Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

It’s 1871. August 15th, to be precise. The eminent American Freemason, Scottish Rite Sovereign Grand Commander Albert Pike, sits down at his desk and, by the flickering light of a candle, composes a letter to his friend and fellow Mason, the Italian politician Giuseppe Mazzini.

“The First World War must be brought about in order to permit the Illuminati to overthrow the power of the Czars in Russia and of making that country a fortress of atheistic Communism,” he writes (instead of the more conventional, “Hey Giuseppe, how’s the family doing?”).

Then, after gazing a little longer into his crystal ball, he sets to paper some sentences about a conflict seven decades in the future: “The Second World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences between the Fascists and the political Zionists. This war must be brought about so that Nazism is destroyed and that the political Zionism be strong enough to institute a sovereign state of Israel in Palestine.”

Most remarkably, he goes on to inform his friend about another great conflict, one that has yet to come to pass: “The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the ‘agentur’ of the ‘Illuminati’ between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other.”

Then, after licking the envelope and affixing the proper postage, he makes his way to the post office to deliver his letter (not forgetting to pick up some bread and milk from the store on the way home like his wife asked).

Sound familiar? Of course it does, because if you swim in “conspiracy” circles, you’ve heard some (probably more dramatic) version of this story many times before. Most recently, this tale has made its way into the hallowed pages of that most respectable and influential journal of record, The Daily Star, which—in keeping with its reserved and understated manner—gave it a suitably nuanced headline:

Mystery 200-year-old letter revealed World War 3 plans – and final battle against Islam!!!

OK, so I added the exclamation marks. But they do seem to be implied here, don’t they? (Besides, I only borrowed them from some of the Star’s other headlines, like the one about the Coronation Street star spilling out of her “devilishly daring low-cut number”[!]. Truly, journalism at its finest.)

So what do we make of these remarkable predictions? How did Albert Pike make such incredibly precise forecasts of events that were still decades in the future? And what can we learn from his prescient warning about World War III, living as we are in the shadow of the War of Terror and its incipient Clash of Civilizations?

Absolutely nothing, that’s what. Why? Because the letter is complete and utter hogwash, made up by admitted hoaxers and perpetuated by unscrupulous “researchers” who are more interested in getting clicks than telling the truth.

So do you want the real story of this (non-existent) letter? Here it is . . .

Get the real skinny on the WWIII letter that doesn’t exist and where it really comes from in this week’s edition of The Corbett Report Subscriber. For full access to the subscriber newsletter, and to support this website, please become a member.

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