10 Conspiracy Theories That Wound Up Being Real

On the surface, the word conspiracy might sound like something reserved for wild theories and shadowy corners of the internet. But by definition, it’s simply an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime, fraud, or wrongful act. And with that in mind, conspiracies are happening all around us, every single day. In fact, hundreds, even thousands, of people in the United States are charged with conspiracy crimes each week.

Most of these are small-scale: schemes involving money, drugs, or deceit that rarely make headlines. But history is littered with conspiracies of a very different kind, the kind that shape nations, alter public trust, and sometimes change the course of history itself. These are the plots that feel ripped from a thriller novel: governments and corporations colluding in secret, powerful figures pulling strings in the shadows, and truths so bizarre they almost defy belief.

In this article, we’ll uncover 10 conspiracy theories that turned out not to be theories at all — but shocking realities. To put this list together, 24/7 Tempo drew from a range of entertainment, historical, and periodical sources, verifying details with references such as Encyclopedia.com and Britannica. What we found proves one thing: sometimes the most unbelievable conspiracies are the ones that actually happened.

One of the actually true conspiracy theories is Project MKUltra. Undertaken by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, the program sought to find drugs and other mind-altering techniques that made people amenable to interrogation and brainwashing/mind control. Starting in 1953 and culminating in 1973, the program took place surreptitiously at various universities, hospitals, and prisons within the United States and Canada.

While MKUltra cast a wide umbrella in terms of its aims, its practices were abhorrent across the board. Whether it was dosing people with LSD against their knowledge, hypnotizing subjects, using torture, or attempting to paralyze brains using recursive pictures and video, feedback loops, the CIA tried it all. How successful its experiments were is hard to say, however, many well-known countercultural figures like Ken Kesey, Allen Ginsberg, and even gangster James "Whitey" Bulger were subjects of the program.

The program did not come to public light until 1975 when the Church Committee of the United States Congress unveiled evidence to the public. The committee had to rely mostly on sworn testimony, as the previous CIA Head Richard Helms ordered most of the MKUltra documentation destroyed in 1973. A few years later, however, thousands of documents related to the project came to light, detailing the true scope and horror of the mind-control techniques the CIA employed on unsuspecting citizens.

Another one of the actually true conspiracy theories is the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the program sought to discover what happened to people with untreated ailments like syphilis.

While it sounds above board in theory, in practice, the government organizations lied to all of the patients involved in the program. For one, they never told the patients they had syphilis. Instead, they labeled their conditions as things like 'bad blood.' Furthermore, the patients (mostly black male sharecroppers from Alabama) thought they would receive free medical care while participating. Instead, they weren't treated for anything, forced to experience the painful effects of syphilis when medicine like penicillin was already available by 1947.

A leak of the project to the press in 1972 caused the PHS to terminate the project. By then, over 128 subjects had died directly from syphilis or complications arising from the disease. The revelation of the project led to the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). Furthermore, President Bill Clinton publicly apologized for the program, saying, "What the United States government did was shameful and I am sorry."

Another one of the actually true conspiracy theories is the existence of Bohemian Grove. Founded as an extension of the Bohemian Club, a private men's club in San Francisco, the Grove sits in the woods of nearby Sonoma County. Since its creation in 1878, the Grove has attracted some of the most powerful people in the country as well as a host of conspiracy theories.

As many future and former presidents, politicians, intelligence agents, and entertainers visit Bohemian Grove, many people wonder what exactly goes on there. The constant esoteric and quasi-pagan rituals delineating the Club's annual gatherings, such as burning effigies and owl worship, don't inspire confidence in the public. It doesn't help that the Grove hosted a meeting of the Manhattan Project in 1942, which led to the creation of the atomic bomb.

While Bohemian Grove surely exists, and you can score a ticket if you're personally invited, it's hard to say what kind of nefarious or conspiratorial activities occur at or spring forth from the campground. Though one can chalk it up to rich and powerful men role-playing and undergoing summer camp-style rituals, it's hard to deny the power that walks through Bohemian Grove's redwood halls.

Another one of the actually true conspiracy theories concerns the dangers of smoking and how long tobacco companies knew about it. For many decades, doctors and public health organizations tolerated, if not encouraged smoking. In recent years, however, uncovered evidence shows that Big Tobacco has long known the dangers of smoking.

As early as 1959, Big Tobacco conducted numerous scientific experiments showing that cancer grew in the lungs of regular smokers. What's more, they also knew about the presence of radioactive substances in the tobacco they produced. They did nothing about it, however, except hide said studies and keep their conclusions from the public by any means possible.

A study published in a 2011 issue of Nicotine & Tobacco Research presented evidence showing the decades-long deception and misdirection tobacco companies used to keep this knowledge from the public. As for their punishment, besides higher taxes on cigarettes, the tobacco industry felt little to no consequences for their lying.

While relatively open, even at the time, another conspiracy theory that's actually true is COINTELPRO. It's the year 1956, and various social and political movements are beginning to form. Many of these groups like the Black Panther Party or United Farm Workers, however, broadcast rhetoric that the government felt threatened national security.

In response, the FBI set about watching, infiltrating, smearing, and disrupting various political movements between 1956 and 1971. Undertaking a war of psychological attrition, the FBI planted false reports in the media, forged documents, committed perjury, intimidated witnesses, harassed, and even killed people involved in activist groups they considered to be a threat.

Some of the biggest names in activism faced the wrath of COINTELPRO, including Martin Luther King, Fred Hampton, and Malcolm X. The widespread program only came to light after an activist group broke into an FBI office and stole relevant documents. A few years later, the Church Committee of the United States Congress investigated the claims and found that the FBI "violated specific statutory prohibitions and infringed the constitutional rights of American citizens."

Another conspiracy that's actually true is The Business Plot. Organized by various business leaders and industry titans, the conspiracy sought to overthrow the President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a coup d'état and install Major General Smedley Butler as dictator.

Evidence of the plot surfaced after Smedley Butler apparently went against his handler's wishes and testified under oath about the plot to the Special Committee on Un-American Activities in the House of Representatives in 1934. While the committee thought the evidence true, no one faced prosecution for their alleged involvement in the plot.

The media had a field day with the revelations, with most publications ascribing Butler's testimony to a fantastic hoax; there was some truth in there. When the Committee released its final report, it said, "definite proof had been found that the much-publicized Fascist march on Washington." While historians now believe the plot was true, and widely discussed between alleged conspirators, it remains to be seen how close the businessmen came to pulling it off.

Unlike other entries on this list, Operation Snow White directed itself against the government instead of for it. It's also a conspiracy that's actually true. Perpetrated by the Church of Scientology in the 1970s, the conspiracy intended to purge unfavorable reports and records about the Church's activities. It was surprisingly successful, too.

To commit the conspiracy, the Church of Scientology broke into hundreds of government agencies, consulates, and embassies using over 5,000 agents. These agents trespassed at government institutions, created wiretaps, and stole government documents in one of the largest infiltrations in United States Government history.

There are even rumors that the Church of Scientology received its tax-exempt status after breaking into the Internal Revenue Service and holding files on individual tax agents for blackmail. While that remains unproven, eleven elite members of the church, including the founder's wife Mary Sue Hubbard were arrested and later pled guilty to crimes like burglary of government offices, theft of documents and government property, and obstruction of justice.

Another actually true conspiracy theory is Operation Paperclip. As World War II wound down in Europe but still raged in the Pacific, the U.S. government realized the wealth of scientific information and innovation that lay in the hands of Nazi doctors and scientists.

Undertaken by the US Army's Counterintelligence Corps. (CIC), the program found and recruited over 6,000 German scientists and their families and brought them to the United States. Upon entry to the states and often after receiving new identities, the scientists worked on rocket programs, aviation tests, and chemical or biological warfare experiments.

As for the success, of the project, many of the scientists went on to contribute greatly to America's scientific knowledge like famous rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun. While only one of the German scientist emigres received formal prosecution for his involvement in the Nazi Regime, the ethical implications of Operation Paperclip remain dubious.

Another actually true conspiracy theory takes place in the arena of American sports. Known as the Blackbox Scandal, the conspiracy involved eight members of the Chicago White Sox baseball team. They were accused of purposely losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds for money given to them by an organized crime gambling syndicate.

Purportedly masterminded by underworld figure Arnold Rothstein, the Blackbox Scandal sent widespread ripples through professional baseball and the greater sports arena at the time. While the eight baseball players accused of game-fixing received acquittals in a public trial, they were permanently banned from playing professional baseball.

In response to the conspiracy, numerous changes occurred to the structure of professional baseball. For one, it promptly dissolved the National Baseball Commission. Furthermore, former Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed as the Commissioner of Baseball, effectively giving him total power over the sport.

Another conspiracy theory that is actually true involves the effects of medication sold by the Bayer Pharmaceutical Company. In the 1980s, the company's Cutter Biological unit broke federal law when recruiting gay men, intravenous drug users, and prisoners as donors for its blood-clotting medications called Factor VIII and IX.

Designed for hemophiliacs, the medicines are purported to stop clotting in affected people. The problem was, however, that much of the Factor drugs circulated by Bayer contained HIV-positive blood. Though the company did its best to keep this a secret, when evidence came to light, they had to pay high compensation figures to affected people.

In the end, Bayer paid out tens of millions of dollars to affected hemophiliac patients who took the Factor VIII and IX drugs in the mid-1980s. As for Bayer's moral culpability, however, the company remains unrepentant. During the outcry, a spokesman for Bayer said, "The company accepts no responsibility and continues to insist it has always acted responsibly and ethically."