In the U.S., conspiracy theories are practically a hobby. Sure, Obama gets pegged as a socialist Nazi Kenyan Muslim stoner under alien control, but that's just one part of the story. World leaders are also not safe from outlandish claims. Here are 10 of the weirdest theories circulating the internet.
10. Shinzo Abe Orchestrated the Tokyo Subway Gas Attack

Some theorists claim that the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, carried out by the Aum Shinrikyo cult, was actually planned by the militarist faction of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, with Shinzo Abe playing a central role. The attack is said to be the culmination of decades of militarist plotting, stretching back to chemical weapons experiments conducted by Abe’s grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, in Unit 731. Other suspected conspirators include far-right politician Shintaro Ishihara, espionage chief Toshio Yamaguchi, and Abe’s own influential relative, Shintaro Abe. The conspiracy is also allegedly linked to ex-Soviet spies, military scientists, the Unification Church, and North Korea.
Aum Shinrikyo was allegedly created by Japanese intelligence, drawing elements from various esoteric religions to provide a cover for the government's covert pursuit of advanced weapons technology. It’s said that Abe served as a mentor to Hideo Murai, the cult's so-called 'science minister,' who was assassinated by a Korean yakuza hitman before he could reveal the truth behind the attacks. The subway bombings were supposedly part of a larger plan for a militarist coup.
The ultimate aim of the conspiracy was to wipe out pacifists, take control of Japan, re-militarize the nation, launch an assault on China using chemical weapons, and form a Japan-Taiwan-Mongolia alliance disguised as Chinese military forces. The goal was to eventually obliterate the United States in an apocalyptic war that would involve nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, along with earthquake machines. The grand finale? World domination under a Japanese theocracy. This plot supposedly fell apart due to media exposés and the survival of the National Police Chief after an assassination attempt. Still, the conspiracy is also reportedly connected to the Fukushima disaster, allegedly caused by earthquake machines or nuclear weapons tests—or both. Confused yet?
9. Angela Merkel Is the Secret Daughter of Adolf Hitler

This bizarre conspiracy theory doesn’t mind bending time and logic for the sake of a good tale. Despite the fact that Merkel was born nine years after Hitler’s suicide, the theory claims that Stasi files in Russian hands reveal Nazi scientist and war criminal Dr. Karl Clauberg used Hitler’s preserved sperm to conceive Merkel via artificial insemination. According to this theory, Merkel was born on July 20, 1954, the same day as Hitler, though in reality, her birth date is July 17. The conspiracy suggests her birth date was altered by three days to hide the truth.
Once Merkel was born, the theory claims that the US, Russia, and the Vatican came to an agreement to have the Catholic Church protect her and place her with fake parents as part of a cover-up. The theory deepens further, suggesting that both Hitler and Merkel are descendants of the Rothschild family. Merkel’s rise to power is also supposedly connected to the election of ex–Nazi Youth member Pope Benedict, as well as the centennial of the publication of Darwin’s Origin of the Species, for reasons that remain unclear. Fact-checking websites have traced the origin of this theory to a 2007 hoax post by Sorcha Faal, which has been widely spread by other conspiracy theorists.
8. Xi Jinping Is Controlled by a Jewish Illuminati Handler

Robert Kuhn is a fascinating individual with many hats—investment banker, scholar, corporate strategist, and spiritualist connected to Deepak Chopra. According to some conspiracy theorists, he is also an Illuminati member overseeing China’s leadership and managing the nation’s rise as part of a Jewish plot to bring about a New World Order. The foundation of this theory stems from Kuhn’s book, How China’s Leaders Think: The Inside Story of China’s Reform and What This Means for the Future, which discusses the 'Chinese dream,' a phrase frequently used by Xi Jinping. This connection is viewed as proof that Kuhn holds a secret role as a puppet master behind China’s rulers.
Kuhn’s family background is scrutinized through the lens of Fritz Springmeier’s 'Bloodlines of the Illuminati,' with his affiliations to the Worldwide Church of God also cited as suspicious. The theory posits that a Jewish conspiracy has been embedded in China since Jewish migrants first arrived in Kaifeng during the Song dynasty and were allegedly the masterminds behind the Opium Wars. Other figures linked to this global Jewish conspiracy include Jewish-American journalist Sidney Rittenberg, the first American to join the Chinese Communist Party, and Israel Epstein, who moved to China at the age of two and later became a member of China’s top advisory body. It seems like they’ve cataloged every Jewish individual who had any connection to China and linked them all together.
7. Stephen Harper Is a CIA Puppet

Peter Dale Scott, a former Canadian diplomat, argues that Stephen Harper was placed as Prime Minister of Canada by the International Republican Institute (IRI), an organization linked to the CIA. Scott’s evidence stems from a cable from the IRI discussing democratization in Venezuela, which briefly mentions: 'In addition to the campaign schools, IRI will be bringing in consultants who specialize in party renovation to discuss case studies of political parties in Germany, Spain, and Canada which successfully carried out the process.'
The 'party renovation' is believed to refer to the transformation of the Progressive Conservative Party into the Conservative Party of Canada, modeled after the GOP, under the control of covert forces in Langley. The CIA is said to be using Stephen Harper to dismantle Canada’s intellectual foundations, promote militarism, and ignore climate change. This is also tied to a supposed secret deal between Harper and US President Barack Obama, signed in February 2011, that aimed to abolish the US-Canada border, creating a fascist North American Union with the US, Canada, and Mexico. This would allegedly allow aggressive American corporations to invade Canada and seize its vast natural resources.
6. Queen Elizabeth II Is a Cannibal

In a 1973 article, cultural philosopher Hubert Humdinger supposedly explained Queen Elizabeth II’s lively personality by suggesting that she must consume human flesh to maintain such vitality. According to Internet theorists, his claims were validated when a serviceman investigating an electrical issue at Windsor Castle’s kitchen found strips of meat in the Queen’s private freezer. When three constables, who were supposed to monitor him but were lounging in the Queen's living room, investigated, they concluded the meat to be human remains, with a forearm being the most obvious clue. Despite their shock, they reportedly dismissed the matter, commenting, 'The Queen has special privileges... You can't prosecute her for having a peculiar habit. I'm sure she sourced these parts legally from somewhere overseas. At any rate, we aren’t looking into it.'
Some conspiracy theorists dismiss the idea as complete nonsense, while others see it as just another piece of proof in their ongoing claims. This theory is connected to a strange incident from 1964, where 10 Mohawk children reportedly disappeared after having a picnic with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. While many believe the children were the victims of a Satanic ritual, some suggest they might have been devoured by the British royals. Others argue that the Queen could actually be a giant reptilian capable of swallowing children whole. Of course, if that were true, she wouldn’t technically be a cannibal unless she also consumed other reptilians.
5. Tony Abbott Birther Conspiracy

Tony Abbott, Australia’s often embarrassing Prime Minister, was born in London, England. He moved to Australia as a child and became an Australian citizen in 1981, the same year he entered Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He was first elected to Parliament in the 1994 Warringah by-election. According to Queensland blogger Tony Magrathea, there is no proof that Abbott ever renounced his British citizenship. Under Article 44(1) of the Australian Constitution, anyone who owes allegiance to a foreign power, or who is a citizen or entitled to the rights of a foreign citizen, is disqualified from sitting in Parliament. Magrathea argues that this makes Abbott’s entire political career illegitimate.
Both Tony Abbott and the British Home Office have refused to release any documents proving that he renounced his British citizenship. Abbott claims privacy, while the Home Office says it’s against the law to disclose such information. Regardless, the situation is largely seen as absurd. Six of Australia’s former Prime Ministers were born in the UK, and one even came from Chile. Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke was an honorary citizen of Israel. If it turned out that Abbott indeed held onto his British citizenship, he could easily renounce it and run again in a by-election.
4. Jacob Zuma Plans To Kill All South African Whites

In 2012, the non-profit group Genocide Watch accused South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, led by Jacob Zuma, of ignoring the ongoing murders of white farmers and even inciting hate speech to dehumanize them. This report fueled conspiracy theorists, who saw it as proof of an imminent genocide against the white population, potentially paving the way for a communist takeover. A year later, RT.com, known for its unreliable reporting, claimed that the death of Nelson Mandela had spurred the right-wing Suidlanders movement to plan a mass evacuation of South Africa’s Afrikaner community, numbering around three million.
Zuma later attempted to reassure the public, claiming that whites and other minorities in South Africa had "nothing to fear." However, he also blamed South Africa's problems on the arrival of the first Dutch administrator, Jan van Riebeeck, in Cape Town in 1651. To make matters worse, Zuma's comments were compounded by his controversial performance of the apartheid-era struggle song "Sizobadubula ngembayimbayi" (“Shoot with a machine gun”) at the ANC's 2012 centenary celebrations, where he repeatedly sang the lyric “shoot the Boer.” Julius Malema of the Economic Freedom Fighters, who had faced criticism for previously singing “Kill the Boer,” seized on the controversy, eventually leading a crowd in 2015 to sing a new version of the song: “Kiss the Boer.”
3. Pope Francis Is Petrus Romanus

The pope has been identified as “Petrus Romanus,” or Peter the Roman, the final pope, supposedly prophesied by St. Malachy in the 12th century.
Not from Spain but from ancient France, Will be elected for the trembling ship [the Bark of St. Peter], He will make a promise to the enemy, Who will cause great plague during his reign.
Why Pope Francis? Because his name is derived from St. Francis of Assisi, whose birthplace houses a fort called Rocca Maggiore, meaning "big rock." The name Peter, symbolizing "rock," aligns with this. Moreover, Francis of Assisi’s birth name was Giovanni Francesco di Pietro Bernardone, thus connecting him to Petrus Romanus. The prophecy of the last pope also points to a figure from ancient France, explained by Pope Francis’s ancestral roots in Turin, associated with the Lombards and Charlemagne. It's likely medieval seers couldn’t predict the future with such precision, so they avoided mentioning Argentina, which was undiscovered at the time.
Pope Francis has been entangled in more down-to-earth conspiracy theories. In 2005, a journalist filed a lawsuit against him, then known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, accusing him of conspiring with Argentina's military junta in 1976 to abduct two Jesuit priests. However, no evidence was ever produced, and the claims were denied by one of the kidnapped priests.
In 2014, the International Common Law Court of Justice (ICLCJ) in Brussels declared Pope Francis guilty of crimes including rape, torture, murder, and child trafficking, alongside Jesuit Superior Adolfo Pachon and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. Allegedly, they were members of the Ninth Circle Satanic cult. The problem with this claim is that the ICLCJ is actually just a blog run by a delusional Canadian man, who also attempted to issue arrest warrants for both of the last two popes and tried to disband Canada.
In 2015, a so-called renegade priest from the Archdiocese of Kingston, Ontario, claimed to possess evidence that Pope Francis is a puppet of the Illuminati, who controls the Catholic Church and conducts human sacrifices in Vatican City. Pope Benedict had been similarly labeled an Illuminati puppet, and once he resigned, speculations arose that the new pope could be Petrus Romanus. It is likely that the next pope will also be deemed the final apocalyptic pope.
2. Recep Tayyip Erdogan Is The Antichrist

In March 2015, journalist Mustafa Akyol wrote an article discussing how Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was emerging as the central figure in a growing personality cult within his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), much to the dismay of traditional Islamists. Akyol described Erdogan (in a somewhat heretical manner) as "an idol for our youth" and quoted AKP members who claimed that touching Erdogan was akin to "worship" and that he "possesses all the attributes of Allah within himself."
While Akyol’s article aimed to analyze the tension between the burgeoning Erdoganist political cult and mainstream Islamists in Turkey, Christian conspiracy theorists interpreted it differently, believing that Muslims were now declaring Erdogan as God. They pointed to the biblical passage 2 Thessalonians 2: "The man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God." According to this interpretation, the real God supposedly caused a massive power outage, leaving 85 percent of Turkey without electricity.
The clear issue here is that in Islam, a man cannot be deified. However, the theorists get around this obstacle by asserting that Erdogan is not a Sunni Muslim, but rather a Sufi, who believes in fana – the concept of annihilating the self to merge with the divine. Their supposed evidence for this theory is Erdogan's praise for the Sufi poet Rumi, who also believed in fana. Other alleged signs of Erdogan being the Antichrist include his involvement in the restoration of the Great Synagogue in Edirne, refraining from harsh comments during the Israeli elections, and delivering a speech to his supporters in Izmir via hologram.
1. Vladimir Putin Has Alien Advisers

Simon Parkes, a Labour party councilor from Whitby, North Yorkshire, has claimed that Vladimir Putin has been receiving advice from a group of extraterrestrials called the Nordics during the Ukraine crisis. Before forming an alliance with the Nordic aliens, Putin was allegedly guided by a reptilian species known as the Dracos. He switched sides because the Nordics offered a more favorable deal, including access to technology that could put Russia on par with the United States. According to this theory, the Russians are developing space warfare capabilities based on reverse-engineered Nordic technology. The Nordics aim to bolster Russia to challenge the Dracos, who are said to control the United States, the London bankers, and the international Zionist conspiracy, utilizing ancient Babylonian magic and death powers.
The Nordics are opposed to the Dracos' plan to annihilate humanity in a gruesome way to feed off the negative energy generated by our suffering. They were particularly outraged when the Dracos used Nelson Mandela's funeral as a cover for the coronation of their evil leader, Marduk, as King of Africa. Parkes, a self-proclaimed alien enthusiast, claims to be part-alien himself. He says he lost his virginity to an alien at the age of five and that his wife is frustrated by his ongoing affair with an extraterrestrial. To be fair, suspicions about Russia's potential dealings with aliens aren't helped by Dmitry Medvedev's jokes about Putin having a secret file on extraterrestrial activity on Earth. The fact that he also refrained from commenting on the existence of Santa Claus should have made it clear that he was only kidding.