Decoding the Most Unbelievable Titanic Conspiracy Theories

 

Significant events often become breeding grounds for harmful myths and conspiracy theories. This phenomenon is evident in both remarkable achievements, such as the moon landing (where Buzz Aldrin famously confronted a denier), and devastating tragedies, including the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., the 9/11 attacks, and the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic.

On the fateful night of April 14, 1912, the Titanic collided with an iceberg, leading to its sinking in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. The disaster claimed the lives of 1,517 out of the 2,223 passengers and crew members on board. Trying to make sense of this tragic and seemingly arbitrary event, people throughout the past century have woven narratives of ominous signs and ignored warnings, or crafted intricate conspiracy theories to unveil the supposed "true" reason behind the sinking.

Below, we delve into some of the most enduring conspiracy theories and myths surrounding the Titanic disaster. 

1.  J.P. Morgan planned the disaster to kill his rivals.

One persistent conspiracy theory suggests that J.P. Morgan orchestrated the Titanic disaster to eliminate his rivals, including Jacob Astor, Isidor Straus, and Benjamin Guggenheim, all of whom tragically perished on the ill-fated ship. The narrative hinges on the fact that Morgan had initially planned to be on the Titanic but changed his plans just before departure. However, the theory fails to provide any plausible explanation for how Morgan could have caused the ship to collide with an iceberg, resulting in the deaths of over 1,500 people, including the three targeted individuals. 

Moreover, the theory posits that Morgan sought to eliminate his rivals because they opposed the establishment of the Federal Reserve. However, this motive is questionable, as Astor and Guggenheim did not appear to take a stance on the Federal Reserve, and Straus actually supported its creation.

Alternative versions of this conspiracy theory shift the blame to the Rothschild banking family or the Jesuits, alleging their involvement in arranging the deaths of Astor, Straus, and Guggenheim on the Titanic. It's important to note that implicating the Rothschilds as international conspirators perpetuates a centuries-old anti-Semitic trope. The Rothschild family, known for founding banking houses across Europe in the early 1800s, has long been a target of conspiracy theorists.

                ISADOR STRAUS, BENJAMIN GUGGENHEIM & MILLIONAIRES JACOB ASTOR

Notably, this theory resurfaced recently in connection with QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory that revolves around an alleged secret plot by a purported "deep state" against U.S. President Donald Trump and his supporters.

2. The Titanic never sank.

A popular but unfounded conspiracy theory surrounding the Titanic proposes that the ship never actually sank—a tale that resonates with the intrigue of insurance fraud. According to this theory, someone allegedly switched the Titanic with another vessel from the White Star Line, the R.M.S. Olympic. However, Paul Burns, the vice president and curator for the Titanic Museum Attractions in Missouri and Tennessee, dismisses this idea, stating that "it just doesn’t make any sense."

 

The theory begins with the fact that the Olympic suffered damage while en route from Southampton, England, to New York in September 1911, necessitating a return to Harland and Wolff’s shipyard in Belfast for repairs. After repairs, the Olympic successfully completed a voyage to New York and back. It then returned to Belfast for additional repairs in March 1912, just a few weeks before the Titanic set sail.

3. A mummy’s curse doomed the Titanic.

A peculiar conspiracy theory surrounding the Titanic involves a mummy's curse that supposedly doomed the ship. William Stead, a British editor and Titanic passenger, subscribed to early 20th-century spiritualism and had previously claimed that a cursed mummy was causing mysterious destruction in London. Similar to other myths involving "Egyptian curses" and "Native American burial grounds," this tale exploited colonialists' anxieties about the cultures they had exploited.

     THE 'UNLUCKY MUMMY', FROM 945 BC, DISPLAYED BY THE BRITISH MUSEUM IN 2007

While aboard the Titanic, Stead shared his mummy curse story with fellow passengers. After the ship sank, a survivor relayed Stead's tale to the New York World, and the media eagerly picked it up. The Washington Post even ran a headline the following month: "Ghost of the Titanic: Vengeance of Hoodoo Mummy Followed Man Who Wrote Its History."

Some accounts linked the "mummy's curse" to Egyptian artifacts that survivor Margaret Brown had indeed brought on board the Titanic to deliver to a museum in Denver. Other versions claimed that the mummy itself was on the Titanic because the British Museum had sold it to an American who was shipping it home, as reported by Snopes.

However, the truth reveals that the so-called "unlucky mummy" remains at the British Museum, and no mummy was ever loaded onto the Titanic. It was an iceberg, not a curse, that led to the sinking of the Titanic.

4. The ship's number read 'NO POPE' backwards.

A persistent myth surrounding the Titanic suggests that Catholic employees at Harland and Wolff, the Belfast company responsible for building the ship, were troubled by the ship's number, 3909 04, as it appeared to spell "NO POPE" when viewed in a mirror. Some speculated whether this perceived message of "NO POPE" was an ominous sign foreshadowing the ship's tragic fate.

 

However, this myth has no basis in reality. Titanic historian Walter Lord received letters from people in Ireland recounting the "NO POPE" story starting in the mid-1950s. Yet, as noted by Paul Burns in his 1986 book, "The Night Lives On," there was no such number associated with the Titanic. The hull number painted on the ship was 401, matching its yard number at Harland and Wolff, and its Board of Trade number was 131,428. Even if one of these numbers had somehow read "NO POPE," it's crucial to note that there were no Catholic workers at Harland and Wolff to be upset by it. The company had driven away its Catholic employees in the late 1800s, and by the twentieth century, it was known for exclusively employing Protestants, as documented by Annie Caulfield in "Irish Blood, English Heart, Ulster Fry."

Despite the historical facts, visitors to the Titanic Museum Attractions in Missouri and Tennessee occasionally inquire about this unfounded myth.

5. Jack Dawson is Jay Gatsby.

A fan theory circulating on the internet suggests an intriguing connection between Leonardo DiCaprio's characters in the 1997 film Titanic and The Great Gatsby. In this theory, Jack Dawson from Titanic is believed to be the same person as Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby, proposing an alternate timeline where Jack survived the Titanic sinking and forged a new life in America to reunite with Rose.

 

                                                                              Titanic Movie

Chris Lough, writing on Tor.com, a science fiction and fantasy site, delves into the idea, suggesting that Jack, having survived the shipwreck, transforms into a charismatic showman during the Jazz Age, hoping to encounter Rose once again. However, the theory posits that Jack ultimately finds love with another woman, Daisy, in a storyline reminiscent of The Great Gatsby.

Since this theory involves fictional characters from movies, it's not something that can be definitively proven or disproven. The interpretation of whether Jack is indeed the Great Gatsby is left to the audience's imagination.