Rick Barber 850KOA LIVE with Bloodline

Interview with Bloodline Producer - René Barnett
and Director - Bruce Burgess

on "Rick Barber 850KOA" Live, April 28th 2008.


Click here to listen to the archive.

A few thoughts...

I wanted to share these with you.

Back in 2006 I tracked down Jania Mcgillivray, the BBC researcher who actually found and set up the interview with Pierre Plantard in Paris back in 1979. It was Jania, not Henry Lincoln, who worked closely with Plantard to set up the filming. I asked her, nearly thirty years on, what she made of Plantard. She said he was errudite, polite and very impressive. The other men on the room, especially in his entourage, seemed to differ to him. She didn't detect the slightest sense of a con-man, or hoaxter as so many seem to dismiss Plantard as being.

On another note, when Ben and I went to show Antoine Captier & Claire Corbu the glass vial that was inside the wooden chest, Claire recounted a story that she had been told by Marie Denarnaud shortly before her death in 1953. Marie said that she had given something important, in a small chest ,to her sister and her husband, Barthelmy. She didn't say what was in the chest, though the speculation would be something that Sauniere had found. Claire went onto say that her sister and brother in law owned land down by the couleurs river, and extending up to the 'grotte du fournet' aka 'the cave of the magdalene'. exactly where Ben and I discovered the small wooden chest.

I also wanted to say something about 'Ben's' clues. So many people have questioned their age because they look in such good condition. The reality is that they are most likely written around 1900. So they are just over 100 years old. As they were all tightly wax sealed in bottles, almost no water or air was able to get into the bottles and degrade the paper, hence their crisp quality. It would be much more likely that they were fakes if they were professionally 'tea stained' and distressed like other parchments we were shown. Also remember, that we had the handwriting and the signatures analyzed, and matched to other samples of the priest's papers.

Bloodline to hold News Conference on May 5th in New York City

We are holding a News Conference at 11am on Monday May 5th to announce the film and its discoveries to the world’s media.

The event will take place in the Scheuer auditorium at The Jewish Museum on 5th Avenue in Manhattan.

We are delighted to announce that Bruce and Rene will be joined by an impressive panel.

Dr Gabriel Barkay, senior lecturer, Bar Ilan University, Jerusalem
One of the world’s leading biblical archaeologists and the recipient of the prestigious Jerusalem Prize in Archaeology. Dr. Barkay will discuss his analysis of the 1st Jerusalemite relics discovered in the wooden chest by Ben Hammott and Bruce in the ‘Cave of the Magdalene’

Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe, senior lecturer, Cardiff Academy, Wales
A fully ordained Anglican priest, Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe is now a popular TV and Radio presenter, researcher and author of over 250 books, many on the Knights Templar, and the Rennes-Le-Chateau mystery.

Detective Inspector Colin Taylor, Metropolitan Police (ret)
A former Detective Inspector at New Scotland Yard, Colin Taylor was Commander of the Drug Squad and Deputy Divisional Commander of the Major Crime Squad. Taylor twice received the Police Commissioner’s Commendations for outstanding work. In 2007, Colin was asked by Ben Hammott to re-open the files on the unsolved 1897 murder of Abbe Gelis in Coustassa, and re-examine the facts, and the evidence through the eyes of a modern forensic detective.

The Right Reverend Shelby Spong, Bishop of Newark (ret)
The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark for 24 years before his retirement in 2001 is considered the champion of an inclusive faith by many, both inside and outside the Christian church. A visiting lecturer at Harvard and at universities and churches worldwide, the outspoken Bishop will explain why he believes that traditional Christianity is ‘dying’, why the traditional story the Church tells about Jesus is ‘inaccurate’ and why Jesus and Mary Magdalene ‘were probably married.’

The People Speak - Live

Interview with Bloodline Producer - René Barnett
and Director - Bruce Burgess

on "The People Speak" Live, April 21st 2008.


Click here to listen to the archive.

Priory of Sion confirms Hammott’s tomb: “One of three in the area”

Nicolas Haywood, representing the Priory of Sion, confirmed both by email and in phone conversations to the Bloodline producers, that Ben Hammott’s tomb is real and that it’s one of three tombs in the area near Rennes-Le-Chateau. He said that the three tombs each contain a shrouded corpse, and their locations form a triangle around a larger central ‘repository’, and that at least one the tombs contains a woman. He also said that there are items in all three tombs that come from this larger ‘repository’. He would not be drawn on any specifics about what was in this repository, but according to the producers, the inference was that it had been used to hold both Templar and Cathar relics, archives and treasure since it was first hidden there in the 13th century.

Bruce Burgess said: “He implied that most of what had been stored down there had been either looted or melted down, but that the larger objects, much harder to move, were still there. When I asked him what they were, he said that it was possibly the great Menorah from the Temple in Jerusalem.”

These tombs are considered sacrosanct by the Priory of Sion and Haywood was blunt with us about tampering with them in any way, noting we would get ‘much more than we bargained for,’ and there would be immediate and severe consequences’ if we thought of looting the tomb. He said that ‘ would not be, and could not be allowed’.

Haywood explained that up to the French Revolution, generations of local noble families, incuding the De Blancheforts, Aniorts, de Negre d’Ables and Hautpouls had been guardians of these tombs, but thereafter that responsibility fell into the hands of the local priests. Hence the involvement of Abbes Bigou, Sauniere, Boudet and Gelis. Since the death of Sauniere, the tombs and the site have been left in disrepair. Abbe Sauniere blocked up the entrance using similar stones for which he constructed his grotto up at RLC.

According to Haywood, the Abbe Sauniere had looted from the tomb that Ben has discovered, hence the open chests, and scattered objects. Apparently, Sauniere had been repeatedly warned not to do so, and it was likely that his death was not an accident.

Producer, Rene Barnett, said: “So far we have only very limited access to Ben’s tomb, but we have a good idea of where the other two are, using simple trigonomics. So we hope to soon be able to get to this main repository, either through one of the underground passageways, or from ground level. This is tremendously exciting.”

Ben Hammott said: “I knew when I discovered the tomb that it could be important, but now that it could be part of an even bigger undeground complex which houses some of the Templar relics and treasure…I’m speechless. These discoveries keep getting bigger and bigger. We don’t know much about this guy Haywood or the modern Priory of Sion, but I think it’s great that he has authenticated the tomb I found.”

Burgess had this to say finally: “ Ben and the film have come under quite a lot of fire for our amateur archaeology, especially with the tomb, but the fact is that when Ben found it, it was damp and water was leaking into it, slowly rotting the contents. Ben then sealed it up, and it is now bone dry and protected from the water, so in fact, Ben Hammott has saved this tomb.”

Bloodline - Margaret Starbird

Margaret Starbird, the bestselling author of The Woman with the Alabaster Jar, talks to Bruce about how her Catholic faith was challenged when she first read Holy Blood, Holy Grail and how her determination to prove its underlying thesis, about the marriage of Jesus & Mary Magdalene, wrong, led her to realize that it was, in fact, true.

Bloodline - Tracy Twyman

Author of The Merovingian Mythos, Tracy Twyman, gives Bruce her views on the underground Temple site. She believes that it could be the Cave of Treasures and the burial site of the ancient kings, the Patriarchs, that are written about in the Old Testament.

Bloodline - Thom quarry

Looking for proof of the existence of this underground Temple, Bruce is told about a large Knights Templar Quarry near Rennes-le-Chateau which may have been used to provide stone for its construction. Local researcher, Gerard Thom then shows Bruce a series of markers in the area which leads them to an underground site.

Bloodline - Gerard Thom

Local researcher, Gerard Thom, shows Bruce a heretical painting which he says depicts the temple in the mountain, near Rennes-Le-Chateau in which the bodies of Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene and their children are now buried. The painting was done by one of the priests in the same group as Abbe Sauniere who appear to have abandoned their Faith and Church, as a result of a discovery they made at the end of the 19th Century. The underground structure, he says, is a recreation of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.

Bloodline - Sulpice

Researcher, Robert Howells, takes Bruce to the Church of Saint Sulpice in Paris, to show him the mural of Jean Jaques Olier, the founder of the Church, who is depicted holding a clutch of parchments which many believe are the same heretical parchments that ended up down in Rennes-le-Chateau.

Bloodline - Ritual Pool

Bruce and the crew discover the remains of an ancient ritual pool, which sits at the heart of a triangular field, near the centre of Henry Lincolns Rennes-Le-Chateau pentagram.

Bloodline - Ed psychic story

Back at the start of this production, Edwardo Flaherty, the film’s Paris based producer, met with a Psychic, who gave him a bizarre premonition about Ben Hammott’s discoveries.

Bloodline - Dr. Steve Olsen phone call

Bruce calls Dr Steve Olsen who has done studies on human genetic descent to ask about the scientific likelihood of a bloodline of Jesus & Mary Magdalene.

Bloodline - Gino Sandri

Bruce met with Priory of Sion General Secretary, Gino Sandri, who had worked closely with the late Pierre Plantard. They met at the same Paris Café where Plantard used to meet the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, La Tipia, now called Café Biarritz. This is an extract from the conversation where Sandri explains the Orders membership structure.

Bloodline - Nicolas Haywood

Bruce was also put in touch with an Englishman, Nicolas Haywood, who claimed to speak on behalf of The Priory of Sions inner circle. They met several times. Here Bruce and researcher, Robert Howells, talk to Haywood about the Order, its mission, its membership and its connection to the Rennes-Le-Chateau mystery.

Bloodline - Mayor

Jean Francois LHuillier, the former Mayor of Rennes-Le-Chateau, sat down with Bruce for a rare in depth interview at his Mairie, and gave his views on why his village is so special, what he thinks is beneath the church and his mission to uncover the truth.

Bloodline - Tim Wallace - Murphy

Bruce met the author of Cracking the Symbol Code, Tim Wallace - Murphy, in London. In this extract, Tim talks about his own research into the Bloodline idea, the real Priory of Sion and the historical Jesus.

Bloodline - Gelis murder

In November 1897 the priest of Coustassa, Abbe Antoine Gelis, a neighbouring village to Rennes-le-Chateau, was brutally murdered in his presbetry. The motive was always unclear, but many suspected that it was somehow connected to the treasure that the Abbe Sauniere had discovered. When Ben Hammott discovered a signed confession from Sauniere claiming that he was responsible for the murder, Ben asked a retired Scotland Yard homocide detective, Colin Taylor, who now lived in the area, to take a fresh look at the case file.

Bloodline - Fanthorpe

Gino Sandri, the Priory of Sions Secretary General, said that Poussins Shepherds of Arcadia was at the very core of the secret that they protected. In a bizarre case of life imitating art, for close to a century, an identical tomb actually existed at that the location in the painting. Long time Rennes-Le-Chateau enthusiast, Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe, is one of the very few who had actually peered into this tomb, before it was destroyed in the mid 80s. Bruce traveled to Cardiff in Wales to meet him.

Bloodline - Duges

Bruce talks to Professor Daniel Duges of Limoges University in France about his research into a underground Temple near Rennes-Le-Chateau.

Bloodline - Coins:

Ben Hammott & Bruce show the coins from the chest to Richard Abdy, the curator of the Coin Department at the British Museum in London. He said that the 30 coins date from 100BC all the way through to the 12th Century, many of which were in circulation in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Many were in very poor shape and had reacted over time inside the chest and had been in the ground for a long time.

Bloodline - Cocteau Mural

Bruce visits the Church of Notre Dame de Paris in central London to look at a curious mural depicting the Crucifixion which was painted by Jean Cocteau in 1960. Cocteau was said to have been a Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. Bruce records his thoughts direct into his handycam.

Bloodline - Ben chest

The fourth clue that Ben found clearly indicated a chest buried in a grotte or cave that could be seen from the Tour Magdala, containing "the cup of Jesus and Mary Magdalene & the parchments of Abbe Bigou & the anointing jar. Here Ben, Bill Kersey and Bruce hike to a cave above the Couleurs river, in which they find a old wooden chest buried quite deep in the ground. Both the chest and its contents were damp, partly rotten, full of small bugs and look to have been 'in the elements' for some time.

Bloodline - Sauniere's Chalice

There were rumors that Sauniere had given away a medieval silver gilt chalice that he had discovered in the crypt. Bruce tracked it down to the neighbouring village of St Paul de Fenouillet, still in the same leather box in which it had been delivered a century ago, complete with a note from Abbe Sauniere. Some believe that the chalice is proof of a much larger cache of ancient treasure that the priest had discovered.

Bloodline - Captier

Extracts from Bruces interview with Claire Corbu & Antoine Captier. Antoine is the great grandson of Abbe Saunieres bellringer, and Claire is the daughter of Noel Corbu, the man who bought the priests estate from his housekeeper, Marie Denarnaud. They have a large part of the former priests archive and are acknowledged as the authority on the Rennes-Le-Chateau affair.

Bloodline - Bruce phone taps

Bruces video diary from his Paris hotel on the wire taps that had been discovered on his phones and the emails that appear to were intercepted by a third party.

Bloodline - British Museum

With Bruce filming with his handycam Ben Hammott takes the chest and its contents to be analyzed at the British Museum in London. The items turn out to be a 1st century drinking cup; a 1st century, Jerusalemite, ungentarium or ointment jar ; and a 1st century alabastra phial containing a rolled parchment, which was later dated by Oxford University to the 15th century.

Bloodline - Ben tomb

This is Bens raw footage of the tomb he discovered, taken from his small handy-cam that he lowered down the airshaft, the only means of entry. A shrouded corpse can clearly be made out, as well as the outline of a skull, and a number of chests, some of which are open revealing golden chalices and coins. There is also an old book or codex and what appear to be scrolls on the ground. There is also a large crucifix and a cloth sack bearing a Solomonic star. The main entrance can also be seen on the right of the frame.

Bloodline - Ben explains clues

Ben Hammott explains in detail how he found the first of his bottles by using clues & measurements hidden in the statue of the devil and the four angels in the Church of Mary Magdalene at Rennes-le-Chateau.

Bloodline - Ben clue 3

Ben Hammott and team try to open the small third bottle that they had discovered under a large boulder up on a local mountain. Although the clue papers dont look very distressed or old, if they had been written less than a hundred years ago then placed in waxed sealed bottles, then their quality would've been largely unaffected. The bottles and the crude wax seals, are consistent with bottles from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

Bloodline - Ben clue 2

Back in the kitchen at the Maison de Chapelier, the crews gites in Esperaza, Ben Hammott, and his friends and fellow Rennes enthusiasts, Sandy Hamblett and Bill Kersey carefully break open the second bottle that they discovered in a small grotto near the source of the Magdalene , and start to decipher the handwritten message inside.

Bloodline - Bruce Burgess Interview

Bruce reflects on the Priory of Sion, the discoveries and the incredible journey hes been on.

Bloodline - BB explains priory meetings

Bruce records a video diary after first meeting with Nicolas Haywood in England.

Bloodline Theatrical Trailer

Bloodline - the movie, final theatrical trailer cut - coming to theaters in May 2008.

Bloodline - Baluster clip

Bruce and Ben visited Antoine Captier and Claire Corbu who still have the original wooden baluster from Saunieres church. They wanted to see if the glass phial that was in the chest matched the secret compartment in the top of the baluster. When they held it alongside, it seemed like a plausible fit, but unfortunately Antoine was unable to force the compartment open as he had glued it in place some years before.

Bloodline - Apocalypse clip

Bruce discusses the possibility of an apocalyptic event connected to Rennes-Le-Chateau with Nicolas Haywood and researcher, Robert Howells.

Modern Day Troubadour?

We have received so many amazing emails since the re-launch of our site last week, and we truly appreciate them all. It is interesting to note how many people around the world are tuned in to this mystery. One email that really stands out came from a young man--a hip hop artist--in Florida who was inspired by a dream to write a song. Kevin Bailey said he had done some research on the Gospel of Mary, and "looking up things like Merovingians, it all kind of came together." More of his email.. and his song... are shared below.

"I also feel like it is the biggest trick ever played on the human race, even greater than the devils greatest trick. So I made this song hoping it would raise awareness and get people reading and researching. But the true inspiration of the song came from a dream I had about 3-4 years ago. I was living in Ft Lauderdale at the time, and I was going to be moving back to Tampa. In the dream, it was raining and storming outside, and the wind was blowing so hard. Then this little dog came walking up. (which funny enough looked like a dog I have now... crazy but true) So in the dream I was trying not to get blown over, when all of a sudden, the wind picked me up, and I was floating up up. Then there I was standing in the middle of ruins I have never seen before, looking at a statue of a distressed woman with her hair blowing in the wind. In the dream, I remember thinking 'that must be Mary Magdalena', and then I went to hug God, who in my dream was a wall of different geometric shapes... I don't know... But it was a large wall, so large I could not tell where it ended. Then I woke up. After that dream, I started doing the research that led to the song..."

Click here to listen to the song.