Robert Charroux

Robert Charroux was the best-known pen-name of Robert Joseph Grugeau (April 7, 1909 - June 24, 1978).[1] He was a French author known for his ancient astronaut theories and writings in other fringe subjects.

Early career

Robert Charroux worked for the French post office and wrote eight works of fiction between 1942-1946 using the pseudonym Saint-Saviol. He also wrote the scripts for a French comic strip, Atomas, about an atomic-powered superhero, appearing in the weekly magazine Mon Journal in the late 1940s. For the same magazine Charroux wrote a science fiction adventure in serial form, "Prof. Barthelemy's Flying Island." He first began using the pseudonym Charroux in 1942, that became his regular pseudonym from 1962 onwards.

Robert Charroux married Yvette Bernuchot in April 1930. They lived in rue St Sulpice in Paris during the late 1950s.

Ancient astronauts

Charroux was a pioneer of the theory of ancient astronauts, publishing at least six non-fiction works in this genre in the last decade of his life, including One Hundred Thousand Years of Man's Unknown History (1963, 1970), Forgotten Worlds (1973), Masters of the World (1974), The Gods Unknown (1974) and Legacy of the Gods (1974).

The influence that Charroux's first work (in its 1963 version) had on Erich Von Däniken's first books (ca. 1966), as well as the influence that Von Däniken's early books had on Charroux, is widely appreciated, but Von Däniken seems to have been equally familiar with an earlier French work, The Morning of the Magicians by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier (1960), which is likely to have been a direct inspiration for both Charroux and Von Däniken. Charroux's publisher contacted Von Däniken's in March 1968 concerning evidence of plagiarism, with the result that later printings of Chariots of the Gods and Return to the Stars at least mentioned Charroux in the bibliography.

Charroux's theories concerning Ancient Astronauts were criticised by French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Adam in 1975.[2]

A similar writer on Ancient Astronauts who predated both Charroux and Von Däniken was Brinsley Le Poer Trench, whose first book on the topic was published in 1960.[3] The earliest writer on Ancient Astronauts seems to have been Morris K. Jessup, whose book UFOs and the Bible was first published in 1956.[4]

Celticism

Some see his works as examples of Celticism. Celticism similar to Nordicism was a popular Nationalistic movement in France and Celtic countries in the early 20th century. Robert Chaurroux, for example in his book 'Lost Worlds: Scientific Secrets of the Ancients,' suggested that the Mayans and ancient Peruvians were ancient Celtic migrants. According to Charroux, 'The candle stick of the Andes and the Nasca Lines were created by a pre-Celtic civilization, perhaps the same as those who created the Long Man of Wilmington of Sussex in England.[5] He also related the white skinned Gods mentioned in the Popul Vuh to ancient Celts from Hyperborea.

Other views

Writing in his book Lost Worlds Charroux rejected evolution, instead he argued for human devolution. Charroux claimed that man is regressing and was superior in the past; he claimed that "Atlantis and Mu are not dreams of spiritualists, but realities of a mysterious era". He further explained that the Atlantans and Hyperboreans were the ancestors of modern humans, and the first humans on earth were originally extraterrestrial.[6]

Unlike most ancient astronaut writers, Charroux took a large interest in racialism. According to Charroux Hyperborea was situated between Iceland and Greenland and was the home of a Nordic White race with blonde hair and blue eyes. Charroux claimed that this race was extraterrestrial in origin and had originally come from a cold planet situated far from the sun.[7] Charroux also claimed that the White race of the Hyperboreans and their ancestors the Celts had dominated the whole world in the ancient past. Some of these beliefs have influenced Esoteric Nazism such as the work of Miguel Serrano.[8][9]

Rennes-le-Château

Robert Charroux developed an active interest in the alleged treasure of Rennes-le-Château, following up claims made by Noel Corbu in the local press in 1956 that it was discovered by Bérenger Saunière during the late 19th century. In 1958, with his wife Yvette and Denise Carvenne,[10] member of The Treasure Seekers' Club (that he founded in 1951), he scanned the village and its church for treasure using a metal detector. Charroux also distributed a leaflet about this entitled L’ébouriffante histoire du "curé aux milliards" that has not survived, but is referred to in French newspapers of the period.[11][12] He described his activities there in his 1962 book Trésors du Monde enterrées, emmurés, engloutis (Fayard) that was published in English in 1967.[13]

Charroux

In 1976 he began making plans to be buried in the cemetery of Charroux.

Bibliography

Notes

  1. ↑ Grugeau/Charroux
  2. ↑ Jean-Pierre Adam, L'archéologie devant l'imposture (Paris, Robert Laffont 1975).
  3. ↑ Brinsley Le Poer Trench, The Sky People: Visitors to This Planet in Atlantean and Biblical Times are With Us Today (1960).
  4. ↑ Morris K. Jessup, UFOs and the Bible (New York: Citadel Press, 1956).
  5. ↑ Lost Worlds, p97
  6. ↑ Lost Worlds: scientific secrets of the ancients, Robert Charroux, 1974, pp. 39-44
  7. ↑ Robbert Charroux, The Mysterious Past, Futura Publications Ltd., 1974 pp. 29-30
  8. ↑ Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, 2003 pp. 117-118
  9. ↑ Atlantis and the Cycles of Time: Prophecies, Traditions, and Occult Revelations, Joscelyn Godwin, 2010, pp. 55-57
  10. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0142536/
  11. ↑ Pierre Jarnac, Histoire du Trésor de Rennes-le-Château (L’Association pour le développement de la lecture, 1985; reprinted by Editions Bélisane: Nice, 1998).
  12. ↑ Pierre Jarnac, Les Archives de Rennes-le-Château (2 volumes, Editions Bélisane, 1987-1988).
  13. ↑ Robert Charroux, Treasures of the World (Muller, 1967).

References

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