cryptogon.com

This was it. The moment the reporter had been working for.

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) emerged, briefly, from the chamber. A genial 60-year-old with bushy eyebrows, the diminutive Rahall didn’t look anything like a medieval crusader. In fact, his family roots are in Lebanon, not Europe.

But Rahall is also a 33rd Degree Mason, who joined the secretive society about five years before he ran for Congress in 1976. “When I joined, there were a great deal of older individuals who helped me along the way and to whom I am deeply indebted to this day,” he said.

“We call each other ‘travelers,’” Rahall explained. “To become a 32nd or 33rd Degree Mason, there are a whole slew of degrees before that, and it’s a long road we’ve taken together.”

Rahall said he achieved his 33rd Degree status by two routes: through the Scottish Rite and through the York Rite, where he participated in the Commandery. That’s the portion of the Freemason tradition that makes Rahall a Knight Templar.

And although he hadn’t read the Dan Brown book, Rahall says he understands why the Masons attract so many conspiracy theories.

“It’s because, particularly in the early days, there were code words to get into the lodge, and everything is done by rituals,” Rahall said. “The Masons themselves helped perpetuate the myth, knowing it was just that — a myth.”

The reporter screwed up his courage to ask one final question.

So is there a global conspiracy?

“No.”

But you wouldn’t tell me if there was, would you?

“That’s right,” Rahall said with a smile.