Illuminati: Myths and Realities of a Parallel World | Documentary

they're highly secretive they have knowledge they keep to themselves they operate consistently and they practice ancient mysterious rituals they are secret societies our secret societies a hotbed of evil they are certainly the subject of countless conspiracy theories they are accused of pursuing a Sinister objective of seeking to Rule the World perhaps as many claim they rule it already [Music] time and again people sense perfidious conspiracies everywhere but which of their suspicions are well founded and which are based on mere fiction created by successful authors like Dan Brown good fraternities have existed for thousands of years their members are in our midst everywhere join us as we delve into the dark parallel world of secret societies [Music] foreign [Music] is a historian from gertingen in Germany he is about to embark on a search for traces of the most influential and most secretive fraternities on our planet Aman schutler from gota is investigating the background of the legendary Illuminati a mysterious secret society which originated in Germany Andreas Henson from Heidelberg wants to find out what influence the ancient mysterious Cults still exert today [Music] thank you an April night on the east coast of America life for a young man is about to change radically he has been selected by its members to join a secret organization that is extremely elitist the orders initiation process is bizarre [Music] system [Music] [Music] the ritual is repeated every April and has been for the last 200 years this secret society is based in Yale the distinguished American University in upmarket New Haven Connecticut [Music] foreign [Music] has come to Yale where many of America's Elite have studied how much truth is there in the rumors surrounding the mysterious student organization is virtually mated but even experts puzzle over what happens in secret here one major question is how does this fraternity manage to remain so secretive in today's media Society especially where many people are so communicative it's striking that so little is known about the order's practices its rituals and also its membership that's most unusual and naturally provokes questions the fraternities activities are said to be diabolical the society's only goal it is claimed is absolute power every student would love to be asked to join because membership is the springboard to a career anyone who is selected receives strange instructions leave the Harkness Tower tomorrow evening at the time of greed and go along the High Street southwards you must not carry metal nor sulfur nor glass on your person take the right hand book in your left hand and knock three times on the holy gate remember what you have heard here but be silent for a novice things will soon change forever he will become a member of a secret society at the center of the wildest conspiracy theories [Music] my invisal is familiar with many of the myths and legends [Music] Alexander Robbins is about to reveal more to him she herself studied in Yale after graduating she made a detailed investigation of the fraternity and published a book on it it took Robin's years to find out anything about skull and bones her research was viewed with suspicion I talked to more than 150 members of Skull and Bones however more than twice that many yelled at me or harassed me or hung up on me because they do not and they are not supposed to talk about what goes on inside I did get threats from some members of the society that made me both uncomfortable and also more intrigued why were they so protective of this organization the Brotherhood of death as it is known shuts itself off completely from the outside world so information can still be obtained the archives in Yale's University Library contain documents from the early days of skull and bones the secret society is 180 years old that much is certain it is said to have built up a key position for itself in the U. S power structure and established its members and party and Government Office in Industry and in the Secret Service up until 1970 its index of members was open to public inspection but since then it has been kept locked away an entire panopoly of Secrets weird customs and abstruse rituals was thought up by William Russell the student who founded the society [Music] Russell came from a wealthy family In 1832 Russell studied in Germany for a year where it said was initiated into a student fraternity of which Skull and Bones was a branch the numbers 322 are always found beneath its logo they could be a reference to one of the fraternity's models Athenian orator demothenese his rhetoric is legendary the mothsanese died in the year 322 BC Alexandra Robbins knows more she has brought Marian fusel to an old forbidding building on the campus of the elite University known as the tomb this is the headquarters of Skull and Bones the interior is said to contain ghoulishly furnished assembly rooms the inside of the Tomb is lined with skeletons and skulls it's almost like an obsession with death and the reason they do that is because they have this phrase in the two Memento Mori remember that you must die they like to pretend that they are a part and above the rest of the world Skull and Bones has cultivated this self-perception right from the start its members rise to the very Pinnacles of power like George Walker Bush for example [Music] when Bush contested the presidency with Democrat John Kerry it was a battle between two bonesmen you both were members of Skull and Bones a secret society at Yale what does that tell us not much because it's a secret you were both in Skull and Bones the secret society it's so secret we can't talk about only rarely do bizarre aspects of the society become public knowledge inside the tomb members are said to have their own Standard Time which differs from hours by five minutes it's believed that Cutlery which once belonged to Adolf Hitler is preserved here [Music] the Iron Ring of silence is ideal for Hollywood fiction departments with Matt Damon and the leading role the manifold activities of Skull and Bones were portrayed in the film The Good Shepherd it tells of rounds of confessions in the Tomb biographical details and sexual proclivities had to be shown in graphic detail [Music] it wasn't an accident my father killed himself no matter how insignificant every detail of members confessions is recorded in Black Books they are the actual secret behind the success of the fraternity it is the fear of publication that bonds members together for the CIA skull and bones is a wonderful reservoir for suitable employees that at least is what is claimed very few can free themselves from this intimate embrace so with psychological dependence on the confraternity one of the secret societies fundamental principles the boundaries between sets between secret religious or secret political societies are becoming blurred Naturally by exposing personal secrets and personal weaknesses perhaps this Society exerts power over its members they know something it's like secret knowledge within this group with which they could damage someone who say wanted to leave especially in anger secret societies always create a counterworld to what they regard as imperfect reality and they seek contact with power they themselves strive to exercise it Marian fusel has come to the heart of the United States the world superpower for conspiracy theorists Washington DC is honeycombed with secret societies and it is not only bonesmen who are found in the top echelons of the U. S government their skull and bones is said to compete with other secret societies who laid the foundation stone for the capital another fraternity is said to have infiltrated the U.

S Administration in order to secretly rule the world conspiracy theorists claim that the New World Order is even immortalized on the Great Seal of the United States [Music] Bears the words novus ordo seclorum Latin for New Order of the ages [Music] those words are also found on every one dollar bill so is this secret society so powerful that it can print the symbols of its Dominion on the most important banknote on our planet [Music] since 1862 the design of the American currency has been in the hands of the Bureau of Engraving and printing and in all the years since then the appearance of the one dollar bill has hardly changed only the security features are regularly upgraded the United States prints 35 million banknotes every day five million of which are the legendary one dollar bill does a secret society really have its fingers in the currency Pie as the supporters of conspiracy theories claim Murray and fusel has come to meet his colleague Professor Robert Hieronymus an expert in symbolism in the United States Professor Hieronymus has made a close study of the one dollar bill which differs from every other currency in the world it is full of strange signs and symbols definitely there the Eye of Providence the symbol of absolute power 13 stars above the eagle 13 steps are said to correspond to the hierarchy of The Secret order and last but not least a tiny animal an owl a symbol of wisdom all just pure coincidence Benjamin Franklin was a great teacher about educating people about our country and he had felt very strongly that he could teach what was important about America through its currency because everyone was handling it and would look at it and they knew symbols was Benjamin Franklin perhaps involved with the ominous secret society that uses the same symbols as a one dollar bill [Music] thank you Marian fusel wants to know more does a conspiracy really exist or is it merely a product of the imagination of those who suspect a secret behind absolutely everything fusel's research has brought him into contact with an old book in it the historian has found a familiar symbol the owl on the American one dollar bill the owl was once revered by a particularly secret society a Sinister order known as the Illuminati written in this medieval looking font the name Illuminati is an ambigram a word that reads exactly the same upside down [Music] things are ascribed to the Illuminati material that has been handled skillfully by successful authors like Umberto Rico and Dan Brown but who actually were the Illuminati They too had to take a vow of silence they were forbidden to speak openly about the society's rituals and aims here too different levels of hierarchy exist not three as in the case of the Freemasons but as many as 13. and a neophyte has to pass through them all before he can be made privy to the greatest secrets the Brethren are encouraged to spy on and denounce one another in this way Renegades can be quickly recognized and neutralized allegedly structured like a cotter party the order it said focuses primarily on political Intrigue and diversion [Music] the Illuminati have long stored people's imagination of figuring and literature the cinema and other media for many years some people even claim that the Illuminati still exist today and clandestinely control politics business and various other fields the quiet town of Ingolstadt this is where the legend of the Illuminati ruling the world originated and the years leading up to the French Revolution there was also foment in rural Bavaria it was a time of radical change people were seeking answers to pressing social problems in Ingolstadt Adam weishab taught ecclesiastical law and practical philosophy he was the only secular Professor his colleagues were all priests frustrated with church dogma and spiritual stagnation weishaupt wanted to introduce change but how pets were filled with the ideas of the Enlightenment but there was also great uncertainty as to how they might be implemented within a few years an enraged mob would spill blood execute Louis XVI Adam weishaupt welcomed the first signs of change in France but he rejected violence what he had in mind was something different Vice hopped wanted to undermine the state from within and he sought to achieve this with the help of a secret society the first people he convinced of his idea of a perfect state were his students his vision was of a state modeled in Athens one based on reason a concept totally in line the ideals of the Enlightenment foreign wanted to set up a secret government a monstrous idea even today [Music] secret societies were also a Melting Pot for Hot Heads for revolutionaries for people who nurtured highly unusual ideas and who could express themselves within a fraternity without having to suffer persecution people who could also discuss and try things out perhaps on a small scale that was a major motive for joining a secret society in the troubled times the preceded the French Revolution secret societies also flourished in Germany and the newly founded Illuminati made full use of the situation they set up countless lodges and attracted hundreds of new members especially academics their number included Johann Wolfgang fangerta the most famous writer of his day philosopher godfreed Heda and influential educationalist Heinrich pestalozzi the Illuminati were well aware of the high risk of opposing absolute rulers but they shared Vice hub's passionate rejection of throne and altar weishop was convinced of his idea above all though he was convinced of himself opinionated weishaupt was seen as narcissistic and domineering with his fraternity he wanted nothing less than to change the world does still assisting [Music] the Supreme figure amongst the Illuminati demanded absolute loyalty from his members [Music] from their records how clandestinely the Illuminati operated in those days stored at friedenstein Palace in gota they provide valuable insights into the inner life of the order [Music] perhaps my and fossil will discover here why the Illuminati gave themselves Greek cover names and why they introduced their own time standard [Music] historian Hermann schutler has deciphered and studied encoded Illuminati documents a domineering character Adam weishaupt had a weakness for the ancient Athenians and their ideas he valued their Democratic principles that is why he chose the Athenian owl as the symbol of his order it stood for wisdom [Music] the Illuminati believed that they were experiencing the dawn of a new era and they wanted to participate in this positive transition in English Hub forged a plan that was simply audacious but he was successful he had tapped the pulse of the age [Music] change in society in the church in the state can only be achieved with a longer term project thus Vice house wanted to educate people so his was an educational project right from the start but it would take time weishaupt said that 200 years could well pass before success was achieved before the enlightenment Triumph the secret organization grew in size in its Heyday the Illuminati had around 2 000 members all of them high-ranking representatives of society Vice hopped specifically poached his men from the Freemasons despite its Rich tradition many large Brethren found their Association Dole the new secret society was more exciting and more radical yourself the launches were run with unsparing strictness like in Skull and Bones members had to lay bare their private lives a requirement some were at odds with the Illuminati it seems were very strict and hierarchy oriented many people were put off by this for example refused to join even though friends of his were Illuminati so sometimes the society also had this off-putting effect on people someone with the status of a prince of poets was not going to subordinate himself to a mediocre illuminatus in a secret society too that is simply asking too much the bigger and more influential the organization grew the more resistance it faced the absolutist rulers hit back and those in power were helped by accident in 1785 one of the order's couriers was taking secret papers to France when he was struck by lightning and killed on his body the police found a list of members only 10 years after being founded the Illuminati were banned membership now carried the death penalty [Music] thank you fearing for his life Adam weishaupt fled from Ingolstadt to gota disguised as a Craftsman but did this really mean the end of the Illuminati if so why do people still nurture thoughts of them [Music] that's perhaps because before he fled Vice Hub succeeded in achieving another major coup he established contact with leading figures in the United States foreign [Music] knows of three letters written to Benjamin Franklin in them the Illuminati asked for permission to set up a colony in Elysium their code name for the United States but the old Illuminati records make no mention of what reaction the request received the letters fuel fantastic speculation time and again [Music] what if a number of Illuminati had escaped to the new world to implement their ideas there would it not then have been possible for them to influence politics in the United States and couldn't the Illuminati then also have printed their symbols on the American one dollar banknote water yes no Theory seems too abstruse yeah Marion Fussell has taken another close look at the one dollar bill on which the owl is portrayed the sacred animal of the Athenians and the identification symbol of the Illuminati [Music] printed in Roman numerals is the year 1776 the year in which the Illuminati were officially founded Eye of Providence over the pyramid is a symbol which allegedly was also used by the secret society Novus Odo secloro means the New Order of the ages in other words it clearly states the goal of the Illuminati why the number 13 is found everywhere the secret society had 13 hierarchical levels [Music] I don't believe the secret societies have the power nor the interest to be able to rule any country on this planet instead you have corporate Powers multi-billions trillions of dollars Within These corporate structures The Stance adopted by the U.