All language subtitles for Americas.Book.Of.Secrets.S01E02_English

[narrator] It is America's
most private organization,

with mysterious meetings
held behind closed doors

and a membership that includes the most
powerful men in America and the world.

But behind this elite brotherhood
are secrets.

Secrets so outrageous...

Their agenda boils down to,
"We want to rule the world.

Let's create a whole new world order."

[narrator]
...so controversial...

When people are interested
in a cult connection,

it's always funny how they overlook
those that are right in front of our face.

[narrator]
...so dangerous that the members

will defend them with their lives.

[Alex Jones]
If you're worshipping Lucifer,

you'd better damn well keep that a secret.

[narrator] There are those who believe
in the existence of a book.

A book that contains
the most highly guarded secrets

of the United States of America.

A book whose very existence

is known to only a select few.

But if such a book exists,
what would it contain?

Secret conspiracies?
Secret plans?

Secret lies?

Does there really exist
America's Book of Secrets?

Cannes, France.
November 3, 2011.

President Barack Obama
and other world leaders arrive

at the sixth meeting
of the world's 20 major economies,

known as the G20.

At recent summits in London,
Toronto and France,

thousands engage in violent protests.

But why?
What are they so afraid of?

Officially, the members of the G20
meet to discuss, plan,

and monitor
international economic cooperation.

But is there another more secret reason?

Among the protesters
are those who believe

the group's real intention
is to form a single,

global, economically based government,

otherwise known as the New World Order.

An order directly connected
to something even more secret,

Freemasonry.

[Jones] The Masonic system
is just one vein of that overall system.

And their tentacles stretch into
every town, every city of this planet.

[narrator] For centuries,
the Freemasons have been believed

to be the architects behind the world's
greatest international conspiracies.

Members include industry titans,

visionaries, world leaders,

and presidents of the United States.

Freemasonry in the 20th century

is sort of a who's who
of industry, politics, government.

Go into any industry,
any branch of government,

and you find prominent Freemasons.

So, Freemasonry is almost like a gallery

of American development
in the 20th century.

[narrator] Today, there are an estimated
six million Freemasons worldwide,

and there are those who suggest

the Freemasons are perhaps
the most powerfully rooted

in the United States of America.

[Horowitz] 14 of 44 U.S. presidents
have been Freemasons,

including seven in the 20th century alone.

They include William McKinley,
Warren Harding, Howard Taft,

Theodore Roosevelt,
Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman

and, most recently, Gerald Ford.

[narrator] But who are the Freemasons,
and where did they come from?

[Horowitz] The origins of Freemasonry are,
in many respects, shrouded in mystery.

It's probably the only organization
in modern life

for which that's really true.

[Christopher Hodapp]
Freemasonry is the world's largest,

oldest, and best-known
gentlemen's fraternity.

Mythologically,
it started during the building

of King Solomon's Temple,
and maybe even before that.

[Akram Elias] This is very important
because this is where you see the roots,

the real roots of modern Freemasonry.

The Egyptians
were great builders, stone builders.

And obviously,
their two greatest achievements

in stone building
were pyramids and obelisks.

It is no coincidence
that pyramids and obelisks

are used as symbols
in the rituals of Freemasonry.

Freemason meaning free builder.

Here, we're not talking anymore

only about building structures,
physical structures.

We're talking about
building your own inner temple.

So, the building concept
is very important,

and that is why there is strong
association with ancient Egypt.

The clearest and plainest origin point
for Masonry

can be found
within the Reformation in the 1600s.

A cluster of academics,
merchants, intellectuals,

politicians,
clergy wanted to get together

and discuss civics
and religion and social issues

and science in an atmosphere
that was entirely outside

the control or the monitoring
of the church or the aristocracy.

And to do this could be dangerous.

People who stepped outside
the accepted order of things,

even late into the Enlightenment Era,
could be persecuted, imprisoned,

and in some extreme cases,
could still be executed.

[narrator] But while the origins
of this secret society

may forever remain a mystery,

the influences of modern Freemasonry
began to emerge

in the American colonies
in the mid-18th century.

[Horowitz] Masonry traveled to America
on British troopships.

You start to find
the first publicly proclaimed

Freemasonic Lodges
in the second decade of the 1700s.

So, by that point,
it's an influential organization.

[Elias]
It is important to keep in mind

the 18th century
was really the Age of Enlightenment.

Obviously, Freemasonry played
a very important role

in promoting and propagating
ideals and principles of that age,

and the founding fathers
of the United States

were disciples of that age.

Freemasons are encouraged to study
seven liberal arts and sciences.

Three of them, grammar,
rhetoric and logic,

are designed to help the Freemason
develop a way of thinking

that is based on reason, logic
and developed communication tools.

[narrator] The foundation
that Freemasonry is built upon

is expressed in two symbolic tools:

the square and compass.

[Elias] The original universal symbol
of Freemasonry is the square and compass.

The compass is the main tool
of the individual.

You draw a circle,
using the compass, around you,

and if you go beyond the perimeter,
you lose control.

Now, because it's a compass,
the circle can be larger.

And how do you enlarge?
By seeking knowledge and light.

The square is considered
a symbol of wisdom,

and G stands
for the Grand Architect of the universe.

The idea is to produce
free-thinking people.

This is the best way to fight any form
of tyranny over the mind of man.

[narrator] By the mid-1700s,
Freemasons in the American colonies

were regularly meeting in secret.

Assembling in woodland cabins,
country barns,

upper rooms above taverns,

anywhere they felt their secrets were
kept safe from the untrustworthy public.

If a man can't be trusted to keep
something as minor as a handshake

or a password as a secret,

then his word really can't be taken
as a man or as a gentlemen.

[Alice von Kannon] As Ben Franklin said,
"If we don't hang together,

we will most assuredly hang separately."

So, secrecy was important

to bind these-these founding brothers,
not just fathers.

They were founding brothers,
and secrecy bound them together.

[narrator]
But just what was it

that was being discussed inside
the Freemasons' meeting places?

Were their lodges really functioning
as incubators for diabolical plans?

Boston, December 16, 1773.

Relations between the colonies
and their British rulers

have reached a breaking point.

The Sons of Liberty, a group dedicated
to protecting the rights of colonists

against English oppression,
convened at the Green Dragon Tavern

and ignited the most infamous act
of rebellion in history.

[Hodapp] Ground zero
for the revolution was in Boston

at the Green Dragon Tavern,
and in the 1760s,

it was actually bought
by St. Andrew's Lodge.

So the tavern
was actually owned by the lodge.

[Elias] Paul Revere happened
to be the master of his lodge in Boston,

which met in the Green Dragon Tavern.

Hmm. By simple coincidence,

that's where the Sons of Liberty also met.
Interesting.

[Hodapp] The Boston Tea Party was planned
at the Green Dragon Tavern

with lots of men who were members
of St. Andrew's Lodge.

St. Andrew's Lodge was supposed to meet,
and as a matter of fact, in their minutes,

it actually says
meeting called due to lack of quorum,

because they were out
dumping tea into the ocean.

[narrator] Could the taxation protest,
known as the Boston Tea Party,

have been a step
towards a larger agenda?

And were the colonial Freemasons
really planting the seeds

for what would eventually become
known as the New World Order?

[Horowitz] Masonry was a fundamental part
of the American Revolution,

and that is because some of America's
most influential founders,

including Benjamin Franklin
and George Washington, were Freemasons.

Freemasonry was very important
to George Washington.

It was a network that he developed
within his command,

and he encouraged
his generals to become Freemasons.

He thought it made them more trustworthy.

33 out of Washington's
74 generals were Freemasons.

That's 46%.
That's not accidental.

There were nine out of 56 signers
of the Declaration of Independence

who were Freemasons,
so they were well-represented.

One third of the signers
of the Constitution were Freemasons.

[narrator]
One of the greatest contributors

to the United States Constitution
was also, as many believe,

America's first Master Mason,
Benjamin Franklin.

The first Masonic book published
in the United States

was published by Ben Franklin.

It was a copy
of James Anderson's Constitutions.

He becomes master of the lodge
very quickly after that.

He becomes Provincial Grand Master
not much longer after that.

And so, he rises through the ranks
very, very quickly

and becomes very, very popular
within Freemasonry.

For my money,
the most powerful Masonic influence

on America as a whole
is Anderson's Constitutions.

In 1717, the London Freemasons formed
an official lodge, formed a grand lodge.

They hired a man named James Anderson
to write a set of constitutions

by which the Freemasons would live.

It is startling when you read
Anderson's Constitutions

for the Freemasons, written in 1723.

You see concept after concept after
concept that appears in the Constitution

and the Declaration of Independence.

[narrator]
There are those who believe

that as long
as the United States has existed,

Freemasonic influence on the nation
has been both pervasive and profound.

But are the Freemasons simply
a gentleman's club, as some suggest,

or are they a secret government,
leading America toward a New World Order?

Perhaps the truth can be found

by examining the group's
many strange rituals,

secret ceremonies that have been
hidden from public scrutiny,

and that its members
seem willing to die for.

[narrator]
Fredericksburg, Virginia, 1752.

A young man of 20 is blindfolded.
His name is George Washington,

and he is about to take
the Freemasons' blood oath of secrecy.

His initiation was done very much
the way initiations are done now.

He was blindfolded.
Then he was led into the meeting room,

knocked on the door three times.

And when the door was opened,

he was received on the point of a sharp
instrument against his naked left breast.

And then, once that was done,
he took the obligation at the altar.

And then his blindfold was removed

and he finally was allowed to see
all the men in his lodge,

and they were all pointing
their swords right at him,

which was to reinforces the obligation
that he had taken,

that he'd better not reveal
any of the secrets of Freemasonry.

[narrator] Even today, candidates
for membership in the Freemasons

are subjected to secret rituals.

When you enter a lodge room,
you enter what's called the Tyler's room.

And there's an officer outside called
the Tyler who's armed with a sword,

and, yes, you have to give him a password
and the secret handshake.

We really do have a secret handshake.

The role of secrecy in Freemasonry
is especially difficult

when you get to such things as handshakes,

because Freemasons had to identify
themselves sometimes in the dark.

I'm not going to show you
the handshake,

but what I'll tell you,
it's not really a handshake.

What it is, it's a grip.

Like ancient initiations in many
human cultures around the globe,

Masonic initiation involves
a series of ritual challenges,

a sacred obligation,
and the imparting of certain information

to enlighten the candidate.

If a man can't be trusted with something

that is not that important,
like a password or a handshake,

he can't be trusted
with the big things in life.

[Hodapp] Every Masonic Lodge
is said to be facing the east.

There's the letter "G" that's also
in the east over the Worshipful Master.

The initiate is brought to the center
of the room where the altar is.

There will be a bible on the altar.
When the initiate is brought to the altar,

he finally assumes the obligation
of his individual degrees.

There are three degrees,
the Entered Apprentice,

the Fellowcraft
and the Master Mason.

When we talk about
the secrets of Freemasonry,

we talk about the things that are
passed along in this oral tradition.

It's the act of one man sitting down

and teaching the ritual
to the next man

in that unbroken chain of men
that goes back to the early 1600s.

Of course, any more than that,
and I just can't tell you the rest.

You've got to join to find out.

[narrator] Masonic rituals
have changed very little

over the last two centuries.

And upon initiation, each new member
swears a lifelong vow

to protect the brotherhood's secrets.

A vow that if broken,
could mean death.

[Jones] In some of the Masonic
documents that we have,

we do learn about Masonic trials,

and if you're found to have given up
the secrets, then you can be killed.

People were rumored
to have their throat slit,

hung, forced under water
until they died.

What goes on behind
the doors of a Freemasonic Lodge

involves ceremonies
in which people will be reminded

of the ever-hovering presence of death.

[narrator] Masonic trials?
Ritualistic executions?

What actually goes on behind
closed doors of a Freemasonic lodge

may forever remain a mystery.

But the details of one ritual,

reenacted during initiation ceremonies,
have been revealed.

The murder of Hiram Abiff.

[Koltko-Rivera] Hiram is presented
in a very dramatic way

to the candidate for the degrees
of Freemasonry.

Hiram was a special craftsman

who was asked
to do very special work

by King Solomon in ancient times.

[Hodapp] In the third degree,
the Master Mason degree,

tells an allegorical story

of the building
of King's Solomon's Temple

and how Hiram Abiff
is possessing

of certain secrets
of the Master Masons,

and how he's set upon by three ruffians

who don't want to wait
until the proper moment

to find out what those secrets are.
And they attack him.

And he goes to his grave refusing to say
what the secrets of a Master Mason are.

[Horowitz] He was conspired against,
he was murdered,

and he is a kind of symbolic martyr
within Freemasonry.

[Hodapp]
The term "given the third degree"

actually comes from
the Master Mason degree,

where everybody tries to, you know,
let you have it

and really works you over.

And if you've been given the third degree

and you can take it,
it means you kept your mouth shut.

[narrator] Mysterious handshakes,
secret passwords

passion plays of murder.

Are these merely harmless practices
of the Freemasons?

Or ancient rituals designed
to confuse the uninitiated?

You've got all those different degrees,

and most Masons believe that it
only goes up to the 33rd degree,

but we have seen clear evidence

that people can go higher
than the 33rd degree.

They've been doing it for thousands
and thousands of years.

And even their own members
don't have the whole image.

The average Mason believes
there's only 33 degrees,

but once you become
a 33rd degree Mason,

you learn that there's actually
360 degrees.

[Marrs] Within Freemasonry, you've got
a huge outer circle of membership.

They're in there for the fellowship.

And then you've got a small inner circle

that really is privy
to some of the inner secrets.

But if you ask a Mason about these
two circles, he's going to tell you no,

because he's either a member
of the outer circle,

or he's a member of the inner circle

and he's taken a blood oath
never to reveal that fact.

[narrator] Inner circles
guarding inner secrets?

But what information
could be so important

that Freemasons would risk their lives

in order to keep it hidden
from outsiders?

Perhaps clues can be found
by examining the many strange symbols

that can be found
on numerous documents and buildings.

Even on the currency
that we carry with us every day.

[narrator] It is one of the most
important documents ever written.

It is the very foundation
of our government.

But while the Constitution
of the United States

is written in plain English,

there are those who believe

that America's founders
used Masonic symbology and codes

to communicate a secret agenda.

[Elias] The language of Freemasonry
is a language of symbols.

Symbols hide universal truths,

and the idea is that each individual

gets to discover those on his or her own.

Washington was very fond of
and drawn to the symbols of Freemasonry.

He was proud to be a Freemason.

You do have depictions
of George Washington, for example,

wearing his Masonic apron,

and these things are filled
with all kinds of occult symbols.

The all-seeing eye,
the square and compass.

If there is a logo of Freemasonry,

it's the square and compass
with the letter "G."

The square is the Square of Virtue,

and teaching someone to be
"on the square," and it's a right angle.

The compass is used to draw circles,
and Freemasons say

that you circumscribe your character
with that.

If you draw a circle with a compass,

you're drawing a boundary line,

and that's sort of a boundary

that you won't cross over that boundary
in your daily behavior.

[Hieronimus]
What is the "G"?

"G," most people would say,
"That's God."

And it is held between
the square and the compass,

so therefore it's central to everything.

But it also can be related to geometry,
sacred geometry.

And, in fact, God is
the grand geometrician of the universe.

The Freemasons believed
that God was an architect,

the great architect of the universe.

[narrator] To this day, one of America's
most recognizable symbols,

the Great Seal of the United States,

remains shrouded in mystery.

In 1934, Freemason
and soon-to-be vice resident

Henry Wallace submitted a proposal
to fellow Freemason

and President of the United States,
Franklin D. Roosevelt,

to include this symbol on U.S. currency.

[Hodapp] Henry Wallace
and Franklin Delano Roosevelt

were influential in putting the Great Seal
of the United States on the dollar bill.

Prior to FDR's presidency,
the back side of the Great Seal

didn't appear on the dollar bill.

[Horowitz] You can see this fascination
for ancient Egyptian symbols, pyramids.

All of these things get repeated
in the ideas and symbols

and ceremonies of Freemasonry.

[Koltko-Rivera] The pyramid
was meant to stand for strength

and endurance to reflect the hope

that the United States
would be strong and would endure.

The Great Seal was a way to express

the original values
of the American republic,

that we were an experiment in democracy.

That's why the pyramid's not finished,
because a democracy's never finished.

[Jones] They understand
the power of symbolism.

You will find no better example

of the power
of this ancient secret society

as you see on the back of the dollar bill.

There's the pyramid,
one of their most holy symbols,

the all-seeing eye, and around it,
it says in Latin, if you translate it,

"We are announcing
the birth of a new order."

[Birnes] Because the phrase
Novus Ordo Seclorum

appears on the Great Seal
of the United States,

Freemasonry becomes such an element
of distrust by those who think

that we are about to be replaced
by a New World Order.

[narrator] Did the Freemasons
use symbology

to communicate the existence
of a New World Order?

If so, what other secrets
can be found hiding in plain sight?

Washington, D.C.

Just one mile north of the White House
stands a massive stone building,

at the corner of 16th and S Street.

It is the House of the Temple,

the headquarters of the
Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.

Its members are believed
to be part of a lineage

that dates back to 16th century Scotland.

[Hodapp] The Scottish Rite is what's
called an appendant body of Freemasonry.

Once you go through the first three
degrees in a Masonic Lodge,

you're then eligible to join
other organizations

within the family of Freemasonry.

The Scottish Rite, which has degrees
four through 33.

This particular location
has the address 1733,

which represents
the 33 degrees of initiation

in Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

The big secret is the address
actually came out to 1733,

even though that isn't actually
where it is in the plan of the city

because they wanted 33
as part of the address.

33 appears all over the building.

There are 33 columns
around the House of the Temple.

Each one of them is 33 feet tall,

symbolizing the 33 degrees of initiation
in Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

So 33, for centuries,
has been a sacred number.

It goes back to biblical times.
Christ was 33 years old when he died.

He performed 33 miracles.

God is mentioned 33 times in the
first chapter of the Book of Genesis.

[narrator] The House of the Temple,
like all Masonic edifices,

contains many secret symbols,
even in its design.

[Koltko-Rivera] Even the steps
that I'm walking on

are symbolic in number.

Down at the street level,
we start off with three steps,

symbolic of the three degrees
in standard Freemasonry.

Then we have five steps, which symbolize
the five orders of architecture

and the five senses.

Then we have seven steps,

symbolizing liberal arts
and sciences from medieval times.

And finally, here we have
an unfinished pyramid

atop the House of the Temple.

And, of course, that's a resonance
to the unfinished pyramid

on the Great Seal
of the United States as well.

Should we imagine
an all-seeing eye up there?

Perhaps we should.

It's actually a copy of the mausoleum
in Halicarnassus of King Mausolus,

which was a burial tomb

and one of the Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World.

[narrator] Buried deep
within the House of the Temple

lie the actual remains of a man

who many consider
one of the most important

and controversial figures
in all of Freemasonry,

Albert Pike.

[Jones] He was a Confederate officer,
a general,

and he wrote a lot of the writings
that have since been made public,

where he talks about the God
they worship is Lucifer.

[thunder crashes]

We've learned a lot about

the inner secrets of Freemasonry
through Albert Pike.

[Hodapp] He wrote the word Lucifer
twice in his book, Morals and Dogma.

And he's talking about
the origin of the word Lucifer

as meaning "bringer of light"

and saying, "Isn't it interesting
that the term 'bringer of light'

came to mean the Prince of Darkness?"

Somehow, over the years,
that's been translated into saying

that Albert Pike somehow brought
Lucifer into Freemason rituals.

[narrator]
Upon his death in 1891,

Albert Pike's body was buried
at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

A statue was then erected
in his honor in 1901,

the only such monument
in the nation's capital,

honoring a Confederate officer.

In 1944, Pike's body was exhumed

and moved to the House of the Temple.

But why?

Did it have something to do
with the strange rites and rituals

he wrote about in his book,
Morals and Dogma?

Or did his references to Lucifer
suggest that the Freemasons do,

in fact, have a another
more ominous agenda?

Perhaps the answer
can be found by examining

the many buildings and monuments
of our nation's capital

and the very design of the city itself.

[narrator]
Alexandria, Virginia, 1791.

George Washington lays the cornerstone
for a ten-mile-by-ten-mile diamond matrix

that would become the country's new
capital city: The District of Columbia.

Under his thoughtful design,

George Washington
would create not just a capital city,

but a permanent tribute
to Freemasonry.

one that, at the time,
only the eye of God could see.

[Hodapp] When Pierre Charles L'Enfant
and George Washington sat down

to design the city of Washington,

they were starting from nothing.
They were starting from scratch.

And they wanted the city
to be an absolute rational,

living plan of geometry.

They were living the precepts
of the Enlightenment.

All of this grew out of Freemasonry,
of this fascination with science and logic

and philosophy and symbolism.

And all of those things came together
at the design of Washington, D.C.

[Jones] Architecture is at the core
of the Masonic religion.

And that's where they got
their political power

and money in the past 3,000 years.

And, so, if you have a religion
based on architecture

and the great architect of the universe,

you're going to try to build
a fabulous Masonic city.

And that is exactly
what Washington, D.C. is.

No other capital city
was designed with the idea

that it should reflect through symbolism
a philosophy of governance.

That's what makes
Washington, D.C. unique.

How come all of these architects
who worked on the White House,

the Capitol, were Freemasons?

[narrator] In 1793, George Washington,
clad in full Masonic regalia,

presided over
the laying of the cornerstone

for the U.S. Capitol Building.

George Washington
marched with the Masons

from the construction site
of the White House up to Capitol Hill

and they set the cornerstone
with a silver trowel

and placed a silver marker on top of it.

It was from that cornerstone
that the Capitol grew.

[narrator] The Capitol became
the great monument to democracy

that the founding fathers
intended it to be.

Yet, according to historians
and researchers,

the building's cornerstone
is now missing.

But how? And why?

[Hodapp] There are those who say
that this mysterious missing cornerstone

is hiding secret documents,
some strange, alternate constitution,

other Masonic documents.

That it's been carefully hidden away
from public view.

[narrator] Washington
and fellow Freemason L'Enfant

were also responsible
for designing the federal triangle,

an area with specific geometrical symbols

built into the street plans
of Washington, D.C.

[Koltko-Rivera] I am standing in
the middle of America's sacred ground.

I have the Washington Monument
right behind me.

The Statue of Libertas
on top of the Capitol dome to my right.

And I have a clear look
at the White House from this spot.

The founding fathers wanted this

to be a statement in stone
of American values.

They wanted to make sure
a particular set of doctrines

were going to be visible
for thousands of years.

[Hieronimus]
Pierre Charles L'Enfant

realized that this triangle
of three buildings

was really key to establishing

the new order of America.

So, therefore, it's central to everything.

There are symbols hidden
in the layout of Washington D.C.

First you had a grid,
horizontals, verticals.

Then you had the streets.
Streets on angles.

When you start laying angles
over top of grids,

you're going to come up
with all kinds of symbols.

[Jones] The Masonic symbols
are everywhere,

like signposts that says,

"We are announcing
the birth of our new order."

[narrator] Further investigation
reveals another occult symbol

traced directly into the streets
of Washington D.C.

A pentagram.

And its southernmost tip
points directly

to the White House.

[Horowitz]
One of the recurrent occult symbols

that you'll find within Freemasonry
is the pentagram, the five-pointed star.

People look at the pentagram today,

and they think
there's something sinister about it.

That wasn't the intent at all.

[Jones] They're saying,
"This is our house and this is our world,

and from this command base,
from this Washington D.C.,

from this square, we're going to launch
global domination."

[narrator]
But why did the founding fathers

weave Freemasonic symbols

into the design
and layout of the nation's capital?

Were they sending a coded message?

And if so, to whom?

[narrator] Colorado, 1995.

After years of delays,

construction of the Denver
International Airport is complete.

It is the largest international airport
in America.

Third largest in the world.

Above ground,
it encompasses 53 square miles,

or two times the size of Manhattan.

But below the surface,
some believe there is a secret city

stretching down
into the depths of the Earth.

Denver International Airport,
some people have these conspiracy theories

that it hosts an underground military base

that's supposed to be a launching point
for the New World Order.

[Hodapp] The Denver Airport
has a cornerstone

that was laid by the Freemasons

and it looks like this control panel

rising up out of the floor,
and it's got Braille on it.

So it looks almost like
they're push buttons,

and it's sort of like the control panel
for the New World Order.

It even says
the "New World Airport Commission."

And there's a big square and compass,
and so people have said,

"Well, this is clearly
the Freemasons built this place."

[narrator]
Could there really be a secret city

hidden below
the Denver International Airport?

And if so, will this be where
the Freemasons intend to launch

their so-called New World Order?

Perhaps the writing
is literally on the wall.

[Hodapp] You have a mural
that shows this soldier in a gas mask

with a scimitar, stabbing a dove

and this endless chain
of dying women and babies

going out from under it.
It's just horrific.

[Birnes] There are scenes
of ruination, war,

corpses of babies, people fleeing
underground, of plague, death,

Nazism, dictatorship,
the coming of a New World Order.

[narrator] Do the Freemasons believe
in a predestined apocalyptic event?

And is this what the founding fathers
have been preparing for

since the Declaration of Independence?

There are those who believe
the answer is yes.

And some suggest the Freemasonic
view of the future

came from another secret society

rooted in Europe
at the time of the American Revolution,

the Illuminati.

A university professor
named Adam Weishaupt

formed a group called the Illuminati.

And he set it up to be a very secret
society and operate very secretly.

Part of the organization's plan,
when they were founded in 1776,

was to join and infiltrate
Freemasonic Lodges.

[Marrs] The way it worked
was he would talk to one person.

That one person
would contact one person.

And that way,
people down the line had no idea

who's at the top or how to get to him
or what the real purpose was.

But somewhere at the top of the heap
is somebody who has an agenda.

[Horowitz] And the early founders
of the Illuminati

were deep and great admirers
of the American Revolution.

They believed in religious liberty.
They believed in free thought.

But the fact is,
within eight or nine years

of the Illuminati's founding in 1776,
the organization was outlawed.

[Jones]
So you see a split in Masonry.

You see 1776 as the same year
that the Illuminati is launched

and then spreads and grows.

But simultaneously, events in 1776
lead to the Declaration of Independence.

And we have letters
that George Washington wrote,

warning people about the Illuminati

trying to emerge
and take over all of Masonry.

[narrator] Historians suggest

the Illuminati actually infiltrated
Freemasonic Lodges

in the United States by the late 1700s,

just as the founding fathers
were drafting the U.S. Constitution.

But did the Illuminati,
under the guise of Freemasonry,

really influence the creation
of the government

and laws of the United States?

[Marrs]
In a 1792 letter to a friend,

George Washington said
he had absolutely no doubts

that the doctrines of the Illuminati
had spread to the United States.

He said, "No one is more assured
of this than I am."

The most basic tenet of the Illuminati
is that the end justifies the means.

And this is what makes them so dangerous

because they'll say anything,
pose as anything,

and yet,
they cling to their own doctrine.

You see now the Masonic orders
that dominate our globe.

This is an Illuminati planet now.

They are the inner group,
or the enlightened ones,

or the top of the pyramid.
They have the secret knowledge.

They are directing the world.

They are keeping secrets
for incredible wealth.

They're keeping secret
their political power.

[Birnes]
This is the biggest secret of all

in America's Book of Secrets,
beyond anything.

And the secret of the Freemasons

is that there's a coming
of the New Age.

It's a big secret in plain sight.

[Hodapp] As for a book of secrets
that contain the secrets of the fraternity

that have been passed down
through the ages, there really aren't any

because Freemasons promised
not to write, print, paint, stamp,

stain, cut, carve, hue, marker, or engrave
any of the secrets of the fraternity.

Freemasonry will always remain
the granddaddy of all secret societies.

The greatest of all of them,
the most international of all of them,

and Freemasonry will remain a society

that has a very powerful political impact.

[narrator] But despite
all of the conspiracy theories

and all of the secrets,
these facts are clear.

Prominent Freemasons helped
spark the American Revolution.

They helped create
the United States of America.

Their fingerprints can be found
all across the country

on sacred documents, on monuments,

and even embedded in the streets
of our nation's capital.

They are a brotherhood of secrets.

And they will protect
those secrets with their lives.

But why?

What is the Freemasons' ultimate plan?

Perhaps only time will tell.