After we dove into the world of Mandela Effects last week, we decided that this time round we'd take a peek at the Flat Earth Theory. Many of us would laugh at the idea of the planet being anything but a globe; it's been scientifically proven to be that way, right? Others however would stake their lives on us being lied to from birth, making claims and giving explanations that may rock us to our core...
The Flat Earth Society and their beliefs
The Flat Earth Society is a very real organisation that was founded in the early 1800s, with their official Facebook page enjoying over 186,000 likes. Members of the group say that the world is flat because of how it looks and feels in person, refusing evidence from NASA and government agencies that shows otherwise.
One of the leading theories that suggests the Earth is flat states that the planet is a disc with the Arctic Circle in the middle. So why has nobody reached the edge? Well, that's because a 150-foot-tall wall of ice - Antarctica - is keeping us from doing so. There's even NASA employees guarding the wall to stop civilians climbing the icy expanse and falling off of the planet.
So what about those famous pictures of the globe that have been released by NASA? Theorists conclude that they must be Photoshopped, and even go as far to say that GPS devices have been rigged so that pilots are convinced they're flying in straight lines around a sphere when they're actually flying in circular directions above the disc.
Exactly why we'd be lied to about something like this hasn't been completely explained away by The Flat Earth Society, but there is an attempt on the organisation's official website to say it's to do with money.
"In a nutshell, it would logically cost much less to fake a space program than to actually have one," they say, "so those in on the conspiracy profit from the funding NASA and other space agencies receive from the government."
Celebrities who believe the Earth could be flat
B.o.B: Back in January of 2016, rapper B.o.B posted a picture of himself to his Twitter before asking where the curvature of the Earth was between the two cities in the backdrop of his snap. Despite quickly being ridiculed for his questioning of scientific facts, he stuck to his guns and told those attacking him to "grow up".
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson stepped in to explain the science behind B.o.B's questions, but we're not entirely sure he was ever convinced...
A.J. Styles: WWE Superstar A.J. Styles has said he doesn't necessarily think the Earth is flat, but there is reasoning made by those within The Flat Earth Society that "make sense."
Speaking on Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast, the athlete added: "The only person that ever told me or told the world that other planets exist is NASA, but there's a reason for all… they're making a lot of money, a lot of money. They have a lot of money coming in. NASA is not an American thing. It's a world thing. A lot of people don't know that, so when you start asking questions, there are not a lot of answers sometimes."
Freddie Flintoff: Taken in by the conspiracy podcast The Flat Earthers, Flintoff said on his own podcast recording for BBC Radio 5 Live: "If you're in a helicopter and you hover why does the Earth not come to you if it's round? "Why, if we're hurtling through space, why would water stay still? Why is it not wobbling? Also, if you fire a laser about 16 miles, if the world was curved, you shouldn't be able to see it but you can."
Flintoff then gave the version of what the Earth 'really is' that we've read about before: "The middle is the North Pole, around the outside is the South Pole which is like a big wall of ice. This is why all governments now have bases on the South Pole."
NOTE: Conspiracies are theories often created with a lack of evidence. Each of our conspiracy reports are based on online research, but should never be taken as 100% fact.
NEXT WEEK: The New World Order
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