Speaker 1: Well, fellow conspiracy realists, thank you, as always so much
Speaker 1: for joining us. We have a classic episode for you
Speaker 1: this evening as we're as we're busy gearing up for
Speaker 1: two thousand and twenty five, they called me Ben Matt.
Speaker 2: It seems like.
Speaker 1: It wasn't that long ago, or it seems like it
Speaker 1: was hundreds of years ago that we had an unexpected
Speaker 1: guest in the studio.
Speaker 3: Yeah, somebody wanted to just come on in through one
Speaker 3: of the you know, secret society portholes that exist just
Speaker 3: throughout buildings, especially in Atlanta. He just popped in, said hello,
Speaker 3: and then he had to go get back on his dirigible.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, it was a dirigible and the facts
Speaker 1: matter here. Yes, it is a true story, or, as
Speaker 1: Emily Dickinson said, it is the truth told slightly slant.
Speaker 1: There's this guy named John Hodgman who sort of just
Speaker 1: drifted through our studio, you know, like a mysterious anti
Speaker 1: hero in an old Western film, and then said ask
Speaker 1: me anything.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, and basically I'm on television. Secret societies love.
Speaker 1: Me very specific opinions about regional SODA's and true story
Speaker 1: insider looks at societies we sometimes call secret because they
Speaker 1: very much are.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, let's jump into this delightful episode.
Speaker 4: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is
Speaker 4: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
Speaker 4: learn this stuff they don't want you to know. A
Speaker 4: production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to the show. My name is Matt, my
Speaker 3: name is no.
Speaker 5: They call me Ben.
Speaker 1: We are joined as always with our super producer Paul
Speaker 1: Michigan control decan in spirit. Because our guest super producer
Speaker 1: Maya Cole is on the ones and Tuesdaday give it
Speaker 1: up for her. Most importantly, you are you, You are here,
Speaker 1: and that makes this stuff they don't want you to know.
Speaker 5: So check in. First things first, check in.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, so this week, you guys, I went to
Speaker 3: Chuck E Cheese because my son turned four yesterday. As
Speaker 3: as we're recording this and that, uh, that robot casino
Speaker 3: was fabulous.
Speaker 1: Hang on, sorry, we're recording, sir, sir, Hello sir, what's
Speaker 1: going on in here?
Speaker 3: Hey wait a second?
Speaker 2: Oh is this the uh?
Speaker 5: Is this the podcast?
Speaker 2: I feel like, uh yeah, that's adorable. I'm such a fan.
Speaker 2: What are wait, I'm I'm sorry, I'm John Hodgman.
Speaker 3: I used to be on television sometimes I thought I
Speaker 3: recognized you, inspector.
Speaker 5: That's I, Judge John Hodgman, that's it.
Speaker 2: I have a podcast as well. Yeah, were you? You
Speaker 2: were the PC. I don't don't know what you were
Speaker 2: talking about. Yeah, No, I was a PC on the
Speaker 2: Apple Ads. And you know, I don't know what else
Speaker 2: on my resume. I've traveled all over the world. I've
Speaker 2: been in the upper echelons of fame, and I've been
Speaker 2: granted a lot of exclusive access to a lot of
Speaker 2: secret rooms and hidden parties and stuff that you're not
Speaker 2: supposed to know, but I do. You didn't write a
Speaker 2: book about it, did you. Yeah? I did. Actually it's
Speaker 2: called Medallion status. But that's not why I'm here. I'm
Speaker 2: just you know, I was just traveling through the secret
Speaker 2: tunnels on my way to a secret World government event,
Speaker 2: and yeah, I have a secret door right into your
Speaker 2: room here, So I thought I was just check in
Speaker 2: and say hi, I hear you're talking about secret societies
Speaker 2: a little bit.
Speaker 5: So yeah, well, I mean thanks thanks for coming. I
Speaker 5: always wonder what that door was for.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that just leads to the to the platform for
Speaker 2: the Golden funicular that people of my status get to use.
Speaker 5: Oh god, this is some real deranged billionaire.
Speaker 2: So yeah, well that is the character that I used
Speaker 2: to play on The Daily Show. The guy's just me.
Speaker 2: I mean, there is a secret door here, and I'm
Speaker 2: on my way to a secret meeting, but it's just me.
Speaker 2: John Hodgman, it's.
Speaker 3: Hard to tell, friend, the lines are blurring so much
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: Host of the Judge John Hodgmen podcast and author of
Speaker 2: the new book Medallion Status True Stories from Secret Rooms,
Speaker 2: which has a portion in it. This is a This
Speaker 2: is a book that's mostly about my my, my job
Speaker 2: as a famous minor television personality, and what happened after,
Speaker 2: how unlikely and unusual it was that I should be
Speaker 2: on camera at all, the strange things that happened to
Speaker 2: me while I was there, And then what happened after
Speaker 2: I lost that job and panicked and started chasing a
Speaker 2: new kind of status as a Diamond Medallion member on
Speaker 2: the Delta trying to become Diamond Medallion and the Delta
Speaker 2: Frequent Flyer program. It's I you know, I don't want
Speaker 2: I don't want to I don't want to give away
Speaker 2: the story of the book, but I got it. I
Speaker 2: got I went diamond, I went diving.
Speaker 6: And I appeared on his dear friend Chuck Bryant's movie
Speaker 6: podcast earlier today and I I disclosed that I am
Speaker 6: approaching silver medallion status and I was told that that
Speaker 6: is a trash status.
Speaker 2: What I used, some nonsense words came out of your
Speaker 2: head just then. I'm sorry that it's gonna they say
Speaker 2: on Westworld. I don't That doesn't look like anything to me.
Speaker 2: I don't understand what you're talking about. Aparently silver is
Speaker 2: a trash medal. You're hurting my ears. You've got You've
Speaker 2: got a silver.
Speaker 3: So how does that compare to just like a guy
Speaker 3: who just travels coach and doesn't have a medallion at all?
Speaker 2: Well, what does the medallion look like? It's an imaginary medallion.
Speaker 2: It is a dumb, imaginary prize that I became obsessed
Speaker 2: with when my TV show was canceled and I and
Speaker 2: I had stopped working on the Daily Show and I
Speaker 2: wasn't on TV anymore. And as a lot of people
Speaker 2: do when their status starts to slip, whether whether you
Speaker 2: are losing a television job or you're you're you're aging
Speaker 2: out of your own job or you're getting older as
Speaker 2: a parent and your kids don't think you're a celebrity anymore.
Speaker 2: Or you're a member of the rural white working class
Speaker 2: and you feel that the privilege that is due to
Speaker 2: you is being taken away, and therefore you vote for
Speaker 2: a particular president. People do irrational things with the status
Speaker 2: to political you.
Speaker 5: Real silver medallion talk, right, you're going to freak people out.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think you hit this universal, this universal key though,
Speaker 1: and I want to I want to hear more because
Speaker 1: I myself, not being a Diamond Medallion member, have moved adjacent.
Speaker 2: I would your name on the you would know everyone. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I would get a little notification, there's a little ceremony.
Speaker 2: What I do notice is they actually say I'm not
Speaker 2: Diamond Medallion member anymore. I got it and I lost it.
Speaker 5: But that's all.
Speaker 2: That's the whole point.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2: That's the That's what makes if you qualify for a
Speaker 2: certain medallion level, be it gold, be it platinum, be
Speaker 2: it diamond, those are the only ones.
Speaker 6: Silver.
Speaker 2: Silver is a garbage medallion because it just is a taunt.
Speaker 2: It reminds you that you're the worst kind of medallion.
Speaker 2: Nothing than to be a silver media. They're all imaginary
Speaker 2: prizes that you earn. If you earn a certain amount
Speaker 2: of medallion qualifying miles through travel and credit card spending
Speaker 2: by the end of the year, then you're locked in.
Speaker 2: But if you don't requalify the next year, then you
Speaker 2: drop down in status. And it's frightening high stake. It's
Speaker 2: a game, so it's sake addictive video game. Now, you
Speaker 2: were saying, I interrupted, Oh no, no, it's true though.
Speaker 1: I've moved adjacent in those circles and they do say
Speaker 1: your name when you get on the plane.
Speaker 2: Right, That's what got me started.
Speaker 5: We'd like to welcome you know. Oh yeah, it's a
Speaker 5: it's a big to do.
Speaker 2: When I had before this TV show that I was on,
Speaker 2: I was the third best friend in this TV comedy
Speaker 2: called Married on on FX that ran for two seasons.
Speaker 2: Was great, and then like all television, got canceled. But
Speaker 2: when it was cooking, I was flying. I was being
Speaker 2: across the country over and over and over and over
Speaker 2: again to work, and they were paying for my flight,
Speaker 2: and they were contractually oblic to pay me for his class.
Speaker 2: So I was racking up the mqms. The medallion qualifying miles.
Speaker 2: I didn't even know this was happening. I didn't even
Speaker 2: care until one day I was boarding a plane to
Speaker 2: go home and the gate agent says, as she scanned
Speaker 2: in my ticket, thank you, mister Hodgman, whoa no for
Speaker 2: being gold? Thank you for being gold? Was so powerful,
Speaker 2: like to an only child who exists, you know, who
Speaker 2: requires praise and acknowledgment like oxygen, Like to be thanked
Speaker 2: for just for being never mind for being gold. I
Speaker 2: mean I always thought it was gold, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. Sure, we all think we're gold, or we
Speaker 2: hope we are gold, or we worry that maybe we're
Speaker 2: not as gold as we think and that we're just
Speaker 2: tricking people. But then for someone to say, no, your gold,
Speaker 2: your gold.
Speaker 3: Well John has your gold, and then diamond and then
Speaker 3: gold again. Status allowed you in any rooms that most
Speaker 3: people would never ever even dare to step or ever
Speaker 3: be allowed.
Speaker 2: Well do you do?
Speaker 5: Get?
Speaker 2: You do? Get? Membership to the sky clubs is the
Speaker 2: secret the secret societies of the air, you know, And
Speaker 2: it's like there's not there's not a lot, there's not
Speaker 2: a lot of human sacrifice going on in there. They
Speaker 2: have some pretty good soups I have to I have
Speaker 2: to say their their tied chicken soup is pretty good.
Speaker 2: I had tied chicken soup for lunch today from the
Speaker 2: Delta sky Club. No from soup, because you're in Atlanta.
Speaker 2: This is oh yeah, it's good. It was really good.
Speaker 2: It's good. See. The thing the problem with the one
Speaker 2: that you had made it less good than the ones
Speaker 2: you get in the Delta sky Club is it was fresh.
Speaker 2: Probably was fresh. You know. I have the best I'm
Speaker 2: gonna discuss in the book, The greatest uh Jambalaya that
Speaker 2: I've ever eaten, came out of the crock pot at
Speaker 2: the at the Sky the Delta sky Club. It's at
Speaker 2: Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans. The best, the
Speaker 2: best jumble you could get, because all soups and stews
Speaker 2: deepen in flavor as they sit for hours, as they
Speaker 2: sit at a low temperature for hours and days, it
Speaker 2: just it just got to be so so delicious. So
Speaker 2: those are some secrets of the Sky Club. But I
Speaker 2: have also gotten into other secret rooms that I think
Speaker 2: might be more interesting to you because I mentioned it earlier,
Speaker 2: as it were just a normal thing that someone would
Speaker 2: drop by book and Snake one of Yale's senior secret
Speaker 2: societies for dinner of an evening. But apparently not everyone
Speaker 2: can do.
Speaker 3: It, Book and Snake, I'm only familiar with Skull and Bone.
Speaker 2: I have to leave now, goodbye. Oh wait, Judd, No,
Speaker 2: I'm not so. I went to Yale, which is an
Speaker 2: accredited four year college in southern Connecticut, and I was
Speaker 2: not a member of Skull and Bones. For people who
Speaker 2: don't know there, but anyone who listens to this show
Speaker 2: has to know about the secret societies of Yale. There
Speaker 2: are senior societies. Yale was founded before there were frats,
Speaker 2: and so they, the young, the young privileged men of
Speaker 2: Yale had to find other kinds forms of associations and
Speaker 2: clubs so that they could group off and basically jack
Speaker 2: off together. Before there were frats, you had you had
Speaker 2: secret societies at Yale, which are these senior secret societies
Speaker 2: where they initiate like fifteen to seventeen senior men to
Speaker 2: go into a windowless clubhouse called a tomb and tell
Speaker 2: secrets to each other in lion coffins and hang out.
Speaker 2: Or you joined an a cappella group. There's so much acapella.
Speaker 2: It's the per capita amount of acapella New Haven is
Speaker 2: greater than anywhere else in the world. But what really
Speaker 2: troubles me is no one's doing anything about it. They're
Speaker 2: just letting it happen. There's just hundreds of a cappella
Speaker 2: groups running wild, running wild through the New Haven Green.
Speaker 3: I'm fascinated by the connective tissue between the two. If
Speaker 3: there's ever any secret acapella groups.
Speaker 2: Well, there probably is a little bit of overlap between
Speaker 2: the Skull and Bonesmen and the Whiffan Poofs, the premier
Speaker 2: a cappella group in the collegiate a capella group in
Speaker 2: the United States and the world, which I was not
Speaker 2: a member of, but I'm still weirdly proud of that.
Speaker 2: But I was fascinated with secret rooms growing up in
Speaker 2: high school and secret societies in the Masons and the
Speaker 2: Club thirty three before everyone knew about it, and all
Speaker 2: of these rooms. I always wanted to go into these
Speaker 2: rooms that you couldn't just walk into unless you were
Speaker 2: invited or whatever, or had a golden finnicular who could
Speaker 2: take you to a secret panel and jump into podcast
Speaker 2: or diamond medallion diamond or diamond medallion, for example, And
Speaker 2: it's you know, these arbitrary signs of status that don't
Speaker 2: make you a better person, but make you feel suddenly
Speaker 2: like you're loved by an institution or whatever. It's just
Speaker 2: it's a sick addiction. Anyway. Basically, the reason I applied
Speaker 2: to Yell was that they had secret societies, scallm Bones
Speaker 2: being the most famous one, the Scallmnbones being you know,
Speaker 2: reputed to be the pipeline to Illuminati superstatus, secret world
Speaker 2: government control.
Speaker 5: The diamond medallion of conspira.
Speaker 2: Diamond medallion of like Yale, scullm Bones, that's the top,
Speaker 2: like you know, Oh, I'm sorry, you just went to
Speaker 2: the Builderberg group once. No, this is scull and Bones now?
Speaker 2: And was that an?
Speaker 3: Was that an actual secret society? The Snake what was it?
Speaker 2: Snook? Isn't is an actual one? Yep, they're there there
Speaker 2: across the street from the Grove Cemetery in New Haven
Speaker 2: and a giant two and a half story limestone Greek
Speaker 2: Revival architecturally significant edifice that has zero windows. It looks
Speaker 2: like a tomb. They're called tombs. All of these secret
Speaker 2: societies at Yale were all founded by very wealthy young men.
Speaker 2: They had their dad's architects make them. These clubhouses, they're
Speaker 2: all littered throughout campus. You'll be walking along you're like,
Speaker 2: there's a very handsome looking uh and and an important
Speaker 2: looking library. Oh why does it have no windows? Because
Speaker 2: it's a clubhouse for dumb dums, dumb dubs, clubhouse for
Speaker 2: secret weirdos.
Speaker 3: So set the.
Speaker 2: Scene where they all robed up. I mean, what was
Speaker 2: going on? Well, there's there's a limit to what I
Speaker 2: can reveal here.
Speaker 3: Yes, wait a second, there's.
Speaker 2: Also scrolling key. I just want to tell you the
Speaker 2: other ones, Wolf said, scroll and key, Berzellis, manuscript, scullm bones, booking, snake,
Speaker 2: those are those are the biggin's.
Speaker 5: I like the ones that sound like combos, you know,
Speaker 5: skull and bones.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's you know, there was a cross end
Speaker 2: key once, or there may be a cross end key now,
Speaker 2: But you want to get the big big ones. All
Speaker 2: are blank and blanks.
Speaker 1: Really yeah, maybe we should start something like that, right,
Speaker 1: it's twenty nights.
Speaker 5: You start the blank and blanks.
Speaker 3: The bags and badgers.
Speaker 5: Sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But to answer your question, no, they don't wear
Speaker 2: they don't wear robes. And I know this because when
Speaker 2: I was a fresh person at Yale. I got invited
Speaker 2: to a party at Book and Snake, and I was
Speaker 2: very very excited. This was and you like, this is
Speaker 2: the reason I had come here and here it is
Speaker 2: first semester. And I got so excited that I drank
Speaker 2: a lot before going to the party. And then I
Speaker 2: went into the party, and then I I went up
Speaker 2: to the top of the stairs, and then I fell
Speaker 2: down the stairs. And then I woke up in the hospital.
Speaker 2: And I know that all of that happened because it
Speaker 2: was told to me that it happened. But my only
Speaker 2: memory is walking up to the door. And that's the
Speaker 2: last thing I remember. Oh wow, until and so it
Speaker 2: gnawed at me for my rest of my life. First
Speaker 2: of all, let me give you some advice to college students.
Speaker 2: Don't get drunk and fall down the stairs. No, you're
Speaker 2: not immortal. I'm very very lucky. I didn't hurt myself.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, like, don't don't do it.
Speaker 6: So to be fair, you don't know if they were
Speaker 6: robed up or not, because you were unconscious.
Speaker 2: What was what was? But I but I had blacked out,
Speaker 2: do you know what I mean? Now, there's there's certain
Speaker 2: people who attended Yale and may or may not be
Speaker 2: sitting on this court now, who believe that blacking out
Speaker 2: is not a thing that happens.
Speaker 3: I can think of one.
Speaker 5: The FBI did a whole impression of an investigation, and.
Speaker 2: They did, they did, they did, They did the Illuminati
Speaker 2: investigations a great bit. It was nothing to see here, investigation.
Speaker 3: Are you one percent positive you didn't get initiated that night?
Speaker 3: And that was part of it.
Speaker 2: I had no idea. I mean I had friends who
Speaker 2: were there, one of whom Jonathan Colton is a musician
Speaker 2: and a dear friend still and a whiffan poof, by
Speaker 2: the way, the most prestigious collegiate a cappella group in
Speaker 2: the world. That's right, And friends with a whiffan poof.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm bragging? Yeah, is that sort of like hufflepuff? No? Uh,
Speaker 2: it's yeah, I mean it's all it's it isn't so
Speaker 2: far as it's all nonsense words. Yeah. Anyway, I uh,
Speaker 2: he was there. He knew, he said he saw me
Speaker 2: in there. I knew that I had been in there.
Speaker 2: It's an unnerving thing to have a memory that you
Speaker 2: cannot recall, and especially when you were going into the
Speaker 2: secret society that you wanted to see so badly, and
Speaker 2: you realize that those secret sides are pretty powerful. They
Speaker 2: know how to erase a mind, like they took that.
Speaker 2: They took that memory right out of my head.
Speaker 5: And you might be a legend to them.
Speaker 1: They might be hanging out and they're like, ah, man,
Speaker 1: you remember Stairs guy, Well, he was wild.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't know how much they thought about
Speaker 2: me for years and years and.
Speaker 3: Years until you showed up on TV.
Speaker 2: And I don't think they thought about me then either.
Speaker 2: I think they started thinking about me once I started
Speaker 2: like telling this story in public and I included it
Speaker 2: in a book and I and I and I wrote
Speaker 2: about it online and I got a call from I
Speaker 2: got an email from CO signed by a man and
Speaker 2: a woman, both members of Booking Snake. I won't reveal
Speaker 2: their names. We'll call them Booker and Snake. You Oh cool, okay,
Speaker 2: And they said sorry that you have I'm sorry this
Speaker 2: has been haunting you for so long. We often we
Speaker 2: have a dinner every Thursday. We often invite interesting people
Speaker 2: to join us. Do you want to have dinner with us?
Speaker 2: And I was like, yeah, I do. And I was
Speaker 2: really excited to go back and see see what I
Speaker 2: had seen but couldn't remember having seen. And I'll tell
Speaker 2: you this much, and there's more in the book. They're
Speaker 2: all very nice. No robes, the secrets of the Secret
Speaker 2: Society or these. If you're invited to a secret society
Speaker 2: at Yale for dinner and you arrived to the dining
Speaker 2: room fifteen minutes late, all the spanic capital will be gone.
Speaker 2: They serve there was a veal and a fish. The
Speaker 2: dining room is in the basement, red leather chairs, all
Speaker 2: with an aura boros and a book inscribed on the back.
Speaker 2: You get to meet with seventeen bright young people now
Speaker 2: men and women not. It's obviously and has been. I
Speaker 2: think Book and Snake particularly has been much more diverse
Speaker 2: than the other some of the others. There will be
Speaker 2: a chaperone there, an older alum to make sure that
Speaker 2: things get don't get out of hand. Secret of the
Speaker 2: Secret Society at Yale. Wine and beer only smart, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know. And then there are some other some alums
Speaker 2: might come and have dinner with you too, some more
Speaker 2: recent alums of Book and Snake slash Yale. So there's
Speaker 2: a guy named James there who has I think was
Speaker 2: in his early thirties, and he had just told me
Speaker 2: that he had been named. He works for the city government,
Speaker 2: he's the transportations are of New Haven. So I just
Speaker 2: want to say to any Alex Jones listeners out there,
Speaker 2: if you were worried that the Illuminati and secret societies
Speaker 2: might be controlling the bus and train schedules in certain
Speaker 2: southern Connecticut towns, You're absolutely right. Secret societies are running
Speaker 2: are running the trains in southern Connecticut. Oh my god.
Speaker 1: You know here in Atlanta we would kill for some
Speaker 1: secret society involvement in transit, all right, Oh yeah, please, yea, yeah.
Speaker 2: Let me tell, Let me tell James. I think I
Speaker 2: have his last name somewhere. And then and then the
Speaker 2: chaperone will leave because he's got to go home. Oh,
Speaker 2: everyone sings a little song. I don't remember what it goes.
Speaker 2: Chaperon leaves, and then the young people say, you want
Speaker 2: to hang out some more, and I'm like sure, And
Speaker 2: you'll go up to a chill room that looks exactly
Speaker 2: like a college sharm room, except no windows. And then
Speaker 2: they'll reach over to a little captain's chest in the corner.
Speaker 2: And I don't want to knark on these kids. But
Speaker 2: can you guess what was in it? Yep, hard alcohol.
Speaker 2: Oh they are hiding it from their own member because
Speaker 2: they're still college suit. I know, I was initiated into
Speaker 2: a secret, secret society. Within the secret society, Yes, fabulous,
Speaker 2: it was great. But I'll tell you one other thing.
Speaker 2: Sorry follow up questions.
Speaker 1: Oh, I was just going to say, are you okay
Speaker 1: with disclosing this?
Speaker 2: Umm, well obviously I'm doing it. Sure. Why are you?
Speaker 2: Are you threatened? Are you threatening and or offering to
Speaker 2: murder me?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 5: No, looking out for your personal safety. Quite the opposite.
Speaker 2: No, they booking snake and invite. They've been inviting me
Speaker 2: into their clubhouse for years, started when I was a
Speaker 2: freshman in college.
Speaker 5: Embedded.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I mean they're they're chilly, they they and
Speaker 2: in fact, you know, they thought it was they thought
Speaker 2: the story was funny. Uh. These secret societies don't control
Speaker 2: the universe, you know what I mean. I don't know
Speaker 2: what's going on at Skull and Bones. I knew a
Speaker 2: guy who was in Skull and Bones, and he was like,
Speaker 2: let me set around, you know, we have dinner. He
Speaker 2: was he was a member of the class that was
Speaker 2: the first to admit women to tap women to join
Speaker 2: the next year's class, and the alumni got so furious
Speaker 2: that they were trying to make make Skull and Bones
Speaker 2: co educational that the alumni members came and changed the
Speaker 2: locks on the tomb to lock them out of their
Speaker 2: own clubhouse. Wow. So these are old institutions that are
Speaker 2: obviously weird, crusty monuments to a certain kind of privilege.
Speaker 2: But as far as I could tell inside Book and Snake,
Speaker 2: it's just young, young, interesting young people who have been
Speaker 2: given this opportunity to play in a windowless building for
Speaker 2: a while and be friends.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know how serious we want to
Speaker 3: get with this, but there is there is something worth
Speaker 3: exploring that we've talked about before on the show where
Speaker 3: we had one election where I believe it was George H. No,
Speaker 3: George W. Bush and John Carey who were both members
Speaker 3: and members of Skull and Duns and and just that concept.
Speaker 3: But again, if you break if you really break it down,
Speaker 3: it's like there are two members of the same fraternity
Speaker 3: running together. But I think the nomenclature, the title of
Speaker 3: having it a secret society creates that anxiety within me
Speaker 3: a little bit. But you know, the Republic of course.
Speaker 2: I mean if you if you don't, if you don't
Speaker 2: have diamond medallion and you're not in that sky club,
Speaker 2: you're wondering what's going on behind those doors. Something, something
Speaker 2: is some freaky is happening people. People are actually being
Speaker 2: treated like human beings in there. Yet.
Speaker 5: I think that's a very good point.
Speaker 2: But I'll say something else that's true is that, obviously,
Speaker 2: if you go to an elite college or institution like
Speaker 2: Yale or many others already, you're you know, you're forging
Speaker 2: contacts with people who you know statistically are if not
Speaker 2: likely that you probably know some people who are pretty powerful,
Speaker 2: you know, as you look, I became a literary agent
Speaker 2: and a service journalist, and now I'm a carnival jester.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm nothing. I don't have any power, but
Speaker 2: I definitely know people. You know, I remember people from
Speaker 2: college who are now in positions of power. Samantha Power,
Speaker 2: for example, the former the former ambassador to the UN
Speaker 2: not not not not only powerful, but named Power. It's
Speaker 2: her name. She and I are college at the same time.
Speaker 2: I didn't know her, but sure. But you know, these
Speaker 2: institutions do self select into into groupings, and whether or not.
Speaker 2: And then if you super select into into something like
Speaker 2: a secret society, you know, there is a kind of
Speaker 2: soft conspiracy of acquaintanceship and given people a leg up
Speaker 2: if possible. And it happens in networks of any kind,
Speaker 2: you know, however, whatever kind of trappings they have church, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: But that said, there is a secret retreat that I
Speaker 2: attended that I will not name, that is also described
Speaker 2: in the book. Is a retreat that I was surprised
Speaker 2: to be invited to, hosted by someone who enjoys surrounding
Speaker 2: him or herself with interesting celebrities, business leaders, government officials,
Speaker 2: former government officials, entertainers, writers, artists. It's a wonderful time.
Speaker 2: We all have a great time together. It's all off
Speaker 2: the record. People aren't supposed to talk about what happened.
Speaker 3: There no weaving spiders allowed.
Speaker 2: There, no weaving spiders.
Speaker 3: Oh so it wasn't the Bohemian Club.
Speaker 2: No, it was not the Lahamian Grove.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 2: That's I would tell you if I gotten that, there's
Speaker 2: the thing that I want to go back to. Okay,
Speaker 2: And it's total it's totally benign, right, and of an
Speaker 2: evening they might invite somewhat gather everyone together for a
Speaker 2: performance of a kind. And this performance was a professional
Speaker 2: performing pickpocket, an incredibly talented performing pickpocket. Well name because
Speaker 2: he's an amazing person. Apollo Robins is his name, Look
Speaker 2: him up. He is so skilled. And his bit was
Speaker 2: inviting audience members on stage and picking their pockets. And
Speaker 2: he would invite famous people, entertainers or whatever up and
Speaker 2: and talk to them and said, wed you have ever
Speaker 2: breakfast today? And you wouldn't even see him touch them,
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden he's holding their wristwatch above
Speaker 2: their head, behind them, and they didn't know it was gone,
Speaker 2: but the audience sees it, right, and everyone laughs, and
Speaker 2: the famous person laughs because it's okay. It's okay to
Speaker 2: be humiliated a little bit in public. Right, if you're secure,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter, right. But there is one government official
Speaker 2: who would not play. He would not get up on stage.
Speaker 2: He or she, I should say, they would not get
Speaker 2: up on stage. They would not allow themselves to be
Speaker 2: pickpocketed or to have their wristwatch taken because they could
Speaker 2: not for whatever reason I'd be speculating to guess what
Speaker 2: it was. They could not tolerate having their status reduced
Speaker 2: because they're between their status and status was the only
Speaker 2: thing that stood between them and oblivion. Basically, Wow, and
Speaker 2: this person and has become president. This person, No, this
Speaker 2: person is a former government official. There's no point in
Speaker 2: trying to figure out who it is. Understood, that's not
Speaker 2: the story. This is a parable, you. This is a
Speaker 2: parable about someone who had done some very good things
Speaker 2: in public life, and had made a big mistake in
Speaker 2: public life, and could not tolerate even never mind the
Speaker 2: mention of that big mistake, but even the faintest slap
Speaker 2: of the wrist, of having their wristwatch literally manipulate off
Speaker 2: their wrist in public. It would be too humiliating. And
Speaker 2: they hid their money in their shoe so that they
Speaker 2: wouldn't be they wouldn't have their money their wallet pickpocketing. Wow.
Speaker 2: And you know, when people lose their status or perceive
Speaker 2: or feel a threat to their status, they will do
Speaker 2: irrational things. That's not the moral of this story. The
Speaker 2: moral of the story is that this happened to meaning
Speaker 2: happened to be held in a Masonic lodge. It was
Speaker 2: not a Masonic meeting the Mason's. It's a beautiful lodge
Speaker 2: and a grand meeting room and was one of the
Speaker 2: nicer rooms in this particular town where you could go
Speaker 2: to have an event like this, And the Masons are
Speaker 2: out of money and they needed to rent it to
Speaker 2: this But nonetheless I sat there realizing, so here I am.
Speaker 2: Here's one of the most famous actors in the world.
Speaker 2: Here's this incredible business like the most famous businessman in
Speaker 2: the world. Here's this former government official. There's George R.
Speaker 2: Martin allowed him to there. There, there's this famous person
Speaker 2: and that famous person and this powerful person in this
Speaker 2: powerful person, and we're all here. We are literally all
Speaker 2: here together, literally meeting in secret, literally in a Masonic lodge.
Speaker 2: This is happening right.
Speaker 5: Now, watching the art of pickpocketing.
Speaker 2: Watching the art of pickpocketing. But you go tell that
Speaker 2: to Alex Jones. I mean, his heart's about to explode anyway,
Speaker 2: because it's full of brisket juice or whatever. But you
Speaker 2: know it's it's the Illuminati is real. The Illuminati is real.
Speaker 2: Like secret meetings of world leaders are happening in Masonic lodges.
Speaker 2: We're not discussing how you know how how to manipulate
Speaker 2: you know, how to manipulate like governments into war to
Speaker 2: form of one world government or anything like that. We're
Speaker 2: basically just entertaining ourselves. They are to hear first, folks,
Speaker 2: the Illuminati is real. And I thought you need terminably.
Speaker 2: I thought you needed to know that.
Speaker 1: And the and the conversation by closed doors is more
Speaker 1: like have you tried that jumbalayah at the sky Club?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Because I think it's because they let it sit.
Speaker 2: Right well, it's all And the conversation behind doors is
Speaker 2: all people just trying to get jobs off of each
Speaker 2: other because they're afraid they're they're afraid their status is
Speaker 2: slipping too, you know, so youah, I.
Speaker 3: Do have one question, just really fast. Were you allowed
Speaker 3: in the time that this occurred. Did you have a
Speaker 3: cell phone with a camera on it? Because I'm imagining
Speaker 3: a room of of you know, with people of that
Speaker 3: caliber in secret doing a thing like that at a retreat.
Speaker 3: I'm assuming you would put cell phones away. You'd have
Speaker 3: to mandatorily put away, you know.
Speaker 2: There no rules about I mean, people were like, you know,
Speaker 2: don't tweet about this. It was low key. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm hoping it was fairly low key. Because I'm telling
Speaker 2: the story, I'm all not revealing details. I'm afraid they'll
Speaker 2: be mad at me, but I suspect they won't read my.
Speaker 5: Book and a book. Yeah, and you want to go back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'd like to go be abrited again. And it
Speaker 2: was fascinating, It was interesting, and.
Speaker 1: The book is fascinating as well.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: John Hodgman Medallion status True Stories from Secret Rooms. It's
Speaker 1: available now wherever you It's available for pre order, I believe,
Speaker 1: and for.
Speaker 5: Pre order right.
Speaker 2: Look, I don't know when this is coming out, so
Speaker 2: let's just talk to the time travelers. Time travelers. If
Speaker 2: you have arrived in this timeline before October nineteenth, twenty nineteen,
Speaker 2: you may pre order my book at bit dot lee
Speaker 2: slash medallion status bit dot l y slash medallion status
Speaker 2: all one word, all capital letters. If you have materialized
Speaker 2: after October fifteenth, twenty nineteen, it's not too late. Go
Speaker 2: to a bookstore and buy it, or come see me
Speaker 2: on my book tour. I'm on tour on October and November,
Speaker 2: and all the details are there John Hodgman dot com
Speaker 2: slash tour and I'll be in Atlanta in November along
Speaker 2: with my judge John Hodgman podcast in November too. At
Speaker 2: the variety. So I hope to see you guys again.
Speaker 3: Who will Do you have a bailiff for that show?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jesse Thorne, my regular bailiff is going to be there,
Speaker 2: so awesome, and I will I will be selling books there.
Speaker 2: And you know, I because I don't I don't want
Speaker 2: to punish people who pre order who then come to
Speaker 2: the book events because some of the book events you
Speaker 2: have to buy a book to get in. Some of them,
Speaker 2: you know, they might leave the book at home and
Speaker 2: buy another one. I don't want to, you know, I
Speaker 2: really hope that people will pre order the book because
Speaker 2: that's the best way to ensure a best launch for
Speaker 2: the book personally for me. But in order to reward
Speaker 2: people who do pre order and then come to the
Speaker 2: book event, anyone who comes into the signing line, whether
Speaker 2: it's a Judge John Hodgen show or a regular medallions
Speaker 2: sized book event and they have two copies of the
Speaker 2: book that could be a hardcover and an audiobook or
Speaker 2: a hardcover and an ebook because they've pre ordered for
Speaker 2: whatever reason, I have a special loyalty program reward for them.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you get you you. You may notice that
Speaker 2: on the cover of the book there is a picture
Speaker 2: of two famous corkies of Instagram Linus the Corky and
Speaker 2: Chompers of the corky. They're very important in the book.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're looking at a pamphlet here. Yeah, it's wonderful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a whole book coming right now.
Speaker 3: That's well, this part's great.
Speaker 2: So everyone who comes to a book event and buys
Speaker 2: a copy of the book gets a enamel pin featuring
Speaker 2: one of those Corki's designed by Aaron drapland designer of
Speaker 2: that of the cover. He's a famous and great awesome
Speaker 2: dude designer. And that that is a famous corky pin.
Speaker 2: Everyone gets one of those just for showing up and
Speaker 2: buying a book. If you buy two books because maybe
Speaker 2: you pre ordered one before coming to the event, or
Speaker 2: you buy two books on site, or you bought an audiobook,
Speaker 2: and now you get in the prentition whatever it is.
Speaker 2: You got two books on the sign line, you get upgraded.
Speaker 2: You get a double corky pin. Whoa three or more books?
Speaker 2: Yeah or other or other? Uh uh, over the top
Speaker 2: commitments to the cause you're gonna I'll upgrade you discretionarily
Speaker 2: to triple Corky Elite status for three Corky's one pin.
Speaker 1: So since we're on an audio podcast, uh, listeners need
Speaker 1: to know that. When John said that, we the three
Speaker 1: of us had I think a fairly dramatic double take.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what are they there? Pins? They're pins like
Speaker 2: you get from an airplane pilot for going on a plane,
Speaker 2: for being a kid. They're nothing, but they're elite.
Speaker 1: And as an adult, if you ask the pilots for
Speaker 1: the pins, they'll still.
Speaker 2: Give it to you. Really really, yeah, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1: You just have to ask nicely and clearly not have
Speaker 1: that much respect for yourself.
Speaker 5: That's what I did.
Speaker 3: Even if I'm silver, I'm getting out silver yet.
Speaker 2: Stop Shop.
Speaker 3: Was going so well. My eyes.
Speaker 2: Gosh, just so bad about John Hodgman.
Speaker 5: That really happened. He's really we have a door.
Speaker 2: He disappeared down in the tunnel kind of Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think that went well.
Speaker 3: I think that was incredible. I want to say, I
Speaker 3: think he knows more than he's letting on. But he
Speaker 3: was a very nice guy.
Speaker 4: That's true.
Speaker 3: Stuff they don't want you to know. Is a production
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