August 26, 2010 • 45 mins
There are lots of conspiracy theories about Freemasons, but how much do you really know about this secretive order? In this episode, Josh and Chuck take a comprehensive look at the origins, history, practices, beliefs and famous figures of Freemasonry.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff You Should Know?
From House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as
Charles W. Chuck Bryant and uh, that would make this
(00:25):
stuff you should know? Yes, the stuff they don't want
you to know. Addition, yeah, kind of whoa, They're sorry everybody. Um, sorry, Chuck,
we should apologize for cutting in like this. I know
we're gonna we have some important information that we usually
reserve for the end of our show, but we realize
that some people tune out, so it's at the beginning
this time. Yes, um, we have well we're going to
(00:48):
south By Southwest. We're hoping to write. Yeah, we're we're
up for an interactive panel and um, we need everybody's votes.
The last chance to vote is today, the day this
comes out, actually tomorrow, it's Friday Friday. All you have
to do is go to panel Picker dot s x
s W dot com, slash ideas, slash views slash six
(01:13):
eight one seven, I guess it's ours. Yeah, That like
takes you directly to the page where you can vote
on us, and when you try to vote, it'll say,
oh wait, you got a register and it takes like
forty seconds to register and they will not spam you. Right,
So basically, please go register force because we'd love to
have a panel in south By Southwest. It's just cool.
Want to go and chuck south By Southwest reminds me
(01:34):
of something else that will conclude our national tour, which
we're kicking off here in Atlanta on October. Yes, we
are having like we did in New York, We're having
an all star trivia event here in Atlanta oct then
five or six other secret to be named later cities. Right. Yes,
we're gonna be all over the place. We're gonna be
touring the country playing people in trivia, having a good time.
(01:58):
It'll be fun. It'll be during the week kind of
break up that that week day were not any kind
of thing, probably Wednesdays or something. I think over the
next well up until March. Between now and March, so
keep an eye out, because um, we actually did spread
it out geographically as much as we could to get
as many people there as possible. Details will follow and
it's gonna be a lot of fun. Okay, that's it, right.
(02:20):
Uh yeah, back to our regularly scheduled program. Let's avoid
the whole conspiracy thing. I don't even think we should
bring up any conspiracies. Sorry, it's gonna happen. Yeah, it's
a little a little difficult to talk about Freemasons, which
is what we're talking about today, without talking conspiracy, and
for good reason too. Um. They are one of the
(02:41):
more secretive orders ever created. What we just talked about,
Like brick and stone work the whole time. You gotta
get the proper mixture and you gotta get the trial
just right. I know how to make a mixed mud
is what it's called mortar. Yeah, it's I can. I
can whip up a pretty good batch of bit. Man,
you built a fire pit, right I did. I've built um, walkways, walls,
(03:04):
all sorts of stuff. I guess you could call me
a mason, butt chuck. That would be a rough mason,
not a Freemason, which is the big distinction that we'll
get to eventually. Right, But first, let's talk about what's
going down in Boise, Idaho. Right now, I have no
idea what's going on there. Well, I can tell you
there's a guy named Crispin her Tongue, and he was
(03:28):
summoned to Boise Lodge number two, ancient Free and accepted
Masons of the Grand Lodge of Idaho, basically to explain
himself for going ahead and founding another lodge called the
Practice Lodge, which is considered a modern lodge, and the
brothers at um the Boise Lodge number two wanted to
(03:49):
know why he had done this because it basically flies
in the face of the tenants of Freemasonry, at least
as far as the York or no Scottish right Mason rigos,
which I guess is what most American lodges are, right, Yeah,
because they were from England. The Scottish right is England
and the other one is French, right, right, So this
guy's this. The Practice Lodge is aligned with the Grand
(04:12):
Orient of France and basically that they don't require that
there be volume of sacred Law present as part of
the indispensable part of the furniture of the lodge. On quoting. Uh,
this Practice Lodge allows discussion of religion in politics. Yeah,
you're not supposed to do that. No, and um it.
(04:34):
It doesn't require that members believe in a supreme being,
so he just he's not a Mason. No, he was,
and he went and founded a practice lodge, a secular lodge.
The guy's a secular humanist. And he was excommunicated, expelled
from the Boise Lodge number two. Did they burn his bowels?
They didn't because he didn't share any secrets. But this
(04:56):
kind of stuff actually gives you a glimpse of you know,
what the Masons are all about, Chuck so it. They
are a very secret secret order, but they over time,
like little things have come out. Um in this article
will reveal the name of God. Um the secret word
that gets you to like the next level after the
(05:18):
third degree. There's all sorts of like it's it's the
least secret secretive order as far as you know, I
would think they would have changed this stuff if you can,
like read these secret passwords on our website. Wouldn't have
changed it by now? Well, but think about it. I mean, like,
are you going to change God's name? You can't. It's
just kind of like and yeah, everything you've heard is true.
This is this is God's names. You're glad you made
(05:41):
it to the fourth degree. Now, so let's talk about
the history of the Mason's right. There's a lot of
competing theories of where the Masons came from. Yeah, that
they range from once we won't talk about as much,
like ancient druids or the isis Osiris cult in ancient
Egypt to um, my favorite story, and this one I
(06:03):
think holds a little bit of credence for sure because
they still part of their rituals involved the story. So
it seems like it might be the way or else
they just selected the story and they're sticking with it. Yeah.
Maybe so. Uh, way back in the day, King Solomon's
Temple in nine seven b c. Was built in Jerusalem,
and uh, there was a master builder, a master mason
(06:24):
name here, I'm a beef who claimed to know the
secret to the temple, because you've gotta have a secret
if you're gonna build a temple or temple. And uh,
three men kidnapped him one day, threaten to kill him
if he didn't reveal the secret. He apparently said, no way,
I'm not gonna do that, so he was promptly killed.
And then King Solomon heard about this and ordered some
(06:45):
masons and these were Stonemasons at the time. You know,
it's regular Stonemasons was before the whole Freemason thing, right,
I don't know. Well, that's where I'm going with and uh,
he said bring his body back here and bring back
the secret of the temple. Did not work. So he says, well,
you know what, I'm gonna establish a new secret. And
here it is, and here it is. It is Maha bone.
(07:07):
That's the secret. The secret is a word, and the
word mahabone means the grand Lodge door opened. The secret
um is the password that they used to enter the
third degree of masonry. So if you were thinking, I'd
like to become a Mason, but I want to start
out at the third level. I don't want to become
an apprentice, right, just go ahead and go into a
(07:30):
Masonic lodge and say maha bone and they'll be like
I would say mahabon a and they would like, uh, yeah,
you mispronounced it, or you just leave the h out.
It would be like, so, um, that is the that's
the that's the party line of the Mason's um of
where they came from. Uh. Probably the more likely explanation
(07:57):
is the um boring. Right. I think it's kind of
interesting though. I like it because most of the teas
are crossed and the eyes are dotted. But um, in
the Middle Ages, masons were a well, there were two kinds,
like we said, there were rough masons like me just
jerk soon you how to mix mud together and could
(08:20):
you know, work with stone that was pretty tough to
screw up because they were so big. Or there were
free craft mason's stonemasons or freemasons, um, that worked with
intricate carvings and soft stone. Free stone is like the
soft stone that that you can actually carved designs into.
And it took some serious skill, right, So to protect
(08:44):
their wages, to make sure that they were differentiated in
the minds of employers like the church or right, um,
they they initiated trade guilds, right exactly. Um. These trade
guilds founded lodges where they stored their tools, their secret tools,
(09:05):
and there they ate and basically hung out together. And
then after a while they just went the extra mile
and said, you know what, Um, I want to make
sure that there's no rough masons at our at our lodge,
so we're gonna come up with secret handshakes, passwords, that
kind of stuff. Yeah, and there the Masons were born. Yeah,
and that that one makes sense too. Uh, And then
(09:27):
we can't talk about any of us without talking about
the Knights Templar for a second, because we've gotten railed
about the Knights Templar with the Friday thirteenth show. Yeah,
we have, so, for goodness sakes, the Knights Templar is
another theory, and um, the deal there was the Knights Templar.
There were monks that basically guarded a passage from Jaffa
(09:50):
to Jerusalem to protect Christians on their way, and they
were pretty rough apparently, and they at one point discovered
King Solomon's uh witches in the temple. They're like, there's
the real secret. Yeah, and it was apparently the biggest,
you know, stock of cash. It was probably just dollar bills,
is my guests, and they took it all and King Philip,
(10:12):
what is that the fourth of France said, arrest all
those dudes so I can get their money that they
just stole. And they were imprisoned and then it's a
bit of a mystery of what happens. But one theory
is that after they were released from prison, they went
into hiding and emerged as freemasons later on. Right, That's
one theory that's just yet another theory. And um, King
(10:34):
Philip the fourth may or may not have had them
arrested on a Friday. Oh was that the deal? So chuck. Um,
there's a couple of theories and probably the likeliest theory
of where Freemasons came about. Um, we know that modern Freemasons,
we can trace their history pretty pretty well. Yeah. Um.
(10:58):
Over time, you know, we've got these miss Onic lodges
and they're just kind of hanging out and it's really
like a trade guild. Um, and only what are called
operative Masons could join. Yeah, that's literally people who were Stonemasons, right. Um.
The thing was these these um free stone Masons or
Freemasons kind of fancy themselves. Like I think they cultivated
(11:21):
their intellectualism as if way to further separate themselves from
rough Masons. And so they started like having discourse at
these lodges and talking and they developed they're so smart,
they developed a philosophy, right. Um. And one of the
one of the big I guess tenets of Freemasonry is
(11:42):
religious tolerance. Right. Yeah. While being they were very liberal
religiously speaking, they didn't like the hardcore Catholic rules and
later on I think, well, a couple of things happened.
Catholics were for forbidden to join Freemasons at one point
by one of the popes, right, and then I think
that went away. And then at one point they were
(12:03):
accused of not allowing Catholics and as a Freemason, but
they said that's not true either, right um. And again
we saw that in that thing that's going down in
Boise right now that you um that to be like
as a typical Masonic lodge, you have to have a
sacred volume. But in keeping with that religious tolerance idea um.
(12:25):
There it can be any thing like the Koran. It
can be the the Jewish Old Testament, the Talmud right um,
or the New Testament, the Bible um. But you have
to believe in a supreme being. That's that's another major
tenant of freemasonry. Um. The thing is is it wasn't
necessarily like the Christian God, and the idea of religious
(12:48):
tolerance of believing in what's called the Grand architect um
that definitely jibes with Enlightenment thoughts. So these Masonic lodges
where like you had to be a Mason who could
carve into stone, started attracting people who were basically tourists, yeah,
(13:09):
like artists and aristocrats. All of a sudden there was
this cool club and they says, well, I want to
be a Mason because you guys get together and you're
all smart, and you talk about stuff that's neat and secret.
And so they started letting in uh, speculative instead of
operative Freemasons. They started letting in speculative Freemasons, and and
speculative with as a word as a word yes, And
(13:33):
it became basically like the fraternity gentleman's type of club
that it is today. Right, that was like the beginnings
of that gentleman's club is a well, gentleman is the
operative word, because, um, the Freemasons have never allowed women
in except in some very very unique circumstances. Um. There
was one, famously, a woman named Elizabeth Aldworth who was
(13:56):
called eavesdropping on a Masonic um, I guess discussion or whatever,
and um, they found her and said, okay, you can join,
so they inducted her. I think it was one of
those deals where like, well, gosh, she knows the deal now, right,
but the the I guess the I don't know if
funny is the right word, but The reason that they
(14:17):
gave for not um admitting women was they were afraid
that women were going to distract the guys from their intellectualism.
Sure's clearly a division of the higher self and the
lower self, and they associated the lower self with women.
And then secondly, um that women were too gossipy and
would reveal their secrets. Right, and apparently Elizabeth would like
(14:39):
go around town after that wearing her her Masonic clothes,
her apron, her apron. Really, that's what I heard. I
just told me, like word on the street. Um, chuck,
go ahead, Well, I was just I should mention officially.
In seventy three, their constitution was written by a Scott
Scott his freemason named James Anderson almost at Alexander and
(15:04):
he uh. This was basically the first official set of
like laws and rituals and stuff. So that's in place
in right, and five years prior to that, four Masonic
lodges in London combined to form the first Grand Lodge,
and that tradition has been followed in the States. There's
typically one Grand Lodge in a state, and you gotta
(15:26):
answer to that lodge, right, especially if you start a
secular lodge, right, we should mention quickly to though, since
you mentioned the female member, there are a couple of
sort of spinoffs that are all females called one's called
the Order of the Amaranth and one's called the Order
of the Eastern Star, and those are for the ladies.
(15:46):
Do you want to get all of Masonic right? So, Chuck,
let's talk about American Freemasonry. Yeah, why not? So like
we said that the whole Enlightenment movement really became fond
of the um ideas of Freemasonry. And you know, there's
there's a lot of um uh conspiracy theory about whether
(16:12):
or not you know, America was founded by Mason's and yes,
it indeed was, to which a large degree for sure.
George Washington, you could make a case that he helped
found America. He was a Mason, Benjamin Franklin Mason UM
and several other guys who signed the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence, and ten of them signed the articles officially.
(16:34):
So it's some people say it's one of the miss
that like everybody that was signed the Constitution was a Mason.
Not true, no, but enough where that you can't say
they had a real hand in in shaping the United
States and actually, um, like the dollar bill, the pyramid
with the eye above it is about as Masonic as
(16:54):
it gets. The Mason's love their symbology. UM. And I
read an explanation in um U S News and World Report,
which means it's true by a guy who has written
about UM well mysticism in America UH named Mitch Horowitz, right,
and he basically explained that what this, what the unfinished
(17:15):
pyramid with the eye floating over it means is you know,
we are as humans are capable of great acts of
of engineering and technology, and probably you could extend that
to you know, kindness and generosity, UM. But we couldn't
finish anything unless um it's blessed by Providence, which is
(17:35):
represented by this ie. So it's a hopeful symbol in
that just pyramid will eventually be finished, We will eventually
be successful because Providence winks upon us. That's one explanation.
I'm sure there's like five million other explanations that include
everything from like the Nazis to um caligula. But that's
(17:58):
that's what I understand. That means in Nazistic khaliyah. That's
pretty wide range. The point is, though, is that there
there is a Masonic symbol on our dollar bill. Yeah,
which makes me wonder if the Knights Templar found the
dollar bills at this Temple of Solomon. Maybe maybe they
got that. That's so that all the singles, they're like,
(18:18):
let's make it rain all it makes sense. Uh. There's
also a theory that they were, um, some Masons were
had actually organized the Boston Tea Party and the French Revolution. Yeah,
at the St. Andrew's Lodge in Boston. And there's a
couple of reasons they point to. One is that they
did not meet the night of the Boston Tea Party,
and then there was some letter t on one of
(18:40):
their scrolls, and that's sort of been called out as
maybe there were some there, maybe there weren't. But amazingly,
the Boston Tea Party has still remained a secret to
this day, like all those dudes wore secrecy and with
a dent verification cannot happen at this time. It sounds
pretty Masonic. Yeah, true. So Um, after the American Revolution,
(19:03):
the successful Masonic overthrow of the British rule, Um, basically
the American Mason said, hey, you know we were under
your the purview of the provincial lodge. We gotta go there,
we can't. We gotta make a clean break with everything here,
including masonry. So they formed their own official lodges in
(19:26):
in the United States and it kind of took off. Um.
In America. You've got the York right and the Scottish right,
and the York like you said, is French, and the
Scottish Rite follows the English traditions. Um. And apparently the
French tradition is the one that's secular. Uh, Scottish tradition.
You have to have that sacred volume and in a
(19:47):
belief in a supreme being. Um. And you can't talk
about religion or politics under the Scottish Rite, right. Yeah,
and we had Scottish Rite hospital here too. I never
really thought about that until I read this. Yeah. I
think in the Shriners as well. That's an other example
of UM of their Mason's. Yeah, that was kind of
an offshoot of Mason's that Shriners with their fun little
(20:07):
cars that they drive around in. Um. So, Chuck, let's
talk about religion, right, Okay. A lot of people think
that it is a that that freemasonry is religion in
and of itself. Probably not true. Yeah, I mean they
say this is what I don't get. They say that
you have to believe in God under the Scottish Rite. Well, yeah,
(20:31):
that's the first question they ask you when you get in,
you know, in your little ceremony there. But if you're
if you're following a Scottish rite exactly. But then they also,
on the other hand say, but we're not even allowed
to talk about religion in our meetings, right, So what's
going on there? Um? I don't know. I think it's
probably like one of those things where they just figured
out pretty early on after having held meetings for centuries
(20:55):
that they're like, wow, you just can't bring up religion
and politics. That ticks everybody off. Believe me, don't go
their friend right. They also, um, don't follow the traditional
um Judeo Christian view of God as a supreme being
necessarily because they call God the great architect of the universe,
(21:19):
which actually sounds pretty day is to me a right
good um. But again, you have to believe in God.
You can't talk about it, but you have to swear
an oath upon a sacred sacred volume right or book
of the sacred Law, which could be a Koran at
(21:39):
the Townward or the New Testament. Yeah, they're kind of
open minded to an extent, as long as you believe
in God, as long as you tell any secrets, because
we'll burn your bowels. Right. So, if you want to
become a Mason, right, and you you have picked up that,
you've said that your bowels maybe burned if you give
away secrets. You've come to terms with that. You want
(22:00):
to enter the brotherhood, what do you do? Well, you
have to be sponsored. You have to fill out your application.
Basically you gotta get two sponsors from the same lodge
to say, you know, to vouch for you. I guess.
Then you're voted on, voted in by a secret ballot.
Um you're asked whether or not you believe in God,
and you have to answer yes. Imagine if you say no,
(22:22):
then they'll just say it's probably isn't the place for you.
Then they'll point you to the French Orient. And you
have to have a little bit of money. I mean,
you don't have to be rich, but you have to
pay the dues and keep your dues up like any club.
And you're expected to be um philanthropic too. And if
you don't take part in that stuff is probably frowned upon.
So you gotta have a little bit of money, right,
and um, once you are accepted, you start out as
(22:44):
an inner apprentice and you're initiated, right, Yeah, this is
this is pretty fun. And they do they they have
to you have to tell the story of the King
Solomon's temple and um, Hiram abiff and and basically you
acted out, you act out this tradition in blindfold, and
then you are you are Hiram a brief or abe
(23:08):
and you were murdered and you pretend like you're dead
and you're reborn and you're a mason. Now, yeah, I'm
really curious about this, you know, the artistically way they
give you there. Yeah. And and also I can't I
can't get the image of slacks out of my head.
Like there's some guys wearing the clothes that he's wearing
at work, which is doctor's high Yes, slacks, right and
(23:30):
and like a short sleeve button down, acting out that
he's just died and is reborn. I'm hoping that there's
like a robe involved or something. Just kind of sure
dead in any any fashion choices. So that's kind of
you know, it's interesting ritualistic for sure. Uh. Then then
(23:52):
you begin you're your you know, your rise to the top.
Although they say that most Freemasons don't get above like
what like three degrees right out of the thirty there's
thirty three wells in the French tradition. Um, but the
I guess the Scottish right is thirty three degrees of freemasonry.
And as you graduate, you get more secrets told and
(24:12):
more threats against telling those secrets. Well, go ahead and
tell them the threats. I know you're chumping at the
bit for that. And the Masons, we should say, by
the way, deny this. They this is this is speculation.
But this has come out supposedly from other Masons, that
this is the punishment for revealing secrets. Yes, so apparently
if you're an apprentice, which is the first level, and
(24:32):
you tell secrets, your tongue is torn out, uh free
craft which uh what numbers that? That's is the second degree?
Really wow? Uh they will actually tear your heart out,
which would probably end it for you. And then the
master Mason is the famous bowel burning that I've been
speaking up for fifteen minutes now, and one one has
(24:55):
to imagine that they're burning your vowels a lot. It's
not like they suffcate you with the pillow and then
burn your vowel like you're probably alive while your bowels
will be are being burned. Yeah. And the first time
I read this, I thought, I said, your bowels are turned,
and I thought that was some ancient like like being
drawn and quartered. I was like, oh my gosh, your
bowels are turned them. That must be awful. But then
I thought it was burned, which is even worse. They
(25:16):
just go Joan Collins and you're like, oh, my bowels
are turned. Uh. And then if you're a royal Arc,
then you have the top of your skull sliced off,
which is no fun for anyone. No, again, presumably you're alive,
and we should say the Masons still say this is
not true. Um. But when you get to that third degree,
(25:39):
the end of the third degree, the Master Mason degree,
and you have kept the secrets, your bowels are intact,
and your heart's fine and your tongue is fine. Um,
you finally get the name of the Arc, great architect
of the universe as part of your initiation to the
um hot Holy Royal arch which is like the fourth degree. Right, So, Chuck,
(26:01):
what is the name of the great architect of the universe?
Are we going to reveal this? It's in the article. Uh.
It is yab Yabulan, That's what it is. And apparently
that stands the j a H stands for Yahweh, which
is the Hebrew god um or God for Hebrew in Hebrew. Right,
(26:22):
and Yahweh meant I am in Hebrew? Oh? Really? Uh?
And the b u L is for is for ball
b a a l, which is the ancient Canaanite fertility god.
And then honest now you don't want to mess with him, right,
and honest for Osiris, Yeah, the Egyptian god of the underworld. Right.
So basically what you've got is like this, three different
(26:44):
aspects you have like life, death, sex, existence, you know,
embodied by these different gods and then all combined together,
which is convenient. Yeah. So which degree is your favorite?
Did you look these over? Yeah? My favorite is King
of the Brazen Serpent. Yah. My second favorite was the
(27:07):
Intimate Secretary. There's also the eighth degree is the Night
of the Pelican an Eagle and Sovereign Prince Rose craw
of herod Um. Yeah, that's pretty good too. Yeah, there's
so many Masons that are like, you guys are making
fun of us jerks, We're not. I'm not Timothy Hutton's
out there angry? Is Hutton? Amazon? Turk one two is
(27:30):
a livid right now? He's Amazon? Wow, I gotta list.
We'll go over that later, okay. And I'm sure that
you have movie references too, I expect. No, not really crazy. So,
Chuck flint Stones, what was that the Royal Order of
Buffalo that was the littally forgot about? Yeah, they were
the big guh Yeah, buffalo hat. They had faces right
(27:50):
with like horns coming out of him. Was it the
water buffalo? It seems like water buffalo. Maybe it was
water buffalo. Wow. Yeah, he just blew my mind. Man,
I forgot all about that. I had too until just now. So, Chuck,
you've entered a lodge. Let's say you're up to the
third or fourth degree. You're not running around Idaho forming
quote irregular lodges um and you are vying for office.
(28:16):
Let's say, what are some of the um positions available
to you at a typical lodge. Well, it starts up
top as the with a senior warden well I'm sorry.
There's a master. That's the top, that's the guy who's
running the show of the lodge making sure everything is
abided by abode by. So you got the senior warden
(28:37):
after that. In a junior warden, you've got a treasurer.
Of course, there's always a treasurer. There's a secretary that
writes down everything that's going on. You've got a senior
and a junior deacon. Now I've met a senior or
junior deacon. I don't know which. I really got which
one he was, but you mean, and I toured the
George Washington Memorial Masonic Lodge and Alexandria, Virginia. It is awesome. Cool,
(29:03):
I'll put that on my list. Yes, you should my
bucket list. We we actually signed up Ben Bolan from
um stuff. They don't want you to know to their email.
That's awesome. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a second.
To uh. And then it depends on where the lodge
is and what's how their structure. But you can also
have an inner guard. It's like it's sort of like
a bouncer um, a chat, a chaplain, director of ceremonies,
(29:27):
and an organist. Yeah, just just just for flair. Then
then then then then then then that you know, you know,
I equate organists with slacks, do you all I think
about his baseball. I used to think of church, Now
I think of baseball. Let's let's talk quickly about the symbology.
There's so much to it, but the very standard. If
(29:48):
you look at the Mason symbol, it's a it's a
right angle ruler, a compass, and a G. Right, take
it away, Chuck. Well, the g's stands for either God
or geometry, which was obviously a pretty sacred thing to
a Mason, a Stonemason. And they, you know, to either
(30:10):
God or geometry. My money's on geometry. I would say
geometry too. And uh, the square actually is means something
and encourages you to be a a square dealer, essentially
like sling blade says. And then you have the compass,
which stands for creating boundaries in life. Right, and there
(30:33):
you have it. There you have that. That's their symbol
and what it means. All right, I guess it is
time for um conspiracy theory. Maybe, yeah, we gotta throw
this in there. If you ever suspected the Masons of
having in their past um uh, an allegiance or a
confederacy with a group called the Illuminati, who has spent
(30:56):
on throwing over the Church and government in a stab
wishing a new world order. You're actually right, let's hear it. Uh.
There was a guy named Professor Adam Wis shouted, why
shopped by shopped We'll go with that one who in
the eighteenth century founded this group called the Illuminati. And
(31:18):
the Illuminati basically said, we think that government's corrupt, we
think that the church is corrupt, and we need to
get rid of them. But this is not something that
you can do in the open. So we're gonna form
a secret society. And speaking of secret societies, we like
you Mason's in Bavaria, So let's hook up. Let's do
this together. You're really doing it, right. So the Mason's
(31:39):
in Bavaria and the Illuminati hung out for a while, uh,
joined forces. And then the Mason's realized that these guys
were going to get them all killed, and they they
broke off their um engagement with the Illuminati, and their
date with destiny was postponed. Right, So, what I thought
was nice was the government, but various said no, no, no, Illuminati,
(32:02):
you need to disband, which they supposedly did and scene.
But we since we're talking about conspiracies, we need to
say some people still think that they're involved together and
that they're trying to control. That was implied by my
pregnant pause at the end. They think they're trying to
like control the banks of the world and the governments
(32:22):
of the world, all secretly together. Right. One view of
the Mason's is that the Masons that you see every
day with like the stickers and the magnets on their
cars or the Shriners and their little cars, um, are
basically just distractions, and that they're these you know people
at like the higher levels, the thirty third degrees, they're
(32:42):
actually running the show. Um. It's all a big front, right,
and these are the people who like actually run Goldman Sacks,
you know, decide that the euro is going to happen,
or whether or not Greece is allowed to exist as
an economy, that kind of stuff. Uh. And I think
now is when we should bring up our cohorts and
stuff they don't want you to know, which if for
(33:03):
those of you not in the now, it's our one
of our video podcasts that a couple of our you know,
video dudes do a great job and it's very Yeah,
it's cool and it's you know, they have a lot
of fun with it and they're not like they don't
believe all this stuff necessarily, but it's fun to dig
it up and do fun little videos about it. Fun.
And they did one on Mason's And one of the
(33:26):
theories is that the layout of Washington d C was
designed in such a way by freemasons to align with
lay lines. And lay lines are these supposed energy forces
like electum electro magnetic lines what it is supposedly, And
(33:48):
they did a couple of cool shots of like aerial
shots from Google Maps where they line up these pentagrams
the streets and d C. You've been there, It's like,
it's crazy. I've seen that. We saw that episode together,
remember the beaut it for us? Yeah, it's good. I
just watch it again today. And if you if you
line these streets up, supposedly they match up with ley
lines in accordance with the Washington They call it the
(34:10):
Washington Obelisk, not the Washington Monument. And um those connect
to like other power points in the in the on Earth,
like Stonehenge or Mr. Convenient Truth, or exactly, and they
concentrate energy and they say that they can use this
energy in d C to do everything from cause natural
(34:32):
disasters to hallucinations. And these are ley line theorious. And
yet they can't come up with a decent left handed
can opener. Crazy, So we we don't. I don't believe
that stuff. It's all a bunch of bunk. If you
ask me, it is. But I mean, you know, thinking
about Freemasonry in the United States is kind of a
national pastime among the sixteen to say thirty four year
(34:54):
old set, right um. And it hasn't always been this way.
You know. We went from Mason's founding the United States
to the point where at now, which is you know, hey,
Mason's how's it going, You guys, just do your own thing,
thanks for being philanthropic, right um, to somewhere in the
middle there was a bump where there was a real
(35:15):
movement that was anti Masonic, that was so strong and
pronounced it had its own newspapers and a political party
based on anti Freemasonry, right for good reason. Well that's
one case at least. Yeah, Well, there's a guy in
eighty six who is named William Morgan, and he came
(35:36):
out of the book called Freemasonry Exposed, and it basically
laid out a lot of the secrets that we now
know today about freemasonry. Um, and that kind of got
the public sentiment whipped up, like who are these people?
Why do they believe this stuff? This is kind of weird, right, Yeah.
And I saw a couple of things that I saw
one thing that said that he was tried to get
in and couldn't and that's why I wrote it. And
(35:57):
then I read a thing that said that he was
actually a Mason and couldn't. They didn't allow him above
a certain level. So he got all ticked off and said,
all right, I'm gonna expose all your secrets. Sure, I
mean there's sour grapes written all over that book, I'm sure,
but um, And probably I think some people may have
taken that whole thing with a grain of salt had
it not been for what happened to William Morrigan, Like
(36:20):
he disappeared. Yeah, he was abducted and taken to the
Niagara River. Yeah, and that this is again there's varying
accounts on what happened because they can't there's very little
evidence in this case. But The story goes that he
was arrested formally arrested for a a debt that he
owed to an innkeeper, which this alleged debt was a
(36:41):
very kinky thing, and they put him in jail, and
the jail keeper took the night off and had his
wife stepped in for him. And these three Masons came
to the wife and said, hey, can you give us
this guy? Can we can go into our custody and
she said sure, And then they stuffed him in a trunk,
drove him to Canada, and either paid him to stay
in Canada or drowned him in the river. We don't
(37:04):
know what happened, depends on how much money they had. Yeah,
I guess so, But I took it that they never
found William Morgan's body. Then if he conceivably lived his
life out in Canada or he drowned, that would indicate
that they never found him. But he disappeared right after
he wrote this book. Yeah, and that whipped up a
frenzy of anti Masonic sentiment, basically right and so uh
(37:27):
that in New York State, Uh, the number of lodges
went from four hundred and eighty in eighteen five to
seventy five in eighteen thirty five. It's just a decade, right,
So it went kind of, um, it went south, It
went parachape for him for a little while. And the
Civil War was such a national horror that um, everybody
(37:49):
kind of forgot about how much they hated the Masons,
and the Masons were allowed to flourish again, and here
we are today. Yeah, and some you know, there's other
weird theories about bad things they've done, like they were
in on the Kennedy plot, Uh, the Kennedy assassination plot,
or the Jack the Ripper murders. But there's no water
that can be held with any of that. But if
(38:11):
you really really want to learn about masonry, freemasonry, right,
apparently the Freemasonry for Dummies and the Complete Idiots Guide
to from Masonry are dead on because in the list
of complaints against him, the a former master of a
lodge in Boise who was basically calling out this guy
(38:34):
and telling him he had to come to a Masonic trial,
UM cited specific page numbers in these two books. So
if you if you really want to understand masonry, get
the Complete Idiots Guide or UM The Mason's Guide to
Dummies or Masonry for dummies, both of those. I have one,
(38:56):
do you. I got it from Mattford really got are
so into that. I do have a list, and you know,
if you go, there's an official list on the internet
of like hundreds and hundreds of famous men that have
been Freemasons. But I just earmarked a few that I
thought were interesting. Um, but Abbott of Abbott and Costello, Mason,
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, both Masons. Yeah. I'm sorry
(39:19):
to interrupt, but we should say that the Masons were um,
very much down with the abolition movement. There was um
they had They allowed I guess that African Lodge number
one to be established in Boston in seventeen seventy five.
Very fourth thinking in a lot of ways, Yeah for sure. Yeah,
and that became the Prince Hall Freemasonry, which is segregated
(39:42):
but like a huge part of the abolitionist movement. And
we're talking a century before um, the real deal. Yeah wow.
And you know I also read a thing I should
mention that they were targeted, uh during the Holocaust as well,
So you add them to the list of homosexuals and
Jews and you know, anyone that cross eyes that the
(40:02):
Nazis were like, let's kill him. You know, cross eye
is called stravismus. Did you know that we're just throwing
the knowledge out today. Uh So. Next on my list
is Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. Henry Clay.
How about that he was the Speaker of the House
and he was hawkish, right, yeah, he was actually the
(40:23):
grand Master of Kentucky. And our buddies, I guess, and
the Henry Clay people that was enough for them? Are
they from Kentucky? From l a weird? Uh Cecil B.
De Mille, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Elway and Scottie Pippen Freemasons?
How about that Harry Hudini, Timothy Hutton, as I already said,
(40:45):
Jesse Jackson, and Peter Seller's Harpo Marx and then of
course for some reason, Mark Twain and John Wayne Just
I was like, well, of course they're Freemasons. They just
kind of fit. And that's just a few. I mean,
j Edgar Hoover, Clark Gay. Well, there's tons and tons
of these famous dudes back in the day were Freemason's.
It was the hip thing back then. Well, it's Freemasonry. UM. Attention,
(41:09):
all Freemason's. If you're going to send guys to kill
me and Chuck, please at least let it be Scottie
Pippen and Timothy Hutton, Okay, to burn my bowels. What
if Scottie Pippen burns your bowels this weekend or next
week when this is released, I'd be upset. Would be
quite a story. So listen. If you want to learn more,
(41:29):
you want to see that all thirty three degrees of freemasonry.
You can type in how Freemason's work in the search
bar how stuff works dot Com and I guess then
it's time for listener. Mayl It is Josh. I'm gonna
call this um one of a couple of prison emails
(41:51):
that we're gonna be reading. I'm gonna stretch these out
over a few weeks. We got some awesome email from
former inmates that set us straight in a few ways.
And also, uh, I'm gonna said we were dead on yeah,
And I think what we learned, or what I learned
from the email was it's hard to do a definitive
prison podcast because they're all a little bit different, Like this.
One girl wrote in She's like they're not allowed to
(42:12):
have cigarettes in prison, and I replied, oh, yes, they
are with a link. And it just depends on what
state and what prison it is. Each prison has its
own personality. Uh this is from anonymous. She requested, or
he requested, thank you for the prison podcast. Guys. I
grew up in Attica, New York, not in the prison.
(42:32):
My father was a correctional officer and he until he
retired just this year. I lived about a mile away
from the prison, and when I was a kid, they
used to tell me that it was a castle, uh
the sort it is a way. Standing in my yard,
you could hear the guards speaking to the prison prisoners
in the yard, and we even went to an annual
picnic for the guards and their families every year on
(42:53):
the prison grounds. It was always surreal to ride in
a hay wagon around the prison grounds and see the
prisoner behind razor wire razor wire, playing basketball and hanging out.
No one had ever escaped at that, you know, during
my stay there. But when I was in high school,
a few prisoners did escape from the minimum security prisons
behind Attica, and they were caught very soon after when
(43:17):
their vowels were burned and they were burned by Scottie Pippen.
It is hard to feel any sympathy for these prisoners
for me because I grew up in the shadow of
this institution, and when you know families that are affected
by the death of the guards during the riot, you
know it changes your outlook. I think people want to
root for the underdog and believe that there are so
many wrongly convicted innocence in prison and the guards are evil,
(43:39):
but in reality, most of the guys are pretty bad guys,
and most of the guards are just trying to do
their job. In fact, no one mentions the stress that
the guards go through working in a place like that
every day. My dad used to have nightmares. He wants
grabbed my mom while he was asleep and told her
to lock in. So that's sort of like our sleep.
Then its parasomnia, and he he said, it's almost like
(44:00):
they have sort of like a post traumatic stress disorder.
When my dad finally retired this year, it was as
if a huge burden was lifted. He was less irritated
and he was less snappy with the people around him.
So kudos to the men and women who go to
work at these places day in and day out, working
midnight shifts on holiday so we can all be safe.
And that's from Anonymous, and that's a very good point.
(44:21):
Thanks a lot for the email, Anonymous, appreciate that. Um,
it's a weird name. It is unique. Yeah, if you
want to send us an anonymous email, that's perfectly fine.
Just say anonymous because we'll be able to tell from
your email address who you are. You can wrap it
up and send it to us at stuff podcast at
(44:45):
how stuff works dot com. For more on this and
thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works dot com.
Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on
the house stuff works dot com homepage. H brought to
you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,
(45:07):
are you
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff You Should Know?
From House Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to
the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with me as always as
Charles W. Chuck Bryant and uh, that would make this
(00:25):
stuff you should know? Yes, the stuff they don't want
you to know. Addition, yeah, kind of whoa, They're sorry everybody. Um, sorry, Chuck,
we should apologize for cutting in like this. I know
we're gonna we have some important information that we usually
reserve for the end of our show, but we realize
that some people tune out, so it's at the beginning
this time. Yes, um, we have well we're going to
(00:48):
south By Southwest. We're hoping to write. Yeah, we're we're
up for an interactive panel and um, we need everybody's votes.
The last chance to vote is today, the day this
comes out, actually tomorrow, it's Friday Friday. All you have
to do is go to panel Picker dot s x
s W dot com, slash ideas, slash views slash six
(01:13):
eight one seven, I guess it's ours. Yeah, That like
takes you directly to the page where you can vote
on us, and when you try to vote, it'll say,
oh wait, you got a register and it takes like
forty seconds to register and they will not spam you. Right,
So basically, please go register force because we'd love to
have a panel in south By Southwest. It's just cool.
Want to go and chuck south By Southwest reminds me
(01:34):
of something else that will conclude our national tour, which
we're kicking off here in Atlanta on October. Yes, we
are having like we did in New York, We're having
an all star trivia event here in Atlanta oct then
five or six other secret to be named later cities. Right. Yes,
we're gonna be all over the place. We're gonna be
touring the country playing people in trivia, having a good time.
(01:58):
It'll be fun. It'll be during the week kind of
break up that that week day were not any kind
of thing, probably Wednesdays or something. I think over the
next well up until March. Between now and March, so
keep an eye out, because um, we actually did spread
it out geographically as much as we could to get
as many people there as possible. Details will follow and
it's gonna be a lot of fun. Okay, that's it, right.
(02:20):
Uh yeah, back to our regularly scheduled program. Let's avoid
the whole conspiracy thing. I don't even think we should
bring up any conspiracies. Sorry, it's gonna happen. Yeah, it's
a little a little difficult to talk about Freemasons, which
is what we're talking about today, without talking conspiracy, and
for good reason too. Um. They are one of the
(02:41):
more secretive orders ever created. What we just talked about,
Like brick and stone work the whole time. You gotta
get the proper mixture and you gotta get the trial
just right. I know how to make a mixed mud
is what it's called mortar. Yeah, it's I can. I
can whip up a pretty good batch of bit. Man,
you built a fire pit, right I did. I've built um, walkways, walls,
(03:04):
all sorts of stuff. I guess you could call me
a mason, butt chuck. That would be a rough mason,
not a Freemason, which is the big distinction that we'll
get to eventually. Right, But first, let's talk about what's
going down in Boise, Idaho. Right now, I have no
idea what's going on there. Well, I can tell you
there's a guy named Crispin her Tongue, and he was
(03:28):
summoned to Boise Lodge number two, ancient Free and accepted
Masons of the Grand Lodge of Idaho, basically to explain
himself for going ahead and founding another lodge called the
Practice Lodge, which is considered a modern lodge, and the
brothers at um the Boise Lodge number two wanted to
(03:49):
know why he had done this because it basically flies
in the face of the tenants of Freemasonry, at least
as far as the York or no Scottish right Mason rigos,
which I guess is what most American lodges are, right, Yeah,
because they were from England. The Scottish right is England
and the other one is French, right, right, So this
guy's this. The Practice Lodge is aligned with the Grand
(04:12):
Orient of France and basically that they don't require that
there be volume of sacred Law present as part of
the indispensable part of the furniture of the lodge. On quoting. Uh,
this Practice Lodge allows discussion of religion in politics. Yeah,
you're not supposed to do that. No, and um it.
(04:34):
It doesn't require that members believe in a supreme being,
so he just he's not a Mason. No, he was,
and he went and founded a practice lodge, a secular lodge.
The guy's a secular humanist. And he was excommunicated, expelled
from the Boise Lodge number two. Did they burn his bowels?
They didn't because he didn't share any secrets. But this
(04:56):
kind of stuff actually gives you a glimpse of you know,
what the Masons are all about, Chuck so it. They
are a very secret secret order, but they over time,
like little things have come out. Um in this article
will reveal the name of God. Um the secret word
that gets you to like the next level after the
(05:18):
third degree. There's all sorts of like it's it's the
least secret secretive order as far as you know, I
would think they would have changed this stuff if you can,
like read these secret passwords on our website. Wouldn't have
changed it by now? Well, but think about it. I mean, like,
are you going to change God's name? You can't. It's
just kind of like and yeah, everything you've heard is true.
This is this is God's names. You're glad you made
(05:41):
it to the fourth degree. Now, so let's talk about
the history of the Mason's right. There's a lot of
competing theories of where the Masons came from. Yeah, that
they range from once we won't talk about as much,
like ancient druids or the isis Osiris cult in ancient
Egypt to um, my favorite story, and this one I
(06:03):
think holds a little bit of credence for sure because
they still part of their rituals involved the story. So
it seems like it might be the way or else
they just selected the story and they're sticking with it. Yeah.
Maybe so. Uh, way back in the day, King Solomon's
Temple in nine seven b c. Was built in Jerusalem,
and uh, there was a master builder, a master mason
(06:24):
name here, I'm a beef who claimed to know the
secret to the temple, because you've gotta have a secret
if you're gonna build a temple or temple. And uh,
three men kidnapped him one day, threaten to kill him
if he didn't reveal the secret. He apparently said, no way,
I'm not gonna do that, so he was promptly killed.
And then King Solomon heard about this and ordered some
(06:45):
masons and these were Stonemasons at the time. You know,
it's regular Stonemasons was before the whole Freemason thing, right,
I don't know. Well, that's where I'm going with and uh,
he said bring his body back here and bring back
the secret of the temple. Did not work. So he says, well,
you know what, I'm gonna establish a new secret. And
here it is, and here it is. It is Maha bone.
(07:07):
That's the secret. The secret is a word, and the
word mahabone means the grand Lodge door opened. The secret
um is the password that they used to enter the
third degree of masonry. So if you were thinking, I'd
like to become a Mason, but I want to start
out at the third level. I don't want to become
an apprentice, right, just go ahead and go into a
(07:30):
Masonic lodge and say maha bone and they'll be like
I would say mahabon a and they would like, uh, yeah,
you mispronounced it, or you just leave the h out.
It would be like, so, um, that is the that's
the that's the party line of the Mason's um of
where they came from. Uh. Probably the more likely explanation
(07:57):
is the um boring. Right. I think it's kind of
interesting though. I like it because most of the teas
are crossed and the eyes are dotted. But um, in
the Middle Ages, masons were a well, there were two kinds,
like we said, there were rough masons like me just
jerk soon you how to mix mud together and could
(08:20):
you know, work with stone that was pretty tough to
screw up because they were so big. Or there were
free craft mason's stonemasons or freemasons, um, that worked with
intricate carvings and soft stone. Free stone is like the
soft stone that that you can actually carved designs into.
And it took some serious skill, right, So to protect
(08:44):
their wages, to make sure that they were differentiated in
the minds of employers like the church or right, um,
they they initiated trade guilds, right exactly. Um. These trade
guilds founded lodges where they stored their tools, their secret tools,
(09:05):
and there they ate and basically hung out together. And
then after a while they just went the extra mile
and said, you know what, Um, I want to make
sure that there's no rough masons at our at our lodge,
so we're gonna come up with secret handshakes, passwords, that
kind of stuff. Yeah, and there the Masons were born. Yeah,
and that that one makes sense too. Uh, And then
(09:27):
we can't talk about any of us without talking about
the Knights Templar for a second, because we've gotten railed
about the Knights Templar with the Friday thirteenth show. Yeah,
we have, so, for goodness sakes, the Knights Templar is
another theory, and um, the deal there was the Knights Templar.
There were monks that basically guarded a passage from Jaffa
(09:50):
to Jerusalem to protect Christians on their way, and they
were pretty rough apparently, and they at one point discovered
King Solomon's uh witches in the temple. They're like, there's
the real secret. Yeah, and it was apparently the biggest,
you know, stock of cash. It was probably just dollar bills,
is my guests, and they took it all and King Philip,
(10:12):
what is that the fourth of France said, arrest all
those dudes so I can get their money that they
just stole. And they were imprisoned and then it's a
bit of a mystery of what happens. But one theory
is that after they were released from prison, they went
into hiding and emerged as freemasons later on. Right, That's
one theory that's just yet another theory. And um, King
(10:34):
Philip the fourth may or may not have had them
arrested on a Friday. Oh was that the deal? So chuck. Um,
there's a couple of theories and probably the likeliest theory
of where Freemasons came about. Um, we know that modern Freemasons,
we can trace their history pretty pretty well. Yeah. Um.
(10:58):
Over time, you know, we've got these miss Onic lodges
and they're just kind of hanging out and it's really
like a trade guild. Um, and only what are called
operative Masons could join. Yeah, that's literally people who were Stonemasons, right. Um.
The thing was these these um free stone Masons or
Freemasons kind of fancy themselves. Like I think they cultivated
(11:21):
their intellectualism as if way to further separate themselves from
rough Masons. And so they started like having discourse at
these lodges and talking and they developed they're so smart,
they developed a philosophy, right. Um. And one of the
one of the big I guess tenets of Freemasonry is
(11:42):
religious tolerance. Right. Yeah. While being they were very liberal
religiously speaking, they didn't like the hardcore Catholic rules and
later on I think, well, a couple of things happened.
Catholics were for forbidden to join Freemasons at one point
by one of the popes, right, and then I think
that went away. And then at one point they were
(12:03):
accused of not allowing Catholics and as a Freemason, but
they said that's not true either, right um. And again
we saw that in that thing that's going down in
Boise right now that you um that to be like
as a typical Masonic lodge, you have to have a
sacred volume. But in keeping with that religious tolerance idea um.
(12:25):
There it can be any thing like the Koran. It
can be the the Jewish Old Testament, the Talmud right um,
or the New Testament, the Bible um. But you have
to believe in a supreme being. That's that's another major
tenant of freemasonry. Um. The thing is is it wasn't
necessarily like the Christian God, and the idea of religious
(12:48):
tolerance of believing in what's called the Grand architect um
that definitely jibes with Enlightenment thoughts. So these Masonic lodges
where like you had to be a Mason who could
carve into stone, started attracting people who were basically tourists, yeah,
(13:09):
like artists and aristocrats. All of a sudden there was
this cool club and they says, well, I want to
be a Mason because you guys get together and you're
all smart, and you talk about stuff that's neat and secret.
And so they started letting in uh, speculative instead of
operative Freemasons. They started letting in speculative Freemasons, and and
speculative with as a word as a word yes, And
(13:33):
it became basically like the fraternity gentleman's type of club
that it is today. Right, that was like the beginnings
of that gentleman's club is a well, gentleman is the
operative word, because, um, the Freemasons have never allowed women
in except in some very very unique circumstances. Um. There
was one, famously, a woman named Elizabeth Aldworth who was
(13:56):
called eavesdropping on a Masonic um, I guess discussion or whatever,
and um, they found her and said, okay, you can join,
so they inducted her. I think it was one of
those deals where like, well, gosh, she knows the deal now, right,
but the the I guess the I don't know if
funny is the right word, but The reason that they
(14:17):
gave for not um admitting women was they were afraid
that women were going to distract the guys from their intellectualism.
Sure's clearly a division of the higher self and the
lower self, and they associated the lower self with women.
And then secondly, um that women were too gossipy and
would reveal their secrets. Right, and apparently Elizabeth would like
(14:39):
go around town after that wearing her her Masonic clothes,
her apron, her apron. Really, that's what I heard. I
just told me, like word on the street. Um, chuck,
go ahead, Well, I was just I should mention officially.
In seventy three, their constitution was written by a Scott
Scott his freemason named James Anderson almost at Alexander and
(15:04):
he uh. This was basically the first official set of
like laws and rituals and stuff. So that's in place
in right, and five years prior to that, four Masonic
lodges in London combined to form the first Grand Lodge,
and that tradition has been followed in the States. There's
typically one Grand Lodge in a state, and you gotta
(15:26):
answer to that lodge, right, especially if you start a
secular lodge, right, we should mention quickly to though, since
you mentioned the female member, there are a couple of
sort of spinoffs that are all females called one's called
the Order of the Amaranth and one's called the Order
of the Eastern Star, and those are for the ladies.
(15:46):
Do you want to get all of Masonic right? So, Chuck,
let's talk about American Freemasonry. Yeah, why not? So like
we said that the whole Enlightenment movement really became fond
of the um ideas of Freemasonry. And you know, there's
there's a lot of um uh conspiracy theory about whether
(16:12):
or not you know, America was founded by Mason's and yes,
it indeed was, to which a large degree for sure.
George Washington, you could make a case that he helped
found America. He was a Mason, Benjamin Franklin Mason UM
and several other guys who signed the Constitution and the
Declaration of Independence, and ten of them signed the articles officially.
(16:34):
So it's some people say it's one of the miss
that like everybody that was signed the Constitution was a Mason.
Not true, no, but enough where that you can't say
they had a real hand in in shaping the United
States and actually, um, like the dollar bill, the pyramid
with the eye above it is about as Masonic as
(16:54):
it gets. The Mason's love their symbology. UM. And I
read an explanation in um U S News and World Report,
which means it's true by a guy who has written
about UM well mysticism in America UH named Mitch Horowitz, right,
and he basically explained that what this, what the unfinished
(17:15):
pyramid with the eye floating over it means is you know,
we are as humans are capable of great acts of
of engineering and technology, and probably you could extend that
to you know, kindness and generosity, UM. But we couldn't
finish anything unless um it's blessed by Providence, which is
(17:35):
represented by this ie. So it's a hopeful symbol in
that just pyramid will eventually be finished, We will eventually
be successful because Providence winks upon us. That's one explanation.
I'm sure there's like five million other explanations that include
everything from like the Nazis to um caligula. But that's
(17:58):
that's what I understand. That means in Nazistic khaliyah. That's
pretty wide range. The point is, though, is that there
there is a Masonic symbol on our dollar bill. Yeah,
which makes me wonder if the Knights Templar found the
dollar bills at this Temple of Solomon. Maybe maybe they
got that. That's so that all the singles, they're like,
(18:18):
let's make it rain all it makes sense. Uh. There's
also a theory that they were, um, some Masons were
had actually organized the Boston Tea Party and the French Revolution. Yeah,
at the St. Andrew's Lodge in Boston. And there's a
couple of reasons they point to. One is that they
did not meet the night of the Boston Tea Party,
and then there was some letter t on one of
(18:40):
their scrolls, and that's sort of been called out as
maybe there were some there, maybe there weren't. But amazingly,
the Boston Tea Party has still remained a secret to
this day, like all those dudes wore secrecy and with
a dent verification cannot happen at this time. It sounds
pretty Masonic. Yeah, true. So Um, after the American Revolution,
(19:03):
the successful Masonic overthrow of the British rule, Um, basically
the American Mason said, hey, you know we were under
your the purview of the provincial lodge. We gotta go there,
we can't. We gotta make a clean break with everything here,
including masonry. So they formed their own official lodges in
(19:26):
in the United States and it kind of took off. Um.
In America. You've got the York right and the Scottish right,
and the York like you said, is French, and the
Scottish Rite follows the English traditions. Um. And apparently the
French tradition is the one that's secular. Uh, Scottish tradition.
You have to have that sacred volume and in a
(19:47):
belief in a supreme being. Um. And you can't talk
about religion or politics under the Scottish Rite, right. Yeah,
and we had Scottish Rite hospital here too. I never
really thought about that until I read this. Yeah. I
think in the Shriners as well. That's an other example
of UM of their Mason's. Yeah, that was kind of
an offshoot of Mason's that Shriners with their fun little
(20:07):
cars that they drive around in. Um. So, Chuck, let's
talk about religion, right, Okay. A lot of people think
that it is a that that freemasonry is religion in
and of itself. Probably not true. Yeah, I mean they
say this is what I don't get. They say that
you have to believe in God under the Scottish Rite. Well, yeah,
(20:31):
that's the first question they ask you when you get in,
you know, in your little ceremony there. But if you're
if you're following a Scottish rite exactly. But then they also,
on the other hand say, but we're not even allowed
to talk about religion in our meetings, right, So what's
going on there? Um? I don't know. I think it's
probably like one of those things where they just figured
out pretty early on after having held meetings for centuries
(20:55):
that they're like, wow, you just can't bring up religion
and politics. That ticks everybody off. Believe me, don't go
their friend right. They also, um, don't follow the traditional
um Judeo Christian view of God as a supreme being
necessarily because they call God the great architect of the universe,
(21:19):
which actually sounds pretty day is to me a right
good um. But again, you have to believe in God.
You can't talk about it, but you have to swear
an oath upon a sacred sacred volume right or book
of the sacred Law, which could be a Koran at
(21:39):
the Townward or the New Testament. Yeah, they're kind of
open minded to an extent, as long as you believe
in God, as long as you tell any secrets, because
we'll burn your bowels. Right. So, if you want to
become a Mason, right, and you you have picked up that,
you've said that your bowels maybe burned if you give
away secrets. You've come to terms with that. You want
(22:00):
to enter the brotherhood, what do you do? Well, you
have to be sponsored. You have to fill out your application.
Basically you gotta get two sponsors from the same lodge
to say, you know, to vouch for you. I guess.
Then you're voted on, voted in by a secret ballot.
Um you're asked whether or not you believe in God,
and you have to answer yes. Imagine if you say no,
(22:22):
then they'll just say it's probably isn't the place for you.
Then they'll point you to the French Orient. And you
have to have a little bit of money. I mean,
you don't have to be rich, but you have to
pay the dues and keep your dues up like any club.
And you're expected to be um philanthropic too. And if
you don't take part in that stuff is probably frowned upon.
So you gotta have a little bit of money, right,
and um, once you are accepted, you start out as
(22:44):
an inner apprentice and you're initiated, right, Yeah, this is
this is pretty fun. And they do they they have
to you have to tell the story of the King
Solomon's temple and um, Hiram abiff and and basically you
acted out, you act out this tradition in blindfold, and
then you are you are Hiram a brief or abe
(23:08):
and you were murdered and you pretend like you're dead
and you're reborn and you're a mason. Now, yeah, I'm
really curious about this, you know, the artistically way they
give you there. Yeah. And and also I can't I
can't get the image of slacks out of my head.
Like there's some guys wearing the clothes that he's wearing
at work, which is doctor's high Yes, slacks, right and
(23:30):
and like a short sleeve button down, acting out that
he's just died and is reborn. I'm hoping that there's
like a robe involved or something. Just kind of sure
dead in any any fashion choices. So that's kind of
you know, it's interesting ritualistic for sure. Uh. Then then
(23:52):
you begin you're your you know, your rise to the top.
Although they say that most Freemasons don't get above like
what like three degrees right out of the thirty there's
thirty three wells in the French tradition. Um, but the
I guess the Scottish right is thirty three degrees of freemasonry.
And as you graduate, you get more secrets told and
(24:12):
more threats against telling those secrets. Well, go ahead and
tell them the threats. I know you're chumping at the
bit for that. And the Masons, we should say, by
the way, deny this. They this is this is speculation.
But this has come out supposedly from other Masons, that
this is the punishment for revealing secrets. Yes, so apparently
if you're an apprentice, which is the first level, and
(24:32):
you tell secrets, your tongue is torn out, uh free
craft which uh what numbers that? That's is the second degree?
Really wow? Uh they will actually tear your heart out,
which would probably end it for you. And then the
master Mason is the famous bowel burning that I've been
speaking up for fifteen minutes now, and one one has
(24:55):
to imagine that they're burning your vowels a lot. It's
not like they suffcate you with the pillow and then
burn your vowel like you're probably alive while your bowels
will be are being burned. Yeah. And the first time
I read this, I thought, I said, your bowels are turned,
and I thought that was some ancient like like being
drawn and quartered. I was like, oh my gosh, your
bowels are turned them. That must be awful. But then
I thought it was burned, which is even worse. They
(25:16):
just go Joan Collins and you're like, oh, my bowels
are turned. Uh. And then if you're a royal Arc,
then you have the top of your skull sliced off,
which is no fun for anyone. No, again, presumably you're alive,
and we should say the Masons still say this is
not true. Um. But when you get to that third degree,
(25:39):
the end of the third degree, the Master Mason degree,
and you have kept the secrets, your bowels are intact,
and your heart's fine and your tongue is fine. Um,
you finally get the name of the Arc, great architect
of the universe as part of your initiation to the
um hot Holy Royal arch which is like the fourth degree. Right, So, Chuck,
(26:01):
what is the name of the great architect of the universe?
Are we going to reveal this? It's in the article. Uh.
It is yab Yabulan, That's what it is. And apparently
that stands the j a H stands for Yahweh, which
is the Hebrew god um or God for Hebrew in Hebrew. Right,
(26:22):
and Yahweh meant I am in Hebrew? Oh? Really? Uh?
And the b u L is for is for ball
b a a l, which is the ancient Canaanite fertility god.
And then honest now you don't want to mess with him, right,
and honest for Osiris, Yeah, the Egyptian god of the underworld. Right.
So basically what you've got is like this, three different
(26:44):
aspects you have like life, death, sex, existence, you know,
embodied by these different gods and then all combined together,
which is convenient. Yeah. So which degree is your favorite?
Did you look these over? Yeah? My favorite is King
of the Brazen Serpent. Yah. My second favorite was the
(27:07):
Intimate Secretary. There's also the eighth degree is the Night
of the Pelican an Eagle and Sovereign Prince Rose craw
of herod Um. Yeah, that's pretty good too. Yeah, there's
so many Masons that are like, you guys are making
fun of us jerks, We're not. I'm not Timothy Hutton's
out there angry? Is Hutton? Amazon? Turk one two is
(27:30):
a livid right now? He's Amazon? Wow, I gotta list.
We'll go over that later, okay. And I'm sure that
you have movie references too, I expect. No, not really crazy. So,
Chuck flint Stones, what was that the Royal Order of
Buffalo that was the littally forgot about? Yeah, they were
the big guh Yeah, buffalo hat. They had faces right
(27:50):
with like horns coming out of him. Was it the
water buffalo? It seems like water buffalo. Maybe it was
water buffalo. Wow. Yeah, he just blew my mind. Man,
I forgot all about that. I had too until just now. So, Chuck,
you've entered a lodge. Let's say you're up to the
third or fourth degree. You're not running around Idaho forming
quote irregular lodges um and you are vying for office.
(28:16):
Let's say, what are some of the um positions available
to you at a typical lodge. Well, it starts up
top as the with a senior warden well I'm sorry.
There's a master. That's the top, that's the guy who's
running the show of the lodge making sure everything is
abided by abode by. So you got the senior warden
(28:37):
after that. In a junior warden, you've got a treasurer.
Of course, there's always a treasurer. There's a secretary that
writes down everything that's going on. You've got a senior
and a junior deacon. Now I've met a senior or
junior deacon. I don't know which. I really got which
one he was, but you mean, and I toured the
George Washington Memorial Masonic Lodge and Alexandria, Virginia. It is awesome. Cool,
(29:03):
I'll put that on my list. Yes, you should my
bucket list. We we actually signed up Ben Bolan from
um stuff. They don't want you to know to their email.
That's awesome. Yeah, we'll talk about that in a second.
To uh. And then it depends on where the lodge
is and what's how their structure. But you can also
have an inner guard. It's like it's sort of like
a bouncer um, a chat, a chaplain, director of ceremonies,
(29:27):
and an organist. Yeah, just just just for flair. Then
then then then then then then that you know, you know,
I equate organists with slacks, do you all I think
about his baseball. I used to think of church, Now
I think of baseball. Let's let's talk quickly about the symbology.
There's so much to it, but the very standard. If
(29:48):
you look at the Mason symbol, it's a it's a
right angle ruler, a compass, and a G. Right, take
it away, Chuck. Well, the g's stands for either God
or geometry, which was obviously a pretty sacred thing to
a Mason, a Stonemason. And they, you know, to either
(30:10):
God or geometry. My money's on geometry. I would say
geometry too. And uh, the square actually is means something
and encourages you to be a a square dealer, essentially
like sling blade says. And then you have the compass,
which stands for creating boundaries in life. Right, and there
(30:33):
you have it. There you have that. That's their symbol
and what it means. All right, I guess it is
time for um conspiracy theory. Maybe, yeah, we gotta throw
this in there. If you ever suspected the Masons of
having in their past um uh, an allegiance or a
confederacy with a group called the Illuminati, who has spent
(30:56):
on throwing over the Church and government in a stab
wishing a new world order. You're actually right, let's hear it. Uh.
There was a guy named Professor Adam Wis shouted, why
shopped by shopped We'll go with that one who in
the eighteenth century founded this group called the Illuminati. And
(31:18):
the Illuminati basically said, we think that government's corrupt, we
think that the church is corrupt, and we need to
get rid of them. But this is not something that
you can do in the open. So we're gonna form
a secret society. And speaking of secret societies, we like
you Mason's in Bavaria, So let's hook up. Let's do
this together. You're really doing it, right. So the Mason's
(31:39):
in Bavaria and the Illuminati hung out for a while, uh,
joined forces. And then the Mason's realized that these guys
were going to get them all killed, and they they
broke off their um engagement with the Illuminati, and their
date with destiny was postponed. Right, So, what I thought
was nice was the government, but various said no, no, no, Illuminati,
(32:02):
you need to disband, which they supposedly did and scene.
But we since we're talking about conspiracies, we need to
say some people still think that they're involved together and
that they're trying to control. That was implied by my
pregnant pause at the end. They think they're trying to
like control the banks of the world and the governments
(32:22):
of the world, all secretly together. Right. One view of
the Mason's is that the Masons that you see every
day with like the stickers and the magnets on their
cars or the Shriners and their little cars, um, are
basically just distractions, and that they're these you know people
at like the higher levels, the thirty third degrees, they're
(32:42):
actually running the show. Um. It's all a big front, right,
and these are the people who like actually run Goldman Sacks,
you know, decide that the euro is going to happen,
or whether or not Greece is allowed to exist as
an economy, that kind of stuff. Uh. And I think
now is when we should bring up our cohorts and
stuff they don't want you to know, which if for
(33:03):
those of you not in the now, it's our one
of our video podcasts that a couple of our you know,
video dudes do a great job and it's very Yeah,
it's cool and it's you know, they have a lot
of fun with it and they're not like they don't
believe all this stuff necessarily, but it's fun to dig
it up and do fun little videos about it. Fun.
And they did one on Mason's And one of the
(33:26):
theories is that the layout of Washington d C was
designed in such a way by freemasons to align with
lay lines. And lay lines are these supposed energy forces
like electum electro magnetic lines what it is supposedly, And
(33:48):
they did a couple of cool shots of like aerial
shots from Google Maps where they line up these pentagrams
the streets and d C. You've been there, It's like,
it's crazy. I've seen that. We saw that episode together,
remember the beaut it for us? Yeah, it's good. I
just watch it again today. And if you if you
line these streets up, supposedly they match up with ley
lines in accordance with the Washington They call it the
(34:10):
Washington Obelisk, not the Washington Monument. And um those connect
to like other power points in the in the on Earth,
like Stonehenge or Mr. Convenient Truth, or exactly, and they
concentrate energy and they say that they can use this
energy in d C to do everything from cause natural
(34:32):
disasters to hallucinations. And these are ley line theorious. And
yet they can't come up with a decent left handed
can opener. Crazy, So we we don't. I don't believe
that stuff. It's all a bunch of bunk. If you
ask me, it is. But I mean, you know, thinking
about Freemasonry in the United States is kind of a
national pastime among the sixteen to say thirty four year
(34:54):
old set, right um. And it hasn't always been this way.
You know. We went from Mason's founding the United States
to the point where at now, which is you know, hey,
Mason's how's it going, You guys, just do your own thing,
thanks for being philanthropic, right um, to somewhere in the
middle there was a bump where there was a real
(35:15):
movement that was anti Masonic, that was so strong and
pronounced it had its own newspapers and a political party
based on anti Freemasonry, right for good reason. Well that's
one case at least. Yeah, Well, there's a guy in
eighty six who is named William Morgan, and he came
(35:36):
out of the book called Freemasonry Exposed, and it basically
laid out a lot of the secrets that we now
know today about freemasonry. Um, and that kind of got
the public sentiment whipped up, like who are these people?
Why do they believe this stuff? This is kind of weird, right, Yeah.
And I saw a couple of things that I saw
one thing that said that he was tried to get
in and couldn't and that's why I wrote it. And
(35:57):
then I read a thing that said that he was
actually a Mason and couldn't. They didn't allow him above
a certain level. So he got all ticked off and said,
all right, I'm gonna expose all your secrets. Sure, I
mean there's sour grapes written all over that book, I'm sure,
but um, And probably I think some people may have
taken that whole thing with a grain of salt had
it not been for what happened to William Morrigan, Like
(36:20):
he disappeared. Yeah, he was abducted and taken to the
Niagara River. Yeah, and that this is again there's varying
accounts on what happened because they can't there's very little
evidence in this case. But The story goes that he
was arrested formally arrested for a a debt that he
owed to an innkeeper, which this alleged debt was a
(36:41):
very kinky thing, and they put him in jail, and
the jail keeper took the night off and had his
wife stepped in for him. And these three Masons came
to the wife and said, hey, can you give us
this guy? Can we can go into our custody and
she said sure, And then they stuffed him in a trunk,
drove him to Canada, and either paid him to stay
in Canada or drowned him in the river. We don't
(37:04):
know what happened, depends on how much money they had. Yeah,
I guess so, But I took it that they never
found William Morgan's body. Then if he conceivably lived his
life out in Canada or he drowned, that would indicate
that they never found him. But he disappeared right after
he wrote this book. Yeah, and that whipped up a
frenzy of anti Masonic sentiment, basically right and so uh
(37:27):
that in New York State, Uh, the number of lodges
went from four hundred and eighty in eighteen five to
seventy five in eighteen thirty five. It's just a decade, right,
So it went kind of, um, it went south, It
went parachape for him for a little while. And the
Civil War was such a national horror that um, everybody
(37:49):
kind of forgot about how much they hated the Masons,
and the Masons were allowed to flourish again, and here
we are today. Yeah, and some you know, there's other
weird theories about bad things they've done, like they were
in on the Kennedy plot, Uh, the Kennedy assassination plot,
or the Jack the Ripper murders. But there's no water
that can be held with any of that. But if
(38:11):
you really really want to learn about masonry, freemasonry, right,
apparently the Freemasonry for Dummies and the Complete Idiots Guide
to from Masonry are dead on because in the list
of complaints against him, the a former master of a
lodge in Boise who was basically calling out this guy
(38:34):
and telling him he had to come to a Masonic trial,
UM cited specific page numbers in these two books. So
if you if you really want to understand masonry, get
the Complete Idiots Guide or UM The Mason's Guide to
Dummies or Masonry for dummies, both of those. I have one,
(38:56):
do you. I got it from Mattford really got are
so into that. I do have a list, and you know,
if you go, there's an official list on the internet
of like hundreds and hundreds of famous men that have
been Freemasons. But I just earmarked a few that I
thought were interesting. Um, but Abbott of Abbott and Costello, Mason,
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, both Masons. Yeah. I'm sorry
(39:19):
to interrupt, but we should say that the Masons were um,
very much down with the abolition movement. There was um
they had They allowed I guess that African Lodge number
one to be established in Boston in seventeen seventy five.
Very fourth thinking in a lot of ways, Yeah for sure. Yeah,
and that became the Prince Hall Freemasonry, which is segregated
(39:42):
but like a huge part of the abolitionist movement. And
we're talking a century before um, the real deal. Yeah wow.
And you know I also read a thing I should
mention that they were targeted, uh during the Holocaust as well,
So you add them to the list of homosexuals and
Jews and you know, anyone that cross eyes that the
(40:02):
Nazis were like, let's kill him. You know, cross eye
is called stravismus. Did you know that we're just throwing
the knowledge out today. Uh So. Next on my list
is Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. Henry Clay.
How about that he was the Speaker of the House
and he was hawkish, right, yeah, he was actually the
(40:23):
grand Master of Kentucky. And our buddies, I guess, and
the Henry Clay people that was enough for them? Are
they from Kentucky? From l a weird? Uh Cecil B.
De Mille, Arthur Conan Doyle, John Elway and Scottie Pippen Freemasons?
How about that Harry Hudini, Timothy Hutton, as I already said,
(40:45):
Jesse Jackson, and Peter Seller's Harpo Marx and then of
course for some reason, Mark Twain and John Wayne Just
I was like, well, of course they're Freemasons. They just
kind of fit. And that's just a few. I mean,
j Edgar Hoover, Clark Gay. Well, there's tons and tons
of these famous dudes back in the day were Freemason's.
It was the hip thing back then. Well, it's Freemasonry. UM. Attention,
(41:09):
all Freemason's. If you're going to send guys to kill
me and Chuck, please at least let it be Scottie
Pippen and Timothy Hutton, Okay, to burn my bowels. What
if Scottie Pippen burns your bowels this weekend or next
week when this is released, I'd be upset. Would be
quite a story. So listen. If you want to learn more,
(41:29):
you want to see that all thirty three degrees of freemasonry.
You can type in how Freemason's work in the search
bar how stuff works dot Com and I guess then
it's time for listener. Mayl It is Josh. I'm gonna
call this um one of a couple of prison emails
(41:51):
that we're gonna be reading. I'm gonna stretch these out
over a few weeks. We got some awesome email from
former inmates that set us straight in a few ways.
And also, uh, I'm gonna said we were dead on yeah,
And I think what we learned, or what I learned
from the email was it's hard to do a definitive
prison podcast because they're all a little bit different, Like this.
One girl wrote in She's like they're not allowed to
(42:12):
have cigarettes in prison, and I replied, oh, yes, they
are with a link. And it just depends on what
state and what prison it is. Each prison has its
own personality. Uh this is from anonymous. She requested, or
he requested, thank you for the prison podcast. Guys. I
grew up in Attica, New York, not in the prison.
(42:32):
My father was a correctional officer and he until he
retired just this year. I lived about a mile away
from the prison, and when I was a kid, they
used to tell me that it was a castle, uh
the sort it is a way. Standing in my yard,
you could hear the guards speaking to the prison prisoners
in the yard, and we even went to an annual
picnic for the guards and their families every year on
(42:53):
the prison grounds. It was always surreal to ride in
a hay wagon around the prison grounds and see the
prisoner behind razor wire razor wire, playing basketball and hanging out.
No one had ever escaped at that, you know, during
my stay there. But when I was in high school,
a few prisoners did escape from the minimum security prisons
behind Attica, and they were caught very soon after when
(43:17):
their vowels were burned and they were burned by Scottie Pippen.
It is hard to feel any sympathy for these prisoners
for me because I grew up in the shadow of
this institution, and when you know families that are affected
by the death of the guards during the riot, you
know it changes your outlook. I think people want to
root for the underdog and believe that there are so
many wrongly convicted innocence in prison and the guards are evil,
(43:39):
but in reality, most of the guys are pretty bad guys,
and most of the guards are just trying to do
their job. In fact, no one mentions the stress that
the guards go through working in a place like that
every day. My dad used to have nightmares. He wants
grabbed my mom while he was asleep and told her
to lock in. So that's sort of like our sleep.
Then its parasomnia, and he he said, it's almost like
(44:00):
they have sort of like a post traumatic stress disorder.
When my dad finally retired this year, it was as
if a huge burden was lifted. He was less irritated
and he was less snappy with the people around him.
So kudos to the men and women who go to
work at these places day in and day out, working
midnight shifts on holiday so we can all be safe.
And that's from Anonymous, and that's a very good point.
(44:21):
Thanks a lot for the email, Anonymous, appreciate that. Um,
it's a weird name. It is unique. Yeah, if you
want to send us an anonymous email, that's perfectly fine.
Just say anonymous because we'll be able to tell from
your email address who you are. You can wrap it
up and send it to us at stuff podcast at
(44:45):
how stuff works dot com. For more on this and
thousands of other topics, is it how stuff works dot com.
Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on
the house stuff works dot com homepage. H brought to
you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,
(45:07):
are you
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