- [Narrator] They are the secret society at the center of some of the world's biggest conspiracy theories. People say they pull the strings behind the scenes of governments across the globe. I speak, of course, of the Illuminati.
Could they be real, or are they just another made-up conspiracy theory? Let's find out in today's episode of Colossal Mysteries. Today we talk about the Illuminati like it's something out of science fiction.
But in fact the shadowy secret society was once a very real group with very lofty gooals. The real world Illuminati operated from 1776 until 1785, in and around parts of modern-day Germany. Their members were some of the most influential philosophers, writers, politicians and intellectuals of the day.
They were also called the Bavarian Illuminati and mainly worked to oppose the Catholic Church's control over government, science, philosophy, and art. They believed that people should be allowed to think freely, women should be educated and treated as equals, and promoted freedom and equality for everyone. The group was started by a man named Adam Weishaupt, who was a strong believer in all of these ideas and was looking for a way to get them out wider into the world.
So on May 1st, 1776, the Order of the Illuminati was founded by five original members. Despite the group's incredibly lofty goals, they never had quite the influence or membership they needed. Even at it's zenith, the Bavarian Illuminati only had about 2,000 or so members.
Though they did try to gain new members by infiltrating other popular societies like the Freemasons. Like most secret societies, they had some strange rituals. Their symbol was an odd-looking Owl of Atlantis, or Owl of Minerva, as it's also called, the symbol of knowledge.
They would use odd nicknames to avoid detection, and employed all sorts of spy tactics to keep things secret. Despite all their efforts and grandiose goals, the Bavarian Illuminati never managed to come close to controlling the world. You see, in 1784 the Bavarian rulers banned all secret societies, including the newly-minted Illuminati.
The government started hunting for members, causing the group to scatter and disband. Homes were searched, documents were seized, and if you believe the historians, the Illuminati were quickly wiped out. So that's where the Illuminati conspiracies start.
But how did it go from a run of the mill secret society to the mega-conspiracy and symbols we associate with the Illuminati today? You can thank a trilogy of novels from the mid-70's for that. The Illuminatus!
Trilogy is a satirical science-fiction fantasy story about the Illuminati that made up most of the modern symbols we associate with them, like pyramids, triangles, and all-seeing eyes. So is there a chance that the modern Illuminati might be real? No.
But remember, there's plenty of ways to brainwash the masses without needing a secret society.
