You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm & Mild from

Aaron Manky.

The Freemasons are the oldest known fraternal organization in the world.

Their roots can be traced back to England and Scotland with guilds of stone masons and

cathedral builders going back as far as 1300s.

When the need for new cathedrals declined, the masons shifted their focus.

They are a male-oriented, oath-bound society that requires strict discipline from its

members.

And, although the Freemasons are not a secret society, they are a society with secrets.

What goes on behind closed doors has been the subject of blockbuster movies and best-selling

novels.

Members have included Beethoven, Winston Churchill, King Edward VII, and Oscar Wilde.

In the United States, 14 presidents, 35 Supreme Court justices, and 13 signers of the

Constitution have been masons.

The Freemasons are still well-organized and practicing today.

In America, it's said that the Freemasons lurk behind every aspect of life, from the

early days of our nation's capital to political influence to murder.

In 1798, a British author claimed that secret factions of the Freemasons called the Illuminati

were subverting religions in state authority.

Certainly, at the time, members held high-ranking positions at every social, political, and economic

level.

Rumors and whispers of conspiracies became widespread, but perhaps none as scandalous as the events

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