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52 Percent Of The British Public Think The Moon Landings Were Faked, Claims Survey

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Robin Andrews

Science & Policy Writer

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Buzz Aldrin pictured during some extravehicular activity on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. Today is its 47th anniversary. NASA

For some peculiar reason, online mobile retailer e2save and market research agency Atomik Research decided to question 1,003 British people on their beliefs – from the commonly held to the more outlandish. If you are a firm believer in the collective wisdom of the crowd, or even just marginally rational, these findings may render you somewhat crestfallen.

As reported by the Mirror, a stunning 52 percent of those surveyed think that the Apollo 11 Moon landing – clearly one of the most well-documented and truly defining moments of our species’ entire history – was faked.

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Horrifically, those aged 25 to 34 were the most deluded, with 73 percent of them considering the entire thing to be a highly elaborate hoax. By comparison, just 38 percent of those over the age of 55 didn’t believe Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the lunar surface. This, of course, is still an embarrassingly high number.

With such an abundance of clear, testable evidence for the Moon landings, claiming that they didn’t happen is akin to saying that the letter “F” is fake, that cats are secretly all robots or that Earth is actually flat. Indeed, certain people out there do believe in such outlandish, ridiculous things, just like the 64 percent of those in this group that claim dinosaurs never existed.

The survey also revealed that 30 percent of the group believe that ghosts or spirits walk the Earth. Considering that – spoiler alert – there’s no evidence for their existence, this is like claiming that White Walkers also exist, perhaps in Finland, where it’s often quite snowy and chilly.

In addition, 29 percent believe in some sort of God (a notoriously controversial subject to debate at the best of times), and 24 percent believe that extraterrestrials are real. To be fair to them, in such a large universe with so many galaxies, stars, and planets, aliens probably do exist.

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Amusingly, 12 percent think that witches and wizards are real, 10 percent think that the Loch Ness Monster isn’t a hoax, and just as many think that the Illuminati are out to take over the world. Another 10 percent think that the Yeti is definitely plodding around in the snow, 8 percent are convinced that Bigfoot is real, and 8 percent are still on the lookout for fairies.

And as much as many wish they did exist, dragons aren’t actually real – but that didn't stop 5 percent of this survey group thinking that they are.

It’s worth pointing out that this survey had quite a small sample size, which suggests that this particular facet of the population – less than 0.002 percent of the total – just happens to be the type that mostly ignores evidence. Let’s hope the rest of the British public is a little more up to speed on things. Oh wait.


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spaceSpace and Physics
  • tag
  • aliens,

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  • Moon landings,

  • conspiracies,

  • beliefs,

  • British public

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