“Ben Hammot shows us in this book how a hoax is made to convey a very specific and targeted message to certain secret groups.
Despite the obvious deception of the pseudo discovery that involves complicities of dubious characters (We find some forgers that the regulars of Rennes le Château will recognize without difficulty) and High Dignitaries (Priory of Sion, Town Hall etc.), the case made his way and it was drawn from it a documentary directed by Bruce Burger “Bloodline” and the book had some success and impact in the "Zöhne”.
I like Ben's spontaneity when he innocently tells us about his adventures (for example, the crispy episode of the Violation of the Tomb of the Pontils in the middle of the night and the stress generated by the fear that the owner will emerge in fury...).
When to the real message conveyed by Ben Hammot and the Priory of Sion, the initiates soon saw that it is an Inscribed code...”
"...All I know I that the Rennes-le-Chateau Story is a ripping yarn and as long as no one takes it seriously then its ok."
"This is a review of the 2012 updated edition. This edition states on the back cover and the very first page that the book is a blend of fact and fiction. The last page contains the confession of the author saying his discoveries were a hoax. However, do NOT believe this confession. The entire book is a well written adventure story relating to the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery. The author describes his journey from first learning about the mystery, to his attempts to uncover the secrets and find the treasure. Although the author began the adventure alone, as the story continues, other people join with the author during his visits to the Rennes-le-Chateau region and his attempts to decipher clues and find buried treasure. At the beginning, the author alone finds an underground tomb, which was videoed thru a snake like camera lowered into a tiny shaft. This video causes other people to join the quest, including a movie film team. The author and his team members search for and eventually find buried artifacts which themselves include parchments hidden in glass bottles containing clues to finding further buried items. This process took years to complete. As the story turns out, apparently the priest Berenger Sauniere had buried the clues, which also included the original parchment that Berenger had previously discovered in his church that led to his original discovery of a treasure. Almost all the discoveries of buried clues were witnessed by one or more other people, sometimes including the movie film makers who filmed the discoveries. Artifacts were judged authentic by experts, parchments were examined by experts, signatures of Sauniere on the parchments were compared with previously known examples, and one parchment was carbon-14 dated. All the evidence in the book suggests that the discoveries were NOT a hoax, but instead genuine. However, the tomb discovery and video of the inside and the conclusions derived from the discovered parchments, was very controversial for religious reasons contrary to Christianity. The alleged Priory of Sion was involved in the process, and they implied that it was too soon for the truth of the discoveries to be known, and that revealing the truth was dangerous. This suggests that the author was forced to falsely confess to a hoax. As of 2012, other than the tiny shaft for the video camera, the tomb had not been opened and excavated, but instead blocked by the French Government."
