Comrades in arms?

 

In August 2004, an enigmatic event occurred, which has made little impact in the history of Rennes-le-Château, perhaps because it happened in the middle of the holiday season. We have grown accustomed to a plethora of claims and comments that are positioned at the door and centre of the mystery of Rennes-le-Château: flying saucers, gateways into other dimensions, even trial runs for hostage situations. But so far, there was never any mention of a stash of weapons. And it is even more surprising to learn that these weapons were hidden and stored to defend “the hypothetical Holy Grail which was apparently hidden in the castle of the Aude of Father Saunière.” Indeed, we are here in the domain of religious relics – the greatest of them all – and people who apparently needed arms to defend this precious relic. From whom? And what purpose?
Together with François Barrère, we can only wonder what lies at the bottom of this crusade, which somehow seems to require automatic riffles and 9mm bullets to protect the holy relic. The article appeared in MIDI LIBRE, on August 21, 2004, on page 13 of the second volume. We reproduce the article with the authorisation of the author.

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“The arsenal of the Grail questers surfaces from the past”

Twenty-odd war weapons are seized from members of a strange organisation

The gendarmes of Aveyron have uncovered an astonishing treasure, not far from Couvertoirade, one of the most beautiful villages in France, built by the Templars on the edges of the Larzac.
Twenty-odd weapons and revolvers of high calibre, whom for the most part would be considered as weapons of war, as well as thousands of cartouches, have been discovered with about a half-dozen inhabitants of the south of the department. These people seemed only to share a single common interest, namely esotericism, history and archaeology. A long time ago, they shared a passion for the mysteries of Rennes-le-Château (Aude) where, certain claim, the Holy Grail is buried.

Everything started last Saturday, when a person came to explain to the Cavalery brigade that she was leaned upon, by a member of the association, to hide the arsenal on her property, near the medieval village. The gendarmes carried out an investigation and seized about ten weapons and almost 2000 cartouches and corresponding ammunition, careful stored in bags and buried near the house. In the investigation, three other people were convoked by the gendarmes. All admitted that they too had weapons in their homes: in all, a further ten revolvers of high calibre were recovered. […]
[One accused], aged 67, a retired accountant, was the founder of the Semantic centre of Gimel research, an association on the model of the law of 1901, which was declared in 1996 at the sub-prefecture of Millau. Its goal: “to carry out historical, archaeological and cultural research”, but also “to open a practical psycho-dynamic road, through general semantics and neuro-linguistic programming”, as well as to elucidate “otherwordly phenomena”.
It is an intriguing aim, which could evoke parallels with certain sectarian movements. It becomes a disquieting cocktail as the members were armed. But the first interrogations carried out by the gendarmes have not warranted such a dire conclusion: “These people have bought arms many years ago, after having assisted in conferences that promoted the apocalypse”, said one source closely related with the investigation. “They bought them so that they could defend themselves in case it arrived. After a certain period of time, they re-entered reality and decided to hide these weapons which, according to them, were never used.”
Some have assured the investigators that they could furnish invoices for some of the acquisitions, while others stated that they bought them within the confines of the law about twenty years ago, before legislation changed. The only certainty is that none of them afterwards made the slightest effort to put it legally right. “None of these weapons were demilitarised. They could have been used for anything, as long as they were accompanied by their ammunition and the necessary tools to do maintenance” is what Marina Jourdain, substitute of the procurator of the court of Millau details.
From the perspective of the enquiry, any link with terrorism and major crime seems to have been ruled out. A sect? “At one time, I was even afraid of green men” avows the president of the association, referring to Martians. “They are mostly mild lunatics”, thinks another source. The court requested charges for “detention, acquisition and transport of arms, and illegal depot of arms”. The founder of the Gimel centre has been placed under examination and referred to Rodez, and the judge will soon have to convoke his old comrades and examine them too.
Amongst these people is a kinesitherapist and even, more worryingly, a functioning gendarme. And even if for the Justice Ministry this affair does not seem to possess a sectarian aspect, it remains troubling, for it shows that the dissemination of weapons in our society is without a doubt far more widespread than we believe; and that, to defend the hypothetical Holy Grail, which is supposed to be hidden around the Aude castle of Father Saunière, certain people have perhaps tended to recommence the crusade… with automatic weapons and 9mm ammunition.”

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If the claims of these people is the truth – and the enquiry has not put this in doubt – then it suggest that in the early 1980s, certain people’s imaginations reached boiling point, convinced as they were that the Holy Grail and the end of times was about to happen in Rennes-le-Château. This association armed themselves, apparently to make sure that they were going to be part of the spectacle, apparently seeing themselves as the protectors of the Holy Grail during the Apocalypse.
In this instance, the idea seems to have died a slow death as time passed – and the Grail or Apocalypse did not manifest itself. But the question is indeed whether for every organisation that is discovered as such, another remains hidden somewhere… and may perform some outrageous and highly illogical act. We hope, however, that this will not be continued!