23

The year 2014 and the beginning of 2015 were particularly black for the airline industry. Several mortal air crashes made the highlights of the media and provoked numerous reactions on e-press’ forums, blogs and social networks. Bad weather conditions, missiles, human errors, suicide: the official causes are numerous, but not always convincing, especially when proof is missing. That was the case for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared of the radar in the middle of the Indian Ocean 8th March 2014. The Malaysian authorities quickly concluded it was an accident and all the passengers had died. However, at the time, the aircraft had not yet been found! So, it is difficult to know with certainty what happened. Touched by this event, Internet users have been searching for alternative explanations that may have been hidden by the authorities for different reasons. Inspired by previous facts, old rumours, legends and popular fiction, they have invoked terrorist diversion, military defence strategies, experience with new technology, appearance of a black hole, a new Bermuda triangle, or even aliens, amongst others. The article explains the construction of the French alternative popular imagination created around this event. It shows the complexity of this popular imagination composed by numerous narratives and theories which are crossed, mixed or opposed, in very rich intertextual connections.