11 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True

When it comes to conspiracy theories there is a gazillion out there and most of them are somewhere between crazy and full-out bonkers, but sometimes, somewhere, someone is actually right about things, which is why we’re going to take a look at 11 conspiracy theories that turned out to be true.

Actually, such cases are probably more frequent than we know since it’s not very often that we find out the truth about controversial events. It’s interesting to see that sometimes the lies told by the world’s governments aren’t fireproof and that their chairs burn up under them as the truth comes to light.

More important, however, is the fact that it is very rare that the lies are unveiled by the government itself. Most often than not it’s whistleblowers that we have to thank for having the courage to come forth and tell the truths that officials are too scared to.

When reading about these theories, it makes you wonder whether any of these 7 theories about the Illuminati and the New World Order are true.

Let’s take a look at 11 conspiracy theories that turned out to be true and learn something new about the world around us.

11. The Gulf of Tonkin

It’s been a while since this happened, but in August 1964, the USS Maddox engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats, firing some 300 shells in the process. This gave the US an excuse to get involved in the Vietnam War through the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, drafted by President Lyndon Johnson. It was the legal document the military needed before marching off to Vietnam.

Some speculated that it was all a lie and that those three boats the destroyer sunk weren’t even there. As with many other wars the United States has been involved in, this is often one of the suspicions most have – that the government somehow fabricated the situation.

For decades, denials were thrown left and right, until time somehow made everyone forget about the situation. Then, in 2005, a National Security Agency document was declassified revealing that there were no foreign ships. What were they shooting at? Nothing in particular, just disturbing the wildlife, most likely.

10. Project MKUltra

Back in the day there were many theories running wild regarding the various experiments the CIA was conducting in its basements. One of them involved mind control experiments run on US citizens, as if it mattered where they were from, really.

The theory said that this happened between the 1950s and the 70s. But theory turned real when President Bill Clinton actually issued an apology on behalf of the US government, acknowledging the situation.

The CIA was apparently experimenting with drugs, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, electronics, torture and all sorts of abuse. Their goal was to make people do what they wanted them to do, which is, essentially, a type of mind control.

The experiments took place in institutions, prisons, hospitals and more, in total about 80 locations. No wonder rumors started swirling about what the CIA was doing given the extent of the operation.

The MKUltra was exposed when a series of 20,000 documents were unclassified in 1977 thanks to the request under the Freedom of Information Act. The problem was that not all was exposed because a good part of the files had been destroyed by a former CIA director in 1973.

9. The Mockingbird

We’re not referring to the Hunger Games now, although that might have been a nicer topic. Instead we’re talking about a top secret project of the CIA, called Operation Mockingbird. For a very long time, starting in the late 1940s, conspiracy theorists believed there was something fishy in the media. It turns out that those ideas weren’t far from the truth.

In fact, the CIA had put journalists and reporters on their payroll and planted them in various newsrooms, including major publications. The CIA was looking to use news organizations and journalists as spies and, perhaps more disturbing, tools for their propaganda.

ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Associated Press and more were targeted, which made the entire media untrustworthy to a point since you couldn’t know who was being paid by the CIA. Tens of thousands of operatives were infiltrated in businesses, media, and even universities.

8. Operation Northwoods

The idea that a Communist nation would be a few miles away from the US border didn’t sit well with the United States leaders. Back in the late 50s, when Fidel Castro came to lead Cuba, government officials came up with a few “brilliant” ideas to induce a regime change. The list included terrorist acts against US citizens that were to be blamed on the Cubans, which would, in turn, make Americans support the idea of a war against Cuba.

No wonder people have issues trusting that 9/11 wasn’t orchestrated by the US government given the background info.

The plan never came to be as President Kennedy rejected the idea of random innocent Americans being shot by supposed terrorists, attacks on Washington and other US cities, framing people for bombings they did not orchestrate and more. These were horrific plans and the fabrication of evidence that would justify military action in Cuba wasn’t worth the loss of so many lives.

7. CIA & drugs

It seems like the CIA is a common presence in these conspiracy theories that eventually proved to have really happened. Another one links the CIA to the sale of cocaine to street gangs in Los Angeles.

Basically, the theory says that in the 80s, the Crips and the Bloods were getting their drugs from the CIA, who was, in turn, funneling money to a guerilla army in Latin America. It seemed like a pretty far-fetched idea, but it turned out to be true.

An investigation reporter called Gary Webb published a book called “Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion” where he described a complex program where e CIA was smuggling Contras cocaine in the United States and distributed it back to LA gangs, aiding the drug dealers to raise money for the Contras, which were the rebels waging war in Nicaragua.

The Reagan Administration actually acknowledged the link back in 1986, saying that funds from cocaine smuggling had helped fund the Contra rebels, but rejected the idea that it had been authorized by the US government.

Webb’s book sparked quite a few discussions over the years and it was particularly suspect how he committed suicide in 2004 by using two bullets to shoot himself in the head. For many this validates the theory even more.

6. COINTELPRO

The US Government isn’t exactly the biggest fan of activists because they have a way of swaying people against what officials want. COINTELPRO is proof of that. What started out as a conspiracy theory saying that the FBI was infiltrating activist organizations in order to discredit them turned out to be true.

Back in 1971, anti-war activists broke into the FBI and stole top secret documents which later landed straight in the biggest newsrooms. These files proved that the agency was running a counterintelligence program that had the purpose of surveilling, infiltrating and disrupting movements centered on peace, civil rights and black power starting from the mid-50s.

5. Operation Snow White

The Church of Scientology is one of the shadiest out there and there are multiple conspiracy theories running about it and the things it does to its members, but there’s one theory that turned out to be true – the idea that Church members were infiltrating the US government and stealing files.

It all proved to be true when, in 1977, the FBI arrested a senior Church official that was involved in this operation. What happened was that Church of Scientology members infiltrated 136 government agencies in over 30 countries and stole classified documents regarding Scientology. They wanted to expose all false and secret files regarding the Church in order to somehow clear its name.

4. The global economic policy

The globalization idea is nothing new and it has its own conspiracy theories. There are others, however, that believe that there’s more to the New World Order than political control, namely economic policy that favors those in power.

Well, it was all theory until WikiLeaks released a series of files on the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Intellectual Property Rights Chapter. Basically, the free trade agreement was being negotiated between a few select countries, including the United States, Canada, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore and Australia. The problem with this document was that it revealed that people’s ability to innovate would be hindered if implemented, among other issues.

To make things even more interesting, WikiLeaks is also offering a massive reward for anyone who can provide them with documents about a similar deal being negotiated behind closed doors between the United States and the European Union. This is one of the 11 conspiracy theories that turned out to be true.

3. Watergate

Watergate is quite possibly one of the biggest scandals in US history. The political scandal pushed the United States to a crisis and led to the resignation of Richard Nixon.

The story was revealed thanks to two journalists who dug deeper into things, not taking the official explanation as the truth. It all started back in the 70s when several burglars broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters, at the Watergate complex in Washington. The Nixon administration attempted to cover up the involvement, but many didn’t take things at face value. Eventually, journalists started investigating things and revealed that Nixon actually knew about everything that was going on.

2. Prohibition deaths

It was back in the 1920s and the government decided that no more booze should be sold. With legal alcohol no longer an option people turned to bootleg liquor until people started dying. Those who were prone to listen to conspiracy theories believed that the government had had something to do with it.

It turns out, it did. It seems that the federal government put together a program in 1926 in an effort to show the people that alcohol was indeed deadly. Seized bottles were spiked with poison and put on the market, leading to many deaths among the drinkers.

1. NSA

The idea that the US government agencies were spying on their own people had been going around for decades, but it couldn’t be proven until Edward Snowden took a step forward and leaked a massive amount of documents showing the various abuses the National Security Agency is involved in.

The list includes using a legal loophole to collect all metadata regarding the phone calls made by American citizens without any kind of clue that they were doing anything illegal. Following documents revealed more and more the total control that the NSA was trying, and succeeding in some aspects, in getting over the encryption protecting the online communications of the world’s citizens, going as far as trying to infiltrate Google, Yahoo and other tech companies, as well as the Internet Service Providers.

In fact, about 90% of all data collected by the NSA through its surveillance programs have no connection to terrorist activities. The NSA keeps saying that it doesn’t go through the data without probable cause, but who believes them anymore? This is just one of the most recent 11 conspiracy theories that turned out to be true.