We’ve all seen suspicious events that can seem to have a simple answer. However, there is more behind a story than what you think. This list isn’t going to include the typical conspiracy theories, like the moon landing or aliens. Rather, I will introduce a new side to some theories.

These are the Top 5 Conspiracy Theories:

5. Kurt Cobain

Did he end his own life or did someone else?

In 1994, the world not only lost a talented individual, but a great person. Curt Kobain struggled from depression, which is what led to his death, supposedly. Theories quickly formed which pointed the finger at his partner, Courtney Love.

The suspicion started a month before his death, in which he was hospitalized for overdose. Love would publicly state that he was “sad and depressed,” which allowed everyone to believe this was his own motive to begin with. There were also claims that she hired a hitman to do the job. Tom Grant, a private investigator Courtney Love hired, expressed that the lack of fingerprints on the gun and heroin in Cobain’s system would suggest that he was not stable enough to clean everything up and continue with his death.

This is a theory overall, but I believe it’s time to let him rest in peace without having people speculate what happened when the facts are there. However, there are many sides to a story, and this is one of the wild ones.

4. 9/11

What really caused the towers to collapse?

Now, this isn’t the common “the government did it” theory. That’s a popular conspiracy theory that everyone already knows. The “it never happened” rumor is just insensitive to the victims and families affected. This is an underground theory that is not as known as the popular ones. Although the plane crash is at fault for the destruction, the collapse is another part. This theory claims that the collapse of the towers were caused not only by the plane crash, but explosives in the buildings.

Demolition theory proponents stated that “Aircraft impacts and resulting fires could not have weakened the buildings…to initiate a catastrophic collapse…additional factors weakened the structures.” Basically, an aircraft doesn’t have a big enough impact to cause a huge collapse without the help of other factors. Brigham Young University physicist Steven E. Jones claims that an airplane does not create enough heat to produce molten steel, yet it was found in the rubble of the collapse, which he indicates as evidence of explosives. As a result, many believed that jet fuel does not have the ability to melt the type of steel the Twin Towers had.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) expressed that the collapse happened as a result of weakened steel along with the damage caused by the crash, rather than the steel being melted. According to CBS News,  they also refused to debate with conspiracy theorists because they didn’t want to give “unwarranted credibility.” During this time, theorists came from left and right making insensitive theories which resulted in many consequences.

Overall, it is unknown whether this is still believed by Jones. Since 9/11, there have been two fire related collapses with high steel-framed buildings, which leaves the question of whether explosives were involved or not in the collapse of the World Trade Center.

3. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

How could a plane with more than 200 passengers disappear into thin air?

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In 2014, this airline was scheduled to travel from Kuala Lumpar International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport. However, an hour after its expected arrival, the plane was declared missing. The last known communication with the crew was around 38 minutes after its takeoff. The search began and continued for three years, until the Join Agency Coordination Centre ended the search in January 2017 after failure to locate the airline and any evidence that gave them a lead. Dead end after dead end, this became one of the biggest aviation mysteries of all time.

There have been theories that this was a mass murder-suicide committed by the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah. According to Business Insider, “Shah’s friends told The Atlantic that the 53-year-old pilot “was often lonely and sad.” His marriage had dissolved, and his children were grown and out of the house.” Although the Malaysian government has insisted that he was mentally stable, his latest actions showed the opposite of that. Another theory is against the statement that the plane crashed in the Indian Ocean, where pieces of debris were found. If the plane were to crash, the pieces would spread everywhere and eventually reach shores. However, this was ignored after debris was found years later.

The Wall Street Journal published the first report about the satellite transmissions less than a week after the disappearance, which implied that the airplane most likely stayed in air for hours after being unresponsive. Malaysian officials eventually admitted that this was true. This seems sketchy because why would they keep information to themselves knowing that there is rarely no evidence to help create a lead? If the plane was in air for hours, this supports the theory of the pilot’s “murder-suicide” attempt.

The last words heard from Flight MH370 were  “Good night. Malaysian three seven zero.” As of now, 227 passengers and 12 crew members are presumed dead.

2. Avril Lavigne’s Death

Is Avril Lavigne actually alive or was she replaced by a doppelgänger?

A few years ago, there was a rumor that Avril Lavigne actually died in 2002 and hired a double named Melissa Vandella to take her place. Conspiracists suspected this from the change of her style, facial structure, handwriting, and lyrics that hinted at suicide. In 2002, her grandfather passed whom she was very close to and it was speculated that this tragedy may have pushed her into leaving the world.

Anything can be a possibility, but this can also be an invasion of privacy as well. She took a hiatus and people went spiraling. Avril Lavigne was not so thrilled when she found out about this theory.

Lavigne responded to the rumor in a 2019 interview and stated that “”It’s just a dumb internet rumor and [I’m] flabbergasted that people bought into it. Isn’t that so weird?”

1. The Mandela Effect

Have you ever had a false memory that you swore was true? This is called the Mandela Effect.

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The name derives from Nelson Mandela when he was confirmed to be dead in prison by a book. When he was released from prison, the public was confused because they remembered the news of his death years prior to his release. Because the news of his death was in a book, false information that is published can result in a lawsuit yet this never happened.

An example of the Mandela effect is the Berenstain Bears. Do you remember the Berenstain Bears being spelled “stAin” or “stEin?” Many including myself remember it being Berenstein and I have no doubt that it was exactly that. Do you remember the Fruit of the Loom logo having a basket or not? How about Looney Tunes being spelled Toons instead? When a large group of people agree with that, it can seem suspicious. However, we will never know if it’s actually true or if we are conforming to what others are saying because of this popular conspiracy.