Original subtitles

WILLIAM SHATNER: Strange rituals in secluded compounds,

esoteric symbols with cryptic meanings

and blood oaths that last a lifetime.

For centuries,

secret societies have been operating in the shadows,

influencing our culture,

shaping our world in ways we can only imagine.

These mysterious groups are often rumored

to practice chilling rituals,

and to communicate using secret codes

and strange symbols.

While the notion of a covert,

oath-bound brotherhood is intriguing,

could the claims that have been made

about these secret societies be real...

or mostly mythical?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

SHATNER: While revelers enjoy

Halloween festivities across the city,

tucked away out of sight,

a group of men prepare a deadly serious

initiation ritual.

Michael Franzese is about to become a member

of America's most infamous criminal secret society--

the Italian-American Mafia,

or as its members call it-- La Cosa Nostra.

MICHAEL FRANZESE: I don't like to use the term "Mafia"

here in America.

In America, it's really "Cosa Nostra."

I grew up in the life.

You know, my dad was the underboss

of the Colombo family.

I was 24 years old when I got inducted.

It was Halloween night, 1975.

I was called into a room late at night.

Stood in front of the boss, held out my hand,

took a knife, cut my fingers,

some blood dropped on the floor.

He took a picture of a saint, lit it aflame,

put it in my hands.

And he said, "Tonight, Michael Franzese,

"you are born again into a new life,

"into Cosa Nostra.

"Betray your brothers, and you will die,

"burn in hell like this saint is burning in your hands.

Do you accept?"

"Yes, I do."

And that's how it started.

NATE HENDLEY: La Cosa Nostra wants

to make money and amass power.

I would say they are the deadliest criminal

secret society in American history.

To join the Mafia, you have to be pure Italian,

and secrecy is the norm.

You're told you can join this organization,

and you'll make all sorts of money, you'll be protected.

But at the same time, if you reveal any secrets,

you're going to be killed.

SHATNER: The dangerous secrets

that La Cosa Nostra keeps revolve

around criminal enterprises like

gambling,

drug trafficking,

counterfeiting

-and murder. -(siren wailing)

It's been estimated that at the height of their power,

their crimes earned them billions of dollars every year.

So how did this criminal, secret society

become so powerful?

HENDLEY: The Mafia really starts to sort of

come together in New York City in the 1920s,

and there's a few factors as to why.

Number one-- prohibition,

because banning alcohol instantly turns

corner-street thugs

into very wealthy, powerful gangsters.

The underworld realizes

Americans are still gonna want to drink,

and they will be the ones to supply the alcohol.

So, it becomes an enormous, lucrative opportunity

for gangsters.

FRANZESE: In the early 1900s,

the guys started migrating

from Sicily into the United States.

And before prohibition, we were just a bunch of guys

preying on each other,

trying to do these petty street crimes

and being thugs.

Well, those guys figured out,

"Hey, alcohol. People want to drink.

We're gonna make 'em happy."

We were good at giving people what they wanted

when they couldn't have it.

New York state alone,

there were 36,000 speakeasies,

just to give you an idea of how lucrative this was.

And so, now we start to get organized

because no organization is anything without money.

SHATNER: Prohibition turned common thugs into kingpins,

and created an opportunity

for La Cosa Nostra to get organized.

ED McDONALD: By the 1930s,

Lucky Luciano and some other, uh, powerful gangsters

formed themselves into a commission.

They decided that it would make sense

if these gangsters were organized,

organized into families.

They designated five people to be the heads

of five families in New York.

And other people were designated to be the leaders

of families in other parts of the country.

HENDLEY: Lucky Luciano comes up with the structure

of the Mafia as we know it today.

You have a hierarchal structure.

You have a boss, underboss,

capo, which is like middle management.

Capo is in charge of roughly ten soldiers

who do the actual grunt work.

Underneath the soldiers are associates.

An associate can be anybody

who just happens to help the Mafia.

And this really is the birth

of the American Mafia as we know it.

SHATNER: A strict hierarchy meant

that only the bosses would know

all the details of La Cosa Nostra's

criminal operations.

And to show their loyalty,

all members of the family would be required

to take a powerful oath...

of secrecy.

FRANZESE: People-- they don't understand what the oath is.

They think once you come into that life,

well, you're taking an oath to lie, steal, cheat, kill.

Now obviously as part of that life,

you know, those things happen, but that's not what the oath is.

The oath of omertà means silence.

We're not even supposed to admit that the life exists.

We're not supposed to talk about it.

If you violate policies and rules,

you can have serious consequences.

McDONALD: Omertà was critical to the success of the Mafia.

In order to stay alive,

in order to stay active, in order to stay powerful,

you can't have your members going out and talking

to other people about what you're doing.

And so, you have a code of silence.

People were adhering to omertà

because they were afraid that if they violated the code,

they would be killed.

If your mother is sick and dying,

and you're at her deathbed,

and the family calls you to service,

you leave your mother, and you come and serve the family.

The family comes before anything.

You have to think that way.

So, unfortunately, you know, you make a mistake,

it could be your best friend that pulls the trigger on you.

(gunfire)

During my 20 years in that life,

unfortunately, I've seen things like that.

SHATNER: While authorities have known about the existence

of La Cosa Nostra since the 1950s,

the power

of this criminal enterprise has faded with time.

But is the loyalty and commitment

to the secret society still strong?

McDONALD: There are still organizations,

there's still five organized families in New York,

but they simply don't have the power

or the impact that they had.

The bosses, the leaderships of the families,

have been convicted time and time again,

going back to the 1980s.

The question, is it possible

that there will be a resurgence of the mob?

I don't think we'll ever see the La Cosa Nostra

as effective or as powerful as it once was,

but we don't know.

One can only speculate.

FRANZESE: We used to be front page news.

We had a lot of control in this country

for almost 100 years,

under some very difficult conditions.

We had connections right into the White House, 100%.

Is it the same as it used to be? No way.

But it's not going away in my lifetime,

just take my word for it.

SHATNER: The future of La Cosa Nostra is a matter of debate,

and as powerful as they once were,

their influence pales in comparison

to another secret society,

one that helped orchestrate the very founding

of the United States.

SHATNER: In the historic neighborhood of Shockoe Bottom,

there is a two-story structure known as "Masons' Hall."

Originally dating back to 1785,

it's the oldest meeting place in the United States

for a secret society known as...

the Freemasons.

Freemasonry is the world's largest, oldest

and probably best-known men's fraternal organization.

It uses the terms and the symbolism

of the ancient Stonemason Guild

that built the cathedrals in Europe during the Middle Ages.

Freemasonry openly advertises itself,

but Masonry does have secrets.

If you watch carefully,

and you're driving into virtually any American town,

you will notice there's usually a sign

that has little signs attached to it,

telling you what fraternal orders are there.

So the secrecy in Freemasonry is not the existence of the order.

The secrecy is what goes on within the order,

the things that you are never supposed to talk about.

SHATNER: It's estimated

that there are about six million Freemasons

around the world today,

all committed to an ancient organization

whose history and mission

are as mysterious as its secret meetings.

HODAPP: There are mysteries about the origin

of Freemasonry, when it really started in history.

Legendarily, we trace ourselves back

to the construction of King Solomon's Temple,

which was considered this holy of holy places on Earth.

But historically, we believe

that we may have grown out of the stonemason guilds

during the Middle Ages,

because there are a lot of practices that we do

that are similar to the kinds of things they did

to identify themselves, for instance,

with secret handshakes and secret passwords.

ARTURO DE HOYOS: Freemasonry is

a system of morality veiled in allegory

and illustrated by symbols.

For example,

the square and compasses

are perhaps the most famous Masonic emblems.

You see it everywhere.

But what it symbolizes to us is

this square is an angle of 90 degrees.

It never deviates.

It means you are going to tell the truth.

SHATNER: If Freemasonry is about telling the truth,

you have to wonder,

why do they veil the organization

in such intense secrecy?

After all, what goes on behind the closed doors

of a Masonic lodge is only known to its members.

SPENCE: If you look at Masonic lodges,

you can't just walk in and say, "I want to join."

You must be invited.

And traditionally,

every single person in the lodge must agree

upon the admission of a new member.

So, it is highly selective.

Then, you are, at every step in your initiation,

sworn to secrecy.

PICKNETT: Since it was formally founded

in the 18th century in England,

Freemasonry has attracted a great deal of suspicion,

largely because it operates behind closed doors,

it has weird rituals.

And they have all sorts of grades in their membership,

some of which seem to be kept very secret.

It's an intense boys' club,

and those boys include elite leaders

or big businessmen, police chiefs and so on.

There's always been a rumor

that if you reach the top echelons of Freemasonry,

and very few do, there'll be a great revelation

that will stagger and shock you.

SHATNER: A great revelation?

Is it possible that those who ascend

to the highest levels of Freemasonry are privy

to powerful secrets?

It's an intriguing thought,

especially if you consider the influence

that this secret society is said to have had

on the founding of the United States.

The American Revolution begins with shots fired

at the battles of Lexington and Concord.

After a bloody eight-year war,

13 colonies win their independence

from the British Empire.

And some believe

that American Freemasons were the guiding hand

in this historic conflict.

Freemasonry made a significant impact on our founding fathers

and those who fought in the Revolutionary War.

We had 81 generals in the Continental Army,

33 of which were Freemasons. That's 41%.

Virtually every English king

in the 18th century on was a Mason,

with the exception of one, George III, oddly enough.

I found that very interesting

that an American Revolution largely populated

by American Freemasons,

rebelled against a king who was not a Freemason.

Would they have done that

had he been a fraternal Masonic brother?

That itself is another mystery.

-(men shouting) -(weapons firing)

SHATNER: Might the American War for Independence

have been handled differently

if King George III was a member of the Freemasons?

We will never know,

but the influence of the secret society

on the founding of America may be evident

in a document published by Benjamin Franklin

40 years before the Revolution

that shares a striking similarity

to the U.S. Constitution.

One of the great things that Franklin did for us was,

he published, in 1734,

a copy of The Constitutions of the Free-Masons.

This book outlined a separation of powers

like we have in the American government.

We have a secret ballot.

All members are equal.

Equality of mankind.

These are things that if you remove them

from a Masonic context would sound very American.

But I believe

that they influenced our Founding Fathers

and the young nation.

HODAPP: Many of the things the Founding Fathers insisted

on having in the U.S. Constitution

come directly out of the Masonic Constitutions.

A trial among your peers,

freedom of religion,

freedom of speech.

Many of these concepts wind up in the U.S. Constitution.

These kinds of freedoms,

we don't even give a second thought to today,

but at the time, these were things

that people were getting shot over.

SHATNER: It's incredible to think

that the U.S. Constitution,

the supreme law of the United States of America,

was largely influenced by a secret society.

And many have wondered--

do Freemasons wield the same power and influence

in America that they once did?

HODAPP: There's a problem asking

somebody like me,

"How influential have the Masons been?"

When any answer that I give you, you're going to say,

"Ah, that's exactly what they would say."

And so, that becomes chasing your own tail

in terms of how do you get to the bottom of it.

People will always be fascinated by the mystery.

The mystery of a closed door is always going

to charge the imagination.

Freemasons certainly had a hand in the founding of America,

but might their true purpose be more nefarious than they claim?

Well, whatever the case may be,

there is another powerful secret society that was formed

at one of the most prestigious institutions in the world,

whose shadowy reputation has given it the name...

The Brotherhood of Death.

(applause and cheering)

SHATNER: The incumbent president,

Republican George W. Bush,

narrowly defeats his political rival,

Democratic Senator John Kerry.

While these two opposing statesmen

have politics in common,

they also share an intriguing, lifelong membership

to a highly exclusive secret society

at Yale University called "The Order of Skull and Bones."

Amazingly, in 2004,

we were guaranteed that year to have a Skull and Bones member

as a president of the United States.

But it's interesting that neither Kerry

nor G.W. Bush would ever discuss their affiliation

with the Skull and Bones secret society at Yale.

And so, you start to wonder,

what kind of blood oaths did they sign

for the rest of their lives that nothing leaks?

SHATNER: The Order of Skull and Bones--

also known as The Brotherhood of Death--

was originally founded by six Yale students in 1832.

In 1856, they built their headquarters on campus,

which is known as "the Tomb."

And with all of these ominous names,

it begs the question,

what is this secret society really all about?

MARC WORTMAN: The name of the society, Skull and Bones--

it's a mystery where it came from.

But it certainly reflects the desire

to carry on in secret and darkness.

Members are sworn to such secrecy

that they're not even supposed to admit

to being members of Skull and Bones.

Members are the elite of the elite within Yale.

Only about 1,500 high school students

get into Yale every year.

And then, out of that 1,500,

once they reach their junior year at college,

only 15 of those get selected,

or tapped, as they say,

to be a member of this secret society.

The members of Skull and Bones have become presidents

and various congressmen,

Supreme Court justices,

and many of them ended up with the CIA.

What's most fascinating to me

about the Skull and Bones organization is

how incredibly effective they have been over time

at guarding their secrets.

And over a century more,

they have managed to keep secret what goes on inside the Tomb.

SHATNER: What goes on inside the Tomb?

That's the million-dollar question

that no one is willing to answer.

But over the years,

rumors have spread

of strange rituals that take place

inside the Skull and Bones secretive headquarters.

WORTMAN: Certainly, part of the rituals

that are rumored to take place within the mausoleum--

Tomb-- include skeletal remains.

And that members of Skull and Bones lie in a coffin,

and they bow before the skulls,

and possibly include kissing of the skull.

Skull and Bones has been rumored

to have taken the skulls of many different people.

Among them, there are rumors

that they've stolen the bones of Geronimo.

Geronimo was an Apache warrior chief.

He was legendary

for his powers in fighting the U.S. Army.

Some say that the skull of Geronimo is used

in the initiation rites.

PICKNETT: Why would they do this?

Is it some kind of sick trophy? Possibly.

But also, throughout history, there's been this idea

that's continued throughout the centuries,

that a head or a skull

somehow still contains the power of that person,

maybe the spiritual power.

And that to own the skull

or head will give you that power.

SHATNER: Do Bonesmen use human remains

in strange, perhaps even occult rituals?

Or is this all just sensational rumor and speculation?

Well, remarkably, in 2005,

journalist Marc Wortman uncovered physical evidence

that suggests there could be truth

to this dark practice.

WORTMAN: I was in the bowels

of the Yale University Library doing research for a book,

and within this stack of letters

about the life of Skull and Bones,

in 1918, there's one page

that talks about the robbing of Geronimo's grave.

And it says, "We have Geronimo the Terrible's skull,

"femurs and horse tack,

and we've brought them back to the Tomb in New Haven."

I was flabbergasted.

Like, electricity went through me when I saw that.

There it was in black and white.

When it came out,

members of Geronimo's family,

ancestors, were immediately appalled,

and they filed lawsuits to recover the bones.

Skull and Bones refused to comment on the matter.

SHATNER: In 2010, the lawsuit

against Skull and Bones was dismissed on a technicality,

so we may never know the truth,

just like everything else that goes on

inside this exclusive secret society.

WORTMAN: Now, it's certainly true

that these are many of the most powerful people

in America and indeed the whole world.

But we'll never know

what secrets lie within the Tomb.

And those bones may or may not be there,

but we'll never get to the bottom of this mystery.

You know, it's interesting to consider

that there is a long list of powerful world leaders

who share the very secret experience

of being a Bonesman.

But there's another influential group

that meets in Northern California.

It began as a small social club,

and has grown into a strange gathering

of the global elite.

SHATNER: 75 miles north of San Francisco

lies an ancient redwood forest.

And nestled deep within its protective canopy is the home

of a mysterious, privately owned sanctuary

known as "the Bohemian Grove."

The Bohemian Grove is a remarkable place.

It's 2,700 acres of old-growth redwood forest.

Some of them are over a thousand years old,

as high as 300 feet tall.

And it's shrouded, kind of jungle-like

with a compound of over a hundred camps.

Some are quite rustic and spartan,

and others are quite elaborate,

and there are lakes and streams running through it.

It's really quite beautiful.

SHATNER: While the Bohemian Grove might appear

to be a welcoming oasis,

uninvited guests are definitely not welcome.

Because this secluded enclave belongs to a secretive group

of billionaires that appropriately call themselves...

"the Bohemian Club."

SPENCE: The Bohemian club is for rich guys.

That's the easiest way to think of it.

There are usually somewhere

between about 2,200 and 2,500 members.

What do millionaires and billionaires do

secluded in their private summer camp in the woods?

LEVY: You've got mega billionaires,

you've got political donors,

you've got former presidents who are all members.

So, when you start to see this confluence of power

and influence at this place,

you start to wonder, what's going on?

SHATNER: While whatever is happening within the seclusion

of the Bohemian Grove may be private,

it's not exactly a secret

that something intriguing may be taking place there.

But who are its members?

And why are they so protective of their privacy?

Perhaps a clue might be found by examining the club's origins.

The Bohemian Club was started in San Francisco in the 1800s.

And it was originally started

for theatrical people and writers,

poets, men of letters.

But they found out pretty quickly

that most of those people don't make a lot of money.

And so, in order to keep the doors open,

they would also start inviting in

moneyed patrons of the arts

who would like to rub shoulders

with these writers and poets and actors.

SPENCE: And then,

around 1929 or 1930,

President Herbert Hoover becomes a member of the club.

Being a president, he wanted more secrecy.

And eventually,

the old journalist artsy crowd pretty much fades away.

And you get millionaires, billionaires and politicians,

as it is today.

SHATNER: Over the decades, prominent names

such as newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst,

financier David Rockefeller

and diplomat Henry Kissinger have all been linked

to the Bohemian Club, adding to its reputation.

But what could society's elite

and influential members be hiding

from the outside world?

Buddy Levy is an investigative journalist who was arrested

while attempting to infiltrate Bohemian Grove in 2010.

And according to him,

its members go to great lengths to keep their secrets.

LEVY: I had been doing some research

into the Bohemian Grove,

and I wanted to get a really close personal look

at the grounds themselves.

Initially, I went up to the front gate,

and was quickly confronted by security people who said,

"This is private property, and you can't get in here."

I subsequently decided to trek up the perimeter

of the grove itself.

And within minutes,

there was a police officer there.

I was being cuffed and stuffed in the back of a squad car,

and there was very little said, except, "You're going to jail."

The Grove members don't really want you to see what's going on.

It's sort of like what goes on in the grove

should stay in the grove, you know?

SHATNER: Various leaks over the years have led to speculation

that the members of the Bohemian Club are doing everything,

from making illegal backroom deals,

to selecting U.S. presidential candidates.

But some experts believe

that there's something even more nefarious

occurring within the confines of the Bohemian Grove.

And as evidence, they point to footage

that was leaked online in 2024,

taken from inside

the dense forest location.

SPENCE: In 2024,

some enterprising folks snuck into Bohemian Grove,

and caught video of the opening ceremony

of that year's summer encampment--

the Cremation of Care ritual.

It's a big show. This is a production.

Everybody's all gotten dressed up in their robes.

You've got hundreds of onlookers

and orchestral accompaniment.

Then you've got the boat, which is sort of

carrying this wicker effigy,

which is placed at the foot

of this 40-foot pseudo-stone owl,

and it's burned.

(applause and cheering)

SHATNER: While the recent footage is largely obscured by trees,

there have been other leaked photographs over the years

that clearly show this strange ceremony.

And many have wondered,

what is the true purpose of what looks like a pagan ritual?

ISAAC WEISHAUPT: The Cremation of Care ceremony is interesting.

They burn an effigy of a child to this seemingly owl god.

You've got this class of elites doing pagan activities

and having a strange or unexplained sort of version

of religious belief systems.

SPENCE: The explanation of the club certainly is that,

"We're just playing around.

The ceremony is all part of the fun."

Now others have argued that, no,

there's no such thing as a mock human sacrifice.

Is this a sinister,

malevolent recreation of a pagan sacrifice,

or is it just playing at doing that?

The real meaning is only known

to the people who are participating in it,

but maybe not even them.

And that's the true secret part of it.

We may never truly know what goes on

inside the top secret gatherings at the Bohemian Grove,

but based on its elite membership and high security,

it does spark the imagination.

But there's another secret society

of a very different kind,

one that's said to protect

something extremely controversial

and profoundly sacred--

the secret bloodline of Jesus Christ.

(bell tolling in distance)

SHATNER: This quiet church is believed by some

to date back to the eighth century.

And according to folklore,

it may also be connected to a thousand-year-old conspiracy

surrounding a secret society known as the Priory of Sion.

The idea of the Priory of Sion is that it was

a bloodline conspiracy

to protect the descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

Because they claimed that Mary Magdalene and Jesus

were in a relationship and married and had children,

and their bloodline becomes the founding dynasty

of the royal families of France.

And the belief is that Mary Magdalene came

to Rennes-le-Château because of that

and created communities in this place.

ANDREW COLLINS: The idea that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were either married

or that she was his concubine

was something that was seen as heresy by the Catholic Church

and indeed had to be stamped out.

(crying)

But the knowledge

of the existence of this secret bloodline

was preserved by the Priory of Sion,

keeping it quiet across the centuries.

SHATNER: Could there be a secret society

that protects the possible bloodline of Jesus Christ?

It's certainly a controversial notion.

But many are convinced that it's true.

And as evidence, they point to a local legend

about a 19th-century priest stationed in Rennes-le-Château

named Father Bérenger Saunière.

COLLINS: Father Bérenger Saunière

was the parish priest of Rennes-le-Château,

and it's long been believed that Saunière discovered

some kind of secret

during his renovations of the church.

It was said that he found documents

inside a very ancient pillar

and that these documents contained various ciphers

and long lists of members of the Priory of Sion

and ancient genealogies

that came through Jesus and through Mary Magdalene

-into France via a child that was born to the couple. -(baby giggles)

PICKNETT: Although to some people it might be a nice romantic story,

no one knows what Bérenger Saunière discovered

in his church.

But the interesting thing is he became extraordinarily wealthy

virtually overnight.

And there is this persistent idea

that Bérenger Saunière was working with the Priory of Sion

or that they recruited him

to help them preserve and protect

the sacred bloodline of Jesus.

SHATNER: Was this humble priest's newfound wealth

proof of his involvement with the Priory of Sion?

While the idea persists, no one can say.

What is known, however, is that years later, in 1967,

another set of documents related to the Priory of Sion

was allegedly discovered by a Frenchman named Pierre Plantard.

The Priory of Sion comes to our awareness

because of a man named Pierre Plantard.

He comes forward and claims to be a leader of this society,

claims to be one of these bloodline descendants

who should be on the throne.

And he found documents in the Bibliothèque Nationale in France

that support his arguments.

It's a real sensation until it comes out...

...that all of these documents are forgeries

and that Plantard's claims are a hoax.

The whole thing was made up. None of it's real.

SHATNER: In 1993,

Plantard admitted under oath

that he forged the Priory documents

and planted them in the Bibliothèque

to support his outrageous claim.

But despite his deception,

many believe that there really is a secret society

sworn to protect the descendants of Jesus Christ.

McGOWAN: The reason that what Plantard did

worked so well is that he couched this idea

of the Priory of Sion in some real information.

And so this has always been the mystery of Rennes-le-Château

and Bérenger Saunière.

Was there a Priory of Sion

that was really a legitimate secret society?

COLLINS: Although the Priory of Sion could be seen as a fabrication,

it's quite clear that there is a genuine mystery here.

So did the Priory of Sion really exist?

Ultimately, we don't know.

♪ ♪

SHATNER: The global research firm Statista

publishes the result of an eye-opening survey.

Approximately 21% of adults in the United States

believe that a shadowy, anonymous group

runs the entire world.

And it highlights one of the most enduring

conspiracy theories of the modern age--

that our reality is controlled

by a sinister secret society known as the Illuminati.

WEISHAUPT: The Illuminati is a secret society

established on May 1, 1776,

by Adam Weishaupt in Germany.

And one of the main components and structures of the Illuminati

was secrecy and anonymity,

with the idea that you could never shut it down

or destroy this organization

because it didn't technically exist.

HODAPP: The Illuminati

wanted to create this New World Order,

which is this idea of creating

this special governing order of super smart elites...

...that kings had no divine right to rule,

that Popes were picked by man, not by God.

And so this New World Order

that the Illuminati wanted to create

was a democratic society, sort of,

as long as they could be in charge.

SHATNER: As far as we know, the Illuminati disbanded in 1787,

after one of its leaders exposed the society's existence.

So why do so many people believe that the secret organization

not only still exists but also rules the world?

Many believe the answer is in plain sight--

on the U.S. dollar bill.

HODAPP: The Great Seal on the back of the dollar bill

has lots of images packed into a-a pretty small space.

They picked a pyramid

because the pyramid is the most enduring building project

in human history.

It's stood there thousands of years

and probably will continue to stand for thousands of years.

The all-seeing Eye of Providence,

people think that that's some sort of an evil representation

of an all-seeing eye looking over its citizens.

The Latin phrase says "new order of the ages."

WEISHAUPT: "Novus ordo seclorum"

was added to the Great Seal to mark

that America was going to be the New World Order.

The Illuminati is a pervasive theory today

because many believe the Illuminati is

a variety of CEOs, politicians, and elites

that are making plans to steer the wills of the masses

towards their will.

Whether or not the Bavarian Illuminati

was actually disbanded doesn't necessarily matter.

A lot of their ideas are still present to this day.

SHATNER: Is the Illuminati still pulling strings behind the scenes today?

Millions of people certainly believe they are.

But like every secret society,

it's possible the whole truth will never be revealed.

Secret societies are fascinating,

and they have been for a really long time.

And I think they're going to be forever.

They trade in symbology,

and they have secret communicative signs.

There's a fascination with what we can't know

but even more so with what we aren't allowed to know.

It just makes us want to pry deeper and deeper

and try to uncover what is the truth.

WEISHAUPT: We have this idea of a secret society of elites

making plans for the masses.

What they do is hidden in secrecy.

We don't know if the truth is being suppressed.

I think, ultimately, it's a good thing

to start questioning the nature of reality.

The idea of a secret society

with the power to control the world anonymously

is both compelling

and deeply concerning.

There have been many conspiracy theories about the reach

these clandestine groups may have

and the dark rituals they are said to practice.

But while some stories feel a bit far-fetched,

there does seem to be actual secret organizations

with known members

who really do wield incredible power and influence.

Perhaps time will tell

the true intent of these secret societies.

But for now, they remain...

...unexplained.

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