- In a shocking turn of events, we didn’t all randomly fall to our deaths today.
Did you notice how gravity stopped working for a while today? It was crazy!
Thousands died from severe falls once everything went back to normal. Cities across the globe are devastated.
Oh wait, that didn’t happen. But according to a bizarre conspiracy theory, it should have.
The theory, which emerged late last year, claimed that gravity was going to stop working for several seconds on August 12, 2026. Over that time, people would essentially fall upward until gravity kicked back on, at which point they’d plummet back to the ground.
This outlandish event would supposedly be the result of black hole gravitational waves colliding. Totally valid science backed this theory, but the evil governments of the world suppressed all knowledge of it.
Meanwhile, those governments were busy running Project Anchor, a network of secret gravity bunkers for the rich and powerful.
By the time I’m writing this, we’re past the supposed event time, so I think it’s safe to say that gravity didn’t stop working. Yet, the conspiracy theory gained enough traction that NASA denied it would happen in an official statement.
What a world we live in.
What’s the Theory?
The Failing Gravity/Project Anchor Theory (I don’t know if it’s actually called that, but I’m calling it that) first surfaced on Instagram in late 2025. For some reason, it began gaining surprising amounts of traction, despite its absolutely harebrained premise.
According to the FG/PAT, NASA discovered in 2019 that two “gravitational waves” generated by unspecified black holes would collide upon Earth. The astronomers supposedly determined that there was a 94.7% chance of this happening on August 12, 2026, at 14:33 UTC (or 10:33 a.m. ET).
This cosmic collision would undo gravity for exactly 7.3 seconds. Over those seconds, “everything not secured” would rise into the air, essentially falling upward.
However, once the gravitational waves passed, gravity would return to normal. People, animals, and objects would fall back down with horrific results.
The FG/PAT posited that anywhere between 40 and 60 million people would die immediately upon impact. More would perish from their injuries in the coming days.
Similarly, global infrastructure would suffer irreparable damage from the gravity reversal. In fact, the theory claimed the financial whiplash would be so bad that it would trigger a decade-long economic collapse.
Governmental Cover-Up
Wow, that sounds terrible! Surely NASA would go public and warn people of their impending doom.
Not according to the FG/PAT. Despite supposedly knowing about the upcoming cataclysm since 2019, not a word of it had gotten out until the conspiracy theory was first published on Instagram.
That was because the world’s governments (which are well-known for their ability to collaborate 100% on enormous projects like this) forced NASA to keep their mouths shut. They censored the research to avoid triggering mass panic.
The FG/PAT posited that this was a cold, calculated effort to minimize damage. Better to have 40 million perish in the gravity glitch than have eight billion people riot in terror, right?
Of course, the mighty and powerful didn’t want to belong to that 40 million statistic. That’s why they launched Project Anchor, a global effort to construct underground bunkers where “essential personnel” would be safe from the gravity event.
These included, the theory suggests, the world’s government leaders, major scientists, and military staff. In addition, “selected citizens with genetic diversity” would be invited to Project Anchor bunkers to repopulate the world if necessary.
Yet, someone tried to tell the truth. An “independent physicist” confirmed that the gravitational waves were real and the disaster would happen, the FG/PAT claimed.
This physicist, however, disappeared mysteriously. Additionally, the paper he supposedly published has been suppressed so effectively that no copy of it remains anywhere.
Still Here, Gravitating
Well, I’m typing this article out on the afternoon of August 12. To the best of my knowledge, I didn’t fall upwards to my death this morning, nor did any of my friends or loved ones that I asked.
They now think I’m slightly off my rocker, but I digress.
Despite the FG/PAT being utterly ridiculous, it gained enough attention that NASA took it upon itself to give an official statement on the matter.
“The Earth will not lose gravity on Aug. 12, 2026,” the space agency wrote. That’s a relief.
NASA went on to describe the only situation where Earth could theoretically lose its gravitational field. For that to happen, Earth’s core, mantle, crust, oceans, and atmosphere would all have to simultaneously lose all their mass.
Basically, the entire Earth would essentially have to vanish into thin air. At that point, losing gravity would probably be the least of our worries.
Want some more conspiracy weirdness? Check out our list of 8 Conspiracy Theories Too Weird to Become Popular! Or, for something different, read about these 6 Bizarre Conspiracy Theories That Were True All Along.