# Illuminati **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 10, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061 "2003-12-10T01:22:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![battousai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@battousai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/battousai)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/1 "2003-12-10T01:22:26Z")
Hey, I was reading one of the earlier posts about the May Day and Illuminati. Now im not an expert nor do i wish to critize Cisil, is that how you spell his name?, hes answered many a question for me. Now its time for me to help him, any ways, im very much into the Illuminati. The Illuminati was actually created in the eary 1300s by the free Masons whom where against the catholic religion. They were part of a greater group called the priory of Zion. which broke off of the main group of Templars. Later the groups rejoined in the 1500s during the renessance. The head masters of the two groups were actually one in the same, Leonardo DaVinci. The Illuminati were a group, at that time and to the present time, a group of scientists who believed that religion was a lie and wrong. This belief was created by the “fact” that the priory of Zion, part of the group once again, were protecting proof that the Catholic Church was lieing in their bible. That proof is the children of Christ and the bones of Mary Magdaline, his wife. Maybe this will help. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/2 "2003-12-10T04:29:52Z")
Link to the article: [Does May Day actually commemorate the birth of the Illuminati?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_043.html) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/3 "2003-12-10T14:36:05Z")
You realize, of course, that this is complete and utter bullshit? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/4 "2003-12-10T17:36:41Z")
Yeah, but it’s _fun_ bullshit. I quite enjoyed the sensation of having my head explode… Priory of Zion. [http://www.conspire.com/priory.html](http://www.conspire.com/priory.html) > **[Priory of Sion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priory_of_Zion)** > > The Prieuré de Sion (\[pʁi.jœ.ʁe də sjɔ̃\]), translated as Priory of Sion, was a fraternal organisation founded and dissolved in France in 1956 by Pierre Plantard in his failed attempt to create a prestigious neo-chivalric order. In the 1960s, Plantard began claiming that his self-styled order was the latest front for a secret society founded by crusading knight Godfrey of Bouillon, on Mount Zion in the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1099, under the guise of the historical monastic order of the Abbey o... > [@](#): > > Historians who specialize in the area do not accept their work as a serious contribution to scholarship. No kidding. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/5 "2003-12-10T23:07:07Z")
Perhaps worth mentioning that just the last fortnight has seen the publication of _The Treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau: A Mystery Solved_ (Sutton, 2003) by Bill Putnam and John Edwin Wood. It doesn’t really turn up much new, nor is it the truely great debunking book about _The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail_ that could be written. But it does usefully - and sceptically - pull together a lot of stuff about the story of Plantard and de Cherisey’s Priory of Sion hoax for the first time in English. Not that it’ll convince the nutters. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/6 "2003-12-11T06:21:34Z")
No, no, no… The Illuminati was actually founded in the year AD 2332 (hence the obsession with 2 and 3), and then brought back to the thirteenth century by time travellers. You see, a rogue time traveller had gone back to AD 32 (those numbers again!), and claimed to be the Messiah, using modern technology he’d brought back to perform “miracles”. The law enforcement tried to go back to stop him, but their time machine malfunctioned and landed them in the year 1223. Of course, by that time, the imposter’s cult was quite well established, so they had to work behind the scenes in their damage control efforts. The only reason they’re involved with government at all is that in 1932 the U. S. government got ahold of one of Jesus’ futuristic devices, and within a decade managed to get it to work in the Philadelphia Experiment, where they teleported a ship to the planet Tiamat, thereby diverting its orbit so that it’ll strike the Earth in its next pass, just as the Age of Aquarius begins. ---
**Author:** ![SkyCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SkyCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyCowboy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/7 "2003-12-11T14:26:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*No, no, no… The Illuminati was actually founded in the year AD 2332 (hence the obsession with 2 and 3), and then brought back to the thirteenth century by time travellers. \*\* Chronos, I believe you meant to say “The Illuminati WILL be founded in the year AD 2332.” 😉 Best, Sky ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/8 "2003-12-11T15:31:34Z")
That’s “will an-haven gefoundan”, according to “Tenses for Time Travellers” (London edition, updated as of September 13, 1752). ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/9 "2003-12-11T16:19:40Z")
Or, to stir another debate left unstirred, “The Illuminati will have gotten founded in the year AD 2332.” Of course, that’s if mankind is still alive in the year 2525. RR ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/10 "2003-12-11T17:45:00Z")
I can second **bonzer** ’s recommendation of the Putnam and Wood book. Its importance is that the gullible no longer have the excuse that all the books demonstrating that the ‘mystery’ was a hoax are in French. ---
**Author:** ![SkyCowboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SkyCowboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyCowboy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/11 "2003-12-11T18:03:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bonzer \* > \*\*Perhaps worth mentioning that just the last fortnight has seen the publication of _The Treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau: A Mystery Solved_ (Sutton, 2003) by Bill Putnam and John Edwin Wood. > > Not that it’ll convince the nutters. \*\* Bonzer, Don’t think I’m a nutter, but I once went on a camping trip in Southern France down around the Rennes-le-Chateau area. Believe me, there is some strange karma in that area. Best, Sky ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/12 "2003-12-11T21:42:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SkyCowboy \* > Don’t think I’m a nutter, but I once went on a camping trip in Southern France down around the Rennes-le-Chateau area. > > Believe me, there is some strange karma in that area. I’ve been to the area myself: a beautiful, memorable landscape with lots of history and Rennes-le-Chateau is exactly the sort of romantic hilltop village that _ought_ to have a nice mystery associated with it. It’s just that we’re not the only ones to have thought so. And if the thought occured to someone owning an hotel in the village and with empty rooms to fill, then tales get spun. ---
**Author:** ![battousai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@battousai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/battousai)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/13 "2003-12-12T01:24:37Z")
actually you guys are being stupid, my weeks of research and reading of books several times over show that they were part of the preure de scion, maybe you should do more research into things before you say anything. ---
**Author:** ![battousai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@battousai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/battousai)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/14 "2003-12-12T01:26:22Z")
And another thing the obsession with the number 2332 is not because its the date of establishment but because it reads the same forwards and backwards, much like an ambigram reads the same rightside up or upside down. ---
**Author:** ![battousai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@battousai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/battousai)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/15 "2003-12-12T01:27:35Z")
And Chronos dont be stupid. ---
**Author:** ![battousai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@battousai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/battousai)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/16 "2003-12-12T01:31:56Z")
Ive read many of the books mentioned and then some including The Treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau: A Mystery Solved (Sutton, 2003) by Bill Putnam and John Edwin Wood. The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail amoung several others. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/17 "2003-12-12T04:20:06Z")
Gather ‘round, folks. This could be entertaining on a chilly December evening. I’ve got a big bag o’ popcorn and a case of cold beer. Anybody bring some olives? * * * “Busy, busy, busy.” --Bokonon (through Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.) ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/18 "2003-12-12T19:41:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by battousai \* > \*\*Ive read many of the books mentioned and then some including The Treasure of Rennes-le-Chateau: A Mystery Solved (Sutton, 2003) by Bill Putnam and John Edwin Wood. The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail amoung several others. \*\* Have you read the two links offered by **Duck Duck Goose** above and realized you’ve been taken in by a groundless conspiracy theory? BTW, you may also read somewhere that thinking happy thoughts will allow you to fly. That, too, is untrue. Peace. ---
**Author:** ![vodyanoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c68b51/32.png) [@vodyanoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vodyanoi)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/19 "2003-12-12T20:20:51Z")
HBHG is a load of crap. Interesting crap, and it makes for a great story. But it is no more factual than Peter Pan (hat tip to Moriah). It doesn’t take a genius to see this. The authors continually make weak assumptions, jump to unwarrented conlcusions and disregard contrary evidence. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061/20 "2003-12-12T22:48:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by battousai \* > actually you guys are being stupid, my weeks of research and reading of books several times over show that they were part of the preure de scion, maybe you should do more research into things before you say anything. In that case it should be easy enough for you to come up with some reference to a Prieure de Sion/Priory of Sion/Priory of Zion that unambiguously predates, say, 1900. Nothing vague. After all, if this “priory of Zion” is active and important in that period, shouldn’t there be some specific, contemporary reference to it? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/illuminati/218061.md?page=2)