Flat Earthers goes down on Denver for second annual conference

Rick Hummer, an emcee at a flat Earth conference in Denver.

"I'm not ashamed," Hummer said.

The crowd eagerly responded.

"I'm not ashamed of ridicule," they chanted. "I'm not ashamed of mockery. I'm not ashamed of insults. "

Mocked and Demeaned Daily by Family, friends and even strangers, hundreds of flat earthers are attending the convention center at the Crown Plaza Convention Center in Denver.

The two-day conference, put on by Canada-based Kryptoz Media, was packed with presentations and debates promoting and celebrating the theory that the Earth is flat. What exactly would Earth look like? Well, that was up for debate, even among this crowd.

Scientists have long since determined that the Earth is a sphere. It is not up for debate in any scientific circles.

Despite overwhelming evidence, this group does not buy it. The moon landing? Suspect. The Apollo mission? Problematic.

After Hummell led his call-and-response, he introduced Rob Skiba. A popular YouTube character in the Earth community flat, Skiba pulled up a PowerPoint called "Debunking Flat Earth 101." Then he whipped out a white lab coat.

"I have no academic credentials," he said. "But I do have a cloak of credibility."

The crowd cheered.

Scientists, he continued, get away with misinformation because of their air of authority. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Elon Musk were favorite targets of this crowd. As were NASA and the media.

Skiba started his presentation with a reminder that everyone in the room went to the same schools as the rest of the population. They read the same books, watched the same movies and visited the same museums.

"Never forget," he said, addressing the globe-believers, "we used to be you."

Charles Whitehead, who traveled from New Jersey, thought the theory was ridiculous when he heard it in 2016.

Then he listened to the rapper Bobby Ray Simmons – aka B.o.B. – talk about it. Whitehead watched some videos and realized he could not prove the rapper wrong.

Since he came out as a flat Earther, his family relations have taken a hit.

"My ridiculous family me," Whitehead said. "They say I'm stupid or I'm crazy."

The flat Earth conference made him feel accepted.

"These people are like family," he said, looking at others wearing flat earth hats and t-shirts. "I want to be around people like me."

The conspiracy theories flowed freely, often far beyond the Earth's limits.

James W. Lee sat at a booth, promoting his book, "Flat Earth: Investigations into a Massive 500-Year Heliocentric Lie."