1 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:14,600 Thank you for downloading this episode of our podcast. just, Hi 2 00:00:14,700 --> 00:00:16,800 and welcome to the podcast for Solomon staircase. 3 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,600 Masonic lodge, number 357, where we talk about all things related 4 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,400 with Freemasonry including hermetic teachings. 5 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:27,300 Philosophy reason spirituality and much more we're located in 6 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:29,700 Buena Park. Southern California, tuned in as 7 00:00:29,700 --> 00:00:32,500 we continue to update our podcast with informative talks 8 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:34,600 and articles for Mason's worldwide. 9 00:00:34,700 --> 00:00:43,700 And those who would like to inquire within The following 10 00:00:43,700 --> 00:00:47,400 articles will all be from the september/october 2020, 11 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:52,300 California, Freemason magazine and the theme of this issue is 12 00:00:52,300 --> 00:00:56,400 the Noir issue. Light is the first and most 13 00:00:56,400 --> 00:00:59,200 important symbol of masonic. Teaching the journey from 14 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,900 Darkness to light and mirrors the candidate search for meaning 15 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,000 for wisdom, light, represents the divine truth, the essence of 16 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:09,200 goodness, of course you can't have the light without the 17 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:12,000 darkness. It's in that darkness that state 18 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,400 of ignorance and unknowing and imperfection that the Seeker 19 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:19,200 begins his journey. It's the place of sin and vice 20 00:01:19,300 --> 00:01:22,900 and avarice and confusion, it's where the Mystery Begins. 21 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,100 This month we're creeping back into the shadows. 22 00:01:26,100 --> 00:01:28,300 For the first-ever and war-- issue of California. 23 00:01:28,300 --> 00:01:32,900 Freemason, a Roundup of crime, secrecy and moral turpitude, all 24 00:01:32,900 --> 00:01:35,700 with the Masonic twist. It's our Peak into the 25 00:01:35,700 --> 00:01:39,400 hard-boiled, the enigmatic in the cryptic, all inspired by our 26 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,200 favorite dime-store novels, and black and white films. 27 00:01:42,700 --> 00:01:45,400 Because where's the fun in spreading the light if you never 28 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:50,800 stop to appreciate the dark, The Mystery House, how a San 29 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,300 Francisco Mason solved a real estate mystery and a literary 30 00:01:54,300 --> 00:01:59,100 Secret by Lindsey J Smith. William Arnie's life took a 31 00:01:59,107 --> 00:02:01,200 turn, the day. He bought his gray Fedora. 32 00:02:01,500 --> 00:02:05,000 It was November 1981. The purchase was in celebration 33 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:06,800 of his big move to San Francisco. 34 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:09,600 The cool gray City three months earlier. 35 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:12,300 He'd arrived on a one-way ticket from Illinois with nothing more 36 00:02:12,300 --> 00:02:13,900 than his two, suitcases in a job. 37 00:02:13,900 --> 00:02:17,200 Interview lined up, turns out the Fedora was a Savvy. 38 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,100 Move that winter was a wet one Arnie paired. 39 00:02:20,100 --> 00:02:21,500 The hat with a great trench coat. 40 00:02:21,500 --> 00:02:24,300 Cutting such a striking figure around town that a friend 41 00:02:24,300 --> 00:02:26,300 suggested, he start reading Dashiell hammett's. 42 00:02:26,300 --> 00:02:29,700 Hard-boiled, Detective. The tip resonated with Ernie, 43 00:02:29,700 --> 00:02:31,400 who plunged himself into the classic? 44 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,100 San Francisco, writers crime, dramas including the 45 00:02:34,108 --> 00:02:39,200 Continental, op the Thin Man, and red Harvest Rd now, a member 46 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,500 of Marin lodge number 191 and California. 47 00:02:42,500 --> 00:02:46,100 Number one was hooked a year later, he signed up for a 48 00:02:46,100 --> 00:02:49,600 Hammett themed walking tour of downtown San Francisco visiting 49 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:51,900 the real-life sites described in the novelist's. 50 00:02:51,900 --> 00:02:55,600 Most famous Stories, the tour stopped outside the unassuming 51 00:02:55,600 --> 00:02:59,400 building at 891 Post Street Where the writer lived from 1926 52 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,300 to 1929. And wrote his first three novels 53 00:03:02,300 --> 00:03:05,900 including the most celebrated, the Maltese Falcon, he didn't 54 00:03:05,900 --> 00:03:07,800 think much of it. But the memory of the building 55 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,500 stayed with Arnie for more than a decade until one night in 56 00:03:10,500 --> 00:03:13,800 1993, when he passed by the corner and a taxi and noticed a 57 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:18,000 for rent, sign in the window talk about foreshadowing are any 58 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,000 already, something of a Hammett been attic was buzzing, but he 59 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,500 needed to know if the available unit was actually the great 60 00:03:23,500 --> 00:03:26,300 writers Hammonds letters from the time, bear, the return 61 00:03:26,300 --> 00:03:29,600 address of 891 Street. But never listed a specific 62 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,200 apartment number. So, like a gumshoe from the 63 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,800 Continental, op detective agency Arnie started digging for Clues. 64 00:03:36,300 --> 00:03:39,500 First, he turned to his wealth and copy of the Maltese Falcon 65 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,700 in which the protagonist detective, Sam, Spade lives in 66 00:03:42,700 --> 00:03:46,500 an apartment widely, believed to be modeled on ham its own Arnie. 67 00:03:46,500 --> 00:03:49,900 An Architect by trade sketched, a layout of Spades flat based on 68 00:03:49,900 --> 00:03:52,700 descriptions from the book mostly in three key scenes. 69 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,500 Then he compared those with a blueprint of the 1917 building, 70 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,100 the plans he found weren't very detailed, but they did contain 71 00:04:01,100 --> 00:04:02,900 the original design of the bathroom. 72 00:04:03,300 --> 00:04:06,200 The Maltese Falcon ends with an iconic scene which Spade 73 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:09,500 searches the Femme Fatale Brigid O'Shaughnessy for a key piece of 74 00:04:09,500 --> 00:04:11,500 evidence in the bathroom of his apartment. 75 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,200 And the quote from the book, he sat on the side of the bathtub 76 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:18,200 watching her and the open door, no sound came from the living 77 00:04:18,200 --> 00:04:19,899 room. He put his pistols on the toilet 78 00:04:19,899 --> 00:04:22,400 seat and facing, the door went down a 1D. 79 00:04:22,800 --> 00:04:25,300 He did not find the thousand-dollar bill when he had 80 00:04:25,300 --> 00:04:27,700 finished, he stood up holding her close out in his hands. 81 00:04:28,100 --> 00:04:31,500 Thanks. He said now I know to Arnie that 82 00:04:31,500 --> 00:04:34,600 was crucial Intel. The room was shaped such that 83 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,200 Spade could sit on the edge of the tub Within Reach of the 84 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,000 toilet seat and still leave enough room for O'Shaughnessy to 85 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,200 stand between him and the door. Just with those criteria. 86 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:45,600 I was able to eliminate almost every apartment in the building. 87 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:51,400 He says, except one apartment 401, the very unit of for rent, 88 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,000 in the building's northwest corner fit the bill, it had 89 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,300 other Telltale quarks to like a 90 degree Bend in the hallway. 90 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:00,800 Earlier in the novel, all told the apartment was a minuscule 91 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:05,200 300 square feet, no matter Arnie moved in the closer. 92 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,900 He looked the more Arnie found clues about the apartments 93 00:05:07,900 --> 00:05:12,500 literary past Weeks after signing the lease Arnie flaked a 94 00:05:12,508 --> 00:05:15,500 bit of paint from a door jamb underneath was the flats 95 00:05:15,500 --> 00:05:18,400 original varnished wood detailing which proved easy to 96 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:21,200 strip, our any began to meticulously restored the 97 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:24,200 apartment to its original, he refinished the flooring 98 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:26,300 installing a vintage glass and wood door. 99 00:05:26,300 --> 00:05:29,000 He found in the basement, purchased a Murphy bed and 100 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,200 furnished. The unit with other Circa 1920, 101 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:33,800 s pieces. He even created a secret 102 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:35,700 compartment in the floor under the desk. 103 00:05:35,900 --> 00:05:38,900 It would have been a great place for a gun or for an unfinished. 104 00:05:38,900 --> 00:05:42,200 Manuscript Arnie says As the apartment got closer to 105 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,200 resembling hammett's Arnie delighted in rereading. 106 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,400 The Maltese Falcon, you can pretty much put yourself in the 107 00:05:48,407 --> 00:05:51,300 story Arnie says, watching headlights, move across the wall 108 00:05:51,300 --> 00:05:54,600 at night. I got the creepiest feeling 109 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,600 looking up at the ceiling and thinking this has got to be just 110 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:00,600 about exactly what Hammett saw every night when he went to bed. 111 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,700 He says are any invited the ham at walking tour to make the 112 00:06:04,700 --> 00:06:07,100 apartment of regular. Stop before long. 113 00:06:07,100 --> 00:06:10,300 He'd become part of the inner circle of Hammett fandom, he 114 00:06:10,300 --> 00:06:12,000 went to the unveiling of the Maltese. 115 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,300 Falcon statuette from the 1941, John Huston and Humphrey. 116 00:06:15,300 --> 00:06:18,700 Bogart film at John's Grill. Another locally famous Hammett 117 00:06:18,700 --> 00:06:20,800 haunt. He met hammett's daughter and 118 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:23,000 granddaughter. And in 2005 when Group of 119 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,700 friends of libraries, USA installed a plaque on the 120 00:06:25,700 --> 00:06:29,200 building to commemorate it as a literary Landmark aren't he met 121 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,300 and befriended Eddie molar, the founder of the film Noir 122 00:06:32,300 --> 00:06:35,100 Foundation who asked our need to serve as an announcer at the 123 00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:39,300 popular San Francisco. Film Noir festival for 16 years 124 00:06:39,300 --> 00:06:42,800 already lived in apartment 401 but unlike the bachelor Sam 125 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,100 Spade 300 square feet didn't cut it once already got married 126 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:48,500 still, he kept the apartment for two more years. 127 00:06:48,500 --> 00:06:51,400 After tying, the not even following a move to San Rafael 128 00:06:51,700 --> 00:06:53,900 fearing that if he gave, Get up a new tenant would undo. 129 00:06:53,900 --> 00:06:57,400 His hard work salvation came as in so many mystery, thrillers 130 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,800 from a shadowy stranger. In this case, a billionaire with 131 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:03,400 a literary. Inclination Arnie won't name 132 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:06,700 names, but the silent Parker partner took over the lease and 133 00:07:06,700 --> 00:07:09,400 agreed to preserve the apartment today. 134 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:13,400 The unit remains much as it was in 1929, unoccupied but cared 135 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:16,100 for, as if awaiting. Sam Spades return from dinner at 136 00:07:16,100 --> 00:07:19,400 John's Grill. At any alarm clock and a copy of 137 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,600 Drake, celebrated, criminal cases of America, a spade stand. 138 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,300 Rest on the desk, a leather rocking chair sits in a corner 139 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:28,700 at night. Lights from Cars streaming down 140 00:07:28,700 --> 00:07:31,700 post and high Drake across the walls and ceiling like roving 141 00:07:31,700 --> 00:07:37,300 eye searching for Clues. The next article is called the 142 00:07:37,300 --> 00:07:41,100 all seen private eye. A masonic sleuth for hire keeps 143 00:07:41,100 --> 00:07:44,000 digging for the truth by Ian, a Stewart. 144 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,200 I'm a fact-finder begins. John Hudson, a Modesto based 145 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:50,500 private eye. If the facts look bad for your 146 00:07:50,500 --> 00:07:54,200 client tough, while hodgson's practice is more about social 147 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:56,600 media searches in records requests than overnight 148 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,000 stakeouts. The ex-police officer isn't 149 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:01,700 above indulging in a bit of his inner, Philip Marlowe. 150 00:08:02,100 --> 00:08:04,600 We caught up with the Master Mason and private dick for the 151 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,100 skinny on life as hip. Professional sleuth, California 152 00:08:08,100 --> 00:08:11,300 Freemason, how is your work as a private investigator different 153 00:08:11,300 --> 00:08:14,100 than what people expect from the movies, John? 154 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:16,500 Is gumshoes, whatever you call them. 155 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:18,800 Generally have a seedy reputation looking through 156 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,600 Windows filming sexual misconduct stuff like that. 157 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:24,600 Certainly we do a lot of background checks and we follow 158 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,400 people and done surveillance but in California, you know, you 159 00:08:27,400 --> 00:08:30,500 can't climb over someones fence to spy on them everything we do, 160 00:08:30,500 --> 00:08:33,100 it has to be out in the open, California. 161 00:08:33,100 --> 00:08:37,000 Freemason do you have a favorite case, John one sticks in my 162 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,600 mind, an individual had shown up in court, 23 times for a single 163 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:43,700 charge of assault with a deadly weapon, it had been going on for 164 00:08:43,700 --> 00:08:46,000 two years. I was hired by the defense 165 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,100 attorney to investigate and with three days not only had I given 166 00:08:49,100 --> 00:08:51,900 this man an alibi, I'd also located the weapon and got the 167 00:08:51,900 --> 00:08:53,700 name of the guy who really was involved. 168 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,900 California. Freemason you have a background 169 00:08:56,900 --> 00:08:59,300 as a police officer as well. Is that how you got into this 170 00:08:59,300 --> 00:09:02,800 line of work? John in 1977, I became an 171 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:05,900 officer in East Yorkshire. England, I deal with everything 172 00:09:05,900 --> 00:09:08,000 from poaching. Animals to fights, robberies 173 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,300 assaults, you name it for three years, I was with the riot Squad 174 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:14,000 and then I worked as a detective, I came to the United 175 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,100 States in 1991 and did all kinds of jobs until I got my 176 00:09:17,100 --> 00:09:19,500 citizenship and became a Modesto Police Officer. 177 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,700 I did that for 16 years until I retired in 2011 and started my 178 00:09:23,700 --> 00:09:27,700 business as a I California. Freemason and your wife is your 179 00:09:27,700 --> 00:09:30,800 partner John. Yes, I started Hodgson and 180 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:32,200 Hodson with my wife. Alyssa. 181 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,500 She's excellent on social media, doing background and searching 182 00:09:35,500 --> 00:09:37,100 that. And the other data banks, we get 183 00:09:37,100 --> 00:09:40,200 information from she's helped, find missing heiress to fortunes 184 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,600 things like that. We deal with anything from a 185 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:46,200 missing dog to a homicide. California, Freemason. 186 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,100 You've got a very distinctive Northern English accent. 187 00:09:49,100 --> 00:09:50,500 Does that help in your line of work? 188 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,600 John actually, yes, it helped me when I was with the police, I'd 189 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:56,900 go to a dispute where people were getting aggressive and I'd 190 00:09:56,900 --> 00:09:59,700 say, oh, you doing and they'd freeze and look at me like wow, 191 00:09:59,700 --> 00:10:01,900 what's that accent? And the friction was gone. 192 00:10:01,900 --> 00:10:04,100 So people knew me they remembered me and the accent 193 00:10:04,100 --> 00:10:05,600 helped. California. 194 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:08,800 Freemason where you first round Freemasonry in England? 195 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,000 John no actually one of the attorneys I work with here was a 196 00:10:13,008 --> 00:10:15,200 mason. In fact, he'd been with Scottish 197 00:10:15,200 --> 00:10:16,900 Rite, the York Rite, and the shrine. 198 00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:20,000 And we started discussing it one day and I told them I'd been 199 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,200 interested and he said, look, that's the first step. 200 00:10:23,700 --> 00:10:26,600 He invited me to a cigar night and now I've been a Mason for 201 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:31,200 five years. The next article is called the 202 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:34,000 code breakers for hundreds of years. 203 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,500 Freemasons have cloaked secret messages in cryptic ciphers for 204 00:10:37,500 --> 00:10:41,500 some that's just where the Mystery Begins by Ian a Stewart. 205 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,400 Brent more is eagerly studied the figures rows and rows of 206 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,700 neatly arranged entirely indecipherable markings like 207 00:10:51,700 --> 00:10:55,000 hieroglyphs or Chinese hansie only written in Greek or Latin 208 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,300 or Hebrew in the center. A pyramid made of 14 rows of 209 00:10:58,300 --> 00:11:01,900 blocks in case the letter s with a horizontal line above it 210 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:05,200 elsewhere on the page, which was taken from an obscure 19th 211 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:06,900 century. Text appeared other 212 00:11:06,900 --> 00:11:10,700 illustrations in one corner and open book adorned by strange 213 00:11:10,700 --> 00:11:13,300 lettering in another a scroll surrounded by a skull. 214 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,700 In a crescent moon. Other people had puzzled over 215 00:11:16,700 --> 00:11:19,100 the page before reproduced in a volume titled. 216 00:11:19,100 --> 00:11:21,000 A history of Royal Arch, Masonry. 217 00:11:21,700 --> 00:11:24,400 And yet to Morris, it wasn't bewilderment, or frustration 218 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:26,700 that seized him when he looked over the mysterious passage in 219 00:11:26,700 --> 00:11:29,000 the late 70s. It was exhilaration. 220 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:33,700 No wonder by day Morris worked as mathematical cryptologist for 221 00:11:33,700 --> 00:11:37,100 the National Security Agency. Studying developing a breaking 222 00:11:37,100 --> 00:11:40,500 codes for secret government Communications in his free time. 223 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,400 Maurice was and Still Remains an active Freemason. 224 00:11:43,700 --> 00:11:47,000 A 33rd degree at the Scottish Rite and editor of the Scottish 225 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,500 Rite Journal, a former Master of the Quattro, our coronary 226 00:11:50,500 --> 00:11:53,900 research Lodge, and an affiliate of dozens of lodges and 227 00:11:53,900 --> 00:11:56,300 concordant bodies. So, the case of the Masonic 228 00:11:56,300 --> 00:12:00,300 Cipher spoke to both sides of his brain, of course, it wasn't 229 00:12:00,300 --> 00:12:02,500 the first time Morris had encountered secret Masonic 230 00:12:02,500 --> 00:12:06,100 writings for hundreds of years. And across many countries Masons 231 00:12:06,100 --> 00:12:09,000 have used codes to mass communications of various kinds. 232 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:12,600 According to Masonic lore, the first such Cipher was cut with a 233 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:16,900 mallet and chisel Used by Hiram, the king of Tyre Hiram Abiff and 234 00:12:16,900 --> 00:12:20,100 King Solomon, the king of Israel, by the 17th century 235 00:12:20,100 --> 00:12:22,400 references. A bounded to the Masonic word 236 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,300 known only to members by the 1700s. 237 00:12:25,300 --> 00:12:27,800 This Arcane knowledge was part of the Mystique of the Masons 238 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:33,000 Morrison's Morris says, French masons in the 18th century 239 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:35,800 further popularized. This sort of clandestine 240 00:12:35,800 --> 00:12:39,200 writing, including use of the pigpen Cipher, which came to be 241 00:12:39,200 --> 00:12:42,300 known as the Masonic Cipher, and Drew characters based on a 242 00:12:42,308 --> 00:12:47,100 tic-tac-toe or x-shaped grid these simple substitution codes 243 00:12:47,100 --> 00:12:49,800 in which a new figure or character, replaces each letter 244 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:51,800 of the alphabet are crude and easy to break. 245 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:55,500 Morse explains yet they provide just enough of a barrier to the 246 00:12:55,500 --> 00:12:58,600 non initiate to safeguard a message at least for a while. 247 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,400 It's somewhat useful in that it To preserve secret information 248 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:04,900 but more important. It becomes a symbol of secrecy. 249 00:13:04,900 --> 00:13:07,700 Maura says, it's like when you get the key to a city, it 250 00:13:07,700 --> 00:13:11,300 doesn't really unlock anything. Such substitution. 251 00:13:11,300 --> 00:13:14,200 Ciphers proliferated through various Grand, lodges in the 252 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:16,500 19th and 20th, centuries and keys. 253 00:13:16,500 --> 00:13:19,400 Too many were even sold in guidebooks by Masonic Publishers 254 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,400 today, the use of, masonic codes remains common. 255 00:13:22,500 --> 00:13:25,400 Although in place of formal ciphers ritual training manuals 256 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,500 are often written in a sort of shorthand, or what more is 257 00:13:28,500 --> 00:13:32,300 describes as an aide memoir. It provides a sort of casual 258 00:13:32,300 --> 00:13:34,600 security. He says, so if you left it on a 259 00:13:34,608 --> 00:13:37,700 coffee table or an airplane, say anyone who picked it up we go, 260 00:13:37,700 --> 00:13:40,200 huh, what's this? Morris explains? 261 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:42,800 Their used this way? Think about the lock on a door 262 00:13:43,100 --> 00:13:44,900 sometimes. It's not that strong, but all 263 00:13:44,900 --> 00:13:47,100 you need is something to keep the dog in the house. 264 00:13:48,100 --> 00:13:50,600 Decipher Morse encountered in a history of Royal Arch. 265 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:53,400 Masonry part of a manuscript belonging to a doctor. 266 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:57,800 Robert Folger of New York dated 1827 was altogether different 267 00:13:58,100 --> 00:13:59,600 where other Masonic Cipher is used. 268 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,900 Simple monoalphabetic substitution 's the Folger 269 00:14:02,900 --> 00:14:07,000 manuscript was far more complex each figure or hieroglyphs seem 270 00:14:07,000 --> 00:14:09,800 to be composed of several characters nestled into groups 271 00:14:10,600 --> 00:14:13,700 Morris puzzled over the Enigma using his usual code-breaking 272 00:14:13,700 --> 00:14:17,500 techniques but without luck He referenced the Folger Cipher in 273 00:14:17,500 --> 00:14:19,400 an article on fraternal cryptography. 274 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:23,500 He would wrote for the summer 1978 issue of the nsa's internal 275 00:14:23,500 --> 00:14:26,700 Journal crypto log and at the same time, shared it with a 276 00:14:26,708 --> 00:14:29,000 fellow Crypt analyst named Donald Bennett. 277 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:34,000 Cracking the code, been attacked the cipher with Zeal and a lot 278 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:36,300 of patience. He started out by scanning the 279 00:14:36,300 --> 00:14:39,800 document for Clues related to frequency for instance, among 280 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,800 characters group together inside a box 42% included, a horizontal 281 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:47,200 line or the top surmising that the Box did for the first letter 282 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:52,300 of the word and the lion for the second Bennett hypothesized that 283 00:14:52,300 --> 00:14:55,400 the line stood for the letter E, the most common letter in 284 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:57,300 English. And the letter most frequently 285 00:14:57,300 --> 00:14:59,200 appearing is the second letter of a word. 286 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,200 Then he searched for repeating digraphs or pairs of Strokes 287 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:07,600 appearing together an English. A common example is Q, you that 288 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,800 turned up a distinctive pairing in the text a crescent moon 289 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:12,500 shape, followed by a backward gamma. 290 00:15:12,500 --> 00:15:15,700 Figuring it couldn't be Q you. However, because in several 291 00:15:15,700 --> 00:15:18,400 instances, it appeared at what Bennett determined must be the 292 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:20,900 end of a word. There are no English words that 293 00:15:20,900 --> 00:15:24,600 end with q-- u but it did suggest another common pairing 294 00:15:24,900 --> 00:15:29,200 th By focusing on figures containing the likely. 295 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:33,300 Th diagraph Bennett was able to zero in on what he believed was 296 00:15:33,300 --> 00:15:38,100 a four-letter word, that red, th blank T, the only possible word, 297 00:15:38,100 --> 00:15:40,900 it could be with that armed with this knowledge. 298 00:15:40,900 --> 00:15:44,600 He now knew the symbol for the letter, A a single dot, having 299 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:48,600 shaken loose, the letters th A&E, he was able to hunt for 300 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,700 longer words here. Bennett relied on Morris for 301 00:15:51,700 --> 00:15:55,700 additional hints in any text. There's a coated element hiding 302 00:15:55,700 --> 00:15:58,500 in plain sight. The language itself, their 303 00:15:58,500 --> 00:16:01,000 specialized terminology and just about everything. 304 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,700 More says, for instance, in an academic setting correspondence 305 00:16:04,700 --> 00:16:08,300 is likely to contain references to semesters adjunct symposia or 306 00:16:08,300 --> 00:16:10,700 Dean's. All familiar enough English 307 00:16:10,700 --> 00:16:14,500 words but rarely used outside a Collegiate environment for 308 00:16:14,500 --> 00:16:17,000 anyone who's read through an uncoded Masonic writing. 309 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,700 The experience of feeling overwhelmed by the Lexicon is 310 00:16:19,700 --> 00:16:23,500 all too familiar words like Brethren ashlar and coward 311 00:16:23,700 --> 00:16:26,400 occur, far more frequently with in Freemasonry than outside of 312 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:30,500 it. armed with a list of common Masonic terms, Bennett inferred, 313 00:16:30,500 --> 00:16:33,500 that, for example, the frequently occurring figure, he 314 00:16:33,500 --> 00:16:37,800 interpreted, as t blank blank, th was more likely to be truth 315 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:42,300 than say 10th, From there more coded items could be pried open. 316 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:46,200 Bennett hunted for Tupac to letter possibilities like to. 317 00:16:46,200 --> 00:16:50,600 And or then three letter words like our where, within his grasp 318 00:16:50,900 --> 00:16:55,000 next, he searched for double letters as an effort on and on, 319 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:58,100 he went picking apart each graphic for Clues cautiously 320 00:16:58,100 --> 00:17:01,400 making assumptions, testing them and swap it in letters as they 321 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:05,300 were revealed before long. He had 15 characters deciphered, 322 00:17:05,300 --> 00:17:08,800 then 20, finally he'd recovered the entire alphabet along with 323 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,300 several figures. Is that represented common words 324 00:17:11,300 --> 00:17:15,400 like and his and they and relatively short order Bennett 325 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:16,900 produced. A rough translation of the 326 00:17:16,900 --> 00:17:20,099 manuscript which read like a homily on the importance of the 327 00:17:20,099 --> 00:17:23,099 Bible as a guidebook for living. Possibly a speech to be 328 00:17:23,099 --> 00:17:25,700 delivered to initiates. While the excerpt was not 329 00:17:25,700 --> 00:17:28,600 familiar Morris is being from a regular Masonic degree. 330 00:17:29,000 --> 00:17:30,900 It seemed clearly related to the craft. 331 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:33,700 In fact, the word masonry appeared on line. 3 in the 332 00:17:33,700 --> 00:17:36,500 phrase, newly enrolled initiate was used several times 333 00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:38,900 throughout, Reviewing it. Maurice. 334 00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:41,800 Determined that the lecture must come from a Master Mason degree 335 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,000 in a french-style lodge. A strange possession for a 19th 336 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:46,800 century. American Mason in New York. 337 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:50,500 Even with the text decipher the mystery felt unsolved. 338 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:52,500 The what of the cipher have been cracked? 339 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:57,100 The why remained a mystery wrapped in an enigma? 340 00:17:57,700 --> 00:18:00,300 So Morris took up the case. Again trying to piece together 341 00:18:00,300 --> 00:18:02,700 information about the text purpose and its author. 342 00:18:03,100 --> 00:18:05,700 He knew that the manuscript had been recovered from a journal 343 00:18:05,700 --> 00:18:09,200 kept by a Robert Benjamin. I New York position and 344 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,400 Freemason on the title page. The journal reads, it, it should 345 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,400 be bequeathed to a brother dr. Hans be G. 346 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:18,200 And then if he is unable to take possession of it, it should pass 347 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:20,800 to a mr. Ferdinand, Halsey to preserve 348 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,700 the substance in his mind while he committed the manuscript to 349 00:18:23,700 --> 00:18:26,500 the Flames. Morris began to research. 350 00:18:26,500 --> 00:18:29,500 The mysterious doctor Folger combing through Masonic records 351 00:18:29,500 --> 00:18:31,800 and meeting minutes. The picture, the materials 352 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:34,100 painted was one of them, the authority a stick. 353 00:18:34,100 --> 00:18:37,800 If somewhat freewheeling, Freemason Bulger was born in 354 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:41,400 1803 and Hudson New York and moved to New York City in 1817 355 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,200 or he apprenticed to become an apothecary in 1824. 356 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:49,000 He was initiated at fireman's lodge number 368, and he set out 357 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,600 on a dizzying campaign of masonic Endeavors, two years 358 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:55,600 after his first initiation, he joined the Jerusalem chapter of 359 00:18:55,600 --> 00:18:59,100 the Royal Arch was received in a council of the royal and select 360 00:18:59,100 --> 00:19:02,500 Masters and was dubbed, a knight Templar in Colombia encampment 361 00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:06,000 number one soon after he helped launch a new and short-lived 362 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:09,500 chapter of the Arch receive the 4th through, the 32nd degrees of 363 00:19:09,500 --> 00:19:12,400 the Scottish Rite, and join the Lafayette chapter of the Rose. 364 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:16,300 Kroy at the time, he wrote his Cipher Folger was senior Warden 365 00:19:16,300 --> 00:19:18,100 of the newly chartered Zahra Babble. 366 00:19:18,100 --> 00:19:22,400 Lodge. Number 242 from therefore Rose 367 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:26,000 and fell rapidly through the various pendant bodies, partly. 368 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,200 That was a result of his almost boundless Zeal for Freemasonry 369 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:31,400 and partly it. Owed to the fractured nature of 370 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:33,400 the craft in the middle of the 19th century. 371 00:19:33,900 --> 00:19:36,300 Folger personally, lived through, at least six different 372 00:19:36,300 --> 00:19:40,200 Grand lodges in New York and 14 Supreme councils of the Scottish 373 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,400 Rite. He was twice suspended for non 374 00:19:42,400 --> 00:19:45,600 Masonic conduct, or writings and was highly involved in a briefly 375 00:19:45,600 --> 00:19:48,500 active and in retrospect illegitimate branch of the 376 00:19:48,500 --> 00:19:52,500 Scottish Rite known. As Sarah new easy, mm, arrival 377 00:19:52,500 --> 00:19:56,200 to the Supreme councils later. He joined and participated in a 378 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,300 Revival of the separatists St. John's Grand Lodge of New York 379 00:19:59,300 --> 00:20:02,000 at every turn. He it seems he picked the losing 380 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:04,600 side of internecine. Fights. 381 00:20:06,300 --> 00:20:09,400 It's possible in entirely likely that Folgers coded manuscript 382 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:12,200 was intended as part of a breakaway Masonic body Folger 383 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:14,900 intended to found, but never did the frequent. 384 00:20:14,900 --> 00:20:17,600 Clashes with Grand Lodge. Didn't necessarily indicate 385 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:21,400 Folger was a malcontent, however, rather Morris 386 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,500 determined, he was a product of a chaotic time for Freemasonry 387 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,600 throughout. All of this Morris, labor wrote 388 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:29,700 Folger was seldom in idle bystander. 389 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:32,400 I was actively involved in many of the controversies. 390 00:20:32,900 --> 00:20:36,300 He is today viewed as a schismatic, a troublemaker His 391 00:20:36,300 --> 00:20:39,000 Masonic career is perhaps his checkered as the ground floor of 392 00:20:39,008 --> 00:20:41,700 King Solomon's. Temple one cannot study his life 393 00:20:41,700 --> 00:20:44,200 without feeling that he was a remarkable Freemason. 394 00:20:45,300 --> 00:20:48,100 In the scheme of things, the enigmatic folder Cipher didn't 395 00:20:48,100 --> 00:20:51,100 contain much in the way of groundbreaking Secrets, but its 396 00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:54,400 existence pointed to a long and profound history of secrecy and 397 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,700 Mystique within the fraternity Folger was by no means. 398 00:20:57,700 --> 00:21:01,300 The only 18th or 19th century Mason to develop his own code 399 00:21:01,600 --> 00:21:03,900 and the Masons weren't the only fraternity to use him. 400 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,900 In fact, the period was practically overflowing with 401 00:21:06,900 --> 00:21:10,000 fraternal bodies at aim to communicate covertly or at least 402 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:13,900 appear to in 2011 and international team decoded, the 403 00:21:13,900 --> 00:21:17,800 so-called Kopi All Cipher, another highly irregular code 404 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:21,100 shrouded, the initiation ritual of a Mason like group of a 405 00:21:21,108 --> 00:21:24,400 cultist who borrowed heavily from the language of Optometry 406 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:29,400 to perform a symbolic ritualised surgery on initiate size today 407 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,300 in an era of super Computing, and digital encryption such 408 00:21:32,300 --> 00:21:35,500 Cipher seem like a relic from a distant and exotic past. 409 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:38,300 But timorous, even if they're not exactly cutting-edge 410 00:21:38,300 --> 00:21:40,100 security, they still serve a purpose. 411 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:42,700 It's like a lot of other things about Freemasonry. 412 00:21:42,700 --> 00:21:45,800 He says it's only a secret from someone who's Not smart enough 413 00:21:45,800 --> 00:21:48,800 to do a Google search. The code is really a mark of 414 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,000 Acceptance. In the society, he continues, 415 00:21:51,300 --> 00:21:54,300 we're not just an evolved trade. Guild, we have those Secrets 416 00:21:54,300 --> 00:21:56,600 going back, 400 years and that's kind of cool. 417 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,300 The Perfect Crime. Masonic mystery Maven, James 418 00:22:02,300 --> 00:22:04,800 Lincoln. Warren on a perfect hard-boiled, 419 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:10,400 Story by Ian, a Stewart Mason's share a fondness for unraveling. 420 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:13,400 Life's great Mysteries. James Lincoln Warren loves 421 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,300 putting them together. Warren of Santa Monica 422 00:22:16,300 --> 00:22:19,200 Palisades. Lodge number 307 is an expert of 423 00:22:19,200 --> 00:22:21,800 the tightly wound. Detective story, he is a 424 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:24,000 frequent contributor to the long-running Ellery. 425 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:26,800 Queens, mystery magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's, mystery 426 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:30,300 magazine and Past president of the Southern California, chapter 427 00:22:30,300 --> 00:22:33,400 of the mystery writers of America, he's behind to 428 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:36,900 celebrated mystery series. The true visco of Lloyd stories 429 00:22:36,900 --> 00:22:40,700 about the exploits of an 18th Century Insurance Investigator 430 00:22:41,100 --> 00:22:45,400 and the Cal Ops detective agency series about a multiracial pi 431 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:49,500 outfit probing contemporary Beverly Hills, a master of both 432 00:22:49,500 --> 00:22:51,300 his crafts. Warren was given the Black 433 00:22:51,300 --> 00:22:54,800 Orchid novello award in 2011 by the Nero Wolfe society. 434 00:22:55,100 --> 00:22:58,500 And in 2019, he received the Hiram award for This to his 435 00:22:58,500 --> 00:23:01,700 Lodge California. Freemason caught up with the 436 00:23:01,700 --> 00:23:04,800 prolific, writer to talk about parallels, between masonry and 437 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,700 mystery writing, and the enduring appeal of Pulp Fiction, 438 00:23:08,500 --> 00:23:10,800 California. Freemason, how did you get 439 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:13,300 started? As a crime writer James Warren. 440 00:23:13,700 --> 00:23:15,400 I started writing a great school. 441 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:18,700 I had my first published story at 19, but it took me 20 more 442 00:23:18,700 --> 00:23:21,400 years to get another story published at that time. 443 00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:23,900 I was writing mostly science fiction, but it wasn't really 444 00:23:23,900 --> 00:23:26,500 cutting-edge science. Fiction is the literature of 445 00:23:26,500 --> 00:23:28,500 ideas. Mystery is the Richard's 446 00:23:28,500 --> 00:23:31,900 Behavior temperamentally mystery was a better fit for me, 447 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,100 California. Freemason, you differentiate 448 00:23:35,100 --> 00:23:38,000 between hard-boiled crime, fiction and Noir, what's the 449 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:41,400 difference? James, hard-boiled is about 450 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,000 tough guys, who win the war is about tough guys, who lose. 451 00:23:45,300 --> 00:23:48,300 So for instance, the Maltese Falcon is hard-boiled, but 452 00:23:48,300 --> 00:23:50,800 Double Indemnity is worn generally. 453 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:53,500 There's very little humor in war, it's about desperation, 454 00:23:53,500 --> 00:23:57,200 some sort of obsession California, Freemason, what are 455 00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,100 the essential elements, Elements of the genre. 456 00:24:00,300 --> 00:24:03,100 James. Writing hard-boiled. 457 00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:06,700 Stories is I do you have three characteristics first, rather 458 00:24:06,700 --> 00:24:09,500 than being a fair play puzzle. Like, in, Hercule Poirot. 459 00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,700 They're usually travelogues. There's a lot of shoe leather. 460 00:24:12,700 --> 00:24:15,600 You discover the clues as the detective does and you arrive at 461 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,600 the solution at the same time as the detective, then you have a 462 00:24:18,608 --> 00:24:22,300 mix of convention and invention. The convention is the thing. 463 00:24:22,300 --> 00:24:25,300 You expect to see to be satisfied, the knight in Rusty 464 00:24:25,300 --> 00:24:29,300 armor as someone called it. The detective with his own code 465 00:24:29,300 --> 00:24:31,400 of ethics. The Invention is how you 466 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:34,200 differentiate it often through the use of setting. 467 00:24:34,600 --> 00:24:38,600 The setting is almost a character in itself, California, 468 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,600 Freemason, why do you prefer to work in short stories rather 469 00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:45,700 than novels James in terms of choosing it as a form? 470 00:24:45,700 --> 00:24:48,200 It's a matter of temperament. I remember, I was on a 471 00:24:48,208 --> 00:24:50,800 conference panel and the moderator, a novelist who is a 472 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,400 friend of mine introduced me by saying Jim does something I 473 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,300 don't do. I build clocks, he makes watches 474 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:00,400 And I thought that was a perfect analogy of the novel versus the 475 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:02,900 short story. Everything has to fit exactly 476 00:25:02,900 --> 00:25:06,200 with every other piece. All tightly packed California, 477 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,600 Freemason. Why do you think crime drama 478 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,200 remains so popular as a genre in literature and film James? 479 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,300 You know, I used to work in a bookstore and if someone came in 480 00:25:15,300 --> 00:25:17,900 and said, I don't like Mysteries, I'd say, I'm sure I 481 00:25:17,900 --> 00:25:20,700 can find a mystery alike, mystery encompasses. 482 00:25:20,700 --> 00:25:23,700 Everything from madcap humor to serial killer stories. 483 00:25:24,100 --> 00:25:27,400 Most mystery readers are above average intelligence so that the 484 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,300 Process of putting together, the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle 485 00:25:30,300 --> 00:25:32,300 appeals to them. California. 486 00:25:32,300 --> 00:25:35,800 Freemason, do you see any similarities between Freemasonry 487 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,700 and crime? Fiction, both deal with 488 00:25:37,700 --> 00:25:41,000 Mysteries and secrets? Of course James, the primary 489 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,000 thing that connects Freemasonry to Crime fiction is ethics and 490 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,200 Morality In the final analysis. Every crime, fiction story winds 491 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,900 up being a morality play the difference between right and 492 00:25:51,900 --> 00:25:54,900 wrong, the symbols of Freemasonry almost uniformly, 493 00:25:54,900 --> 00:25:56,800 have to do with becoming a better person. 494 00:25:57,500 --> 00:26:01,100 The three big metaphors of light or knowledge travel, as in the 495 00:26:01,100 --> 00:26:03,600 journey, through life and geometry, or the building of all 496 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:07,400 things, they all apply to Crime fiction to California. 497 00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:10,600 Freemason, have you ever made references to masonry in your 498 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:11,900 stories? James? 499 00:26:12,500 --> 00:26:14,200 The, first year I was a Master Mason. 500 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,900 I was appointed chaplain of our lodge by arum a Lyon and his 501 00:26:17,900 --> 00:26:21,100 senior Warden, David Ferrara, our secretary at the time could 502 00:26:21,100 --> 00:26:22,700 never pronounce their names correctly. 503 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:24,800 He'd called them Malone and Ferrari. 504 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,000 I thought Ferrari and Malone sounds like a buddy cop Movie 505 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,400 and from that Aaron thought, came Custer Malone and Carmine 506 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:33,900 Ferrari the two principal detectives in the towel up 507 00:26:33,900 --> 00:26:37,400 stories and while the multi racial makeup of the agency was 508 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,800 categorically reflective of masonic ideals. 509 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:43,200 The stories themselves owe more to Rex Stout and the late San 510 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,200 Francisco crime writer. Joe Gore's is d.k. a file 511 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:48,400 stories, but the lodge enjoy the gag. 512 00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:56,700 The lodge that wasn't there by Antone, Peru Chi and the 1950s. 513 00:26:56,700 --> 00:26:59,600 When the famous touring magician Lee Grable pulled into a new 514 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:03,000 town to perform his Broadway, Magical Mystery Extravaganza. 515 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,200 The Illusionist always sought out a local musician to help 516 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:09,800 with his most famous act. The floating piano, most of the 517 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,500 time while miraculously levitating in the air and 518 00:27:12,500 --> 00:27:14,400 tapping the keys to a Ferrari has Applause. 519 00:27:14,700 --> 00:27:17,700 The guest performer, would simply relish the attention on 520 00:27:17,700 --> 00:27:20,100 one occasion though, the young woman Grable had chosen 521 00:27:20,100 --> 00:27:22,700 completely froze up. Just as the acclaimed world's 522 00:27:22,700 --> 00:27:25,000 greatest Illusionist started the pianos barrel roll. 523 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:26,600 Threatening to spoil the whole routine. 524 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:28,400 Don't stop playing gravel shot at. 525 00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,100 That's what's keeping you up Jr, night. 526 00:27:31,100 --> 00:27:34,500 Laughs as he recalls the story night, heard the story directly 527 00:27:34,500 --> 00:27:37,700 from the rate late, Grable a longtime member of Alamo lodge 528 00:27:37,700 --> 00:27:40,300 number 122, more than 20 years ago. 529 00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:42,900 Shortly after night, joined him in the invisible Lodge 530 00:27:42,900 --> 00:27:46,700 International or ili a worldwide group of Master Masons, who 531 00:27:46,700 --> 00:27:50,500 double as Master magicians today night of Southwest Hackett 532 00:27:50,500 --> 00:27:54,000 number 57, For is the president of what is very likely. 533 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,400 The most mysterious Affinity launched in the known or unknown 534 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:02,500 World, founded by Sir, Felix Quorum in 1953, The Invisible 535 00:28:02,500 --> 00:28:05,500 Lodge has attracted such luminaries as Harry Blackstone 536 00:28:05,500 --> 00:28:08,500 Aikido, and Jack Quinn. And if those names don't ring a 537 00:28:08,508 --> 00:28:11,300 bell, the tricks they made famous, should the floating 538 00:28:11,300 --> 00:28:13,100 lady? The flying carpet and sawing a 539 00:28:13,108 --> 00:28:16,100 woman in half. What started out as a small 540 00:28:16,100 --> 00:28:19,600 Cadre of Freemason magicians has transformed over the years into 541 00:28:19,600 --> 00:28:22,700 an organization spanning half a dozen countries and including 542 00:28:22,700 --> 00:28:26,500 not only magicians but also practitioners of the Allied Arts 543 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,200 such as ventriloquist's fire-eaters clowns and 544 00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:32,800 hypnotists a Motley mix of amateurs and professionals Drawn 545 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:35,700 Together by their twin passions for masonry and Magic. 546 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,000 The two go hand-in-hand says Ralph Shelton, a professional 547 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:42,600 magician, a member of Orange, Grove lodge number to 93 and the 548 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:47,300 ili coordinator for southern The two craft Shelton explains both 549 00:28:47,300 --> 00:28:50,100 share a reverence for mystery symbolism and secrecy. 550 00:28:50,500 --> 00:28:53,100 Perhaps it's no surprise that some of the most celebrated 551 00:28:53,100 --> 00:28:56,400 magicians in history have been Freemasons, most famously, 552 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,700 Harry, Houdini, Howard Thurston and Dante the magician. 553 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,400 With no Central Lodge members of the ili, mostly gather at Magic 554 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,900 conventions, and trade shows in California. 555 00:29:06,900 --> 00:29:08,900 These often take place at the Magic Castle. 556 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:11,500 The famous private club and magic training academy in 557 00:29:11,500 --> 00:29:16,000 Hollywood, needless to say, ili Gatherings can get weird fast in 558 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:20,300 a wonderful Vegas, matinee sort of way, we exchange tips and try 559 00:29:20,300 --> 00:29:23,000 out new bits and they're sometimes an ad hoc performance 560 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,400 Shelton says and recent years and initiation ritual was 561 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:29,000 created for new members, which can be performed in a tile 562 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,600 meeting as an The lodge, the ili is more Club than a proper Lodge 563 00:29:33,900 --> 00:29:35,500 as a result. Most grand lodges. 564 00:29:35,500 --> 00:29:38,700 Don't formally recognize it no one knows for sure. 565 00:29:38,700 --> 00:29:41,100 Just how long the membership rolls are for the group. 566 00:29:41,100 --> 00:29:43,400 Though, that doesn't necessarily 0 to its members and usual 567 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:46,400 profession, rather, the Past Masters were just terrible. 568 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,400 Scribes night says, with the left, you can't make heads or 569 00:29:49,408 --> 00:29:52,000 tails of their writing. And since we only offer lifetime 570 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,300 memberships, if someone wasn't recorded, when they got their 571 00:29:54,300 --> 00:29:57,200 card, we have no idea. They exist, perhaps a fitting 572 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,300 situation, all things considered Careless record. 573 00:30:00,300 --> 00:30:03,500 Keeping aside the ili offers its members all the trappings of 574 00:30:03,500 --> 00:30:07,000 Freemasonry science and symbols officer positions and an 575 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,600 initiation ceremony Tuxedos and top hats. 576 00:30:09,900 --> 00:30:13,300 But with a performer's flare thus magic wands, replace 577 00:30:13,300 --> 00:30:16,600 Masonic rods and instead of a sword, the Tyler carries a mace 578 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:18,800 and shovel as he guards, the entrance to meetings. 579 00:30:19,100 --> 00:30:22,100 Why after walking the cow and what are you supposed to do with 580 00:30:22,100 --> 00:30:24,400 him? Shelton offers the group even 581 00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,200 has a Lifetime Achievement Award, akin to the Hiram award 582 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,200 called the Harvey award named after the Miss Jimmy Stewart. 583 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,000 Movie about a man whose best friend is a six-foot-tall 584 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:35,500 invisible rabbit. The award is a beautiful 585 00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:37,400 crystalline glass case Shelton says. 586 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,100 And inside the case nothing he says it's empty. 587 00:30:42,700 --> 00:30:47,800 And with that, we will close out this episode where we featured, 588 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:51,600 California, Freemason Magazine, from, September, October, 20, 589 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:53,700 20. And as always, thanks for 590 00:30:53,700 --> 00:31:01,900 listening. Thank you for listening. 591 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,300 If you like what you heard, Please Subscribe and leave us. 592 00:31:04,300 --> 00:31:06,300 A comment. We enjoy hearing from our 593 00:31:06,300 --> 00:31:08,000 listeners. If you really like what you 594 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,800 heard, share this podcast with your friends and Lodge members 595 00:31:11,100 --> 00:31:13,600 visit us online. Line at Solomon staircase, 596 00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:14,400 dot-org.