The Hashshashin The Hashshashin, or Nizari, were a mysterious 13th-century Muslim assassin squad in the Middle East. They were Shia Muslims who split from a bigger sect to build a utopian Shi’ite state. With few numbers, they used guerrilla tactics: espionage, sabotage, and, most famously, political assassination. They’d plant spies in enemy forts, attacking when the time was right. They were careful to spare civilians and used stealth to spook targets. Legend has it, enemy leaders woke to find a Hashshashin dagger and note: “you are in our grip.” Before the Mongols wiped them out, they were famed contract killers, maybe even working for King Richard the Lionheart. When they fell, their library burned, so much of their story is now myth. The most debated bit? That they used drugs (“Hashshashin” means “Hashish user”), though that’s mostly been debunked. Still, it’s where “assassin” comes from.
The Knights of the Golden Circle The Knights of the Golden Circle was a secret society that thrived during the US Civil War. At first, they pushed to annex Mexico and the West Indies to revive the slave trade. But when war hit, they backed the Confederacy. They quickly amassed thousands of followers, some forming guerrilla armies to raid Union forts in the West. In the North, they sparked witch-hunts, with papers and big shots accusing supposed Southern sympathizers, like President Franklin Pierce, of being members. Unlike most secret societies, they didn’t just meet in secret; they raised renegade armies and bushwhackers to force their agenda. In 1860, a group tried and failed to invade Mexico. During the war, they robbed stagecoaches, blocked San Francisco’s harbor, and briefly took over southern New Mexico.