Danny A's Dandy Blog

Johnny Gosch was a boy born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1969. On September 5, 1982, Gosch disappeared somewhere between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.  He was thought to be kidnapped. Without any evidence or leads, the case quickly went completely cold, and no arrests have been made even as of today. Jonny was a paper boy, and multiple witnesses had him at the paper drop picking up newspapers for his run through the neighborhoods that day. That was the last time multiple witnesses can attest that he was seen and alive. On August 12, 1984, Eugene Martin, another Des Moines-area paper carrier, disappeared under similar circumstances. Before Johnny, there was another boy named Etan Patz that was a paper carrier that also disappeared.

While the police were never ever able to make a connection between the three, it is tough to ignore the similarities. Over the years, many conspiracy theories regarding Johnny’s disappearance have been raised. According to Noreen Gosch’s account, she was awakened around 2:30 a.m. one morning in March 1997 by a knock at her apartment door. Waiting outside was Johnny Gosch, now 27, accompanied by an unidentified man. Gosch said she immediately recognized her son, who opened his shirt to reveal a birthmark on his chest. “We talked for about an hour or an hour and a half. He was with another man, but I have no idea who the person was. Johnny would look over to the other person for approval to speak,” says Gosch. “He didn’t say where he is living or where he was going.” She also said he told him he was put into a child sex ring. She received pictures of a man tied up in a basement, leading her to believe the theory was true. Gosch reported that she found photographs left at her front door, some of which she posted on her website. One color photo show three boys bound and gagged. She says that a black-and-white photo shows 12-year-old Johnny Gosch with his mouth gagged, his hands and feet tied, and an apparent human brand on his shoulder. However, the pictures she received were never proven to be Johnny, and the “visit” made by Johnny was ever made. The father has even gone out and publicly said that he does not believe the visit happened.

To me, that seems to be the most likely theory that he was put in a child sex trafficking ring, but I definitely do not believe that the boy made visits to his mother, told her what happened, but never came home. There are other theories that are a little more farfetched, such as that a white house reporter named Jeff Gannon is the same person as Johnny Gosch. The case had gone cold for over thirty years, and to this day this remain one of the country’s most famous unsolved kidnapping cases. 

The National Football League (NFL) never appreciates anything that can lead to them having bad publicity. In the 2009 NFC championship game, the Saints played the Vikings, in which has since become a heated rivalry between the two. After a Saints victory, several Vikings players and coaches believed and said publicly that the Saints players were purposely trying to injure Vikings star quarterback Brett Favre.

The Vikings counted thirteen instances at least on film, including one instance where two players on the Saints tackled Brett Farve, one tackling him high and one tackling him low, briefly knocking Favre out with an ankle injury. They also said it looked like the Saints were trying to hurt the Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner the week before too. Later on, after those playoffs, an anonymous player told NFL officials that the Saints had targeted Favre and Warner as part of a bounty program administered by the Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

The NFL’s security department found the allegations credible enough to open an investigation. The investigation stalled for over a year, but in March of 2012, the NFL concluded its investigation by saying that they had enough evidence to convincingly say that Gregg Williams had a bounty system on opposing players. Key to this conclusion was former New Orleans Saints assistant coach Mark Cerullo, who came out to the league and said it was indeed true and he was in charge of keeping track of payments made for the bounties. The league responded with some of the most harshest punishments in its 92-year history. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely, though this would be overturned the following year. Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season—the first time since Chuck Fairbanks in 1978 that a head coach had been suspended. General manager Mickey Loomis was suspended for the first eight games of the 2012 season. Assistant head coach Joe Vitt was suspended for the first six games of the 2012 season. The Saints organization was penalized with a $500,000 fine and forced to forfeit their second-round draft selections in 2012 and 2013. In May 2012, four current and former Saints players were suspended after being named as ringleaders in the scandal, with linebacker Jonathan Vilma also being suspended for the entire 2012 season. However, several players denied any knowledge of the entire thing. Drew Brees, the star quarterback for the Saints, vehemently denied ever knowing anything about the scandal. That being said, the league combed over 18,000 documents for their findings. Several members of the organization came forward and admitted it. The NFL gave them some ridiculous sanctions. There is absolutely no way it is not true that this happened, and I honestly think it was a lot worse than the NFL found it to be. 

In 2017, the Houston Astros faced off against the New York Yankees in the American League Conference Championship. It was the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 6. Astros had the series lead 3-2, but the score was tied 4-4. Jose Altuve, Houston’s star player and Most Valuable Player of the MLB that year, drove the ball into the stands for a home run to win the game and send the Astros to the World Series, which they would later win. As Altuve was rounding the bases and celebrating with his teammates, he allegedly made sure they knew to not take off his jersey, holding on for dear life on it. We would soon find out why. A few years later, the Astros were accused of using buzzers and, oddly enough, trash cans in order to steal signs and pitches from the opposing team.

That way they know where and what pitches are coming, obviously a huge advantage. Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball (MLB), said that there was no evidence that the Astros players were using buzzers to communicate the stolen signs. However, there was some evidence found of cheating, given that the Astros were severely punished in years after the 2017 title run. Apparently, the Astros had extra cameras surrounding the stadiums in order to get a clear view of the catcher’s signs to the pitchers. They would then relay that to the Astros bench via a smartwatch or smart phone, who would then bang a trash can based on the pitch that is coming.

Now, they could not do this every pitch, or it would be obvious, but when they needed it most, they would do it, as a clear banging noise has been caught on video several times throughout that season in question. But, if they had buzzers, this would make it easier for the team to have cheated on almost every pitch, as the other team would have no idea. While the MLB only found evidence from the trash cans, I do believe that buzzers were also involved in the scandal. Trash can noises are easy to point out and they came at the same certain point on the same certain pitch almost every time. Teams had suspicions too, because after the MLB imposed a ruling, they came out and said they would change up the signs or throw a different pitch when they heard a trash can bang. What cannot be proven though, is the buzzer theory. Obviously, no one on the Astros is going to say anything about it, and no one else knows if they have it or not because they are hidden, and the Astros would make sure they stay hidden. How will anyone know about it? In reality, it would be a much more efficient way to cheat, and I think that is exactly what they used too, they just did a really good job at hiding it. The MLB’s punishments were strict and cost a few high-powered people within the organizations their jobs, however had the buzzer theory been proven, it could have been much worse.

In the early 2000’s the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team was absolutely dreadful. They finished in the bottom five of the standings in the National Hockey League (NHL) three straight years, before there was a lockout in the 2004-2005 season that effectively canceled that season. That was only on the ice. Off of it, they were even worse off. They had just been a few years removed from surviving bankruptcy, but barely. They had a thirty year old arena that was completely falling apart. They were not selling many tickets. They had to sell and auction off some of their best players just to be able to make enough money to stay in Pittsburgh. Owners were scouring around the franchise wanting to buy them out and move them to Kansas City, which almost happened several times. The only thing that was keeping the Penguins alive was future Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux. One of the best players of all time, he used his salary and turned it into equity, assembled an ownership group, and bought out the Penguins.

He even unretired, and while one of the best players of all time provided a little bit of a jolt, the reality is he was too old to carry a horrible team out of mediocrity. Enter Sidney Crosby. Crosby was hailed as the next Gretzky. He was a 17 year old kid from Canada, and was ready to take the NHL by storm for whatever team had the chance to draft them. Most Penguins fans could only dream about getting Crosby, as the most they could hope for was a top 5 pick.

Almost too perfectly, the Penguins won the NHL draft lottery and had the right to the number one overall pick in the draft, and thus the right to draft Crosby.

Crosby ended up living up to all the hype, and would eventually lead the Penguins to three championships and a rise out of bankruptcy. The Penguins franchise was essentially saved by a ping pong ball bouncing the right way for them. What was interesting was the ping pong balls had spun in the Penguins way out of view of the public on television. This was the first time since 1980 that the lottery was not open to the public. 1980! This bears the question did the NHL rig the draft in order to save the Penguins franchise? While most of these conspiracy theories are just that, conspiracies, I firmly believe this one to be true. The NHL did what they could in saving one of their poverty franchises and keeping them in business. The NHL is a billion dollar business, and anything they can do to protect all of their teams they will do not because they want to help, but because it simply make them the most money. It is similar to how the NBA conspiracy theory that they rigged the 1985 draft for the Knicks to get Patrick Ewing, which I also believe. The fact of the matter is this: anything that these major sports leagues can do and get away with that will make the most money they will do.

In the 2020 election, Democrat nominee Joe Biden faced off against Republican candidate and then President Donald Trump faced off in order to elect the next president of the United States. In the end, Biden was able to defeat Trump and become the 46th president of the United States. However, some republicans took offense to a few discrepancies in key swing states voting. Thus, the conspiracy theory came out that Joe Biden unfairly won a rigged election.

 

In May 2020, Trump warned that the elections in November could be rigged by mail-in votes. This warning, as well as a few discrepancies are the main reasons supporters thought it was rigged.

The discrepancy was that several states that were extremely close in voting, such as Wisconsin, Georgia, and Pennsylvania stopped counting votes for a few hours. When everyone woke up the next day, Biden had taken an advantage in all those states, which were mostly held by Trump over the course of the previous day. This was from counting mail-in votes, which is how Trump described that democrats would try to rig the election. They claim that democrats stuffed ballots using fraudulent information, such as people that are deceased in order to stuff ballot boxes. They pointed to Pennsylvania, where in 2016 they did not allow no-excuse mail voting in 2016, but interestingly in 2020 changed that law. For the most part, there were similar discrepancies that pro Trump supporters pointed out in other swing states. 

While the incidents in the few swing states were a little weird, I highly doubt that was any rigged elections within the states. Even if there was, I think there still was not enough to swing the election in Trump’s favor. It would be extremely difficult to have several states collaborate on rigging an election and getting away with it without any evidence. Speaking of evidence, there have been several investigations conducted and none have found any proof of said rigging. Additionally, studies have been conducted in order to see if there was any difference in voter turnout in the states that were said to be rigged. If it were rigged, you would see more votes significantly in counties that might usually not have that many votes in “regular elections.” None of these descriptions matched in the studies that were completed. Rather, Trump most likely said that votes would be rigged through mail-ins in order to have an excuse for why he lost and can claim the election is rigged, and then extreme supporters would find ways to make those claims seem true. The media also plays a huge factor in any political situation like this and depending on the media channel or news channel watched, it can have the same story sound extremely different. 

On May 25th, 1965, Muhammad Ali boxed Sonny Liston fought for the 2nd time for the title of the heavyweight champion of the world. They had previously boxed a year before that in 1964, where Ali as an 8-1 underdog was able to defeat Liston via the 7th round, securing the title from Liston. Liston at the time was considered one of the greatest and most ferocious fighters of all time and was eager to reclaim his title in this second matchup. However, this fight was over quickly. Ali was able to defeat Liston with a first-round knockout and send the crowd into a frenzy in one of the most anticipated boxing matches of all time.

s

Fans were not convinced. Cries of a “fix” came from outside the arena and when asked about the last punch, even Ali was not sure if it was a left hook or a right cross that did the damage. No one was able to tell what happened, even after slow motion camera footage was shown. The legend of the “phantom punch” was born, and the question became, was the fight fixed for Liston to lose? 

The first piece of evidence regarding a fix in this match comes from the possibility of the first match in 1964 being fixed. In that match, Liston retired with a shoulder injury, something that many questioned. According to an in-depth piece from the Washington Times citing decades-old FBI documents, the FBI believed that the 1964 fight was rigged, with the reason behind it being a mob connection named Ash Resnick, who they believed helped set it up. A middleman for Resnick, by the name of Barnett Magids told the FBI that he was told by Resnick to not put any bets on Liston and just watch the fight, which made him know that something was up.

After the fight, Sports Illustrated cited Resnick as a loser of the fight for his public backing of Liston, but people “in the know” reportedly said both he and Liston made over a million dollars from the fight. Liston was also connected to organized crime. This makes a second fix that much more believable, especially when Liston crumbled after Ali only threw a total of ten punches before the fatal one, and Ali was never known as a one punch knockout puncher.  

In my opinion, I believe that the “phantom punch” fight was not rigged. Liston was old and had a back at the time of the fight, and that took a toll on him at the end of his career. The fight was originally scheduled for November 16th, 1964, and Liston had gone through the hardest training camp of his life to prepare for this fight. However, after a six-month delay, Liston could not do another training camp, as the toll would be too much on his old body and chronic injuries.

Princess Diana was a young and beautiful girl apart of the British throne. She was extremely popular and known as “the people’s princess”. She was married to another part of the British throne, Prince Charles, until their divorce in 1996. Then, she began dating a man named Dodi Fayed, an Egyptian film maker. On August 31st, 1997, a limo carrying Princess Diana and her boyfriend crashed in the Alma tunnel in Paris, killing Diana, Dodi, and the limousine driver. The limousine driver was reportedly under the influence at the time of the crash. Since the divorce of Diana and Prince Charles was only the previous year, questions arose. A lot of the conspiracies were different, but all asked the same question… was the accident that killed all the people inside the limousine really an accident, or was it on purpose? 

One of the most notable people that believe that Princess Diana was killed purposely was Dodi’s father. He was rumored to say that Princess Diana was pregnant, although the coroner was able to debunk this conclusion. A much more plausible theory came from him that the royal family did not approve of Dodi Fayed. He reportedly was going to ask Diana to marry him that very night. The father said that the monarchy could not stand the fact that Diana and Charles’s grandchildren were going to have a stepfather that is Egyptian and Muslim. There was also the note that Princess Diana wrote that essentially predicted her death, and implied that Charles would be the one behind it. “My husband is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury” (Montford). Diana believed that Charles wanted her dead so that he could marry one of Prince William and Prince Harry’s nannies, Tiggy Legge-Bourke. As previously stated, there are other less plausible theories out there, such as the limousine driver being the head of security at the hotel the pair was staying at, which somehow meant that he was on the payroll of a national intelligence service that wanted the princess dead (because that connection makes total sense) and another theory that Diana’s medical care was sabotaged, but that was just the difference in health protocols between France and the United States. The difference is the United States priorities getting injured citizens to the hospital immediately and then caring for them, while in France it is vice versa.

In my opinion, Princess Diana was not killed on purpose, but rather, it was just an unfortunate accident. The sabotaged medical care theory came from the United States but can clearly be debunked as they did not realize the differences in medical care between the two countries. The connection between the intelligence service and the limousine driver is a far reach at best, and I doubt that a drunk driver is the best solution they came up with as there are several flaws with the plan. Dodi’s fathers’ claims have several holes in them, as the coroner proved that Diana was not pregnant, it was said that Dodi did not have a ring on him and therefore could not have been proposing that night, and his claim against a racist monarchy was just a claim and not proven. The most plausible evidence was the note Diana wrote, however she wrote that in 1995, when she was still with Charles. They divorced in 1996, making Charles free to marry whoever he wanted to at the time, making her predicted car accident a weird and unfortunate coincidence.  

References:

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/princess-diana-predicted-death-writing-husband-planning-accident-2-years-earlier.html

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/most-popular-conspiracy-theories

10 Conspiracy Theories That Still Surround Princess Diana’s Death

 

It was game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals. The Kings were up three to two in the series and needed just one more win to advance to the NBA Finals. The Kings were a scrappy team that was led by Mike Bibby and future Hall of Famer Chris Webber. They were 61-21 in the regular season and looked destined to win an NBA championship. The Lakers were led by sensational superstars Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. They were looking to become back-to-back champions. The Lakers would end up winning games six and seven, and then winning the championship that year as well as the next. However, the NBA received its fair share of criticism after the series. The question became: did the NBA rig the series in order to send the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA finals? 

First off, we must see what the motive was for the National Basketball Association to rig the games. As we know, the NBA is a league that runs on revenue. This means that the more successful the big market teams are, the better off the NBA is in terms of revenue. Los Angeles has to be the biggest or second biggest (New York) market in the entire NBA. Sacramento had been essentially a “poverty” franchise for a long time. The NBA would much rather send the Lakers over the Kings to the finals for the TV ratings and for the profit. There is evidence of tampering within the game too, In game 6, the Lakers were awarded with shooting 40 free throws in the entire game, including 27 in the 4th quarter alone! That is essentially giving the Lakers an opportunity to score 27 extra points in the last quarter of a close game. Some of these foul calls were EXTREMELY questionable when looking back at the game tape. Additionally, the Lakers were averaging 25 free throw attempts for the entire series, which is much more than the average team gets to shoot. Former NBA referee, Tim Donaghy, outright said that the NBA rigged the series, specifically game 6. According to Donaghy, the referee that officiated the notorious game 6, Dick Bevotta, was a fixer of some sorts within the league. This is certainly plausible with Bevotta officiating plenty of Game 6’s and 7’s (the closing games of a series), which is good evidence for Donaghy’s claim. 

\

However, there are also reasons why this game could have been not rigged. For starters, Tim Donaghy is one of the most infamous and disgraced officials in NBA history. He was an official up until he got caught in a gambling scandal because of his own issues with gambling on games he was officiating in. He also was not even refereeing the infamous game 6. Not the most credible source you can have in the world! Also, it is a possibility that the free throws were a coincidence. A lot of the calls made were fouls, although a lot of them were ticky tak. 

In my opinion, there is more than enough evidence to show that the NBA rigged this game. It is one thing to call ticky tack fouls, it is another to call a lot of them all in favor of the same team that the NBA would rather see end up in the Finals. Donaghy might not be the most credible source in the world, but he knows a thing or two about rigging NBA games and he is proof that there are ways to rig games. After all, he did it for 13 years without getting caught, he just happened to get a little too greedy. A seven-game series is much easier to rig than 13 years’ worth of games. Ultimately, we will never really know unless Bevotta comes out and says it, but in my mind the amount of bad calls in the series only in favor of the team that the NBA wants to win is more than enough to say that it is rigged. 

 Reference Pages:

https://www.basketballnetwork.net/the-controversy-behind-game-6-in-lakers-vs-kings-2002-wcf-series/

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/kings/kings-robbed-2002-western-conference-finals-tim-donaghy-claims

Amelia Earhart is one of the most famous aviators of all time. Born in 1897, she set several records and milestones that became extremely  influential in proving women belong in the aviation industry too. In 1922, she set the world record for altitude reached on a plane for a woman, at 14,000 feet. In 1928, she was a passenger on a flight across the Atlantic, becoming the first woman to do so. She also wrote a book about her experience, bringing her instant fame. The next year, she set a speed record for woman on a plane at 181 mph. In 1932, she became the first women to fly solo across the Atlantic, followed by becoming the first woman to cross the United States nonstop. All of these accomplished over a course of almost a decade brought Earhart extreme fame and fortune. This all led to her infamous flight in 1937, where she attempted to circumnavigate the globe. Unfortunately, on July 2nd 1937, Earhart lost communication with the Coast Guard and disappeared. She and the plane were never found. Which raises the question, what happened and where did she go?

The first theory is quite simple: Earhart, tired and ill, simply got lost, ran out of fuel, and crashed into the sea. She was going towards Howland Islands, however she was never able to make it there. The island is tiny, and the simplest theory is she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, could not locate the island. At that point, they ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean. Hoping to find the most famous aviator of all time, President Roosevelt funded the largest search and rescue mission that was at the time the most expensive ever. However, no trace of Earhart or Noonan was ever found.

Another theory that has gained traction is Earhart successfully landed, just on the wrong island. More specifically, many believe she landed on an island called Gardner Island, or present day Nikumaroro, an island 350 miles away from the Howland Islands where she would perish as a castaway. This theory is supported by the International Historic Aircraft Recovery Group. In 1998, this group conducted research on a skull and bones found on the island a few years after her disappearance, where they concluded that the bones belong to a women, of European ancestry, and the approximately the same height as Earhart. The last radio calls that Earhart sent were also used in support of this theory by the International Historic Aircraft Recovery Group.

The last theory that has some merit is that Amelia Earhart was a spy. There are theories that her intentions were not to circumnavigate the globe. Rather, it was to gain intelligence information regarding Japanese islands, where they were thought to be either shot down or forced to land due to their suspicious activities. What happened after in this theory branches off in several directions. Either she was believed to be killed after being captured or she was rescued by other American intelligence and transferred back to New Jersey where she would live under an alias, specifically a women named Irene Bolam.

One suspicious part of the Amelia Earhart story is that she left behind important radio and navigation equipment, presumably to bring more fuel. While there are many parts, including these, that make her disappearance suspicious, I believe the simplest theory of them all: she simply got lost, ran out of fuel in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and crashed. While I am really tempted to believe the 2nd theory along with its evidence, there is one part of it missing: where is the plane they where on? They were able to find there remains but not the huge plane they were on? The navy also searched 4 miles in every direction from Gardner Island, and still never found a trace. Because it was never there. They simply ran out of fuel in the huge Pacific Ocean.

References:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/19/amelia-earhart-found-disappearance-theories/1475518001/

https://www.insider.com/amelia-earhart-conspiracy-theories-2018-5#5-she-lived-and-then-assumed-another-womans-identity-5

https://kids.wng.org/node/3347

On September 11th, 2001, one of the most devastating attacks in U.S history occurred. 19 people associated with the terrorist group of Al Queda hijacked four planes and flew them into various highly populated and famous buildings within the United States, with the two most famous hitting the beloved Twin Towers in New York City. The 3rd plane would eventually hit the Pentagon, while the 4th plane crashed into an empty field after passengers attempted to overtake the plane. Over 3,000 people died that day, as the huge Twin Towers collapsed and killed hundreds of innocent people going to work that day and many first responders attempting to save these people. This attack would define George W. Bush’s presidency, as he immediately declared on the terrorism group and their leader, Osama Bin Laden. He would eventually be tracked down and executed nearly a decade later. However, extreme conspiracy theorists believe that Al Queda was not responsible for the attacks, or at the very least, not the only party involved. 

Some conspiracy theorists believe that the U.S government was involved in the attacks that frightful day. One piece of evidence they pointed out was the unusually extraordinary amount of put options on the airlines involved in the attacks. Theorists believe they did this because they knew the economy and the airlines stocks would tank if the attack occurred, causing them to reap the benefits. Why would they do this unless they knew about the imminent attacks? Another reason people believe this is the stand down order by the U.S military during the attacks. Theorists are left puzzled by the reasoning behind letting the airplanes reach their intended targets, rather than shooting them down. For instance, the United States had 78 minutes between the Towers falling and another plane hitting the Pentagon. Knowing what they knew, why did they not shoot down a plane heading for the most secure building in the United States? Additionally, some have argued that it is impossible for the Towers to fall and collapse that fast… unless it was from a controlled demolition. Many proponents of this theory include physicists and economists that say it is physically impossible for the planes involved to impact and result in fires sufficient enough to force the buildings to collapse. A physicist named Steven E. Jones concluded that the molten steel found at the scene was evidence of the presence of explosives, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology refusing to perform any tests for residue because they “did not want to give any outrageous theories credibility” was further evidence of the government’s involvement in the attacks. A possible motive for the government being involved in this was to give Bush an incentive to declare war on Iraq, something he had reportedly wanted to do. 

Frankly, I think this is one of the dumbest and most disrespectful theories out there. It is disrespectful to everyone that died that day, as well as everyone who risked their lives to save other people. While the U.S government wanted to declare war on Iran, in no way would they ever attack innocent American lives to make that happen. There would absolutely be evidence of explosives being planted prior to the attack, as well as after. Asking someone to make the impossible decision of killing hundreds of American lives on a plane to POSSIBLY save the plane from an unknown location is putting everyone involved with that decision in a lose-lose situation. The put options made on the airlines were researched by the commission and concluded that they were coincidental. The commission also found several problems and flaws with all major theories involved with the attacks. All in all, I say with 100% certainty that there is no possibility of the United States being involved in the attacks.  

 

References: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories 

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-14665953 

https://www.history.com/topics/21st-century/9-11-attacks