Do you want a probability to win $ 1.1 million ? Well , we have the competition for you – provided you are from Germany and 18 plus , that is .
The city of Bielefeld , Germany , is part of a long - lead cabal hypothesis or joke ( depending on your place ) that claims it does n’t really subsist . To achieve millionaire position , all you have to do is prove the conspiracy theorists mightily and attest once and for all that Bielefeld is a fictional entity , concocted by a shady organization with artful motive .
The chronicle of the Bielefeld conspiracy belong back to 1994 when a computer scientist called Achim Held post the claim on the computer meeting place Usenet . His aim : to ridicule conspiracy theories .
fit in to the theory , Bielefeld is an illusion created by a made - up system called SIE ( German for THEY ) with ( maybe ) some help from the Israeli intelligence authority Mossad or ( possibly ) some assistance from extraterrestrial being , who are using Bielefeld ’s university ( or illusion of ) to veil their starship .
To " prove " their story rightfulness , worshiper ask three questions . One , have you ever been to Bielefeld ? Two , do you know anybody from Bielefeld ? And three , do you know anyone who has been to Bielefeld ? There are reasonably clear flaws in this furrow of questioning that believably do n’t need excuse . Still , agree toAtlas Obscura , it is convincing enough that Bielefeld ’s mayor regularly field queries ask him if the city he serves is real .
Twenty - five years later and it is hold up strong , with even Chancellor Angela Merkel crack a jest after a 2012 visit to the city , tell apart audiences in Berlin " so it does subsist " . And like any good story , the fiction has grown . According to some worshiper , Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain may be active and well – in Bielefeld . Others have suggested the CIA use the German city to stop JFK spilling the beans on the trueness behind the moon landing place ( tying three confederacy theories into one ) .
It ’s hard to tell if Bielefeld truthers are echt believer or jokesters , but scientific studies have shown that people more inclined to align themselves with conspiracy theory may do so because they are more likely tomisunderstand probability , hate incertitude , and / orwant to see themselves as unique .
But unless you’re able to prove otherwise , Bielefeld is very much a real city in the north - east of North Rhine - Westphalia , Germany . It is domicile to more than 300,000 people , Dr Oetker , and a palace , and has itsown website .
