Home of the Fresno Nightcrawler, well, maybe. A Shutterstock Licensed Image

When a tough, no-nonsense, 60-year-old Marine tells you he saw an alien, you tend to perk up and listen. According to this Ohio native, the creature had long, muscular legs, no jawline, no face, no hands, and knees that appeared to bend backward. According to the Marine, the creature was leaning forward, and in pursuit. Many claim this to be the first sighting of the Fresno Nightcrawler.

The creature has been called an “extraterrestrial insectoid,” appearing to walk like an arachnid, with legs akin to a Daddy-Long-Legs Spider. Also known as Pholcidae, these cellar spiders walk gingerly, which is precisely what each of the Nightcrawler videos exhibits. Reports say that the 3-4 feet tall creature also resembles a praying mantis.

What is a Cryptid?

A cryptid is a living, breathing animal (or other Being) that is not commonly believed to exist, although it may. Examples include the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and the Nightcrawler creature, among others.

Famous cryptids from around the world include:

• Ahool: Indonesia’s giant bat
• The Ningen: Japan’s sea-dwelling cryptid
• Altamaha-ha: Georgia USA’s giant river monster
• Dobhar-chú: Ireland’s legendary water-hound or otter
• Orang Pendek: Sumatra’s little bigfoot
• Jersey Devil: New Jersey’s massive, two-legged, winged dragon-sheep
• Mapinguari: Brazil’s double-mouthed bear with scales
• Olgoi-khorkhoi: Mongolia’s massive venom-spitting intestine-worm

There’s also Momo, Shuck, Tessie, the Yowie and many more.

Jose And The NightCrawler Alien

In 2010, a man named Jose, who has since died, allegedly recorded a pair of short, armless, two-legged, creatures walking through his back yard. They moved slowly and methodically, appearing to be calm and quiet. As they gracefully traversed the landscape, they seemed to be gliding across the grass.

Several paranormal investigators, scientists, and experts have reviewed the footage, noting that it would be difficult to replicate. That said, video analyst and debunker Phil Poling, known through his channel on YouTube, “ParaBreakdown” appears to have cracked the code. Phil and his team were able to create a video with characters appearing to be very similar to Jose’s aliens.

The quality of Jose’s video was poor because the footage was recorded using older security cameras with output to VHS tapes. Not only was the footage poorly compressed, pixelated, and covered with visual noise, it turns out it was a recording from a television playing the video. This is the only version of the video to be popularized by the media.

The Yosemite Nightcrawler

In March 2011, it was reported that caretakers at Yosemite National Park had mounted cameras to record possible vandals when two bipedal, humanoid creatures appeared from the brush and meandered through the trees.

Similar in physical structure to the Fresno alien, these creatures looked as if they were wearing loose, skin-like clothing. When video professionals analyzed the footage, they said that it could easily be reproduced with CGI animation and two pairs of stilts. Regardless, conspiracy theorists love the footage, and members of MUFON, The Mutual UFO Network, seem to be split on the idea of the Nightcrawler being a real creature.

Questions About The Nightcrawler

When the fact-checkers at Parabreakdown tried to duplicate these videos, they said that it took three tries before creating a video that perfectly mimicked the Nightcrawler videos.

To demonstrate their point, they used a cloth puppet, strung a wire between two points, then pulled the creature from one location to another. They used video noise and compression techniques to filter out the wires and to make it look really spooky. When you examine Parabreakdown’s video, it appears to be a perfect reproduction of the creatures in Jose’s original video.

The Native American Myths and DMV Sculptures

While some conspiracy theorists have tried to reach into Native American lore to find aliens similar to the Nightcrawler, there is no apparent exact match. The Yokuts, Miwok, and Ohlone peoples are among the tribes that were discussed.

When exploring Algonquian folklore, the Wendigo or Windigo is a mythical evil spirit found in various forests and lake regions in the US and Canada. While this creature has long, lanky, monstrous arms, it also has a full torso, head, and antlers.

In Navajo folklore, there are creatures known as “skin-walkers” that represent the antithesis to ancient Navajo teachings. A skin-walker is known to be a dangerous witch who can morph into a wild beast or possess an animal or person.

While skin-walkers can take many forms, there is no genuine connection between the related Navajo folklore and the Nightcrawler phenomenon.

Several sources have reported that a DMV in California has placed artwork on display that’s representative of The Fresno Nightcrawler creature. These tall, wooden depictions were made of tree trunks and appeared to be armless and headless, akin to the two-legged Nightcrawler. The challenge here is that there is no proven connection between the artwork and any ancient myths or reported sightings.

Nightcrawlers and The Collective Consciousness

When legends gain a firm footing in the public consciousness, they begin to take on a life of their own. Because most people want to believe there are aliens and other creatures living among us, they’ll allow their imaginations to run wild and beyond the bounds of reality.

Since the early 1930s, millions of images that represent alien life have been conjured and presented to the public. It’s probable that, from this conceptualized imagery, the collective consciousness formed a consensus around the sizes of eyes, legs, faces and more, for a variety of species, some real, some fantasy.

While there is certainly strong evidence of aliens visiting us and living among us, we must remain critical of videos and pictures that are mindlessly strewn across the blogosphere. There is no end to our collective imagination.

While many other stories of alien visitations appear to be authentic, the Fresno Nightcrawler does not have the street credit to be among them. There are problems with this legend, most notably that there are far more fantasy depictions of the creature than first-hand reports and videos.

The Nightcrawler Cryptid is becoming more and more popular throughout the world, mainly because inspired artists are posting their renditions on social media. Some of the Nightcrawler renderings appear to be outrageous and frightening, while others are cuddly and cute.

Searching the web, you’ll find depictions of the armless wonder in thousands of illustrations, gifs, animated sequences, stickers, pins, and hand-sewn pillows, puppets, and dolls, either on display or for sale. The artwork is popping up everywhere.

These creepy crawlers continue to be marketed and celebrated in a variety of countries and languages. It’s a wonder how the Fresno Nightcrawler doesn’t currently have its own Hollywood franchise.

Storm Area 51: A Shutterstock Licensed Image

It’s bold and beautiful, surprising, and exciting. A playful geek named Matty Roberts created a parody Facebook event on a whim, leading millions of people to join him on a raid of Area 51.

Roberts facetiously envisioned a peaceful saunter onto forbidden land where the government allegedly stores extraterrestrials and exotic alien tech. While his original intention was satire, the FBI and military agencies responded to Matty with might:

“(Area 51) is an open training range for the US Air Force and we would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces. The US Air Force always stands ready to protect America and its assets,” Air Force spokeswoman Laura McAndrews stated in an interview.

So will the raid still happen?

Who works at Area 51? Lots of brilliant people with high-security clearances, many of whom likely have access to the most advanced weaponry the world has ever seen. If you run toward these folks, I doubt they’ll want to friend-you or cuddle. They’re trained to kill.

While the “Area 51 2 Million” appear serious, it would take advanced training and leadership to run a successful penetration operation. To enter and command a protected, in-land destination, a brilliant strategy would be required to disrupt and evade the existing defensive system.

I’m sure that Matty and his pals have the highest quality Comic Con costumes, but I doubt they could assemble an exceptional military team, master state-of-the-art weaponry, and commandeer their government’s property.

Where is Area 51?

Area 51 is a highly classified US Air Force base located on a Nevada salt flat. Officially named Homey Airport (KXTA) or Groom Lake, it’s operations are reportedly all about military training. Everybody knows that the agendas at this massive underground laboratory include experimental aircraft and weaponry, and the exploration of alien visitors and their spacecraft.

The US military has never officially designated Area 51 a stealth laboratory for scientific experiments and alien tech. Regardless, there is ample evidence and hundreds of testimonies from high-ranking officials confirming such; none more notable than the highly-controversial nuclear physicist and alleged Area 51 former employee Bob Lazar.

Lazar recently found himself in renewed media spotlight after Jeremy Corbell’s documentary “Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers” was released on Netflix. Lazar claims to have worked at a branch of Area 51 known as S4 where he was privy to otherworldly, alien spacecraft. He says he even caught a glimpse of what he believes was the cadaver of an extraterrestrial.

Everything that occurs at Area 51 is considered a TS/SCI event. This stands for “Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information.” For the first time in history, the CIA confirmed the existence of the base. The admission followed soon after The Freedom of Information Act on June 25, 2013.

The USAF purchased the site in 1955, located 83 miles from Las Vegas and home to the tiny town of Rachel, otherwise known as the center of the “Extraterrestrial Highway.” Every visitor to Rachel, NV hopes that the nearby Area 51 UFOs will flood the airspace above them.

Given that Rachel is home to only 98 residents and one business (The Little A’Le’Inn, a small bar/restaurant/motel), it’s impossible to find food, gas or lodging in the town. During large, potential influxes of visitors, the nearby Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department and KXTA’s military remain on high alert.

For those who might want to wander the area both intoxicated and on foot, the nearby government land has no fences. As you plan your storm-like sojourn, keep in mind that it’s around 11 hours-walk from Rachel, Nevada to Groom Lake.

Could this viral storm be a fake disclosure operation?

Over the past 50 years, we’ve come to learn that the government is a lot brighter and more strategic than we imagined. According to a long list of insiders, government agencies are a lot more manipulative and dangerous than previously understood. While reporting the news was formerly the simple vetting and sharing of information, it’s become a game of strategy, wit, and timing.

When the often late, quasi-, alien-related confirmations are disseminated to distract the American public from genuine alien disclosures, you know there’s a much bigger game afoot. There has always been a bigger game.

Is our daily news being seeded to prepare us for the eventual release of the truth? Is the reality of alien life on Earth far more outrageous than what is currently being reported in conspiracy news stories? It’s anyone’s guess.

It’s certainly possible that a story about storming Area 51 could be a well-timed misdirection.

Why it’s a bad idea to storm Area 51

What, are you nuts? It doesn’t matter if you’re riding a Segway, Honda Ruckus, if you’re behind the wheel of a 2017 Koenigsegg Agera RS, there’s no way anybody could survive zipping past brainwashed men who have guns. Especially at a hidden, advanced weaponry site.

Ahhh, but what if we all Naruto run at the base like Matty Roberts recommends in his event invite? Surely that would make us more aerodynamic and impervious to the guards’ barrage of bullets!

Naruto Uzamaki is an anime protégé who runs with back-stretched arms, which, according to nothing related to physics, gives him the ability to run 3000X faster than his usual 2.2 miles per hour… We can’t evade bullets by putting our hands behind our butts. While awesome, that would be silly.

When it comes down to it, the US has always defended its assets, especially land. I’m not sure on what grounds any U.S. citizen would stand-upon to justify haphazardly running around government land with the hopes of stumbling on aliens. Seriously, you would have to have recently come out of unsuccessful, inoperable brain surgery to justify this type of thinking. Thoughts and prayers for the afflicted!

Alien life as we know it

Since extraterrestrial life forms cannot be restricted to our 3-dimensional reality, we must consider that aliens exist in a variety of forms, and within a variety of realms. Also, each living Being has a unique electromagnetic frequency and therefore, can attune to unique sets of environments. It’s in this way that we must imagine alien life to exist in ways that are beyond our comfort and imagination.

From light rods to amorphic, living, breathing metals, the alien life that we’ve come to know as ugly green and gray men is likely far more diverse than has ever been reported.

Imagine the momentary appearance of a lizard-like creature on your ceiling to be a glitch in spacetime continuum technologies on other planets. This is what happened to me. What appeared to be a few minutes in Boston-time, could easily have been weeks to the life form that inhabited my bedroom that evening. I went along with it as if nothing was happening. He was cool about it, too.

Whatever alien beings we believe may exist, most likely constitute a tiny percentage of the types of alien lifeforms that are visiting the Earth today.

While we might be looking for outward signs of alien life and tech, these things may exist as sub-particles, able to expand or disappear upon the flip of a bit.

Alien life might also take the form of consciousness, whereby our thoughts are birthed or influenced from alien thought-tech, intended to limit or expand our minds. It’s also possible that aliens are already inserting their DNA into many of today’s living species, including you and me.

Let’s get real. Our entire planet was likely a biochemistry experiment created and operated by alien scientists from other worlds.

What’s hiding at Area 51?

Unless you’ve been sleeping in a remote timeshare in Malaysia, without WiFi or telegraph, you probably have an inkling about how the government has been hiding tech and otherworldy creatures in the Nevada desert for nearly 70 years.

What’s inside Area 51? Probably the secrets being used to develop the next 100 years of U.S. military technology.

Often referred to as “Paradise Ranch” or “Dreamland,” the Groom Lake location is protected by over 25 square miles of restricted airspace and infused with a bundle of weapons. Safe to say, these highly trained assassins are probably not protecting a little factory that makes astronaut ice cream.

Add to that the fact that anything seeking entry into Area 51, from napkins to people, must be shuttled in by military-sanctioned vehicles.

I contend that there are very serious projects in development at Area 51. From their first resident who came from the 1947 Roswell crash to the most recent invitees, we can be certain that the cocktail parties at Area 51 have tapas that go far beyond Martinis and crispy, spinach puffs.

While some have said the site was used to fake the Moon landing, it’s more likely that Area 51 has been a boarding house for extraterrestrial Beings, and experiments involving their bodies, knowledge, and modes of transportation.

There are likely over 50 Alien species currently living on Earth, dispersed throughout secret networks of hidden locations, which include places from Area 51 to the Siberian tundra, and from China’s northernmost mountains to the underbelly of the South Pole.

What might happen when large groups of hippies storm sites owned and protected by the most advanced military in the history of the world?

Simple. Large groups of hippies would die.

My advice would be to stay home during storming events like these. If you truly want to explore alien life and consciousness, find a comfortable seat in your house. Sit quietly, close your eyes, and humbly request a high-level connection with the aliens that are probably already within your immediate space. Make friends.

Newgrange Tomb Drone: A Shutterstock Licensed Image

Built 5200 years ago, and during the Neolithic period (tail end of the Stone Age), the Newgrange megalithic tomb was constructed with alternating layers of dirt and rock and infused with the mystical curiosities. This earthen temple is 600 years older than Egypt’s Giza Pyramids and 1000 years older than Stonehenge. The building of Newgrange is a remarkable architectural feat. And some say it’s within one of the most popular flight paths for UFOs.

With a mesmerizing entrance stone, the Newgrange passage and tomb are adorned with beautiful circles, spirals, and radials. While the purpose of this ancient art appears to be decorative, many spiritually-minded scholars believe these etchings to be energy-creating emblems or metaphoric icons that relate to the sun, moon, and stars.

Healers and empaths say that Newgrange has an etheric quality to it, with remnants of energetic bodies no longer living in this physical reality. They believe the site to be a reservoir of healing energy for all walks of life.

Residents of the nearby Laytown say that unusual objects have been crisscrossing the night sky for as long as they can remember. More recently, unexplained crop circles have been appearing in neighboring areas. It seems the Gods are restless and trying to communicate.

Irish mythology might hold some of the secrets of Newgrange. Legend has it that the Tuatha Dé Danann, Gaelic for “People of the Goddess Danu,” are a supernatural race within whose ranks exist a pantheon of pre-Christian deities. Having lost a monumental battle to the righteous ancestors of today’s Irish, these otherworldly spirits became elusive, which is why they are now known as the “Aos Sí” or “fairies.” These light beings are fierce guardians of their homes. They are still accessible, helpful, and relied-upon today.

Known to the ancients as “Síd in Broga” and “Brug Mac ind Óc,” Newgrange is Ireland’s most remarkable and famous prehistoric monument.

Who Built Newgrange?

Gaelic mythology tells us that the original Irish race (the “Milesians”) traveled to Ireland from Hispania. Hispania included Andorra, Portugal and Spain, and the British Crown colony of Gibraltar. When they arrived, they set their sites on defeating the powerful Tuatha Dé Danann.

In the final throws of battle, the two warring parties agreed to divide Ireland between them. The Milesians took the physical world atop the earth’s crust, and the Tuatha Dé Danann were awarded the worlds and realms below, also known as, “The Underworld.” As time unfolded, the Tuath Dé became the worshiped, pagan gods of Ireland, still adored today.

This suggests that the Tuatha Dé were the builders of Newgrange. They were known to be inventive farmers and passionate astronomers. They built a mound that’s 93 yards in diameter, 15 yards high, and covering an area of about 1 acre. Newgrange houses a passage that measures 21 yards which leads into a chamber consisting of 3 alcoves, all of which are perfectly aligned with the rising sun.

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is surrounded by 97 massive kerbstones, some of which are decorated with enchanted engravings. Some say that the Newgrange stones can be used for healing and connecting with other realms.

Newgrange is part of a massive collection of sites that includes the Knowth (largest) and Dowth monuments, along with 35 smaller mounds. Visitors can access this ancient multiplex, known as “Brug na Bóinne,” via the visitor’s center of the same name.

What was the purpose of the megalithic tombs at Newgrange?

Archeologists classify Newgrange Ireland as a tomb with passageways. Meanwhile, many intuitives, spiritual seekers, and researchers believe the site to be an ancient temple, one filled with mystery.

Not only was Newgrange of ceremonial importance, but it was also a portal built with energetic and astrological principles in mind. The site was a place a worship, prominence, and authority, akin to a mother church or cathedral. It accommodated many influential political and religious leaders would seek out light, magic, and blessings, and declare the spot for their final resting place.

Excavations of the site have revealed remnants of burned, human bones, indicating that at least a few human beings were first cremated and then buried here. While burial may have been one of the general uses of the site, it seems more likely that the predominant activity at Newgrange was the practicing of an astronomy-based faith. Some maintain that the Newgrange community were members of a cult focused on the deceased.

Winter Solstice and Newgrange

The architects of Newgrange understood astronomy, as demonstrated during the Winter Solstice. This is when the rising sun illuminates the temple’s long passageway, into the primary, central chamber. The top box or roof box that rests above the main entrance is the lens through which the sun pours. Also notable is the presence of the Aurora Borealis, which hovered above Newgrange on Dec. 20th, 2015.

Whether or not you’re a believer, most visitors to Newgrange beliefe that the site provides a divine connection to pagan royalty and deities. Even the original monks who farmed the grange in its early history believed the site’s mythologies to be equal in truth and power to the tenets of their Christian faith.

If you’d like to tour Newgrange, you can visit the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre and hop on a 24-person shuttle bus. To experience the site’s Winter Solstice phenomenon, you can enter their annual lottery. Every year between December 18 and 23rd, 12 people are permitted to enter the temple’s holy chambers.

Every year, local school children draw the 50 lucky names by hand. A reserve list is also drawn. Visitors who are not on these lists are welcome to stand outside the monument during the immersion of the Winter Solstice morning light.

You can enter the lottery by filling out an application on the Brú na Bóinne website. Over 30,000 people applied in 2019. These magic seats are not transferable for any reason.

Lugh: The Warrior-King of Newgrange

It appears that the spiritual father of Newgrange’s otherworld was Lugh Lámhfada, or “Lugh of the Long Arm,” named as such for his unmatched fighting abilities and spearing skills. Lugh, often equated with the Roman God, Mercury, was a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, sometimes referred to as their most potent ruler and savior.

Legend has it that Lugh and his mystical family are buried at Newgrange. Dagda Mór and his three sons are also believed to be entombed at this holy temple.

Newgrange has always been a special place. Even if you don’t subscribe to its mythology, historical records show that Newgrange once had endless supplies of ale and several abundant fruit trees. It was most likely a haven for regular community events, feasts, and celebrations. To connect with your ancient allies and some of the most potent pagan deities, call on Lugh and the Tuatha Dé at Newgrange.

Titanic Conspiracies: Who Sank It?

When the most tragic events occur in our lives, we do our best to make sense of them. We might blame God, bad luck, our secret desires, or the twins, fate, and destiny. When it comes to the most dramatic events in our planet’s most recent history, the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic often tops the list. Was the sinking of this technological wonder a spell of bad luck, poor workmanship, a sleepy captain? Or does the truth lie in a Titanic conspiracy theory?

It was the maiden voyage of one of the largest and most luxurious ships in history. Wealthy socialites, celebrities and business tycoons resided on the upper decks. Each room was adorned with private baths, opulent furniture, attentive butlers, and the accouterment of kings. These lavish suites were stunning.

Those considered to be of the lower classes stowed away in the most humble of accommodations. With the bare minimum in each of their crowded cabins, they were relegated to group bathrooms shared by many.

Catching all classes and crew members by surprise, between April 14 and 15, 1912, and amid a moonless and windless night, the Titanic barreled into an iceberg, hemorrhaged its side and began sinking. Within hours, 68% of the 2205 passengers were dead. Even if every lifeboat space was used, only 53.4% would have survived.

When you break down the losses by class, it’s disturbing. Only one child from First Class perished, while steerage lost 49 of its youngest.

Even sadder, had the Titanic’s crew seen the iceberg 10 seconds sooner, the ship would have missed it entirely. If they alerted Captain Smith 10 seconds later, they would have hit the iceberg head-on. This may have caused substantial damage, but it would not have sunk the ship. The ship expired because the iceberg sliced a long section of the side of the vessel, which was catastrophic.

“The sounds of people drowning are something that I can not describe to you, and neither can anyone else. It’s the most dreadful sound, and there is a terrible silence that follows it.”
— Eva Hart, Second Class Survivor (Lifeboat 14)

When you research “Titanic conspiracy theories,” you uncover the most remarkable ideas. While some are logical, others require a slight (or drastic) stretch of the imagination. Here is a list of the most popular Titanic conspiracy theories:

JP Morgan, The Titanic, and The Federal Reserve

Was the Titanic sunk on purpose? The White Star Line company built the Titanic, which was owned by American banker, J.P. Morgan. At the time of Titanic’s sinking, the multi-millionaire was one of the most powerful people in the world. This theory suggests that Morgan wanted to kill his rivals. They may have wanted to dismantle the Federal Reserve, a vehicle that Morgan had learned to manipulate to his benefit.

While Morgan had a ticket for the voyage, he never boarded, canceling last minute. Meanwhile, Jacob Astor, Isidor Straus, and Benjamin Guggenheim all perished aboard the unlucky ship. The challenge with this theory is that Straus supported the Federal Reserve, at least in public, while Astor and Guggenheim never made their feelings known.

The known quarrel between this group of moneymen was likely real, although we might never know if the Titanic’s sinking was a planned final blow.

Titanic Insurance Scam

Some conspiracy theorists believe that the Titanic didn’t sink. These folks say that Titanic’s sister ship, “The Olympic,” had sailed from England to New York in September 1911, and was forced to return for repairs to the Belfast shipbuilder, Harland and Wolff. While the ship was seaworthy, additional repairs were required through March 1912, a few weeks before the Titanic’s maiden voyage.

This theory rests upon a simple idea: The Olympic’s owners switched the two ships with the hope of receiving the payout from the more lucrative, Lloyds of London policy on the Titanic. With a litany of holes, this concept neither treads or holds water very well. The idea of ditching a damaged ship to reap a limited insurance reparation, while killing loads of people in the process, seems a bit far-fetched.

Meanwhile, Lloyd’s of London claims that the Titanic was insured for just over £1m. They also state that they paid every claim in full, within 30 days. Their loss in today’s money would be over £100m, one of the largest losses in history. While the purpose of the switch was to rescue the White Star Line from bankruptcy, the Titanic was most likely under-insured. This means that if every claim was satisfied, the result was a net-loss.

“The evidence is overwhelming; eyewitnesses themselves describe running along Titanic’s decks, but where they said there were promenades, there should have been cabins,” he said, adding: “While survivors on B Deck described seeing lifeboats being lowered from above, there’s no way they would have seen that on Titanic – only on the ship Olympic.”
— Richard Gardiner, in his ‘Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank’

Swapping The Ships Titanic and Olympic To Save Face

Also known as The Great Titanic Olympic Switch and the Titanic Olympic Conspiracy, this idea includes testimony from Titanic’s First Officer Murdoch. Murdoch’s first-hand experiences were documented by Robin Gardiner (1947 – 2017), author of “Titanic: The Ship That Never Sank”.

Gardiner’s idea is that the Titanic and her sister ship, The Olympic, were switched soon after a collision involving the Olympic and a Navy warship. He notes that, because the two ships were twins in appearance, the Olympic could be easily dressed and disguised as the Titanic.

Gardiner and others report that this charade was not only an insurance scam, created by the International Mercantile Marine Group (I.M.M.), owners of The White Star Line, it was I.M.M.’s only option to save their reputation, along with several financing deals in play.

When the Olympic collided with the Royal Navy’s H.M.S. Hawke, the Navy deemed that the Olympic was at fault, although eyewitnesses passionately defended the opposite. As Gardiner’s theory goes, Lloyd’s of London did not pay the insured their damages, even though the ship required extensive repairs.

Since the Titanic was behind schedule, and according to Gardiner, I.M.M. decided to masquerade the damaged Olympic by converting it into the Titanic. Later, they would quietly re-launch the Olympic into service. Given the incredible list of similarities between these sister ships, on the surface, this theory has merit.

While every vessel in the White Star fleet had their names engraved into their hulls, the Titanic was the only ship that had her name inscribed using surface rivets, added to the ship at a later date.

According to Gardiner, the Titanic never hit an iceberg; it collided with the S.S. Californian, also owned by J.P. Morgan. Following the swap, the Titanic spent the next 25 years in service as the Olympic, which was decommissioned in the mid-1930s, so the story goes.

“No Pope”

The Titanic was constructed in Belfast, Ireland by the world-renowned shipbuilders, “Harland and Wolff.” This conspiracy theory suggests that this prominent Irish company was known only to hire Protestants, which was common in Northern Ireland for a time.

To that point, some Catholic reporters believed that the ship’s hull number was 3909 04, which, when flipped vertically, looks exactly like, “NO POPE.” Of course, Catholic workers described this as blasphemy, although there is no official record that this number was ever stamped on the ill-fated ship.

The Curse of the Pharaoh

If you’ve ever been cursed, you might believe this interesting theory. It has been said that a shipping compartment on the Titanic contained the bewitched mummy of an ancient and powerful Princess from Egypt. Supposedly, the corpse, in all its regalia, belonged to Lord Centerville, who had hoped to ship it to a buyer in New York City.

To better protect the deceased, scorned monarch, Titanic’s Captain Smith agreed to place the mummy in a storage area near to the ship’s bridge. While there’s no way to know whether or not the mummy was cursed, the statue above her head reportedly read, “Rise from the ashes, and let your eyes strike those who stand in your way.” Given the intensity of that quote and the mystery surrounding mummies, I’d probably have transported that mummy using air transport or a less populated ship!

Some have said that the original journalist who unearthed the malevolence of this mummy, Bertram Fletcher Robinson (1870 – 1907), was killed just before releasing his research. So says Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as noted by Pearson’s Magazine and the Daily Express, who were also the first publishers of Robinson’s analysis.

Doyle said of his friend’s death, “The immediate cause of death was typhoid fever, but that is the way in which the elementals guarding the mummy might act.” Meanwhile, researchers noted that the mummy’s coffin never left the British Museum, so it could not have been stored on the Titanic. Journalists also uncovered the fact that the “unlucky mummy” was most likely a wooden board, with an image of a mummy painted on it.

“I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.”
— Edward John Smith, Captain of the Titanic, Summer of 1911

Titanic Attacked by a German U-Boat

Following colliding with the iceberg, Titanic passengers and crew recalled that there were explosions from deep within the bowels of the ship, taking place an hour or so after the ship had scraped the iceberg.

The assumption in this theory is that the Germans knew the ship was in trouble. Rather than save it, the U-boat launched torpedoes on the Titanic. Survivors of the tragedy said that they saw searchlights in the distance that were not reported prior. Also, crew members said they saw an unidentified vessel surface near the Titanic before the collision.

At the time, U-boat technology was highly advanced and had long been used to scan the North Atlantic. Whether the submarine specifically targeted the ocean liner or accidentally collided with it, remains to be known. But three years prior, a German U-boat sank the famous ship named, The Lusitania.

Was there a conspiracy against a successful Titanic voyage? Did the Titanic sink, or was it a pawn in a larger scheme? The wreck of the Titanic, discovered by Robert Ballard in 1985, may have shown possible evidence that confirmed the Olympic swap theory. While some photographs show a clear M and P (from the name Olympic on the hull), with a hint of gray paint as the undercoat beneath the name, naysayers seem to have proven that these images were computer-generated.

While certainly compelling, irrefutable evidence has not yet been presented that proves the Olympic was swapped with the Titanic. When decommissioned in 1936, noting the several differences between the two ships, it appeared that the Olympic was indeed the Olympic. That said, there’s little existing evidence of the Olympic today. The boat was not only decommissioned, but it was also torn to pieces and scrapped.

We might never know the truth about the events leading up to and following the sinking of the Titanic. The reality of tragedy is often far more complex and incredible than the contrived and sensational narratives created by writers and theorists, especially long after the fact.