The Devil Stone
By following the clues embedded in Sauniere's Demon and Angel statue that greets you as you first enter the small Rennes-le-Chateau church, I discovered the first of the many clues I was to find over the coming years.
Sauniere's original Demon head (top) Demon's New Head (bottom)
I was not the first to see the connection between this strange postured demon, or devil, and an empty seat chiselled from a large lump of rock situated on a hillside at Rennes-le-Bains - known as, 'Le Fauteuil du Diable' - The Devil's Armchair. Many I imagine have climbed the steep track to see why Sauniere may be hinting at this strange landmark. Fortunately for me none thus far had worked out the clues fully. Others, I am sure, had dismissed this as a far too obvious connection and so ignored it, I however, did not.
To me the clues in this unusual Devil and Angel artwork were screaming out to be solved. How can anyone ignore the Latin inscription placed under the Angels feet?
'PAR CE SIGNE TU LE VAINCRAS'
'BY THIS SIGN YOU WILL VANQUISH, or DEFEAT HIM.'
Sauniere has seen fit to change the original Latin by adding, 'le' which changes it's meaning slightly. Incidentally by adding the two extra letters there are now twenty-two letters in the phrase. A number that crops up repeatedly in this mystery. The 'Him' referred to could mean the devil, or could it mean Sauniere? Is he telling us that by solving the clues hidden here we will be able to solve 'His' puzzle? Akin to beating him in a game of chess maybe, as alluded to by the black and white tiled floor the demon is staring at.
Anyway, as with much of this mystery, it's easy to speculate. Whatever the message Sauniere was hinting at, I took it to mean, 'by using this sign you will solve it,' which is exactly what I did.
To keep things simple and hesitant to discount the obvious, I ignored the 'Angel sign' temporarily. After travelling to Rennes-le-Bains, accompanied by Sandy Hamblett, we climbed up the hill to the Devil's armchair and the Circle spring. Like most do who come here, I sat on the Devil's Armchair. By using a photograph of Sauniere's original demon as reference, I mimicked the Demon's posture. Marking the spot where the gaze of the demon struck the floor, I proceeded to dig. but found nothing except bedrock.
Demon from Sauniere's Church sitting in the Devil's Armchair.
Time for plan two.
Realising the sign had to be incorporated if anything was to be found I measured the distance between the fingers making the sign of the left and right angel, from the spot I had marked previously. Trying this measurement achieved the same results as my first attempt, nothing of any interest.
Plan three.
Studying the statue again to see where I was going wrong I noticed the demon's left hand. Four splayed fingers resting on his leg. The thumb turned to the side. Could this be the clue I was missing?
Maybe I had to use the angel measurement four times. The thumb an indication of the direction or angle to measure out. To put the theory to the test, I measured out four times the sign width and marked the spot. It was a bit ad-hoc but I had a good feeling that I was at last on the right track. Grabbing my tools I set to work digging a longish trench to make allowance for any miscalculations in my measurements. After a depth of about eighteen or so inches I struck a rock. Lifting it out so I could continue my excavation, I was just about to discard it, when I noticed something on the stone's surface as it caught the light. Brushing away some of the caked on dirt, I saw some markings that didn't seem natural, so I called Sandy over for conformation. With the stone still dirty it wasn't until we had washed it in the Circle spring that we could finally see the markings clearly and realised we had solved the first part of the puzzle. Excitedly we started working out what the markings could mean. I can't remember if it was sandy or I that first noticed the two letters, but I do remember how excited we both were when we realised their significance.
The two letters carved into the stone are B and S. Not only are they the two letters that appear on the angel inscription, they are also, more importantly, the initials of Berenger Sauniere the priest of the Rennes-le-Chateau church dedicated to Mary Magdalene.
Furthermore one of the angel's was pointing straight at it.
She is also pointing at the inscription and the demon, which as we have now seen are important to solving the clues so maybe this is a further indication we are on the right track.
However excited we were at our find it was after all just a stone with markings. Unless the markings led us somewhere a stone would be all we would have. Luckily they did.
The Devil Stone
