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AMERICA'S SECRET ESTABLISHMENT -- AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ORDER OF SKULL AND BONES |
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Memorandum Number Three: The Ritual of The Order The ritual of The Order is a closely held secret. The most that anyone can do at this stage is piece together some elements of the ritual and their probable meaning. The extraordinary secrecy is itself part of a ritual. Members are sworn not to discuss the organization, its procedures or its objectives. Presumably, only an FBI or Congressional investigation could break this code of "omerta" (Mafia = silence). The secrecy is carried to extraordinary lengths. Members may not remain in the room if The Order is under discussion. Words spoken within The Order may not be placed on paper, even in letters to fellow members. For example, witness the following extract from a letter circulated to members by W. lain Scott (D. 171), President of Deer Iland Club Corporation: But beyond these mere quantitative measures of success, it is the quality of the Deer Iland experience that commends the Club to your attention. There are few, if any, places where the B-n-s life thrives in such luxuriance outside the thick and tomblike walls in New Haven. Our Order is, to use an economic term, very much horizontally integrated. That is, our ties to it are strongest through a very narrow slice of time - one special year. Deer Iland, for me and I believe many others, has expanded these ties vertically through contact with younger and older members. Visitors to the island last summer ranged from D. 124 to D. 182, twelve of them. It serves as prelude to the music of the B-n-s for the "newly fledged exalted K---- ts" and as an endlessly rising canon on that wonderful theme to the p-tr--rchs." Notice three abbreviations to conceal internal use of words from any possible outsider who may stumble on a copy of the letter: B-n-s =Bones (cited twice) The reader may consider this juvenile, and it may well be. On the other hand, these "juveniles" are the men today running the United States. Chapter meetings of Patriarchs are announced using a format which has not changed since the early 19th century. An interesting and significant aspect of these announcements is the manner in which they reflect elements of the ritual: the skull and bones, the periods into which The Order has placed its history and the club numbers. We reproduce below announcements for the following years: 1. July 28, 1859 -- the earliest year for which we have a copy. Note the Roman letters VI in the center of the sheet. 2. July 23, 1868 -- the last year for which we have a record of the VI appearing. We understand that 1869 was actually the last year with VI. 3. July 21, 1870 -- the first year with VIII in the center. Note that VII appears to have been skipped completely. 4. June 17, 1936 -- note that the format remains almost the same. This one was signed by Potter Stewart, later (1958-1981) Supreme Court Justice. 5. May 31, 1984 -- the latest announcement notice. Note that the Club number D. 183 now appears, but in essence the sheet remains exactly as in 1859. It appears they even used the same skull and bones. The initiation ceremony itself has been partially described in both the 1876 documents (reproduced below) and a century later by Ron Rosenbaum in "The Last Secrets of Skull & Bones" (Esquire, September 1977). Each year 15 newly tapped members are put through what has been described as a "harrowing" ordeal presumably to test their manhood -- a manner traditional with fraternity hazing. According to Rosenbaum, "one can hear strange cries and moans coming from the bowels of the tomb" during initiation. Four elements of the initiation ceremony are recorded:
Undoubtedly there is more. However, the above is enough to warrant branding The Order as based on behavior more suited to juvenile delinquents. Undoubtedly the more serious part of the initiation process is peer pressure, the conversion of juveniles into presumably responsible members of an unelected elite. As Rosenbaum comments, "the real purpose of the institution was ... devoted to converting the idle progeny of the ruling class into morally serious leaders of the establishment." What happens in the initiation process is essentially a variation of brain-washing or encounter group processes. Knights, through heavy peer pressure, become Patriarchs prepared for a life of the exercise of power and continuation of this process into future generations. In brief, the ritual is designed to mold establishment zombies, to ensure continuation of power in the hands of a small select group from one generation to another. But beyond this ritual are aspects notably satanic.
322
Thursday Evening, July 23d, 1808.
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322
Thursday Evening, May 31, 1984
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