# Conspiracy Theories **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2007, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031 "2007-09-21T20:41:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/41 "2007-09-25T03:34:06Z")
Obligatory post concerning the conspiracy theories surrounding a one _Cecil Adams_. After all, everyone knows that Cecil is … whut? who are you? that door is locked. how did you get in here …? ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/42 "2007-09-25T09:14:17Z")
Yes I remember a CIA conspiracy theory. They were involved when a prominent South American Dictator commited suicide by shooting himself in the back with an automatic weapon; pausing only once to reload! You can’t die a normal death anymore without someone getting their hackles up. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/43 "2007-09-25T09:39:45Z")
I like the “[chem trails](http://educate-yourself.org/ct/)” theories, and the Denver Airport stuff. The _Propaganda Due_ story is shocking, especially the links to “Operation Gladio”. Up to the 1990s people were finding secret caches of weapons all over Europe, designed to aid secret underground armies when the Commies come marching in. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/44 "2007-09-25T11:58:57Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] From\*\* Jayrot\*\*'s link: “_Theories concerning the assassination of prime minister Olof Palme; where he was found with his ears cut off and stuffed in his rectum_.” [/QUOTE] And _what_ stuffed in his rectum? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/45 "2007-09-25T14:44:46Z")
When Harold Holt, the prime minister of Australia, disappeared while swimming in dangerous surf conditions in December 1967, there were suggestions that he’d been abducted by a Soviet or Chinese sub, or by a UFO, or that the CIA had sent frogmen or a robotic shark to kill him. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/46 "2007-09-25T17:42:23Z")
[Here’s](http://www.crank.net/conspiracy.html) a good page with links. Sites are rated “Cranky,” “Crankier,” “Crankiest,” “Bizarre,” or “Illucid.” Or “Parody.” Some are labelled “Anticrank.” ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/47 "2007-09-25T17:50:02Z")
[QUOTE=Priceguy] And _what_ stuffed in his rectum? [/QUOTE] Oh, right. Here, bend over so I can yell into your ass. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/48 "2007-09-25T19:03:31Z")
I’ve been intrigued by the [Great American Streetcar Scandal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Streetcar_Scandal) ever since I first heard of it. While such companies as General Motors and Firestone weren’t entirely responsible for the decline of electric trolley systems, they obviously didn’t object to the automobile’s assumption of prominence, and their actions almost certainly hastened the streetcar’s demise. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/49 "2007-09-25T19:08:55Z")
It don’t get no better than [Stephen King shot John Lennon](http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/index.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/50 "2007-09-25T19:19:35Z")
I’m convinced. I hope the authors book contains the same sort of stunning prose that make up his resume > [@](#): > > I attended a private parochial grade-school and public high school and two junior colleges. My grades were good and I liked baseball, basketball, tennis and especially golf, which became a professional ambition of mine while in my twenties. To be a professional golfer. This ambition saw me attach myself to restaurant work, cooking, waiting, managing and I had a large number of different jobs as well. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/51 "2007-09-25T19:36:06Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] It don’t get no better than [Stephen King shot John Lennon](http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/index.asp) [/QUOTE] I was sitting 'bout two rows back from that guy at a lecture King gave in San Francisco once. He was the highlight of the Q&A session. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/52 "2007-09-26T07:19:55Z")
[QUOTE=Sternvogel] I’ve been intrigued by the [Great American Streetcar Scandal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_Streetcar_Scandal) ever since I first heard of it. While such companies as General Motors and Firestone weren’t entirely responsible for the decline of electric trolley systems, they obviously didn’t object to the automobile’s assumption of prominence, and their actions almost certainly hastened the streetcar’s demise. [/QUOTE] I checked out this thread just to see if anyone wouuld mention this (I grew up in Pittsburgh where we had numerous trolley lines running all over the city. Only one remains as far as I know.) The rumor I remember from that time is that the St.Louis Car Company was driven out of business by General Motors in order to prevent cities like Pittsburgh from replacing worn out streetcars and forcing the public to rely on auto transportation. The other conspiracy that noone has mentioned is one that was written about in the back of The People’s Almanac by David Wallechinsky. He invited people to write articles about things that were relatively unknown but nevertheless interesting and someone wrote in describing an internal combustion engine (I think) that ran on water. The engine was supposedly created by an engineer in (I think) McKeesport Pa around the end of WWII. The oil and vehicle companies supposedly conspired to keep it off the market and all evidence of its existence has been lost. ---
**Author:** ![Gretchen\_Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@Gretchen\_Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchen_Ross)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/53 "2007-09-26T13:33:44Z")
Can anyone clarify the conspiracy surrounding Kennedy’s assassination for me? Wiki doesn’t really say much about it and from the little I have heard about it previously, I think it sounds very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/54 "2007-09-26T13:42:54Z")
[QUOTE=Gretchen Ross] Can anyone clarify the conspiracy surrounding Kennedy’s assassination for me? Wiki doesn’t really say much about it and from the little I have heard about it previously, I think it sounds very interesting. [/QUOTE] Which one? I meant which kennedy, but guess you could also say which theory? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2007, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/55 "2007-09-26T13:44:57Z")
I’m no expert, but clarity and the Kennedy Assassination are, I believe, mutually exclusive concepts. Seriously, AIUI, the Kennedy Assassination conspiracy advocates are about as uniform as seven layer dip. They all agree something was covered up, and that other people set up Oswald to take the rap, but none of them seem to have any agreement beyond that. So, talking about a single, canonical Kennedy conspiracy is an exercise in futility. ---
**Author:** ![Gretchen\_Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@Gretchen\_Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchen_Ross)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2007, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/56 "2007-09-27T20:07:22Z")
[QUOTE=denquixote] Which one? I meant which kennedy, but guess you could also say which theory? [/QUOTE] Oh, sorry I meant JFK…I tried to search and read up on it a bit and I found [this.](http://www.thepresidentsbook.com/?cat=10) Which goes into how Evelyn Lincoln was involved in the whole thing. And I am still confused as to how Lyndon B. Johnson was involved in the assassination. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/57 "2007-09-27T21:40:19Z")
[QUOTE=Gretchen Ross] Can anyone clarify the conspiracy surrounding Kennedy’s assassination for me? Wiki doesn’t really say much about it and from the little I have heard about it previously, I think it sounds very interesting. [/QUOTE] There are many conspiracy theories about JFK’s assassination, all based on the assumption that Lee Harvey Oswald did not do it alone (in some versions, did not do it at all). Blame is placed variously on the CIA, military officers, the Mafia (see [_Mob Lawyer,_](http://www.amazon.com/Mob-Lawyer-Frank-Ragano/dp/0517167220/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7050702-3494449?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190929018&sr=8-1) by Frank Ragano), and Fidel Castro – to all of whom motives can plausibly be ascribed. ---
**Author:** ![Gretchen\_Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@Gretchen\_Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchen_Ross)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/58 "2007-10-01T21:30:12Z")
What’s also really interesting are the strange connections between the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy…things like: Lincoln’s secretary was named Kennedy, Kennedy’s secretary was named Lincoln; and both successors were named Johnson. Probably pure coincidence, nonetheless, the Lincoln assassination is also surrounded in controversy. Or so I’ve been reading. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/59 "2007-10-01T21:40:04Z")
“Tim Hortons puts nicotine in their coffee to make it addictive!” A friend of mine claims this is true: that she knew someone who suffered a deadly allergic response one day, and the only thing she’d had was a Timmy’s coffee. And she was allergic to nicotine. If I actually _was_ masterminding a world-girdling hidden conspiracy, among the first things I’d do is encourage the cranks, in order to discredit the whole idea of world-wide conspiracy… ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031/60 "2007-10-01T21:48:16Z")
> [@](#): > > The one I heard says the Denver International Airport is supposed to become the home of the New World Order. There are some murals somewhere in the airport that are supposed to explain the whole thing. Plus, there are several instances of Masonic symbols hidden in the tilework. :smack: ohh crap. I probably made an ass of myself a few months ago. Somebody asked me if I believed the stuff about DIA and I said I wouldn’t be surprised if it did turn out to be mostly true. I had no idea they were talking about something like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/420031.md?page=4)