A snippet:What freemasons do behind closed doors - and for charity
Polly Manser delves into the secret rituals performed by freemasons, and visits the Buckinghamshire Freemasons temple in Beaconsfield.
"DON'T ASK too many questions, you might get murdered," was the advice from a friend when I said I had arranged to interview a deputy provincial grand master in an attempt to find out what freemasons actually do behind closed doors.
I had been keen to set up this meeting ever since I discovered that Beaconsfield is a hotbed of freemasonry, with secret ceremonies taking place in the town as often as once a week.
It is hard not to be intrigued by a society which dates back to 1646 and whose members still perform rituals in which they agree to have their throats cut, their tongues torn out by the root, and to be buried in sand at the low water mark if they fail to abide by the rules.
Google freemasonry and you'll also find a book for or sale in the US claiming to reveal the "darker side" and to "expose the closely guarded secrets of the world's oldest secret society that men have been murdered for revealing."
Full story here: http://beaconsfield.buckinghamshireadvertiser.co.uk/2010/06/what-freemasons-do-behind-clos.html
