Super Secret Societies That Pull Strings Without You Knowing
Imagine you found yourself in some large strange house.
You're invited down to the basement where you navigate a series of winding corridors,
only to enter a room through a hidden door that opens when a certain book is pulled out
of a shelf.
Once in the room you are greeted by a bunch of men wearing antlers on their heads and
looking rather serious.
They then start chanting some prayer that is 500 years old.
It sounds like the stuff of fiction, but secret societies do indeed exist and sometimes members
of those societies engage in some pretty weird rituals.
Today we are going to take a look at some of those societies.
The Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World
Yep, so you're now thinking that there is no way a secret society could exist with a
name like this and we are making it up.
We're not making this up.
The Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World according to a newspaper
report from 1907 “is claimed by members and officers that it is one of the most thriving
secret societies among Afro-Americans of this city.”
According to the Smithsonian, this society was created in the late 19th century after
two African-American men were not allowed to join another society called The Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks of the World.
They just started another with the word ”improved” in it.
Apparently anyone can join and there's nothing too strange about this group, but you do have
believe in the Christian God to get in.
Right now there are something like half a million members around the world and they
have around 1500 lodges.
When they meet they do share in a ritual, and we went online to find who was speaking
at a meeting and what they did.
We found names such as “exalted ruler”, “inner guard” and “Esteemed Loyal Knight.”
It seems they have prayers and lengthy opening sequences, and there are also initiations.
Part of one such initiation read, “When the obligated brothers are asked the questions
as to what ‘they most desire,' the Esquire and assistants will whisper distinctly the
PROPER WORD in the ears of the brothers, so that they can reply correctly.
The Esquire, when ordered to remove the blindfolds, should see that it is done promptly and simultaneously
at the sound of the gavel.”
It gets a bit stranger, but hey, this is a secret society and there is usually something
ritualistic going on.
Some of it sounded quite nice, though, with one of the closing statements being, “Let
no brother go forth with any bitterness in his heart, and may we ever act with Fidelity
to our obligations and thereby merit the approval of the Exalted Ruler of all.
Brothers will unite in singing the closing ode.”
The Knights of Pythias The same goes for this society that was also
founded in the late 19th century, it's all about brotherly love.
It just happens to have a really cool-sounding name, too.
No doubt you'd feel quite cool if you could say you were a knight of Pythias.
We don't think these people carry swords, though, or have a thing for slaying dragons.
The society is actually partnered with the Boy Scouts of America, so fighting or rescuing
maidens is probably off the table.
This is the introduction on its official website, “The Order of Knights of Pythias is an international,
non-sectarian fraternal order, established in 1864 in Washington, DC, by Justus H. Rathbone
and was the first fraternal order to be chartered by an Act of Congress.”
The society says it has its own traditional rituals, but in the end the whole thing is
about charity, love, doing the right thing by the brothers and society at large.
It seems you might have to be a member of the government to join, and we didn't bother
filling out the application form.
We saw a bunch of photos, too, and while the name of this society might make someone think
of dark hallways and blood-stained books, they do actually look a bit more like boy
scouts.
They sound like a great bunch of guys, with part of their principles being things like
this: “Pythians know one way to happiness is through
service to mankind.
Pythians believe that friendship is an essential ingredient in life.
Pythians make Benevolence, Kindness, Generosity and Tolerance a reality in their lives.”
After hearing that, who wouldn't want to become one of these knights?
International Order of St. Hubertus This secret society sounds a little bit different
in that many of its members are supposed to be elite hunters.
It goes back to 1695, and according to its own website was put together to find “the
greatest noble hunters of the 17th Century, particularly in Bohemia, Austria and countries
of the Austro Hungarian Empire, ruled by the Habsburgs.”
The Smithsonian tells us that German leader Adolf Hitler shut the society down after another
Nazi leader was denied entry into the club.
Nonetheless, it started up again and it's still around now.
In 2016 The Washington Post broke a story about high society Americans meeting for a
weekend of hunting and we guess some amount of ritualistic handshaking.
The Post wrote, “Some hold titles, such as Grand Master, Prior and Knight Grand Officer.
The Order's name is in honor of Hubert, the patron saint of hunters and fishermen.”
This looks like quite the elite group and we doubt you can just waltz into a meeting.
Some of the members got to that ranch by private plane, so we figure it's no boy scouts kind
of outfit.
They dress really smart and if you go to the official website you'll find that one of
the main things with this group is conservation and keeping game species around, presumably
so they can hunt them.
This is a short snippet from that site explaining how things go down:
“The IOSH is headed by a Grand Master, currently, his Imperial Highness Archduke Istvan von
Habsburg-Lothringen, Archduke of Austria, and its ‘Protector' is His Majesty King
Juan Carlos of Spain.
Archduke Istvan is supported in his governance of the Order by the officers of the Grand
Chapter.
The Grand Chapter is composed of the ‘Grand Priors', or leaders of the national jurisdictions
in which the Order is established, members of the staff of the Grand Chapter and three
Counselors.”
It's not a religious organization but we guess if you want to join you will need to know
someone who invites you.
From what we can see, members will need to invest some cash at times so we doubt most
of our listeners will be joining anytime soon.
We are guessing that the investment will be considerable.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows Now this sounds like an organization you could
join.
While the former bunch might be a bit snooty, who doesn't like someone admitting to being
a bit odd?
It's said that it came about after the Prince Regent of the United Kingdom, George IV, didn't
want to go through the long initiation process to become a freemason.
It seems he made this rival club sometime in the mid to late 19th century, but its members
might tell you it goes back much further in time.
It's had some pretty big names on its guess list, with British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill being a member.
This is part of its mission statement, taken from the official website:
“Lodge degrees and activities aim to improve and elevate every person to a higher, nobler
plane; to extend sympathy and aid to those in need, making their burdens lighter, relieving
the darkness of despair; to war against vice in every form, and to be a great moral power
and influence for the good of humanity.”
It is all inclusive apparently, stating that it might take anyone regardless of social
standing, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation.
They have a Facebook page, and lots of events going on.
It seems if you want to become an Odd Fellow then you can go for it.
The Patriotic Order Sons of America We think you might have a chance at joining
these guys, too.
What do they do?
Well, the clue is in the name.
They are American patriots.
If you want to join, their official website says you must be “all native-born or naturalized
American male citizens, 16 years and older, who believe in their country and its institutions,
who desire to perpetuate free government, and who wish to encourage a brotherly feeling
among Americans, to the end that we may exalt our country, to join with us in our work of
fellowship and love.”
From what we can see, these people like to brandish flags a lot.
They are very keen on that American flag, as well as preserving anything related to
it.
The motto reads God first, then country, then order, so forget about joining these people
if you don't do church or don't have a flag fastened to your house.
This is part of the intro on the group's principles part of the website:
“Next to love for the Creator, we believe that Patriotism is one of the highest and
noblest desires of the human soul.
We are a Patriotic/Fraternal organization that embraces the principles of Love, Forgiveness,
and Grace; while recognizing the diversity of other faiths and cultures.”
It also writes, “We must protect our form of government and preserve it from the influence
and control of any un-American sentiment or power, whether native or foreign.”
The Ancient Order of United Workmen This society was set up to defend the rights
of the American working class.
It offered insurance for the working class people against sickness, accidents, or death.
It might also have helped working class folks with burials.
It started off predominantly white and religious, but that changed over time.
It seems it was going strong right through the 20th century, but we are not sure if it
exists today.
We can't seem to find much information about this group after the 1980s.
The Ancient Order of the Foresters These guys are still going but it seems they
changed the name to the “Foresters Friendly Society.”
Started in 1834, it was also about protecting the working class.
It's not really about forests, though.
Its website explains, “Our first members came to recognize they had a duty to assist
their fellow men who fell into need ‘as they walked through the forests of life'.
This 'need' arose principally when a breadwinner fell ill, could not work and received no wages.
Illness and death left families financially distressed and often destitute.”
We should say that this society is based in Britain, and from what we can see, it looks
more business-like than a society where you'll find lots of traditional rituals.
The Grand Orange Lodge This was set up to protect protestants in
Ireland, but you'll find members all over the world.
Its website states, “Orangeism is a positive rather than a negative force.
It wishes to promote the Reformed Faith based on the Infallible Word of God - the Bible.
Orangeism does not foster resentment or intolerance.
Condemnation of religious ideology is directed against church doctrine and not against individual
adherents or members.”
It also says that while it might have been called secret, walking about in bright orange
is hardly keeping your head down.
It's not the most secret society on this list, that's for sure.
We went to their upcoming events page, but it seems as we write this not much is going
on.
We did see, though, that these orange guys will be doing a lot of marches in Ireland
in 2019.
You don't have to be Irish to join, either, with the website stating, “We continue to
welcome an increasing number of international visitors to our celebrations who are keen
to experience first-hand the spectacle of the biggest day in the parading calendar.”
They've even got their own newspaper called The Orange Standard.
So, if you were to join just one of these societies which do you think you'd choose?
Can you tell us about other secret societies?
Tell us in the comments.
Also, be sure to check out our other video The Most Powerful Families Who Secretly Run
The World?
Thanks for watching, and as always, don't forget like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.
