Knights of the Ancient Essenic Order

The Knights of the Ancient Essenic Order (K.A.E.O.), also known as the Essenic Army, was an American fraternal society, formed by Charles J. Weatherby in 1888 at Olympia, Washington, named for the Essenes, one of the "oldest confraternities of man", which was believed to have included John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, and eventually "fell into decadence in the Middle Ages and became extinct." The rites of the KAEO were almost certainly directly inspired by those of the Kassidean Knights, a similar order to which Weatherby belonged (as second-in-command to Edward A. Guilbert) that claimed to be a revival of the Essenes.

As with many "benevolent" orders of such character, one of the primary motives of the group was the sale of life insurance policies to paying members, which resulted in Weatherby being charged with mail fraud in July 1892.

Resources

 * "Knights of the Essenic Order" (stichtingargus.nl) &mdash; outlines of rituals for the three degrees offered by the KAEO.