A Sneaking Suspicion

Throughout history, there have been many events that stood out as strange or suspect, only for the claims to be dismissed until forgotten. Decades later, the government or certain corporations come out to admit that what they claimed was a crazy conspiracy actually wasn’t far from the truth. With that in mind, here are 20 surprising historical conspiracies that have been proven true.

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1. The Coca-Cola Formula Switch

After the backlash Coca-Cola received for briefly switching their formula in 1985, you would think the company would have learned. Some conspiracists believe the “New Coke” formula was a way to mask the fact that they had switched from real sugar to high-fructose corn syrup. Well, despite the company claiming to have discontinued “New Coke,” in reality, they did, in fact, add corn syrup to their original formula, a switch that had been in place since the early 1980s.

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2. The UFO Files

People have been spotting and reporting UFOs for ages, and most were dismissed as nothing more than crazy. However, in 2017, U.S. government documents were declassified, revealing that the government is aware of UFOs and was even funding a secret Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program to better understand this aerial phenomenon. Despite admitting they are aware of UFOs, the government states they know nothing more and are still actively researching them. However, some whistleblowers claim the government has also found evidence of non-human beings.

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3. The Lost Cosmonaut

In 1991, a bunch of Soviet records became declassified, revealing some surprising information. Yuri Gagarin rose to fame as the first human in space in 1961, but according to these files, there were multiple other missions before this in which the cosmonauts died or were lost. There were numerous space disasters that occurred under the Soviets’ watch, and most of them were covered up until the declassification.

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4. The D-Day Ghost Army

In 1944, prior to the Normandy invasion, there was a conspiracy going around that the Allies were using a “fake army” to distract the Nazis and lure them out to a different location. You might wonder what a “fake army” entails, and according to the documents that were declassified in 1996, this army included inflatable tanks, pre-recorded battle sounds, and fake radio messages. It turns out the plan did work, and some of the German forces were lured out to defend different areas.

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5. The CIA Spy Cat

The CIA has done a bunch of weird things, from the truth behind Project MKUltra to questionable international war tactics. Apparently, during the Cold War, they implanted radio transmitters into a cat spy, known as the Acoustic Kitty. However, the cat unfortunately got into a traffic accident, and the CIA realized it was better to spend their millions of dollars elsewhere.

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6. Project Sunshine

To continue this trend of sketchy government projects, at one point, both the U.S. and U.K. governments were adamant about learning more about the effects of nuclear radiation on humans. They were so fixed on this goal that they stole the bodies of young children, infants, and adults that were exposed to nuclear tests. This occurred from the 1950s to the 1960s and was declassified in 1995.

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7. The Dalmatian Dog Conspiracy

The 101 Dalmatians movie came out in 1961 and led to an immediate uptick in Dalmatian adoptions. However, it turns out Dalmatians don’t actually make for good family pets. It turns out Disney knew all about this but kept quiet to boost merchandise sales, ignoring the fact that shelters were now teeming with abandoned Dalmatians. Something similar happened after the release of Finding Nemo.

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8. The Intercept

There was a TV show in Russia called The Intercept that played during the 1990s. One of the bits in the show involved stealing cars and evading police capture, with the caveat being that if you succeeded, you’d get to keep the car. Turns out the events were real and occurred in the streets of Moscow. Even better, the police were the ones backing the show in order to deter car theft.

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9. The 1933 Business Plot

For ages now, Americans have been attempting to overthrow or remove presidents, and something similar almost happened in 1933. A group of wealthy businessmen concocted a plan to remove President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Before this plan could come to fruition, the group was exposed by a retired Marine. Some conspiracists believe big banks were involved, but there’s no way of knowing that.

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10. Canada’s Fruit Machine

Canada has a reputation as a friendly country, but their history is as troubling as any other Western power. Regardless, through the 1950s and ’60s, the Canadian government used a series of psychological tests known as the Fruit Machine, which essentially identified LGBTQ+ employees in order to remove them. Notably, in 2017, the Canadian government themselves revealed this and apologized, offering all victims compensation.

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11. Hidden Monopoly Rules

Fun fact: Monopoly is actually based on an earlier iteration called The Landlord’s Game, which was made by Elizabeth Magie in 1904. This original game served as a warning about the dangers of monopolies and was anti-capitalistic. The Parker Brothers, who essentially stole Magie’s work and rebranded it as Monopoly, were careful to remove the old messaging. While many conspiracy theorists had doubts about the game’s true message, Magie’s original game was discovered in the 1970s, proving its true intentions.

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12. The Phantom Time Hypothesis

Most of these conspiracies take place in relatively modern times, but this one occurred between 614 and 911 AD. Essentially, the theory states that this 300-year time period is a lie, faked by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, alongside Pope Sylvester II. Now, this theory hasn’t been proven one way or another, but what’s interesting is that multiple historians have found inconsistencies in the records supporting this theory. That means, possibly, we’re 300 years behind, and it’s actually 1725, not 2025.

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13. McDonalds Monopoly Fraud

There’s something so ironic about a game about capitalism and monopolies being the source of so many sketchy American conspiracies. Regardless, McDonald’s would host a Monopoly game, promising prizes that just never seemed to come to fruition. In 2001, an FBI investigation revealed that the game was rigged, and an insider named Jerome Jacobson actually stole all the winnings.

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14. The Great Diamond Conspiracy

The world is obsessed with diamonds: from Marilyn Monroe’s hit song to modern marketing to proposal traditions. But what if that was all a lie? What if diamonds are worthless and it’s only marketing that makes us believe they’re valuable? Well, according to this conspiracy, the De Beers diamond company altered information about the global diamond supply to make them seem rare. To further prove this rarity, the company also stockpiled a bunch of diamonds. Many market investigations that occurred through the ’80s prove this. For reference, before the 1940s, diamonds were not the standard for engagement rings.

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15. Big Tobacco

If you’ve seen the TV show Mad Men, then you probably know about the lies around smoking. The conspiracy claims that tobacco companies knew about the health risks of smoking but lied about it and claimed it was healthy instead. This was proven true in court, and tobacco companies had to pay over $200 billion in settlements.

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16. Operation Northwoods

Remember how the U.S. has a knack for sticking their nose in other countries? Well, in 1962, the U.S. was set on attacking Cuba—so much so that they faked an attack on American soil and blamed Cuba for it. In 1997, declassified military documents revealed that the plans included a fake hijacking and a staged attack on a U.S. ship. Luckily, President Kennedy rejected the plan—but only after serious consideration.

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17. The 1904 Olympic Marathon Cheater

America was probably thrilled when their runner, Fred Lorz, won the Olympic marathon in 1904. Except, he later “joked” about how he rode a car for 11 miles of the race. Whether he was serious or kidding is up for debate, but interestingly enough, he would go on to win the 1905 Boston Marathon fairly the next year.

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18. The Phantom Meat Shortage

Remember how diamond companies hoarded diamonds to make them seem rare and expensive? Well, it turns out meat companies did the same thing. In the 1970s, a bunch of meat suppliers stockpiled beef to drive prices sky-high and make more profit. This was revealed through market analysis in the 1970s.

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19. Operation Paul Bunyan

This is a strange one. Apparently, there was an incident when two American soldiers were trimming a tree in the demilitarized zone between North Korea and South Korea. They were attacked by North Korean soldiers, and in response, the government put up aircraft carriers, B-52s, and over 27 helicopters just to sit there while another set of soldiers went out and cut down the tree. The North Koreans obviously backed down, but all that fuss over a tree?

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20. The Loneliest Whale

To end on a somewhat somber note, you may have heard of the 52-hertz whale, also known as the world’s loneliest whale. From 1989 onwards, scientists and divers kept picking up on this strange sound in the ocean. Conspiracy theorists got to work understanding the sound, with some believing it to be a hoax, while others thought it proved alien life or the presence of a monster. In 2004, scientists finally figured it out. The sound was a whale singing at 52 hertz, which was shocking because no whale in the world sings at that frequency. From 2004, many scientists and explorers have searched for this whale, with documentaries coming out as recently as 2021. It’s called the loneliest whale because no other creature responds to its song. Many believe it to be a hybrid between two whale species, or perhaps some sort of mutation caused the rift? Either way, no one has seen this whale, but many have recorded its song.

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