Even before the revolution, America was a nation of conspiracy theorists

A brutal conflict in Europe was fresh in people’s minds and the race for the White House turned ugly as talk of secret societies and corruption roiled the United States.

It was 1800, and conspiracy theories were flourishing across America. Partisan newspapers spread tales of European elites seeking to seize control of the young democracy. Preachers in New England warned of plots to abolish Christianity in favor of godlessness and depravity.

This bogeyman of the early republic was the Illuminati, a secret organization founded in Germany dedicated to free thinking and opposed to religious dogma. Despite the Illuminati’s lack of real influence in America, conspiracy theorists imagined the group’s fingerprints were everywhere. They said Illuminati manipulation had caused France’s Reign of Terror,

the wave of executions and persecutions that followed the French Revolution. They feared something similar in America.

From the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, to fears of the Illuminati, from the Red Scare to

the John Birch Society to Qanon, conspiracy theories have served as dark counterprogramming to the American story taught in history books. If a healthy democracy relies on the trust of its citizens, then conspiracy theories

show what happens when that trust begins to fray.

Change a few details, add in a pizza parlor, and the hysteria surrounding the Illuminati sounds a lot like Qanon, the contemporary conspiracy theory that claims a powerful cabal of child-sacrificing satanists secretly shapes world events. Like the Illuminati craze, Qanon emerged at a time of uncertainty, polarization and distrust.

“The more things change, the more things seem to come back,” said Jon Graham, a writer and translator based in Vermont who is an expert on the Illuminati and the claims that have surrounded the group for centuries. “There’s the mainstream narrative of history. And then there’s the other narrative — the alternative explanations for history — that never really goes away.”

Just like today, these bizarre stories often reveal deeply rooted anxieties focused on racial and religious strife and technological and economic change.

The most persistent conspiracy theories can survive on the fringes for decades, before suddenly reappearing with new details, villains and heroes, often at