Freemasons and Hoaxes

From About Freemasons

Many hoaxes have been aimed at the Masons, often to portray Freemasonry in a bad light. In many cases, pranksters were able to use the relative closed door policy of the Freemasons to create seeds of doubt and suspicion in people’s minds. Although most hoaxes aimed at Freemasons have been exposed, misinformation and initial waves of bad publicity surrounding the hoaxes have done much harm to the fraternity.

Morgan and the Hoax

In 1826, a man named William Morgan claimed to be a Mason and declared his intention of exposing Freemasonry and higher-degree Masonic societies such as the Royal Arch in a forthcoming book. Morgan was arrested on trumped-up charges at least twice and then disappeared. The Masons were accused of being behind his vanishing and 20 trails against Masons failed to bring any significant convictions or jail times related to the case. Many Americans viewed this as a miscarriage of justice, perpetrated by a powerful body that had connections at every level of government. "Morgan committees" were set up to discover the facts of the crime. This soon led to wide-spread Anti-Masonic sentiment and even the establishment of an Anti-Masonic Party. The sole aim of the party was to banish Masons out of American society and culture. A few politicians ran successfully on the Anti-Masonic platform at this time as well. While the Anti-Masonic Party collapsed and politicians moved onto to pressing matters, Masonic attendance at lodges dwindled and the place of Freemasonry in America was made far less secure as a result of the Morgan incident.

The Taxil hoax

In the late 1880s, a former French Mason named Joseph Gabriel Antoine Jogand-Pagès claimed to expose the secrets of Freemasonry. He was known by his pen name, Leo Taxil, and he did considerable harm to Freemasonry by publishing lies that are still used by the anti-Masonry movement today. Taxil claimed that Freemasonry was a secret religion, dedicated to the worship of Satan. He described secret and grotesque rituals, allegedly performed by Masons for the worship of Lucifer. Taxil published a number of books about Freemasonry. The first was a four-volume history of Freemasonry, which actually contained many mistruths and lies. Taxil also wrote a book called Devil in the Nineteenth Century, in which a fictional but supposedly real woman named Diana Vaughan practiced Satanic Freemasonry. As Diana Vaughan, Taxil then published a book titled Eucharistic Novena.

In 1897, Taxil admitted that his writings were all a hoax and were false, but by then others were writing about Taxil and taking his sentiments at face value. The fictions he created became perpetuated as myths and even today some claim that his views are the truth.

Contemporary scams involving money

Many of the most recent hoaxes involving Freemasonry have to do with money. In 2007, many Masons were allegedly contacted from someone claiming to represent a lodge. The callers were soliciting funds in the name of the lodge, but this was proven to be a hoax, as no Lodge raises funds in this way. In 2006, at least one woman in the Seattle area tried to claim that she needed assistance and approached several Lodges requesting funds. Her story was shown to be a scam. In 2005, a man claiming to be an Entered Apprentice Mason from California solicited several Lodges for assistance for himself and his family. He was not a Mason.

The Internet has also provided many opportunities for hoaxes. In addition to websites spreading false information about Masons, a number of email scams have been reported, promising free televisions for Masons or money from the "Freemason Society of Winchester Hampshire." These scams had nothing to do with Freemasonry and were merely phishing scams, designed to get Internet users to reveal their personal information.