Released today, The Lost Symbol isn't likely to squelch any rumors, beginning as it does with a wine-filled skull, bejeweled power brokers, and a dark Masonic temple steps away from the White House.

“The Lost Symbol,” author Dan Brown’s new, violent thriller, involves some strange findings at a Masonic temple near the White House. (Wine-filled skull and severed hand, anyone?) Brown ...

Evidence of Masonic evil, perhaps? Her conclusion would no doubt disappoint conspiracy theorists or fans of best-selling authors. “The answer to who stole William Wirt’s skull,” according to ...

Freemasonry was established early in the Thirteen ... required the candidate to drink wine from a human skull. Like modern-day fraternity hazing, these were tribulations meant to push the ...