Leo Taxil and the Origin of ALL Masonic Conspiracy Culture
The 12-Year Hoax That Permanently Married Freemasonry to Satanism
1885-1897: French prankster Leo Taxil published fabricated treatises claiming a secret satanic Masonic inner circle (the 'New and Reformed Palladium'). Invented fictitious high priestess Diana Vaughan. Claimed the Order of the Eastern Star pentagram represented Baphomet. Alleged blood sacrifices, demonic visitations, assassination plots. Massively profitable — endorsed by Catholic clergy.
April 1897: Confessed at a press conference that EVERYTHING was fiction — created to mock the 'known credulity and unknown idiocy' of the religious public.