90% of Americans believe at least one conspiracy theory

BUTLER, Pa. (AP) — The hotel on the outskirts of town looks a lot like lodging one can find on any American highway. Over the years it has been a Holiday Inn and a Days Inn. The sign outside now bears the brand of a new, growing chain. One that promises a lot more than a good night’s sleep.

At the Tesla Wellness Hotel and MedBed Center, about 45 minutes north of Pittsburgh, the enticements are nothing short of miraculous.

Part motel, part new-age clinic, the facility offers nightly rentals in rooms that come equipped with “BioHealers” –- canisters that the company claims exude “life force energy,” or biophotons. Testimonials from the company’s patients speak to the devices’ power to treat cancer, dementia, chronic pain and a long list of other ailments.

The center also sells the canisters for home use. Prices start at $599 and range all the way to $11,000 for the largest model, with slightly cheaper versions available for pets and children.

Just don’t call the thousands of people who have shelled out big bucks to Tesla “patients.” Dr. James Liu, the physician who founded Tesla, doesn’t like the term -– perhaps the first clue that what he’s selling goes far beyond the abilities of traditional medicine.

“We are not a clinic, not a doctor’s office,” said Liu, who earned a medical degree in China and a Ph.D. in human nutrition at Penn State University. “For me, for the company, I always call them customers.”

Tesla Biohealing, which has no connection to the car company, is part of a growth industry marketing unproven cures and treatments to conspiracy theorists and others who have grown distrustful of science and medicine. Experts who study such claims say they’re on the increase, thanks to the internet, social media and skepticism about traditional health care.

“There have always been hucksters selling medical cures, but I do feel like it’s accelerating,” said Timothy Caulfield, a health policy and law professor at the University of Alberta who studies medical ethics and fraud. “There are some forces driving that: obviously the internet and social media, and distrust of traditional medicine, traditional science. Conspiracy theories are creating and feeding this distrust.”

Blending the high-tech jargon of Western science with the spiritual terminology of traditional and Eastern medicine, these modern salesmen claim their treatments can reverse aging, restore mental acuity or fight COVID-19 better than a vaccine. They promise better health, but what they’re really selling is the idea of insider information, the promise of a secret known only to the wealthy and the powerful.

So-called medbeds are one of the flashiest, most expensive, and least credible. “Medbeds are coming,” exclaims a woman in one TikTok video. Similar videos have been seen millions of times on the platform.

According to believers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, medbeds were developed by the military (in some versions, using alien technology) and are already in use by the world’s richest and most powerful families. Many accounts claim former President Donald Trump, if he wins another term in the White House, will unveil the devices and make them free for all Americans.............

In addition to the biophoton emitting cannisters, the company also sells bottled water — 24-packs of 16.9 ounce bottles of Tennessee spring water — for $150. The company says the water has been imbued with “life force energy” that can increase energy and libido, improve breathing, digestion and sleep, reduce pain and lead to “vivid dreams to indicate enhanced brain activity.”............

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