is believed to be the first-ever fictional AI character. The character became famous in the U.S when his image was broadcast on November 22, 1987, during a hijacked television program airing in the Chicago area. While it is still unknown who hijacked the program, Max Headroom, became a part of conspiracy lore for years to come.

38.

Red Squads

The Red Squads were first created during the red scare by urban police departments as a means of spying and infiltrating political and social groups, that aimed to raise awareness for issues such as workers' rights and other leftists principles. There is a similar thread between those who claim they are gang stalked and those who experienced the gaze of the Red Squads, as people often felt they were either being stalked or watched without their approval.

39.

COINTELPRO

COINTELPRO stands for Counter Intelligence Program and is a tactic that's been used by the FBI in covert and illegal intelligence gathering projects. This isn't a specific theory, but rather a way the FBI conducts itself as an organization. The list of people the FBI has targeted with such operations is a long one and includes names such as Ernest Hemingway, Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, and Martin Luther King jr.

40.

The Mad Gasser

The Mad Gasser, aka the Anesthetic Prowler, is the person or persons responsible for a series of gas attacks that took place in Mattoon, Illinois in the mid-40s. Over two dozen cases of gassing were reported to the police over the course of two weeks, though no one died or had serious health complications. The belief at the time was the events were a series of mass hysteria as little was ever proven about the accounts. No evidence was ever found and police eventually chalked up the hysteria as a by-product of local nail polish factories emitting strong chemical smells.

41.

Disappearance of Tara Calico

Tara Leigh Calico disappeared from her home in Belen, New Mexico on September 20, 1988. It was believed that she had been kidnapped and when the above image was found in a convenience store parking lot, in Port St, Joe, Florida, the case grew in attention. To this day no arrests have been made in connection to her vanishing.

42.

Disappearance of Tara Calico

Tara Leigh Calico disappeared from her home in Belen, New Mexico on September 20, 1988. It was believed that she had been kidnapped and when the above image was found in a convenience store parking lot, in Port St, Joe, Florida, the case grew in attention. To this day no arrests have been made in connection to her vanishing.

43.

Jeffrey Epstein

You should know this name. Epstein might be the biggest face in the conspiracy community after he was found dead in his jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking crimes, which the public had hoped would illuminate the secretive world of the global elites. Jeffrey Epstein is usually followed with "didn't kill himself", and while he is dead his left hand gal, Ghislaine Maxwell is currently in prison awaiting her trial as an accomplice to his crimes.

44.

Giants

Most of what you see when looking up human giant theories are photoshopped images showing people digging up massive bones, or old huge footprints found in rocks. There is a slight cross-over between the giant theories and the giant tree theories. Basically, there is a very dumb, and relatively small group of people who think giant humans used to roam the Earth living under giant trees, that now look like mountains.