Current Events > ITT: I show my 200 year old conspiracy theory/expose books

(+) Yeah! (+)

There's a few things I like to collect, but by far my favorite is old antique books. BUt not just any antique books, anything related to conspiracy theories or occult. Particularly, exposes on conspiracies, as those are a little less common than occult books are. I spent awhile researching the origin of modern conspiracy theories, and it's extremely interesting tracing how far back some of them go. The books are really cool to look at, so I figured I'd share some pictures:

1. Proofs of a Conspiracy, by John Robison (1797)

It's probably the most famous expose on the "Illuminati", and it along with another set of books published at the same time helped popularize that term. This is by an English professor who professes that he was indeed brought into the Illuminati, them having infiltrated the literature of the day, colleges, book clubs, Masonic Lodges, and governments all over Europe. In this book he advises that they played a significant hidden hand in the underworkings of the French Revolution.

My copy is from one year later, 1798. I believe it's a third edition. This is sort of my prize piece. What's cool about my particular copy is that its spine is branded just "Illuminati" instead of the actual title, which I think is cool (sorry that my camera isn't too great):




^^^^^^ Hard to see in my photo, but here's a note from someone gifting it to a friend, dated 1811.


If people are interested enough, I have a couple others that are similar. I love my old books. If anyone has any questions about the books or the subject matter, feel free to ask :)

TAG, i like dis
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Another:

2. The Character, Claims, and Practical Workings of Freemasonry, by Charles Finney (1868)

This one is heavily shaded by the aftermath of the Civil War. Finney was staunchly against both slavery, and Freemasonry. It is an expose on American Freemasonry. American Masonry had a HUGE falling out in the 1820s during an enourmous political event and scandal (there were deaths). I can talk about this more with another book later. But the result was, Freemasonry was thought to be dead after the 1820s. During the intro of the book, Finney writes this:

"Forty years ago, we supposed that it was dead, and had no idea that it could ever revive. But, strange to tell, while we were busy in getting rid of slavery, Freemasonry has revived, and extended its bounds most alarmingly."

This one is probably in the nicest shape of all my books, being the newest of them. It is a first edition from 1868. The print on the pages looks almost brand new.

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Tag tag tag

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I only took a few pictures of these. If anyone is looking for anything more specific out of the pictures, I can try to take more. I'm interested what everyone thinks

This is cool, I'm interested!

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I'll use this thread as a jumping board to talk about conspiracies. I'm 26, and knowing nothing about the popular conspiracy theories, I started to wonder their origin. Not just to have people tell me "the Illuminati is bad and rules the world" but "Where did that idea come from?"

I was about 21 or so. I wondered to myself, "Did it come from the internet? Maybe these ideas have been around since the 80s?" well it only took minutes to show myself that wasn't true. I could see these theories were in books and libraries throughout the 20th century. In every decade, but a particular surge started happening in the 70s. I think the 70s are a lot like the last ten years, in terms of the mood of American culture.

But as I was reading this stuff, referencing terms like "Illuminati", "Freemasonry" and a lot of occult stuff, I could see references going back further, before the 20th century. Looking back, someone who knows this stuff might think "Well that's dumb, of course this stuff is old." But remember, I knew NOTHING. To me, the word Illuminati was a meme.

I went back further. There was a definite strong surge through the whole of the 19th century. Both a surge in occult teachings becoming public in books, and following them exposes on the occult. Strange enough, these ancient secret occult teachings became public coinciding with the Industrial Revolution. Almost like they knew it couldn't be hidden anymore and it was time to come out. Then again, it's not so strange, printing press and all.

I started going back further. The 1700s. World revolutions and the roles the secret societies played in them. There are exposes on secret societies in the 1700s, but they are hard to find, few and far between. And most of the "exposing" seemed to be going on in France, so a good number of the books I can't even understand. But, that is when I found Mr. Robison, and proofs of a conspiracy.

People don't believe conspiracies, and I didn't either. That's why I started trying to trace them to their sources. Once I found those sources, just to tell someone this existed in the 1700s wasn't good enough. I wanted the source in my hands. I wanted to show people the binding, the leather, the pages. For them to know in their hearts "This existed back then." Maybe not the content of the book being true, but at least the idea being out there. We obviously can't know precisely if all of this is exactly true. But judging these sources is how we get there.

I started contacting sellers and looking into antique books. Seeking out these exposes. There's nothing like getting a copy of one of these, because they are indeed limited.

Really cool, thanks for sharing this TC. We need more stuff like this on CE.

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MabusIncarnate posted...

Really cool, thanks for sharing this TC. We need more stuff like this on CE.

Yeah, earlier today I was participating and making some political threads, and I realized it wasn't cool. I mean, I got a kick out of it a little, but overall, everyone just feels negative coming out of it. So instead I thought I'd do something more productive, where I can show people something interesting and talk about it.

^Jumping off my post from a minute ago, I'm interested in how everyone else has viewed conspiracies through their life. Have you wondered the origin of these things? Or have you been put off thinking about it by the crazier sounding types who normally push the theories? That's how I was until I started asking those questions. Then I'll admit, it became something of an obsession. (the meanwhile still getting on gamefaqs everyday lol)

Great topic.

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For me its less about the conspiracies themselves, and more about how people create them and how others latch on to them. I've always found people to be somehow both extremely simple but also by far the most fascinating things to study on the planet. >_>

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Ving_Rhames posted...

For me its less about the conspiracies themselves, and more about how people create them and how others latch on to them.

Yeah the culture around them is wild. And to research it is kind of a wildcard. Now, I think it is better to do that than to be someone who believes the theories without researching them. That can lead to all kinds of negative consequences. Namely, believing what other people claim they've researched.

A very famous book is called "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", it came out in the latter half of the 19th century. It is an expose on the leaders of Judaism, and how supposedly Jews will rule the planet by scheming and poisoning all others, and that this conspiracy reaches down even to what appear to be poor Jews. It's rubbish. But as you can imagine, Hitler and the Nazi party did indeed reference this work heavily after World War 1, to rile up the German people against Jews. Now I'm not solely blaming that work, I think what happened would have happened anyway. But the book had a purpose of turning people against Jewish civilians, and it succeeded in its goal, playing a part in that purpose decades later.

But, researching it yourself may warp your views whether you want it to or not.

Myy books have lead me down a strange path. Though you could probably say I lean conservative, I am in no way a proud American. The United States is indeed the greatest experiment of this conspiracy, and its purpose was to herald a new worldwide civilization and religion that would bring down all the civilizations and religions before it. Indeed, that title page above that reads "Proofs of a Conspiracy Against all Religions and Governments" is what I believe has been in effect, and is still in effect today.

You gotta be careful with what "research" means.

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So what exactly have you found in your research?

I must say I am intrigued, but you seem to be dancing around the issue.

What are the key points of these books, and what do you believe they mean?

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DarkChozoGhost posted...

You gotta be careful with what "research" means.

Well, my research was to see where these ideas came from.I can prove that much. I can't prove that all the content of these books are true.

Alteres posted...

So what exactly have you found in your research?

I must say I am intrigued, but you seem to be dancing around the issue.

What are the key points of these books, and what do you believe they mean?

The only facts I've ascertained are where these ideas have came from. These books, and the ones I'm going to post, are a lot of the foundation of modern conspiracy theory.

For most of these, these are personal accounts from the writers. So whether they are true or these guys are liars, usually can't be known. But most of the time, these writers seem to be members of high society. Professors, politicians, judges, etc etc. Whether that gives them more credibility is up to you, but it seemed to have that effect in their own time. Now a lot of times they do cite documents that are exceedingly interesting, but a lot of the time otherwise, it's personal accounts or things they heard in their circles of high society or as members of these secret societies. But I can tell you this, people in positions of power believed these men. Another author I'll mention that wrote a book on the same subject as "Proofs" had the ear of both the Pope and Napoleon, and they took him and his work quite seriously. Does that give this subject matter more credence? Did the Pope and Napoleon know things that made them believe work like this more readily? I don't know.

It gets to the point where you have to decide, "Do I believe them or not?" Or you may just decide, "I can't know 100% if it's true, so I just don't know." And that's may be the safest route to take. For me, I have made the decision that I genuinely believe a good portion of these particular volumes.

I dance on purpose. I have stated the basic point of the books in my post above, being that this conspiracy does exist, at least that's why they are trying to convince. I'm willing to explain things, but if I do so, you must understand, I am not trying to convince you it is true. The reason being: I'm unable to do so. I can't decide for anyone else what I cannot prove with certainty. But I'm more than happy to discuss it.

Cool, Ive always been into the same kind of older books on occult and conspiracies as well. Always dreamed of having a copy of proofs of a conspiracy. Mind sharing how much each of the books is valued at? or how much you spent to acquire them?

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tag
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solosnake posted...

Cool, Ive always been into the same kind of older books on occult and conspiracies as well. Always dreamed of having a copy of proofs of a conspiracy. Mind sharing how much each of the books is valued at? or how much you spent to acquire them?

High hundreds for my copy of "Proofs". I've seen copies that are still old but newer editions, or slightly worse shape, in the low hundreds. So getting one isn't impossible, but they are limited. Probably only seen 8 or 10 copies online, including the one I got. I did see one that was a true first edition, but it was over $2000.

Otherwise, the others are low hundreds. However, I haven't shown my rarest and most expensive purchase, which is a set of books. You might be familiar, Barruel's Memoirs of Jacobonism.

I'm jelly af

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3. Light on Masonry by Elder Bernard (1829)

I was reading the book I purchased above, Character Claims and Workings of Masonry from 1868. It discussed at length a certain major political event in America during the 1820s. The book referenced another work printed during the 1820s, "Light on Masonry". I became interested and sought out a copy of that.

Light on Masonry is a discourse and expos on American Freemasonry, exposing all known rituals of American Masonry as well as detailing the events of the great scandal of that era. Masons take oaths to not reveal any secets of the Lodge including their rituals. The rituals of Masonry can be found in seconds today with a simple search, the Masons do not attempt to hide them any more. But at this time in history, to know them without being a Mason, you would have needed to both find and purchase expensive volumes detailing them, so they were not just readily available to the public.

This book came about from the William Morgan scandal. William Morgan was a brick layer. But it seems he not of high repute. He was a drunkard, had significant debts, and married a 15 year old at age 45, which even in early 1800s America was frowned upon, even if it was technically legal (reading wikipedia, it is now saying she was 19 though most accounts I've read say 15, regardless, even in the day he was accused of robbing the cradle). Morgan travelled to several lodges through New York, attempting to gain membership into Masonry. He claimed to have received several degrees in Canada. Masons in these lodged questioned both his Masonic credentials and his personal character. Though he did receive some degrees during this time in America, he was eventually kicked out of any lodges he attended.

Angry and upset with the Masons, Morgan decided to lash out at them. He set out to publish an expos, which he would title "Illustrations of Freemaosnry" (which gets confusing cause there are several books called that, some older than his). Morgan went to every publisher and printer in the area, and no one would agree to publish his book which would be quite scandalous. Until he found David Miller, who owned a print shop, and agreed to print Morgan's book.

However, it was not good enough for Morgan to simply publish the expos. He wanted the Masons to know, and he wanted them to be upset. He published in the local news paper an announcement that his book was going to expose the evil rituals of Masonry (which he had wanted to partake in not long before). This infuriated local Masons, who made all attempts to stop the books publication.

This was all during 1826. In August, late one night, somewhere between 50 and 200 men marched the streets of the small city where Morgan's book was being published. They went to the printing shop that was going to produce it, and attempted to burn it to the ground. The arson failed, as the print shop survived, but several other adjacent buildings were damaged (they were all wooden buildings).

A few weeks later in September, Morgan was arrested in relation to another matter, being accused of stealing some articles of clothing from a store. Some say these charges were Trumped up by the Masonic sheriffs in the village. He made bail, only to be arrested again for an outstanding debt. Interesting how they chose that particular time to arrest him for a debt already outstanding.

Some men arrived to the jail where he was being held, to pay his bail and release him. The jailor's wife released Morgan, but then claims she witnessed him struggling as the men forced him into a carriage. She shouted "Murder!". The men put Morgan into the carriage, and it hauled off. It would be the last time he was ever seen in public.

At the same time, a group of men went to his home, where his young wife and two children were. Though his family was unharmed, it seems they essentially forced her to let them in. They went through Morgan's personal documents, ransacking everything. They tore up many of his documents, and stole others.

William Morgan was gone. It was quite a story in the area. The printer took full advantage, selling Morgan's book and using his disappearance as a marketing ploy. But one year later, a body washed ashore at a lake. His wife claimed it was indeed William Morgan (while it is also said someone else claimed the body as her son).

This set off a firestorm in America. It was the biggest scandal of the decade. Many Masons were indicted for both Morgan's disappearance and murder, however all were eventually acquitted. Some say it is because all of the sheriffs, lawyers and judges involved were brothers in the Masonic Lodge.

But it didn't matter. Masonry was exposed. Committees were setup, which were promoted by the biggest political figures of the day. The purpose of the committees was to ascertain the nature of Freemasonry in America. They went through all of the rituals. They also went deeply into William Morgan's story.

This became the founding of what is often called America's very first third party, The Anti-Masonic Party. Morgan's young wife, Lucinda Morgan, became a household name and sensation. She was quite beautiful, so she was a great asset to the politicians of this party to garner sympathy for their movement.

Freemasonry was casted into the shadows. It lost 90 - 95% of all its members in a few short years, and for a few decades, it was thought to be dead entirely by most.

My copy of Light on Masonry is a 1st edition from 1829. You can see it was in rough shape at some point. There's a big repair on the front, a new piece of leather stitched in, though even that repair looks quite old. It's probably in the roughest shape of all my antique books, but I still love it, I think it has character.

interesting, I knew of the anti-masonic party in the 1800s, but never heard this story before, thanks for sharing!

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Freemasons are basically a secret society of devil worshipers. KKK was founded by and is ran in degrees just like Masons. Highest you can go is 33 degrees because their occult symbolism is all based on things like sacred geometry and the understanding of preventing others from seeking true knowledge (universal oneness). You have things like 33 vertebrae in the human spine with the flow of energy to the pineal gland (3rd eye) leads to what they call "forbidden knowledge" which is just an enlightened/astral state of consciousness, 33 circles in the flower of life, etc.

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Xenozoa425 posted...

Freemasons are basically a secret society of devil worshipers. KKK was founded by and is ran in degrees just like Masons. Highest you can go is 33 degrees because their occult symbolism is all based on things like sacred geometry and the understanding of preventing others from seeking true knowledge (universal oneness). You have things like 33 vertebrae in the human spine with the flow of energy to the pineal gland (3rd eye) leads to what they call "forbidden knowledge" which is just an enlightened/astral state of consciousness, 33 circles in the flower of life, etc.

What I'll say is this: They're religion is something called "The Mysteries". They believe that there is a hidden symbolism present in ALL religions and spiritual systems; a hidden message that links them all and makes all religions at their root, the same. The Myseries represents man's journey to become God.

Holy shit this is cool.

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JimmyFraska posted...

What I'll say is this: They're religion is something called "The Mysteries". They believe that there is a hidden symbolism present in ALL religions and spiritual systems; a hidden message that links them all and makes all religions at their root, the same. The Myseries represents man's journey to become God.

The monotheistic ones yes, they don't care what sector of monotheistic religion you subscribe to as long as you are Jewish, Christian, Catholic or Islamic, as they have all the big books in their lodges. They know that the devil is the "god" of those religions. Many aspects of the Masonic order, as well as Pagan and Luciferian ideologies, contain occult symbolism that has gradually been cast over modern society for many centuries.

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(stupid type in my above post. *their, lol, it was late)

Xenozoa425 posted...

The monotheistic ones yes, they don't care what sector of monotheistic religion you subscribe to as long as you are Jewish, Christian, Catholic or Islamic, as they have all the big books in their lodges.

Technically, it goes further than that. You just have to proclaim belief in a higher power.

As for the Mystery Religion, they maintain that it is indeed present, in every religion, and that initiates of the Mysteries have been in place throughout all of history, in every society and spiritual system, inserting and spreading this doctrine, if not founding these different systems on it entirely. They aren't just claiming those Abrahamic religions, but all of them. Every spiritual system on earth is actually one, according to their beliefs.

Manly Hall calls these groups throughout history "the Order of the Quest". The Quest for this ultimate goal; this great enlightenment. If you look, the words "quest" and "question" are quite similar and obviously come from the same root. A quest is to search, a question is to ask. It could probably be said that the origin of any quest is a founding question.

Quest>Question>Mystery

You could almost call them "The Order of the Mystery"

tagging to read later

should be noted that the bavarian illuminati was an actual secret society in the late 18th century, around the time that book was written actually

allegations pertaining to the existence of such an organization in more recent decades/years (since the original org went into decline, in the later 18th or early 19th century i believe) is conspiracy theorism though

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TheMikh posted...

tagging to read later

should be noted that the bavarian illuminati was an actual secret society in the late 18th century, around the time that book was written actually

allegations pertaining to the existence of such an organization in more recent decades/years (since the original org went into decline, in the later 18th or early 19th century i believe) is conspiracy theorism though

Well, that book is heavily about the Bavarian Illuminati. Letters and documents appeared that pretty heavily incriminated the Illuminati in a range awful things, and got them in big trouble in like, the 1780s or so. This goes back to what I said earlier, that it gets to the point where you have to simply make a choice whether you believe one way or the other, or you decide you simply cannot make a choice one way or the other. Weishaupt, the leader of the organization, claims he was framed, while others make claims that he actually was doing these evil things and gave them evil orders.

If what the author of Proofs, and another book (Memoirs of Jacobinism) says is true as they say it, it is no stretch at all to imagine this nefarious clandestine organization was still making plans after their persecution and banishment from Bavaria. It is heavily implied that their membership was into the thousands, in the highest societies all throughout Europe. Regardless, this is where the "Illuminati" conspiracy theory comes from.

JimmyFraska posted...

Well, that book is heavily about the Bavarian Illuminati. Letters and documents appeared that pretty heavily incriminated the Illuminati in a range awful things. This goes back to what I said earlier, that it gets to the point where you have to simply make a choice whether you believe one way or the other, or you decide you simply cannot make a choice one way or the other.

If what the author of Proofs, and another book (Memoirs of Jacobinism) says is true as they say it, it is no stretch at all to imagine this nefarious clandestine organization was still making plans after their persecution and banishment from Bavaria. It is heavily implied that their membership was into the thousands, in the highest societies all throughout Europe. Regardless, this is where the "Illuminati" conspiracy theory comes from.

ah, that makes sense.

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Question for TC, what's your take on Albert Pike's 1871 letter to Giuseppe Mazzini?

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Xenozoa425 posted...

Question for TC, what's your take on Albert Pike's 1871 letter to Giuseppe Mazzini?

@Xenozoa425 We can't know it's real. What we know is that the copy we've all read already existed at least in the 1890s, if not back in the 1870s.

From my perspective, someone who believes in the conspiratorial view of history, it seems too good to be true. However, from my perspective as well, it does not fall out of line with the kind of schemes we Anti-Masons believe this conspiracy is capable of. And all that being said, even being written in the 1890s, it's still creepy it predicting 3 world wars all the way back then. Even as a fabrication wirtten in the 1890s, who thought of that, and how did it line up so well with what's happened?

Not just that but they also coined the word "nazi" in the 1871 letter before it became a word and political party in early 20th century Germany.

It definitely raises some eyebrows for sure.

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Xenozoa425 posted...

Not just that but they also coined the word "nazi" in the 1871 letter before it became a word and political party in early 20th century Germany.

It definitely raises some eyebrows for sure.

Shut the fuck up.

and lol boy this topic explains a lot about tcs recent political takes

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Phynaster posted...

Shut the fuck up.

and lol boy this topic explains a lot about tcs recent political takes

@Phynaster Hey if you think America is the greatest place on earth that's on you. I have zero hope for this country. It has never been good.

Nope. America is terrible. But conspiratorial nonsense is just that

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Phynaster posted...

Nope. America is terrible. But conspiratorial nonsense is just that

You're not saying anything of substance. Where in this topic do I claim these theories are true and proveable? I'm not the one making that argument, that's not what the topic is about. We agree that America is terrible. Why do we disagree elsewhere?

Phynaster posted...

Shut the fuck up.

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This is cool as shit man

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I want more

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