Richard Shaver convinced thousands of magazine readers in the 1940s that a sadistic, mystical race of ancient beings called the Deros lived in caverns beneath the Earth.

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Richard Shaver convinced thousands of magazine readers in the 1940s that a sadistic, mystical race of ancient beings called the Deros lived in caverns beneath the Earth. He claimed these subterranean monsters used ancient advanced technology to beam bad thoughts into our heads and cause all of humanity's accidents and minor inconveniences. Instead of taking personal responsibility for stubbing their toes or starting global conflicts, people were absolutely thrilled to blame it on a bunch of evil cave-dwelling goblins operating psychic radios. It was basically the mid-century equivalent of a massive internet conspiracy forum, proving that people will believe literally anything if it excuses their own terrible decision-making skills