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ttps://bouldercolorado.gov/jonbenet-ramsey-homicide

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-Dustie Mendes

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JonBenét Ramsey’s Mother’s 911 Call ‘Seemed Rehearsed,’ Operator Says

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“I just remember having that sunken feeling, like something wasn’t right”

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“The concept of lost spirits or ghosts permeates many cultures and religious traditions, often conjuring imagery of restless souls wandering the earth.” - Lost spirits and Ghosts: A Biblical Perspective

“During her visit to the White House, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands heard a knock on her bedroom door in the night; when she answered it, she reportedly saw Lincoln’s ghost, wearing his top hat, and fainted dead away.” - Ghosts in the White House

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- Alicia Coakley

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/ CBS New York

NEW YORK (CBS 2) -- A lot of people saw it, but no one's quite sure what it was.

We're talking about something in the sky spotted over Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon.

CBS 2 cameras captured the objects while shooting up above Chelsea at 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue.

Local media and the NYPD received several calls throughout the afternoon.

However, as CBS 2 cameras showed, the objects appeared to be yellow balloons, although there has been no official confirmation from the NYPD. On the streets below there was a lot of intrigue about the mystery going on up above.

Weird sightings in the sky are not new to our area. Back in January of 2009, strange, red, blinking lights could be seen across Morris County, N.J., and officials thought they had figured out what caused them.

In the end, though, it wasn't exactly a close encounter.

It turns out the lights were part of a hoax. Prosecutors said two men with too much time on their hands pulled off the trick with five flares, fishing line and helium balloons.

© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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A lot of people saw it, but no one's quite sure what it was. We're talking about something in the sky spotted over Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon.

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https://www.iop.org/explore-physics/moon/how-do-we-know-we-went-to-the-moon- IOP “How do we know that we went to the moon.”

https://science.howstuffworks.com/moon-landing-hoax.htm - HowStuffWorks “Why Do Some People Believe the Moon Landings Were a Hoax?”

https://ultimateglobes.com/blogs/general-information/moon-landing-hoax-debunked? -UltimateGlobes “The Moon Landing Hoax: Debunking the Conspiracy”

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/moon-landing-conspiracy-theories-debunked-Royal Museums Greenwich “Moon landing conspiracy theories, debunked”

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Zodiac Suspects Arthur Leigh Allen Part 4 of 6.

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one ofmy sources in this paper

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Murder

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Why Marilyn Monroe’s sudden death still evokes mystery, questions 60 years later

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The death of the Hollywood star generated decades of speculation as to whether Marilyn Monroe’s overdose was a suicide, an accident or something more sinister.

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-Mrs. Seader

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Zodiac Killer - Movie, Letters & Suspects

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The Zodiac Killer took credit for several murders in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1960s. He was never caught.

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-Mrs. Seader

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Three military veterans testified in Congress' highly anticipated hearing on UFOs Wednesday, including a former Air Force intelligence officer who claimed the U.S. government has operated a secret "multi-decade" reverse engineering program of recovered vessels. He also said the U.S. has recovered non-human "biologics" from alleged crash sites.

But while the topic of "little green men" did come up, much of the discussion centered on improving processes for reporting unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs - the military's term for UFOs (increasingly, UAP refers to "anomalous" rather than "aerial" phenomena, to account for sightings in both air and water).

There are also calls to remove the stigma for aviators who report UAP sightings and to ensure oversight of government programs that investigate them.

Retired Maj. David Grusch, who went from being part of the Pentagon's UAP Task Force to becoming a whistleblower, told the House Oversight Committee's national security subcommittee that he had been denied access to some government UFO programs but that he knows the "exact locations" of UAPs in U.S. possession.

You can watch the hearing here:

In response to public interest and political pressure, federal and military agencies have shared a trove of information about unexplained aircraft encounters - but many sightings have been found to be of pedestrian origin, from weather balloons to drones, airborne trash, and birds.

On Wednesday, Defense Department spokeswoman Susan Gough issued a statement saying the Pentagon's inquiries had not turned up "any verifiable information to substantiate claims that any programs regarding the possession or reverse-engineering of extraterrestrial materials have existed in the past or exist currently," as The Associated Press reports.

Grusch also alleged that the U.S. has retrieved "non-human" biological matter from the pilots of the crafts, adding, "That was the assessment of people with direct knowledge on the [UAP] program I talked to, that are currently still on the program."

While he refrained from sharing any further information in the public hearing, Grusch offered to disclose details behind closed doors.

Grusch said he hasn't personally seen any alien vehicles or alien bodies, and that his opinions are based on the accounts of over 40 witnesses he interviewed over four years in his role with the UAP task force.

"My testimony is based on information I have been given by individuals with a longstanding track record of legitimacy and service to this country - many of whom also shared compelling evidence in the form of photography, official documentation, and classified oral testimony," Grusch said, adding that the trove of evidence has been intentionally kept secret from Congress.

Several times during the hearing, Grusch deflected lawmakers' questions, saying he could only elaborate in a SCIF - a sensitive compartmented information facility. Those instances include when he was asked if the government has had any contact with aliens and whether anyone had been murdered to cover up information about "extraterrestrial technology." Grusch said he couldn't comment.

The former intelligence officer also told the panel that he and several other colleagues have been the targets of "administrative terrorism," and that he has at times feared for his life since coming forward.

"It was very brutal and very unfortunate. Some of the tactics they used to hurt me both professionally and personally," he said, adding that there is currently an open investigation into the matter.

UAP sightings are not rare or isolated

The subcommittee also heard testimony from former Navy fighter pilot Ryan Graves and retired Cmdr. David Fravor about their alleged encounters with aircraft of an unexplained origin.

Graves recounted an incident with a flying object off the coast of Virginia Beach in 2014. While flying an F-18, he said, he came upon an aircraft that looked like a "dark gray or black cube inside of a clear sphere" that he estimated to be five to 15 feet in diameter and unlike any aircraft he has ever seen. Grave claimed the UAP could remain stationary despite hurricane-force winds.

He told lawmakers that his squadron submitted a safety report at the time but that he received no official acknowledgment of the incident. According to the former pilot, UAP encounters in that region were "not rare or isolated."

Graves has since founded Americans for Safe Aerospace, a group that supports aviators who have reported UAPs. He stated that the objects that are reportedly being seen by military and commercial pilots "are performing maneuvers that are unexplainable due to our current understanding of our technology and our capabilities as a country."

He added: "If everyone could see the sensor and video data I witnessed, our national conversation would change."

"Incredible technology" unlike anything we have

Retired Navy Cmdr. David Fravor offered the panel his own eerie account of a UAP encounter that was captured on video in 2004. (The Pentagon released the video to the public in 2020.)

Fravor described being flabbergasted when he and three other service members saw a white "Tic Tac"-shaped flying object emerge over the San Diego coast in California.

"There were no rotors, no rotor wash, or any visible flight control surfaces like wings," he said of the UAP.

As he and the other pilots tried to get closer to the mysterious craft, "it rapidly accelerated and disappeared right in front of our aircraft," leaving no detectable turbulence.

"The technology that we faced was far superior than anything that we had," Fravor said. "I'm not a UFO fanatic. But what we saw with four sets of eyes - we have nothing close to it. It was incredible technology."

Fravor said it was several years before any officials followed up on the extraordinary events of the day and even then, he added, "nothing was done."

Gasps from the overflow room

The highly anticipated hearing was open to the public; people waited for hours to secure a spot for the hearing.

A 22-year-old from New York City who asked to remain anonymous - "due to stigma that still persists around the subject" - told NPR he made plans to attend "knowing that it's something that could be a historic moment."

From an overflow room with about 100 other enthralled spectators, he watched as Grusch, Graves and Fravor - men with long careers in the military - shared their experiences.

Out of context, he said, their stories "sound fantastical" but given the credentials of all three witnesses, he said he's a believer.

And he wasn't the only one.

"There was definitely a gasp and everyone was definitely a little bit shocked," he said, "when Grusch was talking about non-human biologics." There was a similar response when Grusch later touched on the personal retaliation he suffered, according to the man.

Why now?

The hearing is the latest push by Congress to pressure intelligence agencies for more transparency about UAPs, arguing that they're a matter of national security.

"UAPs, whatever they may be, may pose a serious threat to our military and our civilian aircraft, and that must be understood," said Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California. "We should encourage more reporting, not less, on UAPs. The more we understand, the safer we will be."

Grusch, Graves and Fravor echoed similar sentiments, saying they would like to see a "safe and transparent'' centralized reporting system. The men added that they are hopeful the public discourse is the first step toward eliminating the stigma around reports of UAPs to encourage others to come forward.

Graves, the ex-Navy pilot, estimated that only about 5% of UAP sightings are reported to the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

"I urge us to put aside stigma and address the security and safety issue this topic represents," Graves said. "If UAP are foreign drones, it is an urgent national security problem. If it is something else, it is an issue for science. In either case, unidentified objects are a concern for flight safety. The American people deserve to know what is happening in our skies. It is long overdue."

Since it was formed last summer, the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office has received 366 reports of UAPs.

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U.S. recovered non-human 'biologics' from UFO crash sites, former intel official says

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Lawmakers heard firsthand accounts of craft that are "beyond our current understanding of our technology," and allegations that the U.S. recovered non-human "bio remains."

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-Mrs. Seader

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Are ghosts real? A social psychologist examines the evidence

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In an article for The Conversation, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of sociology Barry Markovsky looks at people’s belief in ghosts.

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-Mrs. Seader

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Can the murder of JonBenét Ramsey be solved by 7 items of evidence?

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Her father John Ramsey said DNA testing on items like a blanket and a rope could point to the killer.

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-Mrs. Seader

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Illuminati, designation in use from the 15th century, assumed by or applied to various groups of persons who claimed to be unusually enlightened. The word is the plural of the Latin illuminatus ("revealed" or "enlightened").

illuminati; Adam Weishaupt Historia Collection/Shutterstock.com

What does the name illuminati refer to?

What are the origins of the illuminati?

What was the Bavarian illuminati group?

Who are some notable members of illuminati groups?

Early illuminati

According to adherents, the source of the "light" was viewed as being directly communicated from a higher source or due to a clarified and exalted condition of the human intelligence. To the former class belong the Alumbrados (Spanish: "enlightened") of Spain. Spanish historian Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo first finds the name about 1492 (in the form aluminados, 1498) but traces them back to a gnostic origin and thinks their views were promoted in Spain through influences from Italy. One of their earliest leaders-indeed, some scholars style her as a "pre-Alumbrado"-was María de Santo Domingo, who came to be known as La Beata de Piedrahita. She was a labourer's daughter, born in Aldeanueva, south of Salamanca, about 1485. She joined the Dominican order as a teenager and soon achieved renown as a prophet and mystic who could converse directly with Jesus Christ and the Virgin. Ferdinand of Aragon invited her to his court, and he became convinced of the sincerity of her visions. The Dominicans appealed to Pope Julius II for guidance, and a series of trials were convened under the auspices of the Inquisition. Her patrons, which by then included not only Ferdinand but also Francisco Cardenal Jiménez de Cisneros and the duke of Alba, ensured that no decision was taken against her, and she was cleared in 1510.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, while studying at Salamanca (1527), was brought before an ecclesiastical commission on a charge of sympathy with the Alumbrados, but he escaped with an admonition. Others were not so fortunate. In 1529 a congregation of unlettered adherents at Toledo was visited with scourging and imprisonment. Greater rigours followed, and for about a century the Alumbrados afforded many victims to the Inquisition, especially at Córdoba.

St. Ignatius of Loyola Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The movement (under the name of Illuminés) seems to have reached France from Seville in 1623. It attained some prominence in Picardy when joined (1634) by Pierre Guérin, curé of Saint-Georges de Roye, whose followers, known as Guerinets, were suppressed in 1635. Another body of Illuminés surfaced in the south of France in 1722 and appears to have lingered till 1794, having affinities with those known contemporaneously as "French Prophets," an offshoot of the Protestant militant Camisards.

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Of a different class were the Rosicrucians, who claimed to have originated in 1422 but achieved public notice in 1537. Their teachings combined something of Egyptian Hermetism, Christian gnosticism, Jewish Kabbala, alchemy, and a variety of other occult beliefs and practices. The earliest extant writing which mentions the Rosicrucian order was the Fama Fraternitatis, first published in 1614 but probably circulated in manuscript form somewhat earlier than this. It recounts the journey of the reputed founder of the movement, Christian Rosenkreuz, to Damascus, Damcar (a legendary hidden city in Arabia), Egypt, and Fès, where he was well received and came into possession of much secret wisdom. He returned finally to Germany, where he chose three others to whom he imparted this wisdom and thus founded the order. Later the number was increased to eight, who separated, each going to a separate country. One of the six articles of agreement they adopted was that the fraternity should remain secret for 100 years. At the end of 120 years the secret burial place and the perfectly preserved body of the founder were discovered by one of the then members of the order, along with certain documents and symbols held in very high esteem by Rosicrucians. The sacred vault was re-covered, the members of the order dispersed, and the location of the vault was lost to history. The Fama ends with an invitation to "some few" to join the fraternity. Among those believed to have been associated with the order were German alchemist Michael Maier, British physician Robert Fludd, and British philosopher and statesman Sir Francis Bacon.

Perhaps the group most closely associated with the name illuminati was a short-lived movement of republican free thought founded on May Day 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, professor of canon law at Ingolstadt and a former Jesuit. The members of this secret society called themselves "Perfectibilists." Their founder's aim was to replace Christianity with a religion of reason, as later did the revolutionaries of France and the 19th-century positivist philosopher Auguste Comte. The order was organized along Jesuit lines and kept internal discipline and a system of mutual surveillance based on that model. Its members pledged obedience to their superiors and were divided into three main classes: the first included "novices," "minervals," and "lesser illuminati"; the second consisted of freemasons ("ordinary," "Scottish," and "Scottish knights"); and the third or "mystery" class comprised two grades of "priest" and "regent" as well as "magus" and "king."

Beginning with a narrow circle of disciples carefully selected from among his own students, Weishaupt gradually extended his recruitment efforts from Ingolstadt to Eichstätt, Freising, Munich, and elsewhere, with special attention being given to the enlistment of young men of wealth, rank, and social importance. From 1778 onward Weishaupt's illuminati began to make contact with various Masonic lodges, where, under the impulse of Adolf Franz Friedrich, Freiherr von Knigge, one of their chief converts, they often managed to gain a commanding position, It was to Knigge that the society was indebted for the extremely elaborate constitution (never, however, actually realized) as well as its internal communication system. Each member of the order had given him a special name, generally classical, by which he alone was addressed in official writing (Weishaupt was referred to as Spartacus while Knigge was Philo). All internal correspondence was conducted in cipher, and to increase the mystification, towns and provinces were invested with new and altogether arbitrary designations.

At its period of greatest development, Weishaupt's "Bavarian Illuminati" included in its operations a very wide area, extending from Italy to Denmark and from Warsaw to Paris; at no time, however, do its numbers appear to have exceeded 2,000. The order and its doctrines appealed to literary giants such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried von Herder as well as the dukes Ernest II of Gotha and Charles Augustus of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Such notables were claimed as members although it is questionable if they were actually so. Weishaupt's illuminati were believed to have included astronomer Johann Bode, writer and bookseller Friedrich Nicolai, philosopher Friedrich Jacobi, and poet Friedrich Leopold, Graf zu Stolberg-Stolberg.

Secret societies of this kind fitted in with the idea of benevolent despotism as a vehicle for the Enlightenment, as Goethe shows in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. The movement suffered from internal dissension and was ultimately banned by an edict of the Bavarian government in 1785. Some members were imprisoned, while others were driven from their homes. Weishaupt was stripped of his chair at Ingolstadt and banished from Bavaria. After 1785 the historical record contains no further activities of Weishaupt's illuminati, but the order figured prominently in conspiracy theories for centuries after its disbanding. It was credited with activities ranging from the instigation of the French Revolution to the assassination of U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy, and the notion of an all-knowing cabal of ancient masters remained a powerful image in the popular consciousness into the 21st century.

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related topics

did you know?

The modern conspiracy theories surrounding the illuminati were first popularized by Robert Wilson and Kerry Thornley through fictional works and fake letters to magazines in the 1960s.

The group most closely associated with the name "illuminati" was formed in Bavaria in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, who wanted an alternative to the Freemasons for intellectuals and influential figures.

The organization was banned in 1785, and during enforcement of the ban, authorities found documents that defended suicide and atheism, as well as instructions for abortions.

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illuminati | Facts, History, Suppression, & Conspiracy

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Illuminati, designation in use from the 15th century, assumed by or applied to various groups of persons who claimed to be unusually enlightened. The word is the plural of the Latin illuminatus ('revealed' or 'enlightened'). Learn more about the history of the illuminati in this article.

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-Mrs. Seader

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Health

If headlines could scream, then scream they did in early August 1962. According to nearly every newspaper, television, and radio broadcast in the world, early on Aug. 5, Marilyn Monroe, Hollywood's brightest star, was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, Los Angeles home. She was only 36.

Long before the opiate and opioid epidemics struck American life with such resounding force, there were plenty of other prescription drugs abused to excess with deadly results.
READ MORE: Did Lou Gehrig actually die of 'Lou Gehrig's disease'?
On Marilyn's bedside table was a virtual pharmacopoeia of sedatives, soporifics, tranquilizers, opiates, "speed pills," and sleeping pills. The vial containing the latter, a barbiturate known as Nembutal, was empty. In her last weeks to months, Marilyn was also consuming, if not abusing, a great deal of other barbiturates (amytal, sodium pentothal, seconal, phenobarbital), amphetamines (methamphetamine, Dexedrine, Benzedrine and dexamyl-a combination of barbiturates and amphetamines used for depression), opiates (morphine, codeine, Percodan), the sedative Librium, and alcohol (Champagne was a particular favorite, but she also imbibed a great deal of Sherry, vermouth and vodka).

Her last two pictures, "Let's Make Love" (1960) and "The Misfits" (1961), were commercial flops. The latter, written by her husband, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller, served as the breaking point in their marriage and the two were divorced shortly after "wrapping" that film. During this period, Monroe suffered from several mental health problems, including substance abuse, depression, and, most likely, bipolar disorder, along with physical ailments such as endometriosis and gall bladder disease.

On June 8, 1962, the Hollywood film factory, 20th Century Fox, fired her while she was filming the ironically titled "Something's Gotta Give", (a remake of the 1940 film "My Favorite Wife"). The cause, the studio claimed, was her "unjustifiable absences." Marilyn protested she was too sick to work while the studio moguls complained she was apparently well enough to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" at John F. Kennedy's famous soiree in New York's Madison Square Garden on May 19. This very public firing was an ignominious end for a superstar whose films had grossed more than $200 million during a relatively brief career.

This is a particularly lethal cocktail, not only because each of these drugs increase, or potentiate, the power of the other, but also because people who take this combination often forget how much they previously consumed, or whether they took them at all, and soon reach for another dose.

Lonely and harassed, Marilyn found getting to sleep especially difficult. To counteract her insomnia, she often cracked open a Nembutal capsule (so that it would absorb faster into her bloodstream), added a chloral hydrate tablet (an old fashioned sedative better known in detective stories as a "Mickey Finn," or "knockout drops,"), and washed them both down with a tumbler of Champagne. This is a particularly lethal cocktail, not only because each of these drugs increase, or potentiate, the power of the other, but also because people who take this combination often forget how much they previously consumed, or whether they took them at all, and soon reach for another dose.

On her last day of life, Saturday, August 4, Marilyn lolled about her home in a drug and alcohol-fueled haze. Her publicist Patricia Newcomb, her housekeeper Eunice Murray, a photographer named Lawrence Schiller, and her psychiatrist Ralph Greenson were also present, off and on, for most of that day.

Before leaving for the night, Dr. Greenson asked Murray, who had lived with the movie star, to keep a close eye on Marilyn. Marilyn was last seen alive at 8 p.m., when she retired alone to her bedroom. At around 3:25 a.m., on August 5, Murray noticed that Monroe's lights were on but the bedroom door was locked and Marilyn did not respond to shouts to open it up.

Murray then walked outside the home and looked inside the bedroom's "French doors." She later recalled that Marilyn "looked peculiar. An arm was stretched across the bed and a hand hung limp on a telephone." Murray called Dr. Greenson, who, upon arrival, broke through the window door with a fireplace poker to get to Marilyn. Sadly, it was too late. Soon after, Monroe's personal physician, Hyman Engelberg, and the Los Angeles police arrived to the scene. As the entire world learned later that morning, Marilyn Monroe had died of an apparent, or accidental, suicide.

In the years since, Marilyn's legend and the details surrounding her tragic death and autopsy have transmogrified into a mountain of conspiracy theories and tall tales. Who was she trying to call just before she closed her eyes for the last time? Was she murdered? Who was involved? And what about those pesky and unsubstantiated rumors about the involvement of John and Bobby Kennedy, not to mention the Mafia, the CIA and even members of the Communist Party? On and on it goes, each theory seeming to be crazier or more far-fetched than the last. But because of the sequestered nature of her demise, we will likely never know the precise details.

What remains most cautionary to 21st century readers is that the majority of the substances Marilyn was abusing were prescribed to her by physicians, all of whom should have known better than to leave a mentally ill patient with such a large stash of deadly medications. The barbiturates that killed her are rarely, if ever prescribed, today. Nevertheless, Monroe, like Judy Garland, Michael Jackson, Prince, and too many other famous Hollywood stars who overdosed, was adept at manipulating her doctors to prescribe the drugs she craved and felt she needed to get through her tortured days and nights. This treacherous course worked, albeit haphazardly, until it didn't work anymore and resulted in a talented young woman dying far too young.

According to the National Institute for Drug Abuse, more than 52 million Americans over the age of 12 have used prescription drugs non-medically in their lifetime. More than 6.1 million people have used them in this fashion in the past month alone. Although the United States makes up less than 5 percent of the world's population, its people consume 75 percent of the world's prescription drugs.

In 2012, enough prescription painkillers were prescribed to medicate every American adult every four hours for one month. The most abused prescription drugs are painkillers, (e.g., opiates and opioids), tranquilizers, and stimulants. Although doctors prescribed many of these pills, many others were either purchased illegally or stolen from friends or relatives.

Opiate or opioid (narcotic painkiller) drugs are the most common cause of prescription overdose deaths today. According to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, prescription opioid overdose deaths have quadrupled since 1999; so, too, have the sales of these prescription drugs. From 1999 to 2014, more than 165,000 Americans died from overdoses related to prescription opioids. In 2014, alone, more than 14,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids.

Marilyn once told a reporter, "the nicest thing for me is sleep, then at least I can dream." Sadly, Marilyn Monroe's overdose represents the darker side of medical progress. Five decades after she died, and with the development of so many new, addictive, and potentially lethal painkillers and sedatives, this epidemic has only grown worse. Today, physicians, nurses, family members, and patients are all still struggling to grapple with its effects and stem its deadly tide.

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Column: Marilyn Monroe and the prescription drugs that killed her

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Long before the opiate and opioid epidemics struck American life with such resounding force, there were plenty of other prescription drugs abused to excess with deadly results. Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe consumed, if not abused, a great deal of them.

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-Mrs. Seader

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Did the Moon landing really happen? It's a conspiracy theory that continues to overshadow one of the greatest achievements in history. As we mark the 55th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming the first humans to walk on the Moon, why is that some people still believe that the landing was a hoax?

What are conspiracy theories?

Conspiracy theories are beliefs that certain events are secretly controlled by powerful groups. They often lack solid evidence and spread false information, causing confusion and distrust. Learning to spot and question them is crucial for making smart decisions.

The Great Moon Hoax

There have been lots of conspiracies and fake news about the Moon. One of the earliest fake news stories happened in 1835. The "Great Moon Hoax" was a series of articles in The New York Sun claiming that a famous astronomer had discovered life on the Moon. These articles were meant to be a joke but showed how easily false information can spread.

Was the Moon landing fake?

Despite plenty of evidence and scientific proof that this isn't the case, many people still, to this day, think the 1969 Moon landing was fake and that mankind has never taken "one small step", let alone "one giant leap" on the lunar surface. Much of this is down to a handful of conspiracy theories that continue to be shared online with popular moon conspiracy videos on TikTok racking up millions of views, and getting thousands of likes.

Conspiracy: waving flag

The Moon doesn't have a significant atmosphere and it doesn't experience weather as we know it on Earth, so why does the image show the American flag waving?

If you look closely at the image, particularly along the top edge of the flag, you will see a pole has been extended to help it hang correctly. When the astronauts were trying to perfectly place the flag in the ground, the movements led to the rippling effect you might see in images. As there's little atmosphere, the flag stayed in the same position once they left.

Conspiracy: no stars visible

Some argue that the lack of stars in the photos proves it was staged. If the image really was taken on the Moon, shouldn't we be able to see a sky full of stars?

The sky may look black, but remember, the image was taken in the daytime and both astronauts and the lunar landscape itself are brightly lit by the Sun.

If you're going to take a photo of a brightly lit scene, the camera settings will need to be different than those required to take photos in darker surroundings. In a bright environment, faint objects like stars simply aren't going to show up and the Moon landing image focuses on the subjects in the foreground rather than the background. For pointers about lighting when filming, check out this video which contains some advanced filming tips.

Conspiracy: footprint doesn't match boot

Conspiracy theorists claim that the Moon landing was faked because Neil Armstrong's preserved space suit doesn't match the footprint pictured on the Moon.

However, the Moon footprint in the photograph was made by Buzz Aldrin, not Armstrong. Also, the footprint was of a lunar overshoe - something both astronauts wore over their spacesuit boots to provide them with added traction in the dust. They left these overshoes on the Moon because of weight issues. The confusion arises from a photo of Armstrong's suit, taken by astronomer Phil Plait in 2015 showing a different sole design. Without fact-checking these sorts of examples, you could be at the risk of spreading misinformation, which is when people unknowingly share false news.

When you're scrolling through your social feeds, think critically about what you're reading, watching and sharing. Here are some tips for fact-checking:

Check multiple sources: Reliable information is usually reported by several reputable sources.

Verify with experts: Trust information from experts in the field. For example, if you're reading about the Moon landing, look for facts from scientists and educators.

Look for evidence: Credible claims are backed by evidence and scientific data.

Be aware of AI images on social media Here's some advice on how to spot manipulated images.

Not sure if the news you're seeing on social media is true or false? Can you always tell if the things you see online are real or fake? Learn how to get the other side of the story with our quizzes, videos and explainers.

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Apollo 11 Moon landing conspiracy theories debunked: was the moon landing fake? - BBC Bitesize

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We explore some of the most popular conspiracy theories surrounding the Moon landing on 20 July 1969.