Modern rumors of uncertain origin that spread by word of mouth and over the internet.
Entries: 73
An abbreviation of "Non-Human Intelligence." The term was defined in a 2023 U.S. congressional bill on disclosing UFO (UAP) records and spread rapidly after testimony at a congressional hearing. It refers broadly to any intelligence of unknown nature, not only aliens.
A doomsday theory about an unknown planet orbiting at the edge of the solar system over a long period, which will one day approach Earth and cause a catastrophe. It spread from the theories of the writer Zecharia Sitchin in the 1970s, and "collision dates" have been predicted many times, but astronomers say no such planet exists.
An urban legend that the world is run by a system invisible from the surface, and that this system is now about to switch over to something entirely new. It is known as a story told by Mr. Toshi Densetsu, Seki Akio, on the Japanese TV program Yarisugi Toshi Densetsu.
A conspiracy theory that HAARP, an ionospheric research facility in Alaska, is actually a weapon that artificially causes earthquakes and extreme weather. It comes up after every major earthquake or typhoon, but the facility's radio waves cannot control earthquakes or the weather.
A conspiracy theory that contrails lingering in the sky are traces of chemicals being secretly sprayed by governments or others. It spread in the United States from the late 1990s. Scientists' investigations found no evidence, and the phenomenon is explained by the ordinary properties of contrails.
The idea of using science and technology to enhance the abilities of the human body and brain and to overcome aging, disease and even death. The word spread in 1957, and while it draws attention with advances in AI and medicine, it is also told in conspiracy theories that "some people are trying to remake humanity."
A coined word combining "human" and "alien," referring to beings said to be human-alien hybrids. It became a topic after being introduced on the Japanese TV program Yarisugi Toshi Densetsu. They supposedly cannot be told apart by appearance and are said to have powers like telepathy.
A rocky mesa that looked like a human face in a photo taken in 1976 by NASA's Mars probe Viking 1. A theory spread that it was an artifact made by an ancient Martian civilization, but later high-resolution photos confirmed it was an ordinary hill.
A spring festival held in central and northern Europe on the night of April 30 into May 1. Legend says that on this night witches gather on Germany's Brocken mountain for a feast, a scene depicted in Goethe's Faust.
An urban legend that in 1943 the U.S. Navy conducted a secret experiment to make the destroyer USS Eldridge invisible, and that the ship vanished, teleported to another port, and crew members ended up fused into the walls. The Navy says no such experiment took place.
An urban legend that artificial structures like pyramids and towers exist on the surface of the Moon. Pointed shadows in photos from a 1960s lunar probe were presented as evidence, but they are thought to be the long shadows of rocks lit by a low sun.
An urban legend that an alien satellite has been orbiting the Earth for 13,000 years. A photo of a black object taken from the Space Shuttle was presented as evidence, but it is thought to have actually been a thermal blanket lost during a spacewalk.
An urban legend that "Apollo 20, which never officially existed, found an ancient spaceship on the far side of the Moon with a female alien with a face like the Mona Lisa sleeping inside." It spread from videos posted online in 2007, but it is considered a fabrication.
Internet accounts of suddenly wandering into an empty world where people and cars have vanished, where a man in work clothes appears, angrily says "You shouldn't be here," and then you find yourself back in the normal world. Many reports gathered on message boards in the 2000s, and he is rumored to be the "caretaker" of another world.
The phenomenon of many people remembering the same thing differently from the facts. It is named after the many people who remembered President Nelson Mandela "dying in prison in the 1980s." It is sometimes cited as proof of parallel worlds, but psychology explains it through how memory works.
If you display October 1582 in a smartphone calendar, the 4th is followed by the 15th, with ten days missing. The cause is the calendar reform (the Gregorian calendar) by Pope Gregory XIII, which really did skip ten days.
An endless office-like space of yellow wallpaper, damp carpet and humming fluorescent lights, which you enter if you "noclip" out of reality. Born from a single image posted to an online forum in 2019, it became a worldwide phenomenon through videos and games.
The hypothesis that the world we live in may be a virtual reality (simulation) inside a computer built by an advanced civilization. Proposed in a 2003 paper by the philosopher Nick Bostrom, it is widely known through the film The Matrix and remarks by Elon Musk.
An urban legend that moving between floors of an elevator in a set order takes you to another world. Detailed steps are told, such as not speaking to the woman who gets on at the 5th floor. It is the best-known of the "ways to reach another world" that spread online from the late 2000s.
A faceless, unnaturally tall man in a black suit. He is said to abduct children and lurks quietly in the background of photos taken in the woods. Created in 2009 in a photo-editing contest on an American forum, he became one of the world's most famous internet-born urban legends.
