Who doesn’t love conspiracy theories? I went through a phase a few months back when I would stay up all night watching the craziest conspiracy theory videos.

Some of them are so wack, they might just be true. Either that or I’m just gullible (which is also very possible). Here are some of the craziest conspiracy theories I’ve come across.

1. Mattress Firm stores may be used for laundering money.

Ever notice how there are so many Mattress Firms in the United States, and they are rarely busy? This map shows the concentration of Mattress Firms in Austin, Texas alone. There are over 3,500 stores in the country. In some cities, you can drive down a street and see multiple Mattress Firm stores at a time. How are mattresses in that high demand?

Many people believe that Mattress Firm uses their stores as a place to launder illegal money, referencing that in the days of Al Capone, many gangsters used mattresses to hide their money. People find it doubtful that that many mattress stores can stay in business, unless they are getting money from somewhere else…

2. Companies pay the government to spy on your Internet activity.

There are many conspiracy theories revolving around whether or not the government is watching your Internet activity. This particular theory claims that businesses pay the government to spy on your Internet searches in order to boost sales and help with advertising techniques.

This theory started when people started realizing that their advertisements on Facebook and Instagram were related to things they looked up on the Internet previously, even if they were not logged into any mutual accounts and even when they were on different devices.

I experienced this same thing a month ago. I was on my laptop looking at swimsuits on Pinterest but I wasn’t logged into an account. Minutes later, I got on my phone and opened Facebook and an advertisement for the exact same swimsuit popped up. Creepy.

3. Predictive Programming

Many people have heard of shows like The Simpsons predicting events before they happen, such as the terrorist attack on 9/11. There are multiple instances in shows and movies that hint to the date September 11th, twin towers falling, or a plane crashing into a tower. Theorists believe 9/11 was an inside job done by the government and they used TV shows and movies to subliminally prepare the country for it.

This is called predictive programming, a technique believed to be used by the government where subliminal messages are put into movies, TV shows, and books to condition the public to prepare them for an upcoming event. That way when it does happen, they were unconsciously prepared for it and ready to believe it was a terrorist attack rather than an inside job.

4. John Lennon’s assassin was mind-controlled by the CIA.

The assassination of John Lennon is one of the oddest murders in pop culture history. He was shot by a man named Mark Chapman on December 8th, 1980. After the murder, Chapman claimed to have heard a voice in his head repeating “do it, do it.” While he waited for the police to arrive, he was holding a copy of the novel Catcher In The Rye with one sentence written in on the front cover: “This is my statement.”Many people believe the government and CIA arranged Lennon’s murder. A few years prior to his death, there had been Senate hearings due to the disclosure of the American CIA’s project MKULTRA.

They admitted that one of the goals of this project was brainwashing, and to produce a mind-controlled assassin. This individual would display odd behavior, comparable to that of a crazy person. So why would they target Lennon? Lennon was a peace activist and known to rebel against the US war in El Salvador, putting him on the wrong side of the government and CIA.

5. Taylor Swift is actually a former satanic leader.

This is the rather humorous theory that Taylor Swift is actually the former Satanic leader of a hellish church about three decades ago. The theory started when fans began to point out that Taylor holds an uncanny resemblance to Zeena Schreck (pictured above), the High Priestess of the Church of Satan from 1985-1990.

Believers of the theory think that Taylor’s resemblance to Zeena is too uncanny to be merely coincidental. They believe that Zeena might have used some sort of Satanist ritual to maintain her youth and become a pop star to put evil subliminal messages in her songs and music videos.

Whether or not you believe these theories is up to you. But if I go missing in a couple months, you know what happened. Make sure to cover your webcams!

Disclaimer: These are all just theories made in fun. They are not proven nor intended to harm or offend any company, brand, or name in any way.