December 26th, 2011
Our Strictly Hush-Hush New Year’s Eve Miscellany
Yes, it has been far too long since our last update. So please pour yourself a generous glass of something bubbly, don a dinner jacket or white tie, fire up a good recording of Die Fledermaus, and get ready for New Year’s Eve (Sylvester for our European friends!), Curated Secrets-style… Mysteries behind mysteries: the Copial [...]
August 11th, 2011
New health warning on Templar myths
Our Dan Brown-tinged era has put a kind of “full-employment act” in place for spinners of Templar myths. Some of these entrepreneurs cater to the desire for escapism and fantasy (which, given the state of the world at the moment, is perhaps understandable). Much of it is less benign, from the dozens of murders and [...]
June 6th, 2011
Evidence of time travel to the year 2041
Your humble curators have found that it’s possible to travel to the year 2041. Sort of. In the bowels of the Harvard University archives is one sealed copy of the bicentennial history of the fabled Porcellian Club, with strict instructions that it is not to be opened until 2041 — a year when most or [...]
April 13th, 2011
“Catnip for Conspiracy Theorists,” and other Bunga-Bunga tales
We are pleased to report that your humble curators are still alive and well, even if not blogging frequently. We realize we are overdue for an update, especially since the recent successful launch of the Italian edition of Secret Places. The original cover design is shown above, which some suggested looked like an entrance to [...]
December 13th, 2010
From Templar revivals to private intelligence services…
Force of Habit Your curators have noticed that habits, uniforms and ceremonial dress never go out of fashion. Have you come across the Militia Templi, a Templar revival that actually has ecclesiastical approval? Or perhaps the recently-founded Evangelii Praecones (Heralds of the Gospel), created in Brazil and also enjoying an official status with the Church? [...]
December 4th, 2010
Apocalypse 1957, and other frightening thoughts
Your curators have been nudged to provide a bit of an update on the eclectic variety of subjects we cover. Armageddon: we recently came across some interesting reportage on Mao’s address to the 1957 world confab of Communist leaders in Moscow. It seems that the Great Helmsman boldly advocated global nuclear war, unnerving and shaking [...]
October 18th, 2010
First annual hotch-potch of Curated Secrets file notes
It’s time for an Autumn round-up of Curated Secrets notes and intelligence sightings. Yes, this is a bit of a hotch-potch (or hodge-podge, if you prefer): Best secret entrance: The Ivy Club in London’s Covent Garden, with its entrance “discreetly concealed within a flower shop on West Street.” Upstairs, celebrities and media people dine on [...]
September 11th, 2010
From Italy’s “P3″ to Mexico’s “Anvil,” secret society scandals grip the Latin imagination
The global economy might still be sputtering, but the secret society “business” continues to go from strength to strength. Perhaps you noticed this summer’s ‘P3′ scandal in Italy, which came close to bringing down the Berlusconi government. With frenzied claims that a shadowy cabal of politicos and business leaders has created a new “state within [...]
July 20th, 2010
22 minutes of Australian radio listening pleasure
My erudite co-author Gerald was recently interviewed on the popular Australian radio show Open House, which was broadcast this past Sunday in the Antipodes. For a brief respite from the cut-and-thrust of your daily life, we urge you to sit back, relax and enjoy the repartee here (click “listen”) or else download the podcast from [...]
July 14th, 2010
Put Out More Flags
Today is Bastille Day, the annual national commemoration of the 1789 event during the French Revolution in which, so republican lore tells us, the political prisoners of the cruel and wayward ancien régime were liberated by a freedom-hungry mob. Never mind that the Bastille only held seven inmates — four forgers, two lunatics, and an [...]