When I was a kid I spent a lot of time on planes flying from country to country and a fair amount of time looking at the sky from the ground, fascinated with the space program which was taking us to the moon and beyond. I never looked to the skies with fear or terror, but only saw it as a blank canvas for amazing possibilities.
One of the things I saw in those skies were lots of straight white lines, sometimes in pairs, usually very high up, which my father identified as contrails. He had been a navy flyer in World War II and had seen plenty of them up close and personal He explained that they are lines of frozen water vapor formed when the hot and humid exhaust from a plane's engines encounters colder air high in the atmosphere and turns to ice crystals, essentially producing artificial clouds behind the plane.
That seemed like a pretty reasonable explanation for many years, but imagine my surprise to be informed that these trails of cloud were not, in fact, mere frozen water vapor, but were actually 'chemtrails'; not trails of condensation, but trails of chemicals nefariously released into our atmosphere by the government or by evil corporations or even by aliens for all sorts of arcane purposes, from testing biological weapons on the civilian population to reprogramming our perceptions with psychoactive chemicals to causing mass sterilization as part of a UN depopulation program.
The basic origin of the chemtrails conspiracy theory seems to be nothing more than people looking up in the sky and seeing contrails and speculating insanely with no actual basis in fact. It's a particularly bewildering theory because we've had a factual, scientific and verifiable explanation for contrails for generations. To look beyond that explanation requires the kind of paranoid mindset that looks at commonplace things and manufactures nightmares out of nothing. It's Agent Mulder announcing "I want to believe" and then finding what he wants to believe in whether it exists or not — the classic self-fulfilling prophecy with nothing real behind it.
The idea that contrails were actually something more nefarious is based on several bits of mistaken evidence. First, that contrails seem to last far longer than anyone would expect and that they are increasing in number. Second, that they sometimes form seemingly complex or regular patterns or display strange colors. Third, that some airplanes have mysterious tanks and apparatus in their wings. Couple these observations with a belief that the government is generally up to no good and you get such popular explanations for 'chemtrails' as that they are methods of dispersing chemicals over the entire surface of the country to drug the population for any purpose from mass inoculation to mind control, that they are some sort of weather modification program to either cause or prevent global warming, and that they are some method of communicating with aliens or terraforming the earth to be more compatible with alien lifeforms.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dan Miller
Let's dissect the word "contrail." It begins with "con," as does the word conspiracy. Coincidence? I think not. It ends with "trail," which is something to be followed. Even the word itself, therefore, demonstrates that this is a conspiracy which we fail to follow at our mortal peril. Significantly, the article fails to note this point of obvious and critical importance. Were it not for these conspiracies, there would be no explanation for the re-emergence of Russia as a world power, rampant inflation, or oil prices.
We must be alert to all of these attempts by aliens from outer space to dehumanize us and take over the Earth. We must do something, now. Dave's specious suggestions for the construction of tin hats are no more than a distraction, which we should cast aside and look for real solutions we can believe in. Only Paris Hilton has the answers, and we must have her as our next president.
Dan
2 - Dave! Go outside!!!
If you want to know the truth - whether they are contrails or chemtrails, you need only go outside with a pair of binoculars...
They are NOT commercial jets, and they are NOT observing normal commercial jet routes. They seem to be having fun up there some days, flying side by side or making X's or tic tac toe grids across the sky...
And if it's normal airline traffic, why do they skip some days entirely? Here in NE Ohio we never get sprayed on Sundays... am I to believe that no one's traveling on that day?
We have days here where there will be nothing but deep rich blue skys until about 6pm when the planes start spraying.. they'll continue to spray all night until the sky is like a huge white sheet by the next morning...
Normal contrails dissipate fairly quickly - these only grow larger and expand overhead and on heavy spray days, these clouds will eventually meet up with eachother forming a thick white mess that covers from horizon to horizon.
One day we even had a plane fly over and spit out this big thick glob of something that hung in the sky and even cut through a chemtrail below it that had been sprayed minutes before.
Maybe you're fortunate enough to live where they don't spray. A friend of mine lives in CA near the redwood forest and says they never spray there, but when she travels to nearby cities she sees the chemtrails...
You cannot possibly expect anyone with a brain and a set of eyes, and who lives in an area that is sprayed regularly, to believe your theory sir.
3 - Dave Nalle
I go outside regularly. I see contrails. They stay in the sky for a long time. Sometimes they make patterns. Nothing happens as a result.
As for your 'gobs', have you ever heard of 'blue ice'? Perfectly reasonable explanation.
And some areas do have more air traffic than others that is limited to specific days, because there are air force bases nearby, and military aircraft DO fly in patterns and DO cross their own trails.
Everything you mention is explainable by simple, obvious logic.
Dave
4 - Dave! Go outside!!!
"Simple, obvious logic"?? ha!
How about the fact that THEY ARE NOT COMMERCIAL PLANES. You didn't address that in your weak argument above...
And I didn't say LESS spraying traffic on Sundays, I said NONE. Though you can still see the commercial jets flying by high above, leaving the contrails that I've seen my whole life...
You are parroting almost perfectly the unfounded and absurd propaganda that the Air Force and the pentagon are trying to inculcate the internet world into believing about chemtrails. Namely, the idea that increased jet traffic is responsible for spewing out these TONS of materials that morph into what they are calling "cirrus clouds" etc. That explanation is ludicrous and utterly unscientific. It's errant nonsense. You could have 2,000 commercial jets flying wing tip to wing tip from one side of the the horizon to the other and still not produce enough visible "jet exhaust" to generate even a haze, let alone "cloud banks of cirrus clouds." Chemtrails are NOT "blue ice" and they are not the fallout from jet "exhaust" They are substances being SPRAYED from non-commercial planes. This information has been available on the internet for past 7 or 8 years. Where have you been?
You're obviously not a stupid person, so I have to believe you're just another disinformation peddler... I am only replying because I hope that others reading this article will look this up for themselves and find out the TRUTH.
5 - Clavos
Is there no fanciful, moronic bullshit conspiracy story that is too far out, too insane, too implausible for the tin foil hat guppies to believe in?
Apparently not.
6 - Dave Nalle
How about the fact that THEY ARE NOT COMMERCIAL PLANES. You didn't address that in your weak argument above...
Actually, I did. The fact that many of the planes creating high altitute contrails are military planes which fly in formation explains the whole suspicious patterns argument.
And I didn't say LESS spraying traffic on Sundays, I said NONE. Though you can still see the commercial jets flying by high above, leaving the contrails that I've seen my whole life...
So you're saying that the evil, atheistic NWO takes a break on Sundays? Uhhh ok.
You are parroting almost perfectly the unfounded and absurd propaganda that the Air Force and the pentagon are trying to inculcate the internet world into believing about chemtrails.
In other words, they're just as flabergasted as I am that people can believe this garbage?
Namely, the idea that increased jet traffic is responsible for spewing out these TONS of materials that morph into what they are calling "cirrus clouds" etc. That explanation is ludicrous and utterly unscientific. It's errant nonsense. You could have 2,000 commercial jets flying wing tip to wing tip from one side of the the horizon to the other and still not produce enough visible "jet exhaust" to generate even a haze, let alone "cloud banks of cirrus clouds." Chemtrails are NOT "blue ice" and they are not the fallout from jet "exhaust" They are substances being SPRAYED from non-commercial planes. This information has been available on the internet for past 7 or 8 years. Where have you been?
Where is the EVIDENCE? Where are the pilots? Where are the witnesses? Where are the planes? Where are samples of the substances being sprayed? Where are the case studies of the effects of the chemicals? Without evidence all you have is paranoia.
You're obviously not a stupid person, so I have to believe you're just another disinformation peddler... I am only replying because I hope that others reading this article will look this up for themselves and find out the TRUTH.
Being logical and reasonable is not exactly spreading disinformation. Being credulous and paranoid for no good reason is just idiotic.
Dave
7 - troll
the evidence for the nasty nature of chemtrails is clear - for decades I spent lots of time outside without problems...now when I'm almost 60 these trails show up and my hair falls out
who do I sue - ?
8 - Lee Richards
SOMETHING is making us stupider!
9 - Baritone
Dave,
I for one believe in chemtrails. How else can you explain that, just a few years ago, I had a chest. It has now migrated nearly a foot south, as it were, and is larger than ever. I used to just blame it on gravity.
I once had thick, nearly black hair. Several years ago I shaved off my beard and mustache. A few years later I decided to once again amass some facial hair. Can you imagine my horror in discovering that much of it had turned to gray and that it has since steadily migrated upwards seriously salting my, uh, coifure? It must be those damn chemtrails. What else could account for such hideous developments?
And, yeah, Dave! All this stuff has been on the internet for years. Surely you don't think that anyone would make such things up, do you? (I know, stop calling you Shirley.) What a mistrusting mind you must have. I mean, it's all right to mistrust the government. That's a given. But to even suggest that anyone posting on the internet would publish misinformation is, well, totally unfounded and, frankly, not worthy of you. Why, if that were the case, I'd have to start doubting all my beloved astrological sites.
Those folks in NE Ohio are a bit nutsy. Maybe they've been singled out for these dastardly experiments. I understand that area is kind of the continental "Bermuda Triangle." I hear tell that strange and occasionally wondrous things happen there - Cleveland, for one.
Oh, by the way. The chemtrails designed to quell world population growth didn't work particularly well. Back to the drawing board on that one. However, I think they are making headway on some tasty recipes for Soylent Green. (Just a few secret herbs and spices.) Bon appetit, mon ami!
B
10 - Dan Miller
Lee,
SOMETHING is making us stupider!
I believe that in addition to affecting us physically and mentally, the con-trails are rearranging the things on our keyboards and in our computers, so that the wrong words get typed. Hav yoou evr notyced thet? And another thing: there aren't many chickens available these days in urban areas, so we use con entrails to determine the future.
Gasp! Did i rite that? No weigh.
Dan
11 - Dave Nalle
I have to admit that there's something halfway believable to the theory that chemtrails are making people stupider. It would explain the popularity of conspiracy theories if nothing else. Maybe they make us paranoid too.
Dave
12 - Clavos
As thuh resdent grammer knotsy, I say itz an incityous plot by thuh teechurs unyins to tern us into a nashyun of iliterrats.
an its wurking...
dam thows cons!!!
13 - Dave Nalle
Hey folks. I'm hoping to some day get an article up into double digits on DIGG, so don't forget to Digg this article.
Dave
14 - Matthew T. Sussman
I'm waiting for the article when Dave says "there are no unicorns" and then someone washes up from the ocean and asserts they are all around us, working at the mall food court and such.
15 - troll
you do realize of course that the tin foil hat thing is part of a greater conspiracy as the foil actually focuses the energy beam directly into your brain
16 - Baritone
And the bees! What's happening to the damn bees?!!!
17 - BlindFool
Those aren't Chemtrails, they're Lovetrails.
Everything is good.
Go back to sleep.
18 - Lee Richards
I propose we bring back the old party game of Rumor. Let's send one around the internet and see how long it takes for one of us to read it as somebody's posting of fact:
How about...DNA tests have proven beyond a doubt that Barack Obama is the love child of JFK and Fidel Castro's sister.
19 - Dan Miller
Matthew,
As a founding member of the Society Teaching Unicorns Progressive Intellectual Development (STUPID), I resent your unwarranted suggestion that unicorns do not exist. Our Federal research grant* was recently renewed, and just the other day, the National Questioner published a photograph of a mermaid riding a very horny unicorn.
Peter Pan
* A few years ago, I met a person who had received a grant to study the monogamous nature of termites. We all know that termites exist. Therefore, unicorns also exist. QED. We are now seeking another grant to determine whether they are monogamous.
20 - Dan Miller
Lee,
The timings of JFK's election as President (November 1960), the Bay of Pigs invasion (April, 1961) and the birth of Senator Obama (August 9, 1961) are too compelling to be ignored. It seems quite clear that JFK made an incognito visit to Cuba just after his election, about nine months before the birth of Senator Obama, to obtain background information on Castro and his family, and there met secretly with Castro's sister to accomplish his mission. The rest is history.
Dan
21 - Dave Nalle
How can you argue with that? It's as definitive as the evidence that Richard Nixon had JFK assassinated because he made a speech in Houston the week before.
Dave
22 - Condor
LBJ did JFK in. They didn't like each other and LBJ was a bigger power freak (Tejas requires mucho grande) and needed the presidency to prove it.
23 - Baritone
Dave,
Just thought I'd mention that while my name has been removed from the editor list as I requested, I seem to still have access to editing and publishing abilities. I certainly would not abuse this, but shouldn't my access have been shut down?
B
24 - Cannonshop
Dan:
"* A few years ago, I met a person who had received a grant to study the monogamous nature of termites. We all know that termites exist. Therefore, unicorns also exist. QED. We are now seeking another grant to determine whether they are monogamous."
It'll be easier to get that Grant if you link your study to "Climate Change"- for instance, "How is Anthropogenic Climate Change impacting monogamous relationships among Unicorns". A couple years ago, it would have been easier to use "A study on how Global Warming is impacting monogamy among Unicorns, Fae, and Dragons"- but Exxon and Big Oil drove Dragons to Extinction on the orders of the Bilderbergers...
25 - Dan Miller
Canonship,
Many thanks for the suggestion. I shall forthwith modify the grant proposal before it becomes too late. My concern is that since there are now many more female than male unicorns (doubtless due to Anthropogenic Climate Change), it may already be too late to assess the impact with precision. It's a damn shame we didn't get on this thirty years ago. Still, unlike oil drilling, there may still be time if I hurry.
Dan