Submission Instructions and Editorial Guidelines
If you’d like to submit an article on a true conspiracy or a conspiracy theory for consideration as an exhibit in the Museum of Conspiracies, or if you’d just like to suggest a topic for the curator to consider posting about instead, you can contact us by email by clicking the email hyperlink provided below.
Authorship of any submissions accepted for publication will be acknowledged on this site (unless you’d rather remain anonymous), but unfortunately, we can’t currently offer any additional compensation for articles we publish.
All article submissions should consider the editorial guidelines set out below. After you've read the guidelines and polished your submission up until it shines like the Hope Diamond, go ahead and send it our way. Please do not email us with file attachments; include the text of the article in the body of an email instead.
Email us your submission or request, along with a brief note of introduction, here.
Museum-Worthiness
For a true conspiracy story or conspiracy theory to be considered museum-worthy, it doesn’t have to involve public fraud on massive scales, government plots to cover up UFO crash landings, or any of the other more sensational features popularly associated with conspiracies, but it should at least be a story with some interesting angles. A story about a crime ring that smuggled cartons of cigarettes out of your local grocery store probably won’t make the cut, for instance. Unless, of course, the ringleader in that conspiracy went on to become a US president and then put his former accomplices in charge of the Justice Department.
The general idea is that we’re looking for compelling conspiracy lore. Things like historical conspiracies that either failed spectacularly or came disturbingly close to going unnoticed.
Objectivity Vs. Intellectual Honesty
Objectivity isn’t strictly speaking an editorial requirement for a submission to the museum, but intellectual honesty is. Maintaining a respectful, non-confrontational tone is also mandatory.
There’s no need to pretend not to be highly skeptical of theories that make outlandish sounding claims--like, say, a theory about how mischevious extraterrestials actually caused the Spanish Inquisition and the Salem Witch Hunts using sophisticated mind control techniques--should you choose to take on such theories. But don’t gloat about it. Don't use your submission as merely an opportunity to mock ideas you find annoying or farfetched. On the other hand, don't view your submission as an opportunity to popularize a theory that's made a true believer out of you either.
In general, submissions should avoid editorializing, but a reasonable amount of editorial commentary is acceptable. However, editorial perspectives where offered should be explicitly identified and acknowledged for what they are, not insinuated through intentional misrepresentations or omissions of facts and opposing arguments. The ideal submission describes a true conspiracy story or conspiracy theory on its own terms, using value-neutral language.
Editorial Standards
All submissions should be free of typos, spelling errors, grammatical errors, and stray punctuation. Submissions should be no less than 500 and no more than 1000 words in length. The Museum's preferred style manual is Strunk and White's Elements of Style, although it should only be used as a guide. Above all, submissions should be written in language that's both clear and engaging. It's okay to write in a less formal, conversational tone, but don't overdo it. Oh, and UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES is using all-caps to emphasize CERTAIN WORDS or PHRASES permitted. (Unless of course you do it ironically and in a tasteful way.)
