Conspiracies & Paranormal, features and articles | Educational Science

Aug 9, 2019

Flat-Earther 'Mad' Mike Hughes Is Being Sponsored by a Dating App to Nearly Get Himself Killed

Mad Mike Hughes, a self-taught rocketeer and flat-Earth conspiracy theorist, will once again attempt to launch himself into the sky over the Mojave Desert on a steam-powered rocket this Sunday (Aug. 11), hopefully reaching heights of 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) before parachuting safely back to the round, welcoming Earth. (What...

Aug 13, 2019

'Mad' Flat-Earther's Steam Rocket Launch Grounded by Bad Water Heater Bought on Craigslist

Flat-Earth proponent, former limo driver and amateur rocketeer Mad Mike Hughes planned to launch 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) into the air above the community of Amboy in California's Mojave Desert Monday (Aug. 12). But his homemade, steam-powered rocket never got off the ground, thanks to a faulty water heater that...

Sep 3, 2019

Someone Stole the Bones of an 18th-Century 'Witch.' Scottish Authorities Want Them Back.

An elderly Scottish woman who was accused of witchcraft in the 1700s did not rest in peace — her bones were removed from the grave during the 19th century for study by local scholars, and later vanished from the records. Her skull, once exhibited in Scotland's Museum of the University...

Oct 23, 2019

Why Witches Are Usually Women

Witch hunt — it's a refrain used to deride everything from impeachment inquiries and sexual assault investigations to allegations of corruption. When powerful men cry witch, they're generally not talking about green-faced women wearing pointy hats. They are, presumably, referring to the Salem witch trials, when 19 people in 17th-century...

Oct 29, 2019

How Rabies Inspired Folktales of Werewolves and Vampires

In 1855, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported on the gruesome murder of a bride by her new husband. The story came from the French countryside, where the woman's parents had initially prevented the couple's engagement on account of the strangeness of conduct sometimes observed in the young man, although he...

Nov 23, 2019

What If the Earth Was Flat?

The Earth is a sphere. This is a simple fact that humans have known for thousands of years; it was incontrovertibly confirmed as soon as the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957 and it went … you know ... around the globe. Nevertheless, a small but vocal...

Dec 8, 2019

'Expedition Bigfoot' Scours Oregon Woods for Signs of the Mythical and Elusive Beast

A man crouches on the Oregon forest floor late at night, peering between the trees for signs of nocturnal life. The scene is pitch-black but his face and hands are visible in infrared footage, and he scans the landscape with a thermal camera, looking for a heat signature that would...

Mar 9, 2020

Live Science podcast "Life's Little Mysteries" 9: Mysterious Flat-Earthers

In this episode of Life's Little Mysteries, we'll explore an idea that originated thousands of years ago, and despite plenty of scientific evidence to the contrary, it mysteriously persists today — the notion that the world is flat. What proof do we have that tells us the Earth is round?...

Jun 29, 2020

Live Science podcast 'Life's Little Mysteries' 37: Mysterious Mythical Creatures

In this episode of Life's Little Mysteries, we'll take a closer look at mythical creatures and fantastic beasts that have inspired the human imagination for thousands of years. Where did the idea of monsters like dragons and unicorns come from, and what's behind sailors' descriptions of beautiful and enticing mermaids?...

Jul 13, 2020

Live Science podcast 'Life's Little Mysteries' 40: Mysterious Archaeology

In this episode of Life's Little Mysteries, we'll take a closer look at the science of excavating, preserving and interpreting clues from humanity's past: archaeology. What caused the Mayan civilization to collapse, how did the ancient Egyptians build colossal pyramids, and what's the story behind a 2,000-year-old computer called the...

Jul 13, 2020

Antique vampire-slaying kit up for auction. Bible, crucifix and pistol included.

An antique, brass-trimmed wooden box holds all the tools that you might require in order to slay a vampire, including a 19th-century bible, crucifixes and a pistol. This vampire-slaying kit is estimated to be worth about $2,500 to $3,700 (£2,000 to £3,000) according to Hansons Auctioneers in Derbyshire, England, which...

Oct 15, 2020

Bill Nye to flat Earthers and science deniers: 'It affects all of us'

Bill Nye has had it with flat-earthers and other science deniers. While humanity is landing robots on Mars and breaking open the mysteries of the universe, there continues a social trend of science denialism. From opposition to handwashing in the 1800s to modern climate deniers, anti-maskers and flat-Earthers, or people...

Nov 22, 2020

JFK conspiracy theory is debunked in Mexico 57 years after Kennedy assassination

Most conspiracy theories surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination have been disproven. Kennedy was not killed by a gas-powered device triggered by aliens or by actor Woody Harrelson’s dad. But speculation about Kennedy’s Nov. 22, 1963 murder in Dallas continues, fueled by unreleased classified documents, bizarre ballistics and the claim...

Jan 28, 2021

Russia's 'Dyatlov Pass' conspiracy theory may finally be solved 60 years later

In January 1959, a group of nine young hikers — seven men and two women — trudged through Russia's snowy Ural Mountains toward a peak locally known as Dead Mountain. The hikers pitched their tents at the base of a small slope, as an intensifying blizzard chilled the night air...

Apr 12, 2021

Yuri Gagarin: How the first man in space sparked a conspiracy theory

Everybody knows that Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon. Most are also aware that he wasn't the first to go into space. After all, Alan Shepard paved the way for American astronauts on May 5, 1961, while Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin stole a march...