We Have A Shadow Government

Conspiracy theorists suspect it isn't elected officials that run the world but rather shadow governments – unknown and unelected kingmakers who pull the strings behind the scenes. Their most likely suspect in America is the CIA. The Agency's shadowy beginnings during the birth of the Cold War, their early experiments with mind control, and their overt international agenda has led many to believe that the buck stops at the CIA and not the president.

Some of the CIA's operations have become common knowledge – the confirmed roles they played in the coup d'états across Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East come to mind. The film The Good Shepherd posits that Yale's secret Skull and Bones society is a place where the CIA grooms its puppet presidents for positions of power. Incidentally, both Bush presidents were members of the Skull and Bones.

The Statue of Liberty

While we previously debunked the myth that Lady Liberty was intended as a putdown of slavery and basically confirmed the rumor that it's likely modeled after an unknown African woman, there is one conspiracy theory that we haven't addressed: her name.

For centuries, we've been referring to her as the "Statue of Liberty." But that's not her real name, which is Liberty Enlightening the World.

Hip Hop And Private Prisons In Cahoots

In April 2012, an anonymous letter shook the digital world. The unverified source detailed a meeting in the 1980s between major music industry players and power brokers from Washington. In the meeting, the source claims the industry insiders spoke of their investments in the burgeoning private prison system in America. Indeed, the letter circulated by the Huffing Post reported "the number of inmates per 100,000 people in the U.S. rose from 139 in 1980 to 313 in 1991." 

The writer seemed to be claiming that rap music could have risen to prominence so soon after its American-led foundation because music moguls and private prison owners entered into some sort of far-reaching conspiracy to convince people to embrace the "thug life." However, the letter and its outlandish claims have not been verified.