Some of the more popular conspiracy theories floating about the world wide web and even some you may have never heard about. Join us all week long for our year end conspiracy week long extravaganza.

What Is a Conspiracy Theory

A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy, when other explanations are more probable. The term generally has a negative connotation, implying that the appeal of a conspiracy theory is based in prejudice, emotional conviction, or insufficient evidence.

Conspiracy theory, an attempt to explain harmful or tragic events as the result of the actions of a small powerful group.

A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy when other explanations are more probable.

In June 1962, inmates Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris escaped from Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, California, United States.[2] Late on the night of June 11 or early morning of June 12, the three men tucked papier-mâché model heads resembling their own likenesses into their beds, broke out of the main prison building via ventilation ducts and an unguarded utility corridor, and departed the island aboard an improvised inflatable raft to an uncertain fate.[3] A fourth conspirator, Allen West, failed in his escape attempt and remained on the island.

Hundreds of leads were pursued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local law enforcement officials in the ensuing years, but no conclusive evidence has ever surfaced favoring the success or failure of the attempt.[4] Numerous theories of widely varying plausibility have been proposed by authorities, reporters, family members, and amateur enthusiasts.[5] In 1979 the FBI officially concluded, on the basis of circumstantial evidence and a preponderance of expert opinion, that the men drowned in the frigid waters of San Francisco Bay without reaching the mainland.[6][7] The U.S. Marshals Service case file remains open and active, and Morris and the Anglin brothers remain on its wanted list.[8]

New circumstantial and material evidence has continued to surface, stoking new debates on whether the inmates managed to survive.