When a political or religious figure suddenly dies, conspiracy theories seem to fall from the trees, like apples ripe with the juice of murder. Being fairly normal human beings, we know that not every political death has to do with shadowy government figures and encoded messages, but the unsolved crimes on this list are sketchy enough to make us doubt even the most open and shut case. It’s entirely plausible that each of the political deaths on this list has a simple answer, but after reading up on each of them, we’re not so sure. The only thing that we are sure about is that you’ll be as intrigued as we are after you read this list of mysterious political deaths.
Some of the unsolved murders and mysteries on this list are cases that have long gone cold, the perpetrators either dead or so well connected that they can’t be touched. Some of the other mysteries are still open, but little hope is held for solving the crime. And the biggest mysteries that we’ve collected were, in some case, possibly committed by the US government. We tried to shy away from the JFK assassination (don’t worry, he’s on here), but HOLY TOLEDO there were a lot of dead people involved in that case. The conspiracies that you’ll be reading about tend to go deep, so get ready to put your detective hat on and spend a lot of sleepless nights cutting out newspaper articles. This list of mysterious political deaths is only the beginning…
Leave us a comment and let us know which story seems plausible, and which seems like it’s just the ramblings of a nut in a tinfoil hat.
28 Mysterious Political Deaths and Unsolved Murders,
Alexander Litvinenko
Litvinenko was a Russian defector from the FSB. In 1998, he and several other FSB officers publicly accused their superiors of ordering the assassination of a Russian mafia leader. Afterward, he fled to London where he lived with his family in exile.
In 2006, after naming Vladimir Putin as the murderer of a Russian journalist, he mysteriously fell ill with with a sickness related to radioactive polonium 210. Most theories point to someone in the Russian government as his killer, although some believe in British involvement in his murder.
Clarence 13X
Clarence 13X was the founder of The Five-Percent Nation, a group that split from the Nation of Islam. In 1969, Clarence was gunned down by three unknown assailants believed to be connected to an extortion crew. Followers of Clarence 13X believe that the FBI used the extortion crew as a scapegoat to take care of their dirty work.
Jimmy Hoffa
Jimmy Hoffa was the leader of the Teamsters Union, and a man with multiple mafia ties. He was basically asking to be disappeared mysteriously. After being released from federal prison in 1971 (having served less than five years of a 13 year sentence), he received $1.7 million (!!!) and, in 1975, disappeared from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox Restaurant. Multiple mob guys have admitted to offing Hoffa, but the remains of his body have never been found.
John F. Kennedy
Probably the most famous and debated political death of all time, JFK was murdered while visiting Dallas, TX. Despite arresting Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder, JFK's assassination has spawned an exhausting number of conspiracy theories. In 2013, a poll showed that 60% of Americans believe that a group of conspirators were responsible for the assassination.
John Roselli
John Roselli was a swingin' mafiosa who went back and forth from Vegas to LA before he was unknowingly recruited by the CIA in a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. In 1976, his decomposing body was found in a 55 gallon drum floating in Miami, FL. It's widely believed that his involvement with the CIA directly lead to his murder.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Prior to 1815, Napoleon had conquered most of Europe and was on his way to being the King of the Eastern Hemisphere, but he was ultimately defeated (which, despite his liberal laws was probably a good thing). After his defeat, Napoleon was sent to a private prison island, Saint Helena, where it's still debated as to what killed him. Some say stomach cancer, while others insist he was killed by unknowingly ingesting arsenic.
Pope John Paul I
Pope John Paul I died only a month after his election, triggering various conspiracy theories. Despite the church dispelling the myriad inconsistencies surrounding the handling of the pope's death (who found the body, there was no official autopsy, etc.), this has only fueled speculation of foul play.
Uwe Barschel
Uwe Barschel was a West German politician and from 1982-87 he was the Minister-President of Schleswig-Holstein. He was charged with ordering his media advisor with spying Social Democratic Party of Germany's top candidate for the upcoming state elections, in order to bring about false claims of tax evasions. Barschel resigned as Minister on October 2, and on the 11th he was found in his room, fully dressed and lying in a bathtub filled with water. His death is still considered a mystery, with multiple parties under suspicion.
Warren G. Harding
Jack Ruby was a Dallas nightclub owner who became famous for publicly shooting Lee Harvey Oswald, who was in police custody at the time. Ruby was found guilty of murder (duh) and sentenced to death. He appealed the decision, but while waiting for a new court date, he succumbed to lung cancer and died despite never having been a smoker. The main theory is that he'd been injected with cancer cells by the CIA, but there's a rabbit hole of theories to venture down, if you have a day to waste.
John Middleton Clayton
Clayton was a Republican Congressman-elect in Arkansas when he met his untimely demise. After one of the most hostly contested elections in Arkansas history, which saw stolen ballot boxes and voter bullying run rampant, Clayton lost by a narrow margin of 846 out of over 34,000 votes cast. Clayton contested and traveled to Plumerville, AR to investigate. Upon his arrival an unknown assailant shot through the window of the local boarding house room in which he was staying and killed him instantly.