by Thomas Kies
Why are so many of us enamored with conspiracy theories?
I know that I’m enthralled by one right now. This business about Jeffrey Epstein. Unless you live under the proverbial rock, I know you’ve heard about it.
Boiled down into as few words as possible: Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier who ran a vast sex trafficking operation involving underage girls, often recruiting victims through coercion and manipulation. He was convicted in 2008 but received a lenient plea deal (where the current head of the DOJ, Pam Bondi was involved). Arrested again in 2019, he died by suicide in jail, sparking widespread conspiracy theories. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was later convicted for aiding his crimes. In 2025, a DOJ memo revealed over 1,000 victims but denied the existence of a “client list,” fueling public outrage and speculation about powerful figures allegedly involved.
Is the President of the United States implicated? Was the video released by the Department of Justice showing that no one entered Epstein’s jail cell the night he died altered? Is the Department of Justice involved in a cover-up?
What a great mystery novel this would be…if only it wasn’t all happening in real time right in front of us.
Okay, so that’s the conspiracy theory I’m wrapped up in. You know some of the others:
-The moon landing was fake.
-JFK’s assassination was orchestrated by the government
- Walt Disney has been cryogenically frozen.
- Denver Airport is the headquarters for the Illuminati. (Actually, until I did some research on this blog, I’d never heard of this one. I guess I’ll go looking for those tunnels and lizard lairs the next time I fly to Colorado).
- We’re all living in the Matrix.
- The world is flat.
- Covid was manufactured in a lab and released on purpose.
- Elvis is still alive
I’ve read that we gravitate to conspiracy theories for a number of reasons. We’re trying to make sense of a complex, chaotic, often frightening world. We have a deep distrust of authority. They give us some kind of control—we see hidden truths that others don’t see. They can give us a sense of community, letting us belong to a group of people with shared beliefs.
As writers of mysteries, isn’t that what we cater to? Within 70,000 to 100,000 words, don’t we create our own conspiracy theories, drawing readers into fantastic adventures, suspicions, and anxiety that we create?
Mystery novels and movies often share key ingredients with conspiracy theories: hidden motives, secret organizations, cryptic clues, and the thrill of uncovering “the truth.”
Some novels have hatched or contributed to conspiracy theories. One example is the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. It fueled the fire with it’s story about the Holy Grail, secret societies, and secrets about Mary Magdelene and Jesus.
The Oliver Stone film JFK threw gasoline on the flames with its story about government involvement with Kenndy’s assassination.
In my own novel, Shadow Hill, I talk about how some members of government work with fossil fuel companies to create their own conspiracy theories countering the science behind climate change. Something I came up against, in real life, when I was lobbying against oil drilling off the Atlantic coast of the United States.
In the meantime, Cindy and I binge on old X-File episodes late at night. After all, “The Truth is Out There.”
What conspiracy theories do YOU subscribe to?
