Tomb & Treasure found near Rennes-le-Chateau

Hi,

I found a website about this guy, Ben Hammott, who deciphered clues hidden in church decorations, like a treasure map I suppose, of the church in the Rennes-le-Chateau village. He followed these clues to find a tomb and inside there are some old wooden chests. One of the chests was broken and showed it was full of golden goblets and coins, and there are still 3 more chests like this one, as well as some other larger chests that might contain more treasure.

The thing is, Hammott has only been able to film the tomb and stuff through a small hole in the top, this is explained on his website -

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, but, he says, there is no longer any visible entrance from the outside. He has contacted the French authorities to see if it can be excavated. While all this is being worked out he has written a book, that I bought from his website two weeks ago, called Lost Tomb of the Templars. Although I was skeptical at first, after reading Hammott's book, which is really very humorous in places and a great read, I believe he has found what he said he has. The book will be interesting to any treasure hunters I think, or those of you who enjoy reading about a good mystery.
Hammott has lots of images of the tomb, the treasure and the clues on his website and in his book but I have not posted them here as I may be breaking copyright laws.

Hammott has included details how he deciphered the clues that led him to the location and I think it is possible for others to use this information to find this Tomb, even though he said he has changed a couple of details, the methodology he used is the same. It is not difficult, he just matched up details in the church that matched landmarks in the area and drew lines on a map between these points, where they crossed he found the tomb and treasure.

He seems to think, because of a red cross on the shroud covering the corpse in the tomb, it is a templar tomb, so some of the treasure may once have been theirs and there may be some Templar parcments and stuff also, which I think would be very valuable in their own right.

I am now re-reading Hammott's book to see if I can work out the location for myself, not sure if I will be able to get in if I do find it, which is why I am posting this here, but its something to do. It may even have been excavated by the time I get out to France.

Happy treasure hunting everyone

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,7732.msg48264.html#msg48264

Hi,

I will answer your questions as best I can.

1. Why is one chest broken open?

It is ether through decay or the legend goes that 100 years ago the priest, Sauniere, who hid the clues in his church, found this tomb/treasure from clues left by a previous priest of Rennes-le-Chateau,Sauniere entered the tomb and took out some treasure as he suddenly became rich and although the rumour is that he found a treasure, he even gave out gold coins to local villagers, no one really knows for sure how he became so wealthy all of a sudden. If he went inside he would have opened the chests to see what was inside.

2. How does he know that the goblets and coins are gold?
I think Hammott believes it is gold as the stuff in the chest glints in the light from the film camera he used to see inside the tomb. They do look like gold to me from Hammott's pictures, but I am not an expert.

3. If the "hole" was big enough to film through, it has to big enough to get a light inside and at least a cellphone with video capabilities. In that case he should be able to rig an arm with a grabber at the end and retrieve a few things shouldn't he? Or did he?
It is only a small twisty shaft, just big enough for a small camera fit through. He fixed a camera to the end of some sewer rods. I think I read that he tried to hook something out but could not get it through the end of the shaft. Here are some pictures of the shaft and the chest of 'gold' objects.

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4. How big is the tomb?
Not very big. Here is a link to some pictures of the tomb.

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Hope this helps.

TS

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,7732.msg48271.html#msg48271

If I remember correctly, I could not find the bit in the book, its 680 pages, I think Hammott said there had been a lot of landslides in the area and if the entrance had been blocked with stones and then covered with earth, the undergrowth would soon hide all evidence it was there. I am sure he has searched for it without success. I think he also said there may be no entrance nearby as it might be part of a larger tunnel system. And yes I think it may have been the priest who blocked it off if this is the tomb he went in.

I had my suspicions that the story may be made up, but after reading Hammott's book, I don't think so. He points out  certain things that he is not sure of, something he would not do if it was all a sham. And he seems to have had everything checked out by experts as well, something I don't think he would have done if it was fiction. If genuine it is a very interesting find.
Who knows what documents may be in the chests, perhaps some missing Templar archives or something. The Templars seemed to have had a strong presence in the area.




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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,7732.msg48289.html#msg48289

TS thats a great link but the info is over 2 years old. It seems Hammott could get permission to dig by now. The French probably will not let him dig.

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,7732.msg48322.html#msg48322

Who knows.... maybe it's been dug already and just kept quiet.  :

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,7732.msg48394.html#msg48394