Luigi Mangione Conspiracy Theories Get Stronger

In a very testy discussion about conspiracy theories, two hairdressers clash over Mangione’s eyebrows.

“I’ve been a hairdresser for 20 years back in the day, no one’s eyebrows grow that fast in three days,” wrote one user. “It was a state board exam. The hair on your head grows a quarter of an inch a month. The hair on your forehead grows slowly.”

“I’m also a hairstylist and I work with models,” another user replied. “Different lighting and different facial expressions create different shadows in photos. This man is trying to start a revolution. Don’t conspire against someone who represents the people.”

This is just one of the conspiracy theories floating around about Mangione, though. Another popular theory has to do with the number 286 and its many links to the suspected shooter.

In his profile on X, Mangione includes the Pokémon Breloom, which is the 286th Pokémon. Mangione had also written 286 times on X when he was arrested. 286 is also the code that health insurance companies use when “the time limits for appealing a health care claim are not met.”

Some TikTok users point out a possible link to the Bible, where Proverbs 28:6 says: “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.”

Finally, some people on the Internet say that the distance between the location of the shooting and the McDonald’s where Mangione was seen is 286 kilometers. However, according to Google Maps, the distance is actually 279 kilometers.

Regardless of the distance between it and Manhattan, the location of this McDonald’s itself has caused some conspiracy theories, as seen in the work of one Reddit poster who took the time to write many links between the board game Monopoly and the shooting.

They first revealed that the backpack found by the police in Central Park contained money for the game. They also noted that Altoona is home to the Pennsylvania Railroad, which is one of the four trains sold in the standard US version of the game. Finally, the poster highlighted the fact that McDonald’s ran a promotional campaign with this game for decades, although it was briefly stopped at the turn of the century after a major fraud scandal involving, among many others, a key insider and Gennaro “Jerry” Colombo, who claimed to be a member of the Colombo crime family.