I recall a thought-provoking article about how a lot of UFO &quot;folklor&quot; (abductions, cows etc.) was fabricated at some point by secret service agencies in order to distract the UFO crowd from actually observing the sky.<p>This is one of my favorite twists on conspiracy theories - that they themselves are often a product of conspiracies. Or that they get discreetly, erm what would be the right word, native speakers? Kinda &quot;fed&quot; (by controlled information leaks, for instance) if it serves some purpose.