This is the kind of thing r/conspiracy needs more of. I could see this being funded as a documentary. Maybe a Kickstarter?

I started a Kickstarter campaign last year but I was recovering from surgery at the time so I wasn't able to put as much effort into as I would have liked and it ended up failing pretty badly. I have been toying with the idea of going for it again on indiegogo.com, and doing an "interactive web documentary" format where those who donate get to help choose where to look based on different clues in the paintings, and get daily updates about what we find. Haven't pulled the trigger on it yet though.

That sounds awesome.

being poor as fuck, i'd still be happy to throw a (very) few bucks your way for this. i'm serious when i say that this is one of the coolest things i've encountered in my long career as an internet junkie.

yes yes do it do it do it.

u also need a cool url.

Alright guys, After reading some of the responses on here I decided I am going to give it another go with trying to fund a documentary. I have an old draft for the campaign already set up for the idea I outlined on my other reply to this comment (interactive web documentary, the first of it's kind as far as I know), and a FB page set up as a temporary website. I am at work right now but I will get going on it as soon as I get home and try to launch it as soon as possible.

Until then, does anybody have any suggestions for spreading the word?

This is really awesome

Thank you very much! I have put 9 years worth of effort into it and it's always good to hear positive feedback

I concur. Good work OP. Had I the means, I would gladly venture forth with you.

And I with you.

I have tried getting a documentary project on my research going through kickstarter, but I was going through my second round with cancer at the time and wasn't able to give it the effort it deserved.

But for the time being I have all of you to share the mystery with, and that is good enough for me.

I am sorry about the cancer. It sounds like you have a strong spirit and mind! Keep it up!

This is pretty amazing, considering not only the amount of time put in to connecting all of the pieces of a pretty intricate puzzle, but also the fact that you were battling cancer at the time. This has always been a strong interest of mine, and I'm very interested in where this information could take you. Unfortunately, I don't have either the means or capacity to go through that sort of undertaking. Either way, I hope you continue to pursue this, and hopefully I'll be able to read about more of your findings in the near future.

Either way, I hope you continue to pursue this, and hopefully I'll be able to read about more of your findings in the near future.

Thanks and I hope that this can be the case as well

but also the fact that you were battling cancer at the time

To be completely honest, this was what motivated to start sharing my research. Up until that point, I kept everything I found very secretive (as do many who research the subject) in the hopes that I would be the one to find it on my own, but after I got cancer the first time I just began to think that this was too important to keep hidden. On top of that, if something happened to me and I didn't make it through then the hidden images might be lost for another 400 years.

Since then I haven't been able to shut up about it.

any candidates for some hiking ?

I've got at least 7 or 8 areas around the mountain that are "hotspots" for a possible location for whatever is there (I was serious about main post being the tip of the iceberg), I would be more than willing to share them with anybody who will be in the area and wants to check them out.

Sounds like great fun. I'd took myself over to Rennes a couple of years ago and the place stinks of mystery. I think the mountain in the pictures must be Bugarach as I think everyone seems to agree.

If you do organise a trip to the area let me know. It would be a laugh whatever we find.

This.

This is good stuff. Kudos to you OP. Very interesting! I have some googling to do!

More stuff like this please!

Over the course of the day I will try and add some more stuff to the main post about different things I have found.

Have you tried the same geometrical analysis that was discussed in Baigents book?

According to the book, the existence of certain geometry was supposed to be an indicator that the painting had a message of some kind.

Are you referring to the pentagonal geometry found in Shepherds of Arcadia? I'm not sure if it was included in Holy Blood Holy Grail off of the top of my head but I know Lincoln wrote about it The Holy Place. From the footnotes of my article:

1. Professor Christopher Cornford of the Royal College of Arts studied the geometric structure of Arcadia. Despite the fact that the majority of paintings he had studied before this used ‘arithmetic subdivisions of the rectangle”, Arcadia used an older, ‘masonic geometric’ structure that used pentagonal geometry.

Lincoln, Henry. "Chapter 6 Shepherds of Arcadia." The Holy Place. New York: Arcade Pub., 1991. 62-63. Print.

Beyond this I have not done any geometrical analysis on the other paintings myself, that is a little bit outside of my skill set

Are you referring to the pentagonal geometry found in Shepherds of Arcadia?

Yes.

I'm not sure if it was included in Holy Blood Holy Grail

TBH, neither am I but I know I have a book about it at home somewhere. I'll find it later and make a better reply.

Beyond this I have not done any geometrical analysis on the other paintings myself, that is a little bit outside of my skill set

If memory serves, it wasn't particularly difficult. I'll read over it again later and see if it brings up any ideas about the new images you've posted.

The gist of it was identifying straight lines like the shepherds staff and the tomb etc. Then seeing if there were any 72 degree (i.e pentagonal) correlations. There was an additional 1.5 degree rotation if you took the shepherds finger pointing into account. I can't really remember, I'll have to read it again.

But I remember being fascinated by the topic at the time I did read it, so I'm looking forward to seeing if your new images contain the same indicators.

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however with every "conspiracy", or theory as I prefer to call it, I scrutinize it a lot.

A very admirable trait IMO, one that I welcome in people who read about my research. It often leads to new discoveries in the paintings.

There are a few websites out there with a general overview of the subject. Nothing too fancy but it will give a good jumping off point.

http://www.rlcresearch.com/

The only thing specific to my research that has been published is the article I linked in the main post.

But What makes you think that because the paintings were painted with that backdrop they must be connected with a historical mystery?

Three main reasons:

The first is simply Poussin's name being mentioned in the alleged parchments and subsequent riddle that was decoded from that. Whether or not this "riddle" is accurate, it is what led me to the paintings in the first place.

The second is mentioned in my article:

"The reference to Poussin is intriguing, and when examined in conjunction with the puzzling letter sent by Abbé Louis Fouquet to his brother, Nicolas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finances to King Louis XIV, the mystery deepens. Abbé Fouquet, who had just visited Poussin in Rome, wrote a letter indicating that Poussin was in possession of a great secret:

‘He and I discussed certain things, which I shall with ease be able to explain to you in detail – things that will give you, through Monsieur Poussin, advantages which even kings would have great pains to draw from him, and which, according to him, it is possible that nobody else will ever be able to rediscover in the centuries to come. And, what is more, these are things so difficult to discover that nothing now on this earth can prove of better fortune nor be their equal.’

The third reason is a man named Daniel Bettex. He was looking into Bugarach in the late 80's, independently of the Rennes-le-Chateau mystery. I have been able to find very little information about him except for a few RLC sites. Here is one of the better pages devoted to him:

http://www.rlcresearch.com/2007/11/21/daniel-bettex/

If Bugarach does in fact have something hidden beneath it, he would probably be the person who has come closest to finding it.

Although the second two things do not directly relate to RLC, the mountain is in such close proximity to the village that if it is in fact hiding something important it would be very hard to deny they were connected.

what questions or facts are you currently trying to identify or look for yourself in order to further proof for this theory?

I have been spending a fair amount of time on a document called 'Le Serpent Rouge'. If you have researched the subject before it maybe something that you're familiar with. Three men wrote in it and placed in it the French National Library, and shortly after were all found dead in an identical manner within 24 hours of each other. Here's a link with more info:

http://www.rlcresearch.com/2012/01/13/the-red-serpent/

I believe that this is something that is playing word games and has a decipherable message hidden in it.

Also I have been trying to find the meaning of a specific hand gesture that shows up over and over again when looking into RLC. Poussin included it many many times, as well as many of his contemporaries. It also shows up in things like stained glass art in church windows. So far it seems to be connected. I will try and put together some examples.

Other than that my focus over the past couple years has been getting my research out into the public view and trying to get funding to travel there and take my research to the mountain itself.

Edit: Formatting, clarification

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Well to be completely honest I cannot refute the claims that the parchments were not forgeries, at least in the sense that they were documents from the time period the priest would have found them. As the story goes, the priest was doing renovations and found a hollowed out pillar where the parchments were hidden. The same pillar is still supposedly in a museum at the church and doesn't really look like it would have held the parchments, and isn't even really hollow.

As far as who wrote about it before Lincoln, I believe Gerard de Sede is the only one (at least that I know of) who wrote about the parchments in Le Tresor Maudit, which is what Lincoln read that first put him onto the subject.

So the possibility exists, and indeed is even likely, that these are not the original parchments that the priest found, if he found parchments at all. There is also a small crawlspace looking area in a hidden room in his church that he sealed up and nobody has been in since so there may have been some other method of discovery. However, each of these parchments still have coded messages in them, and one that is extremely difficult to find that message. Somebody went to the trouble to do that. Now it could be a hoax, but just the fact that other documents exist that could be coded as well (The Red Serpent) and people have been killed over, could be an indication that there is a person or group who is releasing this information and knows about what is there. If that is the case then this could be a "forgery" and still have information that is valuable to solving the mystery.

And then of course there is the mention of Poussin in the decoded message, and he painted a mountain that is really very close to the village that where the priest discovered the secret. I don't think that whoever made these parchments coincidentally included the name of the artist who painted a mountain near the village, especially considering that mountain has not been identified until now.

As far as shugburough goes, it is an extremely interesting piece, but I have not had much luck finding any meaning to it yet. Although I do believe it holds some significance.

One of the key parts of this image is the addition of what looks like a coffin on top of the tomb that wasn't there in the Arcadia painting. In poussin's original Shepherds of Arcadia the tomb matches more of that shape, and in one of his version of Lamentation Over the Dead Body of Christ there is a similar coffin, and it looks like they are pulling jesus out of, which doesn't seem to match with the biblical account. Shugburough may be an indication to look at these paintings for clues but I'm not confident enough in that theory to say I think that is definitely the case.

face melted here.

seriously these photos are enough for you to kickstarter a trip there.

serious. set it up and i confirm you my $20.

go solve mystery before distory channel gets it

If it is not found in the next 5 years, then I will go myself to find it.

The mountains on the picture and in real life are not the same at all. There is very little resemblance from one of the sides(the rocky one) with the 3 pointed tops, but other than that I don't see it.

I know people are downvoting you for this comment, but I just wanted to say thanks for reading about it and giving your honest opinion, I would rather someone tell me the truth than lie for the sake of encouragement. Comments like these drive me just as much to find other, more concrete evidence that the mountain is the same one that Poussin painted.