In one particularly heated exchange on a subreddit about conspiracy theories, two hairdressers clashed over Mangione’s eyebrows.
“I was a hairdresser for 20 years back then, no one grows their eyebrows that fast in three days,” wrote one user. “It was on the state board test. The hair on your head grows a quarter of an inch every month. Hair on your brows grows slower.”
“I’m also a hairdresser and work with models,” another user replied. “Different lighting and different facial expressions cause different shadows in photos. This man is trying to start a revolution. Don’t make a conspiracy out of someone who is for the people.”
However, this is just one of the conspiracy theories circulating about Mangione. Another popular theory involves the number 286 and its multiple connections to the suspected shooter.
In his profile on X, Mangione introduces the Pokémon Breloom, which is the 286th Pokémon. Additionally, Mangione had posted exactly 286 times on X when he was arrested. 286 is also the code Use health insurance companies if “if the deadlines for appealing a health claim are not met.”
Other users on TikTok pointed to a possible connection to the Bible, with Proverbs 28:6 saying, “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.”
Finally, some people online claimed the distance between the scene of the shooting and the McDonald’s where Mangione was spotted was 286 miles. However, according to Google Mapsthe distance is actually 279 miles.
Regardless of the distance from Manhattan, the location of this McDonald’s has itself sparked some conspiracy theories, as evidenced by the work of a Reddit poster who took the time to document the many connections between the board game Monopoly and the shooting.
First, they pointed out that the backpack found by police in Central Park contained money from the game. They also noted that Altoona is the home of the Pennsylvania Railroad, one of four railroads for sale in the standard US version of the game. Finally, the poster highlighted the fact that McDonald’s ran an advertising campaign for the game for decades, but it was briefly canceled after a year at the beginning of the century massive fraud scandal It involved, among dozens of others, a key insider and Gennaro “Jerry” Colombo, who claimed to be a member of the Colombo crime family.
