Mystery surrounds virtually every aspect of the Templar story, from their origins in the aftermath of the First Crusade, through their rise to supreme wealth and power - dominating medieval Europe for nearly two centuries - to their abrupt and dramatic suppression. Ferociously punished for alleged heresy and depravity at the beginning of the 14th century, their story is believed to have ended there, merely an interesting historical footnote. But did they, as many now believe, survive in se...

It is the hiding place of the Holy Grail, or a great secret that will rock the Church. It is a place of hidden treasure and dark knowledge. It is the place where Jesus is buried... These are just some of the many theories now current about the village where a Victorian priest became strangely - and massively - rich, and where he left clues to a great mystery in the very fabric of his church. What is the truth about Father Sauniere and the now-famous village of Rennes-le-Château?Thi...

The MysteryWhat is it that brings so many people to this out-of-the-way chapel? Not only is Rosslyn Chapel (or, to give it its official title, the Collegiate Church of St Matthew) a stunning example of late medieval architecture and the stonemason's art, but it contains many clues that it is more than just a place of worship – and even that it was never intended to be simple a Christian church.History of Rosslyn ChapelThe mastermind behind the project was Sir William ...

Of all the New Testament characters, few - other than Jesus himself - have exerted such an enduring fascination as Mary Magdalene, believed by the Church to have been a reformed prostitute. Yet her never-ending appeal is odd for one who appears so briefly - and then so elusively - in the Bible: so what has made her so entrancing to generations of Christians and non-Christians alike? Was she, as many now argue, actually Jesus' wife and the mother of his children? And why is she intimately c...

For centuries belief that the Shroud of Turin really bears the likeness of the crucified Jesus Christ had to be a matter of faith alone. Then in 1898 it was photographed for the first time, and suddenly the negative image revealed an astonishingly life-like wealth of detail of a tall bearded man horribly tortured with whip, nails and crown of thorns. Virtually overnight, the age-old faith of the pilgrims seemed to be vindicated. Surely this was the very image of Jesus?

Whether or not The Illuminati – an elite body claiming an ancient pedigree – does exist, it is important that growing numbers of people nonetheless do believe it exists. So does it exist? If so, is it a force for evil or a force for good - or, as some would have it, a conspiracy aimed at making us believe there is a conspiracy? Was the Bavarian Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt the true inheritor of more ancient knowledge?A force for evil or a force for good? A movement whose benevolent...

THE 40th anniversary of one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century was marked on November 22, 2003 – with the mystery, frustratingly, no closer to being solved. Despite the welter of conspiracy theories that have attached themselves to the assassination in Dallas, Texas, of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, only one fact is now known for certain – that his death was indeed the result of a conspiracy. Pending some startling new revelation surrounding the events of that tragic day in...

It was in the early hours of Sunday August 31, 1997, in a tunnel at the Place d'Alma in Paris, that Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed along with her lover Dodi Al Fayed and their driver Henri Paul. Dodi's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived. The family of Henri Paul not only had to cope with the tragedy of his death but the fact that the official record held that he had been responsible for the crash which claimed their lives through a combination of alcohol, drugs, and driving at hi...

FIRST written more than 10 years ago, Sons of the Widow has been updated to take account of new developments in Freemasonic research – but its general theme remains unaltered. Modern day Freemasons persistently maintain that Freemasonry is not a secret organisation, but an organisation with secrets. In recent years the organisation has 'opened up' to the inquisitive outside world in a manner which would have been unheard of previously – to the extent of even hosting its own websites – whil...

Modern hoax or the most powerful and secretive cabal in history? Opinions on the mysterious Priory of Sion - in its native French, the Prieuré de Sion - are polarised between these two extremes.If the Priory of Sion's claims are true, it has existed for almost 1,000 years and has counted some of the greatest names in history - Nostradamus, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and, nearer our own time, Victor Hugo and Jean Cocteau - in its ranks. It claims to have been behind some of the...

One of the truly great minds of all time, the 15th-century Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci was uncannily ahead of his time, giving the world not only the Mona Lisa and his other extraordinary works of art, but also designs for a helicopter, military tank, submarine, bicycle - and even the sewing machine - among many other incredibly advanced innovations.It has also been argued that he may even have been behind the faking of Christianity's most precious relic, the Shroud of Turin t...

On August 5th 1962 the world was shaken by the announcement that Hollywood icon and universal sex symbol Marilyn Monroe was dead. Apparently she had taken an overdose of barbiturates and was discovered by her housekeeper, Eunice Murray, late the previous night. Details surrounding her death were strangely scant as the media saw fit to celebrate her life rather than mourn her passing. Marilyn had a history of mental health problems, she had had a rough ride recently and to dish the dirt was...