The veil of mystery is torn aside in this sensational book and the truth about secret societies is laid bare at last.

The author has travelled widely to track down the large number of surviving organisations, all of them strange, many of them evil, dangerous and subversive and he has attended ceremonies held by them.

He details signs, passwords and secret writings and explains initiation rites and rituals never before revealed.

Among many of the secret societies he includes are The People of the Peacock of Britain and Iraq, the fearsome ecstatics of Russia and the dreaded Assassins of Persia and Arabia.

This startling book pinpoints the disturbing background that has shrouded and protected these secret organisations for centuries past.

First published in Great Britain by Frederick Muller Ltd.
Tandem Edition 1965
© Akron Daraul 1961

The underground world of initiation rites and rituals

Knights Templars and Freemasons, Assassins and Rosicrucians, Thuggee and Mithraism - secret societies which have had their day or still flourish. In this sensational book Arkon Daraul lays bare the truth about some of the dozens of organisations whose rites and rituals have mystified the world for centuries, detailing signs, passwords and secret writings and describing their secret ceremonies.

He has also travelled widely in search of the large number of surviving societies, all of them strange, many of them evil, dangerous and subversive, and has attended their meetings. He dramatically reveals the disturbing background that has shrouded and protected these secret organisations for centuries.

First published in Great Britain by Frederick Muller Ltd.
First Tandem Edition 1965, Reprinted 1969
© Akron Daraul 1961

SECRET RITES NO WHITE MAN SEES

Marcus Bach, a researcher in primitive and exotic religions, and his photographer-wife, Lorena, arrive in Haiti. Their purpose is to penetrate a religion which has been forbidden to white men - the ancient rite of Voodoo.

Strangely, a white man is their guide. Stanley Reser, an enigmatic American doctor, is rumored to be a Voodoo priest; on his arm flickers a tattooed red dragon. The three watch the mambos chant their prayers to the snake god Damballa; dance their homage to the pulsation of jungle drums; draw their sacred symbols on the beaten earth. The faithful walk through flames, possessed by the spirits of the loas, the immortal Voodoo saints.

Here where the supernatural prevails, Bach discovers a dynamic Christianity, the deep-felt religion of those who worship at STRANGE ALTARS.

© 1952 by the Bobs-Merrill Company, Inc
First Signet Printing June, 1968