Travel Conspiracy Theories, Ranked from Least to Most Absurd

Some of these theories are absolutely ridiculous. But others actually aren't so far-fetched...

Travel Conspiracy Theories Both Wacky and Dangerous

Conspiracy theories have been a part of social discourse for hundreds of years, feeding on the paranoia of the people. You’d think that in our time of smartphones, it would be far easier to debunk misguided myths with a photo or a fact check — but what if the image is doctored? What if the information online is false? A new slew of questions arise.

From urban legends about chemtrails and secret airlines, to whispers about tourist destinations that double as Illuminati meeting places, travel is a classic source of conspiracies. We’ve compiled some of the absolute wackiest out there, then ranked them from least to most absurd.

Some of these will make your head spin, and others will sound completely ridiculous. But some are, dare we say it, kind of plausible?

15. There's a Top-Secret Government Airline That Flies to Area 51

If you’ve ever flown out of Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport, you may have noticed a white plane marked with one red stripe down the fuselage, over the windows. It looks unassuming, and might be confusing to onlookers because there is no insignia for an airline. This is Janet, a highly classified airline where (we can only guess) flight attendants salute passengers with “...on behalf of Area 51 and the United States Government, thank you for flying with Janet! We appreciate your vow to secrecy.”

Area 51, hailed as the home to UFOs, has fueled many overwrought conspiracy theories. But this particular Area 51-related theory isn’t that out-there — many reputable sources have reported on Janet planes actually flying employees and contractors from Vegas to their jobs at Area 51, which may or may not house E.T. secrets, but does continue to serve as a U.S. military installation and secretive flight-testing facility. The airline reportedly flies to other secretive government sites as well, though exactly what those are remains shrouded in mystery.

Why the name “Janet”? Some theorists believe it’s an acronym for “Just Another Non-Existent Terminal.” Others think it is just a mysterious military code.

If you’re dying to find out, the airline does post job openings on the AECOM website — there was a posting in 2018 for a flight attendant. Expect some serious background checks.

Conspiracy rating: 1 tin-foil hat (out of 4)

14. The Vatican’s Secret Archives Contain...Really Juicy Secrets

The Catholic Church? Sitting on secrets? You don’t say!

No one really knows entirely what is housed in the Vatican Library’s secret archives, which encompass 12 centuries worth of documents. An enigma, the secret archives — which make up 53 miles of shelving, tucked away inside one of the world's most-visited tourist destinations — could contain a multitude of mysteries, everything from the existence of aliens to the Church’s complicity during Mussolini’s rule.

The name “Secret Archives” comes from a mistranslation of the Latin word “secretum,” meaning private. Documents dated before 1939 are technically open to the public, but still extremely hard to access — you have to be a legitimate scholar, over the age of 75, and can only choose from a handful of documents per day. This wouldn’t be considered transparent, exactly.

Who knows what treasures are hidden deep in these catacombs, but we can probably assume that it is more than benevolent papal documents, like the Vatican claims.

Conspiracy rating: 1 tin-foil hat

13. Airplane Toilets Can Suck You in

A surprisingly significant number of travelers — including 1 in 8 Britons, according to one survey — believe that you can be sucked into a plane toilet while traveling, a theory that is both gross and kind of understandable. The jarring flushing noise an airplane toilet makes can be anxiety-inducing, and the ominous warning “do not flush while seated” does little to calm the nerves.

But fret not: The chance of this happening has been deemed near-impossible, with even Adam Savage of Mythbusters proving it's nothing to worry about. The only way this can happen is if your bottom makes a perfect seal on the toilet seat, which is highly unlikely.

All that said, there has been one documented case of a woman getting stuck on a plane toilet for the entirety of her flight (an ordeal the airline later compensated her for) — so while this is unlikely, it's also not totally bogus.

Maybe it’s best to always stand before flushing, just to be safe...

Conspiracy rating: 1 1/2 tin-foil hats

12. The Illuminati Still Meet in Bavaria

Ingolstadt is a small town in the German state of Bavaria that welcomes tourists to enjoy its cobblestone streets and medieval center. What visitors don't know? It's the top-secret meeting place of Illuminati followers. At least, as reported on by the BBC, that's what some conspiracy theorists believe.

This idea isn't completely outlandish, considering Ingolstadt is the birthplace of the Illuminati, a secret society first formed by university professor Adam Weishaupt in 1776. His mission was to oppose religious influence on society and foster a space for free speech — at the same time the American colonies were fighting for similar ideals.

While the intentions sound good, the organization was shut down within a decade by Bavarian authorities. This was the alleged end to the Illuminati, but the idea evolved over time into one of the world’s greatest conspiracy theories. Today, people speculate that the shadowy organization continues to operate with powerful members like Beyonce, Madonna and Katy Perry, and it’s been pointed to as the responsible party for major tragedies like the assassination of JFK.

BBC interviewed Sister Anna, a local nun, who believes that the Illuminati still hold covert meetings in Ingolstadt. While there hasn’t been a Beyonce sighting in Ingolstadt, and it's almost certain there's no truth to the wilder theories about the nature of the Illuminati, it is entirely plausible that the pilgrims of Weishaupt’s ideas still convene — after all, there’s no evidence to say they don’t.

Conspiracy rating: 2 tin-foil hats

11. Infamous Hijacker "D.B. Cooper" Didn't Die

On November 24, 1971, a mysterious man named D.B. Cooper committed one of the most well-known unsolved crimes in history — he hijacked a plane from Portland to Seattle, demanded and received a ransom of $200,000, then parachuted into the abyss.

“D.B. Cooper” is just an alias, but the FBI has many theories on who Cooper actually was and what happened to him, including the idea that he died in the parachute fall. He jumped in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain, in 200 mph winds — even an experienced paratrooper would struggle with these conditions.

There are numerous possible suspects, which have in turn spawned many novels hypothesizing on Cooper’s true identity. Some think he was a paratrooper who worked as a mechanic for the airline (the extinct Northwest Orient Airlines), and many believe he survived despite the odds. One theory even claims that he was actually John List, who killed his entire family the same year as the hijacking.

Cooper’s case still fascinates pop culture today — in the final season of “Mad Men,” some imaginative fans theorized that Don Draper was going to end up being D.B. Cooper. This theory even received acknowledgement from major publications like the “Chicago Tribune.” (Spoiler alert: The guess was incorrect.)

The theories on this can get pretty wild, but considering the case remains a mystery...who knows?

Conspiracy rating: 2 ½ tin-foil hats

10. A Cover-Up Was Involved in the Disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

When flight MH 370 disappeared in March 2014, it seemed like there was going to be an easy explanation. How, in this digital age of satellites and advanced tracking technologies, does a flight on a major commercial airline just go missing? But as the days and months went on, answers were nowhere to be found and conspiracies began to intumesce.

To read a full breakdown of MH 370’s disappearance, we recommend this in-depth investigation by “The Atlantic.” In the five years since the fateful night, there has been feverish hypothesizing on what could have gone wrong. Could this have been a hijacking? Is the CIA involved and covering up damaging information? Or, is Malaysia the one with secrets? Some people believe there was a fire on board and the pilot couldn’t land in time. Many of the plausible theories have significant evidence; others are pretty preposterous, with (surprise) aliens pointed to as one possible cause.

If the wreckage of the flight is one day found, many hope that the plane’s black boxes will provide answers. Only time will tell.

Conspiracy rating: 2 ½ tin-foil hats

9. Amelia Earhart Was Captured by Japanese Forces

Amelia Earhart is one of the most famous female pilots to have ever lived. She was the first woman (and second person) to complete a solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic. And then, at the height of her career, in an attempt to fly around the world, she vanished.

Eighty years later, theories about her disappearance continue to run rampant.

Many believe she simply crashed into the ocean, never to be found. But what if she didn't? It's suspected that bones found in 1941 on Nikumaroro Island in the western Pacific Ocean could be Earhart’s remains, meaning she could've landed and, eventually, died there.

Others believe that she and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were captured by Japanese forces in the Marshall Islands — her disappearance was in 1937, a time of increasing tensions between Japan and the United States. The Japanese could have suspected Earhart and Noonan of being spies and put them in a military prison.

We may never know what truly happened to Amelia Earhart, but these alternate theories are rooted in fairly sound scientific and journalistic research, making them at least somewhat plausible.

In any case, Earhart’s status as a record-breaking aviation pioneer has established her perpetual status as a cultural fixation.

Conspiracy rating: 2 1/2 tin-foil hats

8. Something Strange and Otherworldly is Going on with the Bermuda Triangle

The Bermuda Triangle is an area in the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by Puerto Rico to the south, Florida to the west and Bermuda to the north. It’s believed that more than 50 ships and 20 airplanes have disappeared in this stretch of the sea — numbers so shockingly high that even the most astute rationalists find it hard to deny that something is off there.

Moreover, these disappearances have been happening for four centuries, for as long as humans have been documenting the Triangle. There are a number of plausible theories to explain this enduring enigma, massive rogue waves being the most prominent one.

Oceanographers believe this area is home to colossal waves that can reach over 100 feet tall. Storms can come here from all directions, including the Gulf, the Atlantic and the equator, colliding to create the rogue waves.

Other possibilities: Methane gas bubbles from the ocean floor cause ships to sink, or magnetic forces make for compass malfunctions.

These ideas, though, aren’t terribly exciting, which has of course led to more outlandish theories — like maybe it’s the lost city of Atlantis sucking vessels in with a mysterious force. Or guys, what if it’s aliens?!

Conspiracy rating: 3 tin-foil hats

7. Camp Hero State Park Was Home to Sinister Military Experiments

The tourist attraction of Camp Hero State Park, 755 acres of picturesque Hamptons greenery, would not be your first guess for an abandoned military experiment base — somewhere barren, like the Mojave Desert, seems more likely than Montauk beaches. But this scenic state park is the inspiration for Netflix’s “Stranger Things” because it was the supposed ground zero for a major secret research project.

This conspiracy stems from “The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time” by Preston Nichols, a frontrunner of the psychotronics movement — a theory that the government was transmitting ideas via electromagnetic radiation (which could be blocked with, you guessed it, tin-foil hats).

The conspiracies stem from the park’s SAGE tower, a Cold War installation that was designed to give the U.S. extra warning of Soviet missiles; out of 12 that were spread out around the country, only this one remains. Montauk Project theorists purport that the government captured children, kept them below the radar tour and programmed them into super soldiers.

The magazine “Road Trippers” published an in-depth look at the conspiracies swirling around Camp Hero. While the mind-control experiments are improbable, there are real dangers that come with exploring an abandoned military base, like unexploded weapons.

Conspiracy rating: 3 tin-foil hats

6. The Denver Airport is a Post-Apocalyptic Government Capital

When the Denver International Airport (DIA) opened in 1995, some years and $2 billion over budget, many eyebrows (and suspicions) were raised. Why did this facility — controversial in concept because Denver was already home to an international airport — arrive so late and so expensively?

The airport sprawls out across 35,000 acres of sparse field, inconveniently located away from downtown Denver. Its location, cost and delay, not to mention the giant cobalt-blue mustang statue with demonic red eyes, are all fodder for conspiracists.

These people claim that the airport is just the tip of a massive underground structure composed of bunkers and tunnels, designed to house the New World Order, a government for the post-apocalyptic society. The sinister speculations stem from the bizarre art in the airport, including a mural with what looks to be a Nazi in a gas mask, plus Masonic logos, gargoyle statues, hidden Native American symbolism and more.

The DIA time capsule made in 1994 will not be opened until 2094, so we have only 75 years until the truth is revealed. In the meantime, the airport has been having some fun with the rumors; when it began renovations last year, it put up temporary walls with posters that asked “What’s Happening Behind This Wall”? Answers included “Gargoyle breeding ground” and “A top-secret Freemason meeting.”

Let’s just hope we won’t have to use those bunkers any time soon!

Conspiracy rating: 4 tin-foil hats

5. Oxygen Masks Get You High

Originating from the movie “Fight Club,” this idea posits that oxygen masks are filled with chemicals to sedate passengers on tailspinning flights.

Brad Pitt’s character says in the movie, “You know why they put oxygen masks on planes? Oxygen gets you high. In a catastrophic emergency, you're taking giant panicked breaths. Suddenly you become euphoric, docile. You accept your fate.”

This is completely false — oxygen masks keep travelers alert and counteract the lack of pressure in the cabin, which by itself would cause a dangerous lack of breathing air in the plane. These masks are there for your own safety, so make sure you listen to your flight attendants on how to properly use them in case of an emergency.

Conspiracy rating: 4 tin-foil hats

4. Airplanes Are Poisoning Us (Chemtrails)

Have you ever looked up to the sky and become mesmerized by the pretty cloudlike trails that planes leave as they crisscross through the blue sky? Well, if you subscribe to the chemtrail theory, that is actually poison and you should probably get inside immediately.

Scientifically speaking, these trails are caused by plane engines emitting a humid vapor into below-freezing air, causing condensation as the vapor turns to water droplets, then quickly to ice crystals.

However, conspiracists purport that instead of just condensation, airplanes are actually spraying out dangerous biological agents designed to harm the people down below. They say that the trails linger longer now than they once did, meaning there must be a sinister reason behind this. Others believe this is the result of government experimentation with weather manipulation.

While contrails have never been proven to be anything but innocent condensation, even some celebrities have expressed suspicions — including amateur konspiracist Kylie Jenner on Twitter.

Conspiracy ranking: 4 tin-foil hats

3. Australia Doesn’t Exist

You can blame the Flat Earth Society (see No. 1 on this list) for this howler.

Starting around 2006, the conspiracy-loving organization began floating the idea that Australia — the country, the people, the kangaroos, all of it — is a hoax. While obviously absurd, the theory gained traction when it went viral in 2017 and was shared by over 20,000 people on social media. The poster who launched the firestorm later claimed it was a joke, but there seems to be a small contingent of people who’ve legitimately bought into the bogus claim.

Apparently, pilots have actually been flying to South America and just calling it Australia, people who claim to be from Australia are secret government agents and photos of the naturally blessed country are totally fake.

That means the enchanting accents and gorgeous sun-kissed people are false, all part of the elaborate Australian ruse. While obviously completely untrue and more than a little offensive — Australians have expressed plenty of consternation — this theory can’t help but fuel our wanderlust for the country’s legendary (and, to be clear, very real) beaches.

Conspiracy ranking: 4 tin-foil hats

2. Finland Doesn’t Exist

Australia isn’t the only country conspiracy enthusiasts are trying to erase from existence.

A few years ago, a 22-year-old Redditor, based on information he gleaned from his parents, took to Reddit to promote the idea that Finland is a master manipulation on behalf of Japan and the Soviet Union. The two countries supposedly claimed there is a landmass (aka Finland) in the Baltic Sea as a ploy to keep all of the good fishing waters to themselves. Japan corroborated the lie in order to use the Soviet waters for fishing, in return giving a portion of its catches to its neighbor.

What about the millions of international tourists who head to Finland each year, you ask? The people visiting “Finland” are actually going to villages in Sweden and Estonia, of course.

The theory is entirely ridiculous, ensuring its bona-fide meme status and corresponding Finland Conspiracy sub-Reddit — a hilarious read.

Conspiracy ranking: 4 tin-foil hats

1. The Earth is Actually Flat

This one is honestly so absurd it almost doesn’t deserve a ranking in this list. This archaic perception of the Earth’s shape was disproved by Aristotle over 2,000 years ago — yet there is still a vocal minority of people who do not think our planet is a sphere.

It’s a ludicrous hypothesis straight out the “Chronicles of Narnia” that’s unfortunately gathered more popularity over the past decade, in large part due to conspiracy-peddling YouTube videos. The FlatEarth society — whose logo is shown here — has more than 200,000 Facebook followers (though we hope some of them are following to ridicule and critique), and vocal Flat Earthers include NBA star Kyrie Irving and reality-TV personality Tila Tequila.

How is this possible if we have legitimate images of the Earth from space? That’s easy — Flat Earthers say the pictures are fake (ignoring the fact that there is a livestream of the Earth from the International Space Station). The planet is actually on a disc, with the North Pole at the center and the stars, sun and moon above in our dome — imagine a cute little conspiracist snow globe. Just don’t shake it too hard, or you might knock some sense into these people.

Conspiracy ranking: 4 tin-foil hats