Officials from a town in England were forced to issue a statement telling residents that a vast array of conspiracy theories apparently associated with their street lights were simply not true.
In a lengthy post on their Facebook page, the town of Gateshead lamented that "certain individuals are frightening local people with false stories about the street lights."
Among the strange scenarios circulating online, which the town insists are not true, are that the lights are killing all of the birds and insects as well as causing cancer, miscarriages, and nosebleeds.
Additionally, town officials denied another conspiracy theory which claims that they are "carrying out secret government trials in 5G technology via our street lights."
It is believed that many of these rather outlandish ideas stem from the fact that there are transceivers affixed to the top of the lights, which spawned the speculation that something sinister was afoot.
However, town officials say that the transceivers are merely used to remotely control the lights and are not a part of some nefarious plot.
Whether the statement from the town will serve to calm residents' fears remains to be seen as they may have only made the problem worse by enlightening those who had been in the dark about the street light conspiracy theories.
Source: The Times of London