Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest and most secretive secular fraternal societies, dedicated to a moral and ethical approach to life. Members are called freemasons or masons, and are encouraged to take part in volunteering or charity work and to give back to the community. There are several entry requirements such as believing in one God and having a penis (for most anyway) among others and all discussions regarding politics or religion are forbidden.

Since its inception, the Freemasonry has been associated with literally every type of conspiracy the insane mind can fathom. Around the time it stopped being hip to blame the Jewish people for everything that’s wrong with the world (a memo some didn’t get), Catholics have singled out the Freemasonry as its new target and centuries later, organizations and individuals such as the Nazi Party, Spanish dictator Franco and Hamas have also jumped on the bandwagon.

You may think this is a clear exaggeration but this list will show you plenty of disturbing theories that have been woven around the secrecy of this organization.

15. The Freemasons control the world

This is by far the most common theory associated with the Freemasonry. It controls the workings of our society with members infiltrated in every organization which has any sort of influence in world decisions. Essentially, this theory equates Freemasons with the New World Order.

The fraternity would obviously not admit it controls the world, even if it actually did, so it vehemently denies this allegation. In the meantime, theorists will point out several of the fraternities key members involved in agencies and government in the United States and the United Kingdom since the dawn of the organization.

Names such as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Franklin Theodore Roosevelt, and even Barack Obama are commonly associated with the fraternity although its secrecy makes it difficult to verify these claims, at least when they pertain to current world leaders.

14. They are secret Satan worshippers

Stemming from its secrecy, the Freemasonry is commonly linked with Satanism, an accusation first substantiated by Pope Clement in the 1730s. Since then, several Christians have proclaimed Freemasons as people who stand against God.

These claims remain unproven at this point, but its proponents defend themselves against such claims, explaining that this is precisely why one of the requirements specifies they believe in a single God while not naming which religion’s God. While the fraternity will say this is a way to keep the society open to people of all faiths, its detractors will often use this as justification for their allegations of devil worship in the Freemasonry.

13. They faked the moon landing

This is where it starts to get interesting. Some claim C. Fred Kleinknecht, head of NASA during the Apollo Space Program, is claimed to have been the Sovereign Grand Commander of the Council of the 33rd Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction.

This is the sort of very pompous title associated with the Masonry but don’t worry if it sounds confusing. It means that Kleinknecht not only belonged to the elite of one of the world’s most secretive societies but was actually its leader.

It’s claimed this was his reward for pulling off the fake moon landing alongside with the first astronauts, who are also alleged to belong to the fraternity.

12. The Freemasons are in league with the Illuminati

As you may have expected at the start of this article, the Illuminati are involved. The theories vary greatly with some saying that the Illuminati evolved from Freemasonry while others state its opposite, while an even smaller group of people claim the Illuminati have infiltrated the Freemasonry to capitalize on its network for their own recruitment purposes.

This conspiracy theory is a spin-off of the New World Order theory but it’s interesting in the way it portrays the Illuminati as the secretive organization we know it to be, controlling the higher echelons of the Freemasonry, another highly secretive organization – all for the sake of world domination. All the makings of conspiracy are present here, apart from actual evidence.

11. The Jewish-Freemasonry conspiracy

If this one is giving you some dejá vú, it’s because you’ve heard it close to a million times before, mostly when the socio-politic views of Adolf Hitler are brought up. Hitler defended that the Freemasonry is a Jewish-led fraternity gunning for world domination.

He also persecuted the Freemasons for partly the same reasons he went after the Jewish people. This theory had its inception in a Russian book called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which details the Jewish-Freemasonry attempt for world domination. This book is highly popular in the Middle East and Hamas frequently mentions this theory in its own hate rhetoric.

10. The Freemasons are on a quest to bring down Islam

Following from the previous theory, there is a strong belief in some Islamic circles that the Freemasonry is at war with Islam. This theory is so prevalent and believed to such a degree, its defenders maintain the September 11th attacks were organized by Freemasons in order to incite waves of anti-Islamic feelings throughout the world.

Others believe 9/11 was not the first act of aggression against those who believe in Allah. This faction of theorists claim that all larger conflicts in the Middle East can be associated with the meddling by Freemasons’ in an ideological, clandestine war which has been waged since the time of the Crusades.

9. The Freemasons are also trying to eradicate Christianity

Along with accusations of Satanism, several fingers have pointed to the Freemasonry as an enemy of Christianity. According to these claims, a prime example of a battle in this war occurred in Portugal at the start of the 20th century when the Freemasons took power by forming the first provisional government after the monarchy had been abolished.

Supporters of this theory mention the first act of the provisional government in October 1910 was to declare all religious organizations to be illegal and expel all the Jesuits from the country. As with most of these theories, the claims point out this ideological war is run by the top Freemasons who leave the lower members of the fraternity out of these schemes.

8. The Freemasons run Hollywood

This is one of my favourite theories. In order to disseminate their views to the wider public, Freemasons have taken over Hollywood using its movie making industry to brainwash the masses. Apparently countless directors and actors are also aware of the propaganda machine implemented by the Freemasons and actively participate themselves.

In the views of some conspiracy theorists, this type of propaganda is most noticeable in the Sci-fi genre, where a global alien invasion takes place and only a militarized top-to-bottom organization of world leaders is able to defeat the invaders

This plants the idea that a unified world government is a favourable and actually preferable system than what we currently have.

7. The Freemasonry invented income taxes to control the American people

As a European citizen, this is definitely one of the most disturbing theories as I genuinely hadn’t heard of it before. According to the supporters of this theory, Freemasons are behind income taxes in the United States. Surely, there has to be a tiny fraction of misinterpreted evidence to support this, right?

Well, see for yourself. This theory is built on one convicted tax protester’s claim during a standoff with police officers, which linked income taxes with the “Zionist, Illuminati, Free Mason movement” in a potpourri of conspiracy theories. A newspaper investigated this claim further and uncovered the Brown family’s more sensible views on the issue: ” (they) believe the IRS and the federal income tax are part of a deliberate plot perpetrated by Freemasons to control the American people and eventually the world.”

6. The Jack the Ripper killings were the work of the Freemasonry

This Masonic conspiracy is definitely one of the most interesting theories on this list. It’s built upon the testimony of Joseph Sickert, son of painter Walter Sickert who was allegedly involved in this plot along with a few important figures in British society, including the Queen’s personal doctor Sir William Gull and the police commissioner Sir Charles Warren.

According to Sickert, Queen Victoria’s grandson and heir Prince Eddy, Duke of Clarence had married and fathered a child with an Irish Catholic commoner. As the royal family could not afford to have a Catholic bastard in line for the throne, the Freemasons were tasked with eliminating all witnesses. Sickert’s father accompanied Prince Eddy on his outings and pretended to be his brother.

The fact he wasn’t killed means not all witnesses were eliminated. Perhaps he’s Jack the Ripper?

5. Captain William Morgan’s disappearance was the work of the Freemasonry

William Morgan was a regular visitor of some Masonic Lodges in the state of New York until his standing in the fraternity was increasingly questioned. At this point, he was “blackballed” by the society, which is the same as expelled. Feeling censored, William Morgan threatened the Freemasonry with the exposure of its secrets in his next book.

When he managed to secure a sizeable advance from a local newspaper in order to reveal the organization’s secrets, he proceeded to brag and angered quite a few of its members in the process. In a series of escalating events, his publisher’s house was set on fire and Morgan was sent to prison twice, one of those times for stealing a tie. He disappeared and five men were sentenced after admitting to kidnapping him.

4. Albert’s Pike three world wars

In an 1871 letter to an extremist leader called Giuseppe Mazzini, Albert Pike predicted the coming of three world wars which would be necessary for the world to accept a unified world under Lucifer. Mazzini was a strong believer in a unified Italy and a European version of the United States.

In what can only be described as a creepy prediction, Pike announced the first world war would overthrow the monarchies and create a “fortress of atheistic Communism.” The second world war would then pin the Fascism against Zionism before the third world war would oppose Islam against the Zionists. When these wars concluded, Lucifer would rise to rule the world.

3. Mozart’s death

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was initiated as an Apprentice of Zur Wohltätigkeit -Vienna’s Masonic Lodge – in December 1784 and remained an active member of the fraternity until his death. In one of his most famous operas, The Magic Flute, Mozart incorporated various symbols from Freemasonry’s ceremonies. This was common throughout his work as he also penned several other Masonic odes.

This conspiracy theory points to an alternative interpretation of the circumstances of his death. Although unsubstantiated by physical evidence, given the lack of symptoms usually linked with arsenic or mercury poison, this theory indicates Mozart was assassinated for revealing too much of the organisation’s secretive proceedings.

2. Italian Masonic Lodge conspiracy

The P2 Masonic Lodge was uncovered in a police raid of the home of Lucio Gelli after the scandal involving the Vatican-owned Banco Ambrosia, where the friend of Roberto Calvi (also known as God’s banker) and P2 brethren was found hanged in a London bridge.

Police discovered a list of over 900 members of the P2 Lodge including several high-ranking government officials members of the Italian Parliament. Some of the most notable entries on this list included future Italian President Silvio Berlusconi and Mafia banker Michele Sindona. This lodge was also linked with Operation Gladio, where Gelli cooperated with British and American agencies to organize a series of terrorist attacks designed to stop the rise of communism in Italy.

1. The Washington-Freemasonry conspiracy

This conspiracy revolves around the theory which states the United States was founded by Freemasons who have gone through an extensive hassle to include Masonic symbols into several sectors of American society, namely in national seals, streets in the country’s capital of Washington, DC, as well as in the architecture of several landmarks throughout the country and the famous dollar bill.

In fact, no less than 14 Presidents, along with 18 Vice-Presidents and roughly 40 Supreme Court Justices have been known, reputable and active Freemasons. This extends to the country’s Founding Fathers as well as 13 signatories of the Constitution and 9 of the Declaration of Independence. Surely they can’t all be power-hungry Satanists, right?