The Bone Chamber

FACT OR FICTION

One of the more infamous conspiracy theories is that of the Freemasons running a shadow government in the U.S., and controlling the global economy. Proof of this can be found on the back of a dollar bill: the Illuminati’s “all-seeing eye” over the pyramid, which forms one half of a six-pointed star, with five of those points touching the letters to form the anagram that spells MASON. According to these theorists, that same shadow government that originated with our country’s Founding Fathers who were Masons, is still in power today.

Conspiracy theories aside, in this day and age it would be damned difficult to infiltrate and corrupt an entire country’s government, installing criminal networks in with the politicians and the national bankers, all to control the global economy.

Or would it?

In the early 1980s, the Italian government and banking system nearly toppled because of the infiltration and corruption from one Freemason lodge, Propaganda Due, or P2. P2 became a clandestine lodge from 1976 on after being expelled by the Grand Orient of Italy. Counted among its ranks in the lodge before and after the expulsion were prominent journalists, parliamentarians, industrialists, and military leaders, as well as the heads of all three Italian intelligence services. There were also high-ranking members of the Catholic Church listed in the membership, which perhaps explains how the Holy See’s bank became involved in the scandal with Banco Ambrosiano, becoming a major shareholder in a bank used by both the Mafia and P2’s shadow government-as well as the American government, which used the bank to funnel covert money from the United States to the Contras, among other things.

Add to that the mysterious death of Pope John Paul I in 1978 after a mere thirty-three days in office, allegedly linked to his investigation into the bank’s ties to the Mafia. Then a few years later, the murder of the chairman of the Banco Ambrosiano, found hanged beneath the Blackfriars Bridge in England, his pockets filled with stone and masonry-perhaps a not-so-veiled warning as to what happens to Freemasons who violate their oath of secrecy. His death was originally ruled a suicide-and rumor has it that it was investigated by Freemasons, hence the botched initial investigation. In other words, you have the makings of some great fiction-if not for the fact it was real life. For this novel, I was counting on the possibility that not all the P2 players were caught, and intended to start up again where they left off.

Anything can happen in a circle to which only a select few are invited. Such is the history of Freemasonry, the largest secret organization in the world. But where did they come from? John J. Robinson, author of Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry, argues-quite convincingly-that after the King of France (assisted by the pope) hunted down the Templar Knights in 1307, the Templars went underground and emerged several centuries later as Freemasons. If true, what happened to the Templar treasure? And what was listed among the contents of this legendary cache? Unfortunately, when it comes to the treasure, history is murky. Was it simply accumulated wealth from the Templars’ vast banking and land holdings, or, as some historians surmise, the treasure from Solomon’s Temple, which contained some of the most amazing religious artifacts known to mankind, including the Ark of the Covenant?

That, of course, got me to thinking about the Bible and the plagues brought down to earth by Moses, so that the pharaoh would free the people of Israel. Scientific evidence has been offered to show that the plagues were possible, and that there was a natural explanation-whether one believes or not. Some historians have surmised that the Ark may contain the staff that Moses used to bring forth the deadly plagues. Is it possible that this Ark, built to specific standards as indicated in the Bible, contained the original source or location of these plagues, so that Moses could bring them forth at the right time?

More importantly, can a deadly plague remain dormant for centuries, only to emerge as dangerous or even more so than it once was? My medical sources and research state yes. (For further reading on this subject, try: Plague Wars: The Terrifying Reality of Biological Warfare, by Tom Mangold and Jeff Goldberg.)

But back to the Templars and Freemasons. I bring up the historical figure of Raimondo di Sangro, Prince of Sansevero, and perhaps my own contribution to the idea that the Templars emerged centuries later as the Freemasons. In 1750, di Sangro, a genius (mad genius according to some), became the first Grand Master of the Freemasons in Naples, and because of this was excommunicated by the pope. (And why is it that the church is so dead set against the Masons?) How does this connect di Sangro to the Templars? Quite simply, the principality that gave him his namesake, the town of San Severo, was sold to the Templar Knights in 1233. If the Templar Knights emerged as the Freemasons in the 1700s, it is certainly conceivable that a man, a Freemason, whose principality was owned by the Templars, could be hiding a treasure that they intended to guard-a treasure still being sought to this day.

Beyond that, the prince’s body has never been found, he did plan to enlarge his crypt, and his entire chapel is filled with Freemason iconography. Adding to the mystery are the vast miles of tunnels beneath Naples equal in size to the entire Vatican City, and even more still unexplored to this day-it certainly sparks the imagination that there might be a chamber or two left holding secrets that we may never know about. Why not a missing treasure or map?