Conspiracy theories have always posed a challenge in our society, as they can lead people down harmful paths. Among them, alien conspiracy theories stand out as some of the most extreme. While it is somewhat understandable why individuals might believe in certain theories, such as due to government secrecy or unexplained events like the temporary loss of contact during the Apollo 11 mission, other theories lack any rational basis. Some people simply crave the belief in something outlandish, often driven by their inclination towards conspiracy theories in general. These individuals are willing to accept any fantastical idea without questioning its validity or conducting proper fact-checking. In this mix of theories, you can find both reasonable ones and those that are purely absurd. It’s up to you to distinguish between the two and decide which ones might have a semblance of credibility and which ones are outright crazy.
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Alien Moon Base
There are many alien conspiracy theories that make us scratch our heads. However, this is one of the wildest. Mostly because there has never been any evidence to support it. The supporters of this theory are convinced you will find a structure there… built by aliens. Apparently, NASA has known it all along and has been covering it up for several decades now. Of course, this is by no means true. In fact, we have probes and satellites that could have likely spotted some alien base. Heck, SpaceX and other private companies have satellites in orbit right now. Some telescopes are able to see far-off planets and stars. Thus, we have the technology at private companies as well as tech owned by numerous governments. In all of that time, no one has spotted an alien base on the moon. Why, again, should we believe there is one?
[Image via Warner Bros. Discovery]
Hollow Earth
The Hollow Earth model has been utilized in many fantasy stories for decades. Perhaps the biggest version of this recently was its use in the Godzilla vs King Kong film, where the characters seemed to be from originally. Yet it was not just them, other massive animal-like beings also lived there. Of course, the Hollow Earth model initially involved the idea that the Earth itself is hollow. Where if one were to go to the very center of our planet, they’d find essentially an entire world of advanced alien civilizations. Interestingly, there have been projects that tried to dig incredibly deep into the Earth. Each time it was attempted, hardened rock or intense heat prevented going further. Interestingly, one US President believed in this. John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States, held a belief in the concept of a hollow Earth. He reportedly believed that the Earth was hollow and inhabited by advanced civilizations. Adams never publicly discussed this belief during his presidency but privately expressed his interest in the idea and reportedly supported a proposed expedition to explore the hollow Earth.
[Image via Adrian Mann/Future]
Black Knight Satellite
One of the most notable alien conspiracy theories is the Black Knight Satellite. This is the theory that aliens have a satellite orbiting the Earth that has been there for thousands of years. In fact, it is also said to be responsible for many unexplained events that have taken place on Earth. The concept came from a photo taken during the STS-88 mission. This was the first NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station, where astronauts spent seven days in space. They took several photos but one seemed odd. Apparently, it was a bit of space debris that was later confirmed to be from a thermal blanket. However, it looked to be something more than this for some people. Resulting in a conspiracy that still exists today.
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The Dulce Base
This particular conspiracy theory might be a bit newer for some people. The entire idea behind it is that there is a secret underground base in Dulce, New Mexico that the United States government has kept hidden since 1979. It is at that base where government officials are actually working with aliens on advanced technology. The conspiracy began when a former explosives engineer for the U.S. Government, Philip Schneider, introduced the idea. He claimed he actually helped to construct this secret base. In fact, he claims that it was the site of a brutal human-alien war involving subterranean aliens that left 60 humans dead. No such incident has been recorded, and Schneider was said to have been “murdered by the CIA” in January 1996. It’s crazy how we cannot look further into his claims or ask him many questions, eh?
[Image via Valve]
Stargates
While a lot of alien conspiracy theories are a bit wacko, we actually want this one to exist. Stargates are said to be portals that actually exist on the Earth that allows one to travel not only to different planets but also to different dimensions. It is said that “the government” conceals this knowledge. Yet if one could travel to different planets, there are resources we could get from them. You’d also need to involve astrophysicists, astrogeologists, and several space programs would likely be needed. Private space companies would have also discovered something related to this too, as portals are not exactly things people are going to keep quiet. Especially when we can get resources from other planets to increase wealth and improve our current technology. Scientists do believe there are possible portals, but none have been accessed.
[Image via Marvel Studios]
The Reptilian Elite
Perhaps the most notable of all conspiracy theories is the idea of the “Reptilian Elite.” You might also see people use “Lizard People” for this same ideology too. The idea is that world leaders, especially politicians and celebrities, are truly shape-shifting reptilian aliens. They have infiltrated human society this way, and are shifting things in certain directions to favor their species. Marvel Comics loved this concept, which is why they eventually used the Skrull species to do exactly this. Many characters were kidnapped and replaced by Skrulls, allowing the alien species to do everything they needed to do to benefit themselves. Due to this, the concept of an alien species switching places with major figures in society and politics has been a “thing” ever since.
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World Religions Were Influenced By Aliens
In a weird way, religion was thought to have started to encourage cooperation. We do not know when religion officially began, but it is said that there is evidence of religious actions taking place as far back as 500,000 years ago. When humans evolved from smaller hunter-gatherer tribes into larger cultures, many people were coming together in one place. The first cities could see thousands of people coming through, where some might stay and others would just be passing through. Since this was happening, ancient people used religion to encourage cooperation and tolerance among many strangers. Along with this was a belief in a moralizing higher power, likely one that was always “watching.” Naturally, this makes some assume ancient aliens influenced religion and belief in Gods that they could take the place of eventually.
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Nazca Lines
The Nazca Lines in Peru have been declared the eighth wonder of the world. And for good reason. They are absolutely amazing to look at. Known as geoglyphs, they were made in the soil of the Nazca Desert sometime between 500 BCE and 500 CE. They were made using depressions of shallow incisions in the desert floor. They’d remove pebbles and leave differently colored dirt exposed. This was also done in two phases. The Paracas Phase took place from 400 to 200 BCE while the Nazca Phase took place from 200 BCE to 500 CE. Funny enough, we keep finding more and more of these lines over the years too. While this was an amazing human achievement, one of the most notable alien conspiracy theories is that these lines were used as landing strips or signals for alien spacecraft.
[Image via The Nevada Independent]
U.S. Government’s Secret Space Program
Perhaps one of the dumbest of all alien conspiracy theories is this concept. There are some conspiracy theories that believe the United States government has some sort of secret space program that has conducted missions to explore and colonize other planets for decades. The problem with this theory? They have been openly doing this for years. There’s no secret. Several government space programs, including NASA, have sent satellites or even rovers to various planetary bodies. Mars alone is a place NASA has said it wants to send astronauts. SpaceX owner Elon Musk has claimed he would like to start a human colony on the red planet too. The very idea that the United States would discuss all of this stuff as well as other missions but keep the same type of things secretive is complete nonsense. Unshockingly, the idea comes from QAnon.
[Image via NetherRealm Studios]
Human-Alien Hybrid Beings
While this next conspiracy seems nuts, it would be pretty cool if it was true. One of the major alien conspiracy theories over the last decade is the idea of possible human-alien hybrid beings. The concept is that we have some sort of secret program where hybrid beings are created through the genetic manipulation of humans and extraterrestrials. This would mean we’ve been taking things from alien beings that could be useful to our species, then adding that to humans. The idea likely has been rising in popularity thanks to the advancement of genetic editing. However, we’ve barely been able to understand how to edit out possible hereditary diseases from a genome. It’s not logical to believe we could understand an alien being well enough to not only know something is an asset to humans — but that adding it to a human will work.
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The Moon Landing
You’ve probably heard the conspiracy theory about how NASA made up landing on the Moon. This came from a book called “We Never Went To The Moon: America’s Thirty Billion Dollar Swindle” written by Bill Kaysing. He self-published the book in 1976 and discussed a lot of nonsensical material within it. For example, he worked at Rocketdyne while they built the F-1 engines for the Saturn V Rocket. However, he was a technical writer for the company, not part of developing anything. One would also think if he could claim engines were being made for the Saturn V Rocket… a moon landing was possible. Yet Kaysing’s word is just part of the alien conspiracy theories surrounding this. Some claim that the moon landing was staged while we were really investigating extraterrestrial activity instead. Which seems a bit counterproductive.
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An Artificial Moon
While probably an odd one to most, this happens to be one of the most notable alien conspiracy theories today. There are some who believe that the Moon we see in space today is not the real moon. In fact, we likely never even had a moon as we know it. The moon is actually an artificial construction that was placed in orbit around the Earth by an ancient advanced extraterrestrial civilization. The reason they did this is unknown to these conspiracy theorists. However, you cannot convince them that the Moon is there for proper scientific reasons. To be fair though, if there was an ancient extraterrestrial civilization that was incredibly advanced, they could likely make a fake moon. At least this conspiracy theory is better than the old one about a Hollow Moon.
[Image via Warner Bros. Discovery]
The Majestic 12
What is so interesting about this conspiracy theory is that it simply came too soon. It is thought that years ago, then-President Harry S. Truman formed a secret committee to manage extraterrestrial technology and cover up alien encounters. Known as the Majestic 12, the group was made up of various scientists, military leaders, and government officials. The FBI eventually investigated this by checking into several supposedly leaked documents. They found, to no one’s surprise, that this was a massive hoax. Later on, we’d find out that the United States Senate actually does have a UFO Committee that was kept secret for many years.
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Alien Technology Suppression
If we’re just thinking of this theoretically, the entire concept makes no sense at all based on how our society operates. One of the biggest alien conspiracy theories you’ll find is that some believe governments are deliberately suppressing advanced alien technology. It’s speculated that they do this to maintain control and protect their own economic interests. Let’s examine this for a second though. How many governments are suppressing the technology? Now, how many people are coming in and seeing this stuff and never saying a word about it? Even those who are older and likely have a mental disorder later in life. On top of this, we’ve needed advanced technology to help us. Even several top people in government could have used it, yet somehow no one ever has. That seems incredibly unlikely.
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Remote Viewing Aliens
Imagine for a minute that you could talk to sentient beings from another world. It would be pretty awesome, right? Well, one would assume it would not only be an honor but a massive scientific opportunity. Yet it’s clear that not just anyone can speak to these aliens from another world. That is why one conspiracy theory claims that there are secret government programs where psychics are employed to communicate with extraterrestrials. Of course, alien conspiracy theories like this are based on a clear misunderstanding of “psychic abilities.” People who claim to be psychic are able to “read” others and do little tricks like making educated guesses about your life. They cannot read your mind. Even if they could, they likely would need you to be in the room… not thousands of miles away. Much less, millions to billions of miles away.
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Alien Energy Harvesting
While it might suck, if this is true we’ve all been alien slaves for thousands of years now. This conspiracy theory claims that extraterrestrial civilizations have been harvesting Earth’s resources or energy for their own purposes. That would also include some of the things we’ve put into play, such as things like renewable resources like solar, wind, and hydro-electric power. It might also include the use of things like our crops, meaning the civilizations could have helped invent agriculture just to ensure we humans grow their stuff for them. Of course, there is no proof of this. However, it remains one of the alien conspiracy theories some still believe in today. Besides, if they are advanced enough to do all of this… wouldn’t they also be advanced enough to use Dyson Spheres too?
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Alien Abductions
Perhaps the most popular of all alien conspiracy theories are the stories revolving around alien abduction. Most of those who claim to have been taken by aliens usually create elaborate stories about their experience. The issue is that most of the time, it is hard to know if the person is mentally unstable/had a mental break or if they are simply just lying. The idea is that humans are kidnapped and usually aliens will conduct experiments on them, or so they claim. This will leave people with physical and psychological scars. The problem with the physical concept is that we cannot be sure an alien gave them a scar or if it came from another place. Which is why most of these stories never truly add up.
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Crop Circles
We already mentioned the Nazca Lines, but these differ from true “crop circles.” A crop circle is created when one flattens a crop and makes a pattern out of it. Colin Andrews was the first to give this term a name, which did not occur until the 1980s. People have tried to connect crop circles to aliens or other crazy theories for decades now but there is no evidence of anything. Crop circles made in amazing patterns were possibly done on purpose in some cases but in others, it was a happy coincidence. Of course, this is why you probably have seen them near medium-sized cities or near places where ancient civilizations were present. Crops were a major way people survived, so it made sense to be nearby. You had to look after the crops after all.
[Image via ViacomCBS]
The Galactic Federation
To be fair about this specific theory, it could very well exist. The idea behind it is that there is a coalition of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations that are monitoring and guiding the development of Earth. We can technically buy the idea that there is some collective of alien civilizations. We can also believe in the idea that they are monitoring Earth and its development. However, it is very unlikely that they are guiding us in any way. If anything, they’d be likely to subscribe to the Star Trek Prime Directive concept. Where you do not interfere in the development of a society or civilization for fear that your interference would stop the natural order of things.
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Alien Mind Control
Have you ever played a video game using virtual reality equipment? Those of us who grew up in the 1990s and played one of them in an arcade can likely tell you how unreal that experience was. However, the VR tech has become very advanced to the point that we’re now in believable environments virtually. It can be so realistic that people often lose track of it being a video game as they feel connected to what they see. Now, pretend the avatar you’re playing with was a real person. That, in a way, is what describes one of the most notable alien conspiracy theories. Aliens are mind-controlling us to manipulate our behavior and shape world events in their favor. Of course, there is no proof of this. Then again, proof probably would be hard to come by if they were controlling humans from thousands of light-years away.
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Time Traveling Aliens
While some alien conspiracy theories lack any real substance, this particular idea does make sense… kind of. The idea is that there is an advanced alien species or even various groups that are able to time travel. Likely, they are from a distant future of some kind and they are able to travel to any point in time. This allows them to both observe and influence historical events anywhere. This would possibly explain the idea of why some believe aliens made Stonehenge, the Pyramids, etc. Even though there is no proof of this, at least the storyline of it all makes more sense this way. It would also account for why some alien beings have so much advanced technology compared to what we see today. Because a future civilization of any kind would likely have this type of thing.
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The Roswell Incident
This is perhaps one of, if not THE most popular of all alien conspiracy theories. It proposes that in 1947 the United States government recovered a crashed alien spacecraft in Roswell, New Mexico. However, we never found the spacecraft or anything from it because the government covered it up. To be fair, it does make sense that the government would cover something like this up. After all, why would we worry the public about aliens if it could be avoided, right? However, the government could also have just as well recovered an aircraft prototype they did not want anyone to see yet. The U.S. Air Force eventually claimed that this event stemmed from the use of a research balloon. Any aliens noticed were anamorphic test dummies used for training. Weird, but they proved this already.
[Image via Star Trek]
Breakaway Alien Civilization
We already mentioned how some believe that extraterrestrials had “relations” with human beings. If this is true, then they could have had half-alien offspring. This would be problematic, because where does one go when they have offspring like this? It would likely be concluded that they could not back to the alien’s home planet. Thus, they’d need to stay on Earth. This is why one of the alien conspiracy theories related to this is that there is a hidden society of humans working in collaboration with extraterrestrial beings. They have helped them advance technology while also separating themselves from humanity. Often, these weren’t full alien beings working with humans but likely their offspring. This might explain why there are some tribes still secluded today. While likely not true, it is kind of sensible.
[Image via Columbia Pictures]
Men In Black
You read this right. Yes, there are some who totally believe that there are people working for governments just like the Men in Black from the movies. These people are mysterious and it’s unlikely you’ll ever know of their existence. These men (and women) are tasked with keeping the truth about extraterrestrial life a secret from the rest of humanity. The Men in Black conspiracy theories often depict these enigmatic figures as having supernatural abilities or advanced technology, allowing them to monitor and control encounters with aliens or UFO sightings. According to believers, their main objective is to suppress any evidence or information that could potentially expose the existence of extraterrestrial beings or disrupt the established order. These accounts often describe encounters with Men in Black as eerie and unsettling, with reports of intimidation, memory erasure, and threats directed towards witnesses who refuse to keep silent about their experiences.
[Image via Google Earth]
Area 51
No list of alien conspiracy theories would be complete without mentioning Area 51. This is a U.S. military base in Nevada that was, at least at one time, used for developing new weapons and aircraft. It is still heavily guarded today, where if you cross a certain threshold in the area, military officials will take you down. They also will shoot at people who disobey orders about leaving. You’ll see the guards well before you see the base. It is likely that a lot of the major incidents of the government covering up crashes were aircraft prototypes coming from Area 51. Seriously, look at the most popular places for crash cover-ups in America. All pretty close to Nevada or in the state itself, right? That isn’t a coincidence people. No, aliens are not kept there. Even if they were, no one would ever know to claim it as fact.
Where Do We Find This Stuff? Here Are Our Sources:
United States Air Force
United States Government Accountability Office (GAO)
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
World Health Organization (WHO)
United Nations (UN)
UNESCO World Heritage Convention
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
Harvard University
Liverpool John Moores University
Scientific American
Popular Mechanics
CNN