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Post # 1: Mystery in Pop Culture by Spencer Ceci and Tyler Herrington

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Post # 1: Mystery in Pop Culture by Spencer Ceci and Tyler Herrington

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Pop Culture definition: Pop Culture, short for Popular Culture refers to the current popular trends in society that the majority of the population enjoy and believe.  It includes movies, music, trends, mysteries, rumors etc that are considered accepted and popular by the general masses.

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Post # 2 - Image # 1: Mystery in Pop Culture.                                                                                                                         

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Post # 2 - Image # 1: Mystery in Pop Culture.                                                                                                                         

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Nobody is Immune!

I chose this image because it shows how pop culture applies to all different age groups and generations.  Each decade has its own assortment of iconic inventions and mysteries for all ages,  From Silly Putty to Pac-Man to "Who killed Tupac", every person remembers something that was created or said in the past or present that had a profound impact on them.  This image indicates that no one is immune to the Pop Culture phenomena.

Reason for Belief: Perception and Observation - whereby people's beliefs and what they see work together and create something they believe to be true,  This is compounded when other people agree and eventually a larger group of people believe something to be true even if it is not.  Sometimes the better a story sounds in terms of drama and excitement the more it is believed even if there is no evidence to prove or support theories.

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Post # 3 - Image # 2: Mystery in Pop Culture.  

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Elvis Presley Is Still Alive!

On August 16, 1977 the entire world was shocked with grief and shock when  News stations reported, "The King of Rock and Roll is dead."  They were referring to the death of music icon Elvis Presley who died of a heart attack.  Elvis Presley was so popular world wide that many fans would not accept or acknowledge his death.  These same people were so certain that Elvis was still alive that they swore they saw him walking about over the years. The Elvis Sighting Society was even created for people to tell their "Elvis is alive" theories and condemn the autopsy and police investigation into his death.

Reason for Belief: Confirmation Bias - occurs when a person or persons only search for data and information that support their beliefs or opinions.  There is no objectivity and evidence to the contrary is quickly discarded.
The most popular theory was that Elvis faked his own death and changed his identity to attempt to become a "normal" citizen rather than a celebrity that could never have privacy.  People often flock to Graceland annually hoping to perhaps catch a glimpse of him hiding there on his birthday.

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Post #4 - Image #3: Mystery in Pop Culture

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Marilyn Monroe was murdered!

Marilyn Monroe was a famous actress, model and singer in America who died in 1962 at the age of 36 in her home of a suspected suicide by drug overdose.  She was extremely popular and very attractive but struggled with depression and substance abuse.  She was apparently romantically involved with high profile celebrities, athletes and politicians including the President of the United States, John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert Kennedy.  Immediately after her death and even up to the present time many believed that Marilyn Monroe was murdered instead.  The highly controversial theory is that she was murdered by the CIA to cover-up an alleged affair she had with the president and to prevent any information she had on the president from being leaked to enemies of the USA.  The fact that the she had struggles with drugs and in her personal life made it believable that she would have committed suicide.

Reason for Belief: Conspiracy Theory whereby an important occurrence or large event is explained based on a secret plot or elaborate scheme that is often carried out by powerful people or groups. The fact that Marilyn Monroe was in the President's inner circle and could have easily had access to top-secret information that compromised the national security of the country makes it easy to believe that she could have been murdered even there has never been any evidence to confirm this theory.

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Post #5 - Article #1: Mystery in Pop Culture

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Prince Harry's father is not Prince Charles!

It was no secret that Lady Diana's marriage to Prince Charles was dead not long after it started and that both parties had their fair share of other partners during the marriage.  One story that has never gone away or been put to rest is that Prince Harry bears an uncanny resemblance to his mother's horse-riding instructor, James Hewitt.  Lady Diana and Hewitt began a five- year affair shortly after Prince Harry was born.  As Harry grew he looked more and more like Hewitt and nothing like Charles.  Although it has been said that paternity testing was done and that the theory is false, many don't believe the testing was ever officially done.

Reason for Belief: Causation and Correlation whereby it is believed that if two events happen at the same time then they are automatically assumed to have a cause-and-effect relationship when in fact correlation does not imply causation.  The timing of Prince Harry's birth and the subsequent media barrage that Lady Diana was having an affair with James Hewitt at the same time implied they were father and son because of the remarkable resemblance of the two.

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Why People Think Prince Charles Isn't Harry's Real Dad

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This is Prince Harry, AKA Henry Charles Albert David, fifth in line to the British royal throne, and youngest son of Prince Charles and Princess Diana: But due to the fact that people love themselves a conspiracy theory, Harry's paternity has been called into question over the years by people who believe that his real father is Princess Diana's riding instructor, a man named James Hewitt.

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Post # 6 - Article # 2: Mystery in Pop Culture

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Paul McCartney Is Dead!

The Beatles were a household name in the 1960's and have gone down in history as one of the most popular music bands of all time.  One of the founding members, Paul McCartney was rumored to have died in a car accident in 1966 and the remaining 3 members covered up his death by replacing him with a lookalike musician named Billy Shears. Theorists went so far as to prove this theory by discovering clues on Beatles album covers and in Beatles' songs. Some even compared older photos of McCartney to newer ones and measured discrepancies in his facial details like his chin and ear placement. Of course when any of the Beatles were questioned about the rumor and abundance of alleged evidence they quickly attributed it to pure speculation and fantasy.

Reason for Belief: Another Conspiracy Theory where a powerful organization or group (The Beatles and associates) tried to cover-up a tragic recent event (Paul's death) because if the world found out the truth, there would be total chaos and suicides among the young fans around the world.  Instead, if a lookalike replacement was quickly ushered in, nobody would know the difference and total anarchy would be avoided. This is an excellent example of, "The bigger the celebrity name, the weirder the theory."

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Behind the "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory that the "real" Paul McCartney of the Beatles secretly died in a car accident in 1966.

Play the record backward. That's all you have to do for verification. Paul is Dead.

Modern folklore tales are so popular because they typically involve the kind of mysterious, intriguing narrative people crave. And since the Beatles are, well, the Beatles, it makes sense that one of the most popular and enduring of these legends has to do with Paul McCartney. "Paul is dead" is to conspiracies as, let's say, the Beatles are to rock music. It is the Beatles of conspiracy theories if you will.

So what is the "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory and how did this story get started?

It goes like this: in 1966 Paul McCartney was in a fatal car crash. But the band must go on, so the remaining members of the Beatles covered up his death by hiring a replacement. Still, known for their witticism and being the torture-riddled artists they were, the group hid secret messages and clues in their music alluding to the truth: Paul is dead.

Going back to the origin of the "Paul is dead" conspiracy, there was no reported car crash in 1966. It's true that in 1967 there was an accident involving Paul McCartney's Mini Cooper. The driver, however, was not killed. The driver also wasn't Paul, who wasn't even in the car at all.

Rumors that Paul was dead began to pop up and were quickly refuted in the Beatles Book Monthly magazine. That was that.

Flash to a few years later to 1969, college and underground publications began printing stories claiming Paul was dead. The articles, which spread rapidly, alleged that there were various clues in several recent Beatles albums that suggested Paul was deceased. One of the more popular claims was that playing the track "Revolution 9" off the White Album backward revealed the telling message: "turn me on, dead man."

This all culminated in a call on on Oct. 12, 1969, from Tom Zarski, a student at Michigan University, to Detroit radio host Russ Gibb. Zarski wanted to discuss the stories about Paul being dead. Gibb was dismissive of the rumors at first, but Zarski insisted Gibb play "Revolution 9" backward on air. So he did.

That's when everyone who was tuning into WKNR-FM heard, "Turn me on, dead man... Turn me on, dead man." The radio station's phones rang off the hook. It propelled the underground story to national levels.

In the following weeks, a slew of other clues and secret messages were being discussed. "Strawberry Fields Forever" backward contained the message, "I buried Paul." The Abbey Road album cover was a symbolic funeral procession, and Paul McCartney's bare feet indicated his role as the corpse.

In November of 1969, immediately following the peak of the rumor's popularity, Beatles albums saw a substantial increase in sales (In case the fab four needed help selling records). Two albums, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour, re-entered the Billboard chart after being off it for nine months.

To clear the air, Paul did an interview with Life magazine in an attempt to squash "Paul is dead" conspiracy. In the article, Paul said, "Perhaps the rumor started because I haven't been much in the press lately." You know you're mega famous when a plausible conclusion for not being heavily featured in the press is death.

The theory lost traction after the Life interview but was in no way dismantled. It has continued to crop up in different ways throughout the years.

As recently as 2009 the Italian version of Wired magazine printed an article featuring a study done by two forensic scientists who used computer technology to compare the measurements of McCartney's skull before and after the car accident. Ironically, the pair took on the project so that they could quickly prove, using scientific evidence, that "Paul is dead" was a lie.

What they claimed to shockingly discover instead was that the point where the nose detached from the face was different in both skulls, the position of the ears was different in a way that couldn't be explained by surgery, and the shape of the palate was dissimilar.

Apparently old death rumors die hard. To this day there are still sites and threads and videos dedicated to this legend.

At least in later years, Paul McCartney stopped taking the "Paul is dead" conspiracy too seriously. He even gave a nod to it by naming his 1993 album Paul is Live. That is, if it was in fact Paul...
Next, read why Paul McCarney was a better Beatle than John Lennon, then learn about surprising stories behind your favorite Beatles songs

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Explaining The Bizarre Theory That Paul McCartney Died Decades Ago

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Play the record backward. That's all you have to do for verification. Paul is Dead. Modern folklore tales are so popular because they typically involve the kind of mysterious, intriguing narrative people crave. And since the Beatles are, well, the Beatles, it makes sense that one of the most popular and enduring of these legends has to do with Paul McCartney.

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Post # 7 - Article # 3: Mystery in Pop Culture.

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The Titanic never sank!

It was a tragic day when the Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 killing 1503 people.  However, it has been rumored since 1998 that it wasn't actually the Titanic that sank but rather it's identical sister ship the Olympic who were both owned by the same company.  The reason? An insurance scam.  Apparently the Olympic was found to be at fault in a collision with a Navy ship in 1911 resulting in a huge money loss.  To cover the loss the insurer repaired the Olympic and sent it out as the Titanic on its maiden voyage and staged the sinking.  The new insurance money paid out would then cover the previous Olympic insurance claim.  Then the new ship, i.e. the real Titanic now disguised as the Olympic would be available because it never sank.  This story may seem somewhat far-fetched but it is interesting to note that the insurer strangely cancelled its reservations on the fateful cruise without explanation and the ship only sailed half-full considering all the hype this maiden voyage had generated.

Reason for Belief: Causation and Correlation whereby two events occur at about the same time and in doing so implies there is a cause-and-effect relationship when in fact there isn't. A previous large insurance claim causing the staging of an elaborate insurance scam to cover losses and fool the world? Possible but not likely on such a huge scale especially when lives are lost. However, money is the root of all evil they say.

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It is an historical irony that the most famous ship to ever sail was famous because it sank, but that was the case with the RMS Titanic. Then the world's largest and most luxurious cruise liner, it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage early on the morning of the 15th April 1912.

Within three hours, it had sunk to the bottom of the ocean, killing 1500 of the ship's 2224 passengers and crew.

Titanic was one of three Olympic class ocean liners built at the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast,  the other two being the RMS Britannic and the RMS Olympic.

The Titanic's sinking was reported in newspapers around the world

The Olympic was launched a year before the Titanic but seemed to share its more famous sister ship's poor luck.

Within months of its launch in 1911, it had had two serious collisions, the second with Royal Navy cruiser HMS Hawke off the coast of the Isle of Wight causing serious structural damage to the Olympic's keel and steel beams.

Some authors have suggested that the damage to the Olympic was more serious than admitted. In fact, it was virtually a write-off.

Repairs would be ruinously expensive, running into millions of pounds. The already troubled White Star Line was facing a potential financial disaster.

The Titanic's sister ship the Olympic was virtually identical

Could White Star and its owner JP Morgan have devised an audacious insurance scam to try and salvage their investment in the troubled Olympic line?

The Olympic, the theory goes, would be swapped with the Titanic and sunk in a staged accident. The Titanic, now disguised as the Olympic, would then carry on in service.

The two ships were essentially identical save for minor differences and were moored side by side in dry dock;  the swap would entail nothing more elaborate that swapping a few nameplates and plaques.

The Titanic and the Olympic moored side by side in Belfast

Although not a new theory, Robin Gardiner popularised the insurance swap theory in his 1998 book 'Titanic - The Ship That Never Sank?'

Could it really have been the Olympic that sank in the Titanic's place?

Evidence for

Portholes

Proponents of the swap theory have pointed out disparities in the number of portholes on the ships. The Olympic had 16 and the Titanic had 14.

Photographs taken of the Titanic in dry dock show it with 14 portholes. But by the time of its doomed maiden voyage it now had 16, just like the Olympic.

Was this evidence that the ships had been swapped or just that they had added two extra portholes as part of aesthetic changes to the Titanic?

During construction - top, Titanic had 14 portholes. By its maiden voyage - bottom, it had 16

Other evidence supports the switch ,  the windows on the Olympic were somewhat unevenly spaced, but more evenly spaced on the Titanic.

Again, by the time of its maiden voyage, the Titanic had acquired unevenly spaced windows like the Olympic.

List to port

The damage to the Olympic after its collision with the Hawke lent it a noticeable and permanent 2˚ list to port. The undamaged Titanic had no such list.

Lawrence Beesley reported the Titanic listed to port like the Olympic

However, one second-class passenger who survived the sinking -  Lawrence Beesley, later reported the Titanic did, in fact, list to port, stating "the Titanic listed to port...It was plain she did so, for the sky-line and sea on the port side were visible most of the time and on the starboard only sky".

Beesley, a science teacher, was considered a reliable observer, and would later write one of the first books about the Titanic disaster.

Rumours amongst crew

There was a nationwide coal strike during the launch of the Titanic, leading to thousands of firemen, boiler stokers and greasers short of work.

Yet despite this the Titanic struggled to find crew, with many men refusing to work on the ship at any price.

Rumours were circulating amongst the workers at Harland and Wolff that the ships had been swapped as part of an insurance scam, and Titanic was to be sunk.

Did foreknowledge of the sinking of the Titanic frighten men off from wanting to work on the ship?

Titanic during its construction at the Harland and Wolff shipyard, Belfast

Despite the immense fanfare and hype that surrounded the Titanic launch, it was only just over half full when it left Southampton on its doomed voyage.

Did White Star want to minimise the number of passengers because it intended to scuttle the ship? Or had the rumours of the insurance scam spread outside of the shipyards?

Several last minute cancellations from high profile passengers certainly suggest some kind of foreknowledge.

Last minute cancellations

Many of the richest and most prestigious names in early 20th-century society were booked onto the Titanic.

JP Morgan  -  the international financier who owned the White Star's parent company, was due to travel on the Titanic but cancelled his trip a few days before the departure, claiming illness.

JP Morgan and other prominent figures cancelled at the last minute

A New York Times reported discovered this to be a lie, Morgan was actually seen perfectly well with his mistress in France on the very day Titanic sunk.

Industrialist Henry Clay Frick and his wife, banker Horace J. Harding and billionaire George Washington Vanderbilt - all connected to Morgan, were amongst several other prominent figures who cancelled at the last minute.

Californian

The SS Californian, also owned by JP Morgan, was a large passenger ship that was ultimately blamed for the loss of life on the Titanic.

It behaved somewhat oddly around the time of the Titanic's voyage.

Carrying no passengers,  it steamed into the middle of the Atlantic, stopped and waited. It's only cargo was 3000 woollen blankets and jumpers.

What was the purpose behind this curious manoeuvre? Was the Californian intended to rescue the Titanic's passengers after its deliberate sinking?

Edith Russell, a survivor of the sinking, was adamant that Titanic officers assured her the Californian was on its way.

Author Robin Gardiner suggests serious navigation errors lead to the Californian stopping in the wrong area, some 12 miles away from the Titanic.

The lifeboats on the Titanic weren't sufficient to save all the passengers

With the Californian unable to complete its rescue mission the Titanic was doomed, and some 1500 passengers and crew perished in one of the worst maritime disasters in modern history.

The wreck

The wreck of the Titanic was discovered by Robert Ballard in 1985. Some evidence from the wreck supports the switch theory.

The stamp 401,  the ID number used for the Titanic at Harland and Wolff, can be seen on the Titanic's propeller.

However, some authors have suggested that the Titanic propeller was fitted to the Olympic during its repair following the collision with the Hawke.

If true, this would be strong evidence that the vessel on the ocean floor was really the Olympic.

The wreck of the Titanic was found by Robert Ballard in 1985

What appear to be the letters M and P can also be seen on the side of the wreck. Could that be the remains of the ship's original etched nameplate -  'OLYMPIC', covered over with the Titanic's as part of the scam?

The wreck appears to show some evidence of the grey paint used as an undercoat on the Olympic. The Titanic used black paint for its undercoat.

Lack of media scrutiny

Insurance scams and maritime fraud were common at the time of the Titanic's sinking.

Whilst it seems unlikely such a scam could be pulled off today, the lack of media coverage in 1912 makes it more credible.

Only one film survives of the Titanic and the photo record is also scant. With the two ships extremely similar, it is argued that only the most eagle-eyed would ever have spotted the swap.

Evidence against

The Wreck

Whilst the wreck of the Titanic found in 1985 provided some evidence in favour of the swap theory, more emerged that suggest the ship found at the bottom of the Atlantic really was the Titanic.

The Titanic's identification number - 401, is stamped in multiple places on the wreck, and on furniture and other artefacts found by salvagers. Could the swap really have been so elaborate to include swapping furniture and decor between the two ships?

Differences between the ships

Titanic scholars and historians say the proponents of the insurance swap theory have overstated how similar the two ships were.

Whilst superficially alike, there were several important structural differences, as well as aesthetic changes made to Titanic to distinguish it from its sister.

There are several internal differences in layout between Titanic and Olympic

The 1st class A deck on Titanic was enclosed in a glass screen but was open on the Olympic. Titanic's wheelhouse was flat at the front and the Olympics curved.

Olympic's B deck had a 1st class promenade, whereas Titanic had private verandas and suites. Indeed many passengers were booked into the suites,  an impossibility if the ship was really the Olympic.

Loss of reputation

Many sceptics of the insurance swap theory have pointed out that even if an insurance scam made financial sense to the White Star line, the loss of reputation they would suffer if one of their vessels sunk would be devastating.

Losing the Titanic on its maiden voyage would be a publicity disaster for White Star and lead to a loss of confidence in the company amongst passengers.

The intention behind the Olympic class liners was to attract rich first class passengers and offer them the finest in luxury and opulence. With image paramount, a sinking would prove to be a catastrophe for the company.

Deliberately sinking a ship

The Titanic was infamously described as 'unsinkable'. Whilst this proved to be incorrect, only a freak set of circumstances managed to sink it.

Could plotters really have engineered something so complex as the sinking of the world's largest vessel, in the middle of the Atlantic ocean?

With so many variables and so many things that could go wrong how could they be sure they would succeed?

The White Star line would have ruined its reputation if their flagship was sunk

If their plan was discovered the consequences would have been dire. The perpetrators would be blamed for the deaths of 1500 people, perhaps even charged with their murder.

Would the likes of White Line and JP Morgan - a billionaire who could afford any potential losses on the Olympic, really risk the gallows for an insurance scam?

The Olympic post-Titanic

The Olympic, or, if the insurance swap theory is true the Titanic disguised as the Olympic, continued to serve for many years.

It acted as troop transport in WW1 and resumed service as a luxury liner in the 20s and 30s before been finally retired in 1935.

In all of that time, no evidence that the ship was really the Titanic was ever discovered. Even when it was dismantled in 1936 there was no indication that the ship was anything other than the Olympic.

Was the Titanic swapped with its sister ship the Olympic as part of an insurance scam?

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Titanic Conspiracy: The Ship that Never Sank

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It is an historical irony that the most famous ship to ever sail was famous because it sank, but that was the case with the RMS Titanic. Then the world's largest and most luxurious cruise liner, it hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage early on the morning of the 15th April 1912.

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Post # 8 - Video # 1: Mystery in Pop Culture.

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Post # 8 - Video # 1: Mystery in Pop Culture.

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The Simpsons predicted 9-11!

The television show, The Simpsons" is an extremely popular animated comedy that has been around since 1989.  It has stirred up several controversies and discussions over its time and has been known to "predict" several future American events in various episodes including predicting Donald Trump as President and several Super Bowl winners.  But one of the most eerie and frightening predictions was a 1997 episode that appears to predict the September 11, 2001 tragedy in New York City.  In the episode, Lisa Simpson holds up a flyer that shows a $9 bus trip to New York,  However, in the flyer the $9 is strategically placed beside the World Trade Center's Twin Towers to make it look like 9-11.  As well, a bus is shown leaving New York rather than going toward it as the trip implies.

Reason for Belief: Confirmation Bias whereby information is interpreted in such a way as to fit one's certain beliefs. Data is either misinterpreted or manipulated in such a way to satisfy a person's biased beliefs. People may want to believe that the writers, producers etc of the Simpsons have the power to predict the future when in fact it is pure coincidence.

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Pre 911~The Simpsons $9 || Twin Towers (World Trade Center)

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Post # 9 - Video # 2: Mystery in Pop Culture.

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Post # 9 - Video # 2: Mystery in Pop Culture.

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The Bermuda Triangle!

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle is a geographical area of the Atlantic Ocean that is bounded by the southern tip of Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico.  Since the 1960's this horrifying area has been associated with pop culture as it has swallowed every aircraft or vessel that dares pass over it.  Several conspiracy theories have evolved over the years including the underwater city of Atlantis swallowing items above it, special portals that are able to distort time, pockets of methane gas sparked by lightning, and my favourite one - alien abductions which was a well-believed theory during the 1970's.

Reason for Belief: Supreme Beings/Aliens whereby these powerful entities are capable of technology that is light years ahead and/or divine figures that can make anything happen at their discretion. The latter being the fundamental principle of religions around the world. This is catch-all belief when nothing else makes sense or no scientific explanation is available. It is much easier to say the planes, ships, people etc were all abducted by aliens or supreme beings rather than look for evidence or proof.  The attached video proposes an explanation based on "Rogue Waves" that is plausible and realistic.

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The mystery behind the disappearance of several boats in the Bermuda Triangle may have finally been unraveled in a new theory by British scientists. According to the recent research, "rogue" waves going up to 100 feet could be engulfing boats in the region.

At least 1,000 lives have been lost in the region within the last 100 years, and on average, four aircraft and over a dozen yachts go missing every year there. The infamous body of water lies in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean and stretches 270,271 square miles between Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico.

Experts at the University of Southampton said the mystery of the Bermuda Triangle can be explained by a natural phenomenon known as "rogue waves" - which only last for a few minutes.

According to the scientists, these were first observed by satellites in 1997 off the coast of South Africa. The research team reportedly built a model of the USS Cyclops, a 542-foot-long Navy cargo ship that went missing in the triangle in 1918, claiming 300 lives. The ship's captain never sent out an SOS distress call, and an extensive search found no wreckage.

The work of the research team will be explained on Channel 5 documentary "The Bermuda Triangle Enigma."

According to the Sun, which first reported about the new theory, scientists used indoor simulators to re-create the monster water surges.

Dr. Simon Boxall, an ocean and earth scientist, said three massive storms coming together from different directions in the region could be the perfect condition for a rogue wave. Such a surge in water could engulf a boat, such as the Cyclops.

"There are storms to the south and north, which come together," he said. "And if there are additional ones from Florida, it can be a potentially deadly formation of rogue waves ... They are steep, they are high - we've measured waves in excess of 30 meters (98 feet)."

Unusual events in the region date back to 1493 and the first voyage of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) to the New World. The explorer recorded having compass malfunctions and seeing strange lights.

After the USS Cyclops disappearance, another mystery occurred on Dec. 5, 1945, when five U.S. Navy torpedo bombers - Flight 19 - carrying 14 men flew from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on a routine training exercise. Squadron Commander Lieutenant Charles C. Taylor reported he was lost as weather and sea conditions worsened. Two rescue planes were sent out shortly after, but only one returned. Wreckage of Flight 19 and the rescue plane have never been found.

Several other boats and aircraft were believed to have disappeared in the region, which is also called the Devil's Triangle.

Theories from aliens to time vortexes to pockets of methane gas have surfaced for years. However, most investigations indicate bad weather and human error as the most likely culprits.

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Boats' Disappearance In Bermuda Triangle Explained By New Theory

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The mystery behind the disappearance of several boats in the Bermuda Triangle may have finally been unraveled in a new theory by British scientists. According to the recent research, "rogue" waves going up to 100 feet could be engulfing boats in the region.

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Post # 10 - Video # 3: Mystery in Pop Culture.

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Post # 10 - Video # 3: Mystery in Pop Culture.

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Who killed John F. Kennedy?

One of the most talked about pop culture mysteries of all time is the assassination of the USA President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.  The President was sitting in his vehicle waving at the crowd of happy onlookers when gunfire suddenly ripped the cheers apart as the bullets hit the President in the neck and head. A short time later the President was pronounced dead at the hospital and the entire American nation mourned.

Many theories abound with the most widely accepted version being that the shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and that Jack Ruby killed Oswald to spare Kennedy's wife the horror of re-living the event at Oswald's trial.  However, many historians disagree with this simple theory because of the many alternative and viable explanations from multiple gunmen to Cuban, Russian and Israeli involvement to the President's own Secret Service.  In my opinion, one thing is certain, a mutual consensus explaining his death will never happen even if it has been 55 years since the event .

Reason for Belief: Conspiracy Theories of epic proportions in this case with the same underlying theme that people in high places commit unethical and illegal acts daily. In other words, high profile people are often involved in some sort of corruption. As I mentioned before, the bigger the celebrity name the weirder the theory. And President Kennedy was about as big a celebrity as they come.

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Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Live Coverage | CNBC

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Post # 11 - Mystery in Pop Culture Word Document

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Post # 11 - Mystery in Pop Culture Word Document

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Post # 11 – Word Document

What did you learn about the topic that most surprised you?

The thing about this topic that surprised me the most was that “Pop Culture” is something that everyone is subjected to no matter who they are, how old they are or where they live.  Also the pop culture machine is constantly running and will never stop.  There will always be new rumors, inventions, trends etc that the world will be exposed to.  Humans are creatures that are constantly hungry for information, especially bad news.  And as we all know bad news happens every day and everywhere.  People always like to create their own spin on events.

Provide a real life example of how this topic is relevant or interesting to you.

This topic interests me because I enjoy researching past world events, news or inventions and how they affected the generation of people that were around at the time as well as future generations.  It is interesting to see how many different theories can emerge from the same story depending on a person’s belief system and his or her surroundings.  There is a fine line between fact and fiction at times and each individual’s perspective is involved.

Which research did you find more interesting? Why?

I enjoyed the article on the Titanic because it showed that even after 86 years after the sinking, people were suddenly questioning the authenticity of the story because an author wrote a book that showed some credible evidence that it may have never happened as initially told.  In today’s time stories can explode and spread around the world so quickly because of the internet.

What are you most likely to remember from this research?

I am likely to remember that pop culture is here to stay.  No matter what people think of it or whether they want to get involved or not, it will find you and possibly peak your interest at some point in your life.  No one is immune to every world event or current trend.

Having completed all of the course content, which pseudoscience belief do you think is most harmful? Which is least harmful?

I believe the Confirmation of Bias pseudoscience is the most harmful because it causes people to see things only the way they want to.  They tend to disregard important information and/or data just because it doesn’t fit their belief system or conclusion.  Spreading this type of a thought process causes incorrect biases to flourish especially if the population is easily influenced.

I believe the least harmful pseudoscience is the Red Herring because its sole purpose is to distract people with information that is irrelevant.  I don’t see it as overly harmful because it is more of an effort to slightly sway people from their own beliefs.

If you could pass on this knowledge to a family member or a friend, what do you think the most important thing is to pass on?

If I could pass on this knowledge to anyone, I would tell them to be careful and aware of things they see or hear in the media or from peers because they could be misinformed.  It is important for people to gather facts and data to come up with their own conclusions.  Simply listening to or following someone just because they profess they are right about something could be harmful and/or disappointing.  Knowledge is power.