Mystery AtlasSecret Societies
Fraternal orders and clandestine groups, real and alleged — Freemasons, the Illuminati, Skull and Bones — their documented history versus the claims made about them.
Questions
What Is Skull and Bones, and Why Does It Attract Conspiracy Theories?
Why Skull and Bones' Yale history fuels conspiracy claims: its 1832 founding, real notable members, and the unsupported New World Order allegation.
Who Are the Freemasons, and Why Are They a Target of Conspiracy Theories?
Who the Freemasons are: the real 1717 fraternal order, the 1826 William Morgan affair, and why the group keeps appearing in conspiracy theories.
What Is the New World Order Conspiracy Theory?
What the New World Order conspiracy theory claims: a secret world government, the real 1990 Bush speech it grew from, and what scholars conclude.
Who Are the Illuminati?
Who the Illuminati were: the real 18th-century Bavarian secret society, its 1780s suppression, and how the modern world-control myth developed after it.