There is nothing juicier than a good conspiracy theory to bite into, and while many we hear about are complete rubbish, there are a very few that actually have truth to them!
So, what are these theories that are not pop culture myths, which conspiracies really did occur? We are about to help you find out!
The Business Plot
It all began in 1933 when a group of very wealthy businessman came together.
The group allegedly included men like the head of Chase Bank, GM, Goodyear, Standard Oil, the DuPont family, and Senator Prescot Bush.
Keep reading to find out what The Plan was:
The Plan
What these men planned to do was recruit Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler to lead a military coup against President FDR.
What would come next was the implementation of a fascist dictatorship. Yes, you heard it right, the father and grandfather of two US presidents, Prescot Bush wanted a dictatorship in the U.S
How It Played Out
One thing these guys learned from their attempt at a military coup is- do not trust a guy names Smedley to run anything!
Smedley was not only vehemently anti0fascism but was also a vocal FDR supporter. Apparently, they did not do their due diligence and realize their point man had actively stumped for FDR a few years prior!
Smedley Spills the Beans
It wasn’t long before Smedley spilled the beans to a congressional committee in 1934, although as you can imagine all those involved denied having any clue what he was talking about.
While none of them were charged, the House McCormack-Dickstein Committee did acknowledge that there were plans of a conspiracy that never landed up going to the next step.
Nazi Connections
It’s not surprising that many of those involved in the Business Plot was not the most morally astute to put it lightly.
A few were also tied financially to Nazi Germany up through the entry of the U.S. into World War Two.
The Lesson of the Day
Although we can all take a deep breath and be grateful that America never became a dictatorship in the end, there is a lesson to be learned here.
Never, no matter what, whether you are fascist or not, mess around with guys names Smedley and Dickstein!
The July 20 Plot
It was towards the end of WWII and it seemed the Germans were losing grip on the war thanks to their obsession with killing as many Jews as possible.
Things were going south, and it was a perfect time for those Nazi officers who were ‘riddles with guilt’ to assassinate Hitler.
The Plan
The plan was simple- Colonel Henning von Tresckow recruited Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and together they decided on a plan of action.
They wished to take out Hitler and all of his loyal officers in an operation which they names Operation Valkyrie in 1944.
How is Panned Out
The plan came closer to success than you would expect, in July 1944, Stauffenberg was promoted to a position where he was now entitled to attend military strategy meetings with Hitler.
It was at these meetings he wished to detonate a bomb killing Hitler. However, he wanted to not only take out Hitler, but his two right men, Herman Goering, and Heinrich Himmler.
Somehow, He Survived
He actually went through it is on July 20th when he exploded a bomb inside Hitler’s conference room with a detonator remote.
Somehow Hitler not only survived the attack but only suffered minor injuries! As you can imagine, he amped up his security making another attempt implausible.
The Plan De-rails
When the first step of their mission failed, things began to derail quickly. Stauffenberg fled when the Fuhrer proved to be weirdly explosion-proof.
His co-conspirators lost faith in their mission too and Operation Valkyrie stopped before it even properly began.
Revenge Against the Plotters
Several of the co-conspirators committed suicide when things began to go downhill, and Fromm betrayed the group, turning men in to save himself.
Hitler did not care much for Fromm’s blabbering mouth and executed him along with all the names he handed over.
The Man, the Myth
While the conspiracy was a total failure, one person came out on top. Claus von Stauffenberg who was made into something of a folk hero in Germany.
He represented not only strength but morality and resistance against the evil Nazi regime.
Valkyrie
They even made a movie about this conspiracy called Valkyrie in 2008 which starred Tom Cruise as the colonel himself.
It was a controversial choice as von Stauffenberg family were not happy about Cruise being part of the religion of Scientology.
Operation Ajax
Before 1951, Britain had one spiffy deal with Iran when it came to their prosperous oil fields. The Anglo Oil Company acted as a money machine for England.
But while the Anglo half was rolling in cash, the Iranian half who were supplying the project was getting totally ripped off.
This All Changes
This came to a swift end in 1951 when Iran nationalized the AIOC and elected Mohammed Mossadegh as prime minister.
He may have been too secular for the liking of the Iranian clerics, but he certainly knew what his country deserved, and when Britain attempted to regain control of the AIOC, he was not interested in the slightest.
Shady Action
After the British got out of their shock and cleaned up the tea they had spilled in disappointment, they decided to act.
What that means was England turning to the United States and convincing President D. Eisenhower to assist in overthrowing the democratically chosen leader of Iran to install a pro-West Monarchy.
What Happened Next
With the CIA and British Intelligence in cahoots, they funneled guerrilla troops, anti-Mossadegh propaganda and tons of bribed into Iran.
What a joke that we think of Brittan and America as the shining emblems of human right when you think about how selfish these aims were!
Did It Work Out?
This plan worked out great short-term and the position of Shah of Iran was restored, though really all he was was a puppet to the desires of the West.
The deal was as follows- the White House and Teheran were new besties as long as the US government turned a blind eye to the many cases of abuse of human rights happening all through Iran.
Tumbling Down
This was all well and dandy until 1979 when the Iranian people were sick and tired of it and revolted, replacing the monarchy with an anti-Western Islamic republic who we are so familiar with until today.
A messy hostage crisis later (Argo anyone?) US and Iran are no longer BFFs and the US learned the outcomes of meddling in the Middle East for selfish means.
The Gunpowder Plot
It was way bay in 19604 that a group of conspirators decided to blow up the British House of Parliament, killing basically all the aristocracy with King James as the cherry on the top.
This handful of British folks were done with King James and his ridiculous Protestant government and met Robert Catesby with their genius ide- kill everyone!
Original Plan
The conspirators had it all mapped out. They were staying across the street from The House of Lords, the building in which the upper house of parliament convened.
Their original plan seemed simple enough- they wished to burrow their way to the underground foundation of The House of Lords and put their explosives their
Change of Plan
As many conspirators do, they overestimated their abilities and had to slightly alter their plan.
They decided to rather rent a room in the cellar of the building, which was where the explosives were moved. All that was left was to wait for the annual Opening if Parliament!
Plan Failure
Unfortunately for them, none of the protestant politicians were killed in the end. However, there was some good that came out of it.
In a speech after the attempted assassination, King James stated that not all Catholics were as crazy as those connected to the plot.
Stopping a Revolt
Many historians suggested that had the plan be a success, there would have been an incredibly violent backlash against Catholic communities.
This could have caused a whole new wave of bloodshed that Britain definitely did not need to deal with at the time.
Plan Stopped Midway
It was later revealed that their plan went even deeper than the assassinations.
The conspirators also planned on kidnapping the royal children and inciting a revolt. Luckily, they never managed to execute their plan as they were hung and eviscerated shortly after their arrests.
The Tuskegee Experiments
The idea of this experiment, which is also called the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiments, was for the United States to be able to monitor the effects of syphilis.
They planned to perform experiments on those who had developed a form of the disease. This doesn’t sound too bad, does it?
Without Consent
Thing again! These experiments were the epitome of evil. They were performed exclusively without consent and on poor, illiterate black males.
Not only were that not told that they had syphilis, but they were also denied proper treatment for the disease. The government disgustingly tried to compensate by promising free burials to those that died.
How Did It Work Out?
The study which began in 1932 in Tuskegee, Alabama, gathered 400 black men.
Despite conspiracy enthusiasts who are positive that they gave the men syphilis, the truth is they tested only on those who were already suffering from the disease.
Things Got Out of Hand
Things soon got out of hand. They basically decided to five painful, dangerous spinal taps for no medical reason.
On top of that, they lied to those involved telling them it was a free treatment for their symptoms…do you get any eviller than that?
Denied Access
Things only got worse. There was a national campaign to use penicillin to stamp out the disease… and those involved in the experiment were denied access.
There were some who complained loudly enough to be noticed, and how did the scientists deal with that? Well, they were given a placebo and sent home to die in silence.
Blowing the Whistle
This went on for FORTY YEARS until 1972 which was when Peter Buxton marched to the Centre for Disease Control and demanded change.
They told him, of course, they would put an end to this barbaric experiment! But just as soon as they completed the last stage of the experiment…
The Last Stage
How could things get any worse, you ask. Well, that last stage included studying the corpses of their subjects.
The problem was they couldn’t do that just yet as some of them were stubbornly still alive after these forty years of torture.
Exposure
As you can imagine, whistleblower Buxton was not impressed and decided to find a more receptive audience, namely, The New York Times.
Finally, in 1974 the National Research Act was passed which closed the loophole in American Law that basically make it ok for disgustingly cruel scientists to kill people in experiments.
Operation Snow White
This conspiracy centers around the Church of Scientology, so you know it’s going to be good.
It was during the 1970s when the Church of Scientology decided enough was enough. They realized that their religion that spoke of magic space aliens in a volcano was just not getting the same respect as other religions!
The Obvious Solution
Their plan of action was not to convert it into a more understandable, less silly religion as many of us would assume.
Rather, they decided to destroy every single document that put their religion in a bad light.
How Did It Work Out
A million times better than you would expect ut to work out, in fact. for a little while at least. The Church of Scientology did the impossible and performed the largest infiltration of the United States government in history.
That’s right, the United States was finally outsmarted by the people who invented Dianetics. Makes you feel good about the millions we pay for nationals security, doesn’t it?
The Tactic
What happened was that 5,000 of the crack commandos of Scientology got straight to work wiretapping and burglarizing different agencies.
The stole an untold number of documents, mainly from the IRS. In total 136 organizations, agencies and foreign embassies were infiltrated.
Deny, Deny, Deny
Of course, soon people started asking questions and the Church denied to the end, never ever confessing to the infiltration.
They went so far as to kidnapping one of their own operatives who was arrested for stealing documents to prevent him from testifying!
The ‘Purging’
Operation Snow White has become something of an avoided topic within the Church of Scientology these days.
The only thing you will hear them saying is that they “purged” those who were involved and those that were purged still hold high ranking positions in the church until today!
Project MKULTRA
Don’t be fooled by the weirdly unpronounceable named, this conspiracy was a legit CIA experiment which aimed to figure out how to control your mind.
That’s right, everyone’s biggest fear and the plot of many sci-fi movies. Over a hundred sub-projects were authorized under the project although most documents having to do with it have been destroyed.
How It Worked Out
If you are a late-night radio junkie, there is no doubt you have heard the harrowing stories people have when it comes to Project MKULTRA.
Many calls in and tell their tales of psychic violations at the hands of the CI. Though it sounds far-fetched, Project MKULTRA has its roots in reality and was actually a legit series of experiments which began on April 13, 1953.
You Can Decide
It’s up to you to decide whether these guys calling in late at night are real victims of these mind infiltrating experiments.
While you may seem it’s strange the CIA would only experiment on nocturnal nuts, maybe it was the experiments that created their insomnia and fear?
Where it Started
This project was started thanks to the Cold War believe it or not. When the government got wind of a form of Communist mind control being used on American prisoners of the Korean war, they were not going to be left behind.
The CIA got straight to work but got one thing wrong. Unlike the Russians who experimented on enemy prisoners, they decided to experiment on poor unsuspecting American Citizens!
All the Consequences
These ridiculous experiments had some seriously dark consequences.
Firstly, they were performed on people who were seeking treatment for minor psychological issues. Rather than help them, they often caused more permanent damages such as permanent comas and incontinence!
No Sense at All
And it gets worse. It is reported that the experiments also resulted in at least one death throughout the time it was running.
