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Mar 20, 2024 · Learn about the origins, purposes and controversies of eight selective clubs that shaped the nation, from the Freemasons to the Molly Maguires. Discover how these groups influenced politics, culture, religion and society in the 18th and 19th centuries.
- 3 min
- Jackie Mansky,Sonja Anderson
Secret societies in the United States (including those founded in the United States that later spread to other countries, and those founded/inspired elsewhere that came to the United States). Subcategories. This category has the following 15 subcategories, out of 15 total. American Mafia (8 C, 30 P) Ancient Order of Hibernians (2 C, 3 P)
- The Knights Templar
- The Freemasons
- The Illuminati
- Skull and Bones
- Bilderberg
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The Knights Templar were warriors dedicated to protecting Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land during the Crusades. The military order was founded around 1118 when Hugues de Payens, a French knight, created the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon—or The Knights Templar for short. Headquartered at Temple Mount in Jerusalem, membe...
The freemasons loom large in American history—after all, 13 of the 39 men who signed the U.S. Constitution were Masons. Founding Fathers like George Washington, James Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock and Paul Revereall counted themselves as members of the fraternal order. But who are the Freemasons? The Freemasons can trace their routes to t...
The Illuminati was founded by professor Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria on May 1, 1776. Weishaupt, chafing at the power of the conservative Catholic Church and the Bavarian monarchy, sought to cast aside organized religion in favor of a new form of “illumination” through reason. Inspired by the spread of the Enlightenmentacross Europe, he also drew upon ...
The Order of Skull and Bones is a secret society founded at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut in 1832. Skull and Bones founder William Huntington Russell was inspired by an occult society he’d visited in Germany. His co-founder was Alphonso Taft, future Secretary of War under President Grant and father of president William Howard Taft… who ...
The first Bilderberg Meeting was in 1954 and was held at the Hotel de Bilderberg in the Netherlands, from which the organization gets its name. Convened by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, it was a gathering of powerful politicians from North America and Europe designed to foster warmer relations between the two continents among fears of growing...
Learn about the Knights Templar, Freemasons, Illuminati, Skull and Bones and Bilderberg, five secret societies that have influenced history and politics. Discover their origins, rituals, symbols and controversies.
- Jessica Pearce Rotondi
Jan 11, 2024 · One of the leaders of Yale’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter joined Scroll and Key, one of the oldest secret societies, last year. The Bones class of 2021 had “people from all...
- Stacy Conradt
- The Bohemian Club. Founded in 1872, the Bohemian Club is an exclusive, invite-only club intended for men—and only men—who consider themselves devoted to the arts.
- Belizean Grove. Since the Bohemian Club has been notoriously all-male since its inception, an enclave of powerful women started their own annual retreat in 2001.
- Skull & Bones. Some well-connected folks claim memberships in multiple secret societies—George H.W. Bush, for example, was a member of The Bohemian Club and Skull & Bones, the Yale student organization that counts John Kerry, William Howard Taft, Time founder Henry Luce, and basically every guy in the Bush family as members.
- The Explorer’s Club. The Explorer’s Club is less about who you are and more about where you’ve been. It’s not just for people with a sense of adventure, but those who have actual scientific or geographic achievements under their belts—think Edmund Hillary summiting Everest or Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions.
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Apr 26, 2012 · April 26, 2012. It is not surprising that America has hundreds of secret societies—after all, they're meant to inspire fascination. Adam Parfrey, the founder and owner of Feral House...
A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla warfare insurgencies, that hide their activities and memberships but maintain a ...
