12. They Control The World

The most common conspiracy theory about the Freemasons has been woven into American pop culture, from recurring references in The Simpsons to Dan Brown's book The Lost Symbol. It boils down to this: The Freemasons are behind everything. Their cryptic handshakes, closed-door lodge meetings, and hush-hush rituals have to be on the down low because they secretly rule the world. Conspiracy theorists are a little fuzzy on the details about how this is possible, but they are quick to blame that on the Masons' secretive nature. (The Masons, of course, deny the takeover plot.)