Myth Hunters

The Holy Grail, the most prized relic of Christianity has been shrouded in mystery for centuries. It is believed by many to hold miraculous powers. For centuries Kings, knights and treasure hunters have sought it, but it has always remained elusive and out of reach of human hands.

This 50 minute documentary tells the story of three of these Christians and their expeditions which were full of danger and despair as they looked for Noah's Ark.

Heinrich Himmler sent his SS solders to locate a treasure so valuable to Nazi ideology that it must be recovered at all costs. An ancient manuscript written in Rome, which the Nazis call the birth certificate for the German race. It is known as the Germania; for the Nazis it is the "Book of Power".

The effort of actor Richard Knight to find the lost treasure of privateer William Kidd.

In 1982, Ron Wyatt claimed to have found the Ark of the Covenant. While some believe him, archaeologists remain skeptical. New evidence from Israel suggests there may have been multiple portable shrines, not just one golden ark-potentially changing our understanding of the ark entirely.

The armies of Nazi Germany crossed the border with Austria, but when Hitler arrived in Vienna just 2 days later, the very first thing he did was to go to the Hofburg museum to lay claim to what appeared to be a simple Roman spear head.

In 1924, a young girl found an extraordinary object in the jungles of Central America. It was a beautiful skull from a single block of pure quartz crystal. All her life Anna Mitchell-Hedges claimed that her skull had telepathic powers.

It's one of the most influential books ever written. It's said to have inspired early Freemasons, to provide the wisdom behind the Tarot and to have underpinned a string of 20th century esoteric cults. Yet after years of looking for it nobody has ever found the original text.

The Honjo Masamune is perhaps the greatest Japanese sword ever made. It became the ceremonial sword of the ruling Tokugawa shoguns for 250 years. After their fall from power the great sword continued to be passed down the generations, but in the aftermath of the Second World War it disappeared.

Fifteen years ago Michael Hesemann, a German historian, set out to establish the authenticity of one of the most important Christian relics ever found. It's claimed, hung on the cross of Christ announcing his name and crime. It's displayed in a church in Rome. But is it real or a mediaeval fake?

In 1941 the Germans looted one of the Soviet Union's most important art works, called the Amber Room. An extraordinary series of C18 amber screens considered, by many, the 8th wonder of the world. 4 years later, it had vanished. So began one of the greatest treasure hunts of the twentieth century.

A rich and exotic Queen of Sheba brought King Solomon gifts of gold from the mystical land of Ophir. But where was Ophir? Where had all that gold come from? For 1000 of years, Renaissance adventurers, Victorian explorers, and modern day scientists have searched for the source of Solomon's gold.

Legend tells that somewhere in South America there is a great city of gold, El Dorado, a rich and sophisticated kingdom. To most it was just a legend. But for British explorer, Colonel Percy Fawcett, it was real. Convinced he knew the location of this lost world, he spent years searching for it.