7 Bizarre Conspiracy Theories You'd Probably Never Believe

6. The Flat Earth Society

If you'd never seen a globe, been to outer space and/or were living in a time where little evidence existed about the shape of the Earth, it would be more understandable to assume that it was flat. After all, nothing falls off. Even though Ancient Greek philosophers proposed the 'Earth As A Sphere' notion back in the 4th Century BC, it was still common to believe our home world was as flat as a freshly-ironed slice of ham. The Flat Earth Society is an organisation that exists to promote the theory that our planet is not actually round. While they have existed for many years, a modern incarnation was formed in 1956. Think about that for a second: up to €“ and during €“ some of the most famous shuttle launches in history, a small sect of people refused to believe the Earth was anything but a piece of rye cracker with mountains on its surface, despite satellite images of the planet being spherical showing up. Much of their idea sprung from interpretations of the Holy Bible, though its modern founder, Samuel Shenton, is said to have been interested in alternative science and technologies. What that means is probably open to debate. Either way, his society was not taken seriously because quoting scripture as evidence is not a department NASA tends to specialise in. Unsurprisingly, the Flat Earth Society has all but fizzled out, reporting just 200 members by around 1980, and Shenton passed away in 1971 and was replaced by Charles K Johnson up until his death in 2001. The community maintains an online presence to this day (naturally) and even has their own podcast, but it's most likely being overshadowed hugely by The Ricky Gervais Show, whose idiot element is at least acknowledged openly.