21. By 1988, there were 3,000 UFO sighting reports in Wytheville, Virginia.
In October 1987, Wythe County Sheriff Wayne Pike claimed that he and his deputies saw unusual lights in the sky. It triggered a total panic in Wytheville, Virginia, sparking a variety of conspiracy theories. By 1988, there were 3,000 UFO sighting reports in the area.
“All of a sudden, everybody started seeing things,” a reporter told The Bristol Herald Courier. That same reporter said he also saw something strange in the sky one night, which he described as “a scintillating light.”
Quickly, the news attracted national attention, but there has never been an official confirmation of the sightings. Some people claim that the entire town has just been witnessing mass hysteria.
22. Jimmy Hoffa, a famous labor leader, disappeared from Michigan in 1975, sparking a series of conspiracy theories.
Jimmy Hoffa made a name for himself as a caring but tough and driven labor leader who devoted his life to advocating for workers ‘ rights. He began his career in Detroit, operating with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a strong union at the time. He ultimately became president of the union.
Secretly, however, he cut deals with the local mob, allowing them access to the considerable Teamsters pension fund and was caught. He disappeared from the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, a Detroit suburb, after he was released from jail. There he was supposedly meeting notorious mobsters Anthony ‘Tony Pro’ Provenzano and Anthony ‘Tony Jack’ Giacalone but both men claimed they never went to meet Hoffa. This led a lot of people to believe that he was the victim of a Mafia hit, but his body was never found. This theory has many advocates as while Hoffa was in prison his second in command, Frank Fitzsimmons was named acting president of the union. The proponents of this theory contend that Hoffa was talking loudly about taking back his control of the teamsters, however, the Mafia preferred Fitzsimmons as he was easier to control. Others are convinced that the Teamsters assassinated him so that he wouldn’t be president again, despite all the good work Hoffa had done for them getting them more favorable pay and working conditions over the years.
It took seven years before Hoffa was officially declared dead, which led to further speculation on where his body was. It was long rumored that his body is buried under the Giants Stadium in New Jersey, while others claim that he is buried under a swimming pool in Hampton, Illinois.
James Buccellato, a professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northern Arizona University, suggested in 2017 that Hoffa was likely murdered one mile away from the restaurant at the house of Carlo Licata, the son of the mobster Nick Licata. The Mafia then owned several waste incinerators and a crematorium in the Detroit area, and Buccellato suggested that Hoffa’s body was taken to one of those places. Buccellato was doubtful that the body had been transported a long distance: “It’s just not practical.”
