I believe " alternate Belief" would be a more appropriate term. Yes there were/are those that believed John was the true Messiah. There
were/are
those that believe John and Jesus were both messiahs. The Aaronic Messiah/
John and the Davidic Messiah/ Jesus. one civil, one religious, the columns Boaz and Joachim.
There are several books that talk about it. The Second Messiah ( i think thats
the title) by Henry Lincoln is one . The Hiram Key is another, they make some
very large leaps in this one but the bibliography is useful. that is a start and always check the authors sources and biblios sometimes the
references are better than the book.