S87 entries

• 1918 Spanish Flu PandemicGlobal influenza outbreak that killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, among the deadliest disease events in recorded history.
• 1929 Stock Market CrashOctober 1929 collapse of U.S. equity markets that preceded the Great Depression.
• 1976 Swine Flu Vaccine ScareMass vaccination campaign launched by the Ford administration in response to feared swine flu pandemic that never materialized, complicated by increased Guillain-Barré syndrome cases.
• Safari ClubSecret intelligence consortium formed by France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Iran in 1976 to coordinate covert operations independently of U.S. oversight following congressional restrictions on CIA activities.
• Sandy Hook Conspiracy TheoriesFalse claims arising after the December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting alleging the massacre was staged using actors, thoroughly debunked and resulting in defamation judgments against prominent promoters including Alex Jones.
• SATHYA SAI BABAIndian spiritual leader who claimed divine incarnation and attracted millions of global followers through alleged miraculous materializations, though faced persistent fraud and abuse allegations.
• Saudi Involvement TheoriesSaudi involvement theories are a body of claims alleging that agents of the Saudi Arabian government provided financial or logistical support to the fifteen Saudi nationals among the September 11, 2001, hijackers, a claim the 9/11 Commission found no evidence the Saudi government or senior officials had knowingly funded, though later FBI and civil-litigation disclosures established that some Saudi consular and religious officials had contact with two hijackers in California, a matter still contested in ongoing litigation.
• Savings and Loan CrisisWidespread collapse of American savings and loan associations during the 1980s and early 1990s, resulting from deregulation, fraudulent lending practices, and speculative investments that required massive taxpayer bailouts.
• SCAHILL, JeremyAmerican investigative journalist and co-founder of The Intercept who wrote exposés of private military contractors and U.S. covert counterterrorism operations.
• SCHÄFER, PaulGerman-Chilean cult leader and former Nazi army medic who founded Colonia Dignidad, a secretive compound that served as both a religious community and torture center for the Pinochet regime while systematically abusing children.
• SCHÖN, Jan HendrikGerman physicist whose fabricated research on organic semiconductors at Bell Labs constituted one of the most significant scientific fraud cases in modern physics.
• ScientologyReligious movement founded in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard based on his earlier Dianetics system, whose organizational practices have been the subject of extensive controversy, litigation, and investigative journalism.
• SCOFIELD, CyrusAmerican theologian and publisher of the influential Scofield Reference Bible that popularized dispensationalist interpretations and rapture theology in evangelical Christianity.
• Scott, JonAmerican broadcast journalist and Fox News Channel anchor who became notable for being the first television correspondent to suggest Osama bin Laden's involvement in the September 11 attacks, naming him on air within 45 seconds of the second plane impact.
• Scroll and KeyScroll and Key is a secret senior society at Yale University founded in 1842, named alongside the better-known Skull and Bones in conspiracy literature alleging that Yale's elite societies form a hidden network of influence among American political and business figures.
• Sea Serpent PhenomenonRecurring reports throughout history of large, unidentified serpentine creatures observed in lakes, rivers, and oceans worldwide.
• SEBERG, JeanAmerican actress targeted by FBI COINTELPRO operations for her support of the Black Panthers, including documented false pregnancy rumors planted in gossip columns that contributed to her mental health decline and eventual suicide.
• Second Sphinx TheoryA fringe archaeological theory claiming that a second sphinx or similar monumental statue lies hidden beneath the Giza Plateau, concealed through deliberate burial by unknown ancient or modern authorities.
• Secret Space ProgramTheory that a hidden branch of government has developed advanced spacecraft technology decades beyond publicly acknowledged capabilities.
• Section 215Section 215 was a real provision of the USA PATRIOT Act permitting the FBI to seek court orders for "any tangible things" relevant to a terrorism investigation, later confirmed by Snowden-leaked documents to be the legal basis for bulk domestic telephone metadata collection, allowed to lapse and replaced by the more limited USA FREEDOM Act authority in 2015.
• SEMMELWEIS, IgnazHungarian physician who identified handwashing as a method to reduce maternal mortality from puerperal fever, facing professional ostracism for his correct findings.
• Shadow Banning ClaimsAllegations that social media platforms secretly limit content reach and engagement without notifying users, effectively censoring disfavored viewpoints through algorithmic manipulation.
• Shadow PeopleReports of humanoid silhouettes observed in peripheral vision, often during sleep transitions, explained by sleep researchers as hypnagogic hallucinations rather than paranormal entities.
• Shag Harbour IncidentMultiple witness reports of a large object crashing into the water off Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia, on October 4, 1967, prompting searches by the RCMP and Canadian military that recovered no wreckage despite sustained surface foam and debris sightings.
• Shaver MysteryScience fiction stories published in Amazing Stories magazine beginning in 1945, presented by editor Ray Palmer as real experiences of Richard Shaver among degenerate subterranean races called Deros, credited as a forerunner of modern ancient-astronaut and underground-civilization theories.
• SHAW, ClayNew Orleans businessman tried and acquitted in 1969 on charges brought by District Attorney Jim Garrison of conspiring to assassinate President John F. Kennedy, the only JFK assassination conspiracy prosecution ever to reach trial.
• SHEEHAN, DanielAmerican civil rights attorney who represented high-profile whistleblower and UFO disclosure cases, including Karen Silkwood and Pentagon Papers litigation.
• SHELDRAKE, RupertBritish biologist who proposed the hypothesis of morphic resonance, claiming biological forms are transmitted through nonlocal fields independent of genetic material.
• SHERMER, MichaelAmerican science writer and skeptic who founded Skeptic magazine in 1992 and has written extensively on the psychological mechanisms underlying conspiracy theory beliefs, including in his book 'Why People Believe Weird Things.'
• Shooting Down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007The shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was the September 1983 destruction of a civilian airliner by a Soviet interceptor after it strayed into restricted Soviet airspace, an incident followed by a Soviet disinformation campaign disputing the flight's civilian status.
• Shooting of George Wallace1972 assassination attempt on Alabama Governor George Wallace that paralyzed him and sparked conspiracy theories about political motivations.
• Shroud of TurinLinen cloth bearing a faint human image venerated by some Christians as the burial shroud of Jesus Christ, with 1988 radiocarbon dating placing its origin in the medieval period, though some researchers contest these findings.
• SIBREL, BartAmerican filmmaker and conspiracy theorist who produced documentaries claiming the Apollo moon landings were faked, best known for confronting astronauts and being punched by Buzz Aldrin in 2002.
• Silverado Savings and Loan Collapse1988 failure of a Denver-based savings institution that cost federal taxpayers over $1 billion, notable for Neil Bush's presence on its board.
• SILVERSTEIN, LarryNew York real estate developer who owned World Trade Center lease and became subject of 9/11 conspiracy theories.
• Simulation HypothesisPhilosophical argument proposed by Nick Bostrom in 2003 suggesting that advanced civilizations would likely create detailed ancestor simulations, making it statistically probable that our reality is simulated rather than base physical reality.
• Single-Bullet TheoryA forensic conclusion of the Warren Commission that one rifle bullet caused multiple wounds to both President Kennedy and Governor John Connally during the 1963 Dallas assassination.
• Sinking of the ROKS CheonanMarch 26, 2010 sinking of South Korean naval corvette in the Yellow Sea, officially attributed to North Korean torpedo attack but generating controversy over evidence and alternative explanations.
• SIRHAN, SirhanSirhan, Sirhan, Palestinian-American convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, claims no memory of the shooting.
• SITCHIN, ZechariaRussian-American author who originated modern claims that the Anunnaki of Mesopotamian religion were extraterrestrial beings who genetically engineered humanity, interpretations rejected by professional Assyriologists as fundamental mistranslations.
• SKILLING, JeffreyFormer Enron CEO convicted of conspiracy and securities fraud in one of the largest corporate scandals in American history.
• SKINWALKER RANCHUtah property associated with reported paranormal phenomena including UFO sightings and cattle mutilations that became a focus of government-funded research.
• Skull and BonesSecret senior society at Yale University founded in 1832, whose exclusive membership has included prominent politicians and business leaders, generating conspiracy theories about elite influence networks.
• Skunk ApeBipedal cryptid reportedly inhabiting the Florida Everglades and southeastern United States, described as similar to Bigfoot but smaller and characterized by a distinctive foul odor reminiscent of rotten eggs or skunk spray.
• Slender ManFictional supernatural entity created in 2009 by Eric Knudsen for a Photoshop contest on Something Awful forums, depicted as a tall, faceless figure that became an internet urban legend and was linked to real-world violence.
• Smallpox Eradication Program Conspiracy ClaimsAllegations that the World Health Organization's successful 1967-1980 global smallpox eradication campaign served as a cover for population control efforts or bioweapons testing, claims contradicted by extensive documentation of the public health program.
• Smart City Surveillance TheoryClaims that smart city infrastructure and Internet of Things devices are designed primarily for mass population surveillance rather than urban efficiency.
• Smart Device Surveillance Conspiracy TheoriesSmart device surveillance conspiracy theories claim that internet-connected household appliances, voice assistants, and smart TVs are deliberately designed to monitor users continuously for government or corporate intelligence gathering, theories that gained credibility through documented cases of unauthorized data collection and privacy violations but often exaggerate the scope and coordination of such surveillance.
• Smith-Mundt Act RepealAmendment to the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948 that removed restrictions on domestic dissemination of U.S. government-funded international broadcasting, enacted through the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013.
• SMITH, Joseph Jr.American religious leader and founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whose introduction of temple ceremonies and theocratic governance generated extensive conspiracy theories.
• Snowden LeaksThe Snowden leaks refer to the real 2013 disclosure of thousands of classified National Security Agency and allied-intelligence documents by contractor Edward Snowden to journalists, revealing programs including PRISM, XKeyscore, and Tempora, a confirmed and authenticated document release whose full balance of harm versus public benefit remains debated.
• SNOWDEN, EdwardAmerican former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed classified surveillance program documents to journalists in 2013, revealing programs including PRISM and prompting global debate over government surveillance versus national security.
• Social Credit System FearsWestern concerns that Chinese-style social credit systems for citizen behavior monitoring and control will spread globally through digital infrastructure.
• Socorro UFO IncidentA close encounter reported by police officer Lonnie Zamora that became one of Project Blue Book's most investigated cases.
• Sokal AffairAcademic hoax in which physicist Alan Sokal submitted a deliberately nonsensical paper to cultural studies journal Social Text, which published it without adequate review, exposing problems with scholarly rigor in postmodern academic circles.
• SOROS, GeorgeHungarian-American financier and philanthropist whose Open Society Foundations fund pro-democracy causes worldwide, making him a recurring target of conspiracy theories alleging he orchestrates global protest movements and immigration policies.
• Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster Conspiracy ClaimsAllegations that the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger survived the January 28, 1986 disaster or that the cause was deliberately concealed, contrary to extensive documentation of the O-ring failure that killed all seven crew members.
• Special Drawing Rights One World Currency TheoryConspiracy theory claiming that the IMF's Special Drawing Rights represent a deliberate step toward establishing a single global currency that would eliminate national monetary sovereignty and enable world government control.
• Sphinx (mythological creature)Hybrid creature from Greek mythology featuring a lion's body and human head, most famous for posing riddles in the Oedipus legend.
• Spring-Heeled JackVictorian England urban legend centered on a fire-breathing, extraordinarily agile assailant capable of great leaps, beginning in 1837 and attributed to a combination of assault reports, urban legend embellishment, and aristocratic pranksters.
• SPRINGMEIER, FritzAmerican conspiracy author who promoted Illuminati bloodline theories and was later convicted of bank robbery charges.
• STANFORD, AllenAmerican financier who operated a $7 billion Ponzi scheme through Stanford International Bank before being convicted of fraud.
• STAPEL, DiederikDutch social psychologist whose systematic data fabrication resulted in 58 retracted publications in one of psychology's largest research fraud cases.
• Star Route Scandal1880s postal fraud scheme involving inflated payments for remote mail delivery contracts that led to major government corruption trials.
• StasiEast German state security service that operated one of history's most extensive domestic surveillance networks from 1950 to 1990.
• STEINER, RudolfAustrian philosopher and founder of anthroposophy, an esoteric spiritual movement claiming scientific access to higher spiritual worlds.
• Stellar WindNSA warrantless surveillance program targeting domestic communications, authorized after 9/11 and operating outside FISA warrant requirements until partially brought under court oversight in 2007, exposed by whistleblower Thomas Drake.
• STEPHEN GLASS NEW REPUBLIC SCANDALJournalism fraud in which New Republic writer Stephen Glass fabricated 27 of his 41 published articles with elaborate fake sources, websites, and documentation, exposed by fact-checkers and leading to widespread media verification reforms.
• Stephenville LightsWidely witnessed sightings of large, fast-moving lights over Stephenville, Texas, in January 2008, initially met with conflicting military statements before the U.S. Air Force acknowledged conducting training exercises in the area.
• Stewart, Martha, Insider Trading CaseFederal prosecution of media entrepreneur Martha Stewart for obstruction of justice related to her 2001 sale of ImClone Systems stock, resulting in a five-month prison sentence and demonstrating insider trading enforcement against high-profile figures.
• STOCKWELL, JohnFormer CIA officer who became a prominent agency critic after leading the Angola task force during Cold War covert operations.
• STONE, OliverAmerican film director whose 1991 film JFK dramatized conspiracy theories about President Kennedy's assassination, challenging the Warren Commission's lone-gunman finding and influencing public perception of the case.
• STONE, SeanAmerican filmmaker and conspiracy theorist who promotes theories about occult symbolism in global politics and elite practices.
• Stoned Ape HypothesisTheory proposed by Terence McKenna that early hominid consumption of psilocybin mushrooms catalyzed rapid cognitive evolution producing Homo sapiens, rejected by mainstream paleoanthropology for lack of supporting evidence.
• Stop the Steal MovementCoordinated disinformation campaign claiming the 2020 U.S. presidential election was stolen through widespread voter fraud.
• STRASSMAN, RickAmerican psychiatrist who conducted the first FDA-approved human clinical research on DMT in the United States since the 1960s, contributing to popular theories about psychedelic entity encounters.
• Strategy of TensionTheory that Cold War-era bombings and political violence in Italy were orchestrated by state security services to discredit the left and justify authoritarian measures.
• STRIEBER, WhitleyAmerican author whose 1987 bestseller Communion described personal encounters with non-human beings called 'Visitors,' popularizing the modern archetype of large-eyed alien abductors in American culture.
• Subterranean Civilizations TheorySubterranean civilizations theory proposes that advanced human or non-human civilizations inhabit vast underground networks and cavern systems beneath Earth's surface, maintaining technological sophistication and cultural development independently from surface populations.
• Suez Crisis CollusionSecret 1956 agreement between Britain, France, and Israel codified in the Sèvres Protocol, coordinating Israel's invasion of Sinai to provide pretext for Anglo-French seizure of the Suez Canal, publicly denied for years before confirmation through declassified documents.
• SUNLIGHT THEORYOnline health conspiracy cluster claiming that sunlight is broadly protective, sunscreen is inherently toxic, and medical authorities conceal the dangers of sun protection.
• Super Bowl IndicatorThe Super Bowl Indicator is a folk stock-market theory claiming the outcome of the Super Bowl predicts whether the stock market will rise or fall for the remainder of the year, a statistically unsupported pattern with no plausible causal mechanism, popular in financial media commentary as an entertaining coincidence rather than a genuine predictive tool.
• Surgeon's PhotoFamous 1934 photograph purportedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, later revealed to be an elaborate hoax using a toy submarine.
• Surveillance Capitalism TheoryHarvard Business School professor Shoshana Zuboff's analysis of technology companies' business models as extractive surveillance systems that commodify human behavior data for predictive products sold to third parties.
• Susurluk Scandal1996 Turkish political scandal exposed through a fatal car crash that revealed deep state connections between police, organized crime, and politicians.
• Swiss Spaghetti Tree HoaxBBC Panorama April Fool's Day broadcast showing a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from trees, prompting hundreds of viewers to call requesting instructions for growing their own spaghetti trees.
• SynchronicityConcept introduced by psychiatrist Carl Jung in 1952 describing meaningful coincidences between causally unrelated events, a legitimate psychological theory often misappropriated by conspiracy theorists as evidence of hidden design in world events.