My favourite is the story that there was mass panic over a radio broadcast of War of the Worlds where everyone thought a real alien invasion was happening. I heard this story as a kid and really thought this was a cruel prank played by the radio station.
In reality, they made it clear at the beginning of the broadcast, and twice during, that it was fictional. Not that many people were listening and most of the people who were, were aware it wasn’t real. A few idiots freaked out and it somehow turned into a story of mass panic. It was propaganda by newspapers to discredit radio.
The idea that eating carrots helps your eyesight came from WW2 Britain. It was an intentionally spread lie to cover up for the fact that they had radar.
Oh, I’ve got a carrots one, too. Rabbits don’t have a particular fondness for carrots. We just think they do because of Bugs Bunny. But Bugs eats carrots to imitate a Clark Gable scene in It Happened One Night, with the carrot substituting for a cigar. Over time the connection got lost and it just sort of became “rabbits = carrots”.
They don’t mind them, but they have no particular preference for them.
That’s not the only Bugs Bunny-related thing, either. “Nimrod” has come to mean “idiot” because of its use by Bugs. But that’s not the intended meaning in the cartoons. He specifically says it to Elmer Fudd. Nimrod is a Biblical figure, known for being a great hunter. He’s being sarcastic. But again the reference got lost and people just thought it meant “idiot”.
I don’t get how spreading the claim that carrots help your eyes covers up having radar, it feels non sequitur …
The claim was that carrots were good for eyesight in general but also for night sight in particular, suggesting the British pilots were scarfing down carrots by the bucketful and that was how their night patrols were able to intercept the German bombers so often.
Somewhere, I also read that German high command wanted their own pilots to up their carrot consumption but didn’t think the German pilots would go for it just because of the night sight thing, so they made up a lie that the British pilots ate the carrots to improve their sexual prowess.
Warnings that smoking increases the risk of cancer were not heeded. It was only when it was written that smoking could cause impotence that people began to think.
It’s the explanation for why the Allies could spot their planes in situations where they would otherwise not be easily visible. If it happens a few times you might write it off as luck, but if it keeps happening over and over you might get suspicious.
With that said, I don’t think they really bought the carrots thing. Both the Allied and Axis powers knew about radar and how it worked. It’s just the Allies figured out how to build and deploy their systems first.
Radar was used to see incoming German planes, even during the night.
I thought it was changing the light colour of the cockpit lights from white to green.
I belive Remote viewing is similar.
Except remote viewing was 20-30 years later, supported by data and which technology do you believe that was a cover for? That’s kind of a requisite in making these claims- there is some tech you are actually covering for.
I’m drawing parallels. Not saying remote viewing is to cover for radar.
Any technology that was being used to spy on the Russians.
I don’t need to be specific. The CIA were just looking for a way to explain how they received their intelligence information.
If remote viewing actually worked then it wouldn’t be declassified.