He did this by sending fake letters to the men's magazine Playboy, where he worked, attributing cover-ups and conspiracy theories, such as the JFK assassination, to a secret elite organisation called the Illuminati.
Wilson went on to turn these theories into a book, The Illuminatus Trilogy , which became a surprise cult success and were even made into a stage play in Liverpool, launching the careers of British actors Bill Nighy and Jim Broadbent.
The idea of a powerful modern Illuminati conspiring to rule the world remained a niche belief upheld by a handful of enthusiasts until the s. The internet changed all that, giving conspiracy theorists a global platform to expound their beliefs and present their evidence to a massive audience.
Theories about how the New World Order operates run from relatively straightforward ideas to the outright bizarre. Conspiracy theorists obsessively analyse public events for "evidence" of Illuminati influence. The symbols most associated with the Illuminati include triangles, pentagrams, goats, the all-seeing eye — such as the one that appears on US bank notes - and the number This has led to claims some of the American Founding Fathers were members, with Thomas Jefferson accused in the aftermath of the War of Independence.
Another commonly cited Illuminati symbol, which appears on US currency, is the so-called Eye of Providence, which is said to represent the omniscience of God watching over humanity. As well as being king and queen of the charts, Beyonce and Jay-Z are frequently depicted as lords of the New World Order. Beyonce's immense fame and popularity have long made her a favourite target for conspiracy theorists.
However, some musicians seem to enjoy deliberately playing with symbols connected to secret societies. Jay Z has also been accused of hiding secret symbols such as goat imagery and devil horns in his music videos.
Most damningly, the logo for his own music label, Roc-A-Fella Records, is a pyramid — one of the most well-known Illuminati logos. Rob Brotherton, a professor at Barnard College and author of Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe in Conspiracy Theories , explains that real-life government conspiracies targeting black people in America, such as FBI infiltration of the Civil Rights movement in the s and 60s, planted the seeds for Illuminati theory's popularity among hip-hop artists and fans.
The Illuminati was shut down and Weishaupt was banished from Ingolstadt to live the rest of his life in the German city of Gotha, km to the north. Yet the idea of a secret society revolting against the state has captured imaginations ever since, encapsulated in conspiracy theories cooked up by those who believe the Illuminati was never actually disbanded — a claim that has been widely debunked by historians.
Even still, conspiracy theorists say that the organisation has been covertly working behind the scenes to subvert authority. The thick smell of ageing paper filled the narrow spaces between each bookcase, from which precious archaic hardbacks and delicate manuscripts jutted out. She delicately pulled out one of the smallest books on the shelf.
It was Apologie der Illuminaten , a work written by Weishaupt in which he defended the creation of the Illuminati shortly after his exile from the city.
However there are some people in Ingolstadt, such as Klarner, who are actively trying to bring this unusual historical legacy to light. This is why many literary theorists believe Mary Shelley knew about Ingolstadt, and why Frankenstein was then set here. As we passed the large green, orange and yellow painted buildings of the old city, Klarner reeled off significant Illuminati dates, individuals and information, taking us back to 16th-Century Ingolstadt and the role of 15th-Century university professor Johann Eck in helping to cement the city, and the university in particular, as a bastion for the Catholic faith — something Weishaupt looked to counter two centuries later.
Secret papers seized by the Bavarian authorities revealed fascinating details about the rituals of the Illuminati. A novice preparing to pass to the higher level of minerval, for example, had to present a detailed report on the titles of the books he owned, the identity of his enemies, and the weak points of his character.
Upon initiation as a minerval, he promised to sacrifice all personal interests to those of the society. A closer look at his upbringing, however, reveals that Weishaupt always had a restless mind. Bavaria at that time was deeply conservative and Catholic. Weishaupt was not the only one who believed that the monarchy and the church were repressing freedom of thought. Freemasonry was steadily expanding throughout Europe in this period, offering attractive alternatives to freethinkers.
Weishaupt initially thought of joining a lodge. Weishaupt was not, he said, against religion itself, but rather the way in which it was practiced and imposed. On the night of May 1, , the first Illuminati met to found the order in a forest near Ingolstadt. Bathed in torchlight, there were five men.
There they established the rules that were to govern the order. They included important people in Bavarian public life, such as Baron Adolph von Knigge.
By the end of , the Illuminati had 2, to 3, members. As a former Freemason, he was in favor of adopting rites similar to theirs. The membership levels also became a more complex hierarchy. There were a total of 13 degrees of initiation, divided into three classes. The first culminated in the degree of illuminatus minor, the second illuminatus dirigens, and the third, that of king. After the French Revolution began in , the Illuminati were accused of desiring a similar revolt against the Bavarian regime.
Some even claimed that Weishaupt had met the French revolutionary leader Robespierre. In reality, Weishaupt was more of a reformer than a firebrand revolutionary. Weishaupt and Knigge increasingly fought over the aims and procedures of the order, a conflict that, in the end, forced Knigge to leave the society. At the same time, another ex-member, Joseph Utzschneider, wrote a letter to the Grand Duchess of Bavaria, supposedly lifting the lid on this most secret of societies. The revelations were a mix of truth and lies.
According to Utzschneider, the Illuminati believed that suicide was legitimate, that its enemies should be poisoned, and that religion was an absurdity. He also suggested that the Illuminati were conspiring against Bavaria on behalf of Austria. Having been warned by his wife, the Duke-Elector of Bavaria issued an edict in June banning the creation of any kind of society not previously authorized by law.
The Illuminati initially thought that this general prohibition would not directly affect them. But just under a year later, in March , the Bavarian sovereign passed a second edict, which expressly banned the order.
In the course of carrying out arrests of members, Bavarian police found highly compromising documents, including a defense of suicide and atheism, a plan to create a female branch of the order, invisible ink recipes, and medical instructions for carrying out abortions. The evidence was used as the basis for accusing the order of conspiring against religion and the state. In August , the duke-elector issued a third edict in which he confirmed that the order was prohibited, and imposed the death penalty for membership.
Weishaupt lost his post at the University of Ingolstadt and was banished. The Bavarian state considered the Illuminati dismantled.
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