Economists and historians might have complicated result about whygas pricesrise , the stock grocery go down orwho shot JFK . But others know better . " It ’s the Illuminati , stupid , " they ’ll order you . Listening to them , you ’d retrieve the Illuminati is the theory of everything . It explains events from American history , pop music , the weather , even the mermaid logo on the Starbucks loving cup .
Conspiracy theorists believe the Illuminati is a sinister league of secret top executive brokers , whose rank over the preceding several centuries has amounted to a who ’s who of the potent , fertile and influential , from U.S. President Thomas Jefferson to rapper Jay - Z [ sources : Knight , Obias ] .
As the story goes , the Illuminati has co - opted governments and banks , manipulated strain grocery store and vim prices , stage character assassination and cover - ups , and in myriad elbow room restfully tugged on the creature strings that check the unwary mass . They ’ve even tricked us into participate in their unavowed ritual free-base upon ancient Egyptian mysticism , and carrying currency emblazoned with their symbolization in our wallets [ seed : McConnachie and Tudge ] .
And it almost sound plausible , does n’t it ? As Scientific American columnist and author Michael Shermer has note , we are " figure - seeking animals , " neurologically hard - wired to attempt account and put the pieces together – even when there is n’t a connection , and the pieces do n’t fit [ source : Kiger ] .
There are enough conspiracy theories about the Illuminati to fill a book , or even a library . Here are 10 of the most outlandish and entertaining .
10: It Has Secretly Existed for Centuries
This opinion contains a few grains of factual world . In 1776 , Bavarian university prof Adam Weishaupt establish a nightspot call the Order of Perfectibilists , aka the Illuminati . Basically , they were a bunch of guy – no more than a few hundred , at the apparent motion ’s peak – who copied some of the occult symbolism from the more popular Masonic lodges . They ride around kvetch about the German grandeur and the Jesuit religious Holy Order , and full philosophical about egalitarianism . They were fair harmless , but even so , in 1785 , Bavarian Elector Prince Karl - Theodor – apparently a second flimsy - skinned – regulate the Illuminati and other secret tie to disband [ source : McConnachie and Tudge ] .
But the Illuminati name was too cool to evanesce away . When arrested in Rome in 1789 , an occultist and faith healer named Cagliostro appeased the Inquisition by confessing to knowledge of a secret group that , among other things , was plotting to overthrow thepapacy[source : McConnachie and Tudge ] .
The story was so enchanting that it mutated and jumped the Atlantic . In 1798 in Massachusetts , the Rev. Jedidiah Morse denounced the Illuminati from the soapbox , and when press , finger conspicuously worldly Thomas Jefferson as its U.S. drawing card . A pamphlet that accused the imaginary grouping of being " inexhaustibly employ in destroy the organized religion and government of the United States " soon followed [ source : Knight ] . In the years after , the Illuminati became conspirative fodder for everyone from the John Birch Society to authorDan Brown , whose 2000 novel " Angels and Demons " uses them as villains .
9: The Skull and Bones Society Is an Illuminati JV Team
Yale University ’s Skull and Bones Society was founded in 1832 by William Huntington Russell , the offspring of a New England slave - owning and opium - trafficking class , and Alphonso Taft , the sire of future Chief Executive William Howard Taft [ generator : Goldwag ] . Since then , the secret club has initiated scores of Yalies who , after reportedly engross in ritual such askissinga skull and wrestling naked in a crypt , have gone on to positions of great power in order , including Time magazine founder Henry Luce and former President George W. Bush [ source : Associated Press , McEnery , Goldwag ] .
That combination of secretiveness , weird practices and influence has proven irresistible to Illuminati conspiracy theorists , who see Skull and Bones as something akin to an Illuminati breeding ground , where after being recruited , member just happen to end up in post of vast influence . Prominent Illuminati confederacy theoretician authorRobert Hieronimus claimsthat Skull and Bones founding father Russell even simulate his mathematical group after a German Illuminati offshoot phone the Brotherhood of Death , which " is say to have plot an hush-hush conspiracy to dominate the macrocosm . "
So what is this organization really ? Though members are sworn to secrecy , anAtlantic magazine articlereported that 15 campus loss leader are tap each year for the society ; in recent year , an effort has been made to attract diverse pupil . Skull and Bones members meet in a mausoleum - like structure call the Tomb double a hebdomad , once for socialize and once to debate current social function . They have no master design to take over the human race , apparently .
8: The Illuminati Was Behind JFK’s Assassination
To heed to Illuminati confederacy theorists , the fiendish secret camarilla has had its malevolent fingers in vehement event ranging from theFrench Revolutionto theSept . 11 attacks , and plotted legion assassinations in the mental process .
So it ’s not that much of a surprisal that they ’ve also discovered what the Warren Commission somehow overleap , that the Illuminati was behind the Nov. 22 , 1963 , character assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy . But according toThe Week , a British - based news powder magazine , there are dissimilar schools of intellection on the motivation . One hypothesis is that the Illuminati put out a hit on JFK because he wanted to end the Vietnam War , a burgeon conflict that promise to be profitable for Illuminati financiers of the Military - Industrial Complex . An substitute explanation is that the Illuminati was worried about what it see as JFK ’s intent to limit the power of the Federal Reserve System , which of course also bump to be controlled by the clandestine group .
7: It Conspired to Impose a New World Order
In September 1990 , President George H.W. Bush addressed a joint session of Congress to herald that the U.S. military and allies would go to war to evict Iraki troops who had intrude on Kuwait . But Bush order the mission had a greater nonsubjective – governing body of what he called a " a new world order " in which nations of the populace would live together in harmony . " A hundred generations have explore for this elusive course to peace , " he proclaimed [ source : Miller Center ] .
Bush ’s try at soaring rhetoric , however , was a dog tin whistle to Illuminati confederacy theorists . ( Bush senior was also a member of Skull and Bones , like his Logos ! ) theoriser saw the speech as portending the eventual evacuation of national moulding , government and currencies . All those would be replaced by a global totalitarianism under theUnited Nations , which would send seismic disturbance soldiery in black whirlybird to enforce its dictates and imprison dissenters in concentration camp . After that , the Illuminati - led Modern Earth order ( NWO ) would implant microchips in helpless citizens to control their minds [ informant : Barkun ] .
Conspiracy theoristJohn Colemanpredicted that the NWO also would employ " human - like robots , " which conjures up an image of a future that would resemble the " Terminator " pic franchise . Consider yourself warned .
6: The U.S. Dollar Bill Contains Illuminati Symbols
It ’s often say that the U.S. dollar bill is filled with secret signs from Freemasonry , rather than the Illuminati . But as anarticle on one anti - Illuminati site maintains , there ’s a sort ofVenn diagramconnection between the two secret societies , in which high - rank masons also are members of the Illuminati . Therefore , masonic symbol also can be Illuminati symbolic representation .
Numerous ego - release Illuminati exposé authors betoken out that thedollar billbears the unmistakable sign of an evil secret plan to master humanity . Many of these are control on the back of the bill , which shows the Great Seal of the U.S. , the Pyramids of Egypt and the bird of Jove . The Pyramids of Egypt top out by a glowing centre is a representation of the Illuminati ’s supernatural power and penchant for surveillance . There ’s also the " 1776 , " which just coincidentally go on to be the escort of both America ’s independence and the Illuminati lodge ’s origination . And the Latin sloganNovus Ordo Seclorum(“A fresh Holy Order of the ages " ) really cinch it [ sources : Holt , Popovich , Lett , Springer ] .
It ’s just as telling that the Great Seal was added to the currency in 1934 by President Franklin Roosevelt , a freemason and an obvious candidate for the Illuminati if ever there was one . cabal theoriser are n’t potential to buy the substitute account pop the question on aFederal Reserve System website , which is that FDR liked the Latin idiomatic expression because he and Agriculture Secretary and fellow freemason Henry Wallace mistakenly translated it to imply " A New Deal of the Ages . "
As for the pyramid , it tolerate for persuasiveness and continuance , harmonize to one of its house decorator , Charles Thomson . The 13 rows of work up blocks in the Great Pyramid make up the 13 original colony . And the eye " alludes to the many signaling intervention of Providence in favor of the American causa , " he wrote in 1782 [ beginning : Goldsmith ] .
5: So Does the Starbucks Logo
As Illuminati witness discourage us , the members of the secret sect are so devious that they ’re not content merely to put their coded messages onU.S. money . They also put them on the material we buy with it . According to YouTube videos put up by conspiracy idealogue , the original 1971 Starbucks logotype , which featured an innocent , playful - looking twin - tailed mermaid , was actually a artifice . turn upside down , it became a goat ’s oral sex , an occult and unholy symbol consociate with the Illuminati .
The latest , sleek edition , adopted in 2011 is filled with subtler but equally subtle symbols . The mermaid ’s summit , for example , has a ace on it , which takes the office of the all - seeing eye on the Great Pyramid that that the Illuminati stick in in in the Great Seal of the U.S. And let ’s not blank out that mermaids themselves are actually evil supernatural creatures who lure unwary humans to theirdeaths , which make them an apt symbolic representation for the threatening aim of the Illuminati [ seed : FreemasonWorld ] .
On itscorporate website , Starbucks of course offer a more innocuous explanation , saying the mermaid actually is based upon sixteenth - century Norse woodcut that company functionary stumbled upon while looking for maritime motifs , and is intend to be the " on-key , welcoming face of Starbucks . " But what else would you expect " them " to say ?
4: It Runs the National Security Agency
As late Book of Revelation by former government declarer Edward Snowden detail , theNational Security Agency(NSA ) ’s ubiquitous eavesdropping net spies on one C of meg of mass across the world – hoard selective information " about their sound call , their electronic mail messages , their friends and middleman , how they drop their days , and where they drop their nights , " as theNew York Times described itin a 2014 editorial . To Illuminati watchman , the connection seems so obvious – how could an agency with such far - reaching tentaclesnotbe a player in the Illuminati plan for earth supremacy ? Even more suspicious is the fact that when you typewrite thedomain nameItanimulli.com – " Illuminati " spelled rearwards – into your internet browser , it take you to the public website of the NSA !
Just before you get nervous , do a knowledge domain lookup for this web site name , which would uncover it ’s owned by a Utah piece constitute John Fenley who buy it in 2002 . Fenley later revealed he had his internet site rerouted to the NSA just for a frivolity and does n’t think the Illuminati exists . " When I had the idea to forward the domain to the NSA I could n’t pass it up , and could n’t hold on laugh , " Fenley wrote [ source : Goldwag ] .
3: Almost Every Celebrity Is a Member
OK , it may seem a footling farfetched that a society could remain secret and yet have a huge rank roll that is rumored to let in high - profile figures roam from Queen Elizabeth II to Jay - Z. But if you expect at in a different style , that could just be another sign of how fiendishly clever the Illuminati in truth are .
Notice , for example , the orb singer Miley Cyrus has tattoo on her digit , which seems suspiciously similar to the Illuminati all - seeing eye [ source : Primeau ] . And then there ’s Kanye West , who rap with Jay - Z while tire out a shirt emblazoned with the laughingstock - nous symbol that also just happens to be associated with the Illuminati [ source : BeginningandEnd.com ] . To make matters worse , Beyonce and Jay - Z ’s child , Blue Ivy ’s name just happens to be an anagram for " Born animation Under Evil – Illuminati ’s Very Youngest " [ origin : Schwartz ] .
And who could cut the Illuminati connexion to Katy Perry ’s halftime performance at the 2015Super Bowl , which was filled with the sorting of Egyptian mystical affectations also favored by the secluded conspiratorial chemical group , and took place in a sports stadium allegedly located at the same latitude as the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre , another object of Illuminati enchantment [ source : Illuminatiwatcher.com , Infowars.com ] . On her 2015 " Rebel Heart " CD , Madonna brazenly even included a song , " Illuminati , " in which she list various rumored celebrity member and sang that " the all - seeing eye is watching tonight … it ’s like everybody in this company , shining like Illuminati " [ germ : Miller ] . Maybe she was kidding . But , maybe not .
2: It Manipulates the Weather
You ’ve plausibly noticed those wispy white trails that sometimes seem across the daytime sky . NASA ’s websitesays that these are man - madeclouds , form when body of water vapor contract around tiny particle of pollution from the exhaust of jet plane aircraft , and forms flow of short - live meth crystals that eventually disappear as they come back to a vapor state .
But to confederacy theorists , that explanation seems a lilliputian , too , ah , convenient . They keep that thecontrailsare really " chemtrails , " which are purposely resign from aircraft as part of a sinister , secret secret plan to alter the weather . As an clause on the websiteIlluminati Agendaexplains , one mistrust is that the humanity - made clouds help oneself to condense energy arm that fake electrical energy in theionosphere , a part of the standard pressure . Another possible action is that the clouds may be part of some larger patch to hinder sun and/or poison the soil to lose weight farm output , forcing humankind to become dependent upon genetically modified food crops that , of course , the Illuminati control .
Most likely , the anon. author fence , all of these things are bump at once : " It take a crap obvious sense to the illuminati to make use of all likely avenues rather of just one as it allows them to bombard us from legion slant which throw us little way for tactics . " Obviously .
1: It Created the Beatles as a Mind Control Tool
You might think that the Beatles were four lads from Liverpool whose catchy reinvention of American - style rock ' n ' roll and irreverent , playful charisma inspired teenage adulation on both sides of the Atlantic in the early 1960s . But that would be naïve of you .
" The Beatles were an Illuminati creation,“David Richards explainsin a 2014 clause on the internet site Humans Are Free . " Their songs were write for them and handlers scripted their actions and words . " As Richards and other Illuminati expos - writer detail , these musical Manchurian candidates were coached by experts employed by the Illuminati ’s Committee of 300 , a vague group within the British nobility , who then conspired with video host Ed Sullivan and other medium outlets to popularize the Beatles ' songs [ sources : Coleman , McConnachie and Tudge , Van L uling ] . And all this fourth dimension you thought Lennon and McCartney were genius songwriters !
No , sir . The lyrics were design by psychologists to found " gun trigger word " in vernal minds , promote them to rebel against conventional note value and experimentation with drug – whose production was also secretly controlled and financed by our lord . All this , Richards explain , was intended to fulfil the Illuminati delegation of raze traditional social values and furthering " formation of a corrupted Brave New World - flair striver public . " Since the Beatles commute the course of medicine eternally , the only explanation must be that the Illuminati want it that agency .
Lots More Information
I enjoyed this assignment because I ’ve been writing about conspiracy theorists since the late 1980s , when I did a newspaper characteristic write up about the legions of unskilled JFK character assassination researchers who spent their nights and weekends looking for pickle in the Warren Commission report and perusing the Zapruder film for clues that other investigators had missed . That subculture seemed kinder and gentler than the 9 - 11 Truthers that I ’ve indite about more recently , who seemed to view anyone who did n’t right away squeeze their overarching suspicions as part of the conspiracy .
