Brad Meltzer's Decoded (2010) s01e03 Episode Script
Statue of Liberty
What if I were to tell you that the greatest symbol of American democracy hides a secret message? In 1876, the statue of liberty was given to America in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the declaration of independence.
At the time, it was the tallest structure in New York.
But some believe that this lady is not who she appears to be -- that her outward message cloaks a much darker meaning A coded symbol meant for a chosen few.
They say the men who designed and built the statue were members of the illuminati, a small sect of one of the world's most secret organizations, the freemasons.
The masons deny any affiliation.
And it's hard to say because for over 200 years, the illuminati have remained so well hidden that we have to question if they actually exist at all.
Whatever the case, it's time to find out, is one of America's most iconic symbols actually hiding a message in plain sight? I'm Brad Meltzer.
I've spent my life collecting stories.
The best include signs, symbols, and codes, secret meanings that are hidden in plain sight.
Some have become the basis for my novels, but I've only scratched the surface of what's out there.
And now history has given me the resources to investigate the rest.
This is "decoded.
" -- Captions by vitac -- Why would somebody want to do this with the statue of liberty? There's got to be a lot in what he's saying about this hidden-symbol possibility.
Buddy is like my eyes and ears out there, and I trust him.
And people trust him.
This is the first thing that people see when they come to the country.
It's the first thing that our Our ancestors saw not too many generations ago -- the first symbol of hope.
McKinley's a mechanical engineer.
She understands and believes in numbers.
She'll be great at decoding the physical part of the statue itself.
But then why a hidden meaning? Why not stick it right out there and let everybody see it? Scott's a former prosecutor.
He's a skeptic.
He doesn't believe anything that can't be proven, which is perfect, especially when dealing with something like the illuminati.
I don't want this to be true.
I just find it really upsetting.
Ever since I was a kid, I was taught that the statue of liberty represented freedom and democracy, so it seems crazy to think that might not be the whole truth.
On the other hand, Columbus didn't really discover America, so history's clearly imperfect.
[ Birds calling .]
Everyone knows the statue of liberty, right? But she's only been in new York harbor for 125 years.
At 151 feet and 1 inch tall and weighing 204 tons, she was the biggest iron structure ever built at the time.
It took over 200 men working seven days a week for nine years to make her.
The statue sits on bedloe island, renamed liberty island in 1956 by an act of congress, and she once even functioned as a lighthouse.
But one of the lady's secrets that I love best is her shackled feet.
She stands amid broken chains, but nobody ever gets to see that because of the way she stands on the pedestal.
Her torch is covered in 24-karat gold.
Her copper outer layer is incredibly thin -- in fact, no thicker than two pennies.
And while she has an actual value, she's probably most valuable as one of the greatest icons of American ideals.
And that's why she's now closely guarded 24/7 by the U.
S.
park police marine patrol unit.
She's beautiful.
She's more beautiful up close.
Oh, yeah.
She's pretty spectacular, yes.
Why is she stuck out on an island and not right on Manhattan? Well, that was the flair of the artist, bartholdi.
He really was anxious that the statue should be seen by as many people as possible, especially people coming on ships from Europe, from the Caribbean, from Canada, from all over.
As mysterious as the statue itself is Its creator, frédéric bartholdi, is even more enigmatic.
A few little-known facts -- we were actually bartholdi's second choice to receive the statue of liberty.
Originally, he wanted to give the statue to Egypt, but when the Egyptian government rejected the idea because they couldn't afford it, bartholdi regifted the statue to the United States.
Nice, huh? It's a regift.
Bartholdi modeled the physical features of the lady after the two most important people in his life, his mother and his mistress.
Some believe bartholdi used his mother's face as the basis for designing liberty's face and modeled her body after his mistress.
Can you say "oedipal disaster"? Did anybody have an objection to it? In London, the London times and other English papers said, "oh," in a snotty sort of way, you know, "isn't it strange that France, which has so little liberty, should give the statue of liberty to America, which has too much liberty?" Also, a lot of new yorkers thought she was ugly, an eyesore.
She was, like, crude because the robes are so thick, and it makes her look kind of heavy.
They objected to her waistline? Remember, it was the tallest man-made structure in New York city at that time.
Right.
There were no skyscrapers taller, so she really attracted attention.
She's facing east? Southeast.
Well, I like that idea that Barry was talking about, where she can see all the way to Europe.
As an engineer, I wanted to look at the measurements of the statue of liberty and see if she was hiding a larger idea.
If the numbers just didn't make any practical engineering sense, then I might've been willing to believe that she was hiding a secret message.
Her crown's seven rays suggest the seven seas and seven continents.
What's the point of that? The reason the numbers are interesting to me is, for engineers and architects, there's nothing accidental about numbers.
If you're making a work of art Do numbers matter? Yeah, everything matters.
It's not a function.
It's a piece of art.
So they can choose whatever they want.
Those numbers wouldn't be random? I don't think anything about this would be random, honestly.
The statue of liberty was a symbol of freedom and democracy for people all over the world.
I knew I had to listen to both sides before coming to a conclusion.
The statue of liberty has seen some dark days.
She's been attacked many times.
In 1916, German spies set off an explosion and severely damaged her.
In 1956, a group of Hungarian nationalists hijacked the statue and hung their flag over liberty's face.
And then in 1980, Croatian terrorists detonated a bomb inside the statue's face, and the damage was considerable.
It is clear that for almost a century, lady liberty's message has been under almost constant attack.
So, the height is 151 and 1 inch.
The foundation pedestal's 305 and 1 inch.
Plus 1 inch.
Index finger -- 8 feet, 1 inch.
Why are these added single inches? 151 plus 1 inch -- why? Wouldn't it be standard just to have it be 151 feet or 305 feet? I don't know.
Do you think it's worth heading back and seeing Scott? Yeah, I want to see if we're going down the right path here.
Okay.
There he is.
So, what did you find out about the attacks? Some pretty interesting stuff.
The bottom line is, it appears that the attacks were simply because she is the symbol of America, and this was a great stage upon which to get some attention and get some publicity.
So I don't think, based on what I've heard so far, that this really has anything to do with a hidden meaning.
So, I took some pictures when I got inside of the undercarriage, and does that remind you of anything? It's like the eiffel tower.
Yeah.
It has a similarity to it, but it's a little It's a little different.
It's a little crooked, but it is the first thing that comes to mind.
The men in question who were part of the design of the statue itself, you've got hunt, who designed the pedestal, you've got bartholdi, who designed the statue itself, and then eiffel, who designed the undercarriage and the skeletal The statue of liberty is not the work of one man.
When the French gave the statue to the United States, they made one request -- that a pedestal be built so that it was more easily seen from the water.
American designer Richard hunt was chosen to build her perch.
Frédéric bartholdi was the artist behind lady liberty, but it was up to gustave eiffel to realize the structure and bring her to life.
He did this with a twisted iron skeleton, and it was never intended to be pretty.
In fact, the inside of the statue was never meant to be seen by the public.
But, clearly, eiffel was pleased with his work because he went on to repeat the idea and build the eiffel tower and steal the title for the tallest structure in the world away from the Washington monument.
Is there anything in common with them? Are they Let me check something out here.
Here's bartholdi.
Check that out.
The guy is posed like Napoleon.
His hand is hidden.
The hidden hand that shaped history.
Oh, yeah, look at this.
The hidden hand? Why Napoleon traditionally depicted with his hand in his waistcoat -- some theories include he had a stomach ulcer.
Keep going.
There's something else that I saw in there.
[ Laughs .]
Keep going, keep going.
Oh, wait a second.
A gesture of importance in masonic rituals.
Members of the freemasons using this sign are proven members of the freemasons.
I would be fascinated to see if these three guys were masons.
Oh, my God, bartholdi is a freemason.
What about hunt? What about -- here he is.
Look down here -- freemason.
Absolutely.
All right.
Well, okay.
Eiffel -- gustave eiffel.
Freemason -- eiffel's a freemason.
All three.
Okay.
You know, that doesn't necessarily have to mean anything.
Right? It's always the freemasons.
The freemasons are the world's oldest and largest brotherhood.
They're steeped in covert rituals and symbolism.
Some say they even built king Solomon's temple.
That can't be proven, but here's what can.
There are about six million freemasons in the world today.
Everyone from our founding fathers, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and presidents from fdr to Gerald Ford were members.
Some have suggested that the organization has a sinister and dark agenda, which is what makes them the most over-used plot device around.
We've been researching the statue of liberty, and the most interesting thread we have now is that bartholdi, hunt, and eiffel were all freemasons.
Is there anything to that? Yeah, there's a lot to that.
The freemasons are an important key to understanding what the statue of liberty is about.
In fact, there's a lot of freemasonic symbolism in the statue.
Wanted to show you this one.
See if it looks familiar to you.
Looks exactly like the statue of liberty.
Exactly like the statue of liberty, but this is the ancient Roman goddess libertas.
This is a pagan goddess.
Another one.
This one you'll be familiar with.
What do you see here? This should be familiar to you.
And, of course, it's being held by an ancient Roman pagan goddess from a period of history that was not so nice and was anything but free.
But I don't -- I don't know quite how to put this.
There's a deeper darker, more sinister side to this entire matter That sort of exists within freemasonry -- kind of a secret within a secret society Called the illuminati.
Who were the illuminati? I would say a better term would be, who are the illuminati? Because they still exist.
The illuminati was formed in Bavaria in 1776.
They called themselves "enlightened ones," and they felt they could create a better world.
They wanted to abolish all monarchies, religion, private property, and nation states and replace them with a utopian society.
But it doesn't matter what their plan was.
What was amazing to me was how they operated, infiltrating the houses of power, from governments to secret societies like the freemasons.
They swore a vow of silence and remained completely hidden.
So when they were finally found out and banned by the king of Bavaria in 1784, there was absolutely no way to be certain they actually disbanded because they were already inside.
And this is why some people still believe the illuminati hold positions of power around the world today.
Very early on in their history, the illuminati adapted the form of freemasonry and then decided to infiltrate masonic organizations, giving freemasonry a really bad rap to the extent that they had an influence on it.
Although, it was always a hidden hand within freemasonry.
In other words, not all masons are illuminati.
They quickly moved into much darker ideas about the abolition of all States all over the world and to kind of merge the world into this amorphous, globalist community.
How's that for straightforward and scary? Okay, I don't like when people tell me that the illuminati are trying to take over the world.
But I will say if what we've just heard is true, things just got a lot more interesting.
The statue of liberty sits 151 feet and 1 inch over New York harbor.
1 inch -- it's a silent symbol.
But what does the 1 inch stand for? Mac and buddy have uncovered some strange inconsistencies in the engineering of the statue.
And when the masons or illuminati are involved, you have to pay attention to these things.
So, buddy and Mac are gonna meet with a well-known numerologist because when you're talking about codes that are in measurements, you need to look at the numbers.
When we were looking at the numbers, we found 13, 1, and 7.
Where did you find the number 13? We found the 13 by figuring how many inches the whole height of the statue was and adding up those digits and ended with 13.
What you want to do is find a particular number that reasserts itself or replays itself in various ways multiple times.
So, having just a 13 isn't necessarily that significant.
One number is very significant, and that's the number 7.
As a matter of fact, you could call the statue of liberty a shrine to the number 7.
A shrine to the number 7? Let me show you.
The first thing that we can see with an image of the crown is that you have a very conspicuous presentation of the number 7 with the seven spikes, or the seven rays.
Right.
Okay? On a secondary level, you can move down, you can see there's a series of windows.
25 -- 2 plus 5 I know this is gonna be tough for you guys.
Come on, buddy, you can do it.
Seven.
In other words, we can find numbers that break down to the number 7, and we can reassert that number 7 is part of a pattern here that's continued.
In the base, you'll see that there's four grecian columns.
Did you guys count these? There were four on each side -- 16.
Correct.
1 plus 6 7 again.
All right, let me show you something else.
You remember this part of the statue? Definitely.
Okay, there are a series of raised portions, or leaves Surrounding the torch.
There are exactly 16.
Really? 1 plus 6 7 again.
Now, this is how you find a pattern where a number reasserts itself.
We were in my world.
I love numbers.
I love math.
There's always a concrete answer.
1 plus 1 will always equal 2.
Pi will always equal 3.
14.
Numerologists, on the other hand, eh, I don't know.
[ Car horn honks .]
Hey, Brad.
It's Scott.
Hey, Scott.
So, we know a couple things.
We know that the three men who built the statue of liberty, we know they're all freemasons.
Right.
Okay, so the statue we know has clear symbolic meaning.
Let's talk to a few more people.
One of them is a guy named mark dice, who I'd like you to see.
But I want you, most important, compare him to Professor Steven bullock.
I'll send you his information, as well.
And these two guys, they're opposing views, and I think that that's what we need.
You know, this is not a novel.
This is reality.
Now, you look deeper into the structure.
For example, did you guys take any measurements of, let's say, height? Yeah, height from base to torch is 151 feet and 1 inch.
Correct -- it's 151 feet and 1 inch.
Now, whenever you see a number like this, 1 extra inch, it's clearly some kind of a clue or a cue.
Why would they do that? So, 151 feet is actually 1,812 inches.
You're gonna add the extra inch for the total amount of inches.
You get 1,813 inches.
Not every number is divisible by 7, okay, 'cause we know that 7 has a theme here.
1,813 is divisible by 7.
The answer is 259.
2 plus 5 plus 9 is 16.
1 plus 6 is 7 again.
Without that extra inch -- and this is what you have to understand here 'cause this is a remarkable situation -- without the extra inch, the number is not divisible by 7, and it does not break down to 7.
So, we wonder if there is a reason for that, and if you know about number symbolism, you know the number 7 is held as one of the most sacred and divine numbers.
The number 7 has such a profound influence on society that even today, our lives are run by the number 7.
Seven days of the week.
Seven days of the week is correct.
Not only that, we've got seven colors of the rainbow.
We've got seven seas, seven continents, seven wonders of the ancient world.
There's even seven notes in the musical scale.
In ancient India, they speak of the seven rishis, or the seven sages.
In buddhism, Buddha walked, as soon as he was born, seven miraculous steps.
In christianity, there are seven virtues and seven sins.
In catholicism, there are seven sacraments.
Yeah.
Okay? Yeah.
And even in the islamic religion, we have seven heavens and seven gates to seven hells.
So it permeates every aspect of almost every religion.
That's how sacred the number is.
So, whatever you think about numerology, the number 7 keeps repeating itself in the statue.
Can we say this is an accident? Absolutely.
But when it comes to symbolism and the freemasons, very few things were ever an accident.
Does mean that the illuminati infiltrated the masons? I have no idea.
But with this 1 inch repeating itself -- 1 inch, 1 inch, 1 inch -- always in the measurements, that's a question that we need to ask.
Buddy, Mac, and Scott are meeting with a guy who thinks the illuminati are responsible for every bad thing that's happening in world.
Yeah, now, this guy's anti-illuminati, but he absolutely, 100% believes that they exist.
If he has honest proof that they exist, I would love to see it because, you know, unless there's proof that they exist -- they seem like this historical, fictional Whether they still are infiltrating, you know, governments here, I find that very hard to believe.
Or huddled around somewhere, playing "dungeons & dragons.
" Like, are they real or are they All we can ask you to do is keep an open mind.
Just do that.
So, let's get going.
The statue of liberty is an illuminati symbol, and when you find out what it means, you'll never look at it the same way.
The reason I wanted to meet you here at the united nations is that David rockefeller donated this land To create this center.
He wrote in his memoirs that he and his family are often accused of being a member of a secret society dedicated to creating a one-world government, and he says, "I am guilty, and I'm proud.
" This is the birth child of a secret society.
Wow.
This is happening right now here on these streets today? Today.
Can you tell us a little more about the symbolism in the statue of liberty? Absolutely.
If you look at the radiant crown, she has these seven horns sticking out of her head.
That's symbolic of the sun, representing enlightenment.
Isn't enlightenment a good thing? Enlightenment is a good thing to them.
It doesn't represent America.
It doesn't represent freedom.
It represents Lucifer, Satan.
As far as I'm concerned, it should be torn down and taken to a scrap heap.
If you want to learn about political power, you must look at the illuminati.
If you're looking into the illuminati, the statue of liberty is just a footnote.
The illuminati identify with Lucifer, and that is their huge idol dedicating this country to him and showing that they rule here.
And this is hidden in the statue of liberty? Lucifer literally means "the light bearer," okay? So, for the statue of liberty, you have the torch -- the torch representing light and enlightenment.
All of us are looking at it, and it's a symbol of peace and freedom and liberty.
Well, I know that this is a little hard to swallow, especially if you're new to this.
To say the least.
The illuminati is not only a religious secret society.
Very powerful men are members of this organization, and they pull the strings from behind the scenes.
[ Sirens wailing .]
We should go find a place to sit down.
Okay.
[ Siren wails .]
Let's just see what some other people have to think, some other prominent historical figures.
I'll go to the library of congress, and I'll show you George Washington's handwritten letter.
George Washington? This was a letter written in 1798.
"It was not my intention to doubt the doctrines of the illuminati, and the principles of jacobinism had not spread to the United States.
On the contrary, no one is more satisfied of that fact than I am.
" You doubted that they even continued to exist.
George Washington says that they did.
He said the doctrines continue to exist, and maybe some of the doctrines did.
It doesn't say that the people continue to exist.
How do you think the doctrines spread? Let's hear what president John f.
Kennedy had to say about secret societies.
The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society.
And we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.
This was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.
Jfk was clearly talking about communism in that speech.
It was the height of the cold war, and Americans were terrified of Soviet Russia.
That speech had nothing to do with the illuminati.
Give me a break.
Has a President of the United States been a member of the illuminati? George w.
Bush is illuminati, his father is illuminati, his grandfather was illuminati all through the skull and bones society, which is considered the American branch of the illuminati.
Skull and bones is an infamous secret society.
They were founded in 1832 at Yale university.
Their members are the power elite.
Both presidents bush and senator John kerry are members, which also makes them the most incredibly over-played bad guys.
They're blamed for everything from the invention of the nuclear bomb to the Kennedy assassination.
Are we supposed to take your word for this? Go around New York, look in the top of some of the most prominent buildings, and you'll also see illuminati overtones -- the rising sun, a pyramid with an eye, a pyramid with an illumination coming behind it.
Some of the most powerful banks and corporations and media companies have illuminati symbols in the logos.
And so they use their private network, their good-old-boy shadow network, to build the most powerful companies in the world.
So, the illuminati have set up multiple enormous monuments.
Go to rockefeller center.
Go to the cathedral of Saint John the divine.
Central park has a giant obelisk, a symbol of the illuminati, another luciferian symbol paid for by the second richest man in the world, William Vanderbilt.
William Vanderbilt put this up, and he's an illuminati? Yes.
So, once the new world order is solidified, once the one-world government, all the infrastructure's in place, you can have a one-world dictator come forward and rule with an iron fist, and there's gonna be no way to stop him.
Come on.
I don't think there's been a master plan by one small group to take over the world since 1792.
But I do think that the past can inform the present, and I do believe there are hidden messages all around us, left by our ancestors as guides, sometimes to teach and sometimes to warn.
Let's look at just facts.
There's no question that masons built the statue of liberty, and there's no question that because of that extra 1 inch, the number 7, it keeps repeating in the statue's dimensions.
But the big question remains whether those same men were also members of the illuminati, a shadowy sect with dark intentions.
I'm getting a second wind, but I'm gonna need it.
I think we're getting there.
We're getting into a lot of good stuff.
Hot dog, just the hot mustard -- that's it.
All right.
Oh, man.
Are you starting to see symbols everywhere? Well, you know, we're in the financial district right now.
You know, what are the symbols we should be paying attention to here? Well, he told us specifically what symbols to look for and where to go.
No, I'm good.
Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
We'll just go and just eat on the run.
For a lot of people -- and I'm one of them -- the statue of liberty has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with freedom.
But for other people, she was a threat to morality and certain religious values.
Buddy, Mac, and Scott are about to confront this one head on.
Wow.
There it is.
Look at this thing.
It doesn't look that scary.
No, but it looks almost exactly like the Washington monument.
Cleopatra's needle -- 1600 b.
C.
I mean, that's just amazing to me.
The people who carved that lived before Christ.
It was put up by the freemasons, by the illuminated freemasons.
Dr.
monteith.
Yes.
How are you? But what we're really trying to get to the bottom of is, are these symbols of something sinister, and what does this mean? Well, if you were to fly over this in a helicopter and you were to look down, you would see a point within a circle.
And that has a specific occult meaning.
It's this idea of the eye.
You'll see it on the back of the dollar bill.
And they use the eye repeatedly as an emblem of knowledge -- the eye of horus, the eye of Lucifer.
Does she represent Lucifer to you, doctor? No, the statue of liberty is a pagan goddess.
What is a pagan goddess doing in the harbor here in New York city? But it was actually a gift.
It's a gift from the French people.
It exemplifies the idea of the destruction of the old order and the bringing of this new one.
They wanted not only to destroy the structure of government, they wanted to destroy the structure of religion.
We've got a pagan -- pagan goddess out there in the estuary there.
It could represent semiramis, the whore of Babylon.
I mean, I'm very concerned about the future of this city, if you believe in the Bible as I do and believe that Babylon is going to be destroyed.
And I believe that New York city is modern-day Babylon.
I'm sorry.
You believe New York city is modern-day Babylon and it's going to be destroyed? I believe it's going -- well, that's what it says in the Bible, and I happen to believe the Bible is accurate.
He just called the statue of liberty a whore.
I guess you can make certain connections to New York and Babylon, but the statue of liberty as the whore of Babylon? Thank you.
Thank you very much.
It's starting to look a little bit like a pattern.
In science, two events does not make a pattern.
But if you're looking at these symbols of the sun God, Lucifer, and there's other places to look at, and let's go see them and see if there is a pattern.
I'll look.
Absolutely.
Let's take a look.
I'm willing to look.
Can you guys try and keep up, please? I know this sounds nuts, but some people actually say that David rockefeller was illuminati.
That's something we've got to check out.
Rockefeller Plaza.
The house that rockefeller built.
Yes.
Check out This is prometheus here.
Well, he's got the torch in the right hand the same way as the statue of liberty.
Mark dice said this is a representation of Lucifer that we should be looking for in rockefeller Plaza.
Right.
Hey, you guys catching the flags? What's that reminding you of? Wow, okay, that has the u.
N.
Very u.
N.
-Like, yes.
You know, the new world order -- u.
N.
Flags everywhere, directly in the center.
Prometheus, Lucifer.
At the center.
But what's interesting, I think, is that, you know, rockefeller, the one who allegedly admitted being in a secret society, right, and wanting a new world order, would have a place after him like this with prometheus right in the middle of it, the u.
N.
Sort of flags around.
I mean, it's sort of in a sense, I think, going along with what -- what mark dice was saying.
Fire is a symbol of the illuminati, but let's be honest.
If you look hard enough, you'll start thinking that it's hidden everywhere, from liberty's torch to the statue of prometheus.
Almost everywhere you look, there's some symbol.
You got atlas, mythological titan, holding up the world.
Isn't that a weird placement, right across from one of the most beautiful cathedrals? There's atlas Holding up the world, one world.
Paganism, christianity.
Sort of an affront to the church, in a way.
Right, and according to dice, that's purposefully done.
On one hand, I felt like if I couldn't see these symbols for myself, then maybe they're not that powerful.
But on the other hand, maybe they really weren't meant for me.
They were meant for other members of the same club, and that made it kind of creepy.
All right.
So if you believe that prometheus holding the flame is an illuminati symbol and atlas with the world on his shoulders represents one world order and that this was intentionally placed across the street from a catholic church and that the statue of liberty is an illuminati beacon, then, yes, you can say that there's a powerful network of symbols across the island of Manhattan pointing to the hidden conversation of a secret society.
But that's if you believe the illuminati even existed in the 20th century, and that's what we've yet to prove.
You know who else sees the world like this? Who? Paranoid schizophrenics.
They see everything as a part of a larger pattern.
Yeah, well, is it changing the way we look at the statue of liberty yet? Okay, I've heard this one a million times.
I even wrote a book on it -- that the masons have infiltrated every part of society.
But the most shocking and outrageous thing we've heard is this -- that the illuminati may have hidden a satanic message inside the statue of liberty.
Again, let's go back to actual facts.
There's obviously a connection between the masons and the statue.
But a satanic message that's hidden in the statue itself, or even the illuminati being real? I just want someone who's credible and who doesn't dress like they should have been on "the x-files.
" So buddy and Mac and Scott are headed to meet a man who spent his life actually searching for the illuminati.
Professor bullock, do you think the statue of liberty has any hidden symbols or meaning? I just don't see it.
I think the statue of liberty is about liberty.
It's about the end of the civil war, maybe about the attempt to bring liberty to France, but I don't think there are any other secret meanings than that.
But there seems to be people that feel absolutely the opposite way and really have some radical views about this.
Well, there certainly are, but I think anytime you're talking about secret conspiracies, it's very, very hard to kill the illuminati, which, I guess, it's sort of a zombie idea.
You know, you keep killing it, you keep attacking it, and it keeps coming back.
Well, do they exist? As you probably know, they certainly did back in the 1770s, 1780s, but, you know, it's gone.
What about this notion that corporations are controlled by them? We've heard presidents were members of this organization.
The answer we got is that the illuminati are in charge of the banks, so they start the wars because it's profitable for them.
People keep coming up with things.
Conspiracy theorists want to suggest that everything is related, everything is interconnected, and having studied history all these years, it doesn't seem as if things look that way.
Finally, someone I could agree with, someone who knew what they were talking about.
There was just no evidence that some all-powerful group called the illuminati was wrestling for world domination.
These are all people who are claiming to look from the outside.
Do we have any evidence of someone coming out of the illuminati, that they found this plot, and they can name people, they can name things? You mean like a mole? You just don't have it.
That, to me, is a really strong point -- like, if they existed, someone would defect at some point.
Where are they? Professor, you've read all this stuff.
You've researched it.
Was bartholdi an illuminati? I've never found any illuminati in history, and, you know, if anything, you know, the appeal for me would have been finding this kind of thing.
So you would have been happy to find them? That would have been a great coup for me.
Instead, I'm forced to suggest there isn't that.
Can I say "I told you so"? You know, not necessarily.
I mean, I'm not sure whether the illuminati exist, or they don't exist, or what at this point, but I can tell you I was not convinced that there's evidence to the contrary after that conversation.
But there's no evidence that they do exist is what he's saying.
But that was the only answer he could give.
There's no evidence they do exist.
It's crazy.
You know, we've got so much information that we've received so quickly.
Right now it just feels like one crazy idea after another until I feel like I'm off-balance.
I mean, there's no question about that there were some of the symbols that we'd been told to look for, so And atlas right across the street from the cathedral is kind of -- it is interesting.
The location is like they're giving the finger to the church.
I was reminded of how when you're deer hunting at, like, dawn, and you really want to see deer, you start seeing their antlers in the branches, and everything starts to look like a deer.
Because we see billions of things in our lifetime, and if our filter is such that we just see certain kinds of things, we're gonna block everything else out.
That is true.
That is absolutely true, but it does not mean that the people that designed and built the statue of liberty did not have something in mind, in their minds, when they did it.
Agreed.
What I would say is we've heard the song.
Yeah.
We know what it means to us, but what did the person who wrote it mean? All right, guys, let's figure out where we are right now.
We know that the masons built the statue of liberty.
Yep.
And assuming that the illuminati infiltrated the masons, can we then safely assume the the illuminati put some sort of hidden symbolism in it? Lucifer himself is a symbol of the illuminati.
Oh, check it.
Oh, there she is.
She just came into view from behind the other bridge.
That's a great view.
The question is is the statue of liberty representing Lucifer? Could that really be possible? That's what we need to find out.
Exactly.
No matter whether you believe the statue of liberty was built as a tribute to Lucifer or, like me or most sane people, that it's a symbol of freedom, it is unquestionably one thing.
It's a symbol.
So what I want to know is where'd the Lucifer concept come from? This is a reckless and dangerous idea.
But whether we like it or not, there's a real power in symbols, especially this one.
Nice to meet you.
My pleasure completely.
Thanks for meeting us here.
We really appreciate you coming out.
We're trying to figure out whether the statue of liberty has some sort of hidden meaning, maybe something sinister and nefarious.
One of the most incredible things that we've heard so far is that the statue of liberty is actually Satan or the devil or Lucifer.
The statue of liberty actually is a symbol of Lucifer.
Oh, Jesus.
Okay, go to your computer and put in the words "statue of liberty" and "Satan," and 500 pages are gonna immediately come up, telling you that they're linked, and we all have access to that.
That's just noise.
What we don't have is the truth, and that's why we started this journey -- to find that truth.
Where did that idea come from? And every time we make some progress, we wind up right back where we started, with someone once again saying that the statue of liberty is somehow a satanic symbol.
But what is the answer? Where did it start? The statue of liberty actually is a symbol of Lucifer.
[ Chuckling .]
Killing me.
But not the Lucifer that you're thinking of, all right? She breathes a sigh of relief.
How is the statue of liberty Lucifer? Okay.
Excellent question.
First, we have to go into what Lucifer really means.
Now, where people get confused about Lucifer is specific to a passage of the Bible in the book of Isaiah, where he says this -- "how art thou fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning?" People have been saying, "well, this is about Lucifer the devil," and it is not.
But the word "Lucifer" here is not meant as a proper name.
In the 4th century, in Latin, Lucifer meant "one who bears light," and it was often used as a name for the planet Venus, the morning star, the one who bears light first thing in the morning, before the sun even comes up.
In that sense only the statue of liberty is a Lucifer.
It is a light bearer, not in the sense of Satan, not in the sense of beelzebub, you know, the prince of darkness.
It's not that kind of connection at all.
I was so relieved.
This man had sound credentials, and I trusted him.
So first, I was freaking out, but then I understood.
Lucifer is the Latin word meaning "light bringer," so in that regard, the statue of liberty is a Lucifer.
So they're making a misinterpretation, point-blank, of the word Lucifer? Hello.
That's exactly it.
There's nothing there at all about the statue, in any kind of way, abstract or not, being a Satan.
That's just not happening.
Wow.
Hard to look at it the same way as we did a couple days ago, isn't it? Now, I'll say that there's more about it than I knew.
Absolutely.
Definitely.
I'm not sure most Americans know that she's modeled after a goddess.
I mean, they just see a woman statue with a torch, and it means something to them, but that's not evil, and that's not hidden.
That's just part of its history that we didn't know.
For me, the way it breaks down is, you know the scientific method, right? You create a hypothesis, and then you gather data, and you create an unbiased conclusion.
And for me, the difference between the folks who believe the illuminati planted symbols in the statue of liberty is they aren't coming from an unbiased place.
They're coming from a biased place, and then they match the data to it.
You know, I started this journey three days ago, and I've come to the conclusion that, yeah, there are hidden symbols in the statue of liberty.
I believe that bartholdi put this statue, this monument on the island to remind ourselves of what our founders started in the first place -- ideas like reason, truth, freedom.
I can look at that torch now, and it represents enlightenment and freedom from the oppression of backwards thinkers.
It illustrates to me that, you know, history isn't this static thing.
History is ongoing, you know? It moves forward.
Absolutely.
And you know what the statue means to me now is the people that want to say there's an evil intent behind it, the statue is what gives them the right to think that and the right to say the stuff that they want to say and the right to believe whatever they want to believe.
Even if it means that you believe this thing is filled with satanic symbols.
So, in fact, it's exactly the opposite of sinister and the opposite of evil.
It's all that is good.
Are there hidden meanings in the statue of liberty? Sure.
Absolutely.
Yes, there are.
Good ones.
In the end, despite the urban myth, we couldn't find a single piece of proof that the illuminati exist today.
But you know what? What we did find is that the statue of liberty definitely has multiple meanings, depending on who's looking at it.
To some, she's a symbol of evil, but to others, including myself, she's a symbol of hope and democracy and all that is right about America.
Think about it.
There are two sources of power in every symbol -- one bestowed by its creator and the other by those who read its message.
And what's truly powerful about the statue is that she is and can be all things to all people, and that is what America should
At the time, it was the tallest structure in New York.
But some believe that this lady is not who she appears to be -- that her outward message cloaks a much darker meaning A coded symbol meant for a chosen few.
They say the men who designed and built the statue were members of the illuminati, a small sect of one of the world's most secret organizations, the freemasons.
The masons deny any affiliation.
And it's hard to say because for over 200 years, the illuminati have remained so well hidden that we have to question if they actually exist at all.
Whatever the case, it's time to find out, is one of America's most iconic symbols actually hiding a message in plain sight? I'm Brad Meltzer.
I've spent my life collecting stories.
The best include signs, symbols, and codes, secret meanings that are hidden in plain sight.
Some have become the basis for my novels, but I've only scratched the surface of what's out there.
And now history has given me the resources to investigate the rest.
This is "decoded.
" -- Captions by vitac -- Why would somebody want to do this with the statue of liberty? There's got to be a lot in what he's saying about this hidden-symbol possibility.
Buddy is like my eyes and ears out there, and I trust him.
And people trust him.
This is the first thing that people see when they come to the country.
It's the first thing that our Our ancestors saw not too many generations ago -- the first symbol of hope.
McKinley's a mechanical engineer.
She understands and believes in numbers.
She'll be great at decoding the physical part of the statue itself.
But then why a hidden meaning? Why not stick it right out there and let everybody see it? Scott's a former prosecutor.
He's a skeptic.
He doesn't believe anything that can't be proven, which is perfect, especially when dealing with something like the illuminati.
I don't want this to be true.
I just find it really upsetting.
Ever since I was a kid, I was taught that the statue of liberty represented freedom and democracy, so it seems crazy to think that might not be the whole truth.
On the other hand, Columbus didn't really discover America, so history's clearly imperfect.
[ Birds calling .]
Everyone knows the statue of liberty, right? But she's only been in new York harbor for 125 years.
At 151 feet and 1 inch tall and weighing 204 tons, she was the biggest iron structure ever built at the time.
It took over 200 men working seven days a week for nine years to make her.
The statue sits on bedloe island, renamed liberty island in 1956 by an act of congress, and she once even functioned as a lighthouse.
But one of the lady's secrets that I love best is her shackled feet.
She stands amid broken chains, but nobody ever gets to see that because of the way she stands on the pedestal.
Her torch is covered in 24-karat gold.
Her copper outer layer is incredibly thin -- in fact, no thicker than two pennies.
And while she has an actual value, she's probably most valuable as one of the greatest icons of American ideals.
And that's why she's now closely guarded 24/7 by the U.
S.
park police marine patrol unit.
She's beautiful.
She's more beautiful up close.
Oh, yeah.
She's pretty spectacular, yes.
Why is she stuck out on an island and not right on Manhattan? Well, that was the flair of the artist, bartholdi.
He really was anxious that the statue should be seen by as many people as possible, especially people coming on ships from Europe, from the Caribbean, from Canada, from all over.
As mysterious as the statue itself is Its creator, frédéric bartholdi, is even more enigmatic.
A few little-known facts -- we were actually bartholdi's second choice to receive the statue of liberty.
Originally, he wanted to give the statue to Egypt, but when the Egyptian government rejected the idea because they couldn't afford it, bartholdi regifted the statue to the United States.
Nice, huh? It's a regift.
Bartholdi modeled the physical features of the lady after the two most important people in his life, his mother and his mistress.
Some believe bartholdi used his mother's face as the basis for designing liberty's face and modeled her body after his mistress.
Can you say "oedipal disaster"? Did anybody have an objection to it? In London, the London times and other English papers said, "oh," in a snotty sort of way, you know, "isn't it strange that France, which has so little liberty, should give the statue of liberty to America, which has too much liberty?" Also, a lot of new yorkers thought she was ugly, an eyesore.
She was, like, crude because the robes are so thick, and it makes her look kind of heavy.
They objected to her waistline? Remember, it was the tallest man-made structure in New York city at that time.
Right.
There were no skyscrapers taller, so she really attracted attention.
She's facing east? Southeast.
Well, I like that idea that Barry was talking about, where she can see all the way to Europe.
As an engineer, I wanted to look at the measurements of the statue of liberty and see if she was hiding a larger idea.
If the numbers just didn't make any practical engineering sense, then I might've been willing to believe that she was hiding a secret message.
Her crown's seven rays suggest the seven seas and seven continents.
What's the point of that? The reason the numbers are interesting to me is, for engineers and architects, there's nothing accidental about numbers.
If you're making a work of art Do numbers matter? Yeah, everything matters.
It's not a function.
It's a piece of art.
So they can choose whatever they want.
Those numbers wouldn't be random? I don't think anything about this would be random, honestly.
The statue of liberty was a symbol of freedom and democracy for people all over the world.
I knew I had to listen to both sides before coming to a conclusion.
The statue of liberty has seen some dark days.
She's been attacked many times.
In 1916, German spies set off an explosion and severely damaged her.
In 1956, a group of Hungarian nationalists hijacked the statue and hung their flag over liberty's face.
And then in 1980, Croatian terrorists detonated a bomb inside the statue's face, and the damage was considerable.
It is clear that for almost a century, lady liberty's message has been under almost constant attack.
So, the height is 151 and 1 inch.
The foundation pedestal's 305 and 1 inch.
Plus 1 inch.
Index finger -- 8 feet, 1 inch.
Why are these added single inches? 151 plus 1 inch -- why? Wouldn't it be standard just to have it be 151 feet or 305 feet? I don't know.
Do you think it's worth heading back and seeing Scott? Yeah, I want to see if we're going down the right path here.
Okay.
There he is.
So, what did you find out about the attacks? Some pretty interesting stuff.
The bottom line is, it appears that the attacks were simply because she is the symbol of America, and this was a great stage upon which to get some attention and get some publicity.
So I don't think, based on what I've heard so far, that this really has anything to do with a hidden meaning.
So, I took some pictures when I got inside of the undercarriage, and does that remind you of anything? It's like the eiffel tower.
Yeah.
It has a similarity to it, but it's a little It's a little different.
It's a little crooked, but it is the first thing that comes to mind.
The men in question who were part of the design of the statue itself, you've got hunt, who designed the pedestal, you've got bartholdi, who designed the statue itself, and then eiffel, who designed the undercarriage and the skeletal The statue of liberty is not the work of one man.
When the French gave the statue to the United States, they made one request -- that a pedestal be built so that it was more easily seen from the water.
American designer Richard hunt was chosen to build her perch.
Frédéric bartholdi was the artist behind lady liberty, but it was up to gustave eiffel to realize the structure and bring her to life.
He did this with a twisted iron skeleton, and it was never intended to be pretty.
In fact, the inside of the statue was never meant to be seen by the public.
But, clearly, eiffel was pleased with his work because he went on to repeat the idea and build the eiffel tower and steal the title for the tallest structure in the world away from the Washington monument.
Is there anything in common with them? Are they Let me check something out here.
Here's bartholdi.
Check that out.
The guy is posed like Napoleon.
His hand is hidden.
The hidden hand that shaped history.
Oh, yeah, look at this.
The hidden hand? Why Napoleon traditionally depicted with his hand in his waistcoat -- some theories include he had a stomach ulcer.
Keep going.
There's something else that I saw in there.
[ Laughs .]
Keep going, keep going.
Oh, wait a second.
A gesture of importance in masonic rituals.
Members of the freemasons using this sign are proven members of the freemasons.
I would be fascinated to see if these three guys were masons.
Oh, my God, bartholdi is a freemason.
What about hunt? What about -- here he is.
Look down here -- freemason.
Absolutely.
All right.
Well, okay.
Eiffel -- gustave eiffel.
Freemason -- eiffel's a freemason.
All three.
Okay.
You know, that doesn't necessarily have to mean anything.
Right? It's always the freemasons.
The freemasons are the world's oldest and largest brotherhood.
They're steeped in covert rituals and symbolism.
Some say they even built king Solomon's temple.
That can't be proven, but here's what can.
There are about six million freemasons in the world today.
Everyone from our founding fathers, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, and presidents from fdr to Gerald Ford were members.
Some have suggested that the organization has a sinister and dark agenda, which is what makes them the most over-used plot device around.
We've been researching the statue of liberty, and the most interesting thread we have now is that bartholdi, hunt, and eiffel were all freemasons.
Is there anything to that? Yeah, there's a lot to that.
The freemasons are an important key to understanding what the statue of liberty is about.
In fact, there's a lot of freemasonic symbolism in the statue.
Wanted to show you this one.
See if it looks familiar to you.
Looks exactly like the statue of liberty.
Exactly like the statue of liberty, but this is the ancient Roman goddess libertas.
This is a pagan goddess.
Another one.
This one you'll be familiar with.
What do you see here? This should be familiar to you.
And, of course, it's being held by an ancient Roman pagan goddess from a period of history that was not so nice and was anything but free.
But I don't -- I don't know quite how to put this.
There's a deeper darker, more sinister side to this entire matter That sort of exists within freemasonry -- kind of a secret within a secret society Called the illuminati.
Who were the illuminati? I would say a better term would be, who are the illuminati? Because they still exist.
The illuminati was formed in Bavaria in 1776.
They called themselves "enlightened ones," and they felt they could create a better world.
They wanted to abolish all monarchies, religion, private property, and nation states and replace them with a utopian society.
But it doesn't matter what their plan was.
What was amazing to me was how they operated, infiltrating the houses of power, from governments to secret societies like the freemasons.
They swore a vow of silence and remained completely hidden.
So when they were finally found out and banned by the king of Bavaria in 1784, there was absolutely no way to be certain they actually disbanded because they were already inside.
And this is why some people still believe the illuminati hold positions of power around the world today.
Very early on in their history, the illuminati adapted the form of freemasonry and then decided to infiltrate masonic organizations, giving freemasonry a really bad rap to the extent that they had an influence on it.
Although, it was always a hidden hand within freemasonry.
In other words, not all masons are illuminati.
They quickly moved into much darker ideas about the abolition of all States all over the world and to kind of merge the world into this amorphous, globalist community.
How's that for straightforward and scary? Okay, I don't like when people tell me that the illuminati are trying to take over the world.
But I will say if what we've just heard is true, things just got a lot more interesting.
The statue of liberty sits 151 feet and 1 inch over New York harbor.
1 inch -- it's a silent symbol.
But what does the 1 inch stand for? Mac and buddy have uncovered some strange inconsistencies in the engineering of the statue.
And when the masons or illuminati are involved, you have to pay attention to these things.
So, buddy and Mac are gonna meet with a well-known numerologist because when you're talking about codes that are in measurements, you need to look at the numbers.
When we were looking at the numbers, we found 13, 1, and 7.
Where did you find the number 13? We found the 13 by figuring how many inches the whole height of the statue was and adding up those digits and ended with 13.
What you want to do is find a particular number that reasserts itself or replays itself in various ways multiple times.
So, having just a 13 isn't necessarily that significant.
One number is very significant, and that's the number 7.
As a matter of fact, you could call the statue of liberty a shrine to the number 7.
A shrine to the number 7? Let me show you.
The first thing that we can see with an image of the crown is that you have a very conspicuous presentation of the number 7 with the seven spikes, or the seven rays.
Right.
Okay? On a secondary level, you can move down, you can see there's a series of windows.
25 -- 2 plus 5 I know this is gonna be tough for you guys.
Come on, buddy, you can do it.
Seven.
In other words, we can find numbers that break down to the number 7, and we can reassert that number 7 is part of a pattern here that's continued.
In the base, you'll see that there's four grecian columns.
Did you guys count these? There were four on each side -- 16.
Correct.
1 plus 6 7 again.
All right, let me show you something else.
You remember this part of the statue? Definitely.
Okay, there are a series of raised portions, or leaves Surrounding the torch.
There are exactly 16.
Really? 1 plus 6 7 again.
Now, this is how you find a pattern where a number reasserts itself.
We were in my world.
I love numbers.
I love math.
There's always a concrete answer.
1 plus 1 will always equal 2.
Pi will always equal 3.
14.
Numerologists, on the other hand, eh, I don't know.
[ Car horn honks .]
Hey, Brad.
It's Scott.
Hey, Scott.
So, we know a couple things.
We know that the three men who built the statue of liberty, we know they're all freemasons.
Right.
Okay, so the statue we know has clear symbolic meaning.
Let's talk to a few more people.
One of them is a guy named mark dice, who I'd like you to see.
But I want you, most important, compare him to Professor Steven bullock.
I'll send you his information, as well.
And these two guys, they're opposing views, and I think that that's what we need.
You know, this is not a novel.
This is reality.
Now, you look deeper into the structure.
For example, did you guys take any measurements of, let's say, height? Yeah, height from base to torch is 151 feet and 1 inch.
Correct -- it's 151 feet and 1 inch.
Now, whenever you see a number like this, 1 extra inch, it's clearly some kind of a clue or a cue.
Why would they do that? So, 151 feet is actually 1,812 inches.
You're gonna add the extra inch for the total amount of inches.
You get 1,813 inches.
Not every number is divisible by 7, okay, 'cause we know that 7 has a theme here.
1,813 is divisible by 7.
The answer is 259.
2 plus 5 plus 9 is 16.
1 plus 6 is 7 again.
Without that extra inch -- and this is what you have to understand here 'cause this is a remarkable situation -- without the extra inch, the number is not divisible by 7, and it does not break down to 7.
So, we wonder if there is a reason for that, and if you know about number symbolism, you know the number 7 is held as one of the most sacred and divine numbers.
The number 7 has such a profound influence on society that even today, our lives are run by the number 7.
Seven days of the week.
Seven days of the week is correct.
Not only that, we've got seven colors of the rainbow.
We've got seven seas, seven continents, seven wonders of the ancient world.
There's even seven notes in the musical scale.
In ancient India, they speak of the seven rishis, or the seven sages.
In buddhism, Buddha walked, as soon as he was born, seven miraculous steps.
In christianity, there are seven virtues and seven sins.
In catholicism, there are seven sacraments.
Yeah.
Okay? Yeah.
And even in the islamic religion, we have seven heavens and seven gates to seven hells.
So it permeates every aspect of almost every religion.
That's how sacred the number is.
So, whatever you think about numerology, the number 7 keeps repeating itself in the statue.
Can we say this is an accident? Absolutely.
But when it comes to symbolism and the freemasons, very few things were ever an accident.
Does mean that the illuminati infiltrated the masons? I have no idea.
But with this 1 inch repeating itself -- 1 inch, 1 inch, 1 inch -- always in the measurements, that's a question that we need to ask.
Buddy, Mac, and Scott are meeting with a guy who thinks the illuminati are responsible for every bad thing that's happening in world.
Yeah, now, this guy's anti-illuminati, but he absolutely, 100% believes that they exist.
If he has honest proof that they exist, I would love to see it because, you know, unless there's proof that they exist -- they seem like this historical, fictional Whether they still are infiltrating, you know, governments here, I find that very hard to believe.
Or huddled around somewhere, playing "dungeons & dragons.
" Like, are they real or are they All we can ask you to do is keep an open mind.
Just do that.
So, let's get going.
The statue of liberty is an illuminati symbol, and when you find out what it means, you'll never look at it the same way.
The reason I wanted to meet you here at the united nations is that David rockefeller donated this land To create this center.
He wrote in his memoirs that he and his family are often accused of being a member of a secret society dedicated to creating a one-world government, and he says, "I am guilty, and I'm proud.
" This is the birth child of a secret society.
Wow.
This is happening right now here on these streets today? Today.
Can you tell us a little more about the symbolism in the statue of liberty? Absolutely.
If you look at the radiant crown, she has these seven horns sticking out of her head.
That's symbolic of the sun, representing enlightenment.
Isn't enlightenment a good thing? Enlightenment is a good thing to them.
It doesn't represent America.
It doesn't represent freedom.
It represents Lucifer, Satan.
As far as I'm concerned, it should be torn down and taken to a scrap heap.
If you want to learn about political power, you must look at the illuminati.
If you're looking into the illuminati, the statue of liberty is just a footnote.
The illuminati identify with Lucifer, and that is their huge idol dedicating this country to him and showing that they rule here.
And this is hidden in the statue of liberty? Lucifer literally means "the light bearer," okay? So, for the statue of liberty, you have the torch -- the torch representing light and enlightenment.
All of us are looking at it, and it's a symbol of peace and freedom and liberty.
Well, I know that this is a little hard to swallow, especially if you're new to this.
To say the least.
The illuminati is not only a religious secret society.
Very powerful men are members of this organization, and they pull the strings from behind the scenes.
[ Sirens wailing .]
We should go find a place to sit down.
Okay.
[ Siren wails .]
Let's just see what some other people have to think, some other prominent historical figures.
I'll go to the library of congress, and I'll show you George Washington's handwritten letter.
George Washington? This was a letter written in 1798.
"It was not my intention to doubt the doctrines of the illuminati, and the principles of jacobinism had not spread to the United States.
On the contrary, no one is more satisfied of that fact than I am.
" You doubted that they even continued to exist.
George Washington says that they did.
He said the doctrines continue to exist, and maybe some of the doctrines did.
It doesn't say that the people continue to exist.
How do you think the doctrines spread? Let's hear what president John f.
Kennedy had to say about secret societies.
The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society.
And we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.
This was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.
Jfk was clearly talking about communism in that speech.
It was the height of the cold war, and Americans were terrified of Soviet Russia.
That speech had nothing to do with the illuminati.
Give me a break.
Has a President of the United States been a member of the illuminati? George w.
Bush is illuminati, his father is illuminati, his grandfather was illuminati all through the skull and bones society, which is considered the American branch of the illuminati.
Skull and bones is an infamous secret society.
They were founded in 1832 at Yale university.
Their members are the power elite.
Both presidents bush and senator John kerry are members, which also makes them the most incredibly over-played bad guys.
They're blamed for everything from the invention of the nuclear bomb to the Kennedy assassination.
Are we supposed to take your word for this? Go around New York, look in the top of some of the most prominent buildings, and you'll also see illuminati overtones -- the rising sun, a pyramid with an eye, a pyramid with an illumination coming behind it.
Some of the most powerful banks and corporations and media companies have illuminati symbols in the logos.
And so they use their private network, their good-old-boy shadow network, to build the most powerful companies in the world.
So, the illuminati have set up multiple enormous monuments.
Go to rockefeller center.
Go to the cathedral of Saint John the divine.
Central park has a giant obelisk, a symbol of the illuminati, another luciferian symbol paid for by the second richest man in the world, William Vanderbilt.
William Vanderbilt put this up, and he's an illuminati? Yes.
So, once the new world order is solidified, once the one-world government, all the infrastructure's in place, you can have a one-world dictator come forward and rule with an iron fist, and there's gonna be no way to stop him.
Come on.
I don't think there's been a master plan by one small group to take over the world since 1792.
But I do think that the past can inform the present, and I do believe there are hidden messages all around us, left by our ancestors as guides, sometimes to teach and sometimes to warn.
Let's look at just facts.
There's no question that masons built the statue of liberty, and there's no question that because of that extra 1 inch, the number 7, it keeps repeating in the statue's dimensions.
But the big question remains whether those same men were also members of the illuminati, a shadowy sect with dark intentions.
I'm getting a second wind, but I'm gonna need it.
I think we're getting there.
We're getting into a lot of good stuff.
Hot dog, just the hot mustard -- that's it.
All right.
Oh, man.
Are you starting to see symbols everywhere? Well, you know, we're in the financial district right now.
You know, what are the symbols we should be paying attention to here? Well, he told us specifically what symbols to look for and where to go.
No, I'm good.
Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
We'll just go and just eat on the run.
For a lot of people -- and I'm one of them -- the statue of liberty has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with freedom.
But for other people, she was a threat to morality and certain religious values.
Buddy, Mac, and Scott are about to confront this one head on.
Wow.
There it is.
Look at this thing.
It doesn't look that scary.
No, but it looks almost exactly like the Washington monument.
Cleopatra's needle -- 1600 b.
C.
I mean, that's just amazing to me.
The people who carved that lived before Christ.
It was put up by the freemasons, by the illuminated freemasons.
Dr.
monteith.
Yes.
How are you? But what we're really trying to get to the bottom of is, are these symbols of something sinister, and what does this mean? Well, if you were to fly over this in a helicopter and you were to look down, you would see a point within a circle.
And that has a specific occult meaning.
It's this idea of the eye.
You'll see it on the back of the dollar bill.
And they use the eye repeatedly as an emblem of knowledge -- the eye of horus, the eye of Lucifer.
Does she represent Lucifer to you, doctor? No, the statue of liberty is a pagan goddess.
What is a pagan goddess doing in the harbor here in New York city? But it was actually a gift.
It's a gift from the French people.
It exemplifies the idea of the destruction of the old order and the bringing of this new one.
They wanted not only to destroy the structure of government, they wanted to destroy the structure of religion.
We've got a pagan -- pagan goddess out there in the estuary there.
It could represent semiramis, the whore of Babylon.
I mean, I'm very concerned about the future of this city, if you believe in the Bible as I do and believe that Babylon is going to be destroyed.
And I believe that New York city is modern-day Babylon.
I'm sorry.
You believe New York city is modern-day Babylon and it's going to be destroyed? I believe it's going -- well, that's what it says in the Bible, and I happen to believe the Bible is accurate.
He just called the statue of liberty a whore.
I guess you can make certain connections to New York and Babylon, but the statue of liberty as the whore of Babylon? Thank you.
Thank you very much.
It's starting to look a little bit like a pattern.
In science, two events does not make a pattern.
But if you're looking at these symbols of the sun God, Lucifer, and there's other places to look at, and let's go see them and see if there is a pattern.
I'll look.
Absolutely.
Let's take a look.
I'm willing to look.
Can you guys try and keep up, please? I know this sounds nuts, but some people actually say that David rockefeller was illuminati.
That's something we've got to check out.
Rockefeller Plaza.
The house that rockefeller built.
Yes.
Check out This is prometheus here.
Well, he's got the torch in the right hand the same way as the statue of liberty.
Mark dice said this is a representation of Lucifer that we should be looking for in rockefeller Plaza.
Right.
Hey, you guys catching the flags? What's that reminding you of? Wow, okay, that has the u.
N.
Very u.
N.
-Like, yes.
You know, the new world order -- u.
N.
Flags everywhere, directly in the center.
Prometheus, Lucifer.
At the center.
But what's interesting, I think, is that, you know, rockefeller, the one who allegedly admitted being in a secret society, right, and wanting a new world order, would have a place after him like this with prometheus right in the middle of it, the u.
N.
Sort of flags around.
I mean, it's sort of in a sense, I think, going along with what -- what mark dice was saying.
Fire is a symbol of the illuminati, but let's be honest.
If you look hard enough, you'll start thinking that it's hidden everywhere, from liberty's torch to the statue of prometheus.
Almost everywhere you look, there's some symbol.
You got atlas, mythological titan, holding up the world.
Isn't that a weird placement, right across from one of the most beautiful cathedrals? There's atlas Holding up the world, one world.
Paganism, christianity.
Sort of an affront to the church, in a way.
Right, and according to dice, that's purposefully done.
On one hand, I felt like if I couldn't see these symbols for myself, then maybe they're not that powerful.
But on the other hand, maybe they really weren't meant for me.
They were meant for other members of the same club, and that made it kind of creepy.
All right.
So if you believe that prometheus holding the flame is an illuminati symbol and atlas with the world on his shoulders represents one world order and that this was intentionally placed across the street from a catholic church and that the statue of liberty is an illuminati beacon, then, yes, you can say that there's a powerful network of symbols across the island of Manhattan pointing to the hidden conversation of a secret society.
But that's if you believe the illuminati even existed in the 20th century, and that's what we've yet to prove.
You know who else sees the world like this? Who? Paranoid schizophrenics.
They see everything as a part of a larger pattern.
Yeah, well, is it changing the way we look at the statue of liberty yet? Okay, I've heard this one a million times.
I even wrote a book on it -- that the masons have infiltrated every part of society.
But the most shocking and outrageous thing we've heard is this -- that the illuminati may have hidden a satanic message inside the statue of liberty.
Again, let's go back to actual facts.
There's obviously a connection between the masons and the statue.
But a satanic message that's hidden in the statue itself, or even the illuminati being real? I just want someone who's credible and who doesn't dress like they should have been on "the x-files.
" So buddy and Mac and Scott are headed to meet a man who spent his life actually searching for the illuminati.
Professor bullock, do you think the statue of liberty has any hidden symbols or meaning? I just don't see it.
I think the statue of liberty is about liberty.
It's about the end of the civil war, maybe about the attempt to bring liberty to France, but I don't think there are any other secret meanings than that.
But there seems to be people that feel absolutely the opposite way and really have some radical views about this.
Well, there certainly are, but I think anytime you're talking about secret conspiracies, it's very, very hard to kill the illuminati, which, I guess, it's sort of a zombie idea.
You know, you keep killing it, you keep attacking it, and it keeps coming back.
Well, do they exist? As you probably know, they certainly did back in the 1770s, 1780s, but, you know, it's gone.
What about this notion that corporations are controlled by them? We've heard presidents were members of this organization.
The answer we got is that the illuminati are in charge of the banks, so they start the wars because it's profitable for them.
People keep coming up with things.
Conspiracy theorists want to suggest that everything is related, everything is interconnected, and having studied history all these years, it doesn't seem as if things look that way.
Finally, someone I could agree with, someone who knew what they were talking about.
There was just no evidence that some all-powerful group called the illuminati was wrestling for world domination.
These are all people who are claiming to look from the outside.
Do we have any evidence of someone coming out of the illuminati, that they found this plot, and they can name people, they can name things? You mean like a mole? You just don't have it.
That, to me, is a really strong point -- like, if they existed, someone would defect at some point.
Where are they? Professor, you've read all this stuff.
You've researched it.
Was bartholdi an illuminati? I've never found any illuminati in history, and, you know, if anything, you know, the appeal for me would have been finding this kind of thing.
So you would have been happy to find them? That would have been a great coup for me.
Instead, I'm forced to suggest there isn't that.
Can I say "I told you so"? You know, not necessarily.
I mean, I'm not sure whether the illuminati exist, or they don't exist, or what at this point, but I can tell you I was not convinced that there's evidence to the contrary after that conversation.
But there's no evidence that they do exist is what he's saying.
But that was the only answer he could give.
There's no evidence they do exist.
It's crazy.
You know, we've got so much information that we've received so quickly.
Right now it just feels like one crazy idea after another until I feel like I'm off-balance.
I mean, there's no question about that there were some of the symbols that we'd been told to look for, so And atlas right across the street from the cathedral is kind of -- it is interesting.
The location is like they're giving the finger to the church.
I was reminded of how when you're deer hunting at, like, dawn, and you really want to see deer, you start seeing their antlers in the branches, and everything starts to look like a deer.
Because we see billions of things in our lifetime, and if our filter is such that we just see certain kinds of things, we're gonna block everything else out.
That is true.
That is absolutely true, but it does not mean that the people that designed and built the statue of liberty did not have something in mind, in their minds, when they did it.
Agreed.
What I would say is we've heard the song.
Yeah.
We know what it means to us, but what did the person who wrote it mean? All right, guys, let's figure out where we are right now.
We know that the masons built the statue of liberty.
Yep.
And assuming that the illuminati infiltrated the masons, can we then safely assume the the illuminati put some sort of hidden symbolism in it? Lucifer himself is a symbol of the illuminati.
Oh, check it.
Oh, there she is.
She just came into view from behind the other bridge.
That's a great view.
The question is is the statue of liberty representing Lucifer? Could that really be possible? That's what we need to find out.
Exactly.
No matter whether you believe the statue of liberty was built as a tribute to Lucifer or, like me or most sane people, that it's a symbol of freedom, it is unquestionably one thing.
It's a symbol.
So what I want to know is where'd the Lucifer concept come from? This is a reckless and dangerous idea.
But whether we like it or not, there's a real power in symbols, especially this one.
Nice to meet you.
My pleasure completely.
Thanks for meeting us here.
We really appreciate you coming out.
We're trying to figure out whether the statue of liberty has some sort of hidden meaning, maybe something sinister and nefarious.
One of the most incredible things that we've heard so far is that the statue of liberty is actually Satan or the devil or Lucifer.
The statue of liberty actually is a symbol of Lucifer.
Oh, Jesus.
Okay, go to your computer and put in the words "statue of liberty" and "Satan," and 500 pages are gonna immediately come up, telling you that they're linked, and we all have access to that.
That's just noise.
What we don't have is the truth, and that's why we started this journey -- to find that truth.
Where did that idea come from? And every time we make some progress, we wind up right back where we started, with someone once again saying that the statue of liberty is somehow a satanic symbol.
But what is the answer? Where did it start? The statue of liberty actually is a symbol of Lucifer.
[ Chuckling .]
Killing me.
But not the Lucifer that you're thinking of, all right? She breathes a sigh of relief.
How is the statue of liberty Lucifer? Okay.
Excellent question.
First, we have to go into what Lucifer really means.
Now, where people get confused about Lucifer is specific to a passage of the Bible in the book of Isaiah, where he says this -- "how art thou fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, son of the morning?" People have been saying, "well, this is about Lucifer the devil," and it is not.
But the word "Lucifer" here is not meant as a proper name.
In the 4th century, in Latin, Lucifer meant "one who bears light," and it was often used as a name for the planet Venus, the morning star, the one who bears light first thing in the morning, before the sun even comes up.
In that sense only the statue of liberty is a Lucifer.
It is a light bearer, not in the sense of Satan, not in the sense of beelzebub, you know, the prince of darkness.
It's not that kind of connection at all.
I was so relieved.
This man had sound credentials, and I trusted him.
So first, I was freaking out, but then I understood.
Lucifer is the Latin word meaning "light bringer," so in that regard, the statue of liberty is a Lucifer.
So they're making a misinterpretation, point-blank, of the word Lucifer? Hello.
That's exactly it.
There's nothing there at all about the statue, in any kind of way, abstract or not, being a Satan.
That's just not happening.
Wow.
Hard to look at it the same way as we did a couple days ago, isn't it? Now, I'll say that there's more about it than I knew.
Absolutely.
Definitely.
I'm not sure most Americans know that she's modeled after a goddess.
I mean, they just see a woman statue with a torch, and it means something to them, but that's not evil, and that's not hidden.
That's just part of its history that we didn't know.
For me, the way it breaks down is, you know the scientific method, right? You create a hypothesis, and then you gather data, and you create an unbiased conclusion.
And for me, the difference between the folks who believe the illuminati planted symbols in the statue of liberty is they aren't coming from an unbiased place.
They're coming from a biased place, and then they match the data to it.
You know, I started this journey three days ago, and I've come to the conclusion that, yeah, there are hidden symbols in the statue of liberty.
I believe that bartholdi put this statue, this monument on the island to remind ourselves of what our founders started in the first place -- ideas like reason, truth, freedom.
I can look at that torch now, and it represents enlightenment and freedom from the oppression of backwards thinkers.
It illustrates to me that, you know, history isn't this static thing.
History is ongoing, you know? It moves forward.
Absolutely.
And you know what the statue means to me now is the people that want to say there's an evil intent behind it, the statue is what gives them the right to think that and the right to say the stuff that they want to say and the right to believe whatever they want to believe.
Even if it means that you believe this thing is filled with satanic symbols.
So, in fact, it's exactly the opposite of sinister and the opposite of evil.
It's all that is good.
Are there hidden meanings in the statue of liberty? Sure.
Absolutely.
Yes, there are.
Good ones.
In the end, despite the urban myth, we couldn't find a single piece of proof that the illuminati exist today.
But you know what? What we did find is that the statue of liberty definitely has multiple meanings, depending on who's looking at it.
To some, she's a symbol of evil, but to others, including myself, she's a symbol of hope and democracy and all that is right about America.
Think about it.
There are two sources of power in every symbol -- one bestowed by its creator and the other by those who read its message.
And what's truly powerful about the statue is that she is and can be all things to all people, and that is what America should