October 10, 2025 • 8 mins
Conspiracy theories are everywhere these days, but that’s nothing new. They just get more oxygen with social media. The 1960s saw the rise of conspiracy theories in the aftermath of the JFK assassination and the distrust of the government after the advent of the Vietnam War. So, it’s no surprise that some folks didn’t believe man ever landed on ther moon. But the percentage of doubters then . . and even now, is staggering! It even caused astronaut Buzz Aldrin to punch one doubter in the face!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I don't have to tell you. We're living in a
time when conspiracy theories are a constant topic of discussion.
But you know what, it's nothing new. One of the
biggest conspiracy topics just fifty years ago involved the moon landing. Yeah,
these days, most of us take for granted that man
has walked on the Moon and that we've been moving
forward with space exploration ever since. But in the five
(00:24):
years following the moonlanding in July of nineteen sixty nine,
everything from the Vietnam War to Watergate, to race riots
to political assassinations had people questioning like never before what
the government told us. I'm Patty Steele, man lands on
the Moon in a giant Midwestern warehouse. That's next on
(00:45):
the backstory. We're back with the backstory. Okay, Imagine you're
a little kid in July of nineteen sixty nine. Your
whole living room is like a spaceship. The shaf carpet
is the lunar's surface, and your coffee table is mission control.
Your parents have dragged that bulky TV as close to
(01:08):
the couch as the cord will allow it to go.
The picture you're watching is grainy, ghost white, and kind
of a little crooked. You see a man in a
puffy suit bound slowly down a ladder. Astronaut Neil Armstrong
stands on the surface of the Moon and says some
of the most iconic words in the history of human exploration.
(01:31):
That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
And at that moment, ninety three percent of all TVs
in the US are tuned into the moon landing. Worldwide,
about six hundred and fifty million people are watching it live.
Your family and friends are amazed, and then they begin
(01:51):
to cheer. For a brief, flickering moment, the world agrees
on a single sort of shimmering fact, man just walked
on the Moon. In the immediate aftermath, very few people
questioned the validity of what they were seeing. But that
sense of trust didn't last for very long. The late
(02:11):
nineteen sixties and early seventies were a tumultuous time in America.
In the previous decades, we'd been united in our efforts
to deal with World War One, the depression, World War two,
and then in the go go years of the nineteen fifties,
everybody was full of hope and excitement due to good
financial times, modern technology and the introduction of the jet age.
(02:36):
But in the early sixties we had a handsome, young
president and his gorgeous wife in the White House. When
JFK was assassinated on live TV in nineteen sixty three,
the nation went into shock. Within days, conspiracy theories began
to make the rounds, and they've never stopped on that topic.
(02:56):
Other conspiracy theories flourished, including those about fifty one, the
Air Force base in Nevada, where the government was said
to have been hiding proof that aliens had landed on
Earth back in nineteen forty seven. As the Vietnam War
raged on, trust in the government began to falter. The
Moon Landing asked you to accept that the government had
(03:18):
built a spaceship that could reach the Moon and that
they were telling us the truth about it. An increasing
number of Americans struggled with both those ideas, so when
the thrill of the moon landing began to settle down,
the questions began to rise. A lot of doubters, as
well as propagandists from the Soviet Union, began to spread
(03:39):
the idea that the US government and NASA had staged
the nineteen sixty nine landing in an effort to prove
the US had beaten Russia in the race to the Moon.
Others claimed it was done so NASA could protect its
government funding, and yet another group claimed it was done
to distract the public from the upset over the very
(04:00):
popular Vietnam War. In any case, by July of nineteen
seventy one, Pole claimed that thirty percent of Americans believed
that the moonlanding was a hoax. Then there was Watergate,
which further eroded our trust in the government. By nineteen
seventy six, the numbers of folks who thought the moonlanding
was all a big fake still hadn't changed much. Twenty
(04:23):
eight percent were doubters. So how did they think it
was all staged? Well, there were several schools of thought
on that. Some claimed it was staged at the infamous
Area fifty one out in the Nevada Desert and in
the base's vast warehouses. Another theory promoted by the Flat
Earth Society was that the whole thing had been staged
(04:44):
and produced by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick on a huge
Hollywood sound stage. He had just finished making his epic
film two thousand and one a space odyssey. Some folks
even believed it had all been staged in a massive
Midway Western supermarket warehouse. But then the question is why
(05:04):
did so many people suspect a hoax? Well, psychologists say
the bigness of the moon landing kind of demands a
bigness of meaning. For some, we did it was enough.
For others it was staged, felt like the right answer
in that moment. It was the first major scientific achievement
beamed directly into our homes in real time. The photos
(05:28):
showed a flag that seems to ripple, even though there's
no wind on the Moon and there were no stars
in the background. Now, in reality, the flag had a
horizontal rod like a curtain rod, so it wouldn't hang limp.
Stars weren't visible in the daylight exposure because the surface
was lit blazingly bright to capture photos to beam back
(05:50):
to the Earth. But the picks do look weird thanks
to early technology. And you know what weird is exactly
what conspiracy theorists love. Scientists debunking the conspiracy stories make
some good points. They point out that four hundred thousand
people were involved in getting us to the Moon. Wouldn't
(06:10):
the secret of a Hollywood sound stage have been hard
to keep silent with that many people involved. Funny enough,
even today, about six percent of Americans still think the
moon landing was faked, although eleven percent of millennials are doubters,
and they enjoy being on that side of the equation.
Conspiracies come with merch and membership for influencers, fringe ideas
(06:34):
are a business. There's money to be made in books, speaking, gigs,
ad revenue, and other tie ins. Sadly, we live in
a world where it's easy to doubt and much harder
to marvel. But the more we practice allowing ourselves to
be awe inspired, the less oxygen we give to stories
that turn inspiration into a hoax. And finally, what did
(06:58):
the astronauts who actually stepped onto the moon have to
say about the conspiracy theorists? Neil Armstrong was noted for
being very calm and very buttoned up, so fittingly, he
dismissed the hoax talk, saying it wasn't worth his response.
But the fiery astronaut Buzz Aldrin responded differently. Now it's
(07:19):
September ninth, two thousand and two. Buzz, the second human
to set foot on the Moon is walking outside of
Beverly Hills Hotel when a conspiracy theorist starts harassing him
and accusing him of lying about the Apollo eleven moon landing.
The guy, bart Cybril says to Buzz, you're the one
who said you walked on the moon when you didn't.
(07:41):
Buzz snaps back, get away from me. Cybril shoots back,
saying you're a coward and a liar, and and at
that moment, Buzz, who was seventy two at the time,
punches the guy right in the face. Hope you like
the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review. I
would of it if you'd subscribe or follow for free
(08:02):
to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to
DM me if you have a story you'd like me
to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram
Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production
of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel
(08:24):
Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner.
We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free
to reach out to me with comments and even story
suggestions on Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook
at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the backstory with
Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you
(08:45):
needed to know.
I don't have to tell you. We're living in a
time when conspiracy theories are a constant topic of discussion.
But you know what, it's nothing new. One of the
biggest conspiracy topics just fifty years ago involved the moon landing. Yeah,
these days, most of us take for granted that man
has walked on the Moon and that we've been moving
forward with space exploration ever since. But in the five
(00:24):
years following the moonlanding in July of nineteen sixty nine,
everything from the Vietnam War to Watergate, to race riots
to political assassinations had people questioning like never before what
the government told us. I'm Patty Steele, man lands on
the Moon in a giant Midwestern warehouse. That's next on
(00:45):
the backstory. We're back with the backstory. Okay, Imagine you're
a little kid in July of nineteen sixty nine. Your
whole living room is like a spaceship. The shaf carpet
is the lunar's surface, and your coffee table is mission control.
Your parents have dragged that bulky TV as close to
(01:08):
the couch as the cord will allow it to go.
The picture you're watching is grainy, ghost white, and kind
of a little crooked. You see a man in a
puffy suit bound slowly down a ladder. Astronaut Neil Armstrong
stands on the surface of the Moon and says some
of the most iconic words in the history of human exploration.
(01:31):
That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
And at that moment, ninety three percent of all TVs
in the US are tuned into the moon landing. Worldwide,
about six hundred and fifty million people are watching it live.
Your family and friends are amazed, and then they begin
(01:51):
to cheer. For a brief, flickering moment, the world agrees
on a single sort of shimmering fact, man just walked
on the Moon. In the immediate aftermath, very few people
questioned the validity of what they were seeing. But that
sense of trust didn't last for very long. The late
(02:11):
nineteen sixties and early seventies were a tumultuous time in America.
In the previous decades, we'd been united in our efforts
to deal with World War One, the depression, World War two,
and then in the go go years of the nineteen fifties,
everybody was full of hope and excitement due to good
financial times, modern technology and the introduction of the jet age.
(02:36):
But in the early sixties we had a handsome, young
president and his gorgeous wife in the White House. When
JFK was assassinated on live TV in nineteen sixty three,
the nation went into shock. Within days, conspiracy theories began
to make the rounds, and they've never stopped on that topic.
(02:56):
Other conspiracy theories flourished, including those about fifty one, the
Air Force base in Nevada, where the government was said
to have been hiding proof that aliens had landed on
Earth back in nineteen forty seven. As the Vietnam War
raged on, trust in the government began to falter. The
Moon Landing asked you to accept that the government had
(03:18):
built a spaceship that could reach the Moon and that
they were telling us the truth about it. An increasing
number of Americans struggled with both those ideas, so when
the thrill of the moon landing began to settle down,
the questions began to rise. A lot of doubters, as
well as propagandists from the Soviet Union, began to spread
(03:39):
the idea that the US government and NASA had staged
the nineteen sixty nine landing in an effort to prove
the US had beaten Russia in the race to the Moon.
Others claimed it was done so NASA could protect its
government funding, and yet another group claimed it was done
to distract the public from the upset over the very
(04:00):
popular Vietnam War. In any case, by July of nineteen
seventy one, Pole claimed that thirty percent of Americans believed
that the moonlanding was a hoax. Then there was Watergate,
which further eroded our trust in the government. By nineteen
seventy six, the numbers of folks who thought the moonlanding
was all a big fake still hadn't changed much. Twenty
(04:23):
eight percent were doubters. So how did they think it
was all staged? Well, there were several schools of thought
on that. Some claimed it was staged at the infamous
Area fifty one out in the Nevada Desert and in
the base's vast warehouses. Another theory promoted by the Flat
Earth Society was that the whole thing had been staged
(04:44):
and produced by legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick on a huge
Hollywood sound stage. He had just finished making his epic
film two thousand and one a space odyssey. Some folks
even believed it had all been staged in a massive
Midway Western supermarket warehouse. But then the question is why
(05:04):
did so many people suspect a hoax? Well, psychologists say
the bigness of the moon landing kind of demands a
bigness of meaning. For some, we did it was enough.
For others it was staged, felt like the right answer
in that moment. It was the first major scientific achievement
beamed directly into our homes in real time. The photos
(05:28):
showed a flag that seems to ripple, even though there's
no wind on the Moon and there were no stars
in the background. Now, in reality, the flag had a
horizontal rod like a curtain rod, so it wouldn't hang limp.
Stars weren't visible in the daylight exposure because the surface
was lit blazingly bright to capture photos to beam back
(05:50):
to the Earth. But the picks do look weird thanks
to early technology. And you know what weird is exactly
what conspiracy theorists love. Scientists debunking the conspiracy stories make
some good points. They point out that four hundred thousand
people were involved in getting us to the Moon. Wouldn't
(06:10):
the secret of a Hollywood sound stage have been hard
to keep silent with that many people involved. Funny enough,
even today, about six percent of Americans still think the
moon landing was faked, although eleven percent of millennials are doubters,
and they enjoy being on that side of the equation.
Conspiracies come with merch and membership for influencers, fringe ideas
(06:34):
are a business. There's money to be made in books, speaking, gigs,
ad revenue, and other tie ins. Sadly, we live in
a world where it's easy to doubt and much harder
to marvel. But the more we practice allowing ourselves to
be awe inspired, the less oxygen we give to stories
that turn inspiration into a hoax. And finally, what did
(06:58):
the astronauts who actually stepped onto the moon have to
say about the conspiracy theorists? Neil Armstrong was noted for
being very calm and very buttoned up, so fittingly, he
dismissed the hoax talk, saying it wasn't worth his response.
But the fiery astronaut Buzz Aldrin responded differently. Now it's
(07:19):
September ninth, two thousand and two. Buzz, the second human
to set foot on the Moon is walking outside of
Beverly Hills Hotel when a conspiracy theorist starts harassing him
and accusing him of lying about the Apollo eleven moon landing.
The guy, bart Cybril says to Buzz, you're the one
who said you walked on the moon when you didn't.
(07:41):
Buzz snaps back, get away from me. Cybril shoots back,
saying you're a coward and a liar, and and at
that moment, Buzz, who was seventy two at the time,
punches the guy right in the face. Hope you like
the Backstory with Patty Steele. Please leave a review. I
would of it if you'd subscribe or follow for free
(08:02):
to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to
DM me if you have a story you'd like me
to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram
Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstories a production
of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Durand Group, and Steel
(08:24):
Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner.
We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free
to reach out to me with comments and even story
suggestions on Instagram at real Patty Steele and on Facebook
at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the backstory with
Patty Steele, the pieces of history you didn't know you
(08:45):
needed to know.
Host
Patty Steele
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