Instead of commonplace designs like flowers or snowflakes, seamstress Celestia A. Milliken decorated her colorful quilt in 1908 with the square and compass and 70 other secret symbols of Freemasonry.

Secret societies and organisations have long fascinated outsiders, but few have attracted as much intrigue and speculation throughout history as the Freemasons. It is the "world's largest secret ...

In 1854, US Commodore Matthew Perry landed at Hakodate, Hokkaidō, in the northern part of Japan. Two members of his crew who had died from disease were buried on the slopes of Mount Hakodate—the ...

Several Masonic signs have been found 'hidden' in paintings of Scotland's bard Robert Burns. Tiny letters and symbols have been painted in minute detail in a paintings by Alexander Nasmyth, a ...

Fourteen presidents have called themselves Freemasons, members of the centuries-old fraternal organization known for its secret rituals and mysterious symbols. Abraham Lincoln was not one of them, but ...

A half-century ago, when more Americans participated in civic groups, 4.1 million men regularly spent evenings at Masonic lodges around the country. That period, from the late 1950s to the early 1960s ...