This week, Cassie & Gina delve into the realm of conspiracy theories, and attempt to decipher what is fact and what is fiction. Cassie takes on the "Birds Aren't Real" theory and the assassination of J.F.K, while Gina takes on The Apollo 11 Moon Landings and the Death of Adolf Hitler.
Birds Aren't Real?
This conspiracy theory exists to claim that all birds aren’t real because the U.S. Government genocided birds from 1959 to 2001 by releasing a virus that killed them all off.
The theory claims that after all birds were killed, they were replaced with surveillance drone replicas that watch us every single day. Basically birds are drones. The theory says that the government ended up killing over 12 billion drones so they could spy on us.
The history of the movement explains that it started to bring attention to the issue in the 1970s to make everyone aware of the “atrocity and to prevent the mass killing of birds.” They were unsuccessful in their mission in the 70s but recently the movement has gained more attention so the group is trying to convince everyone again. However many people actually believe this because of the government's constant increase of surveillance.
Apollo 11 Moon Landings
The United States’ Apollo 11 crew became the first men to land on the moon on July 20th, 1969. In the 51 years that have passed since that day, many view the event as a celebrated moment in history, but conspiracy theorists have also managed to keep public interest into the possibility that the moon landing broadcast was faked or manipulated in some way.
Most people know the story of the Moon Landing, and the event itself served as a marvel for the human race, as it was broadcast live around the world. The United States’ Apollo 11 crew; Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to land on the moon on July 20th, 1969. In the 51 years that have passed since that day, many view the event as a celebrated moment in history, but conspiracy theorists have also managed to keep public interest into the possibility that the moon landing broadcast was faked or manipulated in some way. So why do some find this event questionable? Let’s first look into “why” people think that the United States would have faked the moon landing.
Theorists believe the motive for faking the moon landing could have stemmed from either: the space race mainly involving the United States, China, and the Soviet Union, NASA wanting to help their reputation and ensure further funding, or the United States Government wanting to focus attention away from the unfavorable Vietnam war.
While there was doubt surrounding the mission long before the moon landing was broadcast worldwide, as the public trust in the government has decreased over the years, members of the public have began to question more and more of the governments dealings.
Claim #1: The landing was faked because in photographic evidence the American flag appears to be flapping in the wind.
A number of photographic stills released where the American flag Apollo 11’s crew stuck into the ground, appears to be flapping, but that would be impossible because there is no wind on the moon. Theorists suggest that this is evidence the photo was taken on Earth. One of the most prevalent moon landing debaters, press officer for the American Astronomical Society, Rick Fienberg, said that while the flag appears to be flapping it isn’t.
With the conditions on the moon, if the crew were to have placed a regular flag because there is no wind it would have just hung plainly. NASA created a specially designed rod for the flag for the crew to take with them for the iconic photo op. The flag was attached to a specially shaped rod, so that it would not hang down, but the crew had difficulty fully extending the rod. The flag only appeared to flap when the crew were moving it into position, so when they moved away the flag kept a similar bent shape. Some videos also show that when astronauts let go of the rod it vibrates for a few brief seconds before sitting still.
Claim #2: The landing was faked because you cannot see any stars.
This is a claim many scientists say is the easiest to debunk. This theory stems from pictures Lance Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had taken while on the moon, but in the background there are no stars visible. Scientists say that no stars appear in the pictures, mainly because of the cameras that were used. They say this all comes down to exposure. The surface of the moon was illuminated by the sun, and the white highly reflective space suits caused the camera’s to dim the stars in comparison. The same kind of effect could be created by going onto your back porch at night and turning on the lights. So basically, even if you can see stars in the sky, if you use a camera with quick-exposure it won’t be able to capture them.
Claim #3: The shadows do not line up.
In photographs released from the mission, some shadows appear to be pointing in multiple directions. One example theorists point to is one photo, where one of the crew’s shadow lines with the lander, but then there also appears to be an additional shadow from the lander pointing in another direction, which wouldn’t make sense if the crew only had one light source: ie the sun. So theorists take this as evidence the landing was filmed on a soundstage. The moon's surface is highly reflective and quite uneven as well, so this can contribute to shadows appearing from many different angles even when you only have one light source.
Claim #4: The Van Allen Radiation belts would have cooked the astronauts.
The Van Allen Radiation belts are two huge belts that surround the Earth’s magnetic field and hold a bunch of energy particles from the Sun’s wind. For a long time it was believed that humans would not be able to pass through the belts without being burned from lethal amounts of radiation. However this is not the case. First, the timing of the Apollo launch was intentional, so that the crew would pass through the Van Allen's when they were at their lowest peak in intensity. So while Radiation sickness is possible, you would have to be exposed to 1gy within a couple hours. Apollo 11 passed through the belts for less than two hours and were only estimated to be exposed to 0.18gy. Even still, NASA worked to ensure that the spacecraft was very well-insulated to prevent even that level of radiation. So over the course of the 12 day mission, the crew were on average exposed to 0.0018gy of radiation daily. Which would be the equivalent amount of radiation you receive getting an x-ray.
Claim #5: The Moon Rocks.
The Apollo crew brought back 842 pounds worth of moon rocks, which are either created by meteorite impacts or by explosive volcanic activity, in both situations the rocks take a while to cool and they very slowly will crystallize, different from how they would on Earth. These kinds of rocks have in the past been discovered from meteorites that have fallen to Earth. As a gesture of goodwill, rocks were gifted to 135 countries around the world, and these samples have basically had every kind of geology test done to them, where every time geologists have confirmed that they are lunar in origin. But, no other space missions or efforts have been able to bring back the same amount of moon rocks, so some theorists did look at this as suspicious, but I do not really understand their argument here. In the 1970’s the Soviets program brought back moon rocks, but only ⅓ of a kilogram, and they tested and compared with the Apollo 11 rocks, and everything did check out.
Claim #6: Stanley Kubrick filmed the broadcast on a soundstage.
In 1969 Kubrick released the film: 2001, A Space Odyssey. This movie was praised by audiences and critics, and was a sort of marvel of realistic images of outer space and special effects .Kubrick did get help and guidance from astronomical artists and aerospace engineers to assist him in the film. So, after the moon landing some people started to wonder about the possibility that the government hired Kubrick to film the moon landing on a soundstage.
Theorists compared NASA aerial shots of the moon's craters to craters in the dessert near area 51. These same theories suggest that the airplane hangers in area 51 were used as sound stages for the moon landing. Other evidence points to a photograph of a rock on the moon that appears to be labeled with a C, which many movie props are typically numbered and lettered so the stage crew knows where it is placed on a set. So people suggest that the “prop” rock was placed facing the wrong way, which showed it’s label. But the picture referenced is actually zoomed in from a larger landscape shot of the moon's surface, and in the original the “C” marking is not there.
Theorists continue to claim that other "oddities" as previously mentioned, such as the flag flapping or the odd shadows can be attributed to the landing being filmed on a sound stage.
The Assassination of J.F.K.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by gunshot while traveling in a motorcade in Dallas, TX. He was traveling in an open-top limousine and was shot at 12:30 pm on Friday, November 22, 1963. Just hours after JFK was shot, Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for killing a Dallas policeman. The next day, Oswald was arraigned for the murder of Pres. JFK. On that Sunday, two days after the assassination, Mafia associated nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot OSwald while he was being transferred from the city jail to the county jail.
After the assassination and President Johnson was sworn in, many people began to suspect that the shooting of JFK was part of a larger plot and some thought that right-wing citizens in Dallas could be involved. The first clue people had that something might be up, was after Ruby shot Oswald. After an investigation in 1964, the Warren Commission concluded that Oswald had acted alone and that there was “no credible evidence supported the contention that he was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate the President.” The Commission also added that the U.S. Sec. of State, Sec. of Defense, Treasury Sec., Attorney General, FBI Director, CIA Director and Secret Service Chief, all individually came to the same conclusion.
Conspiracy theorists believe there is no way that Oswald could have single-handedly killed the President with a single gunshot wound, by himself. After Oswald’s death, FBI Director Hoover wrote a memo explaining that the Dallas Police would not have enough evidence against Oswald without the information that the FBI had. He noted “the thing I am concerned about,is having something issued so we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin.
President Johnson established a team to investigate JFK’s assassination called the Warren Commission led by Chief Justice Earl Warren. When the Warren Commission was established it began to go over evidence to officially certify what happened with the assassination of President Kennedy. A group of researchers noted what they see as inconsistencies that could signal a cover up, they noted; oversights, exclusions of evidence, errors, changing stories or changes made to witness testimony in the official investigation. These researchers believe that the Warren Commission only received specific information the FBI fed them, all to come to the conclusion that there could only be a lone gunman, which is what a lot of people don’t believe. There have also been whispers of witness intimidation and witness deaths, suppression of evidence, tampering of evidence and fabrication of evidence.
The biggest theory is that there was more than one gunman, that Harvey Lee Oswald could not have worked alone. The Warren Commission looked at witness testimonies from those at the scene and the three sent cartridges left behind. The Commission determined that there were three shots fired.
In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that there were actually four shots, one coming from a grassy knoll. The Warren Commission concluded that one of the shots hit President Kennedy in the back of his neck, exited his throat and then struck Governor Connally in the back, exiting his chest, shattering his right wrist and entering his thigh. One bullet, hitting two separate men. The Warren Commission concluded that all of the shots fired came from the sixth-floor window at the southeast corner of the Texas Book Depository.
However, many people were not convinced and in the years since Kennedy's death, many theories have risen in prominence.
Theory #1
Some suggest former CIA agent and Watergate burglar, E.Howard Hunt was a participant in the assassination of JFK. Hunt denied all allegations but after his death in 2007, his son released an audio-tape coined as his “deathbed confession.” In this, Hunt claimed “first-hand knowledge of a conspiracy,” saying he was a “benchwarmer in Dallas, TX” during the time; he also named high-level CIA operatives who likely carried out the logistics and named President Lyndon Johnson as the most likely figured behind the idea of the assassination. However, the authenticity was met with some skepticism.
Theory #2
This theory says that Dallas Police Officer J.D. Tippit had been sent as a CIA Operative to silence Oswald and was also the second shooter. There were rumors that Oswald killed Tippit before he could kill him and even some people thought Tippit’s body was switched with Kennedy’s on Air Force One.
Theory #3
One of the bigger conspiracies is that people suspected President Lyndon B. Johnson of being involved in the assassination. They allege that Johnson plotted the assassination because he disliked the Kennedy Family and feared that he would be dropped from the Democratic ticket for the 1964 election. And President Kennedy was actually seriously considering dropping Johnson and adding NC Gov. Terry Sanford to the presidential ticket if Kennedy chose to run again in 1964. Based on the information out there, the Warren Commission, the CIA, the FBI and the Secret Service conclusions, none of these conspiracy theories are true.
The Death of Adolf Hitler
The story goes that as the allies were closing in on the Nazi’s towards the end of WWII, in a Nazi Bunker in Berlin, Germany on April 30th, 1945, Adolf Hitler poisoned himself with cyanide and then shot himself in the head, and his wife Eva Braun poisoned herself with cyanide, their bodies were discovered by Soviet Union officials. In secrecy the Soviet’s performed an autopsy before later that same day, bringing the bodies outside, dousing them in gasoline and burning them. This has been the publicly accepted account of Hitler’s death and the end of WWII.
Historians and other in experts considered speculations about Hitler’s death “fringe theories” and they are often considered to be disputable. However, much of the doubt that surrounds Hitler's death stems from the lack of conclusive evidence from Hitler’s bunker as well as the wide array of reported sightings that date back to 1945.
In July of 1945, newspapers around the world published statements made by an anonymous Soviet Union Officer where he claimed that the body that Soviets retrieved from the bunker which had been officially determined to be Adolph Hitler was “a very poor body double.” and Soviet officials continued to publicly state that Hitler was hiding out somewhere in Europe. Initially this misinformation caused small resurgences of Nazism in the post war years.
The statements made by the Soviets sparked the first investigations into Hitler’s death in November of 1945. British special agent Hugh Trevor-Roper was enlisted to investigate the claims and he officially concluded in 1946 that Hitler and Eva Braun died by suicide.
As the years went on theories and questions surrounding Hitler’s death continue to arise. In efforts to discredit these theories and accounts, historians often claim that many of these reports stem from questionable individuals. While files show that overtime the FBI gathered hundreds of documents detailing thousands of sightings and leads, historians feel that this just supports the incredibility of these claims, basically because the claims all widely vary. While one of the most popular theories was that Hitler fled to Argentina, other claims say he fled to Canada, Japan, or even The United States.
In 2014, Author’s Simon Dunstan and Gerrard Williams, released their book Grey Wolf: The Escape of Adolf Hitler. Essentially this book examined the theory that Hitler and Eva Braun did not commit suicide, instead the couple escaped to Argentina. They theorized that Nazi U-Boats transported Hitler, Braun, and additional Nazi personnel and riches to Argentina with the help of the future President of Argentina, Juan Peron and his wife Evita, as they had been getting paid off by Nazi officials for a substantial amount of time. They then allege that after arriving in Argentina, Hitler eventually made his way to the Neuquén province of Argentina, where the Nazi’s had an extremly remote Bavarian style Mansion, located on Lake Nahuel Huapi, fairly close to the Chilean border. Eventually Eva Brain left Hitler in 1954. They then believe that Hitler died in February 1962, mostly likely from natural causes as he would have been around 72 years old.
This theory has been fairly disputed by historians, however there is concrete evidence that many high-ranking Nazi officials did escape to Argentina at the end of the war. They hid their true identities and were able to exist under the radar and out of the public eye. This included, high ranking official and concentration camp physician, who was known as the “Angel of Death,” Josef Mengele who stayed on the run until his death in 1979 from drowning. Concentration Camp Administrator Adolf Eichmann also evaded capture until he was eventually executed in 1962. Many other Nazi officials managed to evade capture while living in South America. The reason Argentina appealed to the Nazi’s was that while the country was lead by President Juan Domingo Peron, the nation held very sympathetic and pro-Nazi attitudes and beliefs.
In 2017, Argentine Police along with Interpol, performed a raid on a home just outside of Beccar, Argentina. There they found a secret room housing a plethora of Nazi artifacts, including: multiple magnifying glasses that were engraved with swastikas, a photo negative that appears to be Adolf Hitler using one of the magnifying glasses found, a Nazi medical device that was used to measure head size, a bust of Hitler, along with many other artifacts. All the pieces found were determined by experts to be authentic, however, experts disagree on how the items got to Argentina. Some say that it is entirely possible they were brought to Argentina by Nazis because these items have clear importance towards the regime, and it is clear that the items found belonged to senior officials. Some also say it is entirely possible these items were stolen and either dispersed or were sold on some kind of black market after the war. Other experts say there is no way that Nazi’s themselves would have brought these items there because they were on the run and trying to conceal their identities so there is no way they traveled with that much luggage.
Historians may argue that there is no substantial evidence to indicate that Hitler may have escaped, declassified CIA documents from October 1955, show some concern from the U.S. government. A former German SS soldier named Phillip Citroen claimed that Hitler was still alive, after escaping Germany he lived in Tunja, Colombia where a number of Germans resided, they would still idolize Hitler perform the Nazi Salute and still address himas the Elder Fuhrer. To support his statement, Citroen provided agents with a photograph of himself sitting next to a man that appeared to be Hitler. The photo was dated 1954, and written on the photo was “Adolf Schüttelmayor ” Citroen then claimed that Hitler eventually moved to Argentina in January of 1955.
Evidence shows agents passed the claim to agency superiors, and official documents state the CIA was,” not in a position to give an intelligent evaluation of the information” Officials determined that investigating the claim further would require too much money, time, and man power, with nothing certain to indicate that these claims were credible.
Historian Abel Basti even claims that the U.S. assisted in Hitler’s escape so that the Soviet’s would not capture him. He believes Hitler faked his death, then exited the bunker through a tunnel, headed to the Tempelhof Airport, where he was taken by helicopter to Spain. From Spain he headed to the Canary Islands, and then to South American in a U-Boat. Basti believes that Hitler lived in Argentina for around a decade, and then moved to Asunción, Paraguay where he died on February 3rd, 1971. He was given a small funeral which was attended by 40 or so people, and then he was buried in a secret bunker, which today is located under a hotel. Backing Basti’s theory are the hosts of the History Channel’s Hunting Hitler, former CIA agent Bob Baer and US special forces sergeant Tim Kennedy, who was involved in the capture of Osama Bin Laden. Through the show, Baer and Kennedy along with other contributors have discovered new evidence and have analyzed declassified materials.
Of the declassified materials, they found one declassified document stated, “American Army officials in Germany have not located Hitler’s body nor is there any reliable source that Hitler is dead.” Another document, stated that British intelligence officials claimed Hitler had been flown out of Germany the day before he was said to have committed suicide. Another document detailed a claim made by a former SS officer, who claimed he saw Hitler in Denmark before he left for South America. Lastly, they also found evidence that there was a previously unknown additional exit from the bunker in Berlin. Meaning there were five possible exits from the Bunker, not four as had been widely reported and believed in the decades following the end of WWII. There is also evidence of a military style compound, thought to be a recreation of Hitler’s holiday home of Berchtesgaden,located in the alpine town of Bariloche, in Argentina. The same compound mentioned previously, which housed Nazi artifacts that have been thoroughly investigated and researched, leading many experts to believe Hitler visited this location, however there is no concrete proof.
A lot of the doubt people feel about Hitler’s death is due to many details surrounding his supposed suicide have been shrouded in secrecy by the Soviets. No pictures of his body or really the bunker on the day Hitler supposedly died have ever been released. They performed a performed an autopsy on his body behind closed doors, where the compared his dental work against the expertise of Hitler's personal dentist whom they had captured. The Soviet's also claimed that the body only had one testicle, which had been a very well known rumor about Hitler, though they have provide no concrete evidence.
A year or so after Hitler's death, Joseph Stalin was still very suspicious that Hitler was actually dead, so in 1946 he ordered a secret mission to Berlin to dig where Hitler’s body was found, which is when the Soviet’s recovered a fracture of a skull with a bullet hole in it, and they also took pieces of the fabric from the bloodstained sofa that Hitler and Eva Braun were believed to have committed suicide on. After Stalin died in 1952, around 1970 the KGB dug up Hitler’s supposed body, they cremated him and then scattered his ashes. From then on the only evidence remaining was the jawbone for dental comparison, the skull fragment, and then the fragments of the sofa, and all of these items were in the Soviet Union’s possession. In 1947 the bunker was demolished and has since been paved over.
In 2000, Russia put the skull fragment and pictures of the jaw bone on public display, and they reported that this skull in particular is complete concrete proof that Hitler shot and killed himself. However, in 2009 American researchers at the University of Connecticut’s Applied Genetics Center tested the DNA from a fragment of the skull, and the results showed that the DNA belonged to an unknown female who was under 40 years old. Lead specialists said right off the bat something seemed off about the skull saying, “The bone seemed very thin; male bone tends to be more robust. Plus the sutures where the skull plates come together seemed to correspond to someone under the age of 40.”
The only physical evidence that Hitler shot himself was now non-existent, because it clearly was not his skull. After the skull analysis results were released to the public, Russia denied giving the researchers access to the fragment.
In the summer of 2017, Russia gave a team of French researchers access to what remained of Hitler’s jawbone and teeth. Important to note, it is very well documented that as he aged Hitler had really unhealthy teeth and bad gum disease, so he only had a few of his original teeth, so he had dentures and complicated bridges in his mouth. It is said that because of this it would be fairly simple to identify Hitler’s teeth. So the samples from Russia were compared to X-rays from 1944 and medical notes written to the Soviet’s by Hitler’s at one time captured Dentist and his assistants. Researchers ruled that the teeth that had been in Russia’s possession for over 70 years, were Adolf Hitler’s, there were stains on the sample that would be consistent from cyanide poisoning, and if he did shoot himself they believed he did so through his forehead. And then they said that there is no possible doubt and arguments to be made.
So what is the real story?
Sources
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