6 head-scratching Jade Helm conspiracy theories

Jade Helm 15, the multistate, two-month U.S. Army training exercise, began Wednesday, but the conspiracy theories surrounding it have collectively become a story unto themselves — with wild ideas that include FEMA death domes and ice-cream-truck morgues.

The Army calls Jade Helm a standard training operation for unconventional warfare. But some have "connected the dots" and say the military's true motives remain unstated: To either engage in an occupation, or at least prepare for war within the United States.

Whether you have concerns about Jade Helm or simply find the furor and paranoia entertaining, below are the most striking theories.

FEMA DEATH DOMES

Some have alleged that new dome-shaped facilities are being built by FEMA for the purpose of detaining insurrectionists. Jade Helm conspiracy theorists have latched onto the so-called FEMA "Death Domes." Though purportedly hurricane and storm shelters that can protect a large number of people (and in some cases provide community facilities like gymnasiums), conspiracy theorists argue that walls designed to withstand hurricanes and tornados make great prisons, and have linked them to Jade Helm.

BLUE BELL ICE CREAM TRUCKS

If you are going to start a war, you need a place to put the bodies, right? Some conspiracy theorists believe Blue Bell ice cream trucks could serve as mobile morgues. Sleuths say they've found evidence: film of about a dozen Blue Bell trucks traveling on the same highway as a military convoy, apparently on Interstate 25 in Colorado.

Blue Bell closed it's Denver-area distribution center near I-25 in May, the same month as the video was posted. Fort Carson sits about 75 miles down I-25 from Denver. The company has said the convoy convergence was a coincidence. Blue Bell has been reeling from a recall and production shut-down following discovery of listeria in its ice cream.Three deaths have been linked to the outbreak. Still, a conspiracy-minded site called the company's first-ever recall suspicious and the trucks' proximity to a military convoy "creepy" while also linking the company to the Bush family and defense contracts. But the site admitted it couldn't verify whether the trucks were preparing to be mobile morgues or merely transporting ice cream from a closing facility.

WALMART: ALWAYS LOW PRICES ... ON BASES FOR MARTIAL LAW

The world's largest retailer has become an essential element to any Jade Helm conspiracy site. A handful of Walmarts — two in Texas and one each in Florida, California and Oklahoma — suddenly closed in April for six months, with the company saying they needed to make plumbing repairs. There are actually two groups with conspiracy theories, which note that city officials in the cities said Walmart wasn't filing for permits for repairs, according to a Florida ABC affiliate. One group expressing doubt is organized labor: Some of the closings were allegedly punitive and retaliatory measures against workers agitating for better wages and rights, something they've been convicted of doing in Canada.

But Jade Helm theorists remain unsatisfied with either explanation of the closing of five out of more than 4,000 U.S. stores. (In addition, they cite razor wire protecting the roof of an abandoned Walmart in Cincinnati, though some noted it is in a high crime area and that copper and HVAC equipment would be a target for thieves.) Jade Helm theorists say the military plans to enact martial law and use the stores as processing locations or possibly to control the food supply in poorer areas. A theory also involves China using the sites as command centers, as it allegedly tries to replace the dollar as the global currency with its own and disarm Americans during a hostile takeover of the nation.

ASTEROID STRIKES

Armageddon predictions are nearly as old as humanity, and while the world won't exist forever, doomsday prognosticators are still batting zero despite many hearty swings. But they're nothing if not persistent, and now some believe that Jade Helm is preparation for an asteroid strike that will wipe out life on Earth.

The theory goes that, eventually, the world-ender will be discovered by the population as the asteroid nears, and the military will be used to corral the anarchy, possibly to force people to do what it thinks needs to be done to save humanity, or else just to make the last few weeks on Earth less Lord of the Flies and more "North Korea."

RUSSIA TO RESCUE INDEPENDENCE-SEEKING TEXANS

Recently the incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called Russia the biggest threat to the U.S. Meanwhile, some Jade Helm theorists suggest Russia is coming to arm rebels in Texas in response to the U.S. arming of rebels in Ukraine and other countries in Russia's backyard. In fact, some say Russia has already infiltrated the U.S. to help prepare for the civil war.

An alternative to this theory is that the U.S. is pretending Russia is arming an American rebellion in order to justify a declaration of martial law. Apparently the U.S. government is using the conspiracy websites to initiate the spreading of the lie that Russia is trying to start a civil war in Texas, all as a part of a false flag operation.

And another angle says Russia is in a secret allegiance with President Obama. This one suggests that foreign troops will actually run the FEMA camps imprisoning dissidents, a theory complete with a Russian invasion.

SPEAKING OF OBAMA

A number of online voices have cast doubt on the idea that there will ever be a 2016 election. They say Obama simply will impose martial law and become a tyrant ... using a military that largely disapproves of his overall performance as commander and chief.