The UnXplained: The Knights Templar's DARKEST Secrets

The chalice that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper? For centuries, many have embarked on quests in search of this sacred artifact not only because it would be priceless but also because it is thought to possess divine power. While many have sought to find the Holy Grail, it's believed that this precious relic was once in the hands of a group of medieval warrior monks known as the Knights Templar.

The Knights Templar were a very curious order of monks. They were sworn, in fact, to protect pilgrims to the Holy Land in the Crusades. They were professional soldiers, the elite fighting force of Europe.

And they became immensely wealthy and immensely powerful. But many believed that the Templars had, if you want, an ulterior secret mission. And that was to look for the Holy Grail and other sacred relics all over the Holy Land.

If they did find the Holy Grail, there was nowhere better for the Knights Templar to bring their treasure securely than to Acre, which was a safe city with big, thick walls around it and 12 towers to defend the citizens from external attack. SHATNER: If it's true that the Knights Templar brought the Holy Grail from Jerusalem to Acre, could it still be hidden in the ruins that lie within the city? Eliezer Stern is an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority.

For nearly three decades, he has overseen excavations of a massive underground Templar fortress that lies beneath the Church of St. Andrew in Acre. SHATNER: Under the church, Stern has been investigating a sprawling network of 13th-century tunnels and crypts.

These passages may reveal valuable information about the Templar's activities in Acre. PICKNETT: The Knights Templar had this brilliant system. They actually built tunnels to what they called a treasure tower.

So, when there was a siege going on, they would take the treasures that they've come across throughout their occupation and their fighting down the tunnels and into the tower. SHATNER: In addition to excavating the Templar treasury, Stern and his team have unearthed more chambers that are located approximately ten feet beneath the main crypt. But these monumental discoveries have revealed only a fraction of this mysterious medieval city.

McMAHON: For Grail hunters, any new excavations in Acre, it's obviously tremendously exciting. And it's a city that's still yielding up its secrets. And, so, there is a very good chance that some of the treasure of the Templars, including the Holy Grail, are there waiting to be discovered.

SHATNER: Is the Holy Grail hidden somewhere within the ruins of the Templar fortress beneath the Church of St. Andrew? Perhaps.

But some researchers believe that the Templars took the Holy Grail to Europe and that it could actually be hidden not in Israel but at one of their many churches and chapels located across the continent. CORT LINDAHL: As the Knights Templar lost their influence in the Holy Land, the Holy Grail could have made its way to any number of places. Rennes-le-Château in France is often associated with that.

This is a place where things would traditionally be hidden. SHATNER: Researchers have long speculated that the Holy Grail is hidden at a well-known Knights Templar structure in Europe such as Rennes-le-Château or perhaps Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland. But recently, new evidence has come to light which suggests that the Templars may have actually kept the Grail beneath a small church located in a remote part of Poland.

The Church of St. Stanislaus in the western part of modern Poland is a-a red brick chapel that, in appearance, really looks more like a fortress. And the year of its construction, 1232, was very much at the height of Templar building activity across Europe.

As recently as 2020, a research team using ground-penetrating radar found evidence of tombs of Templar Knights, of underground crypts and even a tunnel that appears to link the chapel to a well outside. So something was clearly going on. LINDAHL: What we're seeing there in Poland could be untouched.

Nobody knows what's really there yet. So, it's gonna be very interesting to see what they discover there as they continue to investigate. SHATNER: Is it possible the Knights Templar chose to hide the Holy Grail in Poland, a place searchers would not suspect?

Uncovering the Grail here or wherever else it may be hidden would be a discovery of profound importance. Because for Christians around the world, the Holy Grail is much more than just an ancient chalice. It is an object touched by God.

I mean, this is an ideal situation, Rick, because, obviously, it's low tide. -RICK: Mm-hmm. -We got these rock pools.

RICK: So, you're thinking between the beach and the old cofferdams. -This is a perfect spot? -Yeah.

So, let's see if we can find something. SHATNER: While searching along a stretch of Oak Island's shoreline, Rick Lagina and metal detection expert Gary Dryton make a shocking discovery. .

. (beeping) That's worth digging, Rick. SHATNER: .

. . one that would ultimately shed light on the Oak Island curse.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! What? -I don't see anything.

-I see something. (beeping) Holy. .

. Holy schmoly, all right. -RICK: It's a cross.

-That's a cross. There's a square hole. Yeah, right there.

It's heavy, too. Oh, my gosh. I mean, that is an old, old cross.

I didn't really know what it was until I pick it up and I can see this is a religious artifact. I could tell straightaway that this cross is probably hundreds of years old. This isn't a modern design.

I got to be honest, when I first saw it, I'm thinking medieval. Sweet! Gary was extremely excited.

More excited than anything he's ever found on the island. GARY: This is the type of thing I'd expect to find in Europe. I would say that is somewhere between 1200 and 1600.

RICK: It's really that old? Yeah, that is old. That is really old.

I've seen that shape before. I swear, that'll tell the tale how old it is. -That shape.

-Yeah. Where do you think you've seen it before? You know, when I was in France, I swear I saw a carving like that in the Templar prison in Domme.

♪ SHATNER: Incredibly, it was while on a research trip to France one month earlier that Rick Lagina was shown a virtually identical carving etched into the wall of Domme Prison, a 13th-century fortress where 70 members of the Knights Templar were imprisoned and tortured -prior to execution. -(distorted shouting) But could the striking similarity between the cross found by Rick Lagina at Smith's Cove and the carving on the wall at Domme Prison suggest that some members of the Knights Templar actually made their way across the Atlantic to North America centuries before Christopher Columbus' historic voyage in 1492? The Knights Templar were founded in the 12th century, and they were the world's first combination of warrior and monk, a security force of a sort that would assist pilgrims on their journey to the Holy Land.

And one of the services they provided was they would hold on to and-and give safekeeping to any of the relics that pilgrims would have gathered on their journey. They were the guardians of a lot of the treasures of various kings and popes and monarchs. And because of their amazing reputation, they became known as the world's first international bankers.

YOUNG: The French crown had borrowed a great deal of money from the organization, and so to get out of paying back the order, the king of France decides they are Satanists, and they're defiling the church. SANFORD HOLST: The king of France then leaned on the pope to back him up and press charges against the Knights Templar. And here, the pope was siding with the king of France, turning all of his people over to be imprisoned and burned at the stake, and they felt horribly betrayed.

SHATNER: On Friday 13, 1307, Pope Clement V ordered the imprisonment of the Knights Templar, including their grandmaster Jacques de Molay. Of the Templars who were able to evade capture, many fled to Scotland, and as far as some Templar scholars are concerned, successfully made their way across the Atlantic to North America. But if such an audacious theory is correct, is it also possible that the Templars brought with them many of their riches and religious artifacts that they rescued from the Holy Land?

The Knights Templar were formed during the first Crusades, after the Christian knights had come to the Holy Land and captured Jerusalem. And it's believed that possibly they found the Holy Grail. They may have found the Ark of the Covenant.

COPPENS: The Ark of the Covenant holds the covenant from God to man-- and that is, physically, the two tablets representing the Ten Commandments. If the Templars were carrying this extraordinary treasure to a place where they wanted to be safe and create a New Jerusalem, Oak Island makes sense. SHATNER: The Ark of the Covenant.

Is it possible that this most sacred of all religious objects was brought to Oak Island and buried, along with other Templar treasures, in a booby-trapped vault deep beneath the ground? It may sound like a far-fetched notion, but according to both Oak Island and Knights Templar researchers, the best proof of this theory may be something that both the island and the Templars have in common: a deadly curse. COPPENS: When Jacques de Molay, was brought to the stake, he gave a very powerful and impassioned speech about his innocence and the innocence of his entire order.

It was a very dramatic speech that to this day is talked about in France and elsewhere. As Jacques de Molay stood at the funeral pyre waiting for the flames to consume him, he cursed the king and he cursed the pope. And he said that both of them would be called before God before the end of a year and a day.

Within a year, the pope dies of a prolonged illness. Within a year, the king dies of a stroke on his way to go hunting. But it doesn't end there.

Over the course of the next 14 years, the king of France's line, his three sons and his grandson, all die in somewhat mysterious circumstances. YOUNG: There is the kind of curse that carries over, that has long-lasting implications. When de Molay was killed by the French crown, there was a curse-- perhaps on France, perhaps on the materials or the wealth of the Templars-- that goes down through time.

And anybody who recovers this or has some interest might be hurt by them. Is it possible that the curse somehow carried over and is protecting whatever is buried in the Money Pit on Oak Island, which some researchers have speculated is actually the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant? Jerusalem, 1118 A.

D. SHATNER: Almost 1,700 years after Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians, the holy city once again is occupied, this time by an army of European Crusaders known as the Knights Templar. TIM McMAHON: The Knights Templar were an order of holy warriors, essentially, set up during the Crusades.

And from the very beginning, they were noted for their secrecy, for their secret initiation rites, for the mystery that surrounded their activities. They set themselves up to protect pilgrims coming into Jerusalem from attack by bandits, but they also insisted on being based on the Temple Mount, which they believed was the remains of the Temple of Solomon. And why was the Temple of Solomon important?

Because it had a room within the temple where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. KATHLEEN McGOWAN: The Knights Templar home base was the Temple Mount. But it wasn't just their home base.

They were looking for something. The Templars were obsessed with finding spiritual relics. Relics related to Christianity, but also relics of the original temple.

Of all the artifacts that the Knights Templar were looking for, I think it's safe to say that their greatest obsession was with finding the Ark of the Covenant. SHATNER: The Knights Templar occupied Jerusalem for almost 100 years. During this time, they controlled not only the Temple Mount but also the area below it.

One of the fascinating secrets of the Templars is their use of tunnels. So we know now, through a lot of archaeological digs, uh, both in the Middle East and in Europe, that there are tunnels that were connected to Templar sites, particularly Templar strongholds, for potentially hiding treasure or for moving treasure. SHATNER: One of the secret tunnels in cave systems used by the Templars was none other than Zedekiah's Cave, and recently, archaeologists discovered a Templar structure located within the cave.

This is, undoubtfully, work of the Crusaders. This style of architecture, these slits for the arrows. This is not a ventilation window.

This is definitely a tactical window, so you could, uh, shoot arrows towards an enemy approaching you. This definitely had a protective purpose, like a guardhouse in the middle of Zedekiah's Cave. The Crusaders definitely created this to protect their way out of Jerusalem and perhaps, also, a passage to a place where they could hide their most valuable items.

We know for a fact that the Templars was a military order that held the Temple Mount, which is at the end of this cave, and on the surface. While the Templars were controlling the Temple Mount, they probably poked around it. Who knows what they may have found?

Some scholars suggest that they may have even found the Ark. SHATNER: Is it possible that the Knights Templar discovered the Ark of the Covenant in Zedekiah's Cave? And if so, could this fortified structure be the place where they kept and protected it?

Some scholars theorize that if the Templars found the Ark, they would have brought it to the very heart of the Catholic Church: Rome. McMAHON: The Knights Templar were answerable directly to the pope himself. You have to remember that the Vatican is sitting on 2,000 years' worth of treasures, documents and secrets, and it's under no obligation to share any of that with us.

And documents that have been kept under wraps for centuries, including details on the Knights Templar, have only recently came fully to light. McGOWAN: The Catholic Church has lots of secrets. It always has.

We can't even begin to guess at what is happening in the basement of the Vatican Library, held under Saint Peter's, and all of these other locations in the Vatican. And certainly, if the Church wanted the Ark of the Covenant and were aware that the Templars had found it, they certainly would have been able to obtain it. SHATNER: Each year, thousands of tourists visit Quinta da Regaleira to walk through the palace and gardens.

But what attracts the most attention is a curious underground structure known as the Initiation Well. The Initiation Well is like some kind of Gothic fantasy. It's called the Initiation Well, but it's not a well.

It's like an inverted tower that's going 90 foot deep into the ground, and your senses are completely confused by the sight of this. SILVA: When you enter, you're looking down at this shaft with the spiral staircase full of niches going, uh, clockwise down this corkscrew, deep into the earth, and you become very aware that you're passing through into a completely new level of reality. You almost have a spiritual, uh, moment, like a revelation.

SHATNER: The Initiation Well is the most elaborate creation in Monteiro's sprawling monument to the occult. However, some historians believe that Monteiro was not the original architect of the well. They claim that he merely refurbished it and that this structure was first built in the Middle Ages by the Knights Templar, who were a secretive group of Christian warrior monks.

SILVA: It's highly likely that the Templars were responsible for the well. The Templars were the first deed holders of the property that became Regaleira many centuries later, and they were definitely working on this property in the 12th century. SHATNER: Another piece of evidence which suggests that the Knights Templar built the Initiation Well is the fact that there is a network of underground tunnels that extend out from it.

SILVA: At the bottom of the well, you suddenly find yourself in this labyrinth of tunnels which go every single direction. Some of the tunnels extend deep into the mountain to the point where you can come up underneath a chapel or a convent in a hilltop five miles away. McMAHON: The whole place is honeycombed with tunnels.

So there's plenty of evidence for the Templars being there. Monteiro was effectively buying a chunk of real estate right on top of where the Templars had been. There's no accident in this.

He's then recreating what he thinks the Templars stood for. It's believed that Monteiro may have been looking for something the Knights Templar have left behind in those many tunnels that were underneath, which may have included the Holy Grail. SHATNER: According to Christian tradition, the Holy Grail was the chalice that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper.

The Knights Templar were known to have searched for important religious artifacts while in the Holy Land during the Crusades. And there is evidence to suggest that if they did find the Holy Grail they may have brought it to Portugal. SILVA: One of the big clues that we know that the Templars left something of incredible importance there lies in the seal that was printed by the first king of Portugal in a deed that he gave to the Templars.

And if you look very carefully at the seal that the king put on there, it has the word "Portugal" written as an anagram. It reads<i> "por tu o gral,"</i> which means "through you the Grail. " What the king of Portugal is insinuating is that the Templars brought the Grail to Portugal.

McMAHON: So, when the Templars are bringing their treasure out of Jerusalem, they could have brought the Grail to Regaleira. They had fortresses, and they had secret tunnels. They could get their treasure there, and it would be protected.

If you look around Regaleira, you'll see evidence for the Grail. We have, rather intriguingly, a bench referred to as Bench 515. At the center of it is a female character, and she's holding out a chalice, and that's believed to represent the Holy Grail.

SHATNER: Was the Holy Grail hidden somewhere in the Initiation Well? And if so, did Monteiro find it there? We'll never know for sure, because Monteiro died in 1920 and took the secrets of the Initiation Well to the grave.

You come away from Regaleira, there's no doubt it's the Initiation Well that plays on your mind. It's so odd that so much effort went into creating this, and yet, what does it all mean? And that's what is the big unanswered question.

Did the Knights Templar hide the Holy Grail in the Initiation Well? Or perhaps in the underground tunnels that it's connected to? It's a fascinating notion, and the truth is that abandoned places often raise intriguing questions.