mysterious happenings?

January 11, 2006 9:04 PM

What are some facts, rumors, and speculation about secretive/mysterious organizations or events?

I'm not necessarily asking for conspiracy theories. I am curious about things like: what super-rich people may do with their wealth; what technologies have achieved that the general public does not yet realize or understand; corporate/government activities which are purposefully concealed, etc. Information about the past would be great, too.

Thanks!

posted by foraneagle2 to society & culture (20 answers total)

Got'cher answers right here.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:07 PM on January 11, 2006

check out Skull & Bones society.
posted by devilsbrigade at 9:10 PM on January 11, 2006

Crank.net collects Web sites that expound on such theories, among other things.
posted by Gator at 9:11 PM on January 11, 2006

Super-rich website owners have the technology to purposefully conceal chatfilter questions. And it's been going on for years!
posted by box at 9:11 PM on January 11, 2006

The Bilderberg Group.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:13 PM on January 11, 2006

Sorry, that wasn't what I thought it was. Please ignore it.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:14 PM on January 11, 2006

This was what I was talking about: the Bilderberg group.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 9:15 PM on January 11, 2006

this is a little of a divergence.. but might be interesting to check out World Future Studies Federation or World Changing, in terms of things the public doesn't not yet know about but may conceivably happen or is already on the fringes.
posted by ejaned8 at 9:21 PM on January 11, 2006

The Bohemian Grove.
posted by euphorb at 10:32 PM on January 11, 2006

The Trilateral Commission
posted by frogan at 10:42 PM on January 11, 2006

what super-rich people may do with their wealth

Read somewhere that the Russian "space passenger" program, which costs something like $20 million for the flight and probably millions more for training, has targeted 100 people on the planet that are both wealthy enough and healthy enough to participate. Those 100 people are the ones they market to.
posted by frogan at 10:45 PM on January 11, 2006

Well, it depends on who's doing the selling, and if you're buying:
- The BBC? Echelon
- Dan Brown? Opus Dei
- People for the American Way? The Federalist Society
- The FBI? AIPAC (The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee)
- Michael Ovitz? The Gay Mafia
posted by rob511 at 12:21 AM on January 12, 2006

The global elite - who are they? is an article talking about some of these 'secret societies'. There's also some info in the Rotten.com library.

(By the way, can somebody explain what's up with the Sovereign Military Order of Malta? I've always been fascinated by this organisation, which is part of the UN, issues coins, stamps & license plates, but is not a nation. I've never managed to fully understand how it works, what it does, how one becomes a member, ...)
posted by lodev at 2:57 AM on January 12, 2006

Gnomes of Zurich
posted by Otis at 5:34 AM on January 12, 2006

You might want to check out The Secret Societies Handbook:

"Michael Bradley examines the hidden story behind our economic and political hierarchy. He traces the roots of 21 secret societies that have shaped the history of the last two thousand years and reveals shocking new evidence concerning the true extent of their global power today"
posted by mikepop at 5:43 AM on January 12, 2006

If you're intereted in this stuff, I highly recommend Them: Adventures With Extremists by Jon Ronson. (His more recent book, The Men Who Stare at Goats, is great too.)
posted by staggernation at 6:16 AM on January 12, 2006

Metafilter is controlled by the cabal.
posted by LarryC at 6:47 AM on January 12, 2006

Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the Priory of Sion -- the idea that Jesus was married and had at least one child, and his bloodline survives in Europe to this very day.
posted by anastasiav at 10:00 AM on January 12, 2006

I heard that to get into Harvard's Porcellian club, you had to fuck a pig.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:21 PM on January 12, 2006

There's a magazine marketed only to billionaires. Unsurprisingly, it is called Billionaire.
posted by haqspan at 3:15 PM on January 12, 2006