User Reviews

It is a great documentary about the real truth about the foundation of the United States and especially on the building of Washington D.C.

Certainly the subject is complex and controversial, considering that the main stream media and politicians do not want that these coded messages went revealed to the public. The previous review was certainly made by a Freemasons or by a person who belongs to the interest groups that are being exposed in the documentary. Otherwise we can not understand the rage and cynicism that the reviewer used to describe the film.

It is true that the documentary was made from a specific point of view made by Christians. However, even if we are not in favor of their cosmogony and fundamentalic interpretations of the world, the evidence about; Babylonian gods, Egyptian symbols, Greek mythology, Freemasonry and occultism, is irrefutable and carved in stones all along Washington D.C.

None can deny the writings of many of the main characters mentioned along the documentary like; Albert Pike, Johann W. Von Goethe, Manly P. Hall, Nicolas Roerich, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Benjamin Creme or even George Bush Senior. Which by themselves, have revealed the real meaning and interpretation that Freemasons and other secret societies give to those ancient symbols.

It is clear that Freemasonry core inner doctrine has won due to the spread of democracy which delivered justice and human rights to most countries around the world. Hence the exposure of their beliefs should not be a threat to them if they really teach such laudable values. Otherwise, it means that their real intentions are darker or susceptible of suspicion in a higher degree than the one that they would like to be appraised.

As Francis Bacon (one of the most mentioned philosophers around the trilogy of documentaries of Secret Mysteries of America's Beginnings) once said:

"The man who fears no truths has nothing to fear from lies". Francis Bacon

It is strongly recommended to see the documentary and create a judgment about the content, the creators, and the intentions in which the film was made, on your own. Do not let anyone to influence your criteria. The more access we have to information either if they are critics, lies or truths, makes us reflect on the world we live in and give us the tools to evolve as better persons.

"Riddles in Stone" purports to expose the truth behind Masonic influences upon the design of Washington DC, and its supposed "purpose". Well, it's largely crap. How do I know? First, I'm a Freemason. And not just some "porch Mason"; I'm 32nd Degree in the Scottish Rite, a member of a Traditional Observance Lodge, and deeply involved in Masonic philosophy and esoteric thought. I'm _also_ a skeptic, especially when it comes to claims made about Masonry and world history. It's that background that informs my opinion about this "documentary".

First, I'm wary of any narrator who constantly says things like "...it's said that..." and "...some think that..." Those are worthless qualifiers that can be used to excuse the most ridiculous nonsense. I could just as "accurately" say that "it's been said that the moon is made of cheese", and be absolutely correct since it HAS been claimed (a century or more ago). Does that lend credence to the actual claim that the moon IS made of cheese? Hardly!

Next, the film spends far too much time trotting out the presence of the number 13 in US history and iconography (such as the Great Seal), as if it is some mysterious -- not to mention ominous -- presence. They only passingly mention that "some say that this is because there were 13 States". Well, no kidding! It was hugely important that there were 13 Colonies, and the use of 13 ranks in the pyramid on the Great Seal and 13 stars in the flag and elsewhere, celebrate that fact. Can you feature some conspiracy theory-monger today going on about the sinister presence of the number 50 in the US today (50 being the number of the pentagram multiplied by the number of toes on George Washington)?! Instead of simply admitting that the union of the 13 Colonies into 13 States was hugely significant to early Americans, the show goes out of its way to try to tie it to some arcane numerological significance. Pathetic.

Also, the show goes to great lengths to try to claim the existence of a pentagram in the streets of Washington DC. They show a variety of maps and overlays, but all of them are manipulated to make it look far more like a pentagram. The fact is that it's NOT a pentagram. It's a collection of 30 and 60-degree angles, as one finds in cities from NY to San Francisco. Pentagrams are ONLY made up of 36 and 72-degree angles. So the "pentagram" they claim exists in DC is actually a squashed, 4-legged one. Now, if Masons had a blank slate to work with when laying out DC, don't you think we would've used 36 and 72-degree angle streets rather than 30 and 60? There's so much else to find fault with about this show, but I have no interest in going into more detail. The final and most significant fault is that they interview a host of certifiable loonies and outright liars like "Dr." Ed Decker, who claims to know that the 30th Degree ritual in the Scottish Rite involves drinking blood out of a human skull! How does Decker "know" this? Because he claims that his father was a Freemason.

The show also relies heavily upon the claims of William Schnoebelen, another outright fraud who claims to know all about Freemasonry, but has never been a Mason, despite his claims. (He also claims to have been a Satanist, a Wiccan, a Gnostic bishop, a Mormon, an Old Roman Catholic priest, a 90th Degree Mason in the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis Misraim Freemasonry, and a vampire! --and all of this by the age of 37, when he got "saved". Somehow, he finds time to be a prominent critic of Freemasonry, and to "know" all of its secrets. Amazing.

The ONLY saving features of this show are some good shots of architectural features and artworks in DC, and interviews with reasonable people like Brent Morris and Trevor McKeown who come across as as sensible and sober as Schnoebelen and Decker are hysterical and comically misinformed. "Riddles in Stone" is just entertainment where truth takes 3rd place behind sensationalism and conspiracy-mongering.

Documentaries are meant to document. This one claims to document the street plan of Washington, DC and uncover its secret meaning. It doesn't. What in fact it does document is the unverified opinions and assertions of a narrow group of stakeholders with an interest in promoting one interpretation of the street plan.

Presented as a documentary asking hard hitting questions, this video rarely supplies documentation, presents opinions rather than answerable questions and, by failing to provide a forum for a reasoned rebuttal, doesn't allow the questions to be answered. The introduction on the DVD case sets the tone by labeling the freemasons as "apologists" and the conspiracy theorists as "leading researchers."

It is telling that in a documentary about architecture, sculpture and history, not a single architect, sculptor, historian or academic was interviewed. While much is made of the influence of the Kabbalah, no Talmudic scholar was interviewed. Those interviewed are, in the main, promoters of opinions with books and videos of their own to sell.

Although the point is briefly made that symbols have many meanings, the focus of the video is to narrow the interpretations to as few as possible, and those as negative as possible.

A few pretty pictures and one unintentionally entertaining pronunciation of Goethe as "goatie" are about all this production has to offer. Claims and accusations are piled high but no evidence is provided for any of it. A narrative of innuendo and implication moves the viewer to overlook the complete absence of causality, logic or connection between unrelated facts and unsubstantiated opinions. William Schnoebelen's vague bromide, "Where there's smoke there's fire" substitutes for actual evidence. Repeated assertion substitutes for proof.

Hidden within this video is another documentary composed of visual elements and key words creating a narrative story arc that will be easily understood by the intended audience, an audience of Christian end-time millennialists who believe that prophesies of the Armageddon of John's Revelation are revealed in current events.

This is not a documentary, this is an exercise in fear mongering.