8 Real Secret Societies

Secret societies inspire equal parts suspicion and envy. Are these shadowy organizations controlling the world behind closed doors, or whiling away the hours with playing cards and silly rituals?
In this episode of The List Show, host Erin McCarthy looks at the real, verifiable facts behind some secret (and not-so-secret) organizations, from the Illuminati to the Bohemian Club.
In case you forgot, The List Show is a trivia-tastic, fact-filled show for curious people. Subscribe here for new Mental Floss episodes every Wednesday: / @mentalfloss
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Image Credits:
Wikimedia Commons
Public Domain
Bohemian Grove (Binksternet)
Grove 1909 (Gabriel Moulin)
Russell (MarmadukePercy)
Skull & Bones (BoolaBoola2)
Scroll & Key (BetacommandBot)
Wolf's Head (BoolaBoola2)
Book & Snake (BetacommandBot)
Elizabethan Club (BoolaBoola2)
Weisthaupt (Rettinghaus)
John Robinson (Thomas Gun)
Barruel (William C. Minor)
Stonemasons (PKM)
Order of the Eastern Star (SarekOfVulcan)
CC 3.0
Owl Shrine (Aarkwilde)
CC 4.0
Aerial Grove (Brianhama)
Explorer's Club (Jonathan S Knowles)
Explorer's club interior (Rhododendrites)
Getty:
Skeleton in closet (Johner Images)
Graverobber (Hulton Archive)
Debate (Heritage Images)
Jefferson (Print Collector)
Oxford (Print Collector)
King Edward VIII (Hulton Archive)
Queen Mary (Culture Club)
Evelyn Waugh (Hulton Deutsch)
Cameron (Bruno Vincent)
Bottle smashing quote
(Topical Press Agency)
Boris Johnson (Neville Elder)
Mason initiation (Heritage Images)
Masons2 (Heritage Images)
Washington (Fine Art)
Mozart (Hulton Archive)
FDR (Library of Congress)
Houdini (Hulton Archive)
Churchill (Evening Standard)
Count Basie (Heritage Images)
Medgar Evers (Hulton Archive)
Crockett (Barney Burstein)
Aldrin (Heritage Images)
Oscar Wilde (W. and D. Downey)
Lindbergh (Library of Congress)
Marshall (Historical)
Masonic ritual (Hulton Archive)
Halloween decorations (Juan Silva)

[@SentientMeatbag]

I was hoping for a mention of the Bilderberg Group. It's a group of around 150 of the most powerful people in business and politics from Europe and North-America. The group meets annually for 2 to 4 days behind closed doors.

[@clown134]

yeah but that's just the capitalist class expressing class consciousness and solidarity with themselves to collude with each other and secure their dictatorship over the working class

[@clown134]

which is really what the working class should be doing, expressing class consciousness and solidarity and colluding with one another to fight back against dictatorship of the rich

[@cherylcampbell9369]

You should check out Trine Day Publications, if you want a torrent of info on that subject.

[@SureShotSav]

It's not a secret society though. It's more like the WEF without the cameras and invited guests. The name Bilderberg is of the hotel they meet at i believe.

[@voxorox]

1. We don't know; it's secret. 2. We don't know; it's secret. 3. We don't know; it's secret. 4. We don't know; it's secret. 5. We don't know; it's secret. 6. We don't know; it's secret. 7. We don't know; it's secret. 8. We don't know; it's secret.

[@crystaljones1935]

Ah... excellent. The amnestics are working.

[@btetschner]

Excellent video, thank you so much for making it!

[@therongjr]

Why would anyone want to be in a secret society? I'm perfectly happy to spend my time in peace and quiet by myself: an exclusive club on only one!

[@arcticablue]

I hear that!

[@jliller]

I remember when I was in college the fraternities and sororities would cover the windows of the rooms during their meetings, and lock the doors. That made me really despise them (more than I already did before going to college).

[@aaronsweeney5428]

Why? Lol

[@segawalker3302]

I find it weird that you join friends and not make friends.

[@Henry-pj3cb]

Frater in Latin means brother, and Soror in Latin means sister. So what does "Fraternities" and "Sororities" mean?

[@jliller]

@@aaronsweeney5428 At best, fraternities and sororities can't possibly have any secrets worth keeping so trying to have secret meetings behind covered windows and closed doors is just evidence they're pretentious assholes trying to be edgy and cool. At worst, they were trying to hide asinine behavior like hazing that violated university rules and was or should be illegal.

[@lp-xl9ld]

Umberto Eco's novel FOUCALT'S PENDULUM centers on the idea of secret societies going to extremes...it's one of my favorite books of all time

[@teemusid]

As the great philosopher Julius(Groucho) Marx once said, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. "

[@kevinogracia1615]

I was going to reply the same... Woody used it, too.

[@teemusid]

@Kevino Gracia I clicked on the comments without looking at the number of comments posted. I intended to give a thumbs up to the first person that used the quote, but I got in early for once.

[@kevinogracia1615]

@@teemusid Hello... I must be going...

[@p0h0h_HolyPriestKingunderJESUS]

Everyone's a member of something either Satan directly or indirectly or Jesus

[@floydian4ever]

🐑 🐑 🐑

[@marvintpandroid2213]

Don't forget the stone cutters.

[@btetschner]

I went to Doane University, which was established the same year as The Bohemian Club! The newspaper is actually called The Owl there.

[@Freddles279]

My favorite secret society?? Club 33 in Disneyland. LOL

[@btetschner]

Good one!

[@claudiaxander]

Thank you for removing 9 and 10 as per our agreement/threat/cash gift/college place/insider share tip/bunker code.

[@cherylcampbell9369]

what does that mean?

[@claudiaxander]

@@cherylcampbell9369 Please disregard previous comment, move along now, nothing to see here, Have faith that any questioning will only illicit unnecessary anxiety due to reasons I can neither confirm nor deny.

[@indigokids88]

Love research and history and all that stuff 😊

[@eriglaser]

I was in The Order of the Golden Dawn for a while. It was okay as secret societies go but the head of the order went egomaniac on us as is the unfortunate norm for these things

[@cherylcampbell9369]

All leaders do.

[@bobbytalkingblues]

thanks for the insightful video. Could you please discuss the Round Table Group secret society established by Cecil John Rhodes in South Africa

[@LG-fu4ki]

What about Fight Clu-- ohhh that's right.

[@Apophis324]

Doesn't Disney have their own maybe-not-secret-but-definitely-quite-exclusive club somewhere?

[@Hoshimaru57]

My wife is actually a member of Eastern Star. And her father is a high ranked Mason. There are also a few other female Masonic organizations including Rainbow Girls, Amaranth, and the Queens of the Nile. There’s also a female chapter of the Shriners according to her.

[@user-mr8ye6fl7z]

THEN YO WIFE STEALS PEOPLE'S $$$ & LIVES

[@TheSeer33]

Iam a mason, but I’ve never heard of female shrinners

[@ChristopherEkpo-br2ue]

Good morning sir, please how can I become a member of this society

[@sve5271]

@@TheSeer33​​⁠​⁠there’s a lot of female Shriner orders. The LOSNA is the largest appendant shriner body, and individual shrines can have their own female auxiliaries. They obviously aren’t members of the shrine, but have formed similar themed bodies for female relatives of Shriners.

[@sve5271]

I’m a jobs daughter and rainbow girl. I plan to join OES and Amaranth

[@btetschner]

I would frequent Mental Floss....but I do so much for these KZbin channels that I would need more than videos that cover some things....and sometimes too casually! It's not very impressive when I can add things to the videos on the spot! If only Mental Floss gave more...

[@pichara8358]

Francis Burton Harrison is member of skull and bones

[@tyronegreen6165]

Thank you

[@pvtpain66k]

WE DO! WE DO!

[@Composite7248]

You forgot about the Stonecuters.

[@FanTube0001]

What they do?

[@empoleonmaster6709]

You forgot to mention the recent development about the Bohemian Grove, on a famous anarchy server in minecraft someone that allegedly was there last year went and recreated what he went through there on the server, complete with hidden staff members and events going on in it etc. Fit MC has an entire video on it, and it's really interesting.

[@elizabethtonovic4678]

This Millennial appreciated the Joshua Jackson reference!

[@Heru2088]

Thank you, 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏💎⭐️👑🌟

[@VayaConCarne]

Considering that one of the four stated duties of Odd Fellowship is to bury the dead, it is offensive to accuse members of grave robbing without some kind of evidence. Odd Fellows provided for widows and orphans before Social Security was a thing. It just seems a grossly unnecessary slander.

[@jliller]

If you paid for, and therefore own, the grave and you're the one who later removes the bones from it is it really robbery?

[@koppadasao]

Yeah, what about the secret society of the holy turtle?

[@typograf62]

You forgot The Timetravellers Club.

[@crystaljones1935]

Hi there. You forgot the First Law of Timetravellers Club: much like Fight Club, you DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE TIMETRAVELLERS CLUB. Louder for those in the back: YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE TIMETRAVELLERS CLUB. Y'all want to deal with the scary boys in black tactical gear, keep talking.

[@cherylcampbell9369]

shhhhhhh!!

[@TheRealSpiderMew]

Posh? No, Cult like? Yes

[@btetschner]

That Explorers Club sounds like it has high standards, wow!

[@taylord1337]

The recent Behind the Bastards episode is relevent

[@user-we2vb4vs2g]

9:28 Favorite S.S!!? Excuse my language, that sounded a bit off-beat..

[@j-10k64]

Secret societies just seem weird, like where they actually guild’s at one point in time and just never disbanded

[@Velata]

I wonder if the Rosicrucians were on your list! Guess not.

[@cherylcampbell9369]

oh yes.

[@cantorcarl]

E Clampus Vitas: a drinking club with a history problem.

[@20thcenturytunes]

Knight's of Pythias and The Order of Moose - then the Mystical Huron Mountain Club

[@lifeexperiencetv1019]

Please do you have a contact of them? I want to join 🙏

[@cherylcampbell9369]

The Theosophical Society is interesting, but nebulous. Madame H.P. Blavatsky was something else.

[@Ssomeeoonee]

Not so secret anymore, huh?

[@graphosxp]

On the elliptical machine of a public gym I was watching season one of "Lodge 49" (TV Series) when the pandemic hit. the gym closed and I never returned to the series. was COVID a Masonic conspiracy to get me not to watch the show?😳

[@cherylcampbell9369]

That was a fun series, cancelled probably due to covid shutdown. It is on hulu, in its entirety.

[@AchillesofAchilles]

Wash my eyes now

[@jaeboogie2786]

I'm going to make my own secret society I don't want to be a Mason anyways. Who wants to join my new secret society? Our name will be The Free Welders.

[@margaretotieno1307]

I want to join plz

[@AbiGail-ok7fc]

That's a lot of information for supposedly "secret" societies. If its existence is known to the general public, is it still secret?

[@jliller]

The rituals are secret, and the meetings are closed to non-members.

[@blackcasanova7]

The secret stuff is the spiritual one. That's what you won't hear about it.

[@bhasty1]

I really like this girl. She's a great presenter. Some TV network should offer her a job.

[@cherylcampbell9369]

she would have no control over her content, for one thing.

[@thebadasseryfactory]

not really secret if we know about them

[@route2070]

Are the Free Masions and Masons the same things (maybe with less rights)?

[@BrianBattles]

I'm a Mason. It's the same thing.

[@FanTube0001]

And what they do?

[@ctcboater]

My father was a Mason. My only experience with the group was a Christmas party attended by their children when I was about 8. My father died suddenly when I was 10 so I had no further contact with the organization.

[@cantorcarl]

We’re still around. If you’re interested, find a Lodge and ask questions. We’re always looking for good men.

[@cherylcampbell9369]

Well! They are supposed to "help the widow's son"

[@ediziorobertomanthayjunior4875]

😍🖖

[@danieljosephchiasson]

I know the third secret of Fatima: secret societies

[@jonathanconnor8190]

The Explorers’ club has a whale’s what?

[@cherylcampbell9369]

opposite of blow hole.

[@paulruderstaller5062]

Protocols of The Elders Of Zion.

[@teecee1567]

@paulruderstaller5062 Which was proven to be a hoax.

[@ANGELTUNE-bt6fx]

A lot of this started in Egypt and it was then copied.

[@KevinWolf-dr7vm]

God bless Freemasons

[@FanTube0001]

And they do?

[@capacola262743]

sarah rue called. she wants her face, body and nerdy persona back.

[@grimdoozy3741]

Hey Paul, The curse department called. They said they added an extra poo curse to my tab of poo curses on you. When SO many toilets in your life get clogged remember my name (Grimmy D, baby). It's gonna seem unfathomable too. You'll be in a hotel room where the toilet has really great flushing abilities, but your loads of poo are gonna clog it bc of the curse. Did you barely eat that day? Doesn't matter. 2x poo curse on you

[@capacola262743]

you need a full make-over.

[@grimdoozy3741]

Hey Paul, I hope you step in poo an inordinate amount of times for the rest of your life. Actually, I decided to put a curse on you just now. So when you're stepping in poo all over the place, remember my name (Grimmy D, baby). You're gonna step in poo in your basement. You're gonna step in poo at the post office. Youre gonna be heading to the grocery store, get out of your car, and step in poo in the parking lot. Nothing you can do to reverse it either. Sorry