72 People Describe Things They Strongly Suspect But Have No Proof Of

They say it’s always best to trust your gut. But what if it tells you there’s something off with a particular person, place, situation, you name it? Today, we are diving into some hard-to-believe scenarios shared by people with very strong suspicions. The only catch is that they have zero proof of the conspiracies.

“What do you strongly suspect but have no proof of?” asked u/757jsmith on the r/AskReddit subreddit and the answers started rolling in.

Let’s scroll through the most interesting ones below, and who knows… sometimes life is stranger than fiction!

#1

That the developed world would function just fine if people were paid the same salaries, but worked only 3 days a week instead of 5. I strongly suspect the elite and governments want us working as much as possible so we don't have enough free time to cause unrest and improve society in a way that would negatively affect them. After all, since machines and factories have automated most forms of manufacturing, so why are we working as many (or more) hours as people from 150 years ago?

Image credits: aartadventure

#2

Some zoos have empty exhibits and just claim the animal is in there, you just never see them.

Image credits: sakura_wayne

#3

Historians +200 years from now will be able to look at all of all of the private messages and data of people who have been long dead.

Similar to how we can read private letters of people from 1700’s.

Image credits: mikenasty

#4

That my English teacher didn't read essays, and based grades on how we were in class.

Image credits: MaterialImportance

#5

The Kardashians usually wear solid colored clothing because it’s easier for them to photoshop

Image credits: spazmcgee1

#6

Our ancient (human) history is far more vast and impressive than we can even begin to imagine.

Image credits: anonymous

#7

That the universe is teeming with life. Earth just can't be that special.

Image credits: refreshing_username

#8

That the "unsubscribe" method in spam emails, calls or texts are really just a way of confirming the number is attached to a real person.

#9

That Bath and Body Works has like, 13 unique scents. Every couple of months they just rotate the scents in and call them something else.

Image credits: Arcticshade

#10

Woman's clothes have either no pockets or crumby pockets to promote handbag sales.

Image credits: wags83

#11

That your phone and laptop mics are hot and sending data to certain groups.

Image credits: JimmyL2014

#12

That my five month old knows exactly when I’m about to fall asleep and starts crying just to screw with me.

Image credits: ZyuMammoth

#13

Those who have power subtly control the population openly. The population doesn't realize they're being controlled.

#14

Prince Charles will never sit on the throne. I believe he made a deal with Queen Elizabeth that in exchange for being allowed to marry Camilla he gave up his right to sit on the throne. Prince William will sit on the throne when Queen Elizabeth dies.

Image credits: CrabFarts

#15

My phone isnt really at 100% when it tells me it is.

Image credits: Seelengst

#16

Tobacco companies are driving the whole 'VAPING IS MORE DANGEROUS THAN ANYTHING ELSE' sentiment I hear

#17

That Earth has been visited by one or more advanced civilizations, and may even be watching us stealthily.

#18

Mattress stores are a money laundering scheme. No one buys that many mattresses.

Image credits: One_dank_orange

#19

There’s no sales on Black Friday. It’s just hyped up and people don’t do the research. Something could have been on “sale” earlier in the year for the same price, but people flock to the stores on Black Friday and buy it immediately because in their mind... it’s the cheapest it has ever been.

#20

That every single person who has submitted their DNA to their ancestor sites has officially damned themselves. That’s like giving away all the passwords to your devices. Our DNA is our coding, it is what builds us. If someone for some reason wanted that information for any reason that would likely ignore the integrity of bioethics, they could get to it. Rich person will die within 2 days without a kidney transplant? They could easily pay someone to check the database to find an individual who could potentially be the closest match. That person would have also submitted where they live. It would be pretty convenient for that person to randomly get terribly injured and be taken to the hospital where the rich person happens to be at. I know it sounds crazy, and there are 100 less crazy things people can do with out data. But with body autonomy rights starting to be taken away by some states, it’s essentially the government saying they own the rights to your body, it’s just not that obvious...for now. Y’all wait. Y’all mark my words.

#21

That our civilization won't last to the next age.

#22

Oil company lobbyists are behind the whole paper straws thing. The waste from straws is so inconsequential, but yet almost overnight, half the restaurants in the world switched to these horrible paper straws that leave a weird residue in your mouth and disintegrate before you're done with your drink. I feel like this was someone's sinister idea to make the general public resent environmentalists, and it's working, because those damn paper straws always seem to strike up a conversation about how global warming didn't wind up being as big of a deal as Al Gore said it would be.

#23

That a relative is a CIA agent. She was in the Peace Corps, Vietnam era. Ever since she's been a "world traveler," somehow able to drop her work and "go hiking the Spanish version of the Appalachian Trail" or otherwise go to exotic locales. Sometimes she came back with injuries, "I fell as we were climbing some rocks." Her son is in the agency as an employee, not a spy, and he's married to a CIA translator.

#24

Religion was created to control the masses.

#25

Dentists ask you questions with all that stuff in your mouth because they think it's funny to watch you struggle

Image credits: anonymous

#26

That only about 20% of people actually do any work. The rest just get by looking busy.

Image credits: Limp_Distribution

#27

Corn Hole is a conspiracy by the insurance industry because they feel Horseshoes is too dangerous.

Image credits: leaky_eddie

#28

That the ginger ale at this diner I go to every day is just coke and sprite mixed together.

Image credits: Patterson8040

#29

The crosswalk buttons you are supposed to press at intersections don't actually do anything.

#30

That companies (such as smartphones companies) are holding back their best technologies waiting their competitors to release something new so they release something a bit better but not the best they can do

#31

That I have some crazy rare unknown disease and anytime I go to the doctor they say everything’s fine even tho I haven’t felt the same for 6 months

Image credits: TheBreed_

#32

I believe that apple never actually intended for anyone to buy their $999 monitor stand. It was just an excuse so they could invalidate all warranty claims for the Pro monitor.

"We can't approve your claim due to the use of improper 3rd party equipment".

Image credits: Joeysaurrr

#33

That a lot of businesses in my hometown are just money laundering operations. 25 nail salons in a town of 70,000? 3000 square foot DVD rental shop in the best block of downtown where commercial rents are very high? Dozens of $10 barber shops sitting empty all day but remaining open? Red flags all around.

Image credits: anonymousjohnson

#34

Queen Elizabeth will probably live up to 120 years and longer. She is one of the best fed and most cared person on Earth.

If we invented something for immortality, she likely took it already.

Image credits: umotex12

#35

Some sort of dragon may have existed and went extinct. Not a fire breathing one obviously, just a very large winged reptile. I mean if pterodactyls existed it’s certainly possible. And it would explain where the culture of dragons came from.

#36

All those “questionnaires” and “create your X name” things on Facebook are created by people hoping to data mine secret question answers to steal your identity or bank info.

Your stripper name is the first car you owned + The street you grew up on.

Yo dummy, those are the secret questions to your bank account!

#37

Anti PC virus companies create the viruses.

Image credits: Bigstar976

#38

All the "bad press" incidents that happen to these big companies, are actually staged by the big company themselves as a form of advertising.

Remember the "Starbucks christmas cup" one? They had some Christmas s**t on their cups then took it off? Christians went mad about it. But here's the end result: You couldn't go on Facebook for a week without seeing that STARBUCKS woman logo everywhere. Some local papers and news even talked about it.

Then what was the damage? Christians supposedly didn't like it (but my theory is that Starbucks' advertising company themselves created the memes on FB and circulated them). But do you know of any that really stopped drinking coffee over it? Everyone else didn't give a s**t. So the result? Not much impact for your logo and name being everywhere in the media for a week. How much is that worth in advertising dollars?

Likewise, How about when Nike was going to make that flag shoe, and then, supposedly, Kapernick had the whole thing called off? (Lol, i'm sure he's at the Nike strategy meetings). You supposedly lost your chance to buy the flag shoe I guess, but what was the result? Again, they were everywhere on social media and news for a week. That Nike swoosh logo everywhere.

#39

I believe that many animal rescues self-perpetuate their own problem. Some rescues have VERY picky requirements - like salary minimums, yard size minimums, prior experience, age minimums, required seminars, required volunteer work, etc. Meanwhile you can just go to a breeder or a store, and be able to get a pet that day.

I understand wanting to make sure the animals go to a home equipped to care for the animal, but if it's so hard to get a rescuee pet that it drives people to stores, then those shelters will only ever become more crowded. A parrot rescue near me requires 6 months of volunteering for 3 hours every week before you can adopt... and there's a store nearby that just breeds and sells parrots. Which one would most people pick?

#40

Starbucks baristas intentionally spell your name wrong so you take a picture of it and post it on social media to give the company free advertising.

Image credits: antialias_blaster

#41

My dog sees supernatural events at our house.

#42

Dishwashers are designed to fail shortly after the warranty expires.

Image credits: TrumpStinks2020

#43

There is a group collecting illicit and immoral activites committed by people online who think they are protected by anonymity. This information will later be accessible for anyone who is looking for reasons to oust someone from a position of power or authority.

That promotion you want in 20 years? Out comes that drunk quasi-[offensive] Twitter post from 2015 sent anonymously to HR. Promotion denied. Your rival mysteriously gets it instead. As that post would qualify as public information, it's unprotected from libel or defamatory charges. This could become a seriously large-scale business worked by algorithms and an AI.

#44

That the purpose of life in the universe is purely to create a new universe.

To me this is the only way for any life to ensure it's survival forever. And i'm not talking about just human life, I think the chances of us surviving are super slim.

Consider this.

We can safely assume that every problem life will ever encounter will have a solution. Given a species has enough resources to exploit any resources it wants, luck is on their side, and they don't hit any Fermi walls then the only limiting factor to life solving a problem is time.

In the universe time is not infinite. There will be a time where the very atoms in the universe start to decay. This is life's final deadline. If life in its varying forms cannot find a way to escape the universe before this happens, life in the universe will die forever. And how does one escape a universe while being inside a dying universe? You must perform the genesis of a new one, or perhaps several new ones.

This is the ultimate problem to solve because the universe makes it so. So if the Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Life is the powerhouse of the universe.

#45

I think my great great uncle was gay, but lived in a time where he had to hide that part of himself. He never had a wife or kids. He traveled a lot and was very into art. I asked my grandma a while back if she thought he was gay and she said he just wasn't interested in having girlfriends.

Image credits: thirty-seven37

#46

That Apple invented the AirPod meme in order to sell more.

Image credits: anonymous

#47

I believe my grand mother was a serial killer. She was married 7 times; each ending in a sudden death. She died in the 1980’s but everything is still suspicious and no one seems to know anything. I did find an article about her when she came to the US where her first husband died defending her after her ex-boyfriend climbed in her window in New York City. I also found evidence of her having been in prison before coming to the US.

#48

Cats can understand our words, but do not care. They are waiting for a moment to speak, but since we are so far beneath them it hasn't happened yet.

Image credits: JeremyMo88

#49

Suspect my Physically and mentally abusive ex husband was planning on offing me during our separation/divorce. He got a $75,000 life insurance policy on me during our separation. Found out 2 years after our divorce when he had overpaid the policy and the insurance sent me a refund check. Mistake on their part.

During our separation, he had invited me to join his “family” vacation at Grand Canyon, I said no. He invited me to the mountains that same summer to try to be a family again, I said no. Then he invited me to Mexico for “reconciliation, again no. ( I said no because the gut feelings I had and my mom told me not to) She had 3 dreams in a row that my soon to be ex husband would tell her I was dead.

I have no proof, just the insurance policy and my mom’s dreams. 2 years after divorce, he canceled policy. I didn’t know you could get insurance on someone without them knowing

Image credits: salemonadetea

#50

My dog may not have gone to live on a farm, but my parents have never given a clear explanation of this.

Image credits: mr_funny_face

#51

That humanity still has the same base desires it has throughout all of time but society is built to keep us from being the barbarians we once were and it is a very tenuous relationship.

#52

Saying "OK Google" is Pavlov teaching humans to comply to AI and machines

#53

That my oldest brother is actually my bio father.

It just makes no sense to me otherwise. I have a butt chin and no one else in my family does. This older brother was(is?) an alcoholic, drug addict, and just a big mess all around. He brought different women to my parent's house every day and we would hear them f**k. It makes no sense to me that he came out of that with zero children. Makes less sense since he's ~20 years older than me, which means my parents would have had me at a dangerously (for my mom) old age. I know it's not impossible, but it just makes a lot more sense this way. Plus my parents always covered up for his wrongdoings so it honestly wouldn't surprise me.

I once asked my mom and she got visibility upset. Didn't even ask her outright, I just said I had a dream that they told me my brother was really my father. She got super mad and refused to even discuss or acknowledge my dream. Weird as hell.

I would still consider my mom, my mom. Wouldn't consider my brother my dad if he were because he's an ass. It's just something I think is highly probable.

Image credits: alienblooded

#54

Every episode of every reality show is either tightly scripted, or at least framed and re-shot so the producers can get the right amount of drama on the screen.

#55

There's one company in a town local to me who board up windows, nobody else in the area seems to do it. Every single window, door, abandoned shop, all done by this one company.

They've got a ridiculous sized HQ, and have put a decent amount of money towards fixing up other buildings in the area.

So I've got a theory they're the ones doing the damage or paying people to do it, and then obviously getting the job of fixing it up as they're really well known in the area.

Despite having no proof of this I am 100% confident I am onto them.

Image credits: pm_meyourd0g

#56

PETA is secretly funded by the meat industry to discredit animal rights activists.

#57

That Disney is far too powerful to not be manipulating Rotten Tomatoes/movie consensus. The Last Jedi scored 90% and was more reviled that the prequels, which doesnt add up. I think Disney has excellent quality control and love nearly all of their new and old movies, but I think behind their wholesome appearance they are the most shrewd, ruthless business in Hollywood.

Also since news broke that their theme park isnt doing well, there has been a lot of "feel good" posts showing park staff engage in acts of kindness e.g. comforting a child with autism, swooning over a child's costume. While I do think that these are genuine, I dont think that these hitting front page of Reddit/Facebook is a coincidence and that they are astroturfing.

#58

That my ex wife’s boyfriend hurts my boys. They used to tell me it happened but I never had proof. I then saw a mark one day and they said it was cause of the boyfriend and she explained it away. (All of these times id call cps and nothing came of it)

One time my boy told cps that when he talks bad about the boyfriend, mom hits him, but still nothing happened. After that point they stopped telling me things, which in my opinion means that they are just afraid of being hit by mom for telling me things about the boyfriend.

Image credits: w-o-r-k-l-o-g-i-n

#59

That my grandmother had a child before she married my grandfather.

When my grandparents met and started dating, my grandma was only 13. My grandpa was 20. They married when she was 17 and he was 24, right after he came back from serving in WWII. That was about as much of the story as anyone in my family ever knew: they'd been dating, then he went overseas, and she wrote to him while he was gone. When he got back, they got married.

A few years after my grandma died, my grandfather suddenly mentioned that they'd actually been broken up for a while before she started writing to him.

After they'd dated about a year, he went to pick her up at her house one day, only to find she wasn't home. Her parents informed him that she'd left to live with some cousins a few hours away, and she'd be gone for "about a year". He got upset that she hadn't told him about this in advance and ended the relationship.

When another year-ish had passed and she returned home to her parents, she started writing him overseas and apologized, and they started "dating" again.

My grandpa told this story very blandly and seemed to believe that the situation was what it said on the tin, but of course in the 1940's-60's it was quite common for teenage girls to "go live with relatives for a year" as a code for having an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. My grandpa would never have admitted if they'd been having sex, but I'm betting they were, she got pregnant, and she was sent off somewhere to have the baby.

I've done commercial DNA testing, so I'm on the lookout for someone to turn up as a sibling match to my mom someday. The only other explanation for my grandma suddenly leaving town would be if her parents didn't approve her relationship with my grandpa, but from everything I know of them they were perfectly fine with their 13 year old daughter dating a guy in his twenties.

Image credits: anonymous

#60

Like 90% of the job listings on Monster are fakes designed to collect analytics from users, [all] so Monster can sell your data to advertisers.

#61

That my abusive step-"father" went to jail, not exile, for 8 years when I was a teen and that for a few years prior we were actually running from the law, not hiding from the government because of his activism.

This suddenly dawned on me about a month ago, more than a decade later. Kinda like how it suddenly clicks that the dog didn't go to a farm.

For those asking for the story, here's what I vaguely remember. I just did the math and this was almost 20yrs ago.

I'm Kenyan and at that time, we were under the dictatorship of Moi, another asshole, and back then you couldn't say anything that painted the government wrongly. I was too young, maybe 13, to fully understand but what we were led to believe by my mother is he did something bad to the government. At that time it was common for political activists to go into exile so we didn't question it. For about two years prior, I rem them making us move cities and stay indoors. The two kept disappearing without warning for weeks at a time leaving me behind to babysit my 3 siblings. My mother ain't a Saint either but that's a story for another day. Towards the end, we lived in a 4 bedroom bungalow and were instructed to stay in the bedrooms in the back at all times, never switching on the lights in the living areas that faced the main street. We skipped a school year because of this. Then one day she came back alone and he never came back. Later she mentioned he might be in Turkey. I think I made the connection that he had fled there and left it at that. Tbh I was too happy that he was no longer at home and I was finally free. His presence had been a constant darkness in our lives. Years later, my mother mentioned he's back and asked if we wanted him back. We all said no. He moved back to his hometown. I've never seen him again. Back then they only kept manual records. If I wanted to find proof, I could check for his records at the high courts but honestly he was and still is good riddance so why bother.

Image credits: amifancyenoughforyou

#62

That my wife is throwing one of each pair of socks away.

#63

Bigfoot is actually a cultural memory from humans who migrated from Asia and that’s why there are stories about Yeti and Sasquatch. The actual creature though died out tens of thousands of years ago.

Image credits: Unleashtheducks

#64

I think my local newspaper and news stations make up fake Facebook profiles to post inflammatory statements in the comment sections of their news releases.

There are frequent commenters whose profiles have a basic name, no friends/random internation friends, basic profile information and only one profile picture who will make some outlandish comment that starts a war.

#65

Only about 10% of lottery winners actually win those huge power balls, Of course someone real has to win sometimes. Can’t have no winners or people would get suspicious. But honestly, who would know if there was no real winner? Since the chances are so small, nobody gets suspicious if their ticket doesn’t win. Basically free money for the state to use. Not to mention the states that allow you to remain anonymous.

#66

Matt Groening and the simpsons writers are from the future..stuck here giving us hints about the future

#67

Construction companies make the roads impossible to navigate on purpose. Pretty much every major road in my town is under construction, and they always leave the road worse than it was originally. It has to be intentional.

#68

That banks are responsible for university attendance mandates.

When my parents went to college, there weren't attendance mandates. They would work, study, turn in assignments, show up to tests, and pass just fine.

now, even if you study, do fine on the tests and the homework, they will deduct a letter grade (or more) from your final grade if you have X or larger number of absences.

My thought is that the banks want you to not be able to work (as much or at all) while you're in college, so you're forced to take out more student loans to provide living finances. So probably bank lobbyists are responsible for pushing legislative mandates and accreditation mandates for attendance using a correlation between better attendance and higher grades. True, the correlation exists, but that is a self-fulfilling prediction when you are *deducting a full letter grade for an excess of 3 absences*.

#69

35 - 40 foot sharks exist.

They have the whole ocean to hide in (which we are rubbish at exploring) and they have learnt to avoid contact with humans. They come close to land occasionally to hunt when food is scarce, then go back to the deep ocean.

There is some evidence out there to support this theory, but it's all sketchy af.

#70

That some Canadian guy who owns an antique shop that I bought a camera from in April recognized me. He acted flustered when I came in and I came back the next day to make my purchase. He sold me the camera for what I thought was a reasonable price and threw in an owners manual in near perfect condition. A quick google search reveals that it's an extremely rare camera that was only produced for two years. 1/1000 still in existence are operational and 1 out of every 1000 working ones still has a certain part (mine does). This guys whole shop was based around antique cameras and my dad talked shop with him for a while and he even explained to me how to find film or modify some for my camera. He knew what he was selling me and lost a LOT of money on the transaction. I even got it appraised to confirm my suspicions about what it was.

#71

Trump never wanted to win the presidency.

#72

In my city something bad is about to happen.

I see a lot of mansions on sale, and houses with good location too. I think rich people know something that the rest of the people don't.

Pretty paranoid, sorry.

Image credits: ElCiscador