Conspiracy theories have proliferated since the World Trade Center towers fell on September 11, 2001, and they keep popping up even after 20 years have passed.
There are some things that are so difficult to accept that it can be simpler to think they never happened like a man could shoot the president in the head, that people could stand on the moon, or that an apparently normal man could walk into a school and kill the students are just a few of the things that can be so difficult to accept that it can sometimes seem easier to believe they never happened.
In order to make sense of the tragedy, even as it distorted it, it felt necessary to invent a new form of story after the first jet and then another crashed into the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan in September 2001. The conspiracy ideas started practically as soon as the assaults were over, and they are still around today.
Also read: Remembering 9/11: What happened and who were the perpetrators?
Here are five of the more bizarre 9/11 conspiracy theories that have surfaced over years:
‘They knew in advance’
Immediately after the attacks, President George W. Bush said, “Nobody in the US government and I don’t think the prior government, could envisage flying air planes into buildings.” Just weeks before, however, when Bush and other world leaders met for the annual G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, security planners had prepared for that exact scenario. Anti-aircraft missiles were deployed near the Genoa site because the Italians had a threat that a plane would be used as a missile to kill the G8 leaders. And Norad planners had prepared for such a scenario themselves in training exercises.
The controlled explosion theory
Conspiracy theorists including physicists and software engineers believe the twin towers of the World Trade Centre were brought down in controlled explosions and not as a result of being struck by separate planes. The thinking comes from the fact that the two towers imploded neatly to the ground, rather than toppling over as expected. The theorists believe that large amounts of explosive were hidden in the towers, and strategic supporting beams of the building were pre-cut, allowing the towers to fall on their foundations. And because of security at the site after the collapse, the requisite evidence was removed and sent for recycling.
Insider traders planned it
Before 9/11, there was a series of unusual stock trades on companies which would feel the negative and positive effects of the attacks. United Airlines and American Airlines, both of whom lost planes in the attacks, were sold heavily prior to 9/11. None of the other US carriers saw such activity on their stocks. And defence corporations, who would benefit from an aggressive military backlash, were also strong buys in the week before the attack. Morgan Stanley, based at the World Trade Centre, was a strong sell. Insurers were also heavy sells. The US Security and Exchange Commission even launched an investigation into Wall Street’s activity around the attack.
No Plane at the Pentagon
This theory goes even further by denying that any plane was involved in the Pentagon attack. It claims that the government staged the whole event using explosives, fake witnesses, and media manipulation. The theory is easily refuted by the same evidence that disproves the missile theory.
‘It wasn’t even a plane!’
Given that the Boeing planes supposedly used in the attacks are made largely of aluminium, it is physically impossible for the planes to cause as much damage as they did to the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. They were actually missiles with hologram effects, according to conspiracy theorist videos circulating on the internet. The theories are supported by their frame-by-frame analysis of the strikes at the twin towers. Fractional advancing of the tapes clearly show a cigar-shaped object, not a plane. Besides, the heat cause by airplane fuel could not possibly get hot enough to melt the steel beams supporting the towers.
