PUT ONLINE 29.4.2024
L'Indépendant, 30 July 1964
News from Rennes-le-Château
Is a new ALI BABA'S Cave awaiting discovery?
Yes, like every year around this time, Rolland Domergue is back in Rennes-le-Château, and always with the same aim: finding the famous treasure of Abbé Saunière. You'll all remember the extraordinary story of the abbé who found some parchments in his church which enabled him to find the treasure of the lords of Rennes-le-Château, whose final descendant, Marie de Blanchefort, died taking its secret with her. Enormous spending-sprees and fabulous presents to his friends have led some to believe – and with some justification – that Saunière did indeed get his hands on this treasure, but since he only had time to spend some of it he must have hidden an important part of it, taking the secret of its whereabouts to the grave with him in his turn.
A tireless researcher
For some seven years now, without ever losing hope, Paris hypnotist Rolland Domergue has pursued his researches using methods which have yet to prove their validity.
In the early stages he used mediums, who confirmed the existence of a large amount of gold buried in underground passages which he's also investigating. The dowsers with their pendulums also produced results which increased his belief in the existence of a treasure. Finally, three years ago, the discovery of a parchment 9 metres down increased his enthusiasm for further researches.
After further study, this parchment – which had originally been thought to date from the 3rd century [sic – they mean 13th century] – turned out to be just a copy dating from the time of the French Revolution. However the parchment did show all the signs of being a copy of an authentic original. We should point out that Domergue is not just interested in the treasure of Saunière but in other treasures as well – such as that of the Templars – which helps to explain the diversity of his investigations and researches.
In fact no fewer than five underground passages are currently being investigated, and he excavated all of them himself using a pneumatic-drill. One of them is 3 metres in depth and 18 metres long, and all of it was carved out of solid rock.
Only Domergue himself could tell you how much work was required to achieve this, but he really hasn't got the time and, in any case, he's not worried about a bit of hard work.
Now it's our turn...
We wanted to surprise Monsieur Domergue while he was at work. We were also hoping of course that we might do so at the precise moment that he unearthed the treasure. What a boon that would be for us in our old age!
Photo caption: ‘Phew! It's certainly good to take a break occasionally and get some fresh air’, says Rolland Domergue, leaning on his compressor.
So now it was our turn to slide down into the underground passage cut entirely out of solid rock and which, as we've already said, extends for some 18 metres. It has to be considered pretty comfortable for what it is, but perhaps we're just clumsy or haven't had sufficient training for work of this kind: whatever the case it's not without banging our heads a few times and getting some bad cuts and grazes that we finally find ourselves, exhausted, bruised and half-suffocated, in the presence of Rolland Domergue himself. A cloud of dust surrounds him, the sweat pours from his forehead, and his pneumatic-drill is still vibrating in his hands, but that doesn't stop him greeting us with a smile. Showing some sympathy for the state we're in, he invites us to retrace out steps. Another round of torture, especially since our high hopes of catching him actually discovering the treasure had been disappointed.
So here we are again in the open air. Immediately we start firing questions at him.
- When did you start your researches this year?
As soon as I arrived, that's a fortnight ago. My work won't allow me to devote more time to it than that. I'll be carrying on until the end of August.
- Of course it's a bit premature to be asking you this, but do you really expect to find anything?
‘Hope well and have well’ as the old saying goes. But ultimately it all comes down to this one underground passage which should be about 15 metres down and to which both a medium and the parchment which you already know about have alerted me. As for the treasure, when I've found the passage, if there is one, then that would certainly be a big step forward.
- We know you use different methods in your researches, but which ones are you using at the moment?
I work by deduction and by intuition. In other words I try to put myself in the shoes of someone who might have wanted to bury something here. In addition I listen to everything that people have to say about the treasures of Rennes-le-Château, and then I try to sift what is true from what is false. You won't believe it, but I've managed to extract some precise information from this. I'm also using the parchment. That was something that needed a lot of work because it wasn't drawn to scale and I had to work out some reference-points so I could find my way around.
- What sort of treasure are you expecting to find?
I think there's an abundance of different treasures at Rennes-le-Château – at least, that's what the mediums say. There's certainly the one that Saunière found. There's also I think the French treasure which as you'll recall disappeared in 1249, and my parchment dates from the 13th century, so it could well be that. Why not?
And now it's our turn to say why not – after all, it would be just recompense for all his hard work.
As for the villagers...
Before leaving Rennes-le-Château we wanted to find out what the locals think about all these researches. They're certainly not hostile, but after 7 years their enthusiasm is understandably starting to wane. They've lost patience waiting for a buried treasure to be dug up, and it's with some amusement that they look on at Domergue's excavations. They seem almost certain that he won't find anything because, according to them, there's nothing to be found. Even so, deep down it's impossible to be 100% certain that the famous treasure does not exist, and we're not sure that there would be that much surprise if it was to be discovered, but, shush!... it's surely better not to speak of such things.
Photo caption: Is it perhaps at the bottom of this underground passage that the treasure of Rennes-le-Château will one day be found?
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