10 Conspiracy Theories People Actually Believe

'Black helicopters' is such a long-standing conspiracy theory is has similar connotations as flying saucers and tin foil hats as a synonym for the general nuttiness of the more unsupportable theories. The idea has been around since the 1970s and refers to alleged flights of sinister black helicopters criss-crossing America on some mission or other.

Explanations for black helicopters include non-black helicopters being seen in conditions that make them appear black, and genuine dark or black-painted helicopters like ones used by the Coastguard and National Guard. Note that neither of these explanations requires secrecy, high-level cover-ups or secret UN/NWO/Illuminati missions of any kind to be feasible.

There is also no explanation of why these malevolent conspirators wouldn't just use helicopters in civilian colours rather than deliberately creep everyone out as they go about their hidden business.

Black helicopters are a bit of an embarrassment to the conspiracy theory community nowadays. The whole thing might have started with a scene in the movie Capricorn One, about a fake space mission (it might have inspired a lot of the fake moon landing hysteria as well), because conspiracism rarely distinguishes between works of fiction and things that are real.