Thanks to my buddy Doug for forwarding this to me. This guy explains how local road signs actually include secret codes, which FEMA, NATO, and (Surprise surprise!) the U.N. use to identify the location of detention camps or helicopter landing sites or something. To me, this perfectly encapsulates what a lot of conspiracy theories are about: pattern recognition gone haywire. That’s the great thing about the Internet. You can get the full explanations — which are weirdly fascinating from a purely anthropological standpoint — without having to sit next the twitchy guy dressed all in camouflage fatigues at your local redneck bar, whom all the regulars know to avoid.
Tom Joyce's chamber of the bizarre 
I’ve been thinking through a similar hypothesis about the relationship among stress, pattern recognition, and conspiracy theories. If there’s any reading you’ve come across related to this notion, I’d be very interested to see it. This topic is difficult to google effectively because of the proliferation of conspiracy websites, science/tech info, etc.