We no longer live in a world where internet hysteria and conspiracy theories are limited to Reddit posts and Facebook comments. This fact became plainly visible for the residents of Washington D.C. this past Sunday when a man entered Comet Ping Pong armed with two weapons and brandished at least one at an employee. Thankfully this situation ended without bloodshed, and the man was arrested by local police without incident. Apparently, he was not an ideologue or a brazen sociopath but rather a “researcher.”

Reportedly, he entered the business in hopes of uncovering information about a supposed child sex ring organized and enjoyed by the higher ups in the D.C. area political food chain. Leading up to and following this incident, several businesses in the area have received threats from other online investigators angry about the alleged involvement of the eateries.

If this all seems like the plot of an episode of Black Mirror, the reality truly is stranger than fiction. Though in the defense of those who are attempting to draw connections between the various players in this supposed ring, some very strange conspiracies turned out to be true. Take for example Project MKUltra, a now declassified operation conducted by the CIA in the middle of the last century which most notably involved unwitting test subjects being dosed with LSD. The aim of the operation was to essentially master mind control to be used against our enemies.

It is an unfortunate reality that the abuse and trafficking of children does occur in our world, and that sometimes high profile individuals are involved in the abuse. When it comes to conspiracy theories, unless they are completely absurd I don’t dismiss them immediately, especially given the historical context for conspiracies. That’s why I decided to take the advice of online commentators who tell others to “do their own research.”

That is exactly what I did.

My journey had me in the depths of internet discussions, following links upon links, Satanic panicking, and even browsing WikiLeaks for raw information. I took the words of the very people who spawned the man who entered Comet Ping Pong and fact checked them as best I could.

First, let me give you a simplified rundown of the theory, with the disclaimer that there are far too many aspects to cover it all here. This is the summary of “Pizzagate” I used as the basis of my fact checking.

All of this has supposed ties back to the Clinton family. When it comes to Comet’s involvement, the theory claims that Comet Ping Pong, along with several other businesses in the area, are a part of a sex trafficking ring which caters to the rich and powerful in D.C. The Comet is connected to Hillary Clinton in that it is favorite spot of many of those who were involved with her campaign. Theorists point to numerous details pointing to supposed pedophilia symbology and alleged connections to Satanism as proof of the ring’s existence.

Another portion of the theory points to several leaked emails from former Hillary Clinton campaign chair John Podesta which supposedly contain coded language pointing to the sex trafficking ring. There are also connections that can be made between Bill Clinton and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epsein. Bill Clinton made several trips on Epstein’s private plane to Epstein’s estate (colloquially known as the “Lolita Express”) for lavish parties which were allegedly staffed by underage girls.

It should be noted that the forums and message boards I explored for this article suspiciously made no mention of Donald Trump’s connection to Epstein, despite Trump’s claims of knowing Epstein for fifteen years.

There is also mention of the Clinton Foundation’s connection to Laura Silsby, who was involved with a non-profit seeking to help children after the earthquake in Haiti. She was detained for allegedly attempting to traffic around 30 kids across the border with their documentation. She was later acquitted, supposedly at the whim of Hillary Clinton, who received updates about the group’s humanitarian efforts. Silsby now works for Alertsense, a company which aids in supporting the Emergency Alert system, most notably for delivering Amber Alerts.

Much of the controversy surrounding Comet Ping Pong is linked to personal interpretation of symbols, Instagram posts, the owner’s taste in music, and some artwork in the business and elsewhere.

I could find no evidence of an underground network between Comet Ping Pong and the other businesses in the area. This claim appears to be complete speculation. There is evidence of a connection between the Clinton campaign and Jame Alefantis, the owner of Comet Ping Pong, according to John Podesta emails. Evidence of a connection is not evidence of criminal collusion, however. This notion applies to the connection between Jeffrey Epstein and Bill Clinton. Could Bill have been involved in nefarious activities with Epstein? Certainly. No evidence exists, though.

It turns out the organization Laura Silsby does have a connection to the Clinton Foundation, but I could not find any solid evidence linking human trafficking back to Comet Ping Pong, aside from the Clinton’s knowing both parties. This aspect seemed to be complete speculation. I also couldn’t find any evidence that Hillary Clinton herself got Silsby aquitted.

The collection of links from the website I referenced also mentions a few other small items. They reference a supposedly “banned” documentary from the 90s which talked about the debunked allegations against the head of Franklin Community Federal Credit Union in Nebraska. People accused the head of the company of running a child sex trafficking ring and being involved with Satanism. As a side note, there are interesting parallels between Pizzagate and the Satanic Panic epidemic of the 80s. I’d recommend the Stuff You Should Know episode on the subject as a primer.

There are also a collection of claims pointing toward code words, Satanic imagery, and “questionable” posts on social media. These would all fall under the category of “confirmation bias” in my book. I’ll start with three of the most prominent snippets from the emails.

The first is an email from Tamera Luzzatto, SVP of the Pew Charitable Trust, inviting people to what appears to be a pool party. The concern comes in the mention of the kids who will be there, but the email appears to be harmless.

Another email is a correspondence between what appear to be diplomats hoping for a positive outcome on some diplomatic effort. The email doesn’t make the subject matter clear. What people point to as evidence of Satanism is the quote at the bottom which reads “With fingers crossed, the old rabbit's foot out of the box in the attic, I will be sacrificing a chicken in the backyard to Moloch.” This appears to me to be nothing more than hyperbole, and to me seems to be no more nefarious than saying “I’d kill to see this diplomatic effort have a positive outcome,” the start of which is common in everyday language.

Finally, there is yet another email which is the only one that is in any way peculiar. It is John Podesta replying to someone saying he left a handkerchief at a property that had a “map that seems pizza related” on it. While strange, there is no conclusive evidence beyond mere speculation that this means anything at all.

There is also the claim that following the seizure of Anthony Weiner’s computer the FBI announced that they successfully took down a large child trafficking ring in an operation known as Operation Cross County X. The claim suggests the contents of his laptop had an impact on the investigation. The problem with this is the timeline and the lack of a connection. The FBI announced the results of their joint investigation on October 17th, 2016. FBI Director Comey announced they would be looking into Clinton’s emails again on October 28th, 2016 (Link 15). This claim would make more sense if the FBI made the results of their investigation into the sex trafficking after Comey opened up Clinton’s case again. There was no evidence to be found which would suggest that the FBI obtained Weiner’s computer before the close of Operation Cross Country X. The operation is also a coordinated effort between local, state, and federal officials across the country. Despite his perversions, the idea of Anthony Weiner being part of a nation-wide sex ring seems unlikely.

There are so many claims of Satanic and sexual evidence surrounding Comet Ping Pong that this article could double in length by debunking every image. The “researchers” who are bringing this supposed evidence forward are firmly in the realm of speculation at this point and the claims become even more absurd from here. One good example supposedly shows a painting of a man supposedly ejaculating onto a ping pong table. When one actually examines the image, it turns out the painting had been vandalized and the offending imagery wasn’t originally there (WARNING: Obscene drawing).

There is so much depth to this particular conspiracy theory someone could probably write a book about it. However, when taking the same approach with the same means of inquiry as anyone else on the internet, I’ve found that there is no conclusive evidence to support the idea of a secret child sex abuse ring with Comet Ping Pong and the Clintons in the center of it. Claims of children being abused should always be taken seriously, but faux conspiracies like this one de-legitimize real claims of abuse.

When someone shows up at a business with weaponry as the result of a fragile conspiracy, there is something very wrong. Baseless conjecture in this case was not the difference between truth and fiction, but could’ve very well turned out to be a difference between life and death.