[tense music]
- Tonight, relics believed to grant the greatest power
known to man, the ability to live forever.
- You don't want just anybody to be able
to wield the power of immortality.
- [Dennis] From history's most sought after chalice.
- It's been touched by Jesus.
This would be the most valuable object
in the history of the world.
- It's said to have raised several people from the dead.
- To a miraculous fountain.
- The Fountain of Youth
is said to actually increase longevity
and to provide healing.
- In fact, this type of healing water
might exist in multiple places around the world.
- And a mystical stone many have tried to create.
- Not only is the Philosopher's Stone
thought to grant immortality,
it can also transmute base materials into precious metals,
like gold and silver, or even diamonds and gems.
- These sacred objects have inspired awe
for thousands of years.
Now, the remarkable stories
behind history's most compelling holy marvels.
[dramatic music]
Jerusalem, 33 AD.
According to the gospels, Jesus gathers his 12 disciples
for one last meal.
At the center of this supper is an ordinary cup,
one many belief will come to hold extraordinary power.
- The Holy Grail might be the most famous vessel in history
used by the most famous person to ever live,
at the most famous meal ever served.
Today, we call it the Last Supper.
It's thought to have taken place
during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
- [Dennis] The meal starts with a blessing.
- According to the gospel of Matthew,
Jesus distributes the bread
and tells his followers, "Take, eat, this is my body."
As the bread is passed around,
He then holds up a cup of wine and says,
"Drink all of it, for this is my blood.
Do this in remembrance of me."
The cup appears in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
and also in 1 Corinthians.
- This is one of the most well-known events
in all of Christianity.
The night that a cup was held and blessed by Jesus.
This simple act has created a legend surrounding this cup
that's lasted for over 2,000 years.
- [Dennis] Not long after the Last Supper,
Judas turns Jesus over to the Roman authorities.
- Jesus is then arrested, tried,
and executed on the cross.
- Was Jesus Christ a real person?
Most historians believe he probably was.
And this is the moment that Christianity is sort of created.
It's really the fundamental belief
you're supposed to have as a Christian,
is that he died and was resurrected.
- A lot of historians believe that his crucifixion
and even the Last Supper actually happened
as described in the gospels.
- It's a fairly logical assumption
that Jesus used a cup at the meal,
and of course, anything from the Last Supper,
anything Jesus actually touched would be incredibly valuable.
[tense music]
- [Dennis] But the cup is also revered for another reason.
- According to legend, the Holy Grail is an object
that has magical powers.
It is an object that is held to be sacred.
It is an object that's connected with healing
and potentially even with immortality itself.
- It's a holy relic, it's been touched by Jesus,
and it can provide immortality?
This would be the most valuable object
in the history of the world.
- [Dennis] Then, almost as soon as it's mentioned,
the Holy Grail seems to disappear.
- You'd think such a sacred item
would be meticulously kept track of.
But for hundreds of years after the crucifixion,
the Grail just vanishes from the historical record.
- [Dennis] So where did it go?
- Well, the first option is obvious.
Maybe it wasn't kept at all.
It might have been just treated like any ordinary cup.
It gets washed and put away
and lost amongst all the other cups.
- [Dennis] But one medieval text
suggests the cup survives.
- In the late 1100s, French author, Robert de Boron,
writes Joseph of Arimathea.
In it, he describes what became of the Holy Grail.
- Joseph is also a character in the biblical accounts
of Jesus's life.
He's in all four gospels,
described as the man who takes Jesus' dead body
off the cross, and has him buried.
- Before he does this, according to Robert de Boron,
he collects some of Jesus' blood in a cup.
In fact, in the cup, the same one
that Jesus used at the Last Supper.
- Around that time, much of Europe
and much of Christianity in general
believes that Joseph did manage to preserve the Holy Grail.
- [Dennis] Unfortunately, this is where the trail goes cold.
- Despite having such an important role
in preparing and burying Jesus's body,
the story of Joseph of Arimathea in the Bible
just ends at that point.
- So we don't know what happened to Joseph.
We don't know what happened to the cup.
- [Dennis] And there's another challenge.
- The Bible never describes the Grail.
We don't know its size or shape,
or even what material it's made out of.
- So if you look at medieval art in Europe at this time,
there was a lot of representations
about the Holy Grail.
And in these representations,
it is often put as very ornate, gold,
perhaps jewel-encrusted.
Now, would this have actually been a cup
that would've been used
by a relatively poor Jewish preacher at the time?
Maybe not.
- The most common precious metals back then
were bronze, copper, silver.
But your average, everyday cup
was more likely to be stone or clay.
- Faced with all these challenges,
it's no wonder the Holy Grail has proven so hard to find.
For over 500 years after Jesus's death,
we have no reliable sightings or evidence
or writings to go on.
- [Dennis] Until 570 AD, when a written account
from an anonymous Italian Christian pilgrim surfaces.
- We don't know his name,
but he's called the Piacenza Pilgrim,
the name of his hometown in Italy.
And he goes on what you might call
an organized tour of holy sites.
- There was a big business in the sixth century
catering the pious Christians.
He goes to Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine,
and his final destination is Jerusalem.
When the Piacenza Pilgrim arrives,
he describes seeing a cup of onyx,
which our Lord blessed at the Last Supper on display.
- [Dennis] Is it possible this is the cup?
- An onyx cup would've been somewhat fancy,
but it's certainly not out of the question.
And it's in the right place
as the Grail's last known location was Jerusalem.
- It seems to have the right kind of powers too.
The legends described the Grail's healing abilities
and this cup is associated
with the very same kinds of miracles.
It's said to have raised several people from the dead.
- Another visiting pilgrim named Arkolf
also sees a cup in the same church in Jerusalem.
In his account, visitors are allowed to touch the cup
to try and receive some of its power for themselves.
- But not too long after the Piacenza Pilgrim's visit,
Jerusalem is taken over by Muslim invaders
and the Christian holy places and their treasures
are mostly lost.
- [Dennis] Centuries later, in 2014,
a pair of Spanish researchers claim
they know what happened to this cup.
- Authors Margarita Torres and Jose Ortega del Rio
publish a book called "The Kings of the Grail".
In it, they claim that an onyx cup
that was worshiped by the early Christians in Jerusalem
was taken by Muslims to Cairo, Egypt.
This cup is eventually given to a Spanish emissary
and later becomes the property
of Spain's King Ferdinand the Great.
He gives it to his daughter.
- [Dennis] Around this time, it becomes known
as the Chalice of Dona Urraca.
- [Robert] Torres and Ortega del Rio
claim to know exactly where it is.
The cup resides in the Basilica of San Isadoro
in Leon, Spain.
Once the book is published,
the Basilica receives a massive influx
of pilgrims and tourists,
all desperate to see this potential Holy Grail.
- According to the book,
the cup dates to somewhere between 200 BC and 100 AD.
In interviews, Torres has remained adamant
that this is the cup of Christ.
- [Dennis] But many archeologists disagree.
- They say the materials and techniques used
suggest the cup was made in the mid-11th century.
There's also good reason to suspect
the original Piacenza Pilgrim may have been duped.
- He doesn't see a cup
until 500 years after the Last Supper.
That's a long time unaccounted for.
Perhaps the church in Jerusalem
was just trying to get people in the door
and what he saw wasn't the real Grail in the first place.
- But this isn't the end of the story of the Cup of Christ.
It's actually just the beginning
because there are a lot of other candidates out there.
[dramatic music]
- [Dennis] For hundreds of years,
scholars and treasure hunters have been eagerly searching
for the Holy Grail.
In the Middle Ages, they're joined
by one of history's most famous literary characters.
- The adventures of King Arthur
and his famed Knights of the Roundtable
are the medieval legend.
Ever since these stories were written in the early 1200s,
Arthur, Lancelot, Merlin, Guinevere
have all become household names.
And thanks to these texts
and all the books and movies that they inspire,
just about everybody has heard
of King Arthur's quest for the Holy Grail.
- The stories of Arthur and company
aren't just one piece of writing.
They're actually several,
written by multiple unknown authors.
Whoever they were, one thing that many of the writers claim
is that the stories aren't actually fantasy,
but real accounts often dictated by the heroes themselves.
- [Dennis] Like many Grail quests,
King Arthur's begins with Joseph of Arimathea.
- The legend tells that after Joseph draws Jesus's blood
into the chalice, he's arrested and thrown in prison,
but not before hiding the Grail at his home.
Joseph thinks all is lost,
but that night, Jesus appears to him as an apparition
and gives him the cup,
telling him that he will be released from prison
when the time's right.
Joseph spends decades locked up,
but one night, is miraculously set free
and he hasn't aged at all.
This is our first hint of the healing
and potentially immortality-granting powers
of the Holy Grail.
- [Dennis] According to the story,
Joseph and a band of followers
grab the cup and flee Jerusalem.
- They take the Grail to Britain,
supposedly to a town that today is known as Glastonbury
where they use it to found the first church in Britain.
For safekeeping, Joseph stashes the Grail
in an underground spring.
- [Dennis] While King Arthur never finds the Grail,
it hasn't stopped real people
from looking in the area mentioned in the tale.
- There's an aptly named place called the Red Spring,
which is also now known as the Chalice Well
because of the Grail's association with it.
- Archeologists have done some explorations and excavation
and what they found is that this place has been
a holy site for thousands upon thousands of years.
- Interestingly, the water
is said to have healing properties.
For instance, there's an account from 1750
where a local named Matthew Chancellor
claims to be cured of asthma
by drinking the water once a week for seven weeks.
The mayor of Glastonbury at the time, Thomas White,
certifies this claim.
It's published in a local magazine the next year,
and on May 5th, 1751,
10,000 people from all the surrounding cities in England
show up to drink the spring water for their health.
- We'll never be able to prove what's down there.
The well has been excavated to about nine feet deep.
The source is potentially miles down below that.
If nothing else,
it shows just how badly people have wanted to believe
the Holy Grail is real, but it's unlikely
that Joseph could have traveled to Britain.
It's unlikely that King Arthur and his knights existed,
but just the hint and the hope
that something is hiding at the bottom of this spring
has been enough to sustain it
as a destination for centuries.
- [Dennis] Meanwhile,
there's another famous set of knights
also associated with the legend of the Holy Grail.
- It's hard to discuss the history of the Holy Grail
without bringing up the Knights Templar.
[dramatic music]
- [Dennis] The Knights Templar are founded
during the Crusades as a military order under the Pope.
- Pope Innocent II charges the Knights Templar
with protecting the holy land in and around Jerusalem,
as well as any religious artifacts they may find.
The Templars base their headquarters
on what's known as the Temple Mount.
This is where King Solomon had built his temple
some 2,000 years prior.
- [Dennis] According to one account,
it's here that the Knights find the Holy Grail.
- Most of what we know about the Templars and the Grail
comes from the 13th century writings
of a man named Wolfram Von Eschenbach
in a tale called "Parzival."
Von Eschenbach supposedly worked under a German knight
who fought with the Templars.
His writings are based on firsthand interviews
with this knight as well as copious research.
According to Von Eschenbach,
the Templars possessed the Holy Grail for many years.
- To be in possession of the Holy Grail
is like to be in the possession of the Water of Life,
and the Water of Life can heal.
That was one of the reasons
why they were able to become victorious in numerous battles.
- This may be the reason they're able to thrive
and hold onto power for so long.
- [Dennis] But if the Knights do have the Grail,
where could it be?
- The Templars owned a ton of land all over Europe,
so the search could take us in a lot of directions,
but one of the more popular theories lies in Scotland.
There's a church near Edinburgh called Rosslyn Chaplin.
It was founded in 1446 by Sir William Sinclair.
- [Dennis] Sinclair is believed to be the last
in a long line of descendants of the Knights Templar.
- Sinclair definitely comes from a very storied lineage.
One of his ancestors fought at the Battle of Hastings
with his cousin, William the Conqueror.
Another was one of the lords
who was assigned to transport Scottish king,
Robert the Bruce's heart to the holy land after he died.
- There's a rumor that Robert the Bruce
was a Templar himself.
- Rosslyn Chapel features some symbols
that might be Templar in origin,
but what's really intriguing is the crypt.
Visitors to the chapel can descend a rear staircase,
which leads to a sealed entrance.
No one knows exactly what's inside,
but some believe that beyond William St. Clair's tomb
lies a large religious vault
containing Knights Templar treasures
including the Holy Grail.
- [Dennis] But since the 19th century,
excavations into the crypt have been strictly forbidden.
- [Robert] An excavation could endanger
the building's foundations,
and the mystery is probably what keeps people
coming through the door.
The truth is, Rosslyn Chapel
is just one of many European churches
that has benefited from an association with the Holy Grail.
- Some churches actively claim to have the Grail,
others just happily allow people
to make their own assumptions, but by some counts,
there are as many as 200 Holy Grails across Europe.
- [Dennis] Among the most famous are the Santo Caliz
in the cathedral of Valencia in Spain
and the Sacro Catino in Genoa, Italy.
- There's at least one sticking point in all these claims.
The large majority of these Grail candidates
aren't associated with any miracles.
The Grail is supposed to possess great powers, right?
So there are a lot of cups, with not a lot of powers.
- [Dennis] But one cup does claim to have powers
and it's currently on display
at a church in the Spanish town of O Cebreiro.
- This cup's origins are unknown,
but according to this church, in the 13th century,
it was used to offer communion
to a peasant named Juan Santin.
As the priest is delivering the communion,
the bread and wine
turn into actual flesh and blood in the cup.
So alarmed are these two men that they run away.
They just abandoned the ceremony.
For a hundred years, the cup filled with the blood and flesh
remain on display, unspoiled.
- This miracle is certified by Pope Innocent VIII
and Queen Isabella herself eventually visits the church
and verifies the cup's authenticity.
Today, the flesh and blood are gone,
but the cup can still be viewed inside a glass case.
- So what can we make of all these cups
circulating in Europe,
with each town claiming to hold the real one?
Until somebody actually fills one up and drinks from it
and magically becomes immortal,
identifying the Grail is gonna be pretty tough.
[dramatic music]
- The Holy Grail is probably the most famous artifact
ever to be associated with eternal life,
but it's not the oldest.
In fact, there's a marvel
that some say dates all the way back to Ancient Greece.
And just like the Grail,
people have gone to incredible lengths to find it.
- The Fountain of Youth, an eternal spring
that could grant us the power to live forever,
if only we could find it.
One of the first mentions of such a place
comes from the accounts of Alexander the Great,
who allegedly searched for the fountain
in the fourth century BC.
Some believe it's even referenced in the Bible.
There's a healing bath called the Pool of Bethesda
described in the Gospel of John
that seems to have all the hallmarks
of the Fountain of Youth.
- But the most famous and widespread tale
of the Fountain of Youth
involves a well-known Spanish Catholic explorer
named Juan Ponce de Leon.
- [Dennis] Ponce de Leon is born in 1474.
Although much of his early life is unknown,
he gains some notoriety in 1493.
- He's one of 200 so-called gentlemen volunteers
that joined Christopher Columbus
on his second voyage to the New World.
- Though Ponce de Leon doesn't appear to have played
a huge role in Columbus's expedition,
he certainly gets a taste of the islands
and the customs and beliefs of the local indigenous people.
- [Dennis] A few years later, in 1508,
de Leon is made governor of Puerto Rico.
- Some believe that either with Columbus
or during his time as governor,
Ponce de Leon learns from the locals of their belief
in a great Fountain of Youth,
which in one indigenous language is called Beniny.
Supposedly, Beniny is an island
that contains a legendary spring
whose waters are capable of restoring youth
to whoever drinks them.
According to some, Arawak tribe members,
one of their chiefs, named Sequene,
was unable to resist the mirror of this restorative fountain
and took a large expedition to go looking for it.
They sailed north from Cuba, but they were never seen again.
- No one knows exactly where they went to
or where this place is.
No one really even knows if it is a place.
However, this story attracts the attention of King Ferdinand
who becomes very interested
in finding the Fountain of Youth.
- King Ferdinand is particularly enamored
by the idea of the Fountain of Youth
because he's recently married a woman 35 years younger.
- [Dennis] In 1512,
the king grants the Explorer permission to look for Beniny.
- Spain offers Ponce de Leon a great deal.
He will hold exclusive rights to the discovery of Beniny
for the next three years
and will be named governor for life
of any islands he discovers along the way.
There is one small catch, though.
He will have to finance and supply the mission himself.
- So he follows through on this path.
He raises a force of some 200 men in three ships
and they take sail in 1513.
- [Dennis] A few weeks later,
they spot an unfamiliar stretch of land.
- They're north of Cuba and west of The Bahamas,
but all of those islands
have been extensively explored and mapped at this point.
The Spanish are very familiar with them.
This is something new,
so they think they might be on the right track.
- [Dennis] De Leon approaches the coast
and gives this new found area a name, La Florida.
- The name means flowery.
Apparently, the area Ponce de Leone saw
was covered with flowers.
- At the time, Ponce de Leon
doesn't know if this is an island or a larger continent,
only that it's a place to start looking for Beniny.
But today, we know that he discovered the coast
of the present day state of Florida.
- [Dennis] However, he doesn't stay in the area for long.
- He spends the next several months
sailing up and down the coast in the surrounding keys,
trying to find a hospitable place to land,
as well as to determine if this is the famed Beniny Island.
But several armed encounters
with the indigenous people keep his mission at bay.
- Nearly eight months after he set out,
Ponce de Leon heads back to Puerto Rico,
no closer to finding the Fountain of Youth
than when he started.
- He does find something else that's interesting,
an area of ocean current that pushes him strongly east,
more powerful than the wind.
This is the Gulf Stream,
which is still used, of course, by ships today,
looking to make a speedy voyage across the Atlantic.
- [Dennis] Eight years later in 1521,
Ponce de Leon dies without ever finding the mythical fountain.
- But many scholars believe
that Ponce de Leon was not in fact
looking for the Fountain of Youth.
Ironically, the idea of Ponce de Leon
searching for the fountain
doesn't come from his own writings.
Instead, historians, a few years after his death,
begin posthumously attaching the legend to his name.
- Though people tend to glorify
a lot of these European explorers,
we have to remember that this was a time of huge egos.
Columbus and Columbus's San Diego
were tremendous political rivals of Juan Ponce de Leon.
So, they may have spread the story of the Fountain of Youth
to try to discredit him.
- The idea was to paint Ponce de Leone
as an idiot and a weakling, the worst thing you could be
in the Spanish machismo culture of the time.
Certainly, one can see a rival explorer
using this against him.
Whether Ponce de Leone was inspired by a real native story
or just the victim of bad publicity,
the Fountain of Youth story
has stuck to his legacy like glue.
But even though we don't know for sure
if he ever looked for the fountain,
we do know of a few others who have.
[dramatic music]
- [Dennis] While some researchers debate
whether or not Ponce de Leon
ever searched for the Fountain of Youth,
his story is far from the first associated
with a powerful spring of immortality.
- Many point to the fact
that the accounts of the Fountain of Youth
actually long predate Ponce de Leon by nearly 2,000 years.
In fact, this type of healing water
may exist in multiple locations around the world.
- In the fifth century BC,
there's a Greek historian named Herodotus,
often referred to as the father of history
because he's the first writer to perform
systematic investigations of historical events.
- Herodotus writes about a people he calls the Macrobians,
an ancient tribe living in what today is Northern Africa.
These people are known for their longevity and youthfulness,
supposedly living up to 120 years old and beyond.
Herodotus's writing suggests that the Macrobians' secret
is a fountain and pool where they wash themselves.
The water's chemistry
appears to be unlike that of any other water.
- [Dennis] While the exact location
of Macrobia is unknown,
there may be a pool in Africa that fits its description.
- For years, Christians in Nigeria
have venerated a waterfall-fed pool
in a place called Awhum Cave.
The water here has a unique chemical makeup
that believers claim has special healing powers.
- Officials at Awhum Cave cite hundreds of examples
of the water's ability to prolong life
and to provide healing.
These accounts include restoring youth,
repairing wounds and degenerative conditions,
and even returning sight to the blind.
- [Dennis] Stories like this continue to the present day.
In 2022, a man named Patrick Ogbonna
is poisoned and nearly dies.
- He claims that as he was getting sicker and sicker,
no doctor could determine a cure.
It isn't until he bathes in the water of Awhum Cave
that he finally recovers.
So far, scientists have been unable to identify
the particular chemical additives
that could account for this effect,
which further adds to its mystique.
- [Dennis] A similar legendary body of water
also exists in the Caribbean.
- 300 miles southeast from where Ponce de Leon
first lands in Florida,
there's a small cluster of islands called Bimini.
- And of course, Bimini sounds a lot like Beniny.
In fact, the two place names
have been conflated with one another
almost as far back as the 1500s.
Maybe this is actually the place
of the indigenous stories of the Fountain of Youth.
- [Dennis] In Bimini, tucked deep inside a mangrove swamp
is a place the locals call the Healing Hole.
- It's a long journey, but bathing in this freshwater pool
is said to increase longevity.
- The alleged rejuvenating powers of Bimini
are not just limited to the Healing Hole.
Also on the island is a very deep well
full of restorative water that you can drink from,
provided you have a bucket and a long enough rope.
- It's actually this well
that many believe the indigenous Arawak tribe
considered to be the Fountain of Youth.
- [Dennis] There may be scientific evidence
to back this up.
- Tests of both the pool and the well
have revealed unusually high concentrations of minerals
like calcium and magnesium,
the latter of which is known for helping to relieve
sore muscles and to calm nerves.
- You might not gain immortality,
but it does seem like this place
can legitimately improve your health.
One of the island's famous residents, Leicester Hemingway,
brother of Earnest,
even claimed the Healing Hole cured his cancer.
- Historical accounts of the Healing Hole
date all the way back to 1514,
just one year after Ponce de Leon visits Florida.
This means regardless of whether or not
he was actually looking for it,
Ponce de Leon might have sailed right by the place
the locals considered to be the Fountain of Youth.
- [Dennis] There's also another spot
that claims to be the real deal,
and this one is rumored to be where Ponce de Leon landed
in modern day St. Augustine.
- We really don't have a good sense of this,
but ship's logs seem to indicate
that he would've landed somewhere in this vicinity.
- [Dennis] In 1904, a woman named Luella Day McConnell
comes here in hopes of finding the Fountain of Youth.
- McConnell is a doctor who strikes it rich
during the Klondike Gold Rush.
Using her newfound fortune,
she buys property in St. Augustine.
- McConnell knows all about the rumors
of the Fountain of Youth being in St. Augustine
and the property she buys has a very old well
in the middle of it.
She believes this may in fact be the Fountain of Youth.
- McConnell goes all in on the legend.
On her land, she establishes the Fountain of Youth Park,
turning it into a tourist attraction
where she charges admission and sells so-called Youth Water
from her spring.
- [Dennis] McConnell even says she has proof
of the site's authenticity.
- [Hugo] She prominently displays a cross
made from stones that was excavated on the property.
According to McConnell, it was discovered near her well.
Next to the cross was a metal box
that she says contained papers dating the cross
to the time when Ponce de Leon landed here.
- The cross obviously doesn't prove
that McConnell's Fountain of Youth is real,
but it does draw national attention,
which of course means more visitors
and more money rolling in.
- To this day, they have found no evidence
of the Fountain of Youth,
but they will still sell you a bottle of their famous water
if you want to give it a try and see what happens.
[dramatic music]
- While many have traveled the globe
desperately searching for the key to immortality,
one secret society opted to stay put and make it themselves.
- Perhaps the most intriguing way
to potentially achieve immortality
is through a practice called alchemy.
Alchemy is often described as a combination of science,
philosophy, and magic.
Alchemists have an ambitious goal, to craft a stone
that can give immortality to anyone who consumes it.
[dramatic music]
It's called the Philosopher's Stone,
and it's the most sought after achievement and alchemy.
- Why spend your life questing for the Holy Grail
when you can just unlock the key to immortality
in your basement?
Not only is the Philosopher's Stone
thought to grant immortality,
it can also transmute base materials into precious metals
like gold and silver, or even diamonds and gems.
- [Dennis] The practice of alchemy
dates at least as far back as the ancient Greeks.
- Some alchemists think the practice started even earlier,
all the way back to the days of Adam and Eve.
- [Dennis] According to these stories,
Adam learns alchemy directly from God
and the process is passed down
from generation to generation.
- One of the things that helped this legend sort of grow
was readings of the Bible,
for a lot of the early patriarchs and key figures
are often said to have enormously long lifespans.
800 or 900 years was very common.
- If that's true, maybe they did indeed have the knowledge
to create the Philosopher's Stone.
- The problem is, if such a powerful object ever existed,
the process to create it has been lost.
- We find that a lot of alchemical writings
appear to be written in code.
It's difficult to understand almost any of it.
In fact, the stone itself
is given over a hundred different secret names
in the literature,
and these are just those we know of.
- Any descriptions of the process are incredibly vague,
almost metaphorical.
You can understand why alchemists
would wanna keep their work secret.
Of course, you don't want just anybody
to be able to wield the power of immortality.
- [Dennis] But has anyone been able to crack the code?
- While we don't have a final list of the ingredients,
there is a kind of general consensus
on what the process should be, very loosely.
- In order to make a Philosopher's Stone,
you start with an unspecified substance
called prima materia, or first matter.
It's thought to be the building block of all elements,
and it must be distilled from another material.
To attempt to make prima materia,
alchemists tended to start with a very basic
and common substance that was readily available.
In the literature, we see them experimenting
with all sorts of things for this.
Hair, plants, metal, rocks, urine, you name it.
- So how exactly do you make prima materia?
Once again, we don't know.
They've kept it a secret.
But after you have your prima materia,
they list a series of chemical reactions
that you have to put it through,
including fermentation, calcination,
and dissolving it in a liquid.
Essentially, you are transforming
the original material into different stages of matter,
sort of like boiling, and then freezing,
and then melting water.
- When completed, the stone should be heavier than gold
and incombustible in fire,
but it can be ground into a fine powder,
and that's how you wield its power.
You dissolve it in wine
and you drink it in order to become immortal.
[pensive music]
In ancient China, some alchemists actually tried
to skip the step of making a stone.
They wanted to go straight to the drinkable medicine,
which they called the grand elixir of immortality.
- Somewhat ironically,
it's suspected that the Chinese alchemists
attempt to create the elixir of immortality
accidentally led to the invention of gunpowder.
- [Dennis] What about other alchemists
who attempted to create the stone?
- Look, there have been countless alchemists
throughout the centuries who have tried,
including well-known, famous scientists and authors.
August Sternberg, Tycho Brahe, Roger Bacon,
Carl Young, brilliant people,
none of whom succeeded in making the Philosopher's Stone.
- [Dennis] But in 2016, new evidence reveals
that one of history's greatest minds
may have taken a crack at it and possibly succeeded.
[dramatic music]
- [Dennis] For over 1,000 years,
there's no concrete evidence that anyone succeeded
in crafting the mysterious Philosopher's Stone.
- I'm no alchemist, but it seems to me like
making an object that can grant immortality
is probably not a really easy thing to do,
but there are some surprisingly famous geniuses
who've given it a try.
- [Dennis] Including the world-renowned Sir Isaac Newton.
- Sir Isaac Newton is one of the most
influential scientists in history.
His laws of motion and gravity
are some of the greatest advancements
in astronomy and physics.
Newton studies a vast array of subjects
from mathematics to philosophy,
but one of his major pursuits
that most people don't know about is alchemy.
About 10% of the writings Newton left behind
are devoted to alchemy.
Now, you might wonder, what's a bonafide scientist doing
messing around with alchemy?
The truth is, Newton is simply a product of his time,
the 17th century.
Back then, the idea of transforming one metal
into another is still very much alive.
Alchemy is about as respected as any of the other sciences.
- [Dennis] In 2016, part of Newton's recipe
for creating the Philosopher's Stone is discovered.
- For decades, a whole stack of Newton's writings
had been languishing in a private collection,
which was purchased by the US Chemical Heritage Foundation.
And as they're reading through,
they find a reference to the preparation
of the sophick mercury for the Philosopher's Stone.
- Imagine their surprise
when they find out that Sir Isaac Newton
was messing around with the Philosopher's Stone.
Sophick mercury was believed to be a crucial element
for the creation of the stone.
It's one of the first steps required.
Sophick mercury is a mixture of antimony silver and mercury.
Once you make it, the next step is to use it
to dissolve gold.
It allegedly breaks the gold down
into a mixture that, when heated,
will produce the Philosopher's Stone.
- Newton's work builds upon a paper
authored by an American, George Starkey,
a chemist, an alchemist,
and one of the US's first published scientists.
This suggests that Newton was very well informed
about the practice of alchemy worldwide
and the achievements of his colleagues.
- [Dennis] Unfortunately, the written recipe doesn't say
if Newton took the process any further.
- It seems likely that he did,
although no evidence exists that he succeeded.
- [Dennis] It's yet another frustrating dead end.
Are all these alchemists simply on a wild goose chase?
- Alchemists keep at it
because many believe there is at least one person
who successfully created the Philosopher's Stone.
- [Dennis] That person is a French scribe
named Nicolas Flamel.
- In a 1612 book called "The Book of Hieroglyphic Figures",
Flamel tells the story of finding an ancient text
called the "Book of Abramelin the Mage."
Originally written in Greek and other languages,
it takes Flamel several years to decode,
but when he does, it appears to reveal the recipe
for the Philosopher's Stone.
According to the stories,
once Flamel makes the Philosopher's Stone,
he uses it for philanthropy,
creating wealth and donating large sums
to the Catholic church.
- Flamel is a real person whose generosity
is well recorded in historical documents.
And it seems unusual that a scribe
would have that kind of wealth.
- [Dennis] But there's something else
that's much more unusual.
- Now, there is a tombstone for Nicholas Flamel
and the tombstone has him, died 1418.
So it'd be very difficult for him
to produce this book 200 years later,
unless of course, he was immortal.
For centuries after Flamel's death,
a writer's report seeing Flamel and his wife, Perenelle,
walking around alive and healthy,
and these stories continue all the way into the 1700s.
- Flamel eventually becomes this legendary figure,
showing up in countless works of fiction like Victor Hugo's,
"The Hunchback of Notre Dame,"
and more recently in the "Harry Potter" movies.
He's also mentioned in Isaac Newton's journals.
- [Dennis] Did Flamel actually achieve immortality
with a Philosopher's Stone?
- Disappointingly, historians today believe
that Nicholas Flamel wasn't actually involved
in alchemy at all.
We think that the 1612 book was authored under a pseudonym,
and then, others continued to embellish his story.
This was probably an attempt
to legitimize and justify all the work
that all these alchemists have been doing
for all these years.
It had to be for something, right?
- Although you could argue that Flamel did achieve
some form of immortality if we're still talking about him
and making movies about him six centuries after his death.
[dramatic music]
- The Holy Grail, the Fountain of Youth,
the Philosopher's Stone.
Whether or not they ever existed,
together, they all prove the same thing.
When it comes to our life on Earth,
people will try just about anything
to make sure it doesn't end.
I'm Dennis Quaid, thanks for watching "Holy Marvels."