Since the beginning of the “mystery” during the mid-1950s people have been boring us to death with Rennes-les-Bains and the [very] boring Abbé Henri Boudet.

The believers keep on boring us with material that has already been in the public domain since it all began and therefore it is no “mystery” at all. It can all be found (and can be accessed by anybody) in the Bibliotheque Municipale de Carcassonne.

The Romans were in Rennes-les-Bains. That should not surprise us since the village had some warm waters and the Romans built the Roman Baths situated outside the village. That was the prime reason for the Romans settling in Rennes-les-Bains. A very boring explanation – but at least a quick and easy explanation. The archaeological remains of the Romans are nothing “mysterious” like the Believers would lead us to believe.

The believers keep on boring us with Abbé Henri Boudet. There is nothing unique about his book “La vraie langue celtique et le cromleck de Rennes-les-Bains” because the search for the primordial or original language was very popular during the 19th century. And everyone had their own quirky and funny ideas relating to the subject-matter. Umberto Eco wrote a book about it, that can only really serve as an introduction, the subject-matter is so large. Furthermore, the Abbé Boudet's discovery of the statue of Venus in itself should not surprise us since he was an amateur archaeologist – and his discovery of the relic has led us to discover that he was also a sexual prude to the bargain.

These two ingredients have been used by the believers to create a toxic brew of wild speculation and wonder that tantalise us with the Language of the Birds and other esoteric marvels that do not add up to anything – merely reflect the subjective thoughts of those interested in the “world of the unknown philosophies/philosophers” (all on the level of Doctor Strange of Marvel Comics fame).

Not exacly sober historical research but highly exciting and highly addictive fun – though not as exciting as the average episode of “The Outer Limits”.

Perhaps it should also be pointed out [sadly] that not all people are able to tell the difference between real historical research and the wild, unbridled world of fantasy conspiracy theories. Such people believe that there is absolutely no difference between those two very different categories.

That is where our answer lies to the question: “Who are the believers?”

The Believers refuse to believe that life is dull – there has to be meaning behind it all and that is the reason why they choose to believe in things like flying saucers, alchemy, the Loch Ness Monster, Paracelsus, etc. But most importantly of all: Abbé Bérenger Saunière & Rennes-le-Château and Abbé Henri Boudet & Rennes-les-Bains – where the real and fantasy histories combine (where books by Louis Charpentier and Jean Gourdon are liberally interwoven – Charpentier would agree with that, but definitely not Jean Gourdon).

But even Believers have to die. Everybody dies. Reality catches up with everybody.