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CASE #H94FN8 · 2 entities · 1 connections
The Illuminati
A real secret society that was shut down in 1785 — and somehow still "runs the world" according to the internet.
The Bavarian Illuminati was a real Enlightenment-era secret society founded in 1776, banned by the Bavarian government in 1785, and dissolved shortly after. The modern belief that it secretly controls world events today is a much later cultural phenomenon with no evidence the original group survived.
⇄disputed
Quick facts
- →It existed for barely 9 years before being banned and disbanding — that's the entire documented lifespan of the group.
- →Founder Adam Weishaupt was a law professor who wanted to spread Enlightenment ideas against the Catholic Church and monarchy.
- →The Eye of Providence — the "Illuminati symbol" — actually predates the group by centuries.
- →No historian has found evidence the organization survived its 1785 ban in any organized form.
- →Pop stars from Beyoncé to Jay-Z have been publicly accused of flashing "Illuminati hand signs" in music videos — a claim that says more about pattern-matching in the internet age than about 18th-century Bavaria.
- →A real modern occult group, the Ordo Templi Orientis, is sometimes confused with the historical Illuminati by conspiracy theorists, despite the two having no documented connection to each other.
Entities on file
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Adam Weishaupt (person)
Bavarian law professor who founded the Illuminati in 1776.
→ founded → Bavarian Illuminati✓documented
Bavarian Illuminati (organization)
Secret society founded in 1776, banned by the Bavarian government in 1785.
No outgoing connections on file.