{"id":95004,"date":"2023-03-04T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=95004"},"modified":"2023-03-09T11:24:54","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T15:24:54","slug":"william-cooper-aliens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/","title":{"rendered":"William Cooper’s Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are aliens real? If so, what are they doing here? Why would the U.S. government try to conceal the truth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Cooper claims that a major conspiracy is operating just under the surface of American society: the presence of aliens on Earth. He claims that this has been kept secret for decades by a government that’s in collusion with the aliens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to understand William Cooper’s alien conspiracy theory, and decide for yourself what’s really going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

William Cooper’s Alien Conspiracy Theory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

William Cooper’s alien conspiracy theory suggests that an alien race first made contact with Earth in the early 1950s and has maintained a formal relationship with the U.S. government since the \u201960s. Alien spacecraft regularly land on Earth and abduct people to this day, and the government has hidden this from the public as a way of maintaining social control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, the aliens and the government are colluding to exploit the general population of Earth for their own gain<\/strong>, though Cooper offers several competing theories for which poses the greater threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Timeline of Earth-Alien Contact<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cooper claims that contact was first made in the early 1950s when over a dozen alien spacecraft landed or crashed in the American Southwest over a 10-year period. Advanced technology<\/a> and alien bodies were secretly recovered, while public sightings of UFOs were dismissed<\/strong> as hoaxes. Information about these encounters was tightly controlled, limited to only a few officials within the government. Those who objected, like Secretary of Defense James Forrestal or, later, President Kennedy, were removed or assassinated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: James Forrestal\u2019s death in 1949, apparently from suicide after a severe depressive episode, has been the subject of conspiracy theories for decades. Cooper\u2019s theory is a variation on the popular claim that Forrestal \u201cknew too much<\/a>\u201d about alien sightings, but it\u2019s also been speculated that he was murdered by the KGB for his virulent anti-communism<\/a> or by the CIA<\/a> for threatening to publish his uncensored diaries, which may have contained information embarrassing to the Truman administration<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of government organizations, including the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the National Security Council were founded with the express purpose of addressing the potential alien threat, though they were disguised as being general security or foreign affairs organizations. The most significant of these was Majestic Twelve (MJ-12), created by President Eisenhower to be the primary investigative force and go-between for the U.S. government and the aliens. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooper claims that MJ-12 became a pawn of the Illuminati almost immediately through the leadership of prominent members like then-Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. The Illuminati encouraged a closer relationship with the aliens in order to gain access to their technology at the expense of America\u2019s security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The Rockefellers and other \u201cdynastic fortunes<\/a>\u201d are often the subject of conspiracy theories, especially secret society theories, given their ability to dramatically influence international politics and the economy<\/a> without \u201cearning\u201d their power<\/a> through democratic elections. While suspicion of these families is sometimes motivated by a legitimate history of exploitation, it also tends to overlap with the antisemitic fear of Jewish wealth<\/a> as being inherently threatening to non-Jewish society.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Cooper, the U.S. government signed a formal treaty with the aliens at Edwards Air Force Base in 1954. The treaty promised that the government would keep the aliens\u2019 presence on Earth a secret and allow them to abduct humans for study<\/strong>, provided that the aliens would not harm the abductees, return them quickly, and provide MJ-12 with a full record of their activities. In exchange, the aliens agreed to help the government develop more advanced technology and to not establish a relationship with any other Earth government. They immediately began constructing joint underground bases throughout the American Southwest for building and testing weapons and aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The treaty Cooper describes could explain the number of UFO sightings reported in the Southwest in the 1950s-\u201970s. On the other hand, skeptics argue that there were no aliens involved, and observers were seeing highly classified weapons testing<\/a> carried out by the CIA and the Air Force<\/a>\u2014given the Southwest\u2019s low population, it was a popular site for these sorts of activities<\/a>. It\u2019s even been suggested that the U.S. government may have encouraged<\/em> the UFO narrative<\/a> to deflect attention and keep the exact nature of these experiments secret.<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a year, however, the U.S. government discovered through their espionage and the accounts of abductees that the aliens were violating the treaty<\/strong> by mutilating human and animal abductees, conducting abductions in secret, and sharing their weapons with other countries<\/strong>, such as the USSR. Because human weapons were no match for alien ones, MJ-12 resolved to maintain friendly relations as long as possible while preparing to fight back. This is the state of human-alien relations in the modern day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Stories about alien abduction first gained popularity in the 1960s, with the Barney and Betty Hill incident<\/a> being one of the first to attract nationwide attention. These stories usually involve the victims being taken to a mysterious location by humanoid creatures to undergo invasive medical \u201ctesting,\u201d only to wake up hours later with unexplainable gaps in their memory. Skeptics argue that most abductees are simply experiencing hallucinations or sleep paralysis<\/a> and that any memories recovered under hypnosis are likely false<\/a> and not to be taken seriously.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Year 2000 Disaster<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Part of the reason the U.S. has maintained a relationship with the aliens for so long is in the hopes of using their superior technology to bail the Earth out from an impending environmental disaster. According to Cooper, an investigation by the country\u2019s top scientists in the late 1950s concluded that the planet was doomed. By the year 2000, overpopulation and military tensions between nations would destroy every society through war, famine, and nuclear holocaust<\/strong>. The only way for humanity to save itself would be to either dramatically reduce its population and rate of resource consumption or to rely on the aliens for help. Though the government attempted to keep the impending threat a secret, it eventually became public knowledge with the publication of books like Paul Ehrlich\u2019s The Population Bomb<\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Year 2000 and the Rapture<\/strong>

Behold a Pale Horse <\/em>was published in 1991, and though the year 2000 has now passed without disaster, apocalyptic theories centered around the dawn of the new millennium were popular in the late \u201980s and \u201990s. Cooper\u2019s choice of the date comes partly from mid-century scientific works like Ehlrich\u2019s, which choose it as a convenient deadline<\/a> around which to center their calls for change, but also from evangelical teachings about the rapture<\/a>. Evangelicals predict that on some significant date (2000 having been one of many suggestions<\/a>) all worthy Christians will ascend to Heaven, leaving sinners to face their extinction on a doomed, apocalyptic Earth. 

While Cooper never describes his religious background in detail, he does call himself a Christian and refers to God and Jesus throughout Behold a Pale Horse<\/em>. The influence of religious apocalyptic beliefs is also alluded to in the book\u2019s title, Behold a Pale Horse<\/em>, which is a direct quote from the Book of Revelation<\/a> in the Bible. Saint John witnesses the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse<\/a> riding on differently colored horses, with the personification of Death riding on the last, \u201cpale\u201d horse. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eisenhower commissioned the JASON Society of prominent scientists to develop options, and they generated three. The first was for humanity to devote itself to environmentalism and work toward peace among all nations, which was dismissed as unlikely to succeed. The second was to build underground facilities in which those chosen could retreat and survive following the apocalypse, while the rest on the surface died out. The third was to exploit alien technology by working with them in order to establish colonies in space, though again only for a select few. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: These second and third options have been popular premises for dystopian or post-apocalyptic science fiction since the mid-20th century. Such fiction is usually satirical, contrasting utopian visions of Earth\u2019s future with the preventable-but-through-hubris destruction of the Earth and mass death of humanity. Two of the most famous examples include Stanley Kubrick\u2019s Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb<\/em><\/a> and the video game series Fallout<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Cooper, both the U.S. and the Soviet governments immediately began joint work on the second and third options. And, with the aliens\u2019 help, they have already built functioning bases on the Moon and Mars. Cooper claims that popular representations of both planets as barren are a cover-up by NASA and that the truth can be seen in the 1977 documentary Alternative 3<\/em> and George Leonard\u2019s study of NASA photographs, Someone Else Is on the Moon<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Alternative 3<\/em><\/a> was a mockumentary, intended to be aired as the April Fools\u2019 Day edition of the English TV program Science Report<\/em><\/a>. The film used fake interviews with astronauts and physicists to claim that the U.S. and the USSR were working together to develop colonies on Mars and the Moon, where a select few would be able to escape after climate change destroyed the Earth. When the broadcast was delayed to mid-June, many viewers assumed that what they were watching was real, and some UFOlogists continue to insist that the program is legitimate and the TV studio\u2019s denials are a government cover-up<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooper also claims that these governments are simultaneously working to reduce the Earth\u2019s population as much as possible<\/strong> through the promotion of birth control, importation of drugs and guns to vulnerable populations, forced sterilization, and man-made epidemics (he suggests HIV\/AIDS as an example). He theorizes that, while the world\u2019s elites will escape underground or to the colonies, the remaining humans who survive these initiatives and the devastation of Earth will either be sold to the aliens for experimentation or used as slave labor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pandemics From a Lab?<\/strong>

Cooper\u2019s theory that AIDS was a man-made disease was one of the most controversial claims in the book, but it has believers to this day; in 2000, a South African health minister came under fire<\/a> for distributing relevant pages from Behold a Pale Horse <\/em>to other government officials. In the 2020s, conspiracy theories surrounding Covid-19 similarly suggest that the disease was chemically engineered<\/a> and released into vulnerable populations, either to try to eradicate them or as an act of biological warfare between nations.

Though there\u2019s little evidence for these theories, they\u2019re given legitimacy by the fact that the U.S. government has conducted medical experiments<\/a> on its people<\/a> in the past. In addition, vulnerable populations do tend to die from diseases at greater rates<\/a>, though this can be attributed to government indifference<\/a> and prejudice limiting their access to money and health care<\/a> rather than deliberate genocide.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A New World Order Hoax?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cooper admits that many UFO-related documents and theories\u2014including the original MJ-12 document\u2014are confirmed hoaxes and that his theories may sound outlandish to the reader. Ultimately, he suggests that it\u2019s possible that the presence of aliens on Earth is itself a hoax perpetrated by the U.S. government and the Illuminati<\/strong>, as part of their plan to establish the NWO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: The MJ-12 document provided the foundation for a number of other conspiracy theories<\/a>, but its authenticity was questioned almost as soon as it was discovered. Both the FBI and respected scientists like Carl Sagan dismissed it<\/a>, and interest in the document faded after one of its originators, UFOlogist William L. Moore, claimed that he\u2019d worked with the government<\/a> to spread deliberate misinformation about UFOs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this is the case, then all UFO sightings, abduction stories, and leaked documents are intended to convince the people that an existential alien threat could appear at any time. When the time is right, Cooper theorizes that the government will stage an alien attack, announce the presence of the threat, and use it to justify establishing total control over the people\u2014depriving them of their weapons and material possessions, rounding people up into camps, and requiring total surveillance\u2014and merging with the governments of foreign nations, all in the name of safety. This will pave the way for a formal declaration of the NWO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: This theory was famous before Cooper, as it\u2019s the ending to the influential \u201980s comic book series Watchmen<\/em><\/a>. World War III between the USSR and the U.S. is averted when the superhero Ozymandias stages an alien attack on New York City, killing millions but ensuring cooperation between nations<\/a> against this supposed new threat. Though most of the characters are horrified by this act, they agree to keep it secret for the sake of world peace.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence for this theory, according to Cooper, can be seen in the development of military national disaster contingency plans in the 1970s and \u201980s, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These programs provided for the suspension of the Constitution and mass detention without cause in the case of a vaguely defined \u201cnational emergency.\u201d<\/strong> <\/strong>A supposed alien attack would have the benefit of uniting everyone in their fear of an outside threat, making them more likely to comply with a police state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Although the disaster contingency plans Cooper describes did exist<\/a>, they\u2019ve never been implemented. FEMA was developed to allow for a swift government response to natural disasters or foreign attacks<\/a>, and since its creation, it\u2019s been deployed mostly in response to hurricanes, snowstorms, and wildfires<\/a>. There\u2019s no evidence<\/a> for the idea that FEMA plans or even has the capability<\/a> to imprison Americans en masse.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are aliens real? If so, what are they doing here? Why would the U.S. government try to conceal the truth? William Cooper claims that a major conspiracy is operating just under the surface of American society: the presence of aliens on Earth. He claims that this has been kept secret for decades by a government that’s in collusion with the aliens. Read more to understand William Cooper’s alien conspiracy theory, and decide for yourself what’s really going on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":63005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,275,24],"tags":[932],"class_list":["post-95004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-politics","category-society","tag-behold-a-pale-horse","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWilliam Cooper's Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Aliens and the government are colluding to exploit the Earth for their own gain. Learn about William Cooper's alien conspiracy theory.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"William Cooper's Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Aliens and the government are colluding to exploit the Earth for their own gain. Learn about William Cooper's alien conspiracy theory.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-04T21:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-09T15:24:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1120\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"689\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Whitworth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\"},\"headline\":\"William Cooper’s Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-04T21:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-09T15:24:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/\"},\"wordCount\":2302,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Behold a Pale Horse\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Politics\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/\",\"name\":\"William Cooper's Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-04T21:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-09T15:24:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"Aliens and the government are colluding to exploit the Earth for their own gain. Learn about William Cooper's alien conspiracy theory.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg\",\"width\":1120,\"height\":689},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"William Cooper’s Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13\",\"name\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elizabeth Whitworth\"},\"description\":\"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.\",\"sameAs\":[\"rina@shortform.com\"],\"award\":[\"Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)\",\"Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)\",\"Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)\",\"Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)\"],\"knowsAbout\":[\"History\",\"Theology\",\"Government\"],\"jobTitle\":\"Senior SEO Writer\",\"worksFor\":\"Shortform\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"William Cooper's Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax? - Shortform Books","description":"Aliens and the government are colluding to exploit the Earth for their own gain. Learn about William Cooper's alien conspiracy theory.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"William Cooper's Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax?","og_description":"Aliens and the government are colluding to exploit the Earth for their own gain. Learn about William Cooper's alien conspiracy theory.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2023-03-04T21:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-09T15:24:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1120,"height":689,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Whitworth","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Whitworth","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13"},"headline":"William Cooper’s Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax?","datePublished":"2023-03-04T21:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-09T15:24:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/"},"wordCount":2302,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg","keywords":["Behold a Pale Horse"],"articleSection":["History","Politics","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/","name":"William Cooper's Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax? - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg","datePublished":"2023-03-04T21:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-09T15:24:54+00:00","description":"Aliens and the government are colluding to exploit the Earth for their own gain. Learn about William Cooper's alien conspiracy theory.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg","width":1120,"height":689},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/william-cooper-aliens\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"William Cooper’s Alien Conspiracy Theory: Reality or a Hoax?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d2928cf6c11a69ced1491d6a5b74fb13","name":"Elizabeth Whitworth","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fff9d65a52ac4340660218e7b63ee5e365cf08e7aa7adff79a0142cd4b96f84?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Elizabeth Whitworth"},"description":"Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books\u2014and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.","sameAs":["rina@shortform.com"],"award":["Contributions to joint task force efforts (FBI)","Contributions to Special Operations Division (DOJ & DEA)","Efforts to fight the war on drugs (NSA)","Contributions to Operation Storm Front (US Customs Service)"],"knowsAbout":["History","Theology","Government"],"jobTitle":"Senior SEO Writer","worksFor":"Shortform","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/elizabeth\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/alien-sunset.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95004"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95042,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95004\/revisions\/95042"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}