In my ongoing effort to track down the true origins of the Order of the Illuminati, and carefully separate fact from fiction, I first came across a very strange website purporting to be the “true” Illuminati.

The article that I wrote about that website was called “How Do I Join the Illuminati,” as I thought it might be possible it could be an actual website for a real organization where you could join the modern day Illuminati if you wished.

After contacting and exchanging emails with the person that runs the website, who calls himself “Grand Master Merrick”, it quickly became apparent that it was either a front for some sort of cult, or a scam meant to lure in unsuspecting fools prepared to part with their money. I published a follow-up of that investigation back in November. Regardless, the search continues.

In September of 2009, I started out with a rough outline of the earliest history of the Illuminati (ignoring the claims by Illuminati societies that their religion is actually “ancient”). This history started with the Bavarian sect founded by Adam Weishaupt which eventually spread throughout much of Europe and even throughout the East.

Not long after I published that history, I was pleasantly surprised when I was contacted by author Terry Melanson, the owner of the popular website the Conspiracy Archive. Terry wanted to help correct a few of the inaccuracies of that early history, and in the process he introduced me to his book titled Perfectibilists, The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati.











Terry’s Conclusion About the French Revolution



Terry has been a long time researcher of the Illuminati, and culminated his research with the publication of his book, a 489 page indexed compilation of his research into the fabled and mysterious European movement. I was happy to get in contact with someone who has already devoted so much time and effort into digging for true facts and evidence supporting the beginnings and the spread of the Illuminati throughout Europe and eventually the rest of the world.

Terry sent over a review copy of his book, and over the next couple of months I worked diligently at digesting the years of research that he had packed into this impressive work. The first few chapters covered the birth of Adam Weishaupt’s student group, and its spread into what quickly became known during the Renaissance as the “Illuminati”.

It was the age of enlightenment, and along with the Rosy Cross and other secret societies, the Illuminati led the way for common men to meet in secret where they could read and discuss banned literature. According to Terry, these societies led the way for commoners to join together, to discuss freedom and liberty, and to break out of the bonds that both Roman Catholic religious doctrine and the feudalist governments laid upon the commoners like chains.

I was so struck by the evidence that Terry laid out in his book up to Chapter 3 for the Illuminati’s part in the French Revolution, that I was moved to publish an immediate blog entry about it in January of this year. Terry essentially connected together the impressive research of several Illuminati scholars to point out the obvious conclusion – that Illuminati leader J.J.C Bode had clearly gone to Paris in 1787 to conspire and incite the Masons in France in a drive for revolution.

Terry Separates Fact From Fiction



One of the things that I enjoyed the most from Terry’s research is his ability to separate the desire to “prove” the evolution of the Illuminati throughout the ages with the adherence to evidence and fact. In many cases Terry uncovered some of the most blatant Illuminati hoaxes that many conspiracy theorists ignore – such as the myth that the Illuminati was a Satanic and Luciferic Society.

On page 130, at the end of Chapter 3, Terry provides an outline of how the writing of French hoaxer Leo Taxil, meant to display the gullibility of Christians, ended up creating one of the longest-running myths of all time.

Figures such as Lady Queensborough and William Guy Carr have written about the evil and Satanic nature of the Illuminati based upon Taxil’s fictional writings. It goes to show how difficult it is to eradicate a hoax once the false meme of a hoax has been injected into the world.

A Diary of Illuminati Members

Using his skill at extracting membership evidence from the earliest journals, letters and writings of early Illuminati members, Terry essentially created an encyclopedia of Illuminati members. 244 pages of Melanson’s book cover the proven history of the Illuminati from 1776 through the early to mid 1800s. The next half of his book is an entire compilation of the Illuminati members that Terry has identified.

The alphabetized list of hundreds upon hundreds of identified Illuminati members is not completely surprising, considering that during the time period involved, there is sufficient historic evidence to prove that these secret societies were running strong throughout most of Europe. None of the identified members stretch beyond the 1900’s, nor do they prove or confirm the spread of the Illuminati into the United States as claimed by most Illuminati conspiracy theorists these days.

In fact, Terry does a brilliant job in his book in debunking some of the longest-running Illuminati conspiracy theories that you find online these days, such as that of the Great Seal of the United States representing the seal of the Bavarian Illuminati. On page 215, Terry writes:

“The birth of the conspiracy theory might have begun with someone that was familiar with both the Illuminati pyramid surrounded by Deo Proximo, as well as the Great Seal pyramid which was surrounded by Deo Favente. An active mind would probably come to the conclusion that they were too similar to be coincidence. Yet Barton and Thomson borrowed from earlier designs of the previous committees, and the unfinished pyramid was already a feature in the 1777 (only one year after the birth of the Illuminati itself) design of a fifty-dollar colonial note by Francis Hopkinson.”

Obviously, the timing just wasn’t quite right, but that doesn’t stop countless Illuminati conspiracy theories across the web to claim that the Great Seal was the work of the Illuminati.

Where to Go From Here?

Melanson’s book represents a great deal of research and an entire mountain of documentation and leads that an enterprising Illuminati researcher could use to pick up the trail of breadcrumbs leading to the truth about the Illuminati today.

Perfectibilists will not draw a direct line between Weishaupt’s society of young Perfectibilists and any actual secret societies that exists today which espouse the same values and beliefs. Given the fact that there are a great many societies – Freemasonry as the most obvious and popular example – that exist in today’s society, it would not be much surprise if there are societies based upon the principles of the early Illuminati.

However, what readers must understand is that while members of these societies might like to believe that they hold close to their chest principles and beliefs that are ancient and that hold the “truth” about the human condition – it is far more likely that these societies hold no greater truth than you could obtain yourself simply by reading a few of the greatest literary novels of all time.

For anyone interested in establishing a solid foundation in the actual proven history of the Bavarian Illuminati, I highly recommend Melanson’s book Perfectibilists. In this book, you have at your fingertips a rich library of leads that could take you even further down the road to understanding what “enlightenment” meant to the men of Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Pick up your copy of Perfectibilists: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati today.

Originally published on TopSecretWriters.com