These alien conspiracies are out of this world. Yes, we went there. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most fascinating and memorable space and extraterrestrial-based conspiracies.
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00:00When you connect the dots between apparently unconnected people and situations and organizations,
00:06that's when the tapestry appears and you go, whoa.
00:09Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most fascinating and memorable
00:15space and extraterrestrial-based conspiracies.
00:18What in the hell is going on?
00:20Excellent question, and the answer you're looking for lies right here.
00:24Number 20, dead cattle.
00:26Cows found mutilated, some of them cut with precision and their bodies seemingly untouched with no bloodshed.
00:33For a long time now, aliens have been associated with dead cattle.
00:37Why? We don't really know.
00:39It has been a recurring theme in UFO folklore since at least the 1960s,
00:44when the supposed mutilation of Snippy occurred in Colorado.
00:48The phenomenon involves dead cattle that are found under mysterious and gruesome circumstances,
00:53often with missing limbs and having been completely drained of blood.
00:57Some believe that this is a natural phenomenon, combining decomposition with the work of scavengers.
01:03As for the ufologists, they think cattle are being used in some type of violent alien experiment.
01:09Either way, cows and aliens have long been intertwined within the public consciousness.
01:14I don't understand about it, and no one seems to be able to explain it either.
01:21Number 19, reverse engineering.
01:23Talking about they're actually finding some sort of remains of some life form
01:27and that they're working on the engineering from these objects and learning from them.
01:32I mean, where's the evidence?
01:34Do you ever wonder where all these brilliant technological advancements have been coming from?
01:39According to some, the answer, as always, is aliens.
01:43According to the theory, groundbreaking technologies like fiber optics and microchips
01:49might have been developed as a result of studying alien artifacts
01:53and reverse engineering their captured spacecraft.
01:56Massive advancements in technology were accomplished throughout the 20th century,
02:00which coincides with the sudden rise of UFO sightings, which began around the 1940s.
02:05Even some whistleblowers, including U.S. Army officer Philip Corso,
02:09claim that the American government has been active in studying and utilizing captured alien technology.
02:15Do you believe them?
02:17Everything operates without any interconnections, so the placement of components might be critical.
02:22So they allowed me to go inside and look at it.
02:26Number 18, Kennedy was killed over aliens.
02:29The inference of the Scorch Memo is that if JFK keeps doing what he's doing, that he maybe is a problem.
02:37The JFK assassination is perhaps the most popular conspiracy theory of our time,
02:42with all sorts of speculations abounding.
02:44And yes, that includes a connection to aliens.
02:47JFK was sworn into office shortly after the UFO boom of the 1950s.
02:52According to some, the U.S. government had deep knowledge about the existence of aliens and UFOs,
02:57and Kennedy wanted to share this information with the Soviet Union.
03:01So the CIA had him killed.
03:03Some say they killed him to prevent him from working with the Soviets.
03:06Others say they killed him to prevent the knowledge of aliens from falling into their hands.
03:11Either way, it all ties back to the Grays.
03:14Kennedy was pursuing policies that really were at odds with the national security establishment.
03:19He was sticking his nose into the UFO subject, and that's the final straw.
03:24Number 17, is there life on Mars?
03:27Is there life on Mars?
03:35David Bowie was asking the right questions.
03:37Mars has been at the centre of attention in recent years,
03:40with various missions and studies being centred around our copper-tinted neighbour.
03:44Scientists have also discovered water on the planet,
03:47leading many to conclude that it hosts some type of lifeform,
03:51or at least has hosted some at some point in time.
03:54But the conspiracy theory digs deeper,
03:56positing that NASA has found firm evidence of aliens and are simply covering it up.
04:01Others believe that there are obvious structures and ruins littered throughout the planet,
04:06indicating the existence of an advanced civilization.
04:09So not only do aliens exist, they live right next door.
04:13Amateur archaeologists announce a startling discovery,
04:17what appears to be an effigy located at the Dingo Gap, resembling a human statue.
04:24Number 16, Dulce Base.
04:27Our goal is to locate a secret underground base
04:30where the government reportedly has been housing aliens and carrying out strange experiments.
04:35There is a lot of unexplored terrain beneath our feet,
04:38and according to some, it's harbouring secret alien life.
04:42Found in northern New Mexico is a small place called Dulce,
04:46and underneath Dulce is a research and experimentation facility jointly run by the US government and aliens.
04:53Rumours of the supposed Dulce Base began in the late 1970s,
04:57when a local businessman named Paul Benowitz
05:00claims to have intercepted electronic communications between aliens and the secret underground base.
05:06Benowitz's claims included descriptions of alien technology and human abductions,
05:11and residents of Dulce have continuously reported paranormal phenomenon,
05:15like mysterious lights and UFOs.
05:17They threw down a ladder from that spaceship,
05:22and then two small people started climbing down.
05:25Number 15, We're Under Attack.
05:28The way they circled the city, the trajectories were mathematical.
05:31The speed was just incredible.
05:33Aliens are not just flying by on occasion or living secretly in underground bunkers.
05:38Turns out they've been quite open, and we've even done battle.
05:41There are numerous examples of aliens supposedly invading densely populated cities,
05:46with Washington and LA perhaps being the most famous.
05:49In July of 1952, aliens supposedly visited the nation's capital,
05:54with mysterious objects even hovering directly above the White House.
05:58Talk about making a statement.
06:00Ten years before that, the West Coast was supposedly beset by a UFO,
06:04leading to the infamous Battle of Los Angeles,
06:07in which military forces actually fired upon the alien craft.
06:11The incident was blamed on a weather balloon, as they often are.
06:14The only lights you've got are the searchlights and the anti-aircraft guns firing,
06:21which just add to the sense that they are in a war zone.
06:25Number 14, Aliens Are Living Among Us.
06:28You see, I take these glasses off, she looks like a regular person, doesn't she, huh?
06:32Put them back on, formaldehyde face, that's what we got.
06:35That's enough out of you.
06:36Popular thinking suggests that aliens are an outside force,
06:40a distant race who visits or even attacks us on occasion.
06:44But what if they are already here, secretly living amongst us?
06:47This theory bolsters that aliens are either human in appearance
06:50or have successfully adopted human traits,
06:53allowing them to walk the streets as everyday people,
06:56and maybe even take power in the forms of powerful positions.
06:59This theory is perhaps best represented in John Carpenter's They Live,
07:04a horror comedy about aliens populating the ruling class
07:07and brainwashing society through various means of subliminal deception.
07:11The concept was also used for social commentary
07:14in the classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
07:17We drift through the universe from planet to planet,
07:20pushed on by the solar winds.
07:23We adapt and we survive.
07:26Number 13, The Majestic 12.
07:28You want me to investigate flying saucers.
07:32I want you to help me prove to the public the truth.
07:34Also known as MJ-12,
07:36The Majestic 12 is an alleged secret committee
07:39created in 1947 by American President Harry Truman.
07:43The group was supposedly composed of high-ranking military officers,
07:46scientists, and government officials
07:48tasked with investigating alien contact and technology.
07:52This story shares some similarities with Project Blue Book,
07:55an Air Force study into various UFO encounters.
07:58Only that one was real.
08:00The Majestic 12 came into public attention in the 1980s
08:03when British ufologist Timothy Goode
08:05published some old government documents
08:07supposedly proving its existence.
08:09However, the documents and the story as a whole
08:12is now regarded as a hoax.
08:14This idea of collaboration in the space program
08:18clearly set off alarm bells with MJ-12
08:22and some parts of the administration.
08:25Number 12, There's an alien ship in the ocean.
08:28Something huge and round,
08:30and what was described to me as black as a devil,
08:33starts to rise to the surface.
08:35Back in April of 2023,
08:37a user on 4chan claimed to be a government whistleblower
08:40with, quote,
08:41intimate knowledge of what the U.S. currently knows about UFOs.
08:45They claimed that there is a massive alien structure,
08:48or mobile construction facility,
08:50underneath the ocean,
08:51and that it has been here for over a century.
08:54UFOs are routinely deployed from this facility.
08:57It disappears if approached,
08:59and it will even fire upon intruders
09:01should they get too close.
09:03It could be a tall tale,
09:05but it's certainly entertaining.
09:07Moreover, a former Pentagon official named Luis Elizondo
09:10appeared on Joe Rogan in August 2024,
09:13and he all but confirmed the existence
09:16of a massive underwater facility.
09:18And by the way, it's the size of a small island and round.
09:21Right as this thing is about to break the surface,
09:24it sucks the missile down and disappears.
09:27Number 11, The Wow! Signal.
09:29Right now as we speak,
09:31there are telescopes searching the skies for signals,
09:34for hints, for a sign of civilizations.
09:38In the summer of 1977,
09:40a massive telescope at Ohio State University
09:43was searching the sky for alien radio waves.
09:46It was certainly a long shot, but hey, you never know.
09:49And on August 15th, it hit.
09:51Astronomer Jerry Ehman was going through the data
09:54when he found a strong, narrow-band radio signal
09:57coming from the direction of Sagittarius.
09:59Ehman circled the data and wrote Wow! in red ink,
10:02leading to the signal's now famous name.
10:05And despite continued efforts,
10:07it has never been replicated or rediscovered.
10:10According to many, this is one of the strongest
10:12and most legitimate pieces of evidence
10:14confirming the existence of extraterrestrial life.
10:17Or it could be a natural cosmic event.
10:20We just don't know.
10:21Radio astronomers speculated
10:23that if an alien civilization wanted to communicate with us,
10:26then they might well choose that very special,
10:29natural wavelength to send their message.
10:32Number 10. The Baltic Sea Anomaly.
10:35So this is something I want to find out,
10:37why it looks like this.
10:39While treasure hunting in the Baltic Sea,
10:41a diving team from the Swedish initiative OceanX
10:44found what is now known as the Baltic Sea Anomaly.
10:47The large, disc-shaped object bears a striking resemblance
10:50to the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars,
10:52a fact that has undoubtedly aided in the public's fascination.
10:55It has unique features that are not commonly found
10:58in natural underwater formations,
11:00leading many to believe that it is alien in origin.
11:03Perhaps a crashed UFO,
11:05or even a functional one hiding beneath the surface of the water.
11:08However, skeptics are not convinced,
11:10believing that the photo is too grainy to study
11:13and that the anomaly is likely just a glacial deposit
11:16or some other type of geological formation.
11:19Here you can see straight lines.
11:23It's, in our eyes, not nature have done that.
11:27But perhaps it is.
11:29Number 9. Alien autopsy.
11:31Mulder, this is even hokier than the one they aired on the Fox network.
11:34You can't even see what they're operating on.
11:36If you're into aliens and UFOs,
11:38chances are you've seen that grainy black and white footage
11:41of an alien autopsy.
11:43This comes from a 1995 documentary called
11:45Alien Autopsy, Fact or Fiction,
11:48which supposedly shows a real alien
11:50being dissected back in the 1940s.
11:52The documentary was an enormous hit,
11:54with many people believing that the footage was real.
11:57In reality, the footage has been thoroughly debunked,
12:00and even those involved in its production
12:02have admitted that it's fake.
12:04Regardless, some still believe that the footage is real,
12:06either not believing the admissions and evidence,
12:09or believing they are fabricated to cover up the genuine autopsy.
12:13Stay with us as we put the question to you.
12:16Alien autopsy, fact or fiction?
12:19Number eight, the Pentagon videos.
12:21We've got some video that's going to have a lot of people talking.
12:24If everything going on right now wasn't odd enough for you,
12:27take a look at this.
12:28With the release of this footage,
12:30we were instantly transported back to the mid-20th century,
12:33with UFOs being mainstream news,
12:35and a wide swath of the population believing in the existence of aliens.
12:39The famous Pentagon videos show a number of what appears to be
12:43flying objects speeding through the sky.
12:45For many, this is as good as an official admittance,
12:48and is likely the closest that the public will get.
12:50Aliens are here, the government knows about them,
12:53and they even have footage to back it up.
12:55Of course, this still remains a conspiracy theory,
12:58as many people have explained away the phenomena as faulty instruments,
13:02drones, atmospheric effects, and optical illusions.
13:06You know, all the usual stuff.
13:08There was a lot of speculation going out there.
13:10They had already been leaked, so why not come out and say,
13:14okay, these films are genuine, they do exist,
13:16but we don't know what they are.
13:18Number 7. Men in Black.
13:20Here come the men in black, the Galaxy Defenders.
13:23That is, according to those who believe that there's a major plot underway
13:27to keep the alien UFOs a secret.
13:29Why the big secret? People are smart, they can handle it.
13:32A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it.
13:37Within ufology, these agents are said to be mysterious government workers
13:41who coerce UFO eyewitnesses into silence.
13:44If coercion doesn't work, then they'll allegedly resort to more drastic measures.
13:49Who are you, really?
13:51Really? I am just a figment of your imagination.
13:58John Keel, the famous author of The Mothman Prophecies,
14:01took it one step further and called the men in black demonic creatures.
14:05Of course, there's no solid evidence that they even actually exist.
14:09But since they're supposedly top-secret agents who are meant to be stealthy,
14:13the theory certainly helps ufologists explain the apparent lack of alien spaceships.
14:18See you around, Jack.
14:26No, you won't.
14:28Number 6. The Black Knight.
14:31Back in 1998, the STS-88 mission snapped a startling photograph.
14:36A long, black object appeared to be orbiting the Earth.
14:40Naturally, the conspiracy theorists immediately got to work
14:43and claimed that this was an ancient alien satellite named the Black Knight.
14:47The Black Knight ghost!
14:52This wasn't the first time the idea of such a device was floated around,
14:55but it did help it gain traction.
14:57Believers say that it's been circling our planet for over 10,000 years,
15:02and that NASA has been keeping it a secret from the general population.
15:06Watch out for incoming space junk!
15:09However, NASA claims that the Black Knight is actually just space debris,
15:13with a prominent journalist named James Oberg further suggesting that it's a thermal blanket.
15:18Number 5. The Anunnaki.
15:21Famous conspiracy theorist Erich von Däniken released his seminal book,
15:24Chariots of the Gods, in 1968.
15:27In it, he posited that most world religions were created
15:30after humans were visited by ancient alien astronauts.
15:33The book was very popular, but largely discredited by academia.
15:37Still, the theory was continued by Zechariah Sitchin,
15:40who claimed that the Anunnaki deities came to Earth from a planet supposedly called Nibiru,
15:45created modern humans, and forced them to mine gold.
15:49Plus, they allegedly showed us agriculture and constructed the great pyramids of Egypt.
15:54David Icke also apparently claims that the Anunnaki are the evil force
15:58his famous conspiracy theory, which essentially calls politicians reptiles in disguise, hinges on.
16:05I've seen enough and heard enough to believe that it's real, and so I say it.
16:09Number 4. The Tunguska Event.
16:11During an early summer morning back in 1908,
16:14a large area of Siberia was decimated by a mysterious event.
16:19Over 800 square miles of forest was flattened,
16:22and about 80 million trees were reportedly destroyed.
16:26There was just one problem, as far as anyone could tell, nothing had hit the Earth.
16:31So, what the heck happened?
16:32People who observed that thought the end of the world had come, judgment day, divine intervention.
16:38Contemporary reports blamed aliens,
16:41alleging that evidence of extraterrestrial involvement was found at the site.
16:45While that makes for a compelling story, it's not widely believed to be what occurred.
16:49It's now thought that a meteoroid, measuring somewhere around 200 feet,
16:53exploded in midair and leveled the surrounding area in what's called a meteor airburst.
16:59As that blast wave hits the ground,
17:01there's a component of very high wind blowing radially outward from the center, from ground zero,
17:08and so that's the direction that the trees blow down.
17:11Number 3. The Face on Mars.
17:14It's one of the most popular images in space history.
17:17An eerie face resembling an old hockey mask,
17:20emerging from the dust of Mars and peering up at the camera.
17:24It's quite a creepy picture, and it understandably spurred interest in extraterrestrial life.
17:30Some believe that the face on Mars is proof that there was an ancient Martian civilization.
17:35The official explanation is that the supposed face is actually just an instance of pareidolia,
17:40or seeing a pattern in something innocuous.
17:42Some of this may just be a trick of the light, funny-shaped rocks.
17:47Apparently, this is just a normal hill whose face-like qualities are enhanced by specific lighting.
17:53It's not the only planetary phenomenon that spawned alien conspiracies,
17:57with the hexagon on Saturn standing out as another notable case.
18:01Number 2. Area 51.
18:03When it comes to aliens, few names are as prominent as Area 51.
18:08So, uh, this is Area 51, right?
18:10No.
18:11The secret military base?
18:12No.
18:13Where they keep the aliens?
18:14Officially named Homi Airport, the facility belongs to the United States Air Force,
18:18who claims that it's notably used to test aircrafts.
18:21The work here is deemed top secret,
18:24so Area 51 has remained heavily guarded and protected since its founding in 1955.
18:29About the government cover-up of alien bodies at Area 52.
18:33I thought it was Area 51.
18:35Area 51 is just a decoy.
18:37Naturally, the mystery surrounding it has generated untold amounts of conspiracies
18:42relating to UFOs, aliens, energy weapons, and time travel, among others.
18:47Area 51 is actually a paranoid fantasy we concocted to hide the true identity of this facility.
18:54Which is?
18:55Area 52.
18:56The very name of Area 51 is synonymous with extraterrestrial conspiracy theories,
19:01and it remains an enormous point of national interest.
19:04It doesn't seem that the speculation will stop anytime soon, either.
19:08Remember when the internet wanted to storm it?
19:10You let the people on that other side of the fence know, you know, who's paying the bills.
19:14Number 1. Roswell.
19:16There have been countless UFO sightings throughout the years, but nothing compares to this one.
19:21The Roswell Incident is a legendary piece of American history,
19:25and it has remained the go-to UFO story for decades.
19:28In 1947, what's now believed to have been a surveillance balloon
19:33from the Air Force's classified Project Mogul, crashed into a New Mexico ranch.
19:38At first, the Roswell Army Airfield informed the public that, quote,
19:42a flying disc had been found at the site.
19:44But this claim was famously retracted, leading many to believe that a cover-up was at play.
19:49Roswell Army Airfield, at that time, actually put out a press release
19:54where they claimed they had captured the real thing.
19:57And then five hours later, they explained it away as just a weather balloon device.
20:01Decades later, military officer Jesse Marcel remained adamant
20:05that what they had recovered was extraterrestrial in nature.
20:08Roswell is arguably the greatest alien conspiracy theory of the 20th century.
20:14Do you buy into any of these theories? Let us know in the comments below.
20:18Tell you what, Johannes, look, there's lots of things. We've all got to be open-minded.
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