The Statue of Liberty hidden secrets

The Statue of Liberty is a national symbol known across the nation and globe; the iconic image of that great lady in her loose robe and spiky crown is familiar even to folks who have never been near New York City. She holds aloft her famed torch in one hand; in the other, she clutches a tablet inscribed with the date (in Roman numerals) that our nation approved the Declaration of Independence: July 4, 1776. At her feet lie broken shackles.

Indelible as the statue's image may be in our memory, there are still many facts about this amazing lady that many of us do not know. Frederic Bartholdi, a French sculptor, is the man behind Miss Liberty. When he was on a trip to New York Harbor, he conceived the idea of a mighty woman with a torch lighting the way for freedom-loving people to the New World. A story exists that when Bartholdi was 17 years old, he witnessed a woman with a torch trying to set fire to a barricade. This scene is supposed to have returned to Bartholdi when he was sketching the Statue of Liberty. Others say that his idea came from studying ancient sculpture. And some think the idea sprouted from an earlier project, the Suez Lighthouse, which consisted of another Lady Liberty: Egypt bringing the light to Asia. Bartholdi vehemently denied this.

Miss Liberty has been a shared hope that has greeted millions of immigrants to this country since her dedication Oct. 28, 1886. The Statue of Liberty has been known as a symbol of freedom and a new way of life. Yet, she and her symbols hold a deeper meaning than is first observable.

The mythical Goddess of Liberty was actually known as early as the third century B.C. by the Romans. She was employed as a symbol of freedom from slavery and was represented as a robed figure holding a scepter (a symbol of royal authority), a cat and broken jug at her feet (these were symbols of confinement). She was crowned by a Phrygian bonnet, which was bestowed upon slaves when they were granted their freedom.
The crown is a symbol of sovereignty, honor, glory and victory; by rising above the head it symbolizes the idea of preeminence. Crowns used in ancient Rome and Greece were made of tree leaves and berries. They were given as awards for athletic or musical achievements or distinguished service to the country. The early Christians adapted the crown for martyrs, symbolizing victory over adversities.
There are a variety of meanings and representations of crowns. For instance, a nimbus was originally a radiant crown of seven canonical rays, the rays representing the sun's radiance to the seven planets (which were the only known planets at that time).
Miss Liberty wears a crown of seven rays - which enlighten the seven continents and seas of the world. Originally, the statue was appropriately called 'Liberty enlightening the World.'
The statue first served as a lighthouse. The lighted torch - the first ray of hope for many immigrants - could be seen from the sea upon approaching America.

In December of 2010, the History Channel aired a special on television that changed the way you thought about America's icon of Freedom.

"Brad Meltzer's Decoded investigates the secret history of the symbols and codes that surround us every day. Best-selling author Brad Meltzer has been writing novels for more than a decade. He has studied and written about some of the most revered institutions and documents in human history, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the Presidency, the Secret Service, Wall Street and the Bible. Brad has assembled a team to investigate the countless clues and theories uncovered through his years of research. From the dollar bill to the first Presidential Codes, the hidden messages of the Statue of Liberty and the ciphers protecting the location of lost Confederate gold, the team uncovers the truth behind history's most provocative secrets.”

According to howtallisthestatueofliberty.org “Lady Liberty's classic stature, face, and attire come from the Roman goddess Libertas, who represents freedom from tyranny and oppression. The crown is reminiscent of a halo and its spikes show similarities to those of the sun gods - the Roman Apollo, and the Greek Helios. Her right foot is raised as if she is continually on the move, forever bringing freedom to others. She carries enlightenment to the world with the forever-lit torch (Liberty's original name was Liberty Enlightening the World). Along with tools, the ability to create fire is one of the skills that led to civilization as we know it. Fire is symbolic of knowledge and brings light to the people.”

Brad and his team thought they knew what the Statue of Liberty stood for. However, they have come to find out that America's icon of freedom might actually be loaded with secret symbols put there by a secret society looking to take over the world. They follow a claim that the Illuminati, a secret European society loosely affiliated with the freemasons, turned every inch of the statue into a coded message. Brad and his team investigate the statue from the torch, the crown and even her height. When consulting a numerologist, he shows the team why he believes the statue is really a monument to the all-powerful number 7. Following the investigation, the team is forced to reconsider whether or not one of America's symbols is really who she appears to be.

Brad’s team consists of Scott Rolle, a trial attorney, Christine McKinley, a mechanical engineer and Buddy Levy, a journalist, historian and author of several books.

The team took a boat to Liberty Island where they split up to gather information. Christine took a look at the measurements to see if she was “hiding a larger idea.” Upon looking at her measurements such as the height, 151 and 1 inch, the pedestal, 305 and 1 inch, the index finger, 8 feet and 1 inch Buddy comes to question why they added a single inch to all her measurements. After taking notes the two of them head back to see Scott and what information he has collected.

Scott photographed the statue and was able to take a look inside. Together they discussed the creators: Richard Morris Hunt, who constructed the base, Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, who designed the skeletal structure and Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi who designed that statue itself. Eiffel designed the undercarriage using a twisted iron skeleton that was not meant to be seen by the outside world.

Digging deeper down the team pulls up a picture of Bartholdi, who is seen with his hand in his coat like Napoleon. The pose is known as a sign of the Free Masons and after looking up all of the creators the team concludes they were all members of the secret society.

In Meltzer's words, “The Free Masons are the world’s oldest and largest brotherhood. They’re steeped in covert rituals and symbolism... There are about 6 million Free Masons in the world today. Everyone from our founding fathers, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and presidents like FDR and Gerald Ford were members. Some have suggested that the organization has a sinister and dark agenda.”

The team meets with Allen Greenfied, author of “The Roots of Modern Magick” who says that there is a lot about the fact that the creators were Free Masons. He says that understanding the Masons will help to understand the statue and that there is a lot of Mason symbolism hidden in the statue. He pulls out a picture of an ancient Roman goddess known as Libertas, who is a pagan goddess, and asks the team if she reminds them of the statue, she does, right down to the seven points on her crown.

“There’s a deeper, darker, more sinister side to this entire matter. That sort of exists within free masonry, kind of a secret within a secret society called the Illuminati,” says Greenfield.

Meltzer says that “the Illuminati was formed in Bavaria in 1776. They call themselves ‘the enlightened ones’ and aspire to create a better world. In order to create that better world they wanted to abolish monarchies, religion, private property, nation states and replace them with a Utopian society. The way they operated was by infiltrating houses of power from governments to secret societies like the Free Masons. They swore a vow of silence to remain completely hidden. So when they were finally discovered and banned by the king of Bavaria in 1784, there was absolutely no way to be certain they actually disbanded because they were already inside. “

Upon hearing this information the team remains skeptic and Meltzer says that if what they just heard was true, then things had gotten more interesting. Christine and Buddy meet up Josh Siegel, a numerologist, to discuss the numbers they uncovered. Christine brings up the numbers they found, 13, 1 and 7. Siegel goes on to say they need a number that repeats itself and that would be the number 7. In his own words he says “As a matter of fact, you could call the statue a shrine to the number 7.”

He brings up a picture of the statues head and notes the seven spikes on the crown. On the crown is a series of 25 windows, 2+5 =7. He then heads down to the base where there are four Greek columns on each side, totaling 16 columns, 1+6=7. On the torch there are a series of raised portions that total the number 16. The statue stands at 1,813 inches, 1813÷7=259, 2+5+9=16 and 1+6=7. Without that extra inch the number is not divisible by seven and it does not break down into seven.

Siegel says, “If you know about number symbolism you know that the number 7 is one of the most sacred, divine numbers. The number 7 has such a profound influence on society that even today our lives are run by it. Seven days of the week, seven colors of the rainbow, seven seas, seven continents, seven wonders of the ancient world... In India they speak of the seven sages, in Buddhism as soon as Buddha was born he walked seven steps, in Christianity there are seven virtues and seven sins. Even in the Islamic religion there are seven heavens and seven gates to hell.“

On that intriguing note, Buddy, Scott and Christine then meet up with a guy who is anti-Illuminati, but believes they exist. Before even meeting the man the team is already skeptic and agree to keep an open mind.

The four of them meet up at the Unites Nations Plaza and the first thing that Mark Dice, author of “The Illuminati: Facts & Fiction” says to the team is,“the Statue of Liberty is an Illuminati symbol and when you find out what it means you will never look at it the same way.”

Dice states that he had a reason for meeting at the United Nations Plaza. David Rockefeller donated the land to create the center. Rockefeller even wrote in his memoirs that he and his family were often accused of belonging to a secret society that wanted to create a one world government. Josh then quotes Rockefeller, “I am guilty and I am proud.”

When asked about the statue Dice says, “If you look at the radiant crown she has these seven horns sticking out of her head. That’s symbolic of the sun representing enlightenment... Enlightenment is a good thing to them but it doesn’t represent America, freedom. It represents Lucifer, Satan... If you’re looking into the Illuminate, the Statue of Liberty is just a footnote. They identify with Lucifer and that is their huge idol dedicating this country to him and showing that they rule here. “

Dice is greeted with three skeptic faces as Scott asks if that’s really hidden inside the statue. “Lucifer literally means ‘light bearer’ so for the statue you have the torch representing light and enlightenment.” When they’re skepticism doesn’t change they sit down and he shows them some other historical figures.

He looks up George Washington who has a picture with his hand in his coat and shows the team a letter written by him September 1798. Washington wrote, “It was not my intention to doubt that, the Doctrines of the Illuminati, and principles of Jacobinism had not spread in the United States. On the contrary, no one is more truly satisfied of this fact than I am."

Dice then plays a quote from JFK about secret societies. Christine looks on with skepticism seeing as the quote was about Communism in the height of the cold war. When Dice is asked about presidents he states, “George W. Bush, his father, his grandfather all through the skull and bones society, which is considered the American branch of the Illuminati”.

Meltzer explains the Skull and Bones society as “an infamous secret society, founded in 1832 at Yale University. Their members are the power elite. Both President Bush and Senator John Kerry are members, which also makes them the most over played bad guys. They’re blamed for everything from the invention of the nuclear bomb to the Kennedy assassination.”

When asked if the team was supposed to take his word Dice tells them to look around and they’ll see Illuminati signs such as the rising sun, the pyramid and the eye and a pyramid with illumination behind it. “The Illuminati has set up multiple, enormous monuments. Go to Rockefeller center, the cathedral of St. John. Central Park has a giant obelisk...”

No matter how much Dice talks, the team is unconvinced. Later they meet up with Dr. Stan Monteith author of “Brotherhood of Darkness” at the obelisk that Dice had mentioned.

Dr. Monteith says, “If you were to look at this from a helicopter you would see a point within a circle. That has a specific occult meaning. It’s the idea of an eye, you’ll see it on the back of a dollar bill. They use the eye repeatedly as the emblem of knowledge... the eye of Lucifer.”

Dr. Monteith expressed his belief that New York is the modern day Babylon and that Babylon would one day be destroyed. After their visit with Dr. Monteith they head over to Rockefeller center. Out front is Prometheus holding a torch in front of a lit fountain.

Scott then says, “What’s interesting, I think is that Rockefeller, the one that allegedly admitted being in a secret society and wanting a new world order, would have a place after him like this with Prometheus right in the middle of it, UN sort of flags around. It’s sort of in a sense I think, going along with what Mark Dice was saying.“

Leaving the center the team then heads to St. John’s Cathedral. Upon seeing Atlas, the Titan who holds the world, Christine states, “Isn’t that a weird place, right across from one of the most beautiful cathedrals -” Scott finishes her sentence by saying,“Atlas holding up the world, one world.” Buddy then notes that Christianity is on one side of the street with the cathedral and paganism on the other with Atlas. According to what Dice was saying earlier, that was purposefully done.

Meltzer states, “If you believe that Prometheus holding the flame is an Illuminati symbol and Atlas with the world on his shoulders represents one world order and that this was intentionally placed across the street from a catholic church. And that the statue of Liberty is an Illuminati beacon, then yes, you can say that there’s a powerful network of symbols across Manhattan pointing to the hidden conversation of a secret society. But that’s if you believe the Illuminate even existed in the 20th century.”

The team doesn’t deny the connections between the Masons and the statue but have yet to believe that there is a satanic message hidden in the statue. Meltzer states that he “wanted somebody creditable who doesn’t dress like they should have been on the X-Files.”

Buddy, Scott and Christine meet up with a man who spent his life searching for the Illuminati. The first question Steven Bullock was asked is if he believes the statue has any hidden symbols. His answer was, “I just don’t see it. I think the statue is about liberty.”

When asked if Bartholdi was an Illuminati, Bullock states, “Never found any Illuminati in the history. And if anything, the appeal for me would have been finding this kind of thing... Instead I’m forced to suggest that there isn’t any.”

Meltzer agrees that the statue is a symbol but wanted to understand where Lucifer came in. The team meets up with Dr. Mark Koltko-Rivera, a theologian who says, “The Statue of Liberty actually is a symbol of Lucifer. But not the Lucifer that you’re thinking of."

“Where people get confused about Lucifer is specific to us, a passage in the Bible. The book of Isaiah where he says ‘how art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning.’ People have been saying, ‘well this is about Lucifer the devil.’ And it is not! The word Lucifer here is not meant as a proper name... In Latin, Lucifer meant ‘one who bears light.’ It was often used as a name for the planet Venus, the morning star. The one who bears light first thing in the morning before the sun even comes up. In that sense only is the Statue of Liberty a Lucifer. It is a light bearer, not in the sense of Satan.”

When Scott asks if people are making a misinterpretation at the word ‘Lucifer,’ Dr. Mark Koltko-Rivera exclaims, “That’s exactly it.”

At the end of the investiagtion the team looks at the Statue and agree that it’s hard to look at her as they did days before. They do not believe that the statue is connected to the Illuminati but Buddy does believe that there are symbols hidden.