People have believed in Bigfoot, UFOs and lots of other wild stories for generations, and while evidence of these claims tends to be elusive, the conspiracies continue. Most recently, wild claims and misinformation has begun to surface on social media platforms, much of it related to the COVID-19 pandemic. I won’t get into those specifically, but I’m sure you can conjure one or two right now.

So, why do people believe in fantastical tales that escape reason, logic and understanding?

In my last column, I explored how low rates of literacy can affect the spread of both good, legitimate information as well as questionable and misleading information. Conspiracy theories are something very different than misunderstanding information because they are often deliberate and substantiated by misinformation and outright untruth. Not to mention that when looked at more closely, many conspiracy theories sound more like episodes of “The Twilight Zone.” So where do conspiracy theories come from? And why do people propagate them?

Certainly, literacy rates within a population can have a huge effect on the proliferation of misinformation, but not always. A lot of weird conspiracies have been created and spread by smart people. The easy answer to the hard question is that smart people can come to illogical reasoning by means of non-smart approaches. Some decisions are made rationally, scientifically and empirically. Other decisions are made emotionally, subjectively and with bias.

The Bigfoot story has persisted for more than 50 years, and in spite of a lack of evidence that has been agreed upon by an expert scientific community. An annual festival is held each year in Marion, N.C., to celebrate the creature, and one can find several Facebook groups dedicated to sharing stories, theories and evidence. One comment on the Bigfoot 911 Facebook page proposed the question that Bigfoot might have supernatural abilities … and of course any curious visitor will find the requisite anecdotal tale of having seen “something” they couldn’t explain that vanished into the brush. They’ll just say, “well, that’s just what Bigfoot does.” You’ve probably noticed that most conspiracy stories have a convenient exit for those who cannot explain them.

Aside from the financial gain of exploiting Bigfoot’s tenuous presence, the Bigfoot story has a foothold because the creature is now a media icon. Perhaps the collective consciousness of America simply isn’t willing to give up its wild tale of the ape-like beast that has been rarely (and questionably) photographed or seen.

Psychology Today, in their article “Why Do People Believe Conspiracy Theories?” says there are three basic reasons: the desire for understanding and certainty, the desire for control and security, and the desire to maintain a positive self-image. In other words, as people, we’re just not comfortable with the unexplained. And when we have no logical explanation for something, we are left to assumptions and conclusions based on our singular world views. The article also states that conspiracy theorists are sometimes individuals who feel marginalized, and buying into a conspiracy theory gives them a voice.

Conspiracy theories are also by definition beliefs, and most people who promote them also have a vested interest in protecting them. Political conspiracy theories are a good example because they are often espoused by ideology that is adopted wholesale along with a basket of other beliefs that are part and parcel to that party’s values. Go ahead, I’m sure you can think of at least one. Believing (or not) in UFOs, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster and most other conspiracies is fun. It’s an exciting distraction from the mundane rituals of daily life. But what is concerning is the growing spread of misinformation and conspiracies, and the unfortunate effects of them. In December 2016, a 28 year-old-Salisbury, N.C., man drove to Washington, D.C., to personally investigate suspicions of a child-trafficking sex ring at a Ping Pong Comet pizza restaurant. Seeing himself as a hero, the man fired shots into the establishment with an assault rifle. He was wrong, and he was arrested without incident. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Proponents of the conspiracy theory later spun the tale to suggest it was all a set-up to discredit the conspiracy. Rarely does a conspiracy come without a contingency plan to keep it in motion long after it has been discredited.

Another reason why people believe conspiracies is because of a term called confirmation bias, which is basically when someone has already formed an opinion about something and then seeks to find information that validates their belief. Lawyers use this all the time in the courtroom — selectively using evidence that defends their client while subsequently ignoring information that convicts them. So it’s easy to see how someone can discredit information that does not fit their agenda, no matter how crazy it sounds.

In the age of COVID-19 and social media, conspiracy theories have more fertile ground than ever before. The uncertainty about the disease and the lack of a vaccine, coupled with the complex problems it brings is without doubt enough to breed suspicion. Add to that the availability of abundant misinformation on the internet amid a coming election, and only the imagination can fathom the outcome. Take a minute to fact check information, entertain healthy skepticism, and remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.