Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, which killed more than three thousand people and shook the Western world, numerous conspiracy theories proliferated that defy logic and basic physics. These alternative narratives spread in an emerging digital environment, seeking underground explanations to replace the shock of the terrorist attacks. The article reviews the main theories, from the seemingly most innocuous to the most delusional, debunking each one with facts and technical explanations.
Among the theories analyzed are the alleged prophecy in the folded notes of 20 dollars (which turned out to be simple graphical pareidolia), the rumor that thousands of Jewish workers would have been warned of the attack (disproven by official records confirming the deaths of hundreds of Jewish citizens), and the thesis that a missile struck the Pentagon instead of Flight 77 (refuted by the aircraft parts recovered at the scene). The article also addresses the theory that a military fighter jet shot down Flight 93 in Pennsylvania, when audio records confirm the passengers' struggle against the hijackers.
The article also examines theories related to the physics of the collapses, such as the claim that jet fuel would not reach sufficient temperature to weaken steel (when in reality steel loses half its strength at 600 degrees), the existence of secret nanothermite (which laboratory analyses identified as simple paint particles), and the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 without being directly struck (explained by uncontrolled fires burning for seven hours). Financial speculation about profits on Wall Street was also investigated and proved to have no connection to the extremists.
At the most extreme level, theories emerged of a government conspiracy to justify wars abroad and, even more bizarre, the conviction that the planes were holographic projections. The article concludes that all these myths dissipate in the face of the reality of the wreckage recovered, flight radars, and the memorials where the names of the victims are engraved, reminders of a cruelly real and non-negotiable grief.
