Good morning John.

On Monday I did "Top 5 Conspiracy Theories" and then you did "Top 6 Conjoined Twins" and now I'm going back to Top 5 because I just can't best you. With the "Top 5 Stories That Should Have Been Conspiracy Theories But Aren't Because They're Actually Real Conspiracies."

So my friends, let's start this thing in the beginning with Operation Snow White. So you know the Church of Scientology, I did not put them in the conspiracy theories video. If Scientologists believe that we're all the reincarnated meat-bodies of alien spirits of the race that came to the Earth 75 million years ago and were destroyed by their leader Xenu, then I'm fine with that. But we should take from that that these are people who are OK thinking outside of the box.

So during the 1970s, the Scientologists didn't like how the US government was getting all up in their face about how freaking weird they are. So they decided, to prove that they weren't weird, to destroy all government records that portrayed Scientology in a negative light. They did this amazingly effectively. They infiltrated 136 government agencies, they wire-tapped people, they hacked computers. Operation Snow White included no less than 5000 people, making it the largest infiltration of the US government in history.

Number 2, MK Ultra. In the 1960s, it is true that the CIA was conducting illegal government mind-control experiments on people. The unwilling test subjects of MK Ultra were given LSD, they were verbally abused, physically isolated, put in sensory deprivation chambers, and the conspiracy theorists' dream; in 1973 the CIA director ordered all MK Ultra files destroyed.

Number 3, the Tuskegee experiment. From 1932 to 1972, the government of America intentionally gave ineffective treatments to 400 black men with syphilis. It was all part of what was supposed to be a six month long study. Turned into a 40 year long study, in which almost half of the men died of Syphilis or related complications.

Number 4, "Remember, Remember the 5th of November". I kind of feel like I have to explain that Guy Fawkes wasn't a big deal in this thing. There were a lot of people working on the plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605, and its like we call it "Guy Fawkes Day" but he was the guy guarding the gunpowder. Obviously not an important dude.

Number 5, the Business Plot. This is an excellent example of why kids shouldn't go and get a face tattoo or something because 10 years down the line, something that seems like a really good idea right now, might very well seem like the worst idea ever. So in 1933 a group of wealthy American capitalists, including George W. Bush's grandfather tried to overthrow Franklin Delano Roosevelt and install a fascist dictatorship. Say what! At the time apparently, it didn't seem like a bad idea. All the right wingers were like "This guy Roosevelt is commy-ing up this place. All these government created jobs being given to people of all socio-economic statuses, races and religions. Setting up a public works program! Helping the poor! Commi, commi, commi, commi".

At that time, in the 30's, fascist dictatorships were kinda all the rage. It was working well in Italy, it was working well in Germany. So fascism seemed like a quick fix to these guys - "lets get ourselves a nice charismatic general to run the country and we'll do all the behind-the-scenes work". So they chose General Smedley Butler to lead their little military coup, but General Butler was like "What the frick you guys?! You didn't even look this up? Roosevelt and I are totally like buds. I love that guy, why would I lead a coup against my man Franky. D?".

So Smedley spilt the whole plot to congress he was like "These guys tried to freaking overthrow the government and they wanted me to be in charge afterwards. This is messed up". And somehow, the conspiracy continues because none of the people who tried to overthrow the American government were ever brought up on charges.

And there you have it, my "Top 5 Actual Conspiracies". John, I will see you on Monday. End screen time. Thank you once again to my friend Jocelyn for helping us out with this episode and for not falling down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. Additionally, on my let's play channel, youtube.com/hankgames, I've decided that I'm going to start playing "Lego Harry Potter" as soon as I hit 15,000 subscribers. So if you want to see me playing a Harry Potter game, then go to youtube.com/hankgames and subscribe.