THIRD FILMING OF THE TOMB
Bruce Burgess, the Bloodline director, wanted more film of the Tomb and I agreed. So in 2007 we returned to France. Due to certain circumstances and shortage of time, the filming took place at night and the trip to the Tomb in the darkness was a very spooky experience. The sound of wild boar moving about in the bushes did nothing to help the experience. The landscape took on a completely different appearance in torchlight, which meant finding the site in the darkness was not easy as it was still well camouflaged by the overgrown bushes, something I had been careful not to disturb on my past visits. But eventually I found the site and slipped inside. After uncovering the top of the shaft, I cut out the rocks I had sealed in place with expanding foam to seal the hole on my previous visit. After preparing the cameras, I was ready to film the Tomb once again.
| THE REMOTE CAMERA | |
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Images grabbed from the third Tomb footage.
Some of the images here have been supplied by Bloodlinethemovie.com
Due to the bits of foam that had fallen down the shaft when I cut out the rocks, foam dust had stuck to the lens and I had to pull the camera back out, clean it and push it back down. The second time it was okay with just a couple of bits stuck to the lens. To see the video footage from this camera being lowered down the shaft click HERE
The first thing I noticed was there had been a rock fall, but luckily the rocks had missed the body and though it had shifted slightly, it looked okay.
Shot of the tomb showing the rockfall
The wooden cross now lies broken amongst the rocks. The parchments and objects around the base of the cross, seen clearly on the second film images, have now no doubt been destroyed, crushed beneath the rocks. I had always thought the Tomb roof may be unstable and seeing this, I knew I had been correct.
The shape of the shoulder and head of the body, laying on the large block of Rose marble, can be seen in the shroud.
The bowl like object once full of liquid, presumably water seeping through the rocks above, could have been placed there for this very reason, perhaps by the last person to have been inside the Tomb. As you can see the bowl is now empty and dry. In fact the whole of the Tomb seems to be a lot dryer than my last filming visit a few years ago.
Staring at the small monitor connected to the camera, I moved it around the Tomb filming all the objects.
The metallic looking chest
An old and badly decayed book or Codex
The Treasure chest showing gold cups or chalices, dusty coins and other as yet unknown objects
This book is situated on a chest to the right of the body and near the sealed entrance. Unfortunately it seems to be in a lot poorer condition than the other Tomb artifacts, no doubt due to the material it is made of. What looks like the letter 'L' and 'O' can be seen embossed in the cover, and the beginning of another letter with a straight edge, like an 'E' or an 'R', etc. Alternately if you look closely at the inside of the square 'O', it may not be a letter 'O' but a symbol, perhaps a cross, or a letter within an embossed box. It could be an 'A' or maybe an 'R'. I have looked up French and Latin words beginning with 'L' but have found nothing suitable as yet, so if anyone has any ideas please e-mail me here.
We can only imagine the information and perhaps even secrets, that lie hidden amongst its slowly rotting pages, and it is my most favourite item in the Tomb. Saying that, at one time when I first became interested in the Rennes-le-Chateau Mystery, back when it was a bit of fun, a treasure fun, I would have ignored the book and gone straight for the treasure. It is strange how Rennes-le-Chateau changes you. My hope is that one day after the Tomb has been officially excavated, all of the Artifacts will be on display in a museum, and if there is a little card by them saying, 'Discovered by Ben Hammott' that would really be something I could be proud of.
There were more objects and areas of interest caught on film, but for now this is all I am able to reveal. Much more will be revealed in the forthcoming Bloodline film. For the latest updates on the movie posted May 2007, visit their website to view the new, NEWS, FILM and RESEARCH pages and also the movie trailer. Bloodlinethemovie.com
