The very existence of secret societies has often prompted antagonism and fostered accusations of immorality, subversion, and heresy. Such claims were made against the Roman mystery cults and were used to justify the ruthless suppression of the Knights Templar in the early 14th century. Philip IV of France accused the knights of heretical and licentious practices, but these charges were entirely unfounded, and Philip seems to have acted largely out of a desire to seize the Templars’ vast wealth. Adam Weishaupt’s Illuminati was something of a fad among Europe’s intellectual and political elite in the late 18th century, making it a rather attention-seeking entity for a “secret” society. Nevertheless, the Illuminati ran afoul of Bavarian authorities; in 1785 the group was banned, and its members were imprisoned or driven from their homes. The 1826 disappearance of William Morgan, a New York bricklayer who had threatened to expose the secret teachings of the Freemasons, fueled the growth of the Anti-Masonic movement. Distrust of the fraternal order spread throughout New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, and the movement coalesced into the first significant third party in United States history.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/secret-society