10 Most Disturbing Rumors That Turned Out to Be TRUE

10 Most Disturbing Rumors That Turned Out to Be TRUE

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Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re taking a look at 10 chilling news stories that the world was whispering about before they even broke.

The Government Made Alcohol Unsafe to Drink

There’s no getting around it: Prohibition was a mess. Few people supported it, it led to a rise in organized crime, it ruined the economy, and people died from drinking poisoned alcohol. Yep, knowing that bootleggers converted industrial alcohol into moonshine, the government mandated that manufacturers add toxic chemicals to their alcohol. Bootleggers knew their sources had been poisoned, but they continued to make moonshine anyway. This led to a 600% increase in alcohol-related deaths, with some sources claiming that up to 10,000 people lost their lives. “The government poisons your booze” sounds like a wild and baseless conspiracy theory, but in this case, it was at least partly true.

Bernie Madoff Was Running a Ponzi Scheme

For a long time, Bernie Madoff was a respected financier. He ran Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities and even served as chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange. But his reputation came under question thanks to persistent rumors that he wasn’t so above-board. Whistleblowers, including an executive named Harry Markopolos, had continuously claimed that Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme. Madoff was even investigated six times by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but they never found anything. It wasn’t until his own sons, Mark and Andrew, came forward that action was finally taken. Madoff was arrested and a Ponzi scheme worth nearly $65 billion was eventually uncovered. Markopolos was vindicated and has fiercely criticized the SEC, even publishing a book called “No One Would Listen.”

The Government Is Spying on Us

There are a ton of kooky conspiracy theories out there. For a while, “the government is spying on us through an intricate global surveillance program” sounded like one of them. Well, in 2013, whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed mass surveillance programs undertaken by the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance - consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Leaked documents revealed that data was being harvested through covert wiretaps, commercial partners, servers, and even undersea cables. The information obtained ranged from metadata to actual text messages, emails, images, and video chats. Yeah, browsing history is the least of your worries. U.S. officials cast Snowden as a traitor, while public opinion was divided, with some seeing him as a hero.

Russia Interfered in the 2016 Election

The 2016 presidential election was a historic one, with billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump riding populist, nationalistic sentiments to a shocking victory. Rumors soon emerged that Russia had interfered in the election. It sounds made-up … but turns out it was true - and U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, FBI, and NSA, had the proof. Russian agencies hacked into Democratic email accounts and computer networks, and created thousands of fake social media accounts to sow discord in the United States, criticize Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, and support Trump. A Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee concurred with these conclusions.

The Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident Never Occurred

On August 2, 1964, North Vietnamese forces attacked the USS Maddox, which was on patrol in North Vietnamese waters. Two days later, a second attack allegedly occurred against the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy. President Lyndon B. Johnson used this incident to justify open warfare in Vietnam. However, many questioned whether the second attack had ever happened. This was finally confirmed decades later, when it was revealed that the second ‘attack’ was based on wrongly interrupted communication intercepts. Even though the evidence was dubious at best, Johnson ran with it and never looked back.

Politicians Used Stolen Facebook User Data

Is our social media for sale? A rumor suggesting this began in December 2015 when journalist Harry Davies reported that Ted Cruz was using Facebook data harvested from a British consulting firm called Cambridge Analytica. Reports in a similar vein followed, and the rumor that American politicians were using stolen Facebook data quickly gathered traction. The truth was uncovered in 2018 when whistleblower Christopher Wylie came forth and revealed that, yep, those reports were bang on the money. Cambridge Analytica had harvested nearly 90 million Facebook profiles and sold them to the political campaigns of Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. With that, social media - and our trust in it - was never the same.

Accusations Against Bill Cosby

Given Bill Cosby’s wholesome image from movies and TV shows, the accusations against him were a horrifying shock in every way. It all started to come to light in 2014 when stand up comic Hannibal Buress brought up Bill Cosby’s alleged past behavior during a show in Philadelphia. When this stand-up segment went viral, it became a story in the public conscience. Soon after, more and more women started coming forward with terrible claims about Cosby. He was convicted of aggravated indecent assault in 2018, but then the conviction was later vacated in 2021.

Harvey Weinstein’s Predatory Practices

For decades, producer Harvey Weinstein was a Hollywood titan. But in 2017, bombshell articles in The New York Times and The New Yorker reported dozens of accusations of sexual abuse and assault. More and more women courageous came forward, sparking the #MeToo movement. In March 2020, Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years behind bars. But rumors had actually circulated for years. Gwyneth Paltrow alluded to Weinstein as being ‘coercive’ back in 1998. Other celebrities like Courtney Love and Seth MacFarlane dropped public references, and “30 Rock” included not-so-subtle jabs about it. It was less ‘rumor’ and more ‘open Hollywood secret.’ Justice eventually prevailed and Weinstein’s crimes were finally acknowledged and punished.

Jeffrey Epstein Was a Predator

While he’s now a household name, Jeffrey Epstein didn’t make mainstream news until the mid 2000s. For a long time, Epstein was a nondescript owner of a brokerage firm. But around 2005, rumors started spreading that Epstein was a sexual predator. They began in March of that year, when a Florida woman accused Epstein of targeting her stepdaughter. This accusation drew the attention of the FBI, who discovered that Epstein was running an extensive sex ring. However, Epstein only spent one year in custody, after agreeing to a plea deal negotiated by the infamous Alan Dershowitz with state attorney Alexander Acosta. Epstein was famously arrested again in 2019, but died in prison before he could be convicted.

The Catholic Church Scandal

For years there have been rumors of rampant sexual misconduct within the Catholic Church. It’s the type of rumor that no one wants to believe. After all, the Church is supposed to represent the divine will, an institution of benevolence and safety. Rumors of this sort began in earnest throughout the 1980s, although the alleged abuses go back even further. The rumors picked up steam throughout the ‘90s before The Boston Globe blew the story open in 2002. Their investigation proved that there were systemic issues within the Catholic Church, and the work led to numerous criminal prosecutions. The team would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for their journalism.

Which of these news stories did you know about before they became public? Let us know in the comments.