Conspiracy theories in the United States

McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s, heavily associated with the Second Red Scare, also known as the McCarthy era. After the mid-1950s, U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy, who had spearheaded the campaign, gradually lost his public popularity and credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false. The U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Just

University of Alaska Fairbanks program that investigates the ionosphere

conspiracy theory

conspiracy theories regarding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks

On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, an American right-wing political activist, was assassinated at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, while speaking at an outdoor campus debate planned by Turning Point USA, the conservative youth organization he co-founded and led. Kirk, aged 31, was a close ally of US president Donald Trump and a highly influential figure in the MAGA movement.

urban legend suggesting that Paul McCartney died and was replaced by a look-alike

second-class battleship of the United States Navy

anti-semitic conspiracy theory

former monument in Georgia, United States

rumored mid-1980s American reconnaissance aircraft

private men's club campground in Northern California

disappearance and death of a Chinese-Canadian student in Los Angeles, California, US in 2013

abuse in the context of occult rituals

shooting in Washington, D.C.

The Montauk Project is a conspiracy theory that alleges there were a series of United States government projects conducted at Camp Hero or Montauk Air Force Station in Montauk, New York, for the purpose of developing psychological warfare techniques and exotic research including time travel. The story of the Montauk Project originated in the Montauk Project series of books by Preston Nichols which intermixes those stories with stories about the Bulgarian Experiment.

death of American actress

theoretical economic and political continental union of Canada, Mexico, and the United States

reformulation of Coca-Cola

theoretical economic and monetary union

urban legend; supposed arcade cabinet

The death of Jeffrey Epstein, an American financier and child sex offender, occurred on August 10, 2019. Guards claimed to have found Epstein unresponsive in his jail cell at 6:30 a.m. at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City, hanging off the side of his cell's bed, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. After prison guards reportedly performed CPR, he was transported in cardiac arrest to the New York Downtown Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:39 am. The New York City medical examiner and the Justice Department Inspector General ruled that Epstein's death was a suicide by hanging. Epstein's lawyers challenged the medical examiner's conclusion and opened their own investigation, hiring pathologist Michael Baden.

perpetual motion machine

activist, Marxist, author, member of the Black Panther Party, and co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family

In the early morning of June 14, 2025, Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated at her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, United States. Hortman, the leader of the state House Democratic caucus, was shot and killed alongside her husband, Mark. Less than two hours earlier, state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot and seriously injured at their home in nearby Champlin and hospitalized. Police responding to the attack on the Hoffmans checked on the Hortmans' home, where a man fired at them. The shooter escaped, sparking the most extensive manhunt in Minnesota history.

disparaging term used by opponents of gay rights activism

The Groypers, or the Groyper Army, are a far-right group loosely defined as the followers, fans, or supporters of political activist and online streamer Nick Fuentes. They are named after a variant of Pepe the Frog, an Internet meme.

1943 Cannon-class destroyer escort

"Epstein didn't kill himself" ("EDKH") is a conspiracy theory phrase used to question the official cause of the death of American child sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. Authorities concluded that he died of suicide by hanging in his cell in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City in August 2019. Epstein was a convicted sex offender with connections to and public interactions with many powerful and wealthy people. His incarceration led to public hope that he might reveal the identities of other sex offenders, especially those in positions of authority and influence. When his suicide was reported, numerous hypotheses and conspiracy theories emerged to speculate about the true nature and cause of his death, framing the official suicide narrative as a lie, typically labelling it as part of a cover-up.

American cancer patient (1963–1994)

Russian fake news

conspiracy theory about a clandestine network in the United States

The National Economic Security and Recovery Act (NESARA) is a set of proposed economic reforms for the United States suggested by private citizen Harvey Francis Barnard during the 1990s. Barnard claimed that the proposals, which included replacing the income tax with a national sales tax, abolishing compound interest on secured loans, and returning to a bimetallic currency, would result in 0% inflation and a more stable economy. The proposals were never introduced in Congress.

individual who portrays a disaster victim

ID2020 is an American 501(c)(3) nongovernmental organization which advocates for digital ID for the billion undocumented people worldwide and under-served groups like refugees. Clive Smith succeeded founder Dakota Gruener as executive director in 2022. The NGO was relatively unknown before being publicized because of misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic by conspiracy theorists.

conspiracy theories about when and how Osama bin Laden died

allegations of CIA support of and engagement in drug trafficking

conspiracy theory that alleges child grooming by LGBT people

killing on February 21, 1965

hoax claiming musician Lavigne is dead

political conspiracy theory

a working group within the US federal government

_NSAKEY was a variable name discovered in Windows NT 4 SP5 in 1999 by Andrew D. Fernandes of Cryptonym Corporation. The variable contained a 1024-bit public key; public keys are used in public-key cryptography for encryption and digital signature verification (but not decryption or signing). Because of the name, however, it was speculated that the key would allow the United States National Security Agency (NSA) to subvert any Windows user's security. Microsoft denied the speculation and said that the key's name came from the fact that NSA was the technical review authority for U.S. cryptograph

child prostitution allegations

CIA shell company & airplane owner

dispute about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections

Monument in Havana, Cuba

2021 film by Mike Lindell