10 Dinge, die Menschen über die Illuminaten glauben

Ökonomen und Historiker haben möglicherweise komplizierte Antworten darauf, warum die Gaspreise steigen, der Aktienmarkt fällt oder wer auf JFK geschossen hat . Aber andere wissen es besser. "Es sind die Illuminaten, Dummkopf", werden sie dir sagen. Wenn man ihnen zuhört, könnte man meinen, die Illuminaten seien die Theorie von allem. Es erklärt Ereignisse aus der amerikanischen Geschichte, Popmusik, das Wetter, sogar das Meerjungfrau-Logo auf dem Starbucks-Becher.

Verschwörungstheoretiker glauben, dass die Illuminaten eine finstere Liga geheimer Machtmakler sind, deren Mitgliedschaft in den letzten Jahrhunderten ein Who is Who der Mächtigen, Reichen und Einflussreichen ausgemacht hat, von US-Präsident Thomas Jefferson bis Rapper Jay-Z [Quellen: Knight , Obias ].

Wie die Geschichte erzählt, haben die Illuminaten Regierungen und Banken kooptiert, Aktienmärkte und Energiepreise manipuliert, Attentate und Vertuschungen inszeniert und auf unzählige Weise leise an den Marionettenfäden gezogen, die die unvorsichtigen Massen kontrollieren. Sie haben uns sogar dazu verleitet, an ihren geheimen Ritualen teilzunehmen, die auf altägyptischer Mystik basieren, und Geld mit ihrer Symbolik in unseren Brieftaschen zu tragen [Quelle: McConnachie und Tudge ].

Und es klingt fast plausibel, oder? Wie der Kolumnist und Autor von Scientific American, Michael Shermer, feststellte, sind wir „mustersuchende Tiere“, neurologisch fest verdrahtet, um nach Erklärungen zu suchen und die Teile zusammenzusetzen – selbst wenn es keine Verbindung gibt und die Teile nicht zusammenpassen [ Quelle: Kiger ].

Es gibt genug Verschwörungstheorien über die Illuminaten, um ein Buch oder sogar eine Bibliothek zu füllen. Hier sind 10 der ausgefallensten und unterhaltsamsten.

1. Es existiert heimlich seit Jahrhunderten
2. Die Skull and Bones Society ist ein Illuminati-JV-Team
3. Die Illuminaten steckten hinter der Ermordung von JFK
4. Es hat sich verschworen, eine neue Weltordnung aufzuerlegen
5. Der US-Dollar-Schein enthält Illuminati-Symbole
6. So auch das Starbucks-Logo
7. Es betreibt die National Security Agency
8. Fast jeder Star ist Mitglied
9. Es manipuliert das Wetter
10. Es schuf die Beatles als Mind Control Tool

Dieser Glaube enthält ein paar Körner der tatsächlichen Realität. 1776 gründete der bayerische Universitätsprofessor Adam Weishaupt einen Verein namens Orden der Perfektibilisten, auch bekannt als die Illuminaten. Im Grunde waren sie ein Haufen Leute – nicht mehr als ein paar Hundert auf dem Höhepunkt der Bewegung – die einige der mystischen Symbolik von den populäreren Freimaurerlogen kopierten. Sie saßen herum und redeten über den deutschen Adel und den Orden der Jesuiten und philosophierten über Egalitarismus. Sie waren ziemlich harmlos, aber trotzdem befahl der bayerische Kurfürst Karl-Theodor 1785 – anscheinend etwas dünnhäutig – den Illuminaten und anderen geheimen Vereinigungen, sich aufzulösen [Quelle: McConnachie und Tudge ].

Aber der Name Illuminati war zu cool, um zu verschwinden. Als ein Okkultist und Glaubensheiler namens Cagliostro 1789 in Rom verhaftet wurde, beruhigte er die Inquisition, indem er die Kenntnis einer geheimen Gruppe gestand, die unter anderem den Sturz des Papsttums plante [Quelle: McConnachie und Tudge ].

Die Geschichte war so faszinierend, dass sie mutierte und über den Atlantik sprang. 1798 prangerte Rev. Jedidiah Morse in Massachusetts die Illuminaten von der Kanzel aus an und nannte auf Druck den auffallend säkularen Thomas Jefferson als ihren US-Führer. Eine Broschüre, die die imaginäre Gruppe beschuldigte, „unermüdlich an der Zerstörung der Religion und Regierung der Vereinigten Staaten beteiligt“ zu sein, folgte bald [Quelle: Knight ]. In den Jahren danach wurden die Illuminaten zu verschwörerischem Futter für alle, von der John Birch Society bis zum Autor Dan Brown , dessen 2000 erschienener Roman „Angels and Demons“ sie als Bösewichte verwendet.

Die Skull and Bones Society der Yale University wurde 1832 von William Huntington Russell, dem Nachkommen einer Familie von Sklavenbesitzern und Opiumhändlern in Neuengland, und Alphonso Taft, dem Vater des zukünftigen Präsidenten William Howard Taft [Quelle: Goldwag ], gegründet. Seitdem hat der geheime Club Dutzende von Yalies initiiert, die, nachdem sie sich Berichten zufolge an Ritualen wie dem Küssen eines Schädels und dem nackten Ringen in einer Krypta beteiligt hatten, in Positionen von großer Macht in der Gesellschaft aufgestiegen sind, darunter der Gründer des Time-Magazins Henry Luce und der ehemalige Präsident George W. Bush [Quellen: Associated Press , McEnery , Goldwag ].

That combination of secrecy, weird practices and influence has proven irresistible to Illuminati conspiracy theorists, who see Skull and Bones as something akin to an Illuminati training ground, where after being recruited, members just happen to end up in positions of vast influence. Prominent Illuminati conspiracy theorist author Robert Hieronimus claims that Skull and Bones founder Russell even modeled his group after a German Illuminati offshoot called the Brotherhood of Death, which "is said to have plotted an underground conspiracy to dominate the world."

So what is this organization really? Though members are sworn to secrecy, an Atlantic magazine article reported that 15 campus leaders are tapped each year for the society; in recent years, an effort has been made to attract diverse students. Skull and Bones members meet in a mausoleum-like structure called the Tomb twice a week, once for socializing and once to debate current affairs. They have no master plan to take over the world, apparently.

To listen to Illuminati conspiracy theorists, the fiendish clandestine cabal has had its malevolent fingers in violent events ranging from the French Revolution to the Sept. 11 attacks , and plotted numerous assassinations in the process.

So it's not that much of a surprise that they've also discovered what the Warren Commission somehow overlooked, that the Illuminati was behind the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. But according to The Week, a British-based news magazine, there are different schools of thought on the motivation. One theory is that the Illuminati put out a hit on JFK because he wanted to end the Vietnam War, a burgeoning conflict that promised to be profitable for Illuminati financiers of the Military-Industrial Complex. An alternative explanation is that the Illuminati was upset about what it saw as JFK's intent to limit the power of the Federal Reserve System, which of course also happens to be controlled by the secret group.

In September 1990, President George H.W. Bush addressed a joint session of Congress to announce that the U.S. military and allies would go to war to evict Iraqi troops who had invaded Kuwait. But Bush said the mission had a greater objective – establishment of what he called a "a new world order" in which nations of the world would live together in harmony. "A hundred generations have searched for this elusive path to peace," he proclaimed [source: Miller Center].

Bush's attempt at soaring rhetoric, however, was a dog whistle to Illuminati conspiracy theorists. (Bush senior was also a member of Skull and Bones, like his son!) Theorists saw the speech as portending the eventual elimination of national borders, governments and currencies. All those would be replaced by a global dictatorship under the United Nations , which would send shock troops in black helicopters to enforce its dictates and imprison dissenters in concentration camps. After that, the Illuminati-led new world order (NWO) would implant microchips in helpless citizens to control their minds [source: Barkun].

Conspiracy theorist John Coleman predicted that the NWO also would employ "human-like robots," which conjures up an image of a future that would resemble the "Terminator" movie franchise. Consider yourself warned.

It's often said that the U.S. dollar bill is filled with secret signs from Freemasonry , rather than the Illuminati. But as an article on one anti-Illuminati website maintains, there's a sort of Venn diagram connection between the two secret societies, in which high-ranking masons also are members of the Illuminati. Therefore, masonic symbols also can be Illuminati symbols.

Numerous self-published Illuminati exposé authors point out that the dollar bill bears the unmistakable signs of an evil plot to dominate humanity. Many of these are contained on the back of the bill, which shows the Great Seal of the U.S., the pyramid and the eagle. The pyramid topped by a glowing eye is a representation of the Illuminati's supernatural power and penchant for surveillance. There's also the "1776," which just coincidentally happens to be the date of both America's independence and the Illuminati society's founding. And the Latin slogan Novus Ordo Seclorum ("A new order of the ages") really cinches it [sources: Holt, Popovich, Lett, Springer].

It's just as telling that the Great Seal was added to the currency in 1934 by President Franklin Roosevelt, a freemason and an obvious candidate for the Illuminati if ever there was one. Conspiracy theorists aren't likely to buy the alternative explanation offered on a Federal Reserve System website, which is that FDR liked the Latin phrase because he and Agriculture Secretary and fellow freemason Henry Wallace mistakenly translated it to mean "A New Deal of the Ages."

As for the pyramid, it stands for strength and duration, according to one of its designers, Charles Thomson. The 13 rows of building blocks in the pyramid represent the 13 original colonies. And the eye "alludes to the many signal interpositions of Providence in favor of the American cause," he wrote in 1782 [source: Goldsmith].

As Illuminati watchers warn us, the members of the secret sect are so devious that they're not content merely to put their coded messages on U.S. money . They also put them on the stuff we buy with it. According to YouTube videos posted by conspiracy theorists, the original 1971 Starbucks logo, which featured an innocuous, playful-looking twin-tailed mermaid, was actually a ruse. Turned upside down, it became a goat's head, an occult and satanic symbol associated with the Illuminati.

The latest, streamlined version, adopted in 2011 is filled with subtler but equally insidious symbols. The mermaid's crown, for example, has a star on it, which takes the place of the all-seeing eye on the pyramid that that the Illuminati inserted in in the Great Seal of the U.S. And let's not forget that mermaids themselves are actually malevolent supernatural creatures who lure unwary humans to their deaths , which makes them an apt symbol for the sinister aims of the Illuminati [source: FreemasonWorld].

On its corporate website, Starbucks naturally offers a more innocuous explanation, saying the mermaid actually is based upon 16th-century Norse woodcut that company officials stumbled upon while looking for nautical motifs, and is intended to be the "true, welcoming face of Starbucks." But what else would you expect "them" to say?

As recent revelations by former government contractor Edward Snowden detailed, the National Security Agency (NSA)'s ubiquitous eavesdropping network spies on hundreds of millions of people across the world – collecting information "about their phone calls, their email messages, their friends and contacts, how they spend their days, and where they spend their nights," as the New York Times described it in a 2014 editorial. To Illuminati watchers, the connection seems so obvious – how could an agency with such far-reaching tentacles not be a player in the Illuminati plan for world domination? Even more suspicious is the fact that when you type the domain name Itanimulli.com – "Illuminati" spelled backward –into your browser, it takes you to the public website of the NSA!

Just before you get nervous, do a domain search for this website name, which would reveal it's owned by a Utah man named John Fenley who bought it in 2002. Fenley later revealed he had his website rerouted to the NSA just for a prank and doesn't believe the Illuminati exists. "When I had the idea to forward the domain to the NSA I couldn't pass it up, and couldn't stop laughing," Fenley wrote [source: Goldwag].

OK, it may seem a little implausible that a society could remain secret and yet have a vast membership roll that is rumored to include high-profile figures ranging from Queen Elizabeth II to Jay-Z. But if you look at in a different way, that could just be another sign of how diabolically clever the Illuminati truly are.

Notice, for example, the eyeball singer Miley Cyrus has tattooed on her finger, which seems suspiciously similar to the Illuminati all-seeing eye [source: Primeau]. And then there's Kanye West, who rapped with Jay-Z while wearing a shirt emblazoned with the goat-head symbol that also just happens to be associated with the Illuminati [source: BeginningandEnd.com]. To make matters worse, Beyonce and Jay-Z's child, Blue Ivy's name just happens to be an anagram for "Born Living Under Evil – Illuminati's Very Youngest" [source: Schwartz].

And who could ignore the Illuminati connection to Katy Perry's halftime performance at the 2015 Super Bowl , which was filled with the sort of Egyptian mystical affectations also favored by the secret conspiratorial group, and took place in a stadium allegedly located at the same latitude as the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre, another object of Illuminati fascination [sources: Illuminatiwatcher.com, Infowars.com]. On her 2015 "Rebel Heart" CD, Madonna brazenly even included a song, "Illuminati," in which she listed various rumored celebrity members and sang that "the all-seeing eye is watching tonight ... it's like everybody in this party, shining like Illuminati" [source: Miller]. Maybe she was kidding. But, maybe not.

You've probably noticed those wispy white trails that sometimes appear across the daytime sky. NASA's website says that these are man-made clouds , formed when water vapor condenses around tiny particles of pollution from the exhaust of jet aircraft, and forms streams of short-lived ice crystals that eventually vanish as they return to a vapor state.

But to conspiracy theorists, that explanation seems a little, too, ah, convenient. They maintain that the contrails are actually "chemtrails," which are deliberately released from aircraft as part of a sinister, secret plot to alter the weather. As an article on the website Illuminati Agenda explains, one suspicion is that the man-made clouds help to concentrate energy weapons that manipulate electricity in the ionosphere, a part of the atmosphere. Another possibility is that the clouds may be part of some larger plot to block sunlight and/or poison the soil to reduce farm yields, forcing humanity to become dependent upon genetically modified food crops that, of course, the Illuminati control.

Most likely, the anonymous author argues, all of these things are happening at once: "It makes obvious sense to the illuminati to make use of all potential avenues instead of just one as it allows them to bombard us from numerous angles which gives us little room for maneuver." Obviously.

You might think that the Beatles were four lads from Liverpool whose catchy reinvention of American-style rock 'n' roll and irreverent, playful charisma inspired teenage adulation on both sides of the Atlantic in the early 1960s. But that would be naïve of you.

"The Beatles were an Illuminati creation," David Richards explains in a 2014 article on the website Humans Are Free. "Their songs were written for them and handlers scripted their actions and words." As Richards and other Illuminati expos-writers detail, these musical Manchurian candidates were coached by experts employed by the Illuminati's Committee of 300, a shadowy group within the British aristocracy, who then conspired with TV host Ed Sullivan and other media outlets to popularize the Beatles' songs [sources: Coleman, McConnachie and Tudge, Van L uling]. And all this time you thought Lennon and McCartney were genius songwriters!

No, sir. The lyrics were designed by psychologists to plant "trigger words" in youthful minds, encouraging them to rebel against conventional values and experiment with drugs –whose production was also secretly controlled and financed by our overlords. All this, Richards explains, was intended to accomplish the Illuminati mission of dismantling traditional social values and furthering "formation of a corrupted Brave New World-style slave populace." Since the Beatles changed the course of music forever, the only explanation must be that the Illuminati wanted it that way.

Author's Note: 10 Things People Believe About the Illuminati

Ich genoss diese Aufgabe, weil ich seit den späten 1980er Jahren über Verschwörungstheoretiker schreibe, als ich einen Zeitungsbeitrag über die Legionen von Amateur-JFK-Mordforschern machte, die ihre Nächte und Wochenenden damit verbrachten, nach Löchern im Bericht der Warren-Kommission zu suchen und den Bericht zu lesen Zapruder-Film nach Hinweisen, die anderen Ermittlern entgangen waren. Diese Subkultur schien freundlicher und sanfter als die 9-11 Truthers, über die ich kürzlich geschrieben habe, die jeden zu sehen schienen, der ihren übergreifenden Verdacht nicht sofort als Teil der Verschwörung annahm.

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