The recent white smoke announcing the election of Francis reminded me of 1958 and the infamous white smoke and announcement that a pope had been elected, which was followed by black smoke and a retraction. That was on October 26, 1958. I was 12 years old at the time, and I actually remember it.
It was the conclave where the reign of the "conciliar popes" began (Angelo Roncalli was elected pope and took the name John XXIII), and when a few people, usually dismissed as mentally defective nut jobs, believe that Giuseppe Cardinal Siri of Genoa was elected pope and then secretly forced to resign under duress, most likely due to nuclear blackmail. Every few years I start wondering about it, and I've just had another flare-up after the watching the white smoke and the election of Francis.
While there's no proof for the scenario that I'm aware of, I think there's a real possibility it's true, despite the scam artists who've tried to profit from it. There are problems with the theory, of course, and it's hard to believe that all the world's cardinals would have kept quiet about it, despite the vow of secrecy -- unless Siri just refused to accept the seat without saying why, perhaps implying that it was for prudential reasons -- which is probably what he would have done if it had actually happened. Sigh.
I don't know why I don't reject the idea out of hand, except that what's happened to the Church is so crazy that it seems to leave the door open for all manner of possibilities. Or maybe I'm just nuts.