{"id":1597,"date":"2023-07-07T16:33:07","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T15:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/?p=1597"},"modified":"2023-07-07T16:37:54","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T15:37:54","slug":"1597-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/1597-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The tragic case of Nicola Bulley"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 27<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span> January 2023, Nicola Bulley went missing whilst on a dog walk<\/span>,<\/span> shortly after dropping her children at <\/span>s<\/span>chool.\u00a0 Her dog was found<\/span> wandering alone next to the River Wyre in Lancashire<\/span>, along with her mobile phone, which was still connected to a work call, approximately 20 minutes after she was last seen.\u00a0 <\/span>There was an extensive search of the area and<\/span> a<\/span> police investigation, but <\/span>Nicola\u2019s body was <\/span>not <\/span>found <\/span>until<\/span> the <\/span>19<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span> February 2023, 23 days after she went missing<\/span>, where it was discovered in the river, over a mile from where she was last seen<\/span>.\u00a0 On<\/span> 28<\/span><\/span>th<\/span><\/span> June 2023<\/span> an<\/span> inquest<\/span> into her death<\/span> ruled<\/span> that Nicola<\/span> sadly drowned after<\/span> accidentally<\/span> falling into the <\/span>r<\/span>iver she was walking alongside on the day she went missing.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From the outset the <\/span>p<\/span>olice <\/span>said it was most likely<\/span> that Nicola had entered the water on the morning of her disappearance, but <\/span>during the 23 days that Nicola was missing, <\/span>a <\/span>number<\/span> of<\/span> conspiracy <\/span>theories <\/span>were shared on social media<\/span> about what might have<\/span> happened to her<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>These ranged from <\/span>suggestions that<\/span> s<\/span>he had been abducted, <\/span>to <\/span>theories that<\/span> she must have <\/span>faked her death<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>There were even<\/span> conspiracy theories <\/span>that Nicola Bulley <\/span>didn\u2019t<\/span> exist at all<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But why do cases like that of Nicola Bulley, attract <\/span>these <\/span>conspiracy <\/span>theories<\/span>?\u00a0 <\/span>According to <\/span><\/span>research<\/span><\/span><\/a>, <\/span>People<\/span> have <\/span>fundamental <\/span>need<\/span>s<\/span> for certainty,<\/span> and<\/span> to feel safe and in control<\/span> of <\/span>them<\/span>selves and <\/span>their<\/span> lives<\/span>. W<\/span>hen <\/span>faced with <\/span>sudden, shocking, or unexpected events<\/span>, <\/span>people <\/span>sometimes <\/span>turn to conspiracy theories <\/span>to try to<\/span> back that control<\/span>. C<\/span>onspiracy theories might seem to offer some kind of <\/span>relief <\/span>or<\/span> promise to make<\/span> sense of an event which otherwise seems so senseless<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But adopting conspiracy theories <\/span><\/span>might not <\/span>make people feel better<\/span><\/span><\/a>, and t<\/span>hey can have other <\/span>potentially damaging <\/span>consequences too<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span> They might encourage others to conspire to <\/span>conceal the truth, <\/span>and to engage in other<\/span> <\/span>unethical or illegal actions<\/span><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 During the search for Nicola, there were <\/span>numerous<\/span> reports of individuals trespassing near to the crime scene<\/span>. S<\/span>ome <\/span>people <\/span>were found to be searching in private <\/span>residents\u2019 <\/span>sheds and gardens, whilst others were said to have intimidated local people and caused a nuisance to police<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/span>One individual was arrested on suspicion of illegal filming as the body of Nicola Bulley was recovered from the river in February.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another<\/span> consequence is the negative impact these conspiracy theories can have on those directly involved in the <\/span>situation<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span> A<\/span>s the family of Nicola Bulley explained in their statement following the inquest<\/span>, <\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s upsetting that we\u2019ve continued to receive negative targeted messages and still witness wildly inaccurate speculation being shared over numerous platforms.<\/span>\u201d The family have <\/span>also <\/span>previously said how <\/span>upsetting it is,<\/span> that<\/span> they will<\/span> one <\/span>day<\/span>,<\/span> inevitably <\/span>have to<\/span> address th<\/span>is<\/span> online speculation and<\/span> the resulting<\/span> conspiracy theories<\/span> with<\/span> Nicola\u2019s two children<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that the inquest into the death of Nicola Bulley has closed<\/span>,<\/span> the <\/span>family<\/span> have<\/span> once again <\/span>urged people \u201cto look at the facts<\/span>\u201d<\/span>,<\/span> to<\/span> ignore those spreading baseless theories on the internet<\/span>, and allow their family the peace and privacy they need to grieve for her loss.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 27th January 2023, Nicola Bulley went missing whilst on a dog walk, shortly after dropping her children at school.\u00a0 Her dog was found wandering alone next to the River Wyre in Lancashire, along with her mobile phone, which was still connected to a work call, approximately 20 minutes after she was last seen.\u00a0 There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1392,"featured_media":1594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1392"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1597"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1618,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1597\/revisions\/1618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.kent.ac.uk\/conspiracy-fx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}