8 real secret societies

Secret societies inspire equal parts suspicion and envy. Do these shadowy organizations control the world behind closed doors, or do they spend their hours playing cards and performing silly rituals?

In this episode of The List Show, host Erin McCarthy examines the real, verifiable facts behind some secret (and not-so-secret) organizations, from the Illuminati to the Bohemian Club.

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Image credits:

Wikimedia Commons
Public domain
Bohemian Grove (Binksternet)
Grove 1909 (Gabriel Moulin)
Russell (Marmaduke Percy)
Skull and bones (BoolaBoola2)
Scroll and touch (BetacommandBot)
Wolf head (BoolaBoola2)
Book and Snake (BetacommandBot)
Elizabethan Club (BoolaBoola2)
Weisthaupt (Rettinghaus)
John Robinson (Thomas Gun)
Barruel (William C. Minor)
Stonemasons (PKM)
Order of the Eastern Star (SarekOfVulcan)
CC 3.0
Owl Sanctuary (Aarkwilde)
CC4.0
Aerial Grove (Brianhama)
Explorers Club (Jonathan S Knowles)
Interior of the Explorers Club (Rhododenndrites)

Getty:
Skeleton in a closet (Johner Images)
Grave Robber (Hulton Archives)
Debate (Heritage Images)
Jefferson (print collector)
Oxford (print collector)
King Edward VIII (Hulton Archives)
Queen Mary (Cultural Club)
Evelyn Waugh (Hulton Deutsch)
Cameron(Bruno Vincent)
Bottle breaking quote
(Thematic press agency)
Boris Johnson (Neville Elder)
Mason initiation (Heritage images)
Masons2 (Heritage Images)
Washington (Fine Arts)
Mozart (Hulton Archives)
FDR (Library of Congress)
Houdini (Hulton Archives)
Churchill (evening standard)
Count Basie (Heritage Images)
Medgar Evers (Hulton Archives)
Crockett (Barney Burstein)
Aldrin (Heritage Images)
Oscar Wilde (W. and D. Downey)
Lindbergh (Library of Congress)
Marshall (historical)
Masonic ritual (Hulton Archive)
Halloween Decorations (Juan Silva)