TWA Flight 800 Spawned the Internet's First Conspiracy Theories

On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 crashed just south of Long Island, claiming all 230 lives aboard the Boeing 747. A four-year National Transportation Safety Board investigation determined a fuel tank explosion was to blame for the incident.

Even before NTSB investigators arrived at the scene, however, conspiracy theories began to float: Was it a terrorist armed with a shoulder-fired missile? Did somebody have a bomb on board? Or did the military accidentally shoot down the airplane?

The NTSB's final explanation satisfied few of those who had already made up their mind. Indeed, filmmakers behind a new documentary say they have new evidence from NTSB insiders and others of a cover-up. As that film is set to open next month, it's important to remember those with "alternative" theories about Flight 800 long ago found a place where they could swap ideas and share their aviation expertise or first-hand accounts: the Internet.

We're all well familiar with the Internet's ability to give publishing power to everyone from moon landing deniers to 9/11 truthers. Flight 800 obsessives, however, were some of the first people to use the web for crowdsourced conspiracy theorizing around a post-Internet event — and they were doing it when only approximately 20% of American adults were online.

From a New York Times report several months after the crash:

In the United States, the idea has particularly thrived on the Internet, on which a number of discussion groups on Flight 800 have sprung up. There, a great many people, including retired pilots from United Airlines and employees of T.W.A., have traded rumors and reports.

The idea is sustained by a persistent distrust of the Federal Government, said one former T.W.A. flight attendant who is a believer in the conspiracy theory, Elizabeth Robinson, a resident of Huntington Station, L.I. She and other believers also point to politics. ''The reason you haven't heard this is it's an election year,'' Ms. Robinson said.

On the World Wide Web, some of the various discussion groups on the crash have detailed a possibility in which a Navy Aegis guided missile cruiser known to be operating south of the jet's flight path on the night of the crash let loose a practice shot that went awry. The Pentagon has insisted that no missiles were fired from that ship or any other in the area that night.

Online, conspiracy theorists blended facts with rumors and speculation in a self-perpetuating cycle of obfuscation. In some small corner of the Internet this might have all stayed, too — until President John F. Kennedy's former press secretary brought it into the mainstream.

From a 2006 CNN report:

It might have stayed simply an Internet conspiracy had it not been for Pierre Salinger, President Kennedy's press secretary who had worked as a network news correspondent for a time.

Three months after the TWA tragedy, while working as a freelance public relations director, he claimed to have verified the friendly fire cover-up.

"It's a document I got about five weeks ago — came from France — from an intelligence agent of France. He had been given this document from an American Secret Service agent based in France," Salinger said at the time. "He had been doing an inquiry and had some contacts with the U.S. Navy."

It turned out to be a discredited document that had been floating around the Internet for weeks. Salinger took to the news airwaves, including CNN, touting his theory. But as baseless as it sounded, Salinger could not be ignored. His accusations gave conspiracy theorists a voice of distinction and credibility.

"He was an idiot," said Bob Francis, the former vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "He didn't know what he was talking about, and he was totally irresponsible."

Despite the faulty nature of Salinger's evidence, his pre-established credibility lent an air of authenticity to Flight 800 conspiracy theories. Myriad websites, books and television documentaries exploring the flight's unfortunate fate have sprung up since then — and the upcoming film is sure to put these "alternative theories" back in the limelight. But always remember: Flight 800 conspiracy theorists come from the Internet.

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