Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes

The Royal Antediluvian Order of Buffaloes (R.A.O.B.) is an English fraternal order, generally believed to have been founded by Joseph Lisle, William Sinnett, and others involved with the theatre at London, England in 1822, though it has also been claimed that Buffaloism was founded by George Cooper Murray in the late 18th century. In the former case, the name said to be inspired by a then-popular ballad "We'll Chase the Buffalo," with an initiation rite veering into the realm of the burlesque; in the latter, the origins of the Buffalo name is attributed to a mistranslation of Harpocrates (the founding lodge) as "son of the bull or buffalo."

by George Cooper Murray




20th Century Buffaloes

 * &mdash; with ritual work from the 1950s