John Todd first warned of an occult conspiracy, in the seventies, years ahead of wider public awareness! Todd remains an enigma, predominantly discredited due to inconsistencies and lapses in personal behavior. Was Todd simply a con man, seeking attention and favor by misrepresenting himself? Todd was, perhaps, the first to claim former membership in the Illuminati. Mark Dice takes apart errors by Todd, such as “necromonicon,” instead of accurate pronunciation of necronomicon as evidence of fraud. It does appear, Todd seemed unfamiliar with things a real Illuminatus would know better? Evangelist Jack Chick remained a supporter of Todd, and to this day, a comic based on Todd’s claims, “The Broken Cross,” remains available.

Todd gets dismissed as someone who versed himself in the occult with few references available in the seventies. The contention made by Dice that Todd craftily used what he’d gleaned from few works available and passed knowledge off as personal experience. Three sources are cited by Todd, “None Dare Call It Conspiracy,” by Gary Allen, then there’s lp recordings from the sixties of Myron Fagan, that speak directly of a hidden Illuminati agenda; and also, 1926 book by Nesta Webster, “Secret Societies And Subversive Movements“, which revived Illuminati conspiracy theories.

The present writer seems thankful for this con man, John Todd, who died in an institution a few years ago. Todd spent last twenty years incarcerated for child molestations and in a behavior disorder mental unit at the time of death. The former Illuminati wannabe may have been a con man, but played role to the hilt including a predilection for pedophilia! This assumes Todd wasn’t railroaded into prison to eliminate a perceived threat much like researcher Fritz Springmeier.  For a con man, Todd’s claims seem more current even today – a man onto something, anyway!