"Tonight on Best Kept Secrets, a glimpse inside America's most dangerous and mysterious secret societies." "What secrets are locked inside the Tomb of Skull and Bones?" "And who belongs to this prestigious and private fraternity?" "I don't want to get on these people's bad side." "I mean, these are some of the most powerful people on the planet." "And Earth First!" "They call themselves peaceful environmentalists." "But are they putting innocent lives in danger?" "My life has been threatened so many times I couldn't count it." "Plus the Secrets of the Ku Klux Klan revealed." "White Power!" "From the Klan's secret handshake, to the hidden meaning of the KKK symbol." "We take you inside the most feared secret society in America." "Boy, if these robes could talk, it would probably get me 25 years." "And, this mild-mannered professor is the voice of an invisible empire, but is he also the brains behind the Oklahoma City bombing?" "These stories tonight, on Best Kept Secrets." "January, 1989" "I, George Herbert Walker Bush, do solemnly swear..." "George Bush is sworn in as the 41st President of the United States." "...and will, to the best of my ability..." "He takes a solemn oath to the American people to uphold the Constitution." "...so help me, God." "Congratulations." "Thank you." "Eleven years later, his son, George W. Bush, hopes to follow in his father's footsteps, but few Americans realize that both father and son have already taken an oath to a mysterious and powerful secret society known as Skull and Bones." "It happened while each was a student at prestigious Yale University." "The society was actually founded on the Yale campus in the year 1832 by a General Russell, who modeled it upon German lodges of freemasonry that used a lot of death's head imagery, skulls, skeletons, coffins," "that sort of thing." "Ron Rosenbaum, a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, has spent several years investigating skull and bones and its powerful members." "Skull and Bones is designed, I think, as a bonding ritual for, initially for, the old money, old-fashioned, blue-blood, Eastern establishment." "In addition to both President Bush and his son, other distinguished members, or Bonesmen, as they're called, include senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and conservative spokesman William F. Buckley, Junior." "Each year, 15 new members are selected from the junior class in a ceremony known as "tap night."" "Prospective members receive a tap on the shoulder from a Bonesman." "For these chosen few, this exclusive invitation means they are destined for greatness." "These 15 people are going to be part of an elite, not just an elite on the Yale campus, but an elite of American destiny;" "people who will guide the nation, people who consciously see themselves as having a mission to be America's leaders." "The new members are led to this forbidding and windowless structure on the Yale campus known as the "Tomb,"" "and it's the secret meeting place of Skull and Bones." "There are all sorts of legends about what goes on, on that April night when the Skull and Bones members are tapped and are first brought to the Tomb." "Exactly what happens behind these padlocked doors?" "Rumors include everything from bizarre sexual practices to grave robbing." "Part of the reason for the secrecy, I think, is it creates a mystique, inwardly and outwardly." "It encourages the members of Skull and Bones to believe that they're so special, that what goes on in the tomb is so highly fraught with, with deep meaning, that it can't be uttered to the outside world." "Senator Kerry and Mr. Buckley politely declined our written request to speak with them about their membership in Skull And Bones." "Mr. Bush also refused to comment." "But we tracked down a Bonesman named Julio Gonzalez, who is now an alderman in New Haven, Connecticut." "We're looking for you to give us some, maybe just one or two little secrets of the Skull and Bones." "Well, I really appreciated my time in the organization." "I think I'm not gonna discuss it today, so I don't have any comment to offer." "Students on campus are also in the dark when it comes to Skull and Bones, including this man who says he managed to sneak inside the courtyard of the Bonesmen Tomb." "I climbed in." "I saw their yard." "I saw their sort of, they have sort of a bird bath and they have two skeletons looking at each other like this and holding a skull in between them." "I don't know what any of it means." "Another student, who has also been inside the courtyard, was able to quickly shoot these never-before-seen photographs, including a shot of the mysterious fountain." "He agreed to talk to us but only if we kept his identity secret." "I don't want to get on these people's bad side." "I mean, these are some of the most powerful people on the planet." "The daring student was surprised by what he saw inside the fountain." "There was actually some sort of red residue in the fountain, which I imagined to be blood." "But I have a feeling they do some strange rituals in, with the fountain." "These two skeletons look like they're hushing people in some way." "Another of his photos shows a cryptic "wheel of destiny."" "It had a spinning device on it, and I imagine what happens is during their rituals, they spin it and it says, you know, destiny and fate, and all those things have a huge part of what goes on in that place." "Because I think they all feel like they're destined to be rulers of the world." "According to Nick Fleisher," "Co-Editor-in-Chief of the campus tabloid, "Rumpus,"" "Skull And Bones is so protective of its image that when the magazine tried to run a story about it, their efforts were mysteriously sabotaged." "When we published that issue, a bunch of the issues that we distributed went missing, you know, shortly after we distributed them." "We, we found them after a couple days, but I mean it was, you know, we never had any hard evidence, but we sort of had an idea of what had happened to them." "What dark secrets are Skull and Bones hiding?" "According to Ron Rosenbaum's new book, the Bonesmen practice a number of bizarre rituals, including one known as the "Sexual Confessional."" "And it happens every Sunday night, and they all gather and one by one, one per week, they share the secrets of their sexual life." "It's a kind of sex education thing for the ruling class kids, to initiate them into a more sophisticated knowledge of sexuality, so they wouldn't be taken advantage of by, say, working-class girls or girls from the wrong class," "or gold diggers or fortune hunters." "Another secret of the Bonesman is their mysterious fascination with the numbers 3-2-2." "The legend of the origins of Skull and Bones is that it was founded by a Greek orator, Demosthenes, in the year 322 BC." "So 322 becomes the Skull and Bones' secret number." "And I don't think anyone believes it that Skull and Bones actually started in 322 BC, but mythically, they date themselves back to that, so 322 is important to them." "But there's an even more bizarre twist to the Bonesmen's secret number." "Right inside the door, that big door to the tomb of Skull and Bones, is a room whose walls are covered with license plates." "Recently, an informant, someone, a woman, who was taken inside the tomb of Skull and Bones, by an initiate who broke his oath, told me what she says is the secret of the license plates," "that every Skull and Bones member is told that when he sees a license plate that has the numbers 322 on it, he's supposed to confiscate 'em." "That was her word, "confiscate them."" "Rosenbaum says his informant revealed an even darker secret, grave robbing." "Every class of Skull and Bones, every group of 15, is given the name of some famous person and told to dig up the skull of that person and bring it to the tomb of Skull and Bones." "Rosenbaum believes that the Bush family may have been involved in one of the most notorious cases of grave robbing." "And one of my informants told me that, and this has been reported elsewhere as well, that one of the skulls in a glass aquarium-like case filled with turquoise chips, is labeled the skull of Geronimo, the Apache Warrior." "Because, as it turns out, Prescott Bush," "President George Bush's father, was stationed somewhere in Arizona near the burial ground of Geronimo at a time when the skull may have disappeared." "According to Rosenbaum, members of the Bush family even tried to return the skull." "And as I understand it, the Apaches turned it down because they said," ""We don't think this is the right skull."" "Despite the disturbing rumors, there are many who believe that Skull and Bones is just a harmless college fraternity." "The only reason why Skull and Bones remains interesting is because they guard their secrecy." "But one thing is clear, the power of Skull and Bones extends far beyond the ancient walls of its secret tomb." "I think what makes Skull and Bones significant, not just as some, you know, extra special fraternity or something like that, is that over the years," "Skull and Bones people have been Secretaries of State." "They've been Presidents." "They've been in the foreign policy establishment." "They've been in the Cabinet." "They've been on the Supreme Court." "These are the people who have shaped America's character." "And what's interesting is they've had their character shaped inside the tomb of Skull and Bones." "However, other secret societies boldly take their agenda to the streets, often with dangerous results." "Some of these activists belong to a group called "Earth First!"" "Sharing common goals with high-profile organizations like the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, the lesser known Earth First!" "Is among the most influential groups of environmental activists in the United States." "Earth First!" "Says its mission is to raise awareness of environmental issues through peaceful confrontation." "But others accuse it of being a secret society involved in acts of sabotage and violent protest." "Corporations are taking over everything, private space, public space, our schools, and we're sick of it." "They also claim the organization's radical efforts to save the environment put innocent lives in danger." "When you sabotage logging equipment or helicopters or airplanes or ships, that's an act of terrorism." "Investigative reporter Barry Clausen infiltrated Earth First!" "And spent a year inside the organization." "Since then, he has testified before Congress about the group's activities and even helped the FBI investigate other activist groups." "He says he has also received several mysterious death threats, which is why he carries a gun, even in his own house." "My life has been threatened so many times I couldn't count it." "Not too long ago, I received contaminated razorblades in the mail." "That was intercepted by the postal inspectors, and the FBI now have those." "Despite these threats, Clausen agreed to talk to us on camera." "In choosing his words carefully, he told us that Earth First!" "May preach nonviolence, but it's not what it always practices." "Earth First!" "Does practice non-violent confrontation." "But then the non-violent confrontation ends up being more extreme." "So, what you initially see as one thing is not, it comes out to be something else." "Clausen says that Earth First!" "Not only sanctions Eco-terrorism, he says it also secretly trains a small group of members to carry out acts of violent destruction." "We managed to obtain this footage of these environmental activists in training." "They have the training camps in order to train the young people what it takes to avoid arrest, to monitor, and actively seek out targets." "Who belongs to Earth First!" "And what are they up to?" "Our search for answers leads us to Mike Roselle, one of the group's co-founders." "We've been branded as a violent organization mostly by the timber industry, the mining industry, the oil industry, and the big corporate fat cats that are trying to exploit the public lands." "You can take their word, or you can take our word." "Roselle speaks frankly." "He doesn't deny that Earth First!" "'s protests sometimes turn violent." "He admits that his group's methods often draw the attention of authorities." "In this line of work, if you don't have an FBI file, you're not doing your job." "Roselle has been arrested 40 times, most recently for hanging a gas mask on George Washington's face on Mount Rushmore." "Roselle describes Earth First!" "As a movement, a loose network of activists that has hundreds of chapters in the United States and overseas." "He says he doesn't know how many members the group has because Earth First!" "Collects no membership fees and does not hold large meetings or conventions." "Members communicate primarily through the group's website and newsletter." "There's no way of knowing how many of us there are out there." "We certainly can't tell just by how many hits we get on our web site or by how many people subscribe to our newsletter, but we're, we're everywhere." "Clausen believes it's no coincidence that more than half of the group's members are in their late teens and early 20s." "He says that Earth First!" "Targets students in order to exploit their innocence and unfocused energy." "They prey on the youth of our country." "They recruit them for a specific purpose, and that is to make them more radical." "During his year investigating Earth First!" "Clausen says he participated in several recruitment parties." "We traveled to universities." "We had chili parties and beer parties in order to get the students to come and listen to what was said." "As time progresses and as the students become more involved, they are brainwashed." "Clausen says the "brainwashing" he's referring to, occurs at the group's training camps, which its new members are encouraged to attend." "But Roselle insists that members are taught nothing more than how to practice civil disobedience." "We teach, first of all, non-violent philosophy." "And we teach media strategy." "And then we teach basic protest skills and technique." "We do the whole range from just holding a placard and standing in front of the courthouse, all the way up to, you know, stopping a shipment of toxic waste." "The methods of peaceful protest that Roselle's group endorses are detailed in a publication known as Earth First!" "Direct Action Manual." "The book includes explicit drawings and step-by-step instructions on everything from how to use various locking devices to how to build elaborate blockades." "But according to Clausen, some members are also encouraged to read a more dangerous out-of-print book called, Eco Defense:" "A Field Guide To Monkeywrenching." "Eco Defense is what I call their bible." "And Eco Defense is a book that tells you how to sabotage everything from airplanes, to helicopters, to ships, to logging equipment." "They talk about putting different types of foreign materials in gas tanks and hydraulic tanks and that kind of stuff, you name it." "Everything that's in that book has basically happened." "According to Clausen, in addition to countless acts of sabotage, the group has even slaughtered cattle to deter ranchers and farmers." "And he believes the reason that so few of them are ever caught is that monkey wrenchers are taught how to carefully cover their tracks." "One of the techniques that's taught in training by Earth First!" "Is you wear a hat so that there's no hair samples to be found." "You wear gloves so there's no fingerprints." "You discard your shoes afterwards so there's no footprints." "Clausen says several methods of sabotage can even turn deadly, including one known as "tree-spiking"." "Tree spiking is putting a metal or a ceramic spike into a tree so that when a chainsaw or a mill blade hits the spike, it'll actually shatter and cause an injury." "Clausen says that in several cases, tree spiking has led to disaster." "There was one very serious one in California where a mill worker, the blade actually hit a spike, the blade broke, wrapped around his body, cut his jugular vein, tore out 12 teeth and broke his jaw." "Despite serious injuries to loggers," "Roselle maintains that tree spiking is necessary in order to save acres of precious forest." "In fact, he considers it an act of desperation." "Tree spiking, more than anything, is kind of a cry for help." "It's kind of a sounding of the alarm bell." "There's no way that we can spike a million acres of oak growth in this country." "Roselle also claims that loggers are warned when trees have been booby-trapped, and that spiked trees are marked with spray paint." "As for the possibility of somebody getting hurt?" "Roselle says, "all democratic action comes with a risk."" "If this is what it takes to get the message out to the American people, then this is what we'll do." "Clausen maintains that Earth First!" "Is still extremely dangerous and must be stopped." "If we don't do something to stop it, what are we going to be doing in 10 years from now?" "Will the sabotage continue?" "Or will we as a society put an end to it?" "While we may never know for sure what Earth First!" "Is up to, other groups make no mystery of their agenda." "If they want to practice their African cultures, go back to Africa" "Amen." "Yeah." "We spit in your face." "We spit on your federal laws." "We abhor them." "We don't care if you like it or not." "It's what's right." "It's God's law." "Black might be beautiful." "Tan might be grand, but white's still the color of the big boss man." "White power!" "White power!" "Of all the secret societies in America, none is more infamous and feared than the Ku Klux Klan." "Three famous letters, KKK." "You're a racist." "Hell, all of us are racists." "Their ghostly figures have haunted our nation for nearly a 140 years." "But in spite of its violent past, the KKK of today claims to be a kinder and gentler Klan." "We don't hang people." "We don't kill people." "The only time we have violence, is defending ourselves and our family." "And I'll die defending my family." "Jeff Berry is the imperial wizard of the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, one of the most outspoken factions of the modern Klan." "I have never beat anybody up or threatened anybody or killed anybody because of their race or their beliefs." "But while Berry insists that his Klan is merely a non-violent, white rights organization, some say that the imperial wizard and his American Knights are hiding a dark secret." "Boy, if this robe could talk, it would probably get me 25 years." "Some believe that the Klan of today is as hateful and terrifying as ever." "I think, really, the main secret of the Klan today is the fact that this is not a group that merely helps little old white ladies across the street." "This is a group that is involved, very often, in violence and in propagating hatred of people who are not white." "Cause I've got some friends, one was just killed and the other one was paralyzed for life because he was shot in the back by a damn..." "Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center has been investigating the American Knights for several years." "He says it is now considered the most dangerous faction of the Klan." "Potok also claims that Berry has almost single-handedly brought the Klan back to life, and is now leading a growing cult of cold-blooded killers that even preys on its own." "In the past the American Knights has had leaders who have done things, like have their wives shot in the face by hired assassins." "To give us a better understanding of the ruthless hate inside the KKK," "Potok led us to Brad Thompson, who once served as the Grand Dragon of the American Knights in Indiana." "The reason why I'm here is to expose the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan." "Thompson says a series of personal tragedies led him to hate." "Then he was seduced by the mystery and secrecy of the KKK." "I look at it as a cult." "Once they get you in, they swear you into this allegiance of secrecy." "Then they get into your mind and they take you over." "And you're just a pawn." "And you have no control over your life." "We must secure the existence of all our people and a future for white children." "But over time, Thompson experienced an awakening of conscience, especially when Klan propaganda began to influence his young son, as it does with many children." "One of his first words that he said, or first phrase, was not Mama or Dada it was 'white power.'" "White Power!" "White Power!" "And this always left a sick feeling inside of me." "Even though I was pro-white, pro Ku Klux Klan, in the back of my head it sickened me." "Who dare says it's against..." "Thompson believes the best way to undermine the KKK is to reveal its hidden practices." "He even agreed to show us one of the Klan's secret handshakes." "I'm gonna show you the first-level handshake." "You see this handshake in public, you'll be able to pick two Klansman out in the crowd." "Thompson also explains the secret meaning of the KKK symbol, which is still tattooed on his forearm." "What the outside red stands for, the background, is the blood of our forefathers." "The white background stands for the white race." "And in this little square is a drop of blood." "That stands for the blood that the Klan may ask you to shed for them in the future." "If you look very closely, you could see four K's." "Now cover this up, very simply there's one K there, there's another K, third and a fourth." "This stands for Knights of the Ku Klux Klan." "Thompson also reveals that the Klan's most closely guarded secrets and rituals are spelled out in a book called the Kloran." "This is their bible." "This is how they function." "This is how they have meetings." "This is how they tell an individual Klansman how to behave, how he should act." "This is the essence of the Ku Klux Klan." "By revealing these secrets," "Thompson knows he's violating an oath of secrecy that's clearly spelled out in the Kloran." ""I most solemnly assert and affirm to keep sacredly secret the signs, words and grip and any and all other matters and knowledge of the Ku Klux Klan." "I will die, rather than divulge same, so help me God." "Amen."" "But Thompson says that the Klan has many other secrets that aren't written in the Kloran, specifically, money-making secrets." "They sell membership, a hundred dollars a pop to join, per year." "You have Klan trinkets, you have knives, you have patches." "You have the robes themselves, which they'll sell to even little children." "In addition to peddling a catalog of Klan paraphernalia," "Thompson claims that the KKK is also in the business of intimidation." "He says that the imperial wizard once accepted a substantial payment to not hold a rally in one town." "The mayor had worked out a deal with a private citizen to give the Ku Klux Klan $10,000 not to show up, to cancel the rally." "Thompson says there's even more." "He claims that there's a secret organization within the American Knights, called the 420 Club, which allegedly raises money selling illegal drugs." "Thompson believes that Berry has no involvement with the 420 Club, but he claims that the imperial wizard has used his drug connections to get out of his own trouble with the law." "He agreed to be an undercover police informant and he helped put away 75 drug dealers in Dekalb County and the surrounding area." "One man putting 75 drug dealers away, that's quite the feat." "Berry agreed to respond to the allegations against him and his American Knights." "He denies them." "We're going out fighting court cases." "We're upholding our constitutional rights and, basically, that's what the Klan is about." "To prove he has nothing to hide," "Berry invited us to attend an American Knights rally in Fort Payne, Alabama." "Hello." "He doesn't pull any punches with his fiery rhetoric." "The blacks have their rights, but by God, they're not going to take my rights away." "White Power!" "Then, we are led to a private farm 30 miles away from Fort Payne." "Go ahead." "Go in." "Here, the Klansmen picnic, drink beer, and listen to more speeches as they wait for the sun to set." "Then our cameras capture a chilling glimpse inside the American Knights as a Klan leader instructs others how to drag an African American from the back of a pickup truck." "You never drag a... by his damn ankles, he'll only last for two miles." "You get him under his arms, hey, you can get ten miles out of that damned..." "Berry also allows us to witness the most famous of Klan rituals, a cross burning." "At 8 o'clock we're going to go over and soak the cross and stand it up." "Another group of Klansmen march the massive cross into the center of the field." "They soak the wood with kerosene." "You all ready?" "They raise the giant cross and wedge it securely into the ground, as other members get ready for the fiery ceremony." "Finally, it is dark." "Berry instructs the Klansmen to ignite the cross." "For God!" "For God!" "For the white race!" "For the white race!" "For our children!" "For our children!" "Berry prefers to call the cross burning a "cross lighting", comparing it to a religious ritual." "We light the cross just like the Catholics light the candle." "Bring him in!" "The phrase, "cross lighting" is an attempt by the Klan to dress up a terrorist practice as some kind of religious ceremony." "Crosses have been burned in this country since about 1915, and they have been burned explicitly as a method of terrorizing black people, civil rights workers, and other people, you know, deemed offensive to the Klan." "After the ceremony, our camera crew is told to leave." "Potok says, most likely, a Klan initiation ritual was about to take place." "He says the ceremony is so secretive that no one outside the Klan has ever been allowed to witness it." "But Brad Thompson is willing to expose the secret." "He says the Klan initiations include a mock lynching." "And I was asked the 10 questions, the 10 secret questions of why I wanted to be a Klansman." "They asked me these questions when I was standing on a stone with a rope around my neck." "One of the questions is, "Do you believe in white supremacy?"" "Thompson says each of the 10 questions must be answered "yes,"" "or the prospective Klansman will pay a brutal price." "People have been beat up for saying no to some of them questions, and, or even hesitating." "'Course, that, that's... that's the hard way of getting out of the Ku Klux Klan." "Thompson says there are other ways to get out of the Klan, that are less costly." "The easiest way of getting out of the Ku Klux Klan is don't pay your dues." "That's a big secret." "Thompson and Potok want Americans to know that the Klan is not merely a shameful relic of the nation's past." "They say that Berry's hateful influence is spreading, and perhaps that is the darkest secret of all." "Although the Ku Klux Klan, the most visible hate group in America, calls itself the "invisible empire", the real "invisible empire" is a secret society known as "The National Alliance"." "Now considered by some to be the largest and most dangerous hate group in the country." "I think the National Alliance is clearly the most serious revolutionary white supremacist organization out there." "The Southern Poverty Law Center's Mark Potok, says the National Alliance is active in at least 26 states in addition to Holland, France, Great Britain and Germany." "But unlike the KKK, the Skinheads and other white supremacist groups that it influences," "Who are we?" "The National Alliance does not hold public rallies, it meets in secret." "In fact, many N.A. Members are known within the group only by their first names and last initials." "According to Potok, many Alliance members want to remain anonymous because they are judges, college professors, and other high-profile members of the upper-middle class." "This is very often a group that's characterized by very bright people who are quite capable of doing real organizing." "What is the National Alliance organizing?" "Potok says that's the darkest secret of all." "He believes the National Alliance is planning a secret war to kill millions of Americans and create an all-white nation." "Heil Hitler!" "This is an organization that essentially advocates the violent overthrow of the U.S. Government and the murder of a great number of its citizens." "The leader of the National Alliance is its founder William Pierce, a former physics professor and American Nazi Party official." "Pierce uses his weekly radio show to recruit new members and spread his message across the country." "Whites who live in New York and have to deal with Puerto Ricans on a continuing basis call them "cockroaches," "cucarachas."" "Pierce has also been a frequent guest on a white supremacist public access TV show called Race And Reality." "Eventually, we want to be able to reach everyone, whether they want to hear our message or not, on a continuing basis." "But Pierce is best known for his novel The Turner Diaries, which he wrote under the pen name Andrew Macdonald." "The Turner Diaries is described as a secret bible for war against the government." "Some suspect the book was used as the blueprint for the Oklahoma City Bombing." "In fact, a copy of it was found in bomber Timothy McVeigh's car at the time of his arrest." "The Turner Diaries romanticizes the idea of battling the federal government." "It romanticizes the idea of murdering people, and in fact has acted as something that really gave a kind of moral authority to people who would go out and kill." "We managed to track down William Pierce at his National Alliance headquarters outside Hillsboro, West Virginia." "He doesn't come across as particularly dynamic or charismatic." "He appears to be mild-mannered, but obsessively controlling." "Well, you can come up here, just turn your camera off." "Okay, very good." "Pierce allowed our cameras inside his top-secret warehouse, where he stores his huge arsenal of white supremacist propaganda." "Just wait a second." "I'm going to check out how things are going in here." "He showed us hundreds of compact disks with pictures of Hitler," "Nazi soldiers and swastikas." "Pierce also sells Nazi propaganda films and hundreds of white supremacist books, including, of course, his own." "Then Pierce agreed to answer our questions about the revolution he's planning." "Remarkably, Pierce admitted that it could get bloody." "We need to have a white America again." "We need to bring about a separation." "We need, each people, not just white Americans, each people needs to be in control of its own destiny." "And you cannot do that in a multicultural, cosmopolitan sort of society." "I don't want violence, but things have proceeded, so far, along the wrong path in this country, and in Europe too, that, I expect that there probably will be a lot more violence in our future," "just as there has been in our past." "Pierce admits that his revolution could still be years away, so for now he's focusing on recruiting new soldiers for his cause." "This woman, Kirsten Kaiser, agreed to reveal how she got caught up in the National Alliance." "First, she says, they secretly lured her in by making her feel proud of her European heritage." "What they talked about was, I'm of German ancestry, or, I'm Austrian and Hungarian." "They got me kind of all excited about my ancestors." "Then, she says, she was drawn in by the mystery and secrecy surrounding William Pierce and the National Alliance." "It was this mysterious underworld that no one is supposed to know about." "And, it was all this mysterious information that you're not supposed to know about and reading mysterious books that you can't get in ordinary places." "Kirsten says she was also introduced to the infamous Nazi propaganda film," "Triumph Of The Will." "They usually played it on Hitler's birthday and a few other times of the year and we would have, like, parties where we would watch it." "We'd have a lot of our, our other Nazi friends over and watch this movie, and analyze it frame by frame." "But Kirsten says there were many more movies that she wasn't allowed to watch." "You can't watch Pocahontas because she falls in love with a white guy." "That's not allowed." "You can't see Little Mermaid because that crab character is singing in that Jamaican style of music, so you can't hear that because it's black, and that's not allowed." "Kirsten became so involved with the National Alliance that she married one of Pierce's top men." "Pierce even served as the minister at their Nazi wedding ceremony." "Kirsten says, shortly after her wedding her husband started controlling all aspects of her life." "She says he forced her to become a vegetarian, isolated her from her family and friends, and even deprived her of sleep in order to make her believe in the goals of the National Alliance." "He would keep me awake until I would see that he was right." "After 10 years," "Kirsten finally found the strength to leave the National Alliance and her husband." "But she says her experience with the secret society has left her deeply scarred." "They raped my soul and, unless you've ever been raped you wouldn't really understand what that meant." "But I feel that is what they did to me." "That they put this stuff inside of me that I did not want inside of me and then they told me that I was supposed to like it." "We asked William Pierce about Kirsten and he dismissed her as disturbed, and denied all of her allegations." "She's a sick woman and I just don't see the need in debating her on the air." "Kirsten has emerged from her nightmare with a new life and a new husband, but she wasn't the first victim of the National Alliance, and if William Pierce has his way, she won't be the last." "But not all secret societies have a political agenda." "From Tokyo to Berlin to Los Angeles." "A once-underground phenomenon is spreading like wildfire around the world." "It's a youth movement built on hard-pounding techno music." "A type of music that to a large degree is very repetitive, completely electronic psychedelic glow sticks." "A lot of the times you'll see glow stick competitions going on which is really exciting." "And an illegal party drug called "Ecstasy."" "Ecstasy is a good drug for Raves because it makes you feel so open." "It helps you find the beat to the music." "Put it all together and you've got a secret party called a "Rave."" "Every culture throughout society from the beginning of time had some sort of ritual of mind-altering experiences combined with dancing and singing and music." "And this is just the technological updated version of that concept." "Some say these all-night dances are harmless teenage fun." "They're secretive, their safe, people can do what they want inside of them and get away with it for the most part." "But others claim that Raves promote the use of dangerous drugs, which pose a serious threat to today's youth." "There's no kid in Southern California or America that doesn't know that Rave means or equals music plus drugs and all night long, that's what it means, flat-out." "And anyone who tells you otherwise, is deluding themselves." "According to Jonathan Zaleski, a veteran of the Rave scene," "Raves began in Europe in the early 1990s before quickly taking hold in the U.S." "It's really a European concept for the most part, and sort of evolved over here like a lot of music has." "Since their inception, Raves have been shrouded in secrecy to shield them from uninvited outsiders, as well as police." "According to Raver, Sandy Hofmann, just finding the location of a Rave involves a series of secret steps." "Even when you buy a ticket to a major Rave, you still have to call a phone number the day of the Rave to find out where the Rave is." "All right, we're calling that 4O8OUVIBE..." "You have an idea." "A lot of times someone will say" ""Oh I hear this Rave's in Los Angeles."" "So you'll know, "Okay, I'll be heading to Los Angeles, tonight."" "But, for the most part, they are very secret, and you don't know for sure where they're gonna be unless you know a promoter." "Rave insiders believe the unprecedented popularity of this cultural movement is due largely to the sense of belonging it creates." "It's basically the concept of the "hippie generation" moved again into the 21st Century." "There's an amazing amount of acceptance at a Rave event." "Nobody is criticized for what they wear, for how they dance." "If you're at a Rave and you bump into somebody, they go, "Hey, sorry", and they give you a pat on the back." "And if it happens in a bar, in New York, a fight could break out." "Like the hippie generation of the 60s, the Rave culture has developed its own characteristic look and sound." "And their drugs of choice are easy to find, if you know where to look." "Unlike the hippies," "Ravers prefer a mysterious class of narcotics called "designer drugs", the most popular being a drug known as Ecstacy." "When you're at a club, a lot of times you'll see people off to the sidelines, that kind of, you think that they want to dance, but they won't because they just don't feel comfortable." "But once you give them a pill, that's on the dance floor in five seconds." "You know, they find the rhythm and suddenly you find this whole new dance that just seems to come from within your soul." "And suddenly you feel like, "Wow!" "Here's a place where I really fit in, where I can really enjoy myself and where everybody loves me." "I'm completely accepted"." "According to Sandy," "Ecstacy produces an intense feeling of euphoria, which is enhanced by physical contact." "Everybody wants to hug you, everybody wants to give you a back massage, because it's wonderful." "Coupled with a boost of energy," "Ecstacy allows Rave-goers to lose their inhibitions, and dance for several hours straight." "I, I'm not a proponent of drug use, per se, but I'm a proponent of people opening their minds and their hearts, and I think Ecstacy happens to be a drug that does that." "Ravers also have their own distinctive fashion accessories that are secretly tied to the visual intensity created by Ecstacy." "When you go to a Rave, you basically see a lot of people dressed in really flashy clothes, and carrying around cute little backpacks and accessories, and bright, glowy things." "A lot of paraphernalia that you'll see being brought to Raves, ranging from face masks which are, usually have Vicks smeared on the inside because of the increased euphoria and your sensory input like a mint, or a lollipop or Vicks." "This creates, actually, an intense high." "Visually, glow sticks have become very popular because the colors are just, seem prettier and there's, they leave trails and it just becomes a more of an interesting sensory experience." "In addition, the speed-like effect of Ecstacy causes users to grind their teeth, which is why many Ravers actually keep baby pacifiers in their mouths." "Other popular designer drugs used at Raves, include Katamine, an animal tranquilizer that users call "Special K"." "A lot of times, when people mix Ecstacy with K, they have a great time." "It just makes that Ecstacy feeling a hundred times better." "But using and mixing these drugs can have tragic results." "It can create similar effects as the Ecstacy, but it's very... the overdosers find themselves in what's called the "K Hole", which is essentially, ranges from an out-of-body experience, to extreme tunnel vision," "and sort of an inability to really move or control yourself, and certainly if you go beyond that, the effects can be extremely dangerous." "Susan Dahlquist is all too familiar with the dangers of drug abuse at Raves." "She's an emergency room nurse in San Bernardino, California, a city widely known as its secret parties." "The behaviors that we see when they come in the Emergency Department is anywhere from mild confusion and disorientation to outright psychotic, schizophrenic behavior." "Susan claims that Rave promoters will actually contact the emergency room on the day of a Rave, to prepare them for the inevitable onslaught of Ecstacy overdoses." "Tragically, in many cases, the victims reach the hospitals too late." "And I can tell you that the worst part of this job is, a nurse and a doctor is to go tell a parent," ""We're sorry, we couldn't save your 18-year old daughter"." "And I don't like any kind of an event that opens up the possibility of my having to do that again." "The spread of Raves is so alarming in San Bernardino, that their police department has formed the "Event Response Team", a special unit that deals specifically with Raves." "Events Response Team was formulated to provide public safety to insure that people attending the Raves, as well as people living and working around the Raves parties, were able to be in a safe atmosphere." "Headed up by Sergeant Mark Emoto, the task force keeps tabs on Raves by closely monitoring the internet to uncover the secret locations of upcoming events." "We go online, and there's actually web sites dedicated to Raves, and Rave parties, and the locations and time." "But their biggest challenge is stopping the illegal flow of drugs inside." "Getting the Ecstacy drugs inside of a Rave is still one of the secrets that we're still working on and trying to unravel." "We search them at the gates, we search the promoters, we search the staff, and we still see Ecstacy and other illegal drugs making their way inside." "Getting a drug into a Rave is as simple as putting it in your pocket or sticking it in your underwear, or taping it to some part of your body." "It's not hard to get drugs into Raves." "It's very simple." "But recently, Rave organizers have begun to police themselves." "Jonathan Zaleski and others have joined forces to create an organization called "DanceSafe", which strives to educate Rave-goers, about the inherent dangers of drug abuse." "Despite the war on drugs or "Just Say No" campaign, to even parental guidance, this risky behavior will continue, and there needs to be somebody there to educate and to warn, and create a safe environment, as much as possible," "for this risky behavior." "DanceSafe began in 1999, and can now be found all over the country, setting up tables outside of Raves, where volunteers answer questions and hand out literature." "We're the educated people." "We've been in the scene, we're the ones who are talking to your children just before they take the drug." "The age of new Ravers, sometimes as young as 12 years old, is a growing concern for many." "I'm turned off by how many young people are abusing the drugs." "The scariest thing I've seen at Raves are little 14-year-olds with their eyes rolling back in their head, laid up against the wall twitching, sweating, turning green." "Recently, DanceSafe has come under fire from those who take a dim view of the group's unorthodox approach to drug awareness." "...controversial end of the spectrum, we occasionally will test pills' purity." "One of the risks in the drug community is that a lot of pills are doctored and adulterated with dangerous substances." "If undetected, these impurities could be fatal, especially for users of Ecstacy." "Sometimes it's coupled with the cough suppressants, which also has the unwanted effect of blocking pores and... cool itself down, while the Ecstacy portion of the pill is causing it to overheat." "And then they're dancing and not resting, so they're basically sealing themselves up and cooking themselves." "Despite the increase in drug-related deaths," "Raves continue to attract a growing number of use around the world." "And, as parties rage on, so does the debate of the impact of this mysterious cultural phenomenon." "It's not about the drug, it's not about..." "It's about exploring who you are and having fun." "It's creating life, and creating movement, and creating sound and colors and art." "It's an artistic expression of yourself." "If it continues with this frequency, the, you know, increased frequency, the rampant drug use, the increased numbers we see at these venues," "I'm afraid that we're looking at a potential for a large disaster." "Tonight we've taken you inside some of the most dangerous and mysterious secret societies in America, from the prestigious and private Skull And Bones, to the KKK, and the lesser known National Alliance." "But questions remain." "Is Earth First!" "A violent organization that puts human safety second?" "And are Raves a harmless passing fad, or should these secret gatherings be cause for even greater concern?" "One thing is certain, it is part of human nature to want to join with others who share similar goals and ideas." "But as long as there are groups with hidden agendas, there will always be Best Kept Secrets to reveal."