Kriti Mehrotra
Rey Rivera’s mysterious disappearance and death once again came into the public eye after he was featured on the very first episode of Netflix’s reboot of ‘Unsolved Mysteries.‘ In 2018, a book about it titled, “An Unexplained Death: The True Story of a Body at the Belvedere” by Mikita Brottman was published, however, it focused more on the Belvedere Hotel and its history of suicides among guests.
After watching Rey’s episode, though, and then researching more, the one thing that baffled us the most was his interest in the Freemasons. Along with what he had written in the note, on the day of his death, Rey had contacted a local agency to inquire about joining them and had even bought the book “Freemasons for Dummies.” Now, Allison, his wife, suggested that he could possibly be planning to do a screenplay on them, but it bewildered us.
What Is The Freemason Society?
Freemasonry or Masonry is a fraternal (men-only) organization that traces their origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons going as far back as the fourteenth century. It is considered to be the world’s largest secret society. Estimates of the worldwide membership of Freemasonry in the early 21st-century range from anywhere between two million to more than six million. The members of this organization are known as Freemasons or Masons, and that’s where the phrase “Freemason Society” comes in.
The Modern Freemasonry consists of two main groups, Regular Freemasonry and Continental Freemasonry. While the former requires that every member should profess their belief in a Supreme Being or a Higher Power, that discussions of both religion and politics be banned, and that no women will ever be allowed, the latter, has a more generalistic view and has removed some of these restrictions. There have been unsubstantiated claims that 13 out of the 39 men who signed the U.S. Constitution were Freemasons.
Freemasonry is not a religion, though. Yes, they have their own beliefs, rituals, and temples, but it is not a religion. This fact and their perceived powers have brought them into conflict with the Catholic Church on numerous occasions and have even made them the subject of various conspiracy theories. The Freemasons still exist today and they keep their doings a secret. Even their rituals to become a member is shrouded in secrecy, after all, they are part of a confidential society. Exactly what it is that they do, no one knows.
The most recognizable symbol of the Freemasons is “The Square and Compasses,” which has a capital “G” right in the middle of it, that some assume is a representation of God. Another symbol of theirs, which has been long used, by others as well, is the “Eye of Providence” or the “All-Seeing Eye,” which is even present on the dollar bill that was designed by Freemasons Henry Wallace and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Even George Washington was a Mason.
The phrase that Rey Rivera used both at the beginning and the end of the note, “Whom virtue unites, death will not separate,” is wildly used as a motto in the Masonic Rings and at the Masonry temple. That combined with the fact that the organization heavily relies on cryptic language and symbolism, a lot of which was implied in the note, has a lot of viewers guessing the organization could have had something to do with his strange death.
Read More: What Was in Rey Rivera’s Note?
