did you know that the headquarters of the illuminati are supposedly hidden within the denver international airport the conspiracy runs deep literally the headquarters are believed to be hidden deep underground in a secret bunker beneath the terminals believers of these creative conjectures point to a few specific pieces of evidence for one the airport's construction came in two billion dollars over budget and was mired in what critics say was a suspicious level of secrecy then there's a time capsule kept in the airport set to be opened in 2094. it's emblazoned with an icon of a masonic square
and compass which is associated with the freemasons and by extension the illuminati and there are plaques stating that the denver international airport was funded by the new world airport commission which sounds awfully close to new world order which is the center of the illuminati's reported goals an authoritarian government that controls well everything hi i'm justin dodd welcome to a special bonus episode of the list show from my living room today we're talking about the ever mysterious organization that is supposedly pulling all of society's strings the illuminati but uh before we continue i'm gonna need all
of you to sign this uh nda real quick in blood pretty standard stuff i'll just grab it let's start off with a very important fact there really was indisputably an actual secret group that called itself the illuminati the bavarian illuminati was founded in may of 1776 in the electorate of bavaria which is part of modern-day germany the group was founded by adam weishaupt who was a philosopher and professor who taught at the university of ingelstadt he created his own secret society so he could connect with other free-thinking dudes and thus the order of the illuminati
was born the illuminati was not always called the illuminati that name which now carries a cool mysterious posh but possibly evil sensibility came a bit later originally yshop had called his group the perfectabilists which is arguably a terrible name it sounds silly and i hate it but another top contender the b order yeah as in the order of the bees i mean i personally would love to join a secret club where our uniforms were cool black and yellow striped jackets but that's just me eventually illuminati was chosen yshop was able to sneak in an animal
reference however by adopting the owl of minerva or the owl of athens as the illuminati symbol the owl represented intelligence as minerva was the roman goddess of wisdom it's no bee but it'll do the goal of the illuminati was to encourage a rational society it was pretty in line with the valleys of the enlightenment as a whole seeking to promote individualism rational thinking and knowledge why shop argue that the prevailing systems of the day leave us under the dominion of political and religious prejudices the illuminati on the other hand frees from all religious prejudices cultivates
the social virtues and animates them by a great a feasible and speedy prospect of universal happiness in a state of liberty and moral equality freed from the obstacles which subordination rank and riches continually throw in our way maybe i'm just a sucker for run-on sentences but the illuminati doesn't sound half bad well until you hear about its uh strict membership requirements only select people could join the illuminati first things first only men were allowed to join secondly no jewish people were admitted which i'm sorry but didn't i just read a whole mission statement about avoiding
religious prejudices the illuminati on the other hand frees from all religious prejudices okay just checking next you had to be 30 years old or younger the group believed anyone older to be too conservative and rigid in their ways because you don't want rigid thinking to get in the way of your no girls allowed group with an arbitrary aegis cutoff other requirements included being wealthy well-educated and coming from a good family and every new member had to be vetted by a current member this is sounding less like a free-thinking society and more like a glorified frat
house at its largest the bavarian illuminati had about 2000 members it began to grow quickly because its first members joined the freemasons as well and began to recruit other men there eventually the substantial illuminati population consisted of doctors lawyers politicians and intellectuals young wealthy male intellectuals that is there were levels of enlightenment that members had to work through you know like a video game originally there were only three enlightenment levels novice minerval and illuminated minerva a few years after its founding a member named baron von naig revised the system a little bit after that there
were as many as 13 levels known as degrees which were then grouped into three different classes von nag was inspired by the system used by the freemasons once a member reached the highest level they would achieve philosophical illumination and he was granted the title king hey we stan a philosophically illuminated king members of the illuminati spoke in code and used pseudonyms which were usually the names of famous historical figures yshop for example was known as spartacus all written correspondence between members was then cipher you know in case it was confiscated even town names would be
replaced by various arbitrary words it's also said the illuminati used invisible ink in many of their letters which i mean that's just good fun the illuminati was exposed and disbanded not even 10 years after its founding a former member by the name of joseph ut schneider wrote a letter to the grand duchess of bavaria exposing the group's members and their beliefs her husband the duke of bavaria issued an edict in 1784 that banned any unauthorized societies and then a year later made a new rule that explicitly banned the illuminati by 1787 membership was punishable by
death yeash why shop was banished from bavaria and the illuminati was no more or was it well it depends who you ask for centuries conspiracy theories about the illuminati's supposed continued existence have cropped up around the world heck even george washington who was a master mason wrote a letter addressing the threat of the illuminati the idea is that not only are they still around but they're working to establish a new world order like i mentioned earlier basically controlling the happenings of governments and societies across the globe according to these theories many members of the modern
illuminati are politicians and celebrities and that these famous and rich people owe their success to the help of the secret organization historical figures rumored to be involved include thomas jefferson fdr winston churchill and john d rockefeller some modern celebrities who are supposed members are dr dre madonna bono justin bieber nicki minaj whitney houston and naturally jay-z and beyonce skeptics of these theories however contend that y'all haters corny with that illuminati mess food for thought thanks for watching mental floss on youtube remember to subscribe so you can catch a new episode of our original series like
misconceptions where we debunk common myths and food history where we explore the weird stories that lead to your favorite meals those go up every wednesday and if you're lucky you'll get some bonus facts throughout the week as well and just remember if you mentioned to anyone what i've told you today we know where you live just kidding or am i no i am
