Secret societies have always fascinated people with their mysterious rituals and exclusive memberships. Let’s take a closer look at some of these intriguing groups, from the well-known to the more obscure.
Founded in 1872, the Bohemian Club is an exclusive, invitation-only group for men who are passionate about the arts. The club’s motto, “weaving spiders come not here,” suggests that members should leave business and politics outside. However, it’s rumored that political discussions have taken place, such as a conversation between Reagan and Nixon in 1967 about the Republican primaries.
One of the club’s highlights is the annual retreat at Bohemian Grove in Sonoma, a 2,700-acre area where members gather for ceremonies, rituals, and networking. Notable members have included George H.W. Bush, Clint Eastwood, and Mark Twain. The club has remained all-male, leading to the creation of the Belizean Grove in 2001, a similar retreat for accomplished women.
Skull and Bones is a secret society at Yale University, co-founded in 1832 by Alfonso Taft and William Russell. The society is known for its mysterious headquarters, “the tomb,” and rumored initiation rituals. Members have included prominent figures like George H.W. Bush and John Kerry. Despite its secrecy, Skull and Bones is just one of several secret societies at Yale, including Scroll and Key and Wolf’s Head.
Based in New York, the Explorers Club is for those with a passion for adventure and significant scientific or geographic achievements. Members have included famous explorers like Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong. The club’s headquarters houses fascinating artifacts, and members can apply to take an official club flag on their expeditions.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) aims to promote community, unity, and friendship. Originating in 18th-century England, the IOOF spread to the U.S. in 1820. Despite its positive mission, the IOOF is often remembered for the skeletons found in abandoned lodges, used in initiation rituals to remind members of their mortality.
Founded in 1776 by Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria, the Illuminati sought to encourage free speech and reduce religious influence. Although the society was disbanded after a decade, conspiracy theories suggest it continued to exist, possibly merging with the Freemasons. The Illuminati has been a subject of intrigue and speculation ever since.
Established in 1780 at Oxford University, the Bullington Club began as a hunting and cricket club but became infamous for its wild behavior. Notable members have included former UK Prime Ministers David Cameron and Boris Johnson. Despite its notorious past, the club remains active today.
The Freemasons are perhaps the most well-known secret society, with roots tracing back to medieval stone workers’ guilds. Over time, the Masons evolved into a fraternal organization that discusses world events and government. While membership is male-only, women related to Masons can join the Order of the Eastern Star. Famous Masons include George Washington, Mozart, and Winston Churchill.
Secret societies continue to capture our imagination with their enigmatic traditions and influential members. Whether they are truly shaping the world or simply engaging in camaraderie and charity work, these societies remain a fascinating part of our cultural landscape.
Choose one of the secret societies mentioned in the article and conduct in-depth research on its history, notable members, and current activities. Prepare a 10-minute presentation to share your findings with the class. Focus on how the society’s influence has evolved over time and its impact on modern culture.
Participate in a class debate on the topic: “Do secret societies have a significant impact on global politics and society?” Prepare arguments for both sides, considering historical evidence and conspiracy theories. Engage with your peers to explore different perspectives and deepen your understanding of the topic.
In small groups, create your own secret society. Define its purpose, membership criteria, rituals, and symbols. Present your society to the class, explaining how it compares to the real secret societies discussed in the article. Consider the ethical implications and societal impact of your society’s activities.
Select a historical event that involved one of the secret societies from the article. Write a short essay analyzing the society’s role in the event, its motivations, and the outcomes. Discuss whether the society’s involvement was beneficial or detrimental to the broader society.
Investigate the role of women in secret societies, both historically and in contemporary times. Consider societies like the Belizean Grove and the Order of the Eastern Star. Write a report discussing how gender dynamics have influenced the structure and activities of these societies.
Here’s a sanitized version of the provided YouTube transcript:
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Founded in 1872, the Bohemian Club is an exclusive invite-only organization intended for men who consider themselves devoted to the arts. The club’s motto is “weaving spiders come not here,” which is meant to remind members to leave politics and business talk at the door. Whether they truly adhere to this is a matter of debate. It’s rumored that in 1967, Reagan and Nixon discussed the upcoming Republican primaries at Bohemian Grove.
Hi, I’m Erin McCarthy, and this is The List Show. From clandestine meeting houses to shadowy initiation rituals, it’s easy to see how secret societies have captured the imaginations of those of us on the outside. Today, we’ll peer into the windows of mysterious clubs that may or may not be responsible for the world as we know it. We’ll discuss not-so-secret societies like the Freemasons and answer the question: what do stone workers have to do with a fraternal organization? We’ll also explore lesser-known groups like The Bullington Club. Let’s get started!
Membership in the Bohemian Club has its perks, with the most coveted being the yearly retreat in Sonoma. Members fly in over the course of two weeks to spend time at the 2,700-acre Bohemian Grove, attending various ceremonies, rituals, and networking opportunities. The Bohemian Grove consists of over a hundred different camps with names like Hillbillies, Mandalay, Lost Angels, Caveman, and Owl’s Nest. Among the famous faces who have been Grove members over the years are George H.W. Bush, Clint Eastwood, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Mark Twain, and Jack London. Walter Cronkite was also a member at one point and provided the voice for the club’s massive owl statue that spoke to members during opening ceremonies.
After a visit to the club in 1882, Oscar Wilde noted, “I’ve never seen so many well-dressed, well-fed, business-like looking Bohemians in the whole course of my life.” Since the Bohemian Club has been notoriously all-male since its inception, an enclave of powerful women started their own annual retreat in 2001 called the Belizean Grove. This group is mostly made up of accomplished women in their 50s and 60s who turn to each other for advice and networking. The group is highly exclusive, with just 331 members according to The New York Times. Past members have included Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who stepped down from the club before taking her seat on the nation’s highest court, as well as CEOs and high-ranking executives at companies like NASDAQ, Procter & Gamble, Goldman Sachs, and Nordstrom.
A current list of members is hard to come by, but every January or February, these illustrious ladies attend a four-day retreat to escape the stress of their day jobs and make cross-industry connections. Over the years, Belizean Grove has added charters to include younger generations, such as Tara, which stands for Today’s Already Rising Achievers, an offshoot that admits women in their 30s and 40s who are rising fast. There’s also Naomi, specified as the youngest cohort of the Belizean Grove women who are already successful contributors to the greater good.
Some well-connected individuals claim memberships in multiple secret societies. For example, George H.W. Bush was a member of both the Bohemian Club and Skull and Bones, the Yale student organization that counts John Kerry, William Howard Taft, and many members of the Bush family among its ranks. The society was co-founded in 1832 by Alfonso Taft, President Taft’s father, and William Russell, a college junior who learned about secret societies while studying abroad in Germany.
While the club itself is famous, little is known about what actually goes on behind the doors of its headquarters, known as “the tomb.” Leaked stories that may or may not be true include a hazing ritual where members lie in a coffin and discuss their experiences. There’s also an accusation that the society stole the skull of Apache warrior Geronimo in 1918 and placed it on display in their headquarters. Although Skull and Bones is arguably the most famous secret society in New Haven, it’s certainly not the only one. Yale’s roster of cloak-and-dagger clubs includes Scroll and Key, Wolf’s Head, Book and Snake, and the Elizabethan Club.
Let’s move on to a club that’s less about who you are and more about where you’ve been: the Explorers Club. Headquartered in New York, the Explorers Club is for people with a sense of adventure and actual scientific or geographic achievements. Think Edmund Hillary summiting Everest or Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expeditions. Their headquarters is filled with interesting artifacts, like the sleigh from Robert Peary’s 1909 North Pole expedition and the mini Explorers Club flag that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin carried to the moon.
Members must apply to take an official flag with them on expeditions, and one such flag has been to both the highest and lowest points on Earth. In addition to their achievements, the Explorers Club is known for eating extremely exotic meals at their annual dinner. It was rumored that in 1951 they ate a 250,000-year-old woolly mammoth, but testing later revealed it was actually a turtle.
The stated purpose of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows is to help the community, work towards unity and peace, and promote friendship. The order traces its roots back to 18th-century England, where men who worked odd jobs banded together. The IOOF made its way across the pond and was granted a charter in 1820. Eventually, there was a split in the movement, creating the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Despite their community work, the IOOF has become best known for the trail of skeletons it left across the U.S.
When new owners began renovations on abandoned lodges, they often discovered skeletons left behind. Sometimes these were plaster skeletons, but others were real, remnants of initiation rituals meant to remind members of their mortality. As part of the ritual, blindfolded participants were led through darkened rooms, and when they stopped, the blindfold was removed, revealing a real skeleton. It’s thought that some bones were obtained through medical catalogs, but others were likely the result of grave robbing.
Now, let’s talk about the Illuminati. The order of the Illuminati was founded in 1776 in Bavaria by a professor named Adam Weishaupt. His goal was to encourage open debate and free speech among members and decrease religious influences on society. He initially opened membership to a handful of his law students, but the idea spread quickly, and soon there was a network of over 2,000 members across what is now Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, and Poland. The Bavarian Illuminati membership was very young, as they initially didn’t trust anyone over the age of 30.
The society existed for a decade before the government shut it down and exiled Weishaupt. But did the Illuminati really cease to exist? That’s been the debate ever since. By 1797, the first conspiracy theory had emerged, alleging that the Illuminati had simply joined the Freemasons and continued their teachings. The Illuminati Panic even spread to the U.S., where Thomas Jefferson was accused of being a member—though he was not.
The Bullington Club is a society at Oxford University founded in 1780 as a hunting and cricket club, but it quickly became known for its debauchery. In fact, future King Edward VII had to leave the Bullington Club after his mother, Queen Mary, heard that things were getting a little too rowdy. The club was so infamous that Evelyn Waugh wrote about them in his 1928 novel “Decline and Fall,” thinly disguised as the Bollinger Club. Only a handful of Oxford students are tapped every year, and those who make the cut often wake up to find their rooms in disarray.
Former UK Prime Minister David Cameron recalled finding a group of people making a terrible racket, with one standing on the legs of an upended table using a golf club to smash bottles. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also a member during Cameron’s Bullington tenure. The society is still active today, perhaps toned down in its antics, although its past reputation still precedes it.
We can’t leave without mentioning the Freemasons, the largest and least secret secret society of them all. The Masons are said to trace their origins to an actual guild founded in the Middle Ages that supported stone workers. Masons had a tendency to travel for their jobs, making them more worldly than others in their hometowns. Over time, when the Masons gathered, they began discussing government and world events more than their actual trade. Eventually, they began accepting members who weren’t in the profession, which also helped boost their coffers with new membership dues.
Masons are a fraternity, so membership is male-only, but women who are relatives of a Mason can join the affiliate Order of the Eastern Star. Famous Freemasons include George Washington, Mozart, FDR, Houdini, Winston Churchill, Count Basie, Medgar Evers, Davy Crockett, Buzz Aldrin, Oscar Wilde, and Charles Lindbergh, among others.
There are so many important Masons that it’s easy to see why there are conspiracy theories about Masons controlling the world from behind closed doors. According to some insiders, they’re really just doing charity work, handling lodge financials and logistics, and playing cards.
Let us know in the comments below if we left out your favorite secret society. We’ll see you next time!
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This version removes any inappropriate language and maintains a neutral tone while preserving the original content’s essence.
Secret – Something kept hidden or unexplained; a mystery. – The secret negotiations between the two countries eventually led to a historic peace treaty.
Societies – Groups of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory. – Ancient societies often relied on oral traditions to pass down their history and culture.
Rituals – Established procedures and ceremonies that are often repeated in a precise manner. – The rituals of the ancient Egyptians were deeply intertwined with their beliefs about the afterlife.
Membership – The state of being a member or part of a group or organization. – Membership in the guild was highly coveted during the medieval period, as it provided economic and social benefits.
Politics – The activities associated with governance, or the debate between parties having power. – The politics of the Roman Republic were characterized by a complex system of checks and balances.
Community – A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. – The Puritan community in New England was known for its strict adherence to religious doctrine.
Friendship – A relationship of mutual affection between people. – The friendship between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams was both collaborative and contentious, reflecting the political tensions of their time.
Influence – The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something. – The influence of Enlightenment thinkers was pivotal in shaping modern democratic ideals.
Traditions – Customs or beliefs passed down from generation to generation. – The traditions of the indigenous peoples of North America are rich with stories and practices that reflect their deep connection to the land.
Culture – The social behavior and norms found in human societies, including knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits. – The culture of the Renaissance was marked by a renewed interest in the classical arts and humanism.
