After a failed attempt to create a prestigious neo-chivalric order, French conman Pierre Plantard bounced back and founded the Priory of Sion. Pierre's grand idea was to claim his club was actually a reboot of a VIP-only group started by a famous knight from the Crusades, tasked with protecting a royal bloodline destined to rule Europe.

To fabricate a believable history, Plantard planted false documents in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and forged medieval parchments with encrypted references to the Priory. Years later, a few authors fused Pierre’s claims with a blockbuster conspiracy: Jesus had a secret family and Pierre’s crew were in the know. This plot twist went viral after Dan Brown wove it into The Da Vinci Code, turning Pierre's club into the stuff of legends.