The Ku Klux Klan began in 1866 in Pulaski, Tennessee. The first members were young fiddle players starting a social club, eager to harness the trappings of ancient secret societies to draw intrigue and respect. They were also quite frustrated over the Confederacy's loss in the recent war. They were publicized as a minstrel group or a drinking club, but it wasn't long before politics and "vigilantism" made the klan what it came to be.
The costumes members wore changed considerably over time, but eventually settled on the long robes and conical head coverings that resembled the Spanish capirote or the capuchon that mocked them. Their terrifying midnight raids were modeled after the European custom of harassment called charivari. Charivari was used in Europe to shame a member of the community. Read about more of the traditions that were made up for the Klan at Lapham's Quarterly. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: Green Berry Raum)
“‘Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic but generally recognized shape—a sprig of oak-leaves in some parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organization of the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite of the efforts of the United States government and of the better classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.’