Just 7 of the most bonkers flat-earth theories that have circulated the internet.

The internet is a confusing place, full of ludicrous conspiracies and terrifying misinformation.

But perhaps the most flummoxing of them all is the long-running theory that the Earth is no more than a giant pancake; flat.

And this is a theory backed by a concerning amount of people worldwide.

The Flat Earth Society is community of passionate theorists so dedicated to legitimising their… non-existent findings, there’s even been a Netflix documentary made about them, Behind the Curve.

Watch the trailer for Behind the Curve, available to stream on Netflix. Post continues after.

Flat-earthers, as opposed to spherical-earthers (¯\_(ツ)_/¯), passionately believe the great voyages of Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano to prove that sailing to the “edge of the world” wouldn’t see us fall off were FAKE.

And all those models of a round Earth we grew up studying in school, perfectly explaining seasons, eclipses, sunrises and sunsets? LIES.

So if it’s not round, what is this planet we live on?

Some believe we exist on a rotating disc that spins around the same way a record would. The sun stays in position, with the moon making its way from side-to-side.

Others describe a “snowglobe” shape – flat on the bottom, but with a curved atmosphere and sky.

They also believe the planet is surrounded entirely by a wall of ice - which is apparently what we have come to know as Antarctica . Little do we know, the continent is actually a conspiracy which NASA and climate scientists are behind.

Righto.

Over the years, there have been a number of supremely cooked, convoluted and confusing twists to the theory which have emerged.

Here are seven of our favourites:

1. Australia does not exist.

The very bat sh*t conspiracy was floated about in 2017 after a viral Facebook rant on the UNSW Flat Earth Society Facebook page.

Last year, it picked up some momentum again within the flat Earth community, because of course it did.

Apparently, us Australians are either computer generated or actors. Yep.

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And when you fly to Australia, you’re actually being taken to different islands near “South America”. Allegedly, Australia is “just a cover-up” as Britain never actually took their criminals there. They just dumped them all in the sea.

Dumped them in the sea.

No, seriously:

This is the world we live in, people.

2. The solar eclipse proves the earth is flat.

So us spherical-Earthers have lived our lives believing solar eclipses truly are moments we can look up at the sky and remember that we live on a spinning ball, right?

Wrong.

Flat-Earthers use the solar eclipse as "evidence" of their beliefs.

According to Forbes, they argued the 2017 total solar eclipse that crossed the United States was evidence of something fishy.

The west-to-east eclipse path raised questions because the sun moves across the sky from east to west, right?

Well, according to livescience.com, the moon orbits Earth from west to east, so the moon's shadow follows the path of the moon.

Another flat Earth theory debunked.

But they certainly don't see it that way.

3. Earth is flat, but Mars is round.

An observation by the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk who... probably knows his sh*t, was promptly (but very politely) shut down by the Flat Earth Society in 2017.

It was great.

He tweeted (presumably for the lols); "Mars sky is the opposite of Earth. Blue sunrise and sunset. Red during the day," following with the legitimate follow-up question; "Why is there no Flat Mars Society?!"

He probably didn't expect a response directly from the Flat Earth Society itself, but he got one. It was very friendly:

"Hi Elon, thanks for the question. Unlike the Earth, Mars has been observed to be round. We hope you have a fantastic day!"

Hi Elon, thanks for the question. Unlike the Earth, Mars has been observed to be round.

We hope you have a fantastic day!

— Flat Earth Society (@FlatEarthOrg) November 28, 2017

4. Gravity doesn’t exist

If we’re meant to be on a flat planet, you can kinda see their logic here.

According to the society, gravity is not a force, just the name given to the acceleration of the Earth.

They don’t believe it exists to keep us all rooted to the ground, but that it dictates the speed of the flat-planet’s spin cycle.

Got it.

5. The universe is a giant egg

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Last year, a Flat Earth Society convention in the UK included a three hour presentation on the theory that the universe is an egg.

The theory, presented by Martin Kenny, harks back to Chinese astronomers who used the analogy to describe our position from heaven. The Earth is like the yolk of the egg, they explained a bajillion years ago, which lies in the centre of an oval-shaped heaven.

Of course, Kenny wasn't talking about heaven, nor was he talking about an actual egg (that would be ridiculous), but an enclosed cosmic dome that exists around the flat Earth and the other planets, that may or may not be round.

Who bloody knows.

6. Space is not real, and no one has ever been there

Because, if we had been to space, we would have figured out the world isn't round, right?

Well, the explanation is simple: to quote directly from the society's website "Space agencies of the world are involved in a conspiracy faking space travel and exploration."

Ohh.

They also state: "The earth is portrayed as round in NASA media because NASA thinks it's round."

So basically, this is NASA:

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7. The moon is fake.

Yes. As discussed at the UK Flat Earth Society convention, and reported by The Guardian, some flat-Earthers believe the moon is a hologram ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

... We don't even know anymore.