K29 entries

• KAMIN, LeonAmerican psychologist who first raised suspicions about Cyril Burt's twin studies research in 1974, analyzing statistical impossibilities in the data that led to the eventual exposure of Burt's systematic data fabrication.
• KANUNGU MASSACREMass death event in which over 700 members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God died in fires and related killings in Uganda, making it one of the largest cult-related tragedies in African history.
• Katyn MassacreMass execution of Polish military officers and intellectuals by Soviet secret police in 1940, covered up by Soviet propaganda for decades before being officially acknowledged by Russia in 1990 as a Stalin-era war crime.
• KayfabeProfessional wrestling industry practice of maintaining the illusion that scripted performances are genuine athletic competitions, serving as a documented example of organized deception for entertainment purposes.
• Keating FivePolitical scandal involving five U.S. senators who received substantial campaign contributions from savings and loan executive Charles Keating Jr. and intervened with federal regulators on his behalf, damaging public trust in congressional ethics.
• KEATING, Charles H., Jr.American financier and lawyer whose corrupt practices in the savings and loan industry led to the collapse of Lincoln Savings and Loan, costing taxpayers $3.4 billion and triggering the Keating Five political scandal.
• Kecksburg UFO IncidentA fireball and alleged crash recovery incident in rural Pennsylvania that became one of the most disputed cases in UFO literature.
• Kelly-Hopkinsville EncounterReported encounter with small, luminous entities during a multi-hour siege at a rural Kentucky farmhouse on August 21, 1955, witnessed by eleven people and investigated by police, becoming one of the most famous early UFO contact cases.
• Kennedy CurseFolk theory suggesting the Kennedy family has been subject to supernatural or hereditary misfortune across generations, attributing a pattern to the family's numerous documented tragedies rather than establishing any causal mechanism.
• Kenneth Arnold SightingThe UFO sighting that launched the modern flying saucer era, reported by private pilot Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947.
• Kensington RunestoneRunic-inscribed stone discovered in Minnesota in 1898 claiming to record a 14th-century Scandinavian expedition, determined by professional runologists and historians to be a 19th-century hoax based on anachronistic language and runic forms.
• KEYHOE, Donald E.Former Marine aviator and pioneering UFO investigator who argued that the U.S. Air Force was deliberately concealing evidence of extraterrestrial visitation.
• KIBWETEERE, JosephUgandan school administrator and politician who co-founded the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God with Credonia Mwerinde, leading to the Kanungu massacre that killed over 700 followers in 2000.
• Kingston GroupPolygamist fundamentalist Mormon sect accused in federal lawsuits of operating a racketeering enterprise involving child trafficking and economic exploitation.
• KIRIAKOU, JohnFormer CIA officer who publicly confirmed the agency's use of waterboarding and became the only CIA employee imprisoned in connection with the post-9/11 torture program.
• KIRKPATRICK, SeanKirkpatrick, Sean, American physicist, served as the first director of the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office from 2022 to 2024, during which he publicly stated that his office had found no verifiable evidence of government possession of non-human craft or biological material, directly contradicting whistleblower testimony including that of David Grusch.
• KNAPP, GeorgeAmerican investigative journalist and television news anchor who brought Bob Lazar's Area 51 whistleblower claims to public attention and extensively covered UFO phenomena for Las Vegas television station KLAS-TV.
• Knights of Columbus Oath HoaxThe Knights of Columbus oath hoax is a fabricated "Fourth Degree Oath" first circulated in 1912 and purporting to bind members of the Catholic fraternal organization to violence against Protestants, a forgery repeatedly exposed and repudiated but still periodically recirculated in anti-Catholic literature.
• Knights of MaltaCatholic religious order formally known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, frequently featured in conspiracy theories alleging secret political influence despite being a legitimate humanitarian organization with observer status at the United Nations.
• Knights TemplarThe Knights Templar was a Catholic military order founded in 1119 to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land, suppressed by papal decree in 1312 amid politically motivated charges of heresy, an organization whose documented medieval dissolution has since been elaborated into legends of clandestine survival and hidden influence over later secret societies including Freemasonry.
• Knights Templar Treasure LegendLegend claiming the medieval Knights Templar hid vast treasures or sacred relics before their suppression in 1307, remaining undiscovered despite centuries of speculation.
• KONY, JosephUgandan warlord and leader of the Lord's Resistance Army who claims divine mission to establish a government based on the biblical Ten Commandments.
• KoreagateCongressional influence-buying scandal of the mid-1970s centered on South Korean businessman Tongsun Park's efforts to shape American policy through cash payments to U.S. representatives.
• KORESH, DavidKoresh, David (b. Aug. 17, 1959, Houston, Texas, U.S.—d. Apr. 19, 1993, Waco, Texas, U.S.), American cult leader, led the Branch Davidians religious sect at their Mount Carmel compound and died in the fire that ended the confirmed 51-day standoff with federal agents in April 1993, known as the Waco siege.
• KOZLOWSKI, DennisKozlowski, Dennis (b. November 16, 1946, Newark, New Jersey), American businessman who as chief executive of Tyco International looted the conglomerate of hundreds of millions of dollars for personal use, resulting in a 2005 conviction on grand larceny and fraud charges.
• KrakenLegendary sea monster of Norse mythology described as a giant squid or octopus capable of destroying ships, later identified as exaggerated accounts of encounters with colossal squid and other large marine life.
• KrampusHorned, devil-like figure of Alpine folklore said to accompany Saint Nicholas during the winter season to punish misbehaving children.
• Kundalini AwakeningConcept from Hindu tantric tradition describing a dormant spiritual energy that, when activated through yoga or meditation, is claimed to produce profound spiritual transformation and altered states of consciousness.
• KWON, DoSouth Korean co-founder of Terraform Labs who pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after the collapse of TerraUSD and Luna.