Conspiracy Theories and My Thoughts on Them

Everyone knows who Paul McCartney is from his membership in the iconic singing group, the Beatles.  However, allegedly on November 9^th of 1966 Paul McCartney died.  He was driving on an icy road and skidded, crashing into a pole (Chen).  The remaining members of the Beatles wanted to keep their group going and were scared of how Paul’s death would impact the image of the whole group.  Billy Shears, a man who looked and sounded like Paul was found as a replacement.  People who believe that Paul did actually die have found discrepancies between the faces of Paul and Billy.  They say that their chins and ears are not the same (Chen).

To further this theory, clues to Paul’s death have been found in various songs.  In the song “Taxman” George Harrison gives Paul advice when he gives “advice to those who’ve died” (Time).  In John Lennon’s song “A Day in the Life” the lyrics “he blew his mind out in a car” are included.  These lyrics match up perfectly with the story of how Paul died.  The words “Paul is dead, miss him, miss him” are also found in this song but are only revealed when played backwards.  Another song from John Lennon, “Strawberry Fields” contains the phrase “I buried Paul”.  In an interview, Lennon says that he said “cranberry sauce” instead.  He also claims that there was nothing put into his songs that are meant to be played backwards to reveal the true meaning (Time).  There is also suggested evidence found on the covers of some of the Beatles’ albums.

When I read this theory at first, I thought that there were many similarities to the Avril Lavigne conspiracy theory.  In both of them, famous singers were replaced by look a likes to cover up their deaths.  I think that this theory is possible.  I think that there is so much evidence that could be used to make the case that Paul McCartney actually did die.  One or two of these pieces of evidence, standing alone would make me think that it isn’t true.  However, there are so many small pieces of evidence that back up this death.  The connection each has to another is uncanny.  For example, in the album cover that looks like the Beatles are going to a funeral, why did Paul have to be the one that doesn’t have shoes, suggesting he is already dead.  I also don’t understand how the lyrics “he blew his mind out in a car” are randomly included when that is the exact way Paul supposedly died.  The only reason I doubt that this theory is true is that Paul and Billy look so much alike and they have the same voice.  Although possible, this is highly improbable.

 

Chen, Joyce. “Paul McCartney: Music’s Most WTF Conspiracy Theories, Explained.” Rolling Stone, 26 Sept. 2018, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/paul-mccartney-is-dead-musics-most-wtf-conspiracy-theories-explained-120340/.

“Conspiracy Theories.” Time, Time Inc., 20 Nov. 2008, content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1860871_1860876_1860997,00.html.

There was a crash involving a mysterious object near Roswell, a city in New Mexico, in 1941.  At the time, many Americans were obsessing over Extraterrestrial life and were quick to believe that the crash involved Aliens.  Initially the U.S. military claimed that the object recovered at the crash site was a flying disk.  They then later refuted that statement and said it was only a weather balloon.  Now it is known to have been an aircraft the United States was using to detect Nuclear Activity from the Soviet Union (Editors, History.com).  The debris from the mysterious object was discovered by a rancher.  He brought the pieces of tin foil, sticks, and strips of rubber that he found at the crash site to the Roswell Sheriff.  The Roswell sheriff gave the items to the Roswell army air field, they were the ones who originally claimed it was a flying disk (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia).

I am not quite sure if I believe that the object found was truly just a hot air balloon.  I do think it is highly likely that there are extraterrestrial species that possibly observe earth.  The object found could have been pieces from a flying disk and the government is just covering up.  I think the government very well could have switched out what was found at the site.  I think it comes down to if you trust the government or not.  Someone in the government would’ve switched the pieces and their organizations are the ones that said it was an air balloon.  Something that I definitely think is unreliable about the statements presented by the government is that they changed.  I think it would have been smarter of them to say they are working on identifying the object than sending out multiple messages when they are unsure what they want to name it.  I understand that the Air Force did not want to reveal that the object was an aircraft to detect nuclear activity from the Soviet Union because it was top secret; however, I still think they should’ve stuck with one statement.  The rancher who found the pieces of the object thought that it was a flying disk (Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia), but if one has never been found before, there is nothing to base that thinking off of.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Roswell Incident.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 3 July 2018, www.britannica.com/event/Roswell-incident.

Editors, History.com. “Roswell.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/topics/paranormal/roswell.

Concluding the mini series involving the conspiracy theories regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, one more theory will be discussed.  This theory entails Cuban and Soviet communication with Oswald, wrapping the two countries in with the murder.  Lee Harvey Oswald, the man convicted of JFK’s assassination lived in Minsk for a couple years, and was a known Marxist.  He visited Mexico City shortly after moving back to the United States. This trip was only two months before the assassination of JFK.  Oswald was under strict surveillance from the CIA and FBI because he frequently met with soviet and Cuban spies (Miller).  Since the CIA and FBI seemed to know that Oswald was a threat to the United States, it might seem as if they were fine with Oswald killing JFK.  This ties back into the conspiracy theory that the CIA wanted Kennedy out of office and had involvement in the murder.  I definitely think that either the Soviet Union or Cuba was involved in the assassination of JFK.  Oswald must have talked to people about his intentions to kill the president and people from these places seem likely because they held negative views of the United States and Kennedy’s presidency.  I think that they definitely encouraged Oswald to commit the crime and might have even offered a favor for completion of the crime.  This would give Oswald more incentive to commit the crime.  The only reason I see for this not occurring is that it would be better for Cuba and the Soviet Union to have Kennedy stay in office instead of LBJ taking over.  Despite this being true, I think that the people involved might not have cared too much about this and would rather shake up America.

Oswald denied every accusation relating to committing the murder of JFK and said he was just easy to blame for it.  He was shot on a street a couple days after Kennedy’s death.  Something all of these conspiracy theories have in common is that none of them can be verified.  I think that all of them could have been easily verified if Oswald was still alive.  I think that he should have been forced to answer questions that would reveal his exact motivation and other conspirators.  Now nobody will ever know the truth of Kennedy’s assassination because Oswald was killed.  60% of Americans think that what is out right now, isn’t the truth, and now the world may never know (Miller).

Miller, Michael E. “JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theories: The Grassy Knoll, Umbrella Man, LBJ and Ted Cruz’s Dad.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 27 Oct. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/24/jfk-assassination-conspiracy-theories-the-grassy-knoll-umbrella-man-lbj-and-ted-cruzs-dad/?utm_term=.c75456bead11.

In addition to the Umbrella Conspiracy Theory pertaining to the assassination of John F. Kennedy discussed in my last post, two more will be discussed this week.  Another theory is one that involves Lee Harvey Oswald not being the murderer of JFK.  In this theory, the driver of the car, William Greer, is the assassin.  In bad quality videos of the parade, it looks like Greer is reaching behind his seat and shoots a gun at Kennedy (Miller).  Supporters of this theory say it explains why his Wife Jacqueline crawls away from the front of the car, onto the boot.  She wanted to get out of easy aim of the driver.  This theory is only supported by a bad quality version of the video.  People who believe this theory have said that the video may have been taken to make it look like Greer is not moving his hands off the steering wheel.  I do not think this theory is one of the stronger ones and the likelihood of its occurrence is slim.  I think that Jaqueline might have moved out of her seat to avoid being shot as well with only a small adjustment in aim of the shooter.

Another theory is that the CIA and Lyndon B. Johnson, Vice President to Kennedy, were involved in the assassination of the president.  Lyndon B. Johnson wanted to be president so he aided in the murder of JFK, enabling his succession (Clancy).  Supporters of the theory think that Oswald had nothing to really gain from killing JFK while LBJ had everything to gain.  There was no real motivation behind Oswald committing the murder except that he disagreed with Kennedy politically.  Theorists say that LBJ wanted to be president of the United States so bad, he was willing to commit murder for it.  However, if he himself committed the murder, he would not become president.  It was easy to make Oswald take the entire fall.  The CIA comes to play in this theory in that the organization has motivation from changes JFK made to the organization.  After the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion, JFK made some changes to the CIA that the organization saw almost as a punishment.  My opinion on this is varying.  I think that this is theory is likely, however I would like to see more evidence to support the connection between LBJ and Oswald.  I see how LBJ and the CIA are much more likely to have a valid reason to get Kennedy out of office than Oswald does.  In order for me not to discredit this theory, I would like to see a stronger connection be made between Oswald and motivation for the killing.  Like did Kennedy’s policies directly effect someone significant to Oswald?

Clancy, Michael. “JFK Conspiracy Theorist Points Finger at LBJ.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 21 Nov. 2013, www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/21/jfk-conspiracy-theorist-points-finger-at-lbj/3660765/.

Miller, Michael E. “JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theories: The Grassy Knoll, Umbrella Man, LBJ and Ted Cruz’s Dad.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 27 Oct. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/24/jfk-assassination-conspiracy-theories-the-grassy-knoll-umbrella-man-lbj-and-ted-cruzs-dad/?utm_term=.c75456bead11.

 

For those who aren’t familiar with the assassination of president John F. Kennedy, JFK was shot on November 22^nd in 1963 (“Assassination of John F. Kennedy”).  He was riding in a car with his wife, the governor of Texas, and his wife when Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK from a nearby building.  Oswald was arrested 70 minutes after firing the deadly shot.  He was also assassinated 2 days later by Jack Ruby.  It was ruled that both assassins acted alone in their killings.  In 1968 the house of representatives voted to reopen the investigation on JFKs murder.  Both the original and the second investigation reached the conclusion that the assassination had no involvement with the Soviet Union, Cuba, or the CIA (Miller).  Although this conclusion was reached a second time, the House investigation did say that there was likely involvement of a second gunman.  This is a prominent reason for the emergence of many conspiracy theories around the assassination of JFK.

One of the well-known conspiracy theories is one involving a man who had a black umbrella.  According to this theory, the man with the umbrella shot a poison dart at the neck of JFK in order to limit mobility of his head and allow for an accurate shot from Oswald (Miller).  The man with the umbrella was Louis Steven Witt.  In 1978 he said he brought the umbrella to heckle the president, not aid in his assassination.  He said he chose a black umbrella because Joseph Kennedy (JFK’s father) was a supporter of Neville Chamberlin, a British prime minister that is known for carrying black umbrellas.  I think it was easy for Witt to deny the accusations of involvement in the murder because of the lack of proof.  Everything that supported the theory was possible but there was no physical evidence.  There is no reason for Witt to say he did anything wrong because his confession would be the only proof of his involvement.  I think that it is possible that something, like a poison dart, was fired to limit the maneuvering of JFK’s head because it looks like there was not much movement of his head in moments leading up to the shot by Oswald (ertGaming).  I watched the video of the shooting and it would have been hard to tell if something else was shot at JFK because the camera quality back then is not what we have today.

“Assassination of John F. Kennedy.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Mar. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy.

ertGaming. “JFK Assassination Footage with Dallas DPD Sound.” YouTube, YouTube, 22 Jan. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=F46VxwRG8ws.

Miller, Michael E. “JFK Assassination Conspiracy Theories: The Grassy Knoll, Umbrella Man, LBJ and Ted Cruz’s Dad.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 27 Oct. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/24/jfk-assassination-conspiracy-theories-the-grassy-knoll-umbrella-man-lbj-and-ted-cruzs-dad/?utm_term=.c75456bead11.

One conspiracy theory recently brought to light by YouTube star Shane Dawson involves the family friendly restaurant, Chuck E. Cheese.  Upon receiving the knowledge that there is a conspiracy theory involving Chuck E. Cheese, I was heartbroken.  Memories I have going there and eating their pizza ran through my mind. In Shane Dawson’s video, he described how the pizzas at Chuck E. Cheese are composed of slices that do not match.  He ordered three pizzas when he went to the restaurant and they did look this way.  The following is a picture of one of the pizzas that Shane Dawson actually received. 

He went to Chuck E. Cheese with a couple of his friends and they all theorized that the workers possibly take left over slices from pizzas that were not finished and combine them to make pizzas for new orders.  The slices are clearly different sizes than one another and do not appear to be from the same pizza.  I think if all the slices are from the same pizza, they must have pulled apart the slices and rearranged them before serving.  I personally think that they probably do not recycle old slices but definitely do some sort of rearranging.  Maybe its to add additional slices or make a medium pizza look like a large.  He also added that there is an unusual amount of advertisement produced by the company saying that their pizzas are fresh.  This much advertisement must be to cover something up.  It sounds like they are trying to convince their customers.

Even though I do not think that the recycling of the old pizza slices is true, I do think that there is something wrong with the pizzas served.  When I was a kid I used to vomit nearly every time I went to Chuck E. Cheese.  I loved eating their pizzas so much.  It was my favorite type of pizza and pizza was my favorite food.  My mother stopped letting me and my siblings get pizza at Chuck E. Cheese because she noticed the correlation with their pizza and my upchucking.  However, that just prompted me to sneak pieces from other tables.  A quick anecdote: one time my grandmother took me, my siblings, and my cousin to a Chuck E. Cheese in San Diego, CA.  My parents were off at a resort of some sort and my Grandmother was watching us kids for the night.  She decided to take us to Chuck E. Cheese to burn off some energy and entertain us for the night.  She did not know about me and the pizza served there.  She let us order some and right on cue I felt sick.  I told her that my tummy ached and she went to the bathroom with me to see if I needed to throw up.  I did not throw up at the restaurant but she got a plastic bag for me to hold in the car unless I had to throw up on the drive home.  Upon arriving to her house, I asked if I should bring the bag inside with me.  She said no but to watch out and be careful not to throw up on her terracotta tiled porch.  I know you can already guess what happened.  I threw up on the porch.  I felt so bad that I threw up on the one place she told me not to.  She said it was fine and hosed it down.  I ended up continuing to be sick the remainder of the night.  That was the last time I had pizza from Chuck E. Cheese because that was the most ill I have ever been from the pizza.  I finally learned my lesson.

 

Shane’s Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNuKpwX6Tz4&t=4394s

This conspiracy theory is about how the Apollo Moon landings never actually took place.  To give those who may be unfamiliar with the Apollo Moon landings a little background information, they took place in the 1960s and 1970s.  The United States was very much involved in a space race with Russia.  The competition? You guessed it.  To see which country can achieve various one being, getting to space the first.  Russia beat the United States to sending a Satellite into space and into having a human go to space and enter earth’s orbit.  However, something the United States beat Russia to is going to the moon.  As a matter of fact, to this day, no other country has had a Human step foot on the moon besides the United States.   Supporters of this conspiracy believe that the landings were faked to trump the Russians.

Supporters of the conspiracy theory that the United States faked the Apollo Moon landings point out that there are not any stars in the photographs of the Astronauts on the moon.  When I first heard this, I was definitely considering the conspiracy.  Everyone knows that space is full of millions of stars.  We can see them ourselves down here on earth.  Why isn’t there a single one in the photos?  Those against the theory say that the moon itself, the Astronauts, and objects on the moon are what the pictures are trying to capture.  In order to capture these pictures, they would have to be the focus, making the exposure of the stars not fitting to get a good photo. Another support for the conspiracy theory is that the American Flag in the photos seems to be waving.  There would not have been any wind to allow the flag to wave on the moon.  This piece also sways me to think that the conspiracy theory may be true.   However, to refute, supposedly, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wanted the flag to appear to be waving.  They put a wire in the flag to add kinks that suggest it would be waving.  I personally find this a little odd.  I can see the point of view of wanting the flag to wave, but to go to the extent to fake it waving? I don’t know, not for me.

When the Astronauts returned from the moon, they brought back with them 800+ pounds of moon rock.  These were brought back to be studied by scientists, none of which have vocalized doubt of their origin.  The United States, being the nice country it is, has given scientists from other countries some of these rocks to study.  They have no incentive to lie about where they came from.  If the United States paid these scientists to lie, why would they even study the rock to begin with.

All in all, I do not support this theory.  I do sometimes wonder if it is true but the amount of evidence the United States would have to fake in order to pretend humans walked on the moon is enormous.  Stars not being included in photos threw me off at first, but having taken photos where I need to focus on a different object because of the contrasting exposures, I understand.  I do think the flag waving is odd.  But, there are so many recordings, documents, photos, and space rocks that go to show as evidence for the landings.

The first conspiracy theory I would like to offer my thoughts on is the one involving Avril Lavigne.  We all know Avril Lavigne from her iconic songs “Complicated”, “Sk8er Boy”, “Here’s to Never Growing Up”, and many others.  However, what many do not know is that she was replaced in 2003 with another similar-looking girl named Melissa.  I first heard about this Conspiracy theory from Twitter but now there are articles on it.  I know you’re thinking “Why would they replace Avril Lavigne?”.  The theory specifies that it is because Avril died.  The theory also suggests that Melissa was introduced before Avril died.  Avril’s record company supposedly had Melissa attend some events in Avril’s place because Avril had a difficult time dealing with fame.  The theory says that Avril committed suicide.  The record company wanted to continue making money off of Avril so they put Melissa in full time.

Backing to support this theory is the change in fashion style, elements of Avril’s songs, and photo comparisons.  Avril was a fan of only shorts and pants while Melissa prefers to wear dresses and skirts.  I do not think that this is persuading evidence.  I, for one, did not wear a single skirt or dress from 4^th-7^th grade.  I was the biggest tomboy.  However now I wear skirts and dresses all the time.  I even wore a dress every single day of December 2017 for the SAHT club I was a part of (Students Against Human Trafficking).  This proves that girls can go through changes in style.  Supporters of the theory say that Avril’s voice changed in the songs before and after her death.  I again do not think that this is reason to believe the theory.  I do not even notice a real difference in her voice.  If I did notice a significant change I would think that perhaps a new person was sound tuning her music. This photo is one from a post supporting the theory.  They say there is a noticeable difference in her freckles on her arm.  I think that this is actually worth-while evidence.  However, there could be other reasons for the changes in freckling.  The photos could also be photoshopped.

In conclusion, I think that this conspiracy theory is not true.  There was a post put out by the original author of the theory saying she made it up.  Believers of this theory think the record-company bribed her to release that statement.