[OC] I visualized the connections between secret societies, their members, and historical events spanning 900 years

Tool: secretsocietymap.com

Built with D3.js (force-directed graph + timeline), Leaflet (map), React, and a lot of late nights reading primary sources.

The dataset covers Masonic lodges, churches with Masonic elements, historical figures, organizations like the Knights Templar and Skull & Bones, key events, and original documents. Every connection is sourced.

Some things I found interesting while building this:

– The network around the American Revolution is way denser than I expected

– There's a clear geographic pipeline from Scotland → London → Philadelphia

– The Vatican's opposition to Freemasonry created its own web of connections that's almost as complex as the Masonic network itself

You can switch between a graph view, map view, and timeline, or use the path finder to see how any two entities connect.