Columbine conspiracy theories

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The 1999 Columbine High School massacre has had much attention from conspiracy theorists, suggesting many scenarios near Denver and Littleton, Colorado on the day.

1 Influences
2 The Third and Fourth Man
3 You Are Being Lied To
4 Other Conspiracies
5 References

[edit] Influences

Politicians accused Hollywood (specifically The Matrix), violent video games (specifically Doom), angry/aggressive music (specifically Rammstein and Marilyn Manson) and the mainstream media of warping the minds of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Popular shock rock star Marilyn Manson was specifically targeted because of his music, and because many thought that he should have received at least some of the blame for Eric and Dylan's actions. Manson canceled a show in Denver because of this, and wrote an article in Rolling Stone magazine (USA) defending himself. Police reports found that there were no such CDs, posters, or anything of the sort to show that the shooters were fans of Manson or were otherwise influenced by him. Other sources even suggest they were known to dislike him. In his article, Manson says he was used as a target because the bands that the shooters were actually known to like (KMFDM & Rammstein) were not very well known to the public.

Some placed the blame on ongoing bullying. Others blamed easy access to firearms & explosives, and an unsympathetic school administration. Some Internet pundits claimed that the shooters had literally been brainwashed, and were guinea pigs of the United States government's Project MKULTRA.

[edit] The Third and Fourth Man

On April 21, a press conference was held by Jefferson County District Attorney David Thomas and Sheriff John Stone, saying that they suspected that other children helped plan the shooting. This, coupled with suggestions that Harris and Klebold couldn't possibly have brought so many explosives into the building by themselves, fueled many imaginations.

According to transcripts from the police, two boys wearing trenchcoats were seen at the front of the school at the exact same time another pair, only one of which was wearing a trenchcoat, were seen at the rear of the school.

A man on the roof was assumed to be a possible third shooter by the police. It was later discovered to have been a roofing repairman who was scheduled to do maintenance on the library's roof and had remained hidden there after hearing shots fired by Harris and Klebold.

In the infamous cafeteria clip some say a dark figure is in the back holding what some say may be a gun.

[edit] You Are Being Lied To

In the book You Are Being Lied To, published by disinfo.com, several irregularities are raised, including

The son of the lead FBI agent investigating the case had been involved in the creation of a 'test video' instructing agents how to respond to a school shooting.

It is confirmed days after the attack on the school that former Columbine students Robert Perry and Chris Morris were in fact involved in the Columbine shooting that day, and never were charged.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing a 'dark-skinned, ugly' man as one of the shooters. Taken in conjunction with the 'second bomber' involved in the Oklahoma City case, this has lead some conspiracy theorists to speculate that al-Qaeda (or a similar organization) had involvement in both attacks

[edit] Other Conspiracies

The intended and actual dates of the massacre have been extensively commented upon by those with a numerological bent, with links noted to the Oklahoma City Bombing, the Waco siege, Adolf Hitler's birthday, the Apollo 16 Moon landing and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

In celebration of the date 420 in drug culture, many teen marijuana users in the Denver area and across the nation elect not to attend school. Noting that the population who place special meaning on smoking marijuana on April 20 excludes the population likely to have heckled, bullied, or hazed the gunmen leads some to conclude the date was chosen to prevent the deaths of some unintended victims.

Both Eric Harris and Jeffrey Weise, responsible for the Red Lake, Minnesota shooting, took the antidepressant medication Fluvoxamine (Luvox).

It is also known that Rachel Scott had drawn an image earlier that day, depicting a black columbine with 12 bloody tears on it. She has also said, "I feel like life is just gonna end soon." This may cause some to believe that she had knowledge of the incident's possible occurrence prior to the shooting, but Eric and Dylan didn't trust her.

Articles from the Associated Press state that ballistics from Columbine show that six of the thirteen victims were possibly shot and killed by Jefferson County SWAT (AP, December 7th, 2001, "Columbine Student Killed by Cop"; AP, December 8th, 2001, "Rohrbough, Ballistics show police killed Daniel"). In 2002, an independent investigation disproved accusations against the Jefferson County sheriff's department to the satisfaction of Daniel Rohrbough's parents, the chief proponents of this theory.^[1]

Another is that Klebold didn't commit suicide, but was murdered by Harris. In a picture of the boys after they killed themselves, it shows that Klebold's shotgun is allegedly too far out of his reach for him to have shot himself with.