Humans love to gossip. Whether you’re secretly critiquing the paint color your neighbors chose for their garage door (What were they thinking?) or theorizing about your favorite celebrity’s latest relationship, it can be fun to wonder about what’s going on in someone else’s life. 

But when a rumor comes your way, you’re probably used to taking it with a grain of salt. After all, just because someone said it does not mean that it’s true. However, sometimes, the world is shocked to find out that a spicy rumor was actually 100% correct. Redditors have been sharing examples of some juicy gossip that has been confirmed to be factual, so you’ll find the most surprising stories below. Enjoy scrolling through, and be sure to upvote the tea that you just know was piping hot when it was first revealed!

#1

Harry Markopolos was working for a Boston investment firm when his boss told him a huge hedge fund was producing incredible returns. He wanted Markopolos to reverse-engineer its trading strategy and revenue streams so the firm could duplicate results. Within four hours he mathematically proved the fund was a fraud and reported it to the SEC who ignored him.

10 years later Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC was shut down for being a giant Ponzi scheme.

Image credits: Toby_O_Notoby

#2

South Korea was being ruled by cultists.

Image credits: anon

#3

John Lennon’s assertion that the US government was spying on him and listening to his phone calls.
He sounded paranoid and full of himself at the time, but turned out to be completely correct.

Image credits: Scrappy_Larue

#4

Apple actually removed the 3.5mm plug.

Image credits: torb

#5

The NSA were monitoring us.

Image credits: m00n1

#6

Rumours circled about Jimmy Savile being a pedophile for years but most people assumed he was a funny old eccentric and since he raised so many millions for charity no serious investigation was done until after he died.

Turns out he was the tip of a very sordid iceberg.

Image credits: zerbey

#7

In high school, a friend of mine got suspended for a week for spreading a rumor that his cousin was pregnant. She came from a really wealthy family who had a lot of pull in the school, which was catholic of course. She actually almost got him expelled because of it.

Guess what happened five months later? lol

Edit: A baby happened.

Image credits: Avxxsiecle

#8

Cases of widespread and systemic child s*x ab*se by Roman Catholic priests as portrayed in the movie Spotlight.

Image credits: Munninnu

#9

That the president of Korea was taking orders from a secret shaman who was also extorting millions of dollars out of companies like Samsung.

Image credits: bobrossthemobboss

#10

I’m copying this from an old comment of mine, but I thought these were pretty interesting. I got these from an InfoWars article titled “33 conspiracy theories that turned out to be true”, but added the Wikipedia links myself. I didn’t include them all, though, because several of them seemed pretty far-fetched. Most of these I’d heard of before I read the article.

* TL;DR: In the late 1800s in France, Jewish artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted of treason based on false government documents, and sentenced to life in prison.

* TL;DR: In the 1950s to the 1970s, the CIA ran a mind-control project aimed at finding a “truth serum” to use on communist spies. Test subjects were given LSD and other d***s, often without consent, and some were tortured.

* TL;DR: In the 1950s to ’70s, the CIA paid a number of well-known domestic and foreign journalists to publish CIA propaganda.

* TL;DR: The codename for a project conducted during World War II to develop the first atomic bomb. Entire towns were built for short periods of time, employing people, all under secrecy and top national secrecy at that.

* TL;DR: Between 1930 and 1960, manufacturers did all they could to prevent the link between asbestos and respiratory diseases, including cancer, becoming known, so they could avoid prosecution.

* TL;DR: Republican officials spied on the Democratic National Headquarters from the Watergate Hotel in 1972. While conspiracy theories suggested underhanded dealings were taking place, it wasn’t until 1974 that White House tape recordings linked President Nixon to the break-in and forced him to resign.

* TL;DR: The United States Public Health Service carried out this clinical study on 400 poor, African-American men with syphilis from 1932 to 1972. During the study the men were given false and sometimes dangerous treatments, and adequate treatment was intentionally withheld so the agency could learn more about the disease.

* TL;DR: A 15-year-old girl named “Nayirah” testified before the U.S. Congress that she had seen Iraqi soldiers pulling Kuwaiti babies from incubators, causing them to die. The testimony helped gain major public support for the 1991 Gulf War.

* TL;DR: The clandestine NATO “stay-behind” operation in Italy after World War II, intended to continue anti-communist resistance in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe.

* TL;DR: COINTELPRO (an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program) was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States.

* TL;DR: In 1985 and ’86, the White House authorized government officials to secretly give weapons to the Israeli government in exchange for the release of U.S. hostages in Iran, and in hopes that they would use the money to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. The plot was uncovered by Congress in 1987.

* TL;DR: Investigators in the U.S. and the UK revealed that BCCI had been “set up deliberately to avoid centralized regulatory review, and operated extensively in bank secrecy jurisdictions. Its affairs were extraordinarily complex. Its officers were sophisticated international bankers whose apparent objective was to keep their affairs secret, to commit fraud on a massive scale, and to avoid detection.”

* TL;DR: The CIA was pretty naughty.

* TL;DR: This was also the single most important reason for the escalation of the Vietnam War, but looks like it was a false report.

* TL;DR: In 1933, group of wealthy businessmen that allegedly included the heads of Chase Bank, GM, Goodyear, Standard Oil, the DuPont family and Senator Prescott Bush tried to recruit Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler to lead a military coup against President FDR and install a f*****t dictatorship in the United States.

* TL;DR: The US and Britain overthrew a democratically elected President of Iran and backed a Shah, because they wanted oil.

* TL;DR: The Church of Scientology managed to perform the largest infiltration of the United States government in history. Ever. 5,000 of Scientology’s crack commandos wiretapped and burglarized various agencies. They stole hundreds of documents, mainly from the IRS. No critic was spared, and in the end, 136 organizations, agencies and foreign embassies were infiltrated.

* TL;DR: Eight players from the Chicago White Sox (nicknamed the Black Sox) were accused of throwing the series against the Cincinnati Reds.

* TL;DR: Karen was an American labor union activist and chemical technician at the Kerr-McGee plant near Crescent, Oklahoma, United States. She found numerous health and safety violations at the plant. She became mysteriously contaminated, and died in a car wreck.

* TL:DR: Operation Paperclip was the code name for the 1945 Office of Strategic Services, Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency recruitment of German scientists from N**i Germany to the U.S. after VE Day.

* TL;DR: In the early 1960s, American military leaders drafted plans to create public support for a war against Cuba, to oust Fidel Castro from power. The plans included committing acts of t*******m in U.S. cities, killing innocent people and U.S. soldiers, blowing up a U.S. ship, assassinating Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees, and hijacking planes. The plans were all approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but were rejected by JFK.

Image credits: anon

#11

The media and DNC were in fact colluding to keep Bernie Sanders from the nomination and Hillary Clinton did in fact get debate questions in advance.
Edit: Because I can’t reply to all of you. Just so we’re clear. Tim Kaine was the DNC chair, then Debbie stepped in just in time to rig the election. Then she was forced out and hired by the Clinton campaign. Tim Kaine is now the VP and Brazile is the interim chair of the Democratic Party after Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was forced to resign. Brazile was just fired by CNN for getting caught red handed for passing debate questions to the Clinton campaign.
Now repeat after me…s**t is rigged. It shouldn’t be done this way and it makes me incredibly sad.

Image credits: Gonegone6

#12

Crash Gate: Nelson Piquet Jr being told by the Renault F1 team to intentionally crash his car into a wall in order to benefit his team mate Fernando Alonso at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

It was a wild speculation at first in 2008, until Piquet was unceremoniously sacked in 2009 and spilled the beans about it. I linked the wiki article to save typing.

Image credits: dj_vicious

#13

Mayor Rob Ford smokes (or rather smoked) cr*ck.

Image credits: CaptObviousUsername

#14

That the colonies were going to rebel against the crown.

Image credits: Scarlett_OS

#15

A teacher and a student fell in love in high school. At first I thought it was some exaggerated rumor but it turned out to be very true. The teacher left the school before the end of the semester and the student disappeared as well. Apparently the teacher left his wife and kids in order to pursue a relationship with a high school student.

EDIT: This incident happened in Florida at a school where three other teachers didn’t have such a quiet ending: One was charged for possession of child pornography. One was charged with having sexual relations with one of his students. One was charged with sexual harassment of his students. All three of these teachers had families and children.

EDIT 2: I know a lot of people are curious but it’s been seven years since I was out of high school and names of the teachers elude me. I’m sure you can find their record on one of those mug shot websites and I know there have been news articles written about them (I just don’t know their names).

Image credits: Dried_Squid_

#16

They really did bury all those unsold ET cartridges in the desert.

Image credits: gizmosdancin

#17

Osama hiding in Pakistan.

Image credits: SuddenDickTornado

#18

John Edwards, Presidential candidate, has a love child.

Image credits: -917-

#19

Hitler having Parkinsons was a big one in the 1940s and 50s.

Image credits: RealPhali

#20

Courtney from algebra 1 had gained a few pounds so we correctly predicted her pregnancy 7 months before her due date.

Image credits: I_69_Gluten

#21

Sony made up a fake critic, and put positive review quotes from him on their movie posters.

Image credits: Joed112784

#22

Rob Schneider pays Mexicans to choke him in the shower.

Image credits: Rastaphobic

#23

Caitlin Jenner being trans.

I assumed that was total BS that the tabloids made up.

Image credits: baby_doodlez

#24

One of my friends in High School was accused of hacking into the gradebook program and changing his grades and attendance. They dragged him out of class and held him in the office in a little room for the remainder of the day, trying to sweat him out to get him to confess, as they had no actual evidence *at all* that he had done anything. They wouldn’t even let him go to the bathroom.

All they had was that one of his teachers takes attendance and does grades on paper, then enters them into gradebook at the end of the day or week, and he noticed that some of his stuff had changed. Aside from that, they had no proof at all that he had actually done anything.

He plead innocent on the whole deal, claiming that maybe it was a database error or whatever, or that the teacher simply forgot they made the change, or that someone had hacked in and made the changes on his stuff as a prank or revenge or something.

After they couldn’t get anything out of him the first day, they started holding him in the office all day in the same fashion until the third day when someone called his parents and warned them of what was happening (I think it was one of his friends. Don’t quite remember). Within an hour his dad showed up, tore the Principal a new a*****e, threatened to arrest him for abuse (he was some kinda upper-up guy in State Police), and took his son home.

They actually ended up suing the school, over the mistreatment of the kid, as they literally spent days accusing him and threatening him with various punishments if he didn’t come clean and such, refusing to let him use the restroom, not letting him have lunch, and basically trying to make him break and admit to a crime they had no evidence he committed. Settled for a pretty large chunk of money, if I remember correctly…

He did do it, though. He totally did hack his grades and attendance. He was just good enough to not leave any evidence behind.

Image credits: nubsauce87

#25

Bill Cosby being a r*pist. When it first “rumored” I was so confused.

Image credits: pearoverlord

#26

My highschool sweetheart leaving me to f**k her favorite teacher.

Okay maybe things were a little more complex than that, but I’m 99% certain she did and I’m 100% certain she got the clap.

Image credits: samtheman578

#27

The nintendo switch actually is a home console and portable hybrid.

Image credits: ancientquacks

#28

Seriously, the Manhattan Project.

We just take nuclear weapons as a given today. But it was *literally a secret weapon that could destroy the world* that the vast majority of people didn’t about for a few years.

The conspiracy extended to the presidency, involved tens of thousands of individuals, top scientists across the country, and so much more.

*And they kept it secret.*

Image credits: JohniiMagii

#29

Jim Harbaugh being forced out by the 49ers (NFL) and going to coach Michigan (CFB). Harbaugh raised the Stanford college team from ashes, and then made his move to the NFL to coach the 49ers in 2011.

The 49ers hadn’t had a winning season since 2002. In his first year there, he went 13-3, and made the NFC championship game (playing to go to the superbowl, lost to the Giants who won the SB that year). The next year, he won the NFCCG and went to the superbowl (where he lost to his brother, John). The year after, again to the NFCCG and lost to the Seahawks (who won the SB). His last year he finished 8-8, which for any normal organization would be completely accepted – you just led the team to 3 in a row NFCCG’s, and a SB. But the 49er owner had his head up his a*s and essentially forced Harbaugh out that year.

Now the 49ers are the second worst team in the NFL (only ahead of the Browns). Harbaugh went to coach at Michigan, and in year 2 there, they are ranked #2 overall, and probably the only hope to beat Alabama.

At the time there rumors during the 8-8 season he was going to be released and what if he went to Michigan (struggling at the time)? Turns out they were true, and no one in NFL or CFB could believe it.

Image credits: kylo_hen

#30

Soylent green was indeed people.

Image credits: p1um5mu991er

#31

Donald Trump is actually a candidate for president in America. I remember people in my country joking about it when the first rumors came.

#32

There were no WMDs.

#33

Korrasami.

#34

British comedians joke about Jimmy Saville having an interest in young girls, some years before his death.

A ‘prolific’ s*x offender is an understatement.

#35

Charlie Sheen having HIV. I still remember thinking “lol what” when it was first reported.

#36

Context: There was an artist on a record label called Monstercat, named Ephixa. He was one of the owners. He released a few songs which everyone liked, then he disappeared. Never came back for years.

Fast foward: Monstercat is celebrating their fifth anniversary. They were going to release 10 songs, everyday, for two weeks, and compile them into a free 5 Year Anniversary album. The cover art for the album was teased on the subreddit, and everyone got excited. Then one person, in the comments, suggested something along the lines of “Hey, what if Ephixa were to come back for the album?” As expected, a lot of people disagreed and he was downvoted.

Well, guess who was the first release when they started?

Ephixa, just in time to celebrate the anniversary of his first track on the label.

Even if it’s not a very big deal to all of you I thought it was a neat story, mostly because I was there to witness it.

TL;DR: Artist releases on label, doesn’t return for years, and makes a surprise comeback when the label is celebrating their anniversary, as someone in the comments section predicted.

#37

Bruce Jenner becomes Caitlyn

The dude epitomized masculinity back in the ’70s and had that iconic Wheaties box. We haven’t even had a star gay player come out in one of the four major sports, let alone a gender change in someone so prominent.

#38

My wife made me watch the first episode of Gossip Girl. She had already seen it before. At one point one of the main character said something and I was like, yeah he/she is Gossip Girl, my wife was mad that I was right and turned it off.

#39

That Liberace was gay. Did not see that one coming. I mean women loved him.

#40

That the DNC was rigging the primary in Hillary’s favor.

#41

At the time Jose Canseco made them, the Alex Rodriguez steroid allegations were considered to be pretty careless and baseless.

#42

The author of the journals really is Stan’s brother.

#43

The American government is actively spying on its citizens – hidden profiles and recorded phone calls. For years, these conspirators were seen as looneys wearing tin foil hats. Hats aside, they were right.

#44

That original Pokemon cards were being reprinted.

#45

Not a Trump fan. Needs to be said because people on this website are quick to wrath.

He absolutely nailed the “Anthony Weiner has Clinton emails” speculation, when pundits everywhere called him a kook and that there was no way he would be given access to classified emails like that.

Well….

#46

Little Ahmed Mohammed intentionally created a bomb scare so when the school reacted his family could claim racism then sue the school and benefit the father’s political career.

#47

Olivia Munn and John Mulaney having a kid. Still can’t believe it.

#48

Not “favorite”, but most shocking…

Arnold Schwarzenegger had a son with the family housekeeper. The son was a teenager by the time Maria Shriver figured out what was going on.

#49

Ned Fulmer of the Try Guys cheating on his wife with an employee! And so brazenly out in the open!

#50

Spongebob and Ariana. Because I’m a theater kid so I already followed Ethan Slater (I cried when he got cast as Boq lolll) but not really Ari, and I just could not wrap my head around it. Still can’t!

#51

Justin Timberlake being a tool for yearssss and finally getting the public side eye he deserves.

#52

When Courtney Love said if you get invited to a hotel meeting with Harvey Weinstein, “don’t go”.

#53

For years and years and years there were blinds about the Smiths either being in an open relationship or acting as beards for each other.

I always just thought it was the usual bull c**p people spin about anyone in a long-term relationship in Hollywood who gets on well with their coworkers causing cheating rumours.

Turns out Jada cleared that up for us all, although I think like most people I would have preferred it stay in the blinds!

#54

KStew sleeping with that married director.

#55

Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes – there were blinds she was plotting her exit and would divorce him basically as soon as 5 years were up (due to their prenup). She did.

#56

I still find it really funny that fauxmoi were adamant the don’t worry darling blind was NOT real.

#57

This is kinda niche maybe but I really did not believe Kailyn Lowry from teen mom was pregnant with twins after keeping baby 5 secret for a year. And then she was! Got pregnant with babies 6 and 7 like 3 months after delivering secret baby 5.

#58

ETA not favourite, I missed that when reading the title. Some of the worst things I’ve read so I was not happy for it to be true.

Probably more UK specific but stuff about Jimmy Savile being a paedophile, rapist and necrophiliac were out there on the internet for years before he died and everything came out.

#59

Brangelina breaking up. So many tabloids on it every other month that I really didn’t think it would explode as flagrantly as it did.

#60

When rumours started that Chrishell from Selling Sunset was dating G Flip, a younger, non binary Australian musician, my little queer heart was just SO invested and then it turned out to be TRUE and now they are MARRIED??? Fairytale.

#61

When it was leaked that Britney was being held against her will for refusing to perform. A lawyer or paralegal had left a rambling voicemail about it and it leaked. I thought for sure this was fake, but it turned out to be real.

#62

Armie Hammer being a cannibal. I was sure it was made up. Nope.

#63

Marilyn Manson turning out to be a sexual predator (is that the right phrase?) was not at all surprising.

#64

That Coach Carr was sleeping with a student….
“Don’t have s*x, you’ll get pregnant and die!”.

#65

Cameron f*****g a pig.

#66

Lance Armstrong was doping the entire time. You have to be Weapons Grade Stupid to ever have thought he wasnt.

#67

The political system of the United States of America has been hacked by a consortium of extremely wealthy businessmen who want to control all of the money, and enslave the general population of the country.

#68

Hillary Clinton’s cheating and law-breaking at pretty much every turn.

#69

The DNC is rigged against Bernie.

#70

The Springfield Isotopes being moved to Albuquerque.

#71

Spider-Man being in Civil War.

#72

Fallout 4. When it was confirmed, all hell broke loose.

#73

Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey possibly being brothers.

#74

Gretchen Mol blind item that exposed weinstein back around 2010

Bonus for the red carpet interview with courtney love that did the same.

#75

Kylothee (Timothee and Kylie Jenner being together). I thought it’d be just another rumour but nope.

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