The 10 most bizarre, absurd, and dumb conspiracy theories of 2013

Throughout this year there were a lot of new conspiracy theories going around. Some of them were scary. Some of them were weird. And some of them were just bizarre, absurd, and dumb to the point where one would either have to laugh at them, or pull their hair out in frustration.

The following list are ten of what I feel are the strangest and most bizarre and/or absurd conspiracy theories of 2013:

10. Robert Sarvis was a Democratic plant to help Terry McAuliffe win the Virginia gubernatorial election.

(Author's note: being that I am from Virginia, I just felt that I had to mention this one)

In the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election there were a lot of accusations that went back and forth (some true, some not) but one of the biggest accusation didn't come during the election, but afterwards. The accusation that I'm talking about is the one that claims that Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis was actually a shill or plant by the Democrats inorder to steal votes away from Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli and to help guarantee victory for Terry McAuliffe.

Now as plausible as this may sound, there are just two problems with this: First there is no guarantee that the people who voted for Sarvis would have voted for Cuccinelli, and second most of the polls before the election showed that McAuliffe had an over 50% lead, and thus a spoiler candidate would not have been needed inorder to win. Also, besides those facts and the fact that there is no actual evidence that Sarvis was a Democratic plant, it's just as likely that Sarvis actually took away votes from McAuliffe as it is from Cuccinelli.

9. Anti-GMO/Monsanto claims.

While conspiracy theories against GMO foods are nothing new, what is new is that the Anti-GMO movement now seems to be focusing their claims on one company: Monsanto.

From what I can tell from their claims Monsanto pretty much controls the FDA, the farming industry, the food industry, Obama, the media, the U.S. Supreme Court, law enforcement, any blog that debunks the anti-GMO movement's claims, all the science organizations, and that Monsanto is responsible for every atrocity committed in the world since World War Two.

According to many in the anti-GMO movement Monsanto does all of this inorder to sell you a product that (insert the anti-GMO claim of your choice).

8. The Boston Marathon bombing was a false flag attack.

On April 15 one of the worst terrorist attacks in the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks occurred at one of the largest sporting events in the U.S., the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed, and 264 people were injured, many of who also lost limbs, or were otherwise permanently maimed in some way. Also, like clock work, conspiracy theories about the bombing started to be posted all over the internet within minutes of the attack.

The most common of the claims were that it was a false flag attack, and then later de-evolved into stranger conspiracy theories in that both the suspects, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were under some kind of government mind control, right on down to the most absurd claim of there being no attack at all and that the whole thing was staged and that no one was actually hurt or killed.

Besides the fact that all of these claims were absurd on face value alone and were quickly debunked, they were also very disrespectful and just plain disgusting.

7. Amanda Bynes became a victim of Illuminati mind control.

Over the summer actress Amanda Bynes began engaging in behavior that ranged from bizarre to down right dangerous. This behavior of her's eventually lead to her being involuntarily committed into psychiatric care.

Now to most people this looks like a simple enough case of a young woman whom is mentally ill and whom's mental illness has caused her to act out in bizarre and dangerous ways. To a conspiracy theorist on the other hand it's a clear case of Illuminati mind control.

The main theory that is going around is that Amanda was being groomed by the Illuminati as part of a youth indoctrination program, and that she had decided to break away from them. When Amanda did allegedly break away from them one of two things happen: Either that the indoctrination was so intense that she could not function on her own and her mind snapped, or she was driven insane via remote mind control.

While this explanation kind of makes sense in a weird way, the one theory behind her behavior that makes even more sense is that she is either schizophrenic or bi-polar. Combined with her age, and her escalating erratic behavior over the past few years, this makes a lot more sense than a couple of conspiracy theories that range from being far fetched to pretty much impossible.

6. The Xbox One can see you naked.

When the Xbox One and all of it's feature were announced there were many concerns (some legit, some not) but one of the biggest concerns that in itself became a conspiracy theory is that the new gaming counsel (through it's inbuilt motion sensing Kinect system) can see you naked, even with your clothes on. The reason behind this claim is due to a photo of a test subject seen through the view of the Kinect that allegedly shows his ding-dong, despite the fact that he is wearing clothes.

As it turns out that wasn't the man's private parts, but was actually a fold in his pants that people mistook for his you-know-what. Although it should be noted that the Xbox One can see you naked... if you're actually playing a video game infront of it while naked (and if that's your thing then have fun playing with it... the Xbox One I mean).

5. Something about Comet ISON

The passing through and eventual destruction of Comet ISON was considered one of the biggest astronomical events of this year, not to mention the fact that we gained a ton of data on not just this comet itself, but comets alone through our observations of the comet, including it's destruction by the Sun.

Besides just destroying the comet, the Sun also (hopefully) destroyed something else that went along with the comet: Conspiracy theories.

From what I can find there were three primary conspiracy theories concerning the comet: That the comet was going to hit the Earth and that NASA was covering it up (clearly not true, and would be impossible to cover up) that it was an alien space (if it was I would think that it would have maneuvered itself into a non-destructive path, unless the aliens were suicidal) or that it was a sign of the Rapture (which clearly didn't happen).

Regardless of whatever conspiracy theorist claim was being made about Comet ISON, they all turned out to be wrong.

4. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge wasn't actually pregnant.

This year Catherine, wife of Prince William and future Queen of England, gave birth to their first child, Prince George... or did she?

According to several conspiracy theorists the Duchess of Cambridge was not pregnant, and that the child was born from a surrogate mother chosen by the Illuminati (whether or not Prince William was the father depends on which conspiracy theorist you ask).

Now the reason why some conspiracy theorists were making this claim is also as absurd as the claim itself: she didn't really look pregnant, and in her first public appearance after the birth, she didn't look like she had just given birth...

3. Chemtrails are being used to poison angels in Heaven.

Probably one of the most absurd conspiracy theories that I read about this year was one that claimed that militant Atheists are using chemtrails to poison and kill angels. Sounds extremely absurd, right? Well, it is. Also sounds like satire too, don't it? Well, it is.

So right now you are probably asking "if it is satire, then why is it on this list?" Because a lot of conspiracy theorists didn't realize that it is satire and actually reposted the original article on their websites as if it were a real conspiracy theory, rather then something that some creative person just made up as a joke.

Come to think of it, that's how a lot of conspiracy theories are like (minus the joke part).

2. Gay people are deliberately spreading HIV with special rings.

This bizarre claim was made not by some random homophobic whack job with a blog or a Facebook page, but a famous homophobic whack job with his own nationally syndicated television program, Pat Robertson, and it was made on said television program.

Robertson's claims were that homosexuals wore special rings that were designed to cut people (usually via a hand shake) and that these rings had HIV on them, and that homosexuals used these rings to infect people (especially people they don't like).

These claims were extremely absurd. Infact they were so absurd (and embarrassing) that CBN removed them from their website and tried to get the videos of Robertson saying them removed from the internet (and utterly failed to do so), which shows two things: The people incharge of CBN do realize that certain bigoted remarks can go to far, and that people incharge of CBN do not know how the internet works.

1. President Obama and George Soros planned to nuke 300 million Americans.

According to Jim Garrow, a right wing activist whom now claims to be a former intelligence officer, claimed while on Erik Rush's radio show that President Obama was planning to drop nuclear bombs on the population and was going to kill around 300 million people. This "plot" was stop by three military officers whom he claims were fired because they stopped the President's "evil plot" (turns out they were relieved of duty due to behavior unbecoming of an officer).

The whole conspiracy theory in itself is absurd just on the those claims alone, but it goes even further into the land of bizarreness for the reason why President Obama was planning on doing this: to make George Soros richer via betting against the U.S. Dollar...

So there you have it folks, the ten of what I feel are the most bizarre, absurd, and dumb conspiracy theories of 2013. If you have any conspiracies theories that were created this year and feel they should have been on this list, please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

5 Things I've noticed about... Bizarre Conspiracy Theories

When you dive into the world of conspiracy theories (either as a skeptic, or a conspiracy theorist, or just a curious onlooker) you will ultimately come across some conspiracy theories that sound really, really bizarre...

In fact ever since I started doing serious skepticism and debunking and investigating conspiracy theories I have found conspiracy theories so strange that I could never have possibly have thought of them (which is probably a good thing).

Now while there are a lot of things I have noticed about bizarre conspiracy theories, I have narrowed it down to five different things.

So here are five things I've noticed about bizarre conspiracy theories:

5. They're indicators of mental illness.

First I want to say that anyone who believes that the world is controlled by shape-shifting aliens, or that the World Trade Center towers were brought down by lasers, or that the government is using radio signals to attack peoples minds, or believes in crisis actors, or believes that chemtrails are real is not necessarily mentally ill... I'm just saying it's a pretty strong indicator of mental illness, especially when you consider the fact that others who also believe in such conspiracy theories have engaged in behavior that strongly indicates that they are mentally ill (such as making long and incoherent rants, or harassing people, or making threats), or actually has been found out or proven to be mentally ill.

It's not just the people who believe in them either. Many of the people whom have created the most bizarre conspiracy theories out there are they themselves believed to be mentally ill. Even the ones who are very intelligent and hold college degrees, but come up with these weird conspiracy theories, are automatically assumed to be mentally ill because it's really the most logical explanation for many skeptics concerning a person whom is very smart but believes in really weird stuff.

4. There is no deep end to them.

Have you ever heard or read about a conspiracy theory that made you think, "there is no way that there can be something stranger than this..." Well, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but trust me when I say this, there is a conspiracy theory out there that is more bizarre than what you have just heard or read about. And if there isn't one, one will be invented soon enough.

Now I don't blame anyone for believing that whenever they hear about a crazy conspiracy theory that they believe that it is the craziest conspiracy theory out there, I use to believe that myself when I came across a really bizarre conspiracy, but then I would be proven wrong again and again whenever I kept coming across one even more bizarre than the next one, it kind of destroyed my ability to believe that there is a bottom to conspiracy theory craziness.

In fact some are so bizarre that...

3. They are confused for satire.

It really should not surprise anyone that there are some conspiracy theories out there that are either so weird, or so bizarre, that some people don't believe that it is a real conspiracy theory (well, as real as one can be) and that it was made up as a parody of other conspiracy theories, or some type of satire, or, as some conspiracy theorists may claim, dis-information.

This is something that even I have assumed at times whenever I see a bizarre conspiracy theory, either in the hope that no one can seriously be so crazy that they could come up with such a thing, or that it just looks like satire.

In fact some have actually turned out to be satire (or a hoax) but because some conspiracy theorists can't tell the difference between what is real and what is fake, some of them assume that it is real.

2. Other conspiracy theorists will debunk them in an attempt to look credible.

Sometimes a conspiracy theorist will debunk an even more bizarre conspiracy theory (usually about the same event) in order to either look like they are capable of not accepting every conspiracy theory that is put out there, or to make their own conspiracy theory look more credible by making people believe that they have done their research and have discarded any theories that do not prove true (except their own).

Now the real probable reason why conspiracy theorists reject and even debunk the more bizarre sounding conspiracy theories is because if they don't then it makes it appear as if they also accept those conspiracy theories, and it might also help to make the conspiracy theory that they promote appear less bizarre as well. The only problem with that is...

1. Most conspiracy theories are bizarre.

Just because a conspiracy theory at least sounds "plausible" (and I use that term very loosely) or because a lot of conspiracy theorists accept it, it doesn't mean that particular conspiracy theory isn't any less bizarre then the one that doesn't sound plausible at all. An example of this would be the various 9/11 conspiracy theories, which in my opinion all of them sound just as bizarre as the one that is considered to be the most bizarre, the space laser theory.

The fact is that almost every conspiracy theory there is is actually pretty bizarre, and that the only reason why it might sound less bizarre than other conspiracy theories is that it at least (usually) involves something that might exist, rather than other really bizarre conspiracy theories that involves something that does not exist.

And of course just like with the bizarre conspiracy theories, all conspiracy theories have one thing in common: They all end up getting debunked.

6 Conspiracy theories that make people paranoid

There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there, and while most of them tend to be, well... stupid, for the most part they're pretty harmless (although some of the people who believe in them are not so harmless).

On the other hand, there are some conspiracy theories that can drive a person to become paranoid, and possibly even act out in very disturbing ways, perhaps even in a violent manner towards those who they feel are apart of that conspiracy.

Here are a few of those conspiracy theories:

Chemtrails

Chemtrails is a conspiracy theory in which some conspiracy theorists believe that the government is spraying chemicals on the population from air planes, and that the contrails coming out of many air planes are actually laced with chemicals, and thus called "chemtrails".

Now despite the fact that the chemtrail conspiracy theories have been debunked, some people take it very seriously. So seriously in fact that many conspiracy theorists will spray vinegar into the air whenever they see a contrail (because they believe that doing so will destroy a chemtrail), or even go to a hospital whenever they see a bunch of contrails in the air, because they are seriously afraid it might cause them health problems.

Some people have even taken their paranoia a step further and have threatened shoot down air planes because they think they are spraying chemtrails.

Mind control

If there is one conspiracy theory that believing in can cause a person to become very paranoid (although it may also be a strong indicator of a serious mental illness) it would be the mind control conspiracy theories, particularly the ones that involve some sort of telepathy.

The fact is that if a person believes that their mind can be attacked at any point in time it tends to leave that person extremely paranoid, and causes them to do some pretty bizarre stuff, such as wearing hats made out of aluminum foil, or even covering their entire house in aluminum foil (because they believe it will block out what ever rays are being used to control their minds).

This may also cause some people to be wary of other people as well, even people who might try to help them overcome their fear, because they fear that person might come under some kind of mind control as well and harm them.

Shape-shifting aliens

Often times attributed to David Icke, there are some people out there who seriously believe that there are shape-shifting reptilian aliens that not only walk among us, but are in control of the world, and that many world leaders are actually aliens from either another world or dimension.

I really wish I was making this up, but sadly I am not. There are people out there that are so paranoid, and so delusional, that they seriously believe that the leaders of the world are actually shape-shifting lizards from another planet or universe.

The belief that another person is a shape-shifting alien doesn't just include world leaders, it can actually include anyone, be it a celebrity, a rich person, some random person, myself, and even David Icke (who has been accused of being a shape-shifting alien).

Some people who believe in this conspiracy theory are even so paranoid and delusional in their beliefs that they believe that they themselves are a shape-shift alien...

Dis-info agents

Just about every skeptic and debunker has at one time or another been called a dis-info agent. This is just a general reaction by conspiracy theorists when a skeptic either refuses to believe them, or presents evidence showing that the conspiracy theorist's claims are false.

While some conspiracy theorists may cry out "dis-info agent" whenever they encounter a skeptic, many conspiracy theorists really do believe that there are dis-info agents out there, and that they are out there to "trick" people into no longer believing a conspiracy theory that they promote.

This belief in dis-info agents often times causes many conspiracy theorist to disregard any fact that would disprove their conspiracy theory, and basically regard it as being nothing more than disinformation, no matter how sound it is. This paranoia can even go so far that some conspiracy theorists will believe that other conspiracy theorists are also dis-info agents as well if that conspiracy theorist's conspiracy theory is to much un-alike their own.

FEMA camps

FEMA camps is another one of those conspiracy theories that has been around for a long time, yet has no evidence to back it up, but many people still believe in it and that these FEMA camps exists.

People who believe in this conspiracy theory claim that the government is constructing prison camps to be run by FEMA all across the country inorder to imprison anyone who they feel will oppose the government in some up and coming police state (which according to them is just around the corner... and has been for the last couple of decades).

This constant fear that the government is going to create a police state and ship people off to these imaginary prison camps can cause some people to act out in very irrational ways, including building huge bunkers in which to hide out in and perhaps fight from, buy up huge amounts of guns and ammunition and other type of supplies, and cut off contact with people. It can also make a person become violent towards anyone who works for the government (especially law enforcement), or just drive a person to the point of suicide due to the fear that they will be imprisoned or killed.

The Illuminati

There are many people out there that believe that, despite the evidence to the contrary, that the Illuminati exists, and that it controls the media, and the banks, and the government, and corporations, and just about everything... except apparently for the internet where anyone can create a website that opposes the Illuminate, as well as whomever is broadcasting Alex Jones's radio program.

The belief that the Illuminati exists can be very strong in some people, and can cause some people obsessively look for "Illuminati" symbols wherever they believe them to be. It can also cause them to accuse people (mostly people who are rich or famous, or are a politician) of being a member of the Illuminati. Sometimes it's not even someone whom is one of the rich and powerful, sometimes it can be just a regular person whom is apart of a group that is accused of being a front group for the Illuminati (example: Free Masons), or even a certain religion.

Because this belief in the Illuminati can be so strong in some people it can actually cause some people to distance themselves from anyone whom they believe to be a member of the Illuminati, or get into huge arguments with people who don't believe in the Illuminati.

Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories: Mind Control

Ever feel like someone else is controlling your mind?

Well, that simply could be the result of stress. Or maybe you have some psychological issues. Or maybe someone else really is controlling your mind...

Yes, there really are some people out there that really do believe that their minds are being controlled by someone else, and I'm not just talking about "brain washing" either (which is very real) but actual mind control, in which someone's mind is being directly controlled by an outside source (as oppose to brain washing, being more of an indirect control of another person's mind, and can be broken using therapy, or just an individual's own will power).

While there are multiple things in the world that people who claim to be victims of mind control (Target Individuals  or T.I. for short, as they tend to call themselves) claim that certain shadowy groups are using to execute this mind control, the two most common forms are telepathy, and radio waves.

Now the telepathy one is easy to explain: It doesn't exist.

There have been multiple studies to see whether or not telepathy is real, and all of those studies have shown that, despite being popular for comic books and science fiction novels, it is not real, and that we cannot control other people's thoughts and actions simply with our own minds.

While several governments have actually tried to use people who claimed to telepathic (or train people to become telepathic) for the use of espionage purposes (which includes the US government), most of the time these programs are abandoned simply because these programs produce no results, and become they are a big waste of time and money.

As for the claim that radio waves (in particular, extreme low frequency radio waves) can control a person's mind, this one also seems very highly unlikely that this would work as well (even if it could be proven to work in the first place).

For one thing, we are constantly being bombarded by radio waves from multiple sources (including natural sources), and they don't affect us one bit, most especially our minds. Also, all studies into ELF waves have shown that (despite popular belief by T.I.s, and other conspiracy theorists) they do not affect the human minds, otherwise it would be affecting all of us all the time because many things around us give off ELF waves (one of the most common being power lines).

Now despite the evidence that it's not even possible to control a person's mind (at least by the use of external sources) those that believe it is real also believe that such "attacks" can be blocked. Perhaps the most popular ways to block these alleged mind attacks is to wrap tin foil around your head (whom's origins may or may not be based on the Faraday cage).

Odds are this wouldn't work.

For one thing, most tinfoil hats only cover the top of the head and the forehead, so they would not give total protection. Another thing is that tinfoil hats most likely wouldn't be able to block telepathic attacks either, as telepathy most likely would be "something" other than radio waves. Also, there some studies that have suggested that tinfoil hats would more likely act like an antenna, rather than a shield. Studies that have shown that it could work (as long as it is well constructed) have been shown to only reduce radio waves getting to a targeted object (such as a radio), rather than eliminating them, and that only works if the metal construct isn't touching the antenna of said object.

Even if it was possible to control a person using radio waves or telepathy, it would be pretty hard to do in the first place due to the fact that you would have to know where the person was all the time, and target them so precisely that it wouldn't effect other people around, and then keep locked on that person (because people tend to move).

So you might be asking yourself "if mind control isn't real, then why do some people believe that their minds are being controlled, and that their thoughts are being read"?

There are two simple answers to this:

First, many people who believe in this are most likely very gullible, and are prone to mass hysteria (like believing that your mind can be controlled be the government).

Second, they could also be severally mentally ill, that if left untreated could cause them to have delusions that can cause a person to very seriously believe that their thoughts are being read, and that their minds are being controlled.

To put this article to a point, if you believe that your thoughts are being read, and that your mind is being controlled from an outside source, you should seriously consider seeking psychological help.

Ten bizarre conspiracy theories

There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there, and while most of them are pretty strange, some are truly bizarre, even to the point where a person who believes in the conspiracy theory is suspected of being mentally ill, and that the conspiracy theory itself is believed to be a hoax.

While there is no universal consensus amongst skeptics about which conspiracy theories really are the most bizarre conspiracy theories, here are what may be the ten most bizarre conspiracy theories:

10. The government can read you thoughts and control your mind

For decades now some conspiracy theorists have been claiming that the government can not only control your mind, but can read your thoughts as well, either through electronic and other electrical devices, or even through radio waves, and even light itself.

One of the most common claims by people who believe this is that tin foil hats can combat this.

This type of conspiracy theory is most often believed in by people with untreated schizophrenia, although sometimes it's just people who are very paranoid.

9. The Moon is a hologram

People who claim to believe in this claim that Moon is a hologram, either created by aliens, or the government.

Besides the fact that this conspiracy theories ignores everything we know about gravity and tidal effects (and a whole bunch of other sciences) there is speculation that the whole conspiracy theory itself is nothing more then a hoax.

8. We live in the Matrix

If you've ever seen the Matrix then you probably know what I'm talking about. This theory states that we really live in a simulated reality, and that everything we see, including ourselves, are nothing more then computer generated images.

The problem with this is that there is no proof of this what so ever.

7. No planes hit the World Trade Center towers

Literary considered the fringe section of the 9/11 Truth movement, people who proclaim these theories claim that the WTC towers were not hit by planes, and that what we saw on TV were either holograms or computer generated images, and that the towers were hit by a missile, or destroyed by lasers from space.

This conspiracy theory is considered so insane that other people in the 9/11 Truth movement have debunked this.

6. Shape-shifting aliens control the Earth

This conspiracy theory, which is primarily promoted by David Icke, states that the world is controlled by evil shape-shifting reptilian aliens from either another planet or dimension.

People who believe in this conspiracy theory tend to accuse just about everyone with just a little bit of power of really being an alien, this includes David Icke.

Many skeptics and critics of this conspiracy theory have accused Icke of being anti-Semitic, and that "shape-shifting reptilian" is a code word for "Jews".

5. The Philadelphia Experiment

The conspiracy theory claims that during World War 2 the United States conducted an experiment using the USS Eldridge to try to render the ship invisible, but instead either sent the ship backwards or forward in time, or to another dimension.

There are many claims that when the ship returned crew members were found to be embedded in the ship itself, or later developed mental problems, or just disappeared, sometimes weeks or even months after the experiment occurred, sometimes even in public places with many people around.

The problem with this is that there is no documentation of any such experiment ever occurring, or claims made by other people who said to see crew members disappear out of thin air in these public places. Plus crew members have stated that the ship never left port when this experiment was suppose to be occurring. Because of this many skeptics consider this conspiracy theory to be a hoax.

4. Obama is Osama

While there are a lot of conspiracy theories leveled against Barrack Obama, one of the most bizarre is that President Obama is actually Osama bin Laden.

Other then the fact that Obama and Osama are similar sounding names, the two are not the same person. They don't even look alike.

The conspiracy theory itself appears to be nothing more then an example Obama Derangement Syndrome, in which some people will believe anything negative about President Obama without question.

3. Flat Earth

People who believe that the Earth is flat also usually believe the there is conspiracy by government of the world (or the Illuminate, or aliens) to suppress this information, and create fake photos of the Earth from outer space as proof that the Earth is round.

While the concept of flat Earth is a more modern concept (contrary to popular belief) and has to ignore everything we know about the Earth, the people who do believe this claim the "truth" about about the Earth is being suppressed in order to subvert the Bible (even though the Bible itself says the Earth is round).

2. Project Blue Beam

In this conspiracy theory it's basically claimed that NASA and the Illuminate will use advance technology to simulate an alien invasion, the Rapture, and the Second Coming of Jesus, and that the world will be ruled by the Anti-Christ through a New Age religion, and that Islam and Christianity will destroyed within a day's time.

As I'm sure most of you can tell this is a pretty bizarre conspiracy theory. There have also been many predictions of when this is suppose to happen. All of those predictions have failed.

1. Montauk Project

This conspiracy theory claims that scientists at Montauk Air Force Base created an interdimensional portal, and also worked with aliens and Nikola Tesla. It's claimed that these things happened in the 1960's to the 1980's, years after Tesla actually died. There are also claims that there were experiments in time travel, psychic abilities, and that the alleged "Men in Black" corps was created there.

These aren't even some of the more bizarre claims, and it's even been accused of being a hoax created by Jacques Vallée and Preston Nichols as a means to sell books about this conspiracy, being that they are the only two people who claim to have knowledge of this place. Still, it is considered by many skeptics to be the most bizarre conspiracy theory out there.

5 Traits of a Cult

For a while now I have been examining cults and certain practices on how they conduct themselves, and how the leadership in cults controls their members.

Below is a list of five traits that many cults tend to have:

(It should be noted that not all cults contain all five of these traits, but many do, and most other cults contain at least four out of five of these traits)

5. Isolation

Perhaps one of the most well known traits of a cult is the isolation of it's members. Isolation can include things such as encouraging, or even enforcing it's members to lessen, or have no contact at all with people who criticize the cult, including friends and even family.

Some of this is even more extreme, in which cults not only encourage isolation from friends and family, but from society itself. This can include anything from just having only contact with other members of the cult, and having as little contact with anyone else as much as possible, to living away from society in compounds.

Another form of isolation that cults sometimes engage in is to make it's members act in such an obscene, hostile, annoying, or even forceful manner, that no one wants to be near them.

4. Financial

Cult leaders often times encourage their members to give up large sums of money, usually through either fraud programs that makes a person believe they will advance in the cult, or as a form of donation to help advance the cult itself, or in some cases, both.

One of the other ways cult's get money from their members, and even non-members who may just have an interest in the cult's teachings, is to sell overpriced products, such as books that promote the cult's teachings, or overpriced services that really do nothing. Sometimes it is not even cult members and people who are interested in the cult that buy these things, but sometimes it's just ordinary people who get scammed into buying stuff from these cults.

Other ways cult leaders control people through finical means is to "encourage", or more often times try to force it's members to do work for the cult, usually for either little, or no pay. The difference between this and volunteering is that with volunteering is that you can leave whenever you want. With a cult, this might not be an actual option, and they might try to prevent you from leaving, and can include anything from being threatened, to being physically kept from leaving.

3. Extreme Negative Reaction to Criticism

Many cult members react very negatively toward criticism. Most often times this reaction to criticism comes in the form of insults, threats, or long, sometimes copied and pasted posts on internet message boards and comment sections, usually as an attempt to silence a critic through either fear, or posts of attrition. Also this is sometimes done as a way to spread their cult's propaganda.

Other types of reactions include much more hostile, and many times, illegal forms of negative reactions, such as harassment, slander, theft, vandalism, blackmail, and filling frivolous lawsuits. Sometimes this can even include violent actions, such as assault, and even in some rare cases, murder.

2. Engaging in Dangerous, Destructive, or Illegal Behaviors

One of the most common things cult leaders often encourage their members to do is to engage in actions and behaviors that can be considered dangerous, destructive, and even illegal. Many of these behaviors include greatly encouraging, or intimidating members into not engaging in certain medical practices that are often times life saving, or to engage in certain medical practices that are unnecessary, or to engage in alternative types medical practices that often times do nothing, or does more harm then good. Often times these programs that offer such medical practices are run by the cult itself, or members of the cult.

Another type of dangerous behavior often times encouraged by cults, is for members to tell their secrets to other member. Most of the time this is claimed as a way to "cleanse" ones self. What this is actually used for, most of the time, is to gain information about a member that can be later used to blackmail them, if need be.

Other types of destructive and illegal actions and behaviors also sometimes include forcibly isolating members, and holding them against their will, usually when they're showing signs of mental illness, or just wanting leave the cult. Still, some other types of illegal actions can include cult sanctioned abuse, both physical and sexual. In the most extreme cases, cult leaders sometimes talk about having their members commit suicide, or commit murder.

1. Secretiveness

Most cults are very secretive, and many cult members are "encouraged", or forced, not to reveal certain teaching, or practices, within the cult to outsiders, or they don't want certain illegal activities to catch the attention of authorities. Threats of lawsuits, being kicked out of the cult, and violence, are often very common.

Many times it's not just the teachings and practices cult leaders don't want revealed, it's the actions of members within the cult itself, and usually it's illegal actions they want to cover up.

The reason why most cults are so secretive is most likely because if any negative things get revealed, then this tends brings a lot of negative attention to a cult, and sometimes it can bring down a cult and destroy it, either by authorities, or by members leaving.

Conspiracy Theorist Groups: The Cults of the 21st Century

In the 20th century, cults often times encouraged their members to believe in conspiracy theories. In fact, some of the core beliefs of many cults that were created in the 20th century are conspiracy theories.

In this century, so far very few cults have emerged. In fact, I really only know of two "major" cults that have emerged in this century so far.

The first is called Desteni, which, besides it's very bizarre beliefs, much of which can be read about on the Desteni Cult blog, is that also that many of their beliefs are also based on UFO conspiracy theories and New World Order conspiracy theories, and that they advocate a pseudo-economic system known as the "equal money system". It also encourages people to alter what they think, but how they think, and encourages members of the cult to be very hostile towards critics of the cult.

Besides Desteni, another cult that has emerged in this century, called the Zeitgeist Movement, is based entirely on conspiracy theories, and also advocating a pseudo-economic system known as the "resourced based economy". Plus, like Desteni, Zeitgeist not only encourages people to alter what they think, but how they actually think as well, and it's leaders encourages members to engage their critics in very hostile and volatile manners.

While Desteni it self might be considered stereotypical mind control cult, and Zeitgeist is also considered to be a cult as well, it seems that many conspiracy theorist groups also are cult like in the way they act. Not only do other members encourage follow members to believe what they advocate, but that they also encourage their follow members to distance and isolate themselves from people who might not believe what they believe, and to believe that those people are members of a group that is out to destroy them, and to engage critics in a hostile manner. Also, they are often encouraged to engage in actions that might cause others to distance themselves from them, such as badgering people to believe in what they believe.

Conspiracy theorist groups often times also encourage their members to engage in faulty, or even dangerous medical practices, or reject certain proven medical practices, because they have been told those practices are dangerous.

Also, many conspiracy theorist groups have a kind of "after the end" kind of belief, in which they believe the world will be allot better after these so called "shadow forces" that allegedly control the world are destroyed, and that their own beliefs on how the world should be run is the way to go.

So, are conspiracy theorist groups, cults? Not in all cases, but most do tend to have some cult-like behaviors and actions, and there is the chance such a group could become a cult.

Remember, the Zeitgeist Movement wasn't always considered a cult...