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00:26To be continued
02:30Sometimes history isn't what we've been told.
04:52I don't know how all these places fit together, but I think they could be part of a trail
04:57that will lead me to the ark that will lead me to the ark and solve one of history's greatest
05:01archaeological whodunnits.
05:03I think the best place to start is the last spot the ark was reportedly seen.
05:22Well, I'm searching for the ark of the covenant and I just came here from the United States.
05:27So some people believe that the ark of the ark of the covenant was here at one time?
05:31They do, yes.
05:33Some people believe that the ark of the covenant was buried on the hill of Tara.
05:37This site is a very ancient and this site is a very ancient ritual and royal site.
05:42Its oldest monument dates back to 3500 BC, the seat of the high kings of Ireland.
05:50Some people believed that the king of Tara was also the king of the world.
05:57Has any archaeology been done here?
06:00Well, in 1899 a group came here to dig for the ark of the covenant.
06:05They believed that Tara was the resuscitated Jerusalem
06:08and they believed if they recovered the ark of the covenant it would prove their theories.
06:14They thought that an Egyptian princess came over in the 6th century BC
06:19and brought the ark of the covenant with her.
06:22And they thought that she was buried here with the ark of the covenant.
06:27The name of the princess said to be in possession of the ark was Tia Teffi, daughter of an Egyptian
06:33pharaoh.
06:34Teffi allegedly traveled here with the biblical prophet Jeremiah.
06:38The story of her escape to Ireland after the sacking of Jerusalem by the Babylonians
06:43is recorded in an 11th century Irish poem.
06:47As the legend goes, she married a king of Tara
06:49who entombed her body with the ark after her death.
06:53That's what the group that dug here in 1899 was hoping to find.
06:59Where did they dig and what did they find?
07:01They dug the mound known as the king's chair because they thought that she was buried in a royal site.
07:08Okay, so the king's chair is a stone throne perhaps, right?
07:14It's a mound.
07:16It's a mound, okay.
07:17Just let me show you this book.
07:20See them digging here.
07:22They didn't follow rigorous scientific methodology.
07:26Okay.
07:27Now, it was also said that they found a golden bracelet which they threw away into the river Boyne
07:32simply because it was not the Ark of the Covenant.
07:39They did not find the Ark of the Covenant.
07:43Nobody knows where that is.
07:45And what do you think?
07:46What do I think?
07:47I have read and researched so many stories about the Ark of the Covenant.
07:53It's very difficult to unravel fact from fiction.
07:57Well, the Ark of the Covenant was not found here, so maybe it could have come to America.
08:03I have come across stories which talk about pilgrims bringing various artifacts to the New World
08:09without mentioning what they were.
08:11And that's where I'm going next.
08:13Maybe I can find some evidence there that will help us figure out once and for all
08:17if the Ark of the Covenant made it to America or not.
08:39The next stop in my investigation into whether the Ark of the Covenant is in America is Virginia.
08:45A man there named Jack Andrews says he has an artifact that came to America with the Ark.
08:51It's called the Stone of Destiny.
08:55Like the Ark of the Covenant, the legendary Stone of Destiny is another biblical artifact gone missing.
09:01It's said to be another name for the stone that Jacob in the Bible rested his head on
09:06when he had a vision of a stairway to heaven.
09:08And legend says the Ark of the Covenant and the Stone of Destiny were carried together.
09:13If this is truly the Stone of Destiny and it's here in America, then it's possible it could lead to
09:19the Ark itself.
09:35You must be Jack. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too. Yeah.
09:39Well, I'm excited to see your stone. Good.
09:41But first thing I would like to know is a little bit about the history, the provenance.
09:45Right. Can you show me where you found it?
09:47Sure can. About ten minutes from here.
09:54Well, Jack, this is a beautiful piece of property. How did you acquire this?
09:58Well, I bought it about four years ago. And then after we got into it, we discovered it had this
10:05stone.
10:06The whole prospect of this stone that you found here possibly being connected to the Ark of the Covenant and
10:13maybe coming over to the U.S., that's amazing.
10:16This stone was given to the guy that bought this land in 1722 and put it in the spring right
10:22around the corner where we're going.
10:23And it was given to him as a wedding present by Jonathan Swift.
10:27So you're talking about Jonathan Swift of Gulliver's Travels?
10:31That's the same one. Well, according to Swift, it was the Stone of Destiny.
10:36Jonathan Swift is famous for writing Gulliver's Travels, but he was more than an author.
10:42Swift was born in Ireland in 1667 and was a cleric at St. Patrick's Church in Dublin, where it's possible
10:49he was privy to secret knowledge about sacred religious relics like the Ark of the Covenant.
11:05Okay. Here is the spring where we found the stone.
11:13So what is this here? This is a replacement stone. The original stone was stolen by a group that brought
11:20a crane down the river
11:22and lifted it off and carried it away. And fortunately, one of the neighbors got a picture of the license
11:27tag.
11:28Oh, okay. And that's how we were able to track it down.
11:30So they stole your stone, you got it back, and then they put a replacement stone here.
11:35Right. They actually left that here, we believe, at the time they took the original. I think they planned it.
11:41Like you wouldn't notice. Yeah.
11:42Why would they have taken it in the first place? I mean, it's been here for 300 years. What did
11:45they want with it?
11:46They claimed they were building the prophesized new city of Jerusalem, and they were going to build a temple to
11:52house the stone.
11:53And they wanted to have the stone of destiny, right? Oh, yeah.
11:57Well, I can see the water. It's an active spring. It's flowing pretty good right here into the creek.
12:03Obviously, it snows here. You get freezing and thawing. Oh, yeah.
12:07Pretty aggressive weathering environment here, so I would expect to see something reflected on the stone,
12:12depending on the rock type, of course.
12:14This Jonathan Swift, he was a pretty creative writer.
12:17How do we know that this isn't something that he dreamed up?
12:21That's a possibility. On the other hand, he was closely affiliated with the church,
12:26might have had access to some artifacts, and I tell you what, if this stone that he was involved in
12:32that eventually made its way over here and originally came from Israel is the same stone,
12:38I mean, that's amazing. Right.
12:40Well, Jack, the only way I'm going to be able to separate truth from fiction is to examine that stone.
12:46It's in my barn waiting for you. Let's go.
13:12There's the stone. The stone of destiny.
13:16So the theory is that the stone of destiny came from Israel and was carried to Ireland, allegedly with the
13:23Ark of the Covenant.
13:25I know people searched for the Ark at a site there called the Hill of Tara and couldn't find it.
13:30That's led to the theory that the Ark was secretly taken to America, along with the stone of destiny.
13:36Well, a couple of things jump out at me right away. First of all, it's weathered, extensively weathered.
13:44And based on what we saw out in the field, the site that you said it had resided for what,
13:49about 300 years?
13:50Yeah. Yeah.
13:51Well, it looks like it's been weathering for perhaps that long and it's in tough shape.
13:57The second thing is this rock type here, it looks like a sandstone to me.
14:02And I saw nothing like this on site on no other piece of property.
14:07So the rock type, the geology is totally different.
14:10The question is, could this be the stone of destiny that originally was created from rock from Israel?
14:17And if the legend is true, did the Ark of the Covenant come over to what is now North America
14:22with it?
14:23Right.
14:24I guess that's the task in front of us.
14:26Maybe it is the first clue that would lead us to the Ark of the Covenant.
14:51The rock I'm about to study could be a sacred religious relic known as the Stone of Destiny.
14:57And a clue that the Ark of the Covenant is here in America.
15:03Supposedly, this stone and the Ark were taken from Israel and brought to the Hill of Tara in Ireland by
15:09a princess named Tia Teffi.
15:12From there, the stone is said to have made its way to America thanks to notable author Jonathan Swift.
15:18And maybe the Ark did too.
15:22If the geology of Jack Andrew Stone is a match to stone in Israel,
15:28it could be an important first step in proving both the artifact's authenticity and Jack's claims it was brought here
15:35to the United States with the Ark of the Covenant.
15:39If it is authentic, it only begs more questions.
15:43Like, how is it separated from the Ark? And where is the Ark now?
15:54Okay, Jack, we have your stone here that you think originated in Israel and made its way to Ireland along
16:01with the Ark of the Covenant, right?
16:02Where Jonathan Swift gave the stone as a wedding gift and ultimately he brought it here to what is now
16:10your land.
16:11That's correct.
16:11Okay. Well, we have a really good sample here.
16:14And with the 3D microscope, I'm going to take a look at this and I'm going to see if I
16:19can see anything here that tells me that it may have come from the Middle East.
16:22Go to it.
16:47Okay, so you see all these grains here?
16:49Yep.
16:50I'm seeing different colors or different intensities of tan and gray.
16:55And so that tells me there's different minerals.
16:57Now, I want to zoom in a little tighter so I can see some of these individual grains.
17:04Wow.
17:04Now, if you look at some of these grains, do you see how they have sharp edges?
17:08Yep.
17:09Those might be micas, possibly.
17:11But see all this pore space in here, this open space?
17:14Well, that's a pretty important thing.
17:16Very telling.
17:17That tells me this could have come from a desert environment, possibly from Israel.
17:22Great.
17:23It's clearly in a place that it doesn't belong.
17:26In other words, it didn't come from that area.
17:28Right.
17:28So what's interesting about that is whoever put it there went to a lot of effort.
17:33This thing probably weighs at least 1,000 pounds.
17:35Yes, yes.
17:36They brought it from somewhere else.
17:37Not from here, possibly from what is now Israel.
17:41This is a great beginning here.
17:44It tells me a lot.
17:45But the way I'm going to be able to absolutely identify these minerals is I have to cut this
17:50thing into a thin section.
17:51I see.
17:52And look at it with a different microscope called a polarized light microscope.
17:56Okay.
17:57The final test will tell us exactly what its composition is.
18:00Okay.
18:01I brought a Dremel tool along with me to cut a piece off.
18:04Then we're going to make, you okay with that?
18:06Yeah.
18:07There's no doubt cutting a sample from this rock is controversial.
18:11Desecrating a religious artifact is said to bring powerful, even deadly, consequences.
18:17The small piece of stone Jack had won't work for my analysis.
18:21I need to collect my own sample to put under my microscope back home.
18:25No one, including me, wants to damage what could be a sacred artifact.
18:30But sometimes, it's the only way to get answers.
18:33And here, it's essential to have the right kind of sample to compare with rock from Israel.
18:38Perfect.
18:41What's going to be key in this whole thing is getting a sample from where you think that source rock
18:47was in Israel.
18:48Okay.
18:48If this stone did come from Israel, I mean, that's an amazing journey that it's been on.
18:53Do you have any other evidence that supports that?
18:56We have the book of Tia Teffi, her autobiography, and she was with the prophet Jeremiah.
19:01They reportedly brought this with the Ark of the Covenant to the Hill of Tara, where they placed it and
19:06became the throne of Ireland for a thousand years.
19:09So it's believed that this stone started its journey in Israel.
19:14Then it disappeared from the history books.
19:15How did Jonathan Swift get involved?
19:17Well, Jonathan Swift was brought up at the Hill of Tara and became a minister.
19:24We've documented that.
19:26The legend says in 1700, he gave the stone as a wedding gift.
19:32Jack, I'm going to study this stone and we're going to get to the truth.
19:35And if this stone is part of the collection that includes the Ark of the Covenant, it just might lead
19:40to the artifact itself.
20:00The Ark of the Covenant is one of history's most sought after objects.
20:05It's said to hold the Ten Commandments that God inscribed in stone and handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai.
20:13According to scripture, disrespecting the Ark can bring deadly consequences.
20:19Once housed and venerated at King Solomon's temple in Jerusalem,
20:23it vanished around the time the Babylonians invaded the temple toward the end of the 6th century BC.
20:30That's when priests and disciples presumably carried it out of Israel in search of a new holy resting place.
20:39Built of acacia wood and plated with gold, the Bible says it was two and a half cubits in length,
20:45one and a half cubits in height, and one and a half cubits in breadth.
20:49That's nearly four feet long, two feet high, and two feet deep in modern measurements.
20:56Cherubim, or angels, were believed to adorn the top.
21:00I've finished investigating the Ark's connection to the Hill of Tara in Ireland,
21:05the last place the Ark was allegedly seen.
21:08I've also met Jack Andrews, who thinks he has another religious relic called the Stone of Destiny
21:14that traveled to America with the Ark.
21:16But it's something I need to do more testing on to authenticate.
21:20Jack thinks Jonathan Swift, the author, sent the stone here to the U.S. in the 1700s,
21:26and that maybe he sent the Ark too.
21:29While I wait for a sample of Israeli stone to compare with Jack Stone,
21:33I need to investigate an alternate theory of how the Ark came to America.
21:40After the Ark vanished from records in the 6th century B.C.,
21:43many people wonder if an ancient group of Hebrew people called the Lost Tribes of Israel found it,
21:49and then brought it to America as the centerpiece for a new Jerusalem.
21:55Clues were allegedly left behind documenting this journey.
22:00I wonder if a carving in Arizona and stone I'm about to see in Ohio are two of these clues.
22:10The least one is flawless.
22:23It's as if he is sure to play.
22:24The word is as if the Ark is a tree.
22:24The adults are still a tree.
22:25If the Ark is a tree.
22:25They can be shamed by the coin.
22:26The a tree.
22:29The old tree.
22:32Everything.
22:37The worst.
22:37No one has a tree.
22:38The second tree.
22:38The same was created by the Ark.
22:40Hey, Hugh.
22:41Hey, Scott. Good to see you.
22:42Good to see you.
22:43What brings you to Coshocton?
22:44Well, I'm investigating the possibility that the Ark of the Covenant may have come to North America.
22:49I was recently in Virginia where I talked to a man, Jack Andrews, who thinks the Stone of Destiny is
22:54on his property.
22:55He thinks it came from Israel along with the Ark of the Covenant.
23:00One thing I can say for certain is that the geology of that stone does not match the local geology.
23:05And I'm pretty sure that there's a stone here that has a Hebrew connection.
23:10And I'm wondering if there might be some evidence that connects it with the Ark of the Covenant.
23:15And I know you know something about that stone.
23:17I've spent a number of years studying some artifacts I call archaeological outliers.
23:21And one of the most interesting is what's called the Newark Decalogue Stone.
23:24It was found in 1860 near here in the south of Newark, Ohio.
23:28Well, the inscription on it is in Hebrew language.
23:31It has the abridged text from the Exodus version of the Ten Commandments.
23:34Well, there you go.
23:36The Ark of the Covenant is rumored to contain the two tablets with the Ten Commandments on them.
23:40Could this possibly be connected to the Lost Tribes and the Ark of the Covenant?
23:45Like the Ark of the Covenant, the Lost Tribes also went missing from history.
23:50The tribes lived in Israel until the Assyrians conquered in 722 B.C.
23:56Many people around the world claim to be their descendants, even here in the United States.
24:02Some think it's the Lost Tribes, not Jonathan Swift, who brought the Ark of the Covenant to America
24:08and left clues behind, like breadcrumbs along the trail they traveled.
24:18Could the Decalogue Stone be one of those crumbs?
24:22My understanding is these pretty controversial artifacts here.
24:26Yeah, there is a lot of controversy surrounding them, but we could take a look at them and see what
24:29we think.
24:30Let's do it.
24:38This is the Decalogue Stone with the Ten Commandments written on it on all sides of it.
24:44And this is a stone box that the Decalogue was found in.
24:47Okay.
24:48So when it was found, it was enclosed in this box, and you couldn't even see the stone inside.
24:51The box is carved out inside exactly to fit the Decalogue Stone.
24:56Who's that guy?
24:58Well, this figure here on the front, it's wearing a robe and a turban and holding either tablets or a
25:03breastplate.
25:04And over his head, in these Hebrew letters, it says Moshe or Moses.
25:07Oh.
25:08So that must be Moses.
25:09Okay, that's Moses.
25:10All right.
25:11Who delivered the Ten Commandments.
25:13Ten Commandments.
25:13Okay, well, we're on the right path here.
25:17There's an open slot here.
25:20What was that used for?
25:21One suggestion that's been made is that that was to attach a leather strap for this to be used as
25:27an arm phylactery.
25:29So observant Jews say prayers every day with a box containing scriptures bound to their arm with a leather strap.
25:42Well, Hugh, it seems to me that it appears to be an allegorical representation of the Ark of the Covenant
25:48that contains the Ten Commandments.
25:50So whoever it was that made this, if this is genuine, certainly embraced the Ten Commandments and the Ark of
25:57the Covenant.
25:58So if they were able to get over here to North America with this, maybe they brought the Ark too.
26:02Anything's possible.
26:03What I would like to do is hopefully add some more information, some more data to the discussion from a
26:09geologic standpoint.
26:11So if it's all right with you, I'd like to take a closer look.
26:13That'd be great.
26:14Whoever brought this could have somehow had the Ark of the Covenant.
26:37My search for the Ark of the Covenant has taken me from the Hill of Tara in Ireland, where the
26:42Ark was reportedly last seen,
26:44to a farm in Virginia where a man claims to have a biblical artifact brought here with the Ark in
26:50the 1700s.
26:56But the clue I'm investigating now in Ohio could help prove the Ark came to America a heck of a
27:02lot earlier than that.
27:06Brought here by Hebrew people in search of a new promised land.
27:11I want to know if this stone, inscribed with the Ten Commandments, might have been kept inside the Ark,
27:17or was it left behind as a clue that one of the Bible's most sacred artifacts is right here in
27:23the United States?
27:27It seems to pass the scrutiny of the skeptics as far as the Hebrew text and the language,
27:33so now I'd like to try to add some evidence to this whole discussion.
27:54This thing is polished after it was carved.
27:59It's scratched like I would expect.
28:01Well, it's been scratched up by being put in the box and taken out of the box frequently.
28:06This little edge right here has a wear pattern right here.
28:13Is that right about where this ledge in the box would be?
28:19Well, it fits snug.
28:21So the box in itself took an awful lot of work.
28:23I mean, if it was really a forgery, you wouldn't go to all that much trouble to make a box
28:27for it.
28:28So I think that speaks to its authenticity, that someone really was, this was very important to someone.
28:34This is a lot of work, and it's polished.
28:38It's got the detailing of the grooves.
28:41It wasn't made, as far as I can tell, from modern machinery.
28:45Geologically, I don't see any problems here that would make these things obvious hoaxes.
28:50Based on these artifacts, there's no reason in the world to not believe that the Ark of the Covenant couldn't
28:56have come over here.
28:57Right. It's conceivable that if these people somehow got a hold of the Ark of the Covenant,
29:01they could have brought it along with the Ten Commandments.
29:03So the skeptics have rejected this.
29:06Well, that's been a factor, but the, I mean, Hebrew is an odd thing to find here.
29:09The fact that it's odd doesn't mean that it's not genuine.
29:12What it boils down to is really the problem with these artifacts is that the academics don't like them because
29:18they don't fit the paradigm.
29:20And unfortunately for them, you can't dismiss things simply because you don't like them.
29:24Right.
29:24And so the evidence, to me, seems clear there's no reason not to accept these as genuine, legitimate artifacts.
29:32So I've heard the legends about the Ark of the Covenant and the Stone of Destiny in Ireland.
29:38I've also heard stories that the Stone of Destiny has come over here to North America and is in Virginia.
29:44And if it came over, they believe the Ark came as well.
29:47And now I've looked at these artifacts here.
29:49We have a representation of the Ten Commandments that was carried over here by some early Hebrew group.
29:56They made something that was analogous to the Ark.
29:59So if they could have brought this over here with the Ten Commandments on this stone,
30:03they could theoretically have brought the actual Ark.
30:26I'm still trying to figure out how the Ark of the Covenant might have gotten to America, if it's here
30:32at all.
30:33Two basic scenarios are on the table.
30:36It's possible that a princess named Tia Teffi brought the Ark of the Covenant and the Stone of Destiny,
30:42which both originated in Israel, to the Hill of Tara in Ireland.
30:47There, author Jonathan Swift got a hold of them and secured their transport to America.
30:52But it's also possible the Lost Tribes or another early Hebrew group first brought the Ark to Tara
30:59and then brought it to America, leaving clues like the Decalogue Stone behind.
31:06One of the things that will help me decide which theory is more likely
31:10is whether or not Jack Andrew Stone is actually from Israel.
31:14If it is the real Stone of Destiny as he claims, it has to match stone from that region.
31:20And there's still one final clue, a carving in Arizona that could change everything about my investigation.
31:27But before I check it out, I need to compare the sample I took from Jack Stone
31:32with the sample I got from Israel here at my lab in Minneapolis
31:35to get to the truth about his stone.
31:43Hey, Scott.
31:45Let's see.
31:47This is the Stone of Destiny, right?
31:49Yeah.
31:53That looks really good.
31:54Then this is the sample from Israel, right?
31:57Yes, it is.
31:57So what was all this for?
31:59There are a lot of people who believe that the Ark of the Covenant
32:02came ultimately to North America with the Stone of Destiny.
32:06The Stone of Destiny is a stone that Jacob, in the Bible,
32:09rested his head on while he dreamt about the stairway to heaven.
32:12Now, I recently met with a guy, Jack Andrews in Virginia,
32:17who has a stone that he claims is the Stone of Destiny on his property.
32:22And one of the things I can tell you absolutely
32:24is that this stone does not match any of the surrounding geology.
32:28So it didn't come from there.
32:29Jack says it came from Israel.
32:31That's why we prepared these samples.
32:33So really, the moment of truth is now.
32:36We'll start with this one right here.
32:38Now, as you know, sandstones are very unique.
32:41So if these things are even remotely close,
32:45there's going to be a lot of people
32:46that are going to get excited about this possibility.
32:53So this is the Stone of Destiny.
33:03One of the things that I see right away
33:05is we have quartz, we have feldspars.
33:09It looks like maybe a little quartzite.
33:11The grains are angular.
33:12So this is a sand grain-supported sandstone.
33:15Very unique.
33:17That's what I see also.
33:18You see that too?
33:18Okay.
33:19I'm curious to see what the other one looks like.
33:21All right.
33:21Well, let's take a look.
33:23I don't think a lot of people realize
33:25this is like a DNA fingerprint.
33:27There's so many unique properties to sandstones.
33:30All right.
33:32The sample from Israel.
33:48Take a look.
33:51I've seen enough to make a decision.
34:20I've seen enough to make a decision.
34:23The Ark of the Covenant is arguably
34:25the most sought-after treasure of all time.
34:28Designed by God and infused with His presence,
34:32it has the power to inspire the faithful
34:34and strike down the heathen.
34:42Its whereabouts have been a mystery for thousands of years,
34:45but I think it's just a matter of time
34:47till its location is revealed.
34:51A chosen few have always been in charge of protecting it.
34:55And what better hiding place for an old world treasure
34:58than a new world sanctuary here in America?
35:01Jack Andrews agrees and thinks this stone,
35:05the stone of destiny, can help prove the Ark is here.
35:21The stone of destiny is referred to in the Bible
35:24when Jacob placed his head on the stone of destiny
35:28and dreamt about the stairway to heaven.
35:30And that stone, along with the Ark of the Covenant,
35:33which originated in Israel, came to North America.
35:35So, and is this the stone of destiny?
35:38That's why we had the sample from Israel sent here.
36:04Take a look.
36:17It's not a match.
36:20Mineralogy is totally different.
36:22The size of the grains is different.
36:24There's an awful lot of pore space here.
36:27I mean, they're not, they're not even close.
36:29It's a different texture completely.
36:30Really, it couldn't be more different.
36:31Where are we going to go from here?
36:32Well, at this point, I guess what we can conclude
36:35is one of a couple things.
36:37We clearly do not have a match of the sample from Israel
36:40with jackstone of destiny in Virginia.
36:43That either means that this sample was collected from an area
36:47that is not the source of this material in Israel
36:50or the material didn't come from Israel.
36:53We can't answer that question.
36:54If they would have matched, that would have been pretty exciting.
36:56But unfortunately, it looks like we've hit a dead end
37:00with this particular stone.
37:02But this investigation is not over.
37:05Take a look at this.
37:08What are these?
37:11Looks like a stone carving.
37:12It's a stone carving.
37:14This was sent to me by a gentleman who thinks
37:17that that could be the Ark of the Covenant right there.
37:19And I have to admit that it looks an awful lot like it.
37:24Many depictions of the Ark of the Covenant look just like this.
37:27These two veils that look a lot like the two angels
37:32commonly seen with their wings coming together
37:35on top of the Ark of the Covenant.
37:37And so...
37:38Where is this?
37:39Arizona.
37:40That's where I'm going next.
37:42If the Ark of the Covenant is here in North America,
37:44I'm going to find it.
37:49The Ark of the Covenant may be hidden in America,
37:52brought here centuries ago from ancient Israel.
37:56My investigation uncovered some problems with the theory
37:59that the Ark traveled here with the Stone of Destiny.
38:03So far, science can't prove the stone on Jack Andrew's property
38:07is the real Stone of Destiny.
38:10Now, I'm leaning toward the other theory I've been studying,
38:14that an ancient group of Hebrew people brought the Ark here
38:17and left clues along the way.
38:19Clues like the Decalogue Stone.
38:23I'm headed west to check out the final piece
38:26in my quest for the Ark,
38:27a mysterious stone carving in Arizona's petrified forest.
38:36The lead might be a long shot,
38:38but I can't ignore anything that could possibly turn up
38:41one of the Bible's most iconic relics.
38:50So, Jim, you found these petroglyphs when you were on vacation,
38:52is that right?
38:53Yes, my wife and I came out here a few years ago
38:55and see the petroglyphs in the ruins.
38:57Okay.
38:57But this petroglyph was nothing like I'd ever seen before.
39:01So, what did you think it looked like?
39:03Well, it looks a lot like the Ark of the Covenant.
39:06It matches the descriptions,
39:07but what's it doing here in the Arizona desert?
39:09And that's why I called you.
39:10I'd like to get some answers to find out why it's here.
39:13From your pictures that you sent,
39:15it does look like the Ark.
39:16And I've been tracking the Ark for a while now.
39:18If we could find it, it would be amazing,
39:20but I'm really anxious to see your carving.
39:39So, what do you make of that?
39:41That looks very interesting.
39:44I mean, the carving has a man here with a hat.
39:47Looks like he's got his arm touching this rectangular box
39:51that looks a lot like the Ark of the Covenant.
39:54Let me show you a couple of pictures of the Ark here.
39:59Well, here are your two squares and the rectangle.
40:03You have your two what look like angels.
40:08How old do you think it is?
40:11Well, you know, we're in a desert environment here,
40:13so petroglyphs in such an arid climate like this,
40:16very little rainfall.
40:17So, things that look relatively new
40:19are actually hundreds of years old,
40:21which is what I think is the case here.
40:24So, who do you think may have carved it?
40:26Well, I think by association
40:27with all the Native American petroglyphs,
40:29I mean, right next to it, literally,
40:31probably Native American, probably the Pueblo,
40:34whose ruins are, you know, just a few yards away.
40:37So, to me, that makes the most sense.
40:39And if they did this, and it is the Ark,
40:42then they had to have seen it.
40:43So, that means somebody had to come through here.
40:45Maybe the Native Americans saw the Ark of the Covenant
40:47and they carved this,
40:49and this is their closest rendition to it,
40:51which is pretty close.
40:53And to me, that makes the most sense.
40:55I've done a lot of research on petroglyphs
40:57and native carvings throughout the Southwest,
40:58and this is nothing like I've ever seen before.
41:01This does not match anything that's ever been found.
41:04I think it is a carving of the Ark of the Covenant.
41:06Well, I have to agree with you.
41:07And if you look around here,
41:09you'll see depictions of animals, humans, and hunting,
41:12and it's just more natural scenes
41:14and life within the Native community.
41:16And this just doesn't fit that motif at all.
41:22This trail that I've been investigating
41:24on the Ark of the Covenant
41:26has basically moved from east to west.
41:28It started in Israel.
41:29I think the trail comes here, to Arizona.
41:33You know what, Jim?
41:34As I look around here,
41:35the geology really doesn't lend itself
41:37to a good hiding place.
41:38Where do you think they might have taken the Ark?
41:40I think it could be one of the caves in the Grand Canyon.
41:43Local natives have many stories and legends
41:46about ancient people coming to the Grand Canyon.
41:50Maybe they brought their Ark.
41:51Who knows?
41:52Makes sense.
41:53I mean, the geology in the Grand Canyon
41:55lends itself to caves.
41:56We know there's many caves there.
41:58It's almost impossible to get to,
42:00and if they did come there,
42:02maybe that would be a good place to hide it.
42:04Jim, who's to say that the Ark of the Covenant
42:07does or doesn't exist?
42:08And if it does exist,
42:10who's to say that it isn't right here
42:12in the United States?
42:21The Ark of the Covenant
42:22is the most revered religious relic
42:24in all of history.
42:26And evidence that I've seen
42:27suggests that it could be here
42:29in the United States.
42:31My investigation involved four different sites
42:33that are all tied together
42:35by their connection to legends about the Ark.
42:38Whether Jonathan Swift,
42:40the Lost Tribes,
42:41other Hebrew people,
42:43or someone else entirely is responsible,
42:45I think it could be here in the U.S.
42:48I don't believe legends of the Ark in America
42:50are fiction.
42:51I've looked into clues
42:53that stretch from Ireland
42:54to the Arizona desert,
42:55suggesting to me
42:56that the Ark of the Covenant being here
42:58could be part of a real story,
43:00and that there are more clues
43:02still hidden waiting to be found.
43:06Many people believe that our history,
43:09just like the Ark,
43:10is sacred and shouldn't be touched.
43:12But I'm not afraid to scratch the surface
43:14to ask questions that demand an answer.
43:18And for mysteries like the Ark of the Covenant,
43:21I'm going to continue my search.
43:27If you have a mysterious artifact or site
43:29I need to see,
43:30I want to know about it.
43:31Go to history.com slash honoree.
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