Christopher L. Hodapp's Blog

When the Grand Lodge of Texas built their magnificent art deco/Egyptian-revival grand lodge building in Waco in the 1940s, a mural was designed originally to be installed behind the auditorium's Grand East. It was never completed, for reasons lost in the mists of time. Cheapness, laziness, changes in taste, or never getting around to it. The point is, it was never put in place. 

According to PGM and Grand Secretary Brad Billings, it was included in the building committee meeting talks up until 19...

by Christopher L. Hodapp
Great Britain's Council For Freemasonry has responded to yesterday's idiotic editorial in  The Spectator , “There’s something vulgar about Freemasons” by Irish 'journalist' Melanie McDonagh.
It reads, in part:

As Freemasons, we have become accustomed to inaccurate and unfair representations of our organisation and members – but this article, sadly, reaches a new and deliberate low.

Particularly surprising was the distasteful focus on Freemasons’ Hall, a war memorial built in 1...

by Christopher L. Hodapp

THIS STORY HAS BEEN REVISED TO SHOW THAT THE METROPOLITAN POLICE, AND NOT THE POLICE FEDERATION, IS RECOMMENDING THE MASONIC MEMBERSHIP DISCLOSURE POLICY. MY APOLOGIES FOR THE MIXUP.
As a kid, I always hated reruns. Turns out that I still don't like them as an adult.

London's Metropolitan Police (MET) have once again resurrected the snaggletoothed notion that all law enforcement officers be forced to officially declare their membership in the Freemasons. The hazy allegation...

by Christopher Hodapp

I just received a last-minute message from my editor at Wiley that Amazon is offering a flash sale RIGHT NOW on the Kindle version of Freemasons For Dummies for an unbelievable $2.99! 
That's a markdown from the usual Kindle price of $17.99 and it's available today only, Thursday, September 25th! 
Strange and myriad are the ways of Amazon. No, I don't know when they'll shut out down, so you need to act fast. He who hesitates pays full retail! And this flash sale applies ONLY t...

Ben Kohlman, self-portrait/Facebook
by Christopher Hodapp

The convicted arsonist who set fire to three Masonic halls in Vancouver, Canada back in 2021 is in trouble with the law again, and he still blaming "The Illuminati" for his troubles.

On March 8, 2021, Benjamin Orion Carlson Kohlman went on an arson spree across northern Vancouver, setting fires that completely destroyed or severely damaged three different Masonic halls. At that time, he claimed to hear voices in his head telling him to burn ...

by Christopher Hodapp
The following message was circulated to Indiana Freemasons today on the 24th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, and in the wake of the assassination of TurningPointUSA speaker Charlie Kirk at a university campus in Utah. Upon news of the death, social media erupted with messages praising or excoriating Kirk's political views, his supporters, and the actions of the assassin. Freemasons clearly identified as such online engaged in these heated exchanges, many o...

by Christopher Hodapp
A bold vision to try and save historic Masonic temples has tragically failed, apparently. Or at least struck a sizeable reef. News sources in Cleveland, Ohio reported last week that TempleLive, the company operating the Cleveland Masonic Temple and several other landmark Masonic theater venues, seems to have folded. Shows have been canceled, performers have been unable to get responses, and the company isn't answering phone calls. The company website is also down. 
If they re...

by Christopher Hodapp

UPDATE: A previous version of this story mistakenly announced the wrong month! The conference is NEXT WEEKEND, September 19-20.
What is the modern day purpose of Masonic lodges of research, in an age of podcasts, YouTubes, e-books, video streaming on demand, and the onslaught of self-publishing that has diminished the role of editors and fact-checkers? 
Next Friday and Saturday, September 19th and 20th, 2025, Kentucky's William O. Ware Lodge of Research with their co-hosts, Le...

by Christopher Hodapp

What is the modern day purpose of Masonic lodges of research, in an age of podcasts, YouTubes, e-books, video streaming on demand, and the onslaught of self-publishing that has diminished the role of editors and fact-checkers? 
Next Friday and Saturday, August 19th and 20th, 2025, Kentucky's William O. Ware Lodge of Research with their co-hosts, Lexington Lodge No. 1, The Rubicon Masonic Society, and The Philalethes Society will hold their  13th Annual Festive Board and Confer...

by Christopher Hodapp

If you ever wanted to own your own impressive Masonic hall, head for upstate New York. It’s not every day a nearly-110-year-old, castle-like Masonic Temple with bowling lanes, a ballroom, an organ, and movie-ready tech hits the market for under half-a-million smackers.
The massive former Masonic Temple in Little Falls, NY has just gone on the market for just $499,900. (If it looks familiar, I also wrote about it in 2017, the last time it went on the market: 'When The Profan...