In June, Roger Lhomoy (1904-1974) begins digging beneath the castle at Gisors.   Roger Lhomoy  Gisors

1946

 In March, Lhomoy claims to have found a chapel, crypt, and tunnel system beneath Gisors.  He invites local authorities to visit, but they only go as far as the tunnel entrance.  Fearing structural collapse, the local authorities use German prisoners to seal it off.

1953

 Marie Dénarnaud (1868-1953), former housekeeper of Abbè Bérenger Saunière (1852-1917) at Rennes-le-Château, dies without telling her friend and heir Noël Corbu (1912-1968) a great “secret.” Corbu inherits her property and the Saunière archives. 

1955

Newport Tower

 On Easter, Corbu turns his property into a mystery-themed hotel and restaurant. 

 In October, structural engineer Arlington Mallery and City of Newport engineers John Howieson and Gardner Easton report on their dig beneath the mysterious medieval-style tower in Newport, RI.  The source and history of this tower in the town’s Touro Park has been the subject of debate for decades.  Upon an examination of the foundations, they conclude the Tower was reinforced around 1675 and give evidence it was at least 300 years old at that time.

1956

La Dépêche de Midi

On January 12, 13, and 14, the first articles appear in the French journal La Dépêche de Midi about Rennes-le-Château.  Quoting Noël Corbu as his source, writer Albert Salamon claims that Abbè Bérenger Saunière found the lost treasure of Blanche de Castille.  Authors Martha Neyman and Jean Markale, among many others, believe these articles were really generated to increase tourism for Noël Corbu at his hotel and restaurant.  No articles ever appeared on Sauniere or his increased wealth during his lifetime.  

 Noël Corbu makes a tape-recording about the mystery for guests in his restaurant and hotel.

 In March, acting upon advice of a “psychic” while seeking treasure, Noël Corbu instead finds three bodies of men 25-35 years old, all shot, buried in his garden at Rennes-le-Château.  The crimes are never solved and it is not clear when the crimes happened.

 Sometime this year, Pierre Athanase Marie Plantard (1920-2000) and Phillippe de Chérisey (1923-1985) fabricate an organization called the Prieuré de Sion (a.k.a. Priory of Sion) with a lineage of famous Grand Masters and French royalty.  Pierre Plantard names himself Grand Master.  Sometime during between 1964 and 1967 the group plants concerning the existence and genealogy of the Prieuré de Sion in the Paris Bibliotheque Nationale.  These papers will become known as the Les Dossiers Secret (a.k.a. The Secret Dossiers).  Plantand and Phillippe de Chérisey and others (André Bonhomme, Jean Delaval, and Armand Defago) later enlist author Gérard de Sède (1921-2004) who will perpetuate the hoax in a 1967 book Le Trésor Maudit.  Henry Lincoln will read that book in 1969 and go on to write Holy Blood, Holy Grail.  Dan Brown will base the part of The Da Vinci Code about the Prieuré de Sion largely on Holy Blood, Holy Grail.

1958

 
Morton Smith

Robert Charroux

Reginald Harris, a Mason and attorney for owner Mel Chappell, publishes The Oak Island Mystery, the definitive book on this Nova Scotia island for decades and the inspiration for future treasure-hunter Dan Blankenship.  The book describes the original discovery of the mysterious shaft in 1795 and the many attempts to reach the bottom over the next 150 years.

 Dr. Morton Smith (1915-1991) of Columbia University discovers new sections of the Gospel of Mark at Mar Saba, an Eastern Orthodox monastery near Jerusalemxe "Jerusalem". 

 Robert Charroux (real name Robert Grugeau, 1909-1978) scans Rennes-le-Château for gold and jewels using a metal-detector and finds nothing. 

1959

 Jacques Cholet from Paris Transport receives approval to undertake official excavations in the Church of Rennes-le-Château. 

 Robert Restall begins exploring Oak Island in Nova Scotia.  Tragically, Restall, his son Bobbie, Karl Graeser, and Cyril Hiltz die in the bottom of a new shaft they dig along the shore. 

1961

Noël Corbu plays the role of Saunière in a TV series, Roue Tourne.

1962

Trevor Ravenscroft

Pope John XXIII

 In May, Noël Corbu deposits his Essai Historique sur Rennes-le-Château, a five page manuscript possibly the transcript of his hotel tape-recording from 1956, in the Archives de l’Aude at Carcassonne.

 Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) releases an earlier letter in which Pope Clement XII (1652-1740) declared Masonic thought rests on the denial of Jesus’ divinity.

 Pope John XXIII calls the 2^nd Vatican Council (21^st Ecumenical) which translates the Mass from Latin into local languages, uses simpler rites, approves more use of music, and generally advocates a more populist Catholicism.   There is new emphasis on ecumenism along with appeals for a dialogue with Jewsxe "Jews" and Muslims and Hindus.

In early 1962, Gérard de Sède publishes Les Templiers sont Parmi Nous (a.k.a. The Templars Are Among Us) suggesting for the first time that the missing  Templar treasure was located beneath the castle at Gisors.  The book relies on interviews with Roger Lhomoy (1904-1974).  Immedidately, de Sède has made Gisors a magnet for treasure-hunters.

 In May, the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs closes the area at Gisors.

 In September through October 12, the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs does an about-face and begins what they call “routine excavations” at Gisors.  Pierre Plantard is present as an advisor to Lhomoy.  The dig finds nothing, despite Lhomoy’s claims the Ministry dig stopped short five feet from the crypt.

 Trevor Ravenscroft (1921-1989) claims the Holy Grail is hidden in a lead casket inside the Apprentice Pillar at Rosslyn Chapel.  Metal detectors indicate a large object inside the pillar but the Earl of Rosslyn does not allow x-rays or excavations.

Carcassone curator and archivist René Descadeillas writes Notice sur Rennes-le-Château et l'abbé Saunière, an unpublished paper about the Saunière story.

 Based on information from Noël Corbu, Robert Charroux publishes Trésors du Monde (a.k.a. Treasures of the World) pursuing the idea of a Saunière treasure.   The book brings on hordes of treasure-hunters.

1963

Hugh Schonfield

 According to the Timetables of History, worldwide there are 890 million Christians (Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant), 200 million Buddhists, 365 million Hindus, and 13 million Jewsxe "Jews".

British Bible scholar Hugh Schonfield (1901-1988) publishes The Passover Plot.  Schonfield describes a Jesus who, conviced he is the Jewish Messiah, has himself arrested, drugged, crucified, and revived to fulfill the Jewish scriptures.  However, this plan goes awry as a soldier stabs the comatose Jesus.  Attempts to revive him fail, and he is secretly buried by followers.   It will be made into a movie in 1976.

 According to Les Dossiers Secret, Jean Cocteau (born 1889) dies and Pierre Plantard takes over as Grand Master of the Prieuré de Sion.

1964

Henry Buthion

 Giovanni Battista Montini (1897-1978) becomes Pope Paul VI on the death of Vatican reformer Pope John XXIII. 

 In February, Gisors is temporarily declared military terrain to allow the French Army Engineers to begin a new dig at Gisors.  Finding nothing, and fearing structural collapse of the buildings above, engineers fill in the tunnels with concrete.

 Noël Corbu sells his properties at Rennes-le-Château to Henry Buthion (dies 2002).

1965

Robert Dunfield

Pope Paul VI

 Robert Dunfield and Dan Blankenship arrive at Oak Island to build a causeway and move massive equipment to the island.  With drilling, digging, and sheer manpower, they succeed only in moving around a tremendous amount of clay. 

 On July 25, the town of Rennes-le-Château prohibits excavations without prior agreement of the Mayor.

 Pope Paul VI sets up the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the modern equivalent of the Holy Roman Inquisition.

 Pope Paul VI revokes the Catholic condemnation of Galileo for publicizing his theory that the earth revolves around the sun.

 On December 7, the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches cancel their thousand-year-old excommunications of each other.

1966

David Tobias and
Dan Blankenship

 Montreal businessman David Tobias and Florida building contractor Dan Blankenship begin extensive drilling at Oak Island.

Gérard de Sède publishes Le Trésor Cathare (a.k.a. The Cathar Treasure).

1967

 
Manuel Luciano da Silva

 In March, Dr. Manuel Luciano da Silva (born 1926) claims similar construction between the Newport Tower and the Tomar Monastery in Portugal, asserting a link between the Templars in Europe and the tower in Rhode Island. 

 Israeli archeologists in Jerusalem discover tunnels south of the al-Aqsa mosque.

"On my own account I excavated both under and behind the altar but found nothing. I also excavated in line with and in front of the altar – again nothing. I was also made to tear up the floor of the church, starting from the pulpit: my sponsor, a pendulum enthusiast, had located the entrance of the underground passageways there – but we found nothing. I persevered as far as the foundations of the church, digging as far as virgin soil. We found the outline of numerous empty vaults. We resumed the same task along the south wall, with approximately the same result, the only difference being that all the human remains, which were missing on the other side, had been placed there higgledy-piggledy. On the advice of a female clairvoyant we were urged to excavate behind the altar – but found nothing." (Jacques Cholet's report on Rennes-le-Chateau, April 25, 1967)

Architect Louis Charpentier publishes Les Mysteres Templiers (a.k.a. The Templar Mysteries).  For the first time, an author proposes the original nine Templars were sent to Jerusalem to dig under the Temple, that the found loot eventually funded their operations as well as the Catholic building program across Europe, and that the missing Templar treasure is now buried under Gisors in France or Tomar in Portugal.  He also publishes Les Mysteres de la Cathedrale de Chartres (a.k.a. The Mysteries of Chartres Cathedral), saying Chartres was built by the Templars as a repository for sacred knowledge.

Gérard de Sède in Le Trésor Maudit (a.k.a. L’Or de Rennes, The Gold of Rennes, or The Accursed Treasure of Rennes-le-Château) claims that Berenger Saunière, a priest at the tiny village of Rennes-le-Château in France late in the 19^th century, discovered ancient parchments revealing a Jesus bloodline.  de Sède bases the story around the existence of a shadowy group called the Prieuré de Sion and on documents he found in the National French Library.  These documents include Les Dossiers d’Henri Lobineau (a.k.a. The Secret Records of Henri Labineau), Généalogie de Rois Mérovingiens (a.k.a. Genealogy of the Mérovingian Kings), and Les Descendants Mérovingiens ou L’Enigme du Razes Wizigoth (a.k.a. The Mérovingean Descendants, or the Mystery of the Visigoths at Razes).  All are later admitted as fakes.  His book creates for Rennes-le-Château what Charpentier’s did for Gisors – a cottage industry for grailseekers.

1968

 Noel Corbu dies in a car accident.

Hugh Schonfield publishes Those Incredible Christians. 

 Pope Paul VI condemns all artificial means of contraception, especially birth control pills.  He declares all women should be virgins until married, and re-affirms that sex is only for the purpose of having children, not for pleasure. 

1969

William Sobey

 
Ogden Kraut

 On August 21, Australian Michael Dennis Rohan (a.k.a. Denis Michael Rohan) sets Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque on fire. Rohan’s aim, according to subsequent investigations, was to destroy the Temple believing it would bring back Jesus as the Messiah.  Arabs blame Israel for the arson even though Rohan was not Jewish.

 Henry Lincoln picks up a copy of Le Trésor Maudit while on holiday in the French town of Vendome, beginning a lifelong quest to solve the riddle of a parish priest’s sudden wealth. 

 The Vatican makes Mary Magdalene a saint and formally acknowledges she was never a prostitute, nullifying the proclamations of Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) in 591.

 David Tobias, Dan Blankenship, the aging Mel Chappell, William Sobey, George Jennison, Gordon Coles, Charles Brown III, Dan Hanskee, and others form an investor syndicate called Triton Alliance to fund research at Oak Island.

Mormon Ogden Kraut (1927-2002) publishes Jesus Was Married.  He will be banned from the Mormon Church for polygamy in 1972.