Last week Treasure Hunters<\/i> (NBC Amazing Race-type reality show) had its teams running around England and France looking for clues related to a secret society to which many of our founding fathers belonged. Of course, I immediately though “Freemasonry.” Because that’s been a plot point forever, leading to tons of conspiracy theories. But no. It was the Rosicrucian Order, which I was slightly familiar with through Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum<\/i>. When I went to the library to refresh my memory on the Rosicrucians, however, I can’t find any reference to it being an active society in the United States in the late 18th century, as it would’ve had to have been for people like Benjamin Franklin to be members of it. (Treasure Hunters<\/i> flashed Franklin portraits every time the host mentioned the secret society.) I looked in three different books, and have since looked at numerous websites (including the Catholic Encyclopedia, which is usually pretty reliable), and it seems as though the order largely faded out by the 18th century, then was reintroduced in the 1850s in both England and the U.S. Of course, it is a secret<\/i> society, so perhaps they were all secretly<\/i> members. *eyeroll*<\/p>\n
Not that I would expect Treasure Hunters<\/i> to be, you know, an authoritative show or anything like that. But it seems weird that they would go after the Rosicrucian Order, when they could make a more convincing claim for Freemasonry. I suppose Freemasonry isn’t esoteric enough anymore. Nope, now we’ve gotta go for the really secret secret societies. Next thing I suppose they’ll be claiming that Lincoln was a Grand Master in the Priory of Sion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week Treasure Hunters (NBC Amazing Race-type reality show) had its teams running around England and France looking for clues related to a secret society to which many of our founding fathers belonged. Of course, I immediately though “Freemasonry.” Because that’s been a plot point forever, leading to tons of conspiracy theories. But no. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[28,65],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2006\/07\/randomosity\/","url_meta":{"origin":68,"position":0},"title":"Randomosity","author":"Jandy","date":"July 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Warning: This post is going to be random. I feel like writing, because I haven't for a while, but I really don't have anything substantial to say. End of disclaimer. Back from Florida. And I didn't get a sunburn this year! Maybe the first time ever. My coworker has been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/personal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2846,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2009\/10\/tv-reality-bites-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":68,"position":1},"title":"TV: Reality Bites #1","author":"Jandy","date":"October 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Survivor 19x01 - 19x03 OMG, I still hate Russell. I'm kind of bored with this season, actually. I don't really like anyone (the two people I did find interesting they already voted out, but that piqued interest could just be the editing). It's more like degrees of dislike\/apathy. And yet,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Television"","block_context":{"text":"Television","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/television\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Survivor.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36979,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2023\/04\/treasure-trove\/","url_meta":{"origin":68,"position":2},"title":"treasure trove","author":"Jandy","date":"April 8, 2023","format":"aside","excerpt":"I just found my notebooks going back to grad school in 2006-2008 and further, to classes I took at WashU in 2004-2005, plus reading\/film journals and commonplace books. Like going back in time over here!","rel":"","context":"In "ephemera"","block_context":{"text":"ephemera","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/ephemera\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29494,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/review-tomboy\/","url_meta":{"origin":68,"position":3},"title":"Review: Tomboy","author":"Jandy","date":"November 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"[Rating:3.5\/5] [Tomboy opens in limited release in the US this week, so I'm reposting and expanding my LAFF review; x-posted from Row Three] Moving into a new neighborhood means new kids to play with, and a chance for ten-year-old tomboy Laure (already androgynous with cropped hair, tank top, and shorts)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Tomboy.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36223,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/challenge-week-33-the-blues-brothers\/","url_meta":{"origin":68,"position":4},"title":"Challenge Week 33: The Blues Brothers","author":"Jandy","date":"September 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"WHERE HAS THIS MOVIE BEEN ALL MY LIFE. I didn't know which way this one would go, frankly - comedies from the '80s are pretty hit or miss with me. I knew it was a musical of some sort, which is a bonus, but I didn't know really what kind\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/tf-feat-blues2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3824,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/haven-1x06-1x08\/","url_meta":{"origin":68,"position":5},"title":"Haven 1×06-1×08","author":"Jandy","date":"August 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"My intention was to write about these episodes as I watch them, preferably close to when they air, but I got sidetracked and three weeks happened. Oh well. We'll just call this the least conventionally scheduled television column ever. Post contains plot set-ups, but not spoilers for the endings, except\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Television"","block_context":{"text":"Television","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/television\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/1x06-Fur-11.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}