The Great Pyramid of Cheops is slowly but surely revealing its secrets. The three pyramids at Giza, one of the original seven wonders of the world, have puzzled us for centuries – how were they built? Why were they positioned as they are? Why so big and what untold secrets may they still house?

Recently the largest pyramid, built to house the body of the Pharaoh Khufu has surrendered a new “secret”. In the past secret passages have been discovered, some giving a clue as to how the pyramid is aligned with key astronomical constellations, like Orion. Using new scanning technologies that can detect what’s behind the outer stone walls, a void has been found. This space may mean something or nothing. It could, perhaps, be related to the structural integrity of the pyramid, or it could house yet more clues to the origin of the pyramid and how it was built.

What we don’t know is sometimes a cause for excitement – will this space, like the tomb of another Pharaoh, Tutankhamun, be filled with treasure, golden statues and masks (unlikely)? Or will it turn out to be just something the builders deliberately did to try and reduce the weight of stone pressing down on the gallery below leading to the great chamber where Khufu’s tomb and mummified body rested?

One thing is certain, there will be no “void” about possible reasons for the space existing. It will be filled with ideas that range from sensible to incredible.

The less we know about something the more likely we are to believe things that are untrue. Over the years I’ve seen stories that say the pyramids couldn’t have been built by humans as our technology was too primitive to construct such an architectural wonder – the only answer “must” be that aliens helped humans build them. There are many other myths and outlandish tales surrounding the Egyptians such as the famous, but false curse of Tutankhamun that saw the deaths of those who disturbed his tomb.

But why are we so in love with conspiracies and curses? Despite constant denials, people still believe there was a second shooter involved in the assassination of JF Kennedy. People still believe the idiotic notion that the attack on the twin towers in New York was carried out by the US Government. I’ve even seen reports that Adolf Hitler didn’t die in his bunker near the end of the Second World War but escaped to Colombia and lived there for many years.

As humans we need things to happen for a reason. Sometimes a simple answer, the idea that things could happen as a matter of chance, isn’t comfortable. A mystery always needs solving and if no easy solution is forthcoming, then we tend to resort to complex, yet unlikely ideas that fit what we would like to be true.

Politics is rife with conspiracy theories – take Donald Trump’s assertion that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the US so should never have been president. It suited his bias against someone who had political views he didn’t like, to spread such rumours. Even when evidence to the contrary was produced, opponents claimed the Government could easily produce false documents. In short, no evidence will ever convince someone that their notion of a conspiracy is false.

Conspiracy theories are not the preserve of lone nutters of limited intelligence. Conspiracy theorists can be found in all walks of life at all levels of intelligence. At the heart of nearly every conspiracy theory is power. It’s about those who don’t have it challenging those who do, implying that it came by via nefarious means. Even conspiracies that hark back to ancient Egypt will have at their heart some form of power struggle.

Those who research conspiracy theories and why they take hold have determined that they have four key characteristics. It’s a group of like-minded people, acting in secret, trying to usurp those in power or power grab for themselves, hiding the “truth” and nearly always at the expense of the common good.

My top three favourite conspiracies are that the earth is a flat disc, not a globe and all NASA data and photographs are doctored images (yes, the flat earth society really exists). The second is that aliens walk among us undetected and are installed at the highest levels of world government readying earth for a major invasion (these aliens are, it’s said, reptiles disguised as humans). And at number three, the moon landings were faked (probably filmed by Stanley Kubrick).

But we must take care. Conspiracy theories aren’t all wild, comical or nonsensical ideas. Some can be very subtle and lead people towards xenophobic, racist behaviour and hatred of other innocent groups of people.