UK
Leather-clad biker Freemasons accelerate membership drive


Patrick Sawer
Sat, 4 March 2023

Members of the Buckinghamshire Motorcycle Lodge, a branch of the Freemasons, gather with their bikes - Christopher Pledger/Telegraph

For centuries the Freemasons have been regarded as a secretive society with ancient and arcane initiation ceremonies, whose adherents rarely discuss their membership.

But a surge in enquiries from people hoping to become initiated into the order is being spearheaded by a very unexpected group of Masons – leather-clad bikers.

Among the most high-profile and colourful of the Freemason’s specialised lodges are those on two wheels. Their powerful machines and dramatic appearance along Britain’s roads have helped drive up the number of enquiries about joining the Masons from 12,000 in 2020 to 18,000 in 2021.

There has also been a significant hike in the number of visitors to the website of The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), up from 65,000 in 2020 to 83,000 in 2021 – a rise of almost 30 per cent.

Among the most high-profile and colourful of the Freemason’s specialised lodges are those on two wheels like the Buckinghamshire Motorcycle Lodge - Christopher Pledger/Telegraph

The Widows Sons Masonic Bikers Association (WSMBA) said: “Our chapters have helped to increase Masonic membership through our presence and visibility during public motorcycle events and rallies.”

There are nearly a dozen motorbike lodges, gathering together to support charitable causes and raise awareness of the order among other bikers.

These include the Mike Hailwood Lodge in Warwickshire, named after the world champion Grand Prix motorcyclist and racing car driver killed in a road traffic accident in 1981; the Freewheelers Lodge in Lincolnshire; and the Chevaliers de Fer in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Their initiatives included distributing food to vulnerable members of the community during the Covid pandemic.

But the motorcycling Masons are at pains to point out that although they wear patches and other identifying regalia on their leathers they are not biker gangs.

“They are bound by the Masonic Book of Constitutions and are expected to represent the fraternity positively at all times,” said the UGLE, the governing Masonic lodge for the majority of Freemasons in England, Wales and the Commonwealth.

Ian Chandler, a former police detective and now provincial grandmaster of the Surrey Lodge, told The Telegraph: “Motorcycle lodges might be a long way from people’s idea of the Freemasons, but it’s the reality now.”

Other specialised, trade- or hobby-based lodges include those for the armed forces, classic-car enthusiasts, farmers, golfers and rugby players.

Biking leathers have been added to the traditional garb of Freemasons - Christopher Pledger/Telegraph

The growing interest in membership comes as the organisation urges existing Masons to be open about their affiliation and encourage others to join.

Jonathan Spence, pro grand master of the UGLE, said: “We want to be a thriving membership organisation that people aspire to join.

“We have only recently been recording the number of enquiries given our new use of social media and this year was higher than last year, and we are extremely pleased with the volume we have received.”

There is a waiting list of 6,000 people expecting to become members of UGLE, with more than 8,800 membership enquiries received in less than three months.

Mr Spence added: “We have been experiencing, post-Covid, an increasing trend of new joiners. We are certainly seeing the positive impact of converting enquiries into actual memberships.

Today’s Freemasons insist the organisation’s reputation for secrecy is far from the truth and is simply a hangover from the 1930s, when Freemasons were persecuted under the Nazis and maintained a low profile for self-preservation.

“We are not a secret society. We are about getting the best out of yourself as a human being while at the same time contributing to society at large,” said Mr Spence.

A family bought a 20,000-square-foot Freemason temple in Indiana for $89,000, and they're now turning it into their home. Take a look inside.


The Masonic temple. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

Theresa and Atom Cannizzaro bought a former Masonic temple and are converting it into a home.
The second floor, their living space, has a large open-floor concept with five bedrooms, a kitchen, and a dining room.
When the Freemasons operated in the building, the basement was used for events, but the Cannizzaros are making it into an event space for the community.
The great room on the third floor, the largest room in the house, is now used as a movie theater.
Theresa said she thinks the house is haunted because she has heard what sounds like a janitor's keys jangling in the basement.
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Older homes almost always come with a unique and charming history, but one family in Indiana moved into a house that has a particularly strange past.


Two years ago, Theresa and Atom Cannizzaro bought a former Masonic temple in the Midwest that acted as a meeting place for one of the world's most secretive organizations for almost 100 years. Now the couple and their three children — a 12-year-old boy, a 10-year-old boy, and a 6-year-old girl — are renovating the building and turning it into their home.

From large open spaces to a haunted library, here's what it's like inside the Masonic temple that the Cannizzaro family now calls home.



In 2016, Theresa and Atom Cannizzaro were living in San Diego with their three children when they decided they wanted to move to the Midwest.


Atom and Theresa. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

Theresa and Atom had lived in San Diego their entire lives and planned on raising their children there, but they soon realized that they wanted something different: a big farm in the Midwest.

"We wanted to try a new place to raise our kids — somewhere where my husband wouldn't have to work 80 hours a week," Theresa said. " We wanted to spend more time with our kids."

After a family reunion in Indiana, Theresa and Atom drove around the state looking at farms for sale when they came across something that surprised them.


While driving around Indiana, they stumbled across a Masonic temple that was for sale.

The temple. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

"We turned the corner, and there was the building, right in front of us, with a for-sale sign out front," Theresa said.

As someone who loves history and architecture, Theresa was fascinated, so they called the realtor just to see how much something like that would cost. Instead, the realtor offered to give the couple a tour of the 20,000-square-foot building.

"We spent two hours inside the building and absolutely fell in love with it," she said, adding that "slowly but surely" they realized that "there's so much we could do with this space."


They ended up buying the temple for $89,000 and moved in six months later, in 2017.

The temple. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

"We went back to California, but it was still on our minds," Theresa said. "We started talking through it more and did a lot of research and crunching numbers. Every single thing we talked about and every single 'what if' worked out, so we put in an offer on the building."

They bought it in full for $89,000, so they do not have a mortgage and are debt-free after using the money they got from selling their San Diego home. The equity they earned from that sale funded most of the up-front remodel costs at the temple.

Theresa is a full-time respiratory specialist, while Atom stays at home to watch the children and work on remodeling the building. So far, they have spent an additional $40,000 on renovations. Since they refuse to take out loans, the remodeling process has been "slow going," Theresa said.


The first step in the renovation was going through the items left behind in the temple when the Freemasons moved locations.

An old photo of the temple. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

Freemasonry dates back to medieval times and is considered the oldest male fraternity and social organization. Famous members included George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill, and Gerald Ford.

Through the years, Freemasons earned a reputation as being part of a secret organization, leading to conspiracy theories that the group is behind many of the world's biggest historical events.

The Masonic lodge in Indiana that Theresa and Atom bought was built in 1926 and remained the local headquarters for several years. When the Freemasons decided to move, they cleaned out most of the building but left behind a few relics.

"I knew nothing really about Freemasonry other than that it was a secret organization," Theresa said.


Upon entering the building, you walk into a foyer with a large Masonic symbol on the floor.

The crest in the foyer. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

The front door opens into a foyer with a large crest imprinted on the floor. The crest is a common Masonic symbol, and Theresa said she planned to keep it there.

"It's really cool," Theresa said. "You walk in and it's right there on the floor."

The symbol can be seen throughout the house.

From the main entrance, you can go downstairs into the basement, where the Freemasons held large events.

The basement before the remodel. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

"You can easily fit several hundred people down there," Theresa said. She added that there is a large stage in the back of the basement, where the organization would put on shows or speeches.


Theresa said her children often ride their bikes down in the basement when it's too cold to go outside.


The basement during the remodel. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

They plan to turn the basement into a community space that people can rent for events and weddings.

"We would like to eventually have a business out of the building that can benefit us financially, but we are uncertain about when that will happen," Theresa said.

Behind the stage in the basement is a large commercial kitchen with six ovens, a 10-burner stove, and a deep fryer.


The commercial kitchen after it was restored. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

Theresa said they used this kitchen when they first moved into the building before they renovated the second floor. It will become useful again when they turn the basement into a community space for events, she said.


The second floor of the building was renovated to become the Cannizzaro family's main living space.


The doors that lead into the living space. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

This is the space the Cannizzaros have renovated the most, and it's where they spend most of their time. There are five bedrooms on this floor.


In the second-floor foyer, before you enter the living space, you can see a mural on the ceiling.


The mural on the ceiling. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

Theresa and her husband have tried to preserve the mural on the crossbeams of the ceiling.

"Unfortunately, a lot of the paint on the crossbeams is starting to peel and come off, so we have to figure out how to save it," she said.


Inside the living space is a large open area that the family uses as a living room.


The living space. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

Theresa described this space as an "open concept" and said they planned to fully remodel this room sometime in the future.


In one corner of the large open space, they built a kitchen.


The newly built kitchen. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

"We built the kitchen from scratch," Theresa said. "We custom-built everything."

The kitchen has pull-out cabinets that move around on rollers, as well as a large island that has a concrete countertop with semiprecious stones inside.

"It's one of my favorite spaces that we've done so far," she added.


On this floor they installed a full bathroom with a bathtub.


The bathroom. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

Before the Cannizzaros moved in, the six bathrooms in the building had no place to shower or bathe.

"Our first priority when we moved into the building was to put in the shower," Theresa said. "It was our very first project."

Meanwhile, the Freemasons' offices have been turned into the family's bedrooms.


The children's bedroom. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

"These rooms are big," Theresa said. "They are very, very, very large."


On the second floor, there's also a billiards room.


The billiards room. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

Inside are two pool tables that were built in the 1800s, Theresa said.

"They're absolutely gorgeous, and they were left with the building," she said.

The last room on this floor is the library — Theresa's favorite room in the entire house.


The library. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

"The entire wall is beautiful bookcases with glass fronts," she said. The glass has the Masonic symbol etched into the surface, and the cases are filled with books that date back to the 1800s.


The third floor has a large empty room that the family calls the Egyptian room.

 

The Egyptian room. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

There is another small mural that wraps around the entire space. If you look closely, there are symbols that Theresa said remind her of Egypt, hence the name of the room.

She said this is the room where the Freemasons would store their clothing and garb that they would wear during their meetings.

The Cannizzaros, however, plan to turn this room into an Airbnb.

Also on this floor are five cedar-lined dressing rooms.

 

The hallway of dressing rooms. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

Theresa said these small closets were where the Freemasons would change into their clothing for meetings and events.


Double doors at the end of the hall lead to the Great Room, where the Freemasons held most of their meetings.

 

The Great Room. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

The room has 24-foot ceilings, a wrap-around mezzanine, stadium seating, an organ, and a stage.

"It is quite the magnificent space," Theresa said.


For now, the Cannizzaros use this space as a home movie theater.

The Great Room is now a movie theater. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

After painting one wall white, they set up a projector and now have movie nights in the Great Room. Other times, the children use the room to play hide and seek, and sometimes they invite the 15 to 20 other kids in the neighborhood over to have a Nerf-gun fight.

The family isn't sure what to do with the room in the future. Theresa said they would most likely turn it into another rental space.


Outside the Great Room is a secret staircase that leads to the fourth floor.

The secret staircase. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

On the fourth floor you can find storage and a room that stores the organ's pipes.


Along with the secret staircase, there are other parts of the house that some may find creepy. Theresa said she thinks the building is haunted.

The main staircase. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

"There are things that have happened that we just cannot explain," she said. "We've had stuff fly off shelves."

Theresa said the library seemed to be the place with the most paranormal activity. She said she often walks into the room and notices the cabinets are wide open even though they are very heavy. Sometimes she can hear what sounds like a janitor's keys jingling in the basement.

"I'm never scared in the building, and my kids are never scared," Theresa said. "I don't think it's anything really bad that's here."


Despite the paranormal activity, Theresa said her family is focused on turning the building into a home and preserving its Masonic history.

The temple. Courtesy of Theresa Cannizzaro

"Taking on a building this size, it's not a quick-snap decision, because it very well could be a lifelong project for us," Theresa said. "I just hope that we continue on our path and with the goals that we set to turn this building into what it was originally built to be."

QAnon's weirdest obsession: Why does the radical far right fear the Masons?

BECAUSE THEY CONFUSE THE AFAM WITH THE GRANDE ORIENTE

Robert Guffey

SALON
Sun, August 13, 2023 

QAnon Sean Gallup/Getty Images

In my most recent nonfiction book, "Operation Mindf**k: QAnon & the Cult of Donald Trump," I focused extensively on a "QTuber" named Rick Rene, because I viewed him then and now as the perfectly imperfect microcosm of the entire messed-up QAnon universe, which perceives the Democratic Party as an elaborate cover for Satanic/Masonic pedophiles seeking to transform the Earth into a "one-world government."

In an email he sends out to all new subscribers, Rene relates his superhero origin story: "I'm a dad and a Christian and love the Bible. I used to fill my time teaching Bible classes at my church and coaching my kids in sports." Then his son, he says, started sending him links to various online right-wing conspiracy theorists. They "seemed pretty out there," Rene writes, definitely not material he was seeing "from the Mainstream Media or the News Apps on my phone." But the more he listened, Rene says, the more he "became intrigued enough to research these 'crazy theories,'" or, in the now-familiar phrase, to do his own research. Rene claims he didn't vote for Trump in the 2016 Republican primary (another familiar theme) but soon had "taken 'the red pill,'" which in QAnon speak means choosing to believe that everything Donald Trump says is true, along with a lot of other implausible things Trump doesn't quite say.

Rene no longer teaches Bible classes at his church. Instead, he advocates for the destruction of American intelligence agencies. In his Sept. 30, 2021, episode, Rene casually said of the FBI that we need to "blow it up and start over again from scratch!" On July 6, 2021, he waxed poetic about what he hoped would be the imminent destruction of the Washington Monument and the Statue of Liberty.

Why would a purportedly churchgoing, God-fearing Texas patriot pray for the violent destruction of such American landmarks? Because he and thousands of other evangelicals believe they were secretly constructed by Freemasons, who are essentially Satanists, and therefore must be obliterated.

This rhetoric has led not just to increased threats against such landmarks but to actual acts of destruction. On July 6, 2022, a curious monument known as the Georgia Guidestones (often referred to as "America's Stonehenge"), one of that state's most popular tourist attractions, was largely destroyed in a late-night bombing under the cover of night. That came just a few weeks after Republican gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor (whose red, white and blue campaign bus was emblazoned with the slogan "JESUS GUNS BABIES") had announced that destroying the "Satanic" guidestones was a key element of her platform.

An AP news report on the Georgia bombing quoted Katie McCarthy of the Anti-Defamation League observing that conspiracy theories "do and can have a real-world impact. These ideas can lead somebody to try to take action in furtherance of these beliefs. They can attempt to try and target the people and institutions that are at the center of these false beliefs."

Rene could barely contain his exuberance while commenting on the Georgia bombing in his podcast the next day. It was "exciting," "amazing" and "awesome," he declared, and despite security camera footage showing a man placing an object at the base of one of the stones, it might not have been a bombing at all.

Guys, this is, to me, just awesome, particularly if this ends up being lightning or something natural versus a bombing to show that God is not putting up with this. He told us he's going to take these down, and He is going to. … This is the blessing, guys. We see these [prophetic] words coming true. … I believe the Stonehenge of Europe will be on the horizon as well, the Washington Monument, the Statue of Liberty, and many, many other things in the D.C. area will be destroyed.

Let's try to untangle the logic here, if that's even the word for it. Stonehenge was built by pagans; therefore, it's Satanic and needs to be destroyed.

The Washington Monument was built by Freemasons; therefore, it's Satanic and needs to be destroyed.

The Statue of Liberty was built by the French; therefore, it's Satanic and needs to be destroyed.

Ironically enough, the Georgia Guidestones were apparently conceived by an Iowa doctor with far-right beliefs about race and religion. QAnon folks like Rick Rene and Kandiss Taylor either don't know that, don't believe it or don't care. No one has ever accused extreme right-wing conspiracy theorists of being good at understanding actual history.

* * *

Rick Rene's obsession with eliminating "Masonic monuments" is by no means unique. I'm not exaggerating for effect or trying to be funny when I say that people who believe as Rene does think that Freemasons are perhaps the most destructive and poisonous influence infecting America today. Anti-Masonic prejudice, while a 19th-century hangover in many ways, is still common among certain strata of evangelical Christians, and this fear is being actively stoked by the QAnon movement. Those who hold antisemitic beliefs are often anti-Masonic as well, since they believe that Kabbalism, or Jewish mysticism, is a central pillar of Freemasonry.

Adolf Hitler explicitly attacked "Jewish Freemasonry" in his infamous manifesto "Mein Kampf," and according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Nazi policy toward the Freemasons moved rapidly from discrimination to outright elimination. It was at first limited to merely excluding those who refused to sever their Masonic connections but soon ramped up to far more aggressive measures. By 1935, even conservative Masonic lodges that had promised loyalty to the regime had been dissolved and had their assets confiscated.

Nazi propaganda continued to link Jews and Freemasons; Julius Streicher's virulent publication Der Stürmer (The Assault Trooper) repeatedly printed cartoons and articles that attempted to portray a "Jewish-Masonic" conspiracy. Freemasonry also became a particular obsession of the chief of Security Police and SD, Reinhard Heydrich, who counted the Masons, along with the Jews and the political clergy, as the "most implacable enemies of the German race." In 1935 Heydrich argued for the need to eliminate not only the visible manifestations of these "enemies," but to root out from every German the "indirect influence of the Jewish spirit" — "a Jewish, liberal, and Masonic infectious residue that remains in the unconscious of many, above all in the academic and intellectual world."

The Nazis mounted anti-Masonic exhibitions in Paris, Brussels and elsewhere in occupied Europe. Wartime Nazi propaganda claimed that a Jewish-Masonic conspiracy had provoked World War II and was behind the policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

To this day, conspiracy theorists such as Holocaust denier Michael A. Hoffman essentially believe that the Freemasons are the puppet masters of the New World Order, the Jews are the puppet masters of the Freemasons, and both groups worship Satan. Satanism is, of course, running rampant in the modern world.

More than 20 years ago, I ordered one of Hoffman's self-published pamphlets about a series of alleged assassinations he blames on the Masons. The supposed victims were Capt. James Morgan, an anti-Masonic writer who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1826; Joseph Smith, founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka the Mormons); and Edgar Allan Poe. I was somewhat able to follow Hoffman's fractured account of the first two alleged murders, but his accusations regarding Poe's death are another story. His central evidence seemed to be Poe's famous story, "The Cask of Amontillado," in which a man named Montresor bricks up a drunken man named Fortunato, evidently an old friend, behind a wall of masonry. According to Hoffman, the Freemasons interpreted this parable as an affront and decided to get back at Poe by murdering him three years after the story was published.

I wrote Hoffman a letter asking him to explain this evidently unhinged notion, claiming that I was a professor at Cal State Long Beach and that my academic colleagues were skeptical about his claims. That wasn't true. I wasn't even a student at the school then — but ironically enough, I actually am a professor there now. I suppose I shouldn't have bothered, but Hoffman's response was instructive: He wrote back an extended rant about the stupidity of college professors and claimed he had adequately explained the whole thing and no further elaboration was necessary. He did not, of course, offer any concrete evidence that the Masons had murdered Poe.

If you're thinking that someone like Hoffman is a fringe character at the outermost edge of the far right, well, sure. But the fact of the matter is, such people are not as fringe as they used to be. Once upon a time, this kind of quasi-Nazi paranoia was only found in DIY 'zines and on the dark web. QAnon changed all that, galvanizing the lunatic fringe and propelling its views into the mainstream of the Republican Party. Threats of violence against Freemasons, and acts of vandalism against their lodges, have increased considerably all over the world during the last few years. Consider these examples, all drawn from an eight-month period:

On July 10, 2022, a Tennessee firefighter set a Masonic lodge on fire. Two weeks earlier, on June 27, a man broke into the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in Houston and held two men hostage, claiming, according to a local news report, that "he wanted to talk to them [the Freemasons] about their belief system."

Less than a month before that, on June 2 or 3, two large sphinx sculptures located at the entrance of the Scottish Rite Temple in Washington, D.C., were "severely damaged" and smeared with "filth."

The Masonic temple in San Bernardino, California, was heavily damaged in an arson fire on March 13, 2022 — after nearly being destroyed in another arson attack just over a year earlier. A few weeks earlier, on Feb. 18, a man was arrested for vandalizing Masonic lodges across central Illinois, causing "massive damage."

In an especially instructive example across the Atlantic, on New Year's Eve of 2021, someone tried to burn down the Grand Lodge of Ireland. Anti-vaccination graffiti was spray-painted on the sidewalk directly outside. According to the Irish Times, "The graffiti is understood to be a reference to mRNA, the technology used in some Covid-19 vaccines." Philip Daley, grand secretary of the lodge, told the newspaper that there had been previous demonstrations by anti-vaccination activists outside his hall and other Masonic halls in Ireland. "The view is that we created the virus and we are part of the new world order and we have to be stopped," he said.

* * *

Christopher Hodapp, author of "Heritage Endures" and other books about Masonic history, has expended considerable effort on tracking perpetrators of anti-Masonic crimes as well as professional agitators who spread anti-Masonic propaganda. In a Feb. 15, 2022, blog post, Hodapp wrote about Pastor Greg Locke of Tennessee, "who regularly urges his audiences to 'destroy everything Masonic,'" and had recently held a book-burning event in Florida, "consigning 'Harry Potter' and 'Twilight' books to the flames (along with, by the way, 'Fahrenheit 451,' with absolutely no sense of irony whatsoever). Declaring Freemasonry to be Satanic … his anti-Masonic rant from that event has been endlessly forwarded" on social media.

As a Religion News article explains in depth, Locke also claimed he had identified a group of "full-blown, spell-casting" witches within his church, two of them members of his wife's Bible study group. "In recent years Locke has used his sermons to attack LGBTQ people, accuse Democratic politicians of child abuse, spread claims about election fraud, denounce vaccines and claim that the COVID-19 pandemic is a hoax," the article continued.

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All of this brings us to perhaps the main reason Freemasons and Democrats are so often accused of being pedophiles by these unhinged conspiracy theorists. As I wrote in "Operation Mindf**k," "Among corporations and intelligence agencies — not to mention certain high-profile political figures — it's standard operating procedure to accuse your opponents of offenses you yourself are committing." For the sake of completism, I should have added "churches" to the list.

Considering the massive scale of the sexual abuse scandals within the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention — by far America's two largest religious denominations — I find it strange that thousands of supposedly devout Christians are so concerned about Freemasons and Shriners and "the Illuminati" molesting their children. How many documented cases of child abuse involving Freemasons are there, and how does that compare to the documented cases of child molestation among the Protestant and Catholic clergy? If you're one of those God-fearing, churchgoing "digital warriors" who yearns to help Q and his cohorts wipe out all the demonic pedophiles behind the U.S. government, you are statistically far more likely to find a pedophile abuser preaching the gospel behind a pulpit on Sunday morning than among the modest crowd eating potato salad in a Masonic Lodge on a random Monday night.

To be fair, not all the anti-Masonic perpetrators and agitators mentioned above can be identified as white racists or Christian nationalists. That's part of the genius of QAnon, from a propaganda standpoint. This particular conspiracy theory has successfully repackaged hundreds of years of antisemitic and anti-Masonic disinformation into a secular religion that extends its influence among all sorts of people who would never spend 10 seconds listening to a religious fanatic like Pastor Locke.

In a recent interview with the Times Union of Albany, New York, historian Mitch Horowitz, author of "Occult America" and "Uncertain Places," observed that "with the advent of QAnon, we may be a whisker away from a new Satanic Panic":



That movement swept the United States and Britain in the 1980s and early '90s on account of a cultural myth and canard that child-sacrificing Satanic cults were at work. In time, and after some really tragic and disruptive criminal trials and false accusations, media coverage exposed the Satanic Panic as a widespread hoax and a kind of cultural spasm. It may have been a reaction against changes in the workforce and the economy, in particular women entering the workforce en masse, and people turning to childcare centers and other alternative forms of daycare.

This theme has reasserted itself through the work of Alex Jones and people adjacent to the QAnon movement, and it's now commonly encountered online. And despite the news coverage and the widespread debunking of the Satanic Panic, we seem to be going through this cultural amnesia in which we're revisiting it.

* * *

Every weekday afternoon, on the Los Angeles talk-radio station KFI, a pair of conservative hosts named "John and Ken" take to the air to berate what they perceive to be the ultra-liberal views of "hack, snowflake Democrats." I've listened to John and Ken intermittently for the past 20 years, and I've never heard John admit to being wrong about anything.

Sometime in August of 2020, when my five-part series about the madness of QAnon began appearing on Salon, John expressed frustration and confusion as to why anyone would waste time writing about the subject. The people who had burrowed deep into QAnon conspiracy theories, he said, were basement-dwelling "morons" who couldn't have any effect on the real world and certainly not on national politics.

On Jan. 7, 2021, I heard John admit that he had been badly wrong about that one.

In the months before the 2020 election, pundits on both the left and the right were encouraging "reasonable" people to ignore QAnon. Among the many comments posted by Salon's readers in response to my initial articles were numerous pleas that I should stop drawing attention to all this silly, right-wing gooney-bird nonsense. Didn't I know I was just giving voice to a despicable cause?

Not long ago, I received a message via my website directed to "the dude who wrote 'Cryptoscatology: Conspiracy Theory as Art Form,'" which would be me. The correspondent was concerned that "the PTSD of the Trump Admin sure seems to have driven you into the arms of DNC group-think conformity" and went on to claim that Q followers were "victims of state abuse, their good intentions weaponized against them, and they should be pitied for their gullibility and lack of media sophistication. The belief that they represent our national demons, or god forbid a domestic terror threat, is a divisive tool that distracts from the actual powers that threaten the Bill of Rights, among many other things."

While I agree with this person's concluding claim that "sh*t is not normal," the message was accompanied by a link to a nonsensical 20-minute video that attempted to convince its viewers that Ashli Babbitt's death during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots was "a charade staged by law enforcement actors." The windows of the Capitol building, according to the video, were made of "Hollywood glass" — they broke far too easily after being smashed by hordes of enraged Christian patriots! — and the blood seen on Babbitt's face after she was shot could only have been the result of "a Hollywood squib."

This was very likely another example of a conspiracy theorist getting lost in the ethereal hall of mirrors known to many students of the genre as "Chapel Perilous," a hazard I warned my readers about in the introduction to "Cryptoscatology," the same book this correspondent had apparently enjoyed. Had this person trapped themselves in a labyrinth with no exit? I wouldn't be surprised. QAnon has been a dead end for many "digital soldiers," the five-star roach motel of embittered conspiracy buffs.

* * *

Full disclosure: I became a Freemason in 2002 and a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason in 2004. Ever since, I've been amused and bemused by the emotions that people display when the subject comes up. First of all, most people have never heard of Freemasonry, but those who have generally react as if they've just discovered I was a member of House Slytherin. Either they know almost nothing about the subject, or what they think they know has been so distorted by misinformation and disinformation that it might as well be fantasy.

According to Jay Kinney, co-author of "Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions," "Freemasonry as it evolved in the 18th century was influenced by the Enlightenment and … incorporated the emerging ideas of brotherhood, freedom of thought, and freedom of association." Maybe that's a simple explanation as to why so many authoritarians and outright fascists have been so hostile toward Freemasonry and its traditions throughout the years.

Several years ago, a woman asked me with complete sincerity if Freemasons really controlled the world from behind the scenes. One of my students told me that he'd always assumed Freemasonry was connected to white supremacy. I told him that well over 90 percent of my lodge were people of color. I don't think he believed me. But after Donald Trump was elected president, I began to notice a radical tonal shift in these anti-Masonic attitudes.

In 2015, I interviewed my friend Richard Schowengerdt, a longtime Mason who was a Defense Department engineer for more than 50 years. Where did the intense bigotry against Masons come from, I asked him? After all, the supposed "secrets" of Freemasonry haven't been secrets for a long time; you can read about them in any number of books and online sources. Richard told me that



The governments of many countries were afraid of Masonry because it openly taught freedom and the concepts of the Renaissance, freedom of thought and all of this, and I'd say more than 50 percent of it was political. The leaders of these countries were afraid of Masonry, that it would take away their power and eventually they would crumble, you know? Through the Renaissance and the upheaval of Protestantism, through Martin Luther and all that, Freemasonry changed the world. Masonry and a lot of the esoteric groups were associated with people like Martin Luther and anyone who might upset the Roman Catholic hierarchy. … [T]he other half of it was, there were some fears such as you've mentioned: the occult and practices that were considered to be devilish, but almost all of this was fabricated by people who were dead set against Masonry and wanted to discredit it in any way they could find.

The most paranoid anti-Masons I've encountered, either online or in the real world, have never bothered to speak to a Freemason. Their attitudes are based on misinformation they've absorbed through the internet thanks to extremist platforms like 4chan and 8kun, where QAnon and other 21st-century right-wing ideologies were born.

One of my creative writing students at CSU Long Beach — who admitted that he spent much of his free time burrowing into internet rabbit holes devoted to dubious conspiracy theories — told me that he and two friends had attempted to attend a Masonic Lodge meeting despite not being members. They had even rented tuxedos in hopes of slipping past the imaginary dragons at the gate, but even so their infiltration was not well planned. When they arrived, they were informed by the sole Mason in the building that monthly meetings were still being held remotely. He then gave them the code for the Zoom meetings, so they could follow along from home.

"So we went home and managed to enter the Zoom meeting," my student told me in hushed tones. "It was incredible! These Masons kept talking about a 'chili cookout' they were planning in some remote park out in the middle of nowhere. We knew 'chili cookout' had to be code for something else, but we couldn't figure out what. That's why that old Mason guy gave us the code to crash the meeting. He knew we couldn't figure it out! We think it had something to do with Pizzagate, like maybe 'chili cookout' was code for some weird pedophilia ritual. What do you think?"

I didn't even bother to tell him that I was a Mason, and that sometimes — in fact almost always — a chili cookout is only a chili cookout. He wouldn't have believed me anyway.

Read more

from Robert Guffey on the secrets of QAnon

The deep, twisted roots of QAnon: From 1940s sci-fi to 19th-century anti-Masonic agitprop


Making sense of QAnon: What lies behind the conspiracy theory that's eating America?


Decoding QAnon: From Pizzagate to Kanye to Marina Abramovic, this conspiracy covers everything


What are the true goals of QAnon? It's the 21st century's ultimate catfish scheme

CATHOLIC ANTI MASONRY

Masonry, Atheism and Catholicism | EWTN

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MET officers to declare if they are Freemasons

'Two thirds of officers and staff surveyed agree that this policy is needed. We think the majority of the public would also agree,' says Metropolitan Police

WATCHING TO MANY JACK THE RIPPER MOVIES

Burak Bir |30.12.2025 - 




LONDON

The London police vowed to robustly defend its decision requiring staff and police officers to declare their Freemasonry membership, according to a statement on Monday.

The Metropolitan Police (Met) statement came in response to the United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE) seeking an injunction blocking implementation of the new policy.

The lodge, representing the secretive group in England, Wales, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islands, has pushed back against plans, announced earlier this month, to make Freemasonry membership a "declarable" association.

The Freemasons filed papers in London last week claiming the policy amounts to "religious discrimination" against Freemasons who are also police officers, The Guardian reported.

On Dec. 17, the lodge said in a statement that the Met decision cast an "aura of mistrust" over the entire organization.

The group also said it was "extremely disappointed" that the police had reached this decision without a "fair consultation process, or any direct engagement with it."

However, the Met said that the majority of British people agree with the new policy, stressing that they must prioritize the maintenance of vital trust and confidence over any organization’s desire to maintain secrecy.

"Two thirds of officers and staff surveyed agree that this policy is needed. We think the majority of the public would also agree," said the Met in response to the lodge’s injunction.

The Met statement also cited a recommendation in a 2021 report saying police membership in the Freemasons had been "a source of recurring suspicion and mistrust."

"We strongly believe that failing to act on these calls would further damage trust not only among the public but also other officers and staff," said the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel report.

The panel examined the force’s handling of the unsolved 1987 murder of private detective Daniel Morgan, a father of two who was killed with an axe in a London parking lot.

"Victims should be able to know that when they report allegations to us, the officers investigating have been transparent about any potential conflicts of interest," added the statement.

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East Lancashire Freemasons make £62k donation to help youngsters


Harriet Heywood
Sun, 2 July 2023 

Robert Frankl meeting service providers from the Railway Children (Image: Public)

A £62,000 grant has been given to help vulnerable children at risk thanks to the East Lancashire Freemasons.

More than 400 vulnerable children found at risk across the railways in the North West could be helped after a large grant was given to a charity, the Railway Children.

Robert Frankl from the East Lancashire Freemasons said: “I’m very pleased we’ve been able to help Railway Children with their hugely important project to support vulnerable children at risk across the region’s railways.

“By stepping in to help children and their families at the earliest possible stage, the charity offers the best chance of a successful outcome.”

Railway Children and British Transport Police partner to help children at risk across Northwest rail stations.

The charity provides one-to-one sessions with a project worker, sometimes working alongside schools and social workers, as well as providing information and advice for their families.

UK programme director at Railway Children, Jacqui Highfield, said: “We’re very grateful to East Lancashire Freemasons for their generous grant which will allow us to help hundreds of children and young people who are vulnerable and alone across the UK rail network.

“Feedback from young people, parents and carers is that the regularity of contact and the time spent building relationships are crucial factors in helping young people find solutions to their problems and look forward to a brighter future.”

Last year, working with British Transport Police, Railway Children supported 587 vulnerable young people and their families.

Interventions ranged from providing essential information to ensuring long-term one-to-one support for as long as a young person needed.

As a result, 86 per cent of children reported improved wellbeing, 77 per cent experienced improved personal safety and 86 per cent benefitted from better family relationships.

Trial begins over alleged hit squad network linked to French Masonic lodge

A complex criminal trial has opened in Paris, where 22 people are set to appear in court over allegations of murder, attempted murder and other serious offences linked to a Masonic lodge accused of operating as a covert mafia network.


Issued on: 30/03/2026 - RFI

Defendant Pierre Lebris arrives for the opening of the so-called Athanor trial, in which 22 people are facing a wide range of charges, including murder, centred on the Athanor Masonic lodge accused of running hit squads, at the Assize Court in the Tribunal Judiciaire courthouse in Paris, on 30 March 2026. 

AFP - THOMAS SAMSON

Court proceedings, which got underway on Monday, are expected to run for at least three months, with seven of the defendants – including former intelligence agents, soldiers and business figures – facing the possibility of life imprisonment if convicted.

At the heart of the case is the Athanor Masonic Lodge in the Paris suburb of Puteaux. Prosecutors allege that the lodge served as a hub for a tightly organised network that carried out violent acts ranging from assaults to contract killings.

Among those in the dock are at least four freemasons, alongside four officers from France’s DGSE external intelligence agency, three police officers, six business executives, and professionals including a doctor and an engineer. Most of the accused, aged between 30 and 73, have no prior criminal records – a detail that has added to the intrigue surrounding the case.

The alleged ringleaders – Jean-Luc Bagur, Frederic Vaglio and Daniel Beaulieu – are all linked to the Athanor lodge and are accused of orchestrating a series of crimes through a structured chain of command. They, along with Beaulieu’s associate Sébastien Leroy, face the most severe penalties.

From botched plot to major investigation

The case first came to light following a failed contract killing in July 2020. Two members of France’s parachute regiment were arrested near the home of business coach Marie-Helene Dini while in possession of weapons.

Under questioning, the pair claimed they believed they had been tasked by the state to eliminate Dini, alleging she had ties to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Investigators quickly uncovered links to Bagur, a business rival of Dini and the 69-year-old “venerable master” of the Athanor lodge. According to prosecutors, Bagur commissioned the hit for a fee of €70,000, allegedly passing the task through Vaglio to a network overseen by Beaulieu, a former agent with the French secret service.

Leroy, described as the operational leader of the group, later admitted in custody that he and his associates had carried out numerous violent acts on behalf of the network. These allegedly included robberies, assaults and at least one murder – that of racing driver Laurent Pasquali, whose body was discovered in a forest in 2018.

Prosecutors say the group’s activities escalated over time – evolving from acts of revenge to more organised and lethal operations. One alleged incident involved industrial espionage, in which a businesswoman was attacked and her computer stolen. In another, a car was set ablaze after its owner reportedly uncovered financial irregularities linked to Bagur.

Troubling questions

As the trial unfolds, it is expected to shine a light not only on the alleged crimes but also on the unusual composition of the group – which includes individuals from law enforcement, intelligence and professional sectors.

Leroy has told investigators he believed he was acting in the interests of the state throughout, claiming he had been misled by Beaulieu and encouraged to think he was working towards becoming an informant.

For Marie-Helene Dini, the intended target of the 2020 plot, the case is deeply unsettling. Her lawyer, Jean-William Vezinet, has described it as “terrifying”, noting that many of those implicated were figures entrusted with public responsibility.

Uncertainty remains over what testimony Beaulieu will be able to provide. His lawyer has said he suffered lasting impairments after an apparent suicide attempt while in custody, including difficulties with concentration.

Despite the gravity of the allegations, the trial is also being seen as an opportunity for the French justice system to demonstrate its thoroughness and independence – particularly given the sensitive roles held by some of the accused.

(with newswires)

Murder trial involving Freemasons, French secret agents opens in Paris court


A Paris court on Monday began hearings in a major trial involving 22 suspects accused of murder and other serious crimes on behalf of a mafia network inside the Athanor Masonic Lodge in the Paris suburb of Puteaux. The accused include police officers, former French intelligence agents and businessmen.


Issued on: 30/03/2026 
By: FRANCE 24

Businesswoman Marie-Helene Dini (L), the alleged target of a failed assassination attempt, enters a Paris court with her lawyer Jean-William Vezinet on March 30, 2026. © Thomas Samson, AFP

Twenty-two people went on trial in France on Monday on charges of murder and other serious crimes centred on members of a Masonic lodge accused of running hit squads.

Thirteen of the defendants face life imprisonment.

Those in the dock include four military personnel from France's foreign intelligence service (DGSE), two police officers, a retired domestic intelligence officer, a security guard and two business executives.

They are accused of the murder of a racing driver, the attempted murders of a business coach and a trade unionist, aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy – all on behalf of a mafia network inside the former Athanor Masonic Lodge in the Paris suburb of Puteaux.

Several freemasons from the 20 or so members of the lodge are in the dock.

Most of the accused, aged between 30 and 73, have no previous criminal records.

Five of the suspects are in custody and 16 are under judicial supervision, while one woman is appearing in court as a free person.

The alleged ringleaders are Athanor Freemasons Jean-Luc Bagur, Frédéric Vaglio and Daniel Beaulieu. They face life in jail if convicted.

So does Beaulieu's right-hand man Sébastien Leroy, who is accused of carrying out the trio's dirty work himself or through a hit-man network.

The case was triggered by a botched contract killing in July 2020, when two members of France's parachute regiment were arrested in possession of weapons near the home of business coach Marie-Hélène Dini.

Under questioning, they said they thought they had been asked to murder Dini on behalf of the French state on the grounds that she worked for Israeli spy agency Mossad.
Escalating crimes

Investigators discovered a link to Bagur, who is a business coach rival of Dini's as well as being the 69-year-old "venerable master" of the Athanor lodge.

Investigators say Bagur asked fellow Freemason Vaglio to arrange to have his rival eliminated for a fee of €70,000 ($80,600).

Vaglio, a 53-year-old entrepreneur, allegedly acted as the intermediary between the big boss and a hit squad working for fellow Athanor Freemason Beaulieu, a retired agent for the domestic intelligence service (DGSI).

The leader of the hit squad, Leroy, admitted in police custody that he or his associates carried out most of the Athanor mafia's assaults, robberies and murders – including the killing of a racing car driver.

As time went on, the crimes ordered by the Freemason mafia escalated from petty revenge attacks to homicide.

In a case of industrial espionage, Leroy's gang allegedly assaulted a businesswoman in the street and snatched her computer.

The car of one of Bagur's associates went up in flames in 2019 after she discovered evidence of financial fraud within his company.

In 2018, the body of racing driver Laurent Pasquali was found in a forest.

He had been bumped off, according to French media, allegedly for not paying a debt he owed to friends of Vaglio's.

'Terrifying'

Leroy, who left the military to become a security guard, told police he thought he had been acting all the time on behalf of the government.

He complained that Beaulieu had "manipulated" him and dangled the idea of him becoming an informant for the DGSI spy agency.

"What my client found terrifying is the fact that the key figures in this case – police officers, former DGSI agents and Freemasons – are precisely the people who are supposed to act for the good of society," said Dini's lawyer Jean-William Vezinet.

It is unclear what information the prosecution may be able to elicit from Beaulieu.

He made an apparent attempt to kill himself in police custody, which left him disabled and with "impaired concentration", his lawyer told AFP.

The trial is expected to run for at least three months.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Due

Propaganda Due - Wikipedia

Propaganda Due was a Masonic lodge, founded in 1877, within the tradition of Continental Freemasonry and under the authority of Grand Orient of Italy.

Ebsco.comwww.ebsco.com/research-starters/law/italian-justice-minister-resigns-because-crime-connection

Italian Justice Minister Resigns Because of Crime Connection | Law

On March 17, 1981, a significant event unfolded in Italy when the nation's financial police raided the villa of Licio Gelli, a businessman with deep ties to ...

Oup.comacademic.oup.com/bjc/article/63/5/1165/6965895

The Secret Nexus. A Case Study of Deviant Masons, Mafia and ...

Dec 30, 2022 ... Abstract. This paper wishes to explore some characteristics of the relevant interconnections between mafias/mafiosi and masonic ...

Washingtonpost.comwww.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1981/05/26/scandal-erupts-over-italian-masonic-lodge/4145524c-dd67-4a52-8428-caeabd027524/

Scandal Erupts Over Italian Masonic Lodge - The Washington Post

May 25, 1981 ... A mushrooming scandal involving a secret Masonic lodge had forced the justice minister to resign and threatened the reputations of a large group of politicians.

Cia.govwww.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000408010.pdf

Italy's "P-2" Masonic Lodge Scandal--Its Likely Implications - CIA

Jun 1, 1981 ... The scandal currently dominating Italian politics revolves around allegations that a large number of key government, military, business, ...

Time.comtime.com/archive/6856428/italy-a-grand-masters-conspiracy/

Italy: A Grand Master's Conspiracy - TIME

Jun 8, 1981 ... The bizarre scandal that rocked the country last week and toppled the four-party coalition government of Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani.

Politico.euwww.politico.eu/article/licio-gelli-freemason-mafia-linked-to-conspiracies-dies/

Licio Gelli, freemason linked to conspiracies, dies - POLITICO

Dec 16, 2015 ... Licio Gelli, the mastermind behind a notorious Italian masonic lodge with links to some of Italy's biggest scandals of the 20th century, has died at the age of...

Tandfonline.comwww.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01639625.2023.2190001

Protection and Obedience. Deviant Masonry, Corruption, and Mafia ...

This paper will investigate the pathological dimension of potential interplays among deviant masons and political-institutional actors in a variety of cases ...

Nytimes.comwww.nytimes.com/1981/05/24/world/italian-elite-embroiled-in-a-scandal.html

ITALIAN ELITE EMBROILED IN A SCANDAL - The New York Times

May 24, 1981 ... Italy's Justice Minister, Adolfo Sarti, resigned today following reports linking him to a powerful, secret Masonic lodge that has been implicated in a variety&...

Bbc.comwww.bbc.com/culture/article/20250611-the-mysterious-murder-of-gods-banker-roberto-calvi

'It involved the Mafia, Freemasonry and the Vatican': The ... - BBC

Jun 16, 2025 ... In June 1982, the BBC reported on the death of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, whose body was found in central London.