The world is full of secret, underground societies, that operate in the shadows and meet behind
closed doors, in windowless rooms.
Some believe these societies are secretly running the world.
Let's find out more about the organisations that don't want to be found out.
1.
The Skull and Bones order is senior secret society at Yale University in Connecticut,
it's members are called Bonesmen.
It was founded in 1832 and is still running today.
Membership is restricted to only a few highly elite individuals.
Members meet every Thursday and Sunday of each week in a building called The Tomb.
Both of the Bush presidents were members of the Skull and Bones society whilst studying
at Yale.
And the majority of its other members have gone on to achieve great fame and fortune.
Numerous conspiracy theories surround the group.
Some believe they are the American branch of the infamous illuminati.
But the most popular theory is that the CIA was formed by members from the Skull and Bones
society and that they still control the CIA to this day.
2.
Next up is the Bilderberg Group, the name for a secretive annual conference of approximately
150 highly influential individuals, membership is strictly by invitation only.
Consisting of mostly prime ministers and presidents from the most powerful countries in Europe
and North America, these make up two thirds of the club's membership.
The other third of the members are said to be major international bankers and media moguls.
The club meets every year at secretive locations around Europe and America, what the group
discusses is kept top secret, but is believed that they discuss how countries and major
organisations can better work together to improve their economics and defence systems.
In other words they discuss how to run the world more economically and efficiently.
Because of the secrecy of the group and the high profiles of its members, the Bilderberg
Group is surrounded by controversy and conspiracy theories.
3.
The Freemasonry organisation is a deeply historic fraternity that can trace its roots back to
stonemasons in the early 17th century.
Freemasons meet regularly and are generally focused on improving the lives of their members
and community, they also give heavily to charity, despite this they are highly secretive.
Being such a historic organisation, Freemasons perform various rituals during their meetings
and use secret signs and handshakes to recognise fellow Masons.
Conspiracy theorists often link Freemasons to groups such as the Illuminati, believing
that they are a contributing force to the new world order.
4.
Next up is The Knight's Templar.
The Knight's Templar were a military order setup by the Roman Catholic Church around
1129.
The group had a highly secretive initiation ceremony.
Commonly adorned in distinctive white mantles with a red cross.
They were the wealthiest and most skilled fighters of all the Christian Crusades.
There were also non combatant members of the Knight's Templar who were in charge of managing
the large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom.
The organisation created financial techniques that were the earliest forms of banking.
They also built many military fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land.
One of the most famous legends is that the illustrious Holy Grail and possibly the Ark
of the Covenant were discovered by the Knight's Templar at Temple Mount.
5.
The Hashshashin were a mysterious group of Muslim assassins that operated in the Middle
East during the 13th century.
The group was made up of Shia Muslims who banded together in order to create a new utopian
state.
The group heavily used guerrilla tactics in battles against their enemies, such as espionage,
sabotage and political assassination.
They worked by placing highly trained moles inside enemy strongholds, and instructed to
only attack when the time was right.
It is reported that enemy leaders would awake in the morning to find a Hashshashin dagger
lying on their pillow, along with a note saying "you are in our grip."
The group became legendary contract killers.
Even performing jobs for high profile individuals such as King Richard the Lionheart.
It is believed that the word "Hashshashin" is where the modern word "assassin" comes
from.
6.
Founded in 1957, the Cadaver Society is a secret society based at Washington and Lee
University in Lexington, Virginia.
The group is extremely secretive and it's membership and organisational structure are
unknown.
The society must be very wealthy because it has made numerous, substantial donations to
the University itself over the years.
It is rumoured that the Cadaver Society has a network of underground passageways spanning
throughout the university campus.
It is believed the society uses these tunnels to travel around the campus undetected.
There are peculiar small locked doors all across campus that seem to support this theory,
such as this one in the Leyburn Library.
Some believe the Cadaver Society to be a branch of the Illuminati.
7.
Next up is the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, not the catchiest name for a secret
society.
They were devoted to the study and practice of the occult, metaphysics and paranormal
activity, and everything considered magical, during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The order has been one of the single biggest influences on 20th century Western occultism,
such as Wicca.
8.
Another infamous occultist organisation is the Ordo Templi Orientis.
It is an international fraternal and religious society, founded at the begging of the 20th
century.
It is dedicated to the Law of Thelema, which was developed by the well known British writer
and occultist Aleister Crowley, who went by the nickname of "Great Beast".
The organisation uses highly stylised rituals for initiation.
During their meetings many Ancient Egyptian Gods are invoked, as well as the Devil.
They are known for sometimes performing their rituals completely naked.
The Ordo Templi Orientis claims to have over 3,000 members worldwide.
9.
Rosicrucianism is a philosophical secret society founded in late medieval Germany around the
16th century.
Rosicrucians opposed Roman Catholicism, rejecting the idea of Dogma and instead relying on evidence
and experience to form conclusions.
It is believed that the Rosicrucians were one of the biggest influences on the creation
of Freemasonry.
It is also rumoured that Isaac Newton was a member.
10.
And finally, is of course, the Illuminati.
Originally known as the Bavarian Illuminati, they are a secretive group formed during the
age of enlightenment, on May 1st, 1776.
The Illuminati's original goals were to oppose and put an end to superstition and religious
influence over public life.
They encouraged people to think for themselves instead of doing what the state and their
religion tells them to do.
The Illuminati is made up of mostly atheists.
Naturally the Roman Catholic Church didn't take too kindly to the formation of the group.
So in 1784 the illuminati, along with freemasonry were outlawed by the Bavarian leader Charles
Theodore, with the encouragement of the Roman Catholic Church.
However this didn't perturb the Illuminati, they continued their meetings and pushing
their ideologies, but now all done in top secret.
It is thought that, operating in the shadows, and from behind closed doors, the Illuminati
were responsible for the French Revolution.
It is thought by scholars that the Illuminati collapsed entirely in the late 1700s.
But some believe they are still very active to this day.
And is secretly operating and managing the major governments of the world and they seek
to create a One World Government based on humanist and atheist principles.