They say it’s always best to trust your gut. But what if it tells you there’s something off with a particular person, place, situation, you name it? Today, we are diving into some hard-to-believe scenarios shared by people with very strong suspicions. The only catch is that they have zero proof of the conspiracies.
“What do you strongly suspect but have no proof of?” asked u/757jsmith on the r/AskReddit subreddit and the answers started rolling in.
Let’s scroll through the most interesting ones below, and who knows… sometimes life is stranger than fiction!
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Religion was created to control the masses.
Maybe todays religion, but from the beginning it was simply a way to explain things we didn't understand.
Our ancient (human) history is far more vast and impressive than we can even begin to imagine.
Suspect my Physically and mentally abusive ex husband was planning on offing me during our separation/divorce. He got a $75,000 life insurance policy on me during our separation. Found out 2 years after our divorce when he had overpaid the policy and the insurance sent me a refund check. Mistake on their part.
During our separation, he had invited me to join his “family” vacation at Grand Canyon, I said no. He invited me to the mountains that same summer to try to be a family again, I said no. Then he invited me to Mexico for “reconciliation, again no. ( I said no because the gut feelings I had and my mom told me not to) She had 3 dreams in a row that my soon to be ex husband would tell her I was dead.
I have no proof, just the insurance policy and my mom’s dreams. 2 years after divorce, he canceled policy. I didn’t know you could get insurance on someone without them knowing
Woman's clothes have either no pockets or crumby pockets to promote handbag sales.
I've heard this one so many times, but I've always wondered then why there aren't more companies that make both pants and hand bags.
The Kardashians usually wear solid colored clothing because it’s easier for them to photoshop
That the universe is teeming with life. Earth just can't be that special.
Ooor, there have been lots of planets like the earth before, maybe with higher developed civilisations like us, but their galaxy exploded in a supernova billions of years ago like it will happen to our galaxy. Maybe some of the black holes only exist because some alien experiment went horribly wrong. The universe is so big and so old and so crazy-for me, everything is possible..
That the developed world would function just fine if people were paid the same salaries, but worked only 3 days a week instead of 5. I strongly suspect the elite and governments want us working as much as possible so we don't have enough free time to cause unrest and improve society in a way that would negatively affect them. After all, since machines and factories have automated most forms of manufacturing, so why are we working as many (or more) hours as people from 150 years ago?
For those saying it's unrealistic, this sort of mass shift; please let me draw your attention to history. There were people who were certain the economy couldn't stand paying former slaves, allowing women into the work force, cutting back from 80 hour work weeks to 40 hour work weeks, not allowing children to work, and I'm sure there's more. The proposed idea would be a major shift but it's not unrealistic or outright impossible. I'd love to hear some economists debate the feasibility.
All those “questionnaires” and “create your X name” things on Facebook are created by people hoping to data mine secret question answers to steal your identity or bank info.
Your stripper name is the first car you owned + The street you grew up on.
Yo dummy, those are the secret questions to your bank account!
Cats can understand our words, but do not care. They are waiting for a moment to speak, but since we are so far beneath them it hasn't happened yet.
There’s no sales on Black Friday. It’s just hyped up and people don’t do the research. Something could have been on “sale” earlier in the year for the same price, but people flock to the stores on Black Friday and buy it immediately because in their mind... it’s the cheapest it has ever been.
That the "unsubscribe" method in spam emails, calls or texts are really just a way of confirming the number is attached to a real person.
That a lot of businesses in my hometown are just money laundering operations. 25 nail salons in a town of 70,000? 3000 square foot DVD rental shop in the best block of downtown where commercial rents are very high? Dozens of $10 barber shops sitting empty all day but remaining open? Red flags all around.
Yes! I always think this, like how can they make a profit, and afford to pay all of their overheads?
Might not be money laundering but rather a tax write-off. Losing tens of thousands a year on a sh*t business is worth it if that loss saves you from paying hundreds of thousands in taxes on "other" income sources. I guess in a way, legal tax avoidance is a form of legal money laundering.
Load More Replies...In my city there's one street that is filled with shisha-lounges and kebab shops since 10 years. None of them actually have any business, but their owners drive Porsches and Audis. Last year the police discovered that they are all involved in money laundering and human trafficking. What a surprise....
I've said this about them!! Also, what a boring job
Load More Replies...I always joke we have a Chinese laundry up the street. People say, "I think you mean a Chinese restaurant." I say "Have you ever seen a car in their parking lot? I mean what I said." I will add a friend so vehemently disagreed with me on this he insisted we have lunch there one day. Everything was $5.95. For a sit down meal (tea, soup, egg roll, rice, entree). In Los Angeles. In 2019. The hostess seemed surprised when we entered. "You want to eat?" Yes "Lunch?" Yes "Now?" Yes. She scanned the the empty restaurant, "Ok, I will have to check in the back and see if we have room for you." It went downhill from there.
There's a Chinese restaurant near me that never has a customer that surprisingly goes bankrupt every 18 months and all assets sold off. I bought a wok once. Its the muscle for the strip club 6 doors down. The "new" owners change the sign out front but surprisingly you go back in and the decor is almost the same like they tracked down all those people and bought the stuff back because it worked so well before. They've had the same janky, patina-covered Buddha inside the door through at least 10 owners. The people working there change every single time - not one cook, waiter, etc stays on. Its always a couple in their 40-70s, four younger guys sitting in a booth, and various waitresses that don't speak English and don't last a month. Its between my bus stop and home so its fun to poke my head along the way for some harmless fun. I'm always angrily told "we closed today because no delivery". BTW - 18 months is the time you can go w/o paying taxes with extensions.
Load More Replies...There's still a brick-and-mortar travel agency near me, and I've always thought this. Never seen a single person go in there except the owner.
That could be a front for a Russian spy couple.
Load More Replies...Not as easy as many think. Cash deposits need to be under $10,000 and you have to be careful not to structure them too obviously or the banks will flag them to the IRS. If a personal account then that 10k limit is within 30 days or automatic reporting is triggered and that is why for personal accounts you should have several accounts at different branded banks. Some banks (hello BOA) even place tiered limits on daily or monthly cash deposits. If you exceed the limit they actually charge you a percentage fee for the amount in excess.
Load More Replies...it almost look like human trafficking, they are all operated by Asians that don't speak the language.
We have one that I forgot about one by me that's just called "Riverdale Therapy". Shut blinds, very secretive. I read reviews, very shady. Description online said, Asian massage. I've thought about this as well.
Load More Replies...I Germany we have tons of "casinos", empty all day long....but five of them in a town of 4.000 people
I once lived across from an "Auto Mechanic" shop that I'm 100% convinced was a front. I never saw anyone bring their car there to get fixed, and I never once saw anyone working on any cars or heard the usual garage noises yet there were always cars in the parking lot, and the one bay it had always had parts and tools in it, but never a car. One day as I walked home from the store I saw a woman get flat-out rejected by the guy "working" there, saying they didn't fix her type of car even though the sign clearly said otherwise. Dude told her in no uncertain terms to f*ck off, so she did. One night at about 3AM I saw tow trucks dropping off vehicles that just sat in the parking lot for a few days, then those same tow trucks came and picked them up, again at about 3AM, lather, rinse repeat. I worked nights so I was always up that late, and after a while I noticed it was always the same six vehicles: Two hatchbacks, one sedan, two trucks, and a minivan but they'd stagger them. What convinced me 100% this place was a front was when their front window was smashed in and the "business" continued to operate as usual, without a front window. They didn't even bother covering it with plastic, they just left it like that, ALL THROUGH A CANADIAN WINTER. Also the Filipino dudes showing up in the middle of the day in a blacked out sedan empty handed yet leaving with duffelbags might've also been a clue, but I only ever saw that happen once.
You're not wrong. It's 100% true. Also, gas stations that only exist for less than a year. They'll sell gas 100% legitimate but won't send the tax collected to the state. Then they close down and you can't find anyone because it's a shell company owned by another shell company who has a registered agent in another country who's being paid by a shell company based in thr Caymen Islands and so on. BSA regulations are important. Regulations are needed for a reason!!!! Anyone who tells you we need fewer Regulations is only trying to scam someone and the public. Looking at you Trump.
I worked for a few months at a restaurant that was probably run by a bookie. And by probably I mean he was not quiet about his conversations and most troubling to me was he never counted the drawer out. I had never worked at a bar that didn't check the receipts at the end of the night. And we used a computer for orders...
This is widely known here in Switzerland, but since all these shops are run by Turks, Balkanians etc. noone is allowed to say that openly, because you know, tHat'S rAciSt
I have the same suspicions of a particular brand of optical shop in Thailand. None of my Thai friends wear glasses but they have like 4-5 in the same area.
Probably owned by millionaires so they can write off losses on their taxes, or use it via some charitable fund as a way of hiding money off the books.
Wow, I recon that's actually true in every town. I run a legitimate small business from home and have to triple my money to make a profit and yet see empty shops paying staff wages, stock, rent and utilities and yet barely have a customer for days on end. How do they survive?
Mattress Firm stores across the street from each other, always empty.
I think people don't realize how many businesses are running in the red. People put all their savings into businesses b/c it's their dream and they don't want to feel like failures.
The “Yarn Shop” on the insanely expensive main drag in Telluride. Doubtful there’s that many dedicated scarf knitters in a town of 1500. (I’m assuming tax-write off more than something actually nefarious)
Wow. Really? That's an observation that must go noticed by authorities - tax agents - etc. It also could be the real life motivation for a great comedy.
You're probably right. Large restaurants with massive rooms that never seem to be used? Well, they MIGHT have a reception there once in a while. Or gambling.
I have a psychic that never has customers, is open but had a busted corner of the building and ALWAYS has a Porsche, Land Rover and BMW parked in the back. Been open a long time now. Also I'm my last town, had a restaurant that was open but always empty. They ran specials and everything. I'm 5 years I saw 1 person ever inside. I one day I saw 4 bald men in suits getting out of an SUV. I was like, I KNEW IT! It's still open.
My brother ands I are convinced the teriyaki shop near our house is a front for something criminal. They're only open twice a week but have been in business since our family moved here 34 years ago. The food isn't even that good, either.
We saw thrift shop attacked by SWAT - they had illegal slot maschines at the basement
4 mattress stores on one corner? Seems legit. Vaccum repair shop? Whatever you say.
I usually go to one of these barber shops, and the guy knows his job quite well though, and the shop is always busy. That still doesn't change the fact they could cover something else.
What about mattress companies? There's no way more than a dozen mattress companies in a town of 100K can all stay open.
It's also havens for people to get citizenship in the country. In Canada, if you own a business for X years, you can apply for citizenship so many foreign people will come in to buy a business, run it a few years to get citizenship and then go back to their home country and wait for the Canadian old age pension to kick in. Have several Chinese restaurants back home that changed hands a dozen times and never see business going in.
There is a neighborhood in my city that has more dry cleaners than anything else. It’s a pretty dead neighborhood but somehow needs a dry cleaner on every corner. There is also a restaurant in a really prime, high rent area that is always empty but managed to stay in business for years.
There's one in the town I grew up in that is very obviously a front. It's a bakery linked to a well known crime family, and almost never has anyone inside it. The croissants are delicious but almost nobody will know because it's a hole in the wall place in a weird location but still manages to stay open
Pretty sure my friend and I were in a front bar/restaurant some years ago. We tried to order a few different items. They were open but didn't have anything listed on their menu. Like anything. We sat in there for a few and drank Pepsis while several guys came and went behind the bar with boxes?! They were open for some kind of business...
Load More Replies... That my oldest brother is actually my bio father.
It just makes no sense to me otherwise. I have a butt chin and no one else in my family does. This older brother was(is?) an alcoholic, drug addict, and just a big mess all around. He brought different women to my parent's house every day and we would hear them f**k. It makes no sense to me that he came out of that with zero children. Makes less sense since he's ~20 years older than me, which means my parents would have had me at a dangerously (for my mom) old age. I know it's not impossible, but it just makes a lot more sense this way. Plus my parents always covered up for his wrongdoings so it honestly wouldn't surprise me.
I once asked my mom and she got visibility upset. Didn't even ask her outright, I just said I had a dream that they told me my brother was really my father. She got super mad and refused to even discuss or acknowledge my dream. Weird as hell.
I would still consider my mom, my mom. Wouldn't consider my brother my dad if he were because he's an ass. It's just something I think is highly probable.
Every episode of every reality show is either tightly scripted, or at least framed and re-shot so the producers can get the right amount of drama on the screen.
In my city something bad is about to happen.
I see a lot of mansions on sale, and houses with good location too. I think rich people know something that the rest of the people don't.
Pretty paranoid, sorry.
Not that paranoid. It's called "insider knowledge" and rich people hold often the position where they are informed about plans that could affect their properties. So it could be that soon you'll find that some very polluting industry is building a new plant right across the street because it suddenly has been designated as "industrial area".
Queen Elizabeth will probably live up to 120 years and longer. She is one of the best fed and most cared person on Earth.
If we invented something for immortality, she likely took it already.
That only about 20% of people actually do any work. The rest just get by looking busy.
I believe that many animal rescues self-perpetuate their own problem. Some rescues have VERY picky requirements - like salary minimums, yard size minimums, prior experience, age minimums, required seminars, required volunteer work, etc. Meanwhile you can just go to a breeder or a store, and be able to get a pet that day.
I understand wanting to make sure the animals go to a home equipped to care for the animal, but if it's so hard to get a rescuee pet that it drives people to stores, then those shelters will only ever become more crowded. A parrot rescue near me requires 6 months of volunteering for 3 hours every week before you can adopt... and there's a store nearby that just breeds and sells parrots. Which one would most people pick?
I couldn’t agree more with this! Plenty of people would love to adopt a cat or dog but live in a flat/apartment and are discounted immediately. I’ve never understood why having access to a garden is deemed more important than a loving home with people who care. Here in the UK many people would love to take on a rescue pet but are stumped at this first hurdle. It would be ok for me to have a baby in that environment but not a dog/cat?!? How does that make sense to anyone?
I believe my grand mother was a serial killer. She was married 7 times; each ending in a sudden death. She died in the 1980’s but everything is still suspicious and no one seems to know anything. I did find an article about her when she came to the US where her first husband died defending her after her ex-boyfriend climbed in her window in New York City. I also found evidence of her having been in prison before coming to the US.
That a relative is a CIA agent. She was in the Peace Corps, Vietnam era. Ever since she's been a "world traveler," somehow able to drop her work and "go hiking the Spanish version of the Appalachian Trail" or otherwise go to exotic locales. Sometimes she came back with injuries, "I fell as we were climbing some rocks." Her son is in the agency as an employee, not a spy, and he's married to a CIA translator.
Prince Charles will never sit on the throne. I believe he made a deal with Queen Elizabeth that in exchange for being allowed to marry Camilla he gave up his right to sit on the throne. Prince William will sit on the throne when Queen Elizabeth dies.
That Bath and Body Works has like, 13 unique scents. Every couple of months they just rotate the scents in and call them something else.
Starbucks baristas intentionally spell your name wrong so you take a picture of it and post it on social media to give the company free advertising.
I'm pretty sure that's a fact. I've read it so many times. It's free advertising for them
My dog sees supernatural events at our house.
Historians +200 years from now will be able to look at all of all of the private messages and data of people who have been long dead.
Similar to how we can read private letters of people from 1700’s.
Some zoos have empty exhibits and just claim the animal is in there, you just never see them.
I think my great great uncle was gay, but lived in a time where he had to hide that part of himself. He never had a wife or kids. He traveled a lot and was very into art. I asked my grandma a while back if she thought he was gay and she said he just wasn't interested in having girlfriends.
That my five month old knows exactly when I’m about to fall asleep and starts crying just to screw with me.
I believe that apple never actually intended for anyone to buy their $999 monitor stand. It was just an excuse so they could invalidate all warranty claims for the Pro monitor.
"We can't approve your claim due to the use of improper 3rd party equipment".
That your phone and laptop mics are hot and sending data to certain groups.
That my English teacher didn't read essays, and based grades on how we were in class.
Mattress stores are a money laundering scheme. No one buys that many mattresses.
That every single person who has submitted their DNA to their ancestor sites has officially damned themselves. That’s like giving away all the passwords to your devices. Our DNA is our coding, it is what builds us. If someone for some reason wanted that information for any reason that would likely ignore the integrity of bioethics, they could get to it. Rich person will die within 2 days without a kidney transplant? They could easily pay someone to check the database to find an individual who could potentially be the closest match. That person would have also submitted where they live. It would be pretty convenient for that person to randomly get terribly injured and be taken to the hospital where the rich person happens to be at. I know it sounds crazy, and there are 100 less crazy things people can do with out data. But with body autonomy rights starting to be taken away by some states, it’s essentially the government saying they own the rights to your body, it’s just not that obvious...for now. Y’all wait. Y’all mark my words.
Yep! I will never willingly give away my DNA and I think it's utterly crazy that anyone does. Those ancestry sites make it all look so fun and interesting but there is something sinister about them. I just know it! In the same vain, I'd never have one of those Alexa (or similar) spybots in my house.
That companies (such as smartphones companies) are holding back their best technologies waiting their competitors to release something new so they release something a bit better but not the best they can do
That Earth has been visited by one or more advanced civilizations, and may even be watching us stealthily.
I have one! I think Kraft and Nabisco are in cahoots. If you fold a slice of Kraft's American cheese (any brand really) in fourths, each quarter slice fits perfectly on a saltine.
And get this! A whole slice fits perfectly on a slice of..bread!
Load More Replies...I basically make about $10 a year online. It's enough to replace naff all. I was amazed how crap and time consuming it was when I tried it. Stay in school, kids!
Load More Replies...Every accusation you hear made by a member of the US Republican Party is an admission of guilt. GOP = Gaslight, Obstruct, Project
Can you blame them? They are old and afraid. Scared that the best is behind them and the future is too scary (even the 30yo ones). "No! No! No! Keep it the way it was and make other people pay for it" is the GOP battle whine.
Load More Replies...I know they've shown it in old movies and whatnot, but I'm really starting to think our universe is just a massive cell within another giant creature or being, and we're cancer to it slow destroying the single atom we inhabit until we spread to the next one and so on. Makes 100% sense to me.
Oh, forgot to add that "global warming" is 100% real and it's just the giant beings immune system trying to kill us off. Think about it, when you're sick your bodies immune system causes you to have a fever to kill off the infection.
Load More Replies...My one is: technology for faster than light travel is already on possession of most powerful governments right now. It's impossible all those UFO movies are just a coincidence.
There is a *very* broad streak of barely concealed antisemitism running through the English aristocracy. All the "old money" families with the titles, and the stately homes, whose ancestors at the time of the Crusades were in debt to their eyeballs to Jewish moneylenders.
Most of these Are just conspiracy theories, but #2 (about a soon-to-be ex plotting to kill his wife) Is way too real... This was the only one that send chills to my spine...
Superb thread providing much food for thought as well as some amusement. Thank you Bored Panda :)
I also have one. That the aliens or Greys of popular culture and UFOs are not aliens but humans from the future who have developed time travel technology and have physical adaptations to better live on their adopted planet Mars. It sounds far fetched but this is technically more feasible than traveling the vast reaches of space from another planet to earth. And the reason they are mostly interested and mainly seen in military bases and nuclear weapon sites is because they are trying to prevent our own self destruction.
Oh, I have one too!!! The big tissue companies invented the common cold infections in a lab and let them loose onto humanity so that they could sell lots of tissues to people.
My one is that the antivax movement was started to remove woman’s rights and get them out of the workforce back to being baby factories. If we loose herd immunity that the vaccines have given us childhood diseases that have almost been eradicated will come back with a vengeance. If a young couple wanted just two kids they would need to have 5 just to have two live to adulthood. That would mean the woman would be perceptually pregnant during her early adulthood during a time she would have been carving out her career
I have one! I think Kraft and Nabisco are in cahoots. If you fold a slice of Kraft's American cheese (any brand really) in fourths, each quarter slice fits perfectly on a saltine.
And get this! A whole slice fits perfectly on a slice of..bread!
Load More Replies...I basically make about $10 a year online. It's enough to replace naff all. I was amazed how crap and time consuming it was when I tried it. Stay in school, kids!
Load More Replies...Every accusation you hear made by a member of the US Republican Party is an admission of guilt. GOP = Gaslight, Obstruct, Project
Can you blame them? They are old and afraid. Scared that the best is behind them and the future is too scary (even the 30yo ones). "No! No! No! Keep it the way it was and make other people pay for it" is the GOP battle whine.
Load More Replies...I know they've shown it in old movies and whatnot, but I'm really starting to think our universe is just a massive cell within another giant creature or being, and we're cancer to it slow destroying the single atom we inhabit until we spread to the next one and so on. Makes 100% sense to me.
Oh, forgot to add that "global warming" is 100% real and it's just the giant beings immune system trying to kill us off. Think about it, when you're sick your bodies immune system causes you to have a fever to kill off the infection.
Load More Replies...My one is: technology for faster than light travel is already on possession of most powerful governments right now. It's impossible all those UFO movies are just a coincidence.
There is a *very* broad streak of barely concealed antisemitism running through the English aristocracy. All the "old money" families with the titles, and the stately homes, whose ancestors at the time of the Crusades were in debt to their eyeballs to Jewish moneylenders.
Most of these Are just conspiracy theories, but #2 (about a soon-to-be ex plotting to kill his wife) Is way too real... This was the only one that send chills to my spine...
Superb thread providing much food for thought as well as some amusement. Thank you Bored Panda :)
I also have one. That the aliens or Greys of popular culture and UFOs are not aliens but humans from the future who have developed time travel technology and have physical adaptations to better live on their adopted planet Mars. It sounds far fetched but this is technically more feasible than traveling the vast reaches of space from another planet to earth. And the reason they are mostly interested and mainly seen in military bases and nuclear weapon sites is because they are trying to prevent our own self destruction.
Oh, I have one too!!! The big tissue companies invented the common cold infections in a lab and let them loose onto humanity so that they could sell lots of tissues to people.
My one is that the antivax movement was started to remove woman’s rights and get them out of the workforce back to being baby factories. If we loose herd immunity that the vaccines have given us childhood diseases that have almost been eradicated will come back with a vengeance. If a young couple wanted just two kids they would need to have 5 just to have two live to adulthood. That would mean the woman would be perceptually pregnant during her early adulthood during a time she would have been carving out her career