Nothing is what it seems. Conspiracy theories, or other, more supernatural, explanations for things that happen in our world, have plagued society probably since the incarnation of a centralized government. Because of the separation between government officials in Washington DC and the rest of American citizens, some of the population is constantly speculating that the government keeps secrets from the public. These secrets include everything from the “truth” behind 9/11 to a reptilian species believed to have been integrated into our society.

Outrageous, yet sometimes convincing, conspiracy theories have cropped up everywhere within the past year. From “The Dress” at the beginning of the year to the recent mysterious glowing light in California, people have been speculating, as always, that the government is hiding something from the masses. When the famous black and blue (yes, it is black and blue) dress hit the spotlight, causing millions of people across the world to question whether their friends and family were colorblind because OBVIOUSLY it’s white and gold (it’s not), some conspiracy experts saw something a little fishy about the absolute hysteria caused by it. Why did something as simple as a bad quality picture of a dress blow up on social media across the world? Why now? The post that started it all was actually done several months before it became viral, so some say that the entire thing was a distraction. They’re not sure what from, but they are certain that something went down that one week in February that the government does not want the people to be focused on.

Aliens have always been a common subject amid conspiracy theories, propelled forward especially by the emergence of Area 51 in the 60s, but the first extraterrestrial conspiracy theory that hit the spotlight was the Roswell incident in 1947. According to the Huffington Post, reports were released by the Roswell Army Air Field base in New Mexico of an unidentified metal object that was found on a nearby ranch, but soon after the press release, the base quickly jumped to change the wording to “remnants of a weather balloon found.” This sudden change in phrasing caused many to speculate that the supposed “weather balloon” was actually an alien spacecraft that had crashed into Earth, but the Air Force base wanted to keep it hidden from public knowledge. This, and many other alien conspiracies throughout the past 70-or-so years, are a key pique in the public’s interest and have led up to a recent theory that has cropped up: the “glowing light” in California.

On November 7th, citizens in southern California witnessed a mysterious glowing light in the sky. Immediately pictures of the mystery popped up on social media with many speculating about the possibility of a UFO. The government then attempted to calm the mayhem with a report from the pentagon explaining the light as a missile test flight from the USS Kentucky, but this obviously did not stop many people from continuing to speculate about extraterrestrials. Because of the nature of the missile test, the information on it is confidential, which naturally causes curiosity amongst the population, but is there any truth behind the theory of aliens? This recent incident has a lot of the same red flags on it that caused the people in 1947 to question the validity of what is being told to them.

Whether the theories are believable or not, conspiracies of all sorts are constantly being thrown around in conversation in today’s society. The public are captivated by the alleged mystery that might lie behind what the media releases as truth. Some people eat up things like the reptilian theory, and others may just roll their eyes at the nonsensical accusation, but maybe that’s the point. Maybe the absurdity of some theories is the only thing that protects its confidentiality, and they actually are true. But, honestly, these theories are ridiculous. Then again, maybe I’m just telling you that to get you off the trail of the truth. It truly is up to each individual’s interpretation.