 When watching a movie like National Treasure, it's quite easy and somewhat comforting to think that it really is just a movie. And that there are no secret societies, large fortunes, and that the FBI just really wants to help everyone be the good guys in the world. But, as it turns out, sometimes the truth is much stranger than the movies. Growing up, I loved National Treasure, and it's only in more recent years do I actually recognize that while it's a very fun movie, it's more than a little problematic and comical than it was likely intended to be. A lot of the time characters just do things to advance the plot, but not because it's logical or makes any sense whatsoever. Nevertheless, the point of this video today isn't to talk about bad writing, but ancient super treasures and the mysteries of the Illuminati. So, a brief spoiler alert here. If you don't already know, National Treasure is a film where Nicholas Cage, oh, sorry, Benjamin Franklin Gates, no relation to the kite guy, follows clues from American historical sites placed by the country's founders, who are actually in a secret society called the Freemasons. They travel around America in search of ancient super treasures and happen to steal the Declaration of Independence along the way, due to it having a secret map on the back, all the while dodging the FBI and Boromir on their way to the previously undisclosed heap of ancient artifacts and treasures. The movie itself explains why and how America's founders had ancient treasures to hide, passed down from a millennia-old coalition, as if rebelling against the British wasn't enough work, but the main question that we want to explore right now is whether or not it's even possible that a secret society as old as the Crusades could have existed, and if their treasure could still be around today. We know about the Knights Templar and the Freemasons, but is it possible that at some point in history the torch was passed between them? Is there a direct link between the Knights Templar of the Crusades and the Freemasons of the last few hundred years? It's also worth mentioning that the movie really makes the Illuminati and their all-seeing eye into a very benevolent symbol. Is this Illuminati confirmed? To begin to find out, we need to first understand who the Freemasons are. In real life, the Freemasons are an international, loosely connected group of lodges, which keeps secrets and hold meetings at various levels. Some are convinced that these are shadowy scheming groups, pulling the strings of the world leaders. But for the moment, let's start with the basics. There is no official rule set for how Masonic lodges work, but there is a regular set of rules and requirements to join, such as, initiates must hold a belief in a Supreme Being. They also must swear an oath to do the following when initiated. Keep the secrets of the lodge from anyone outside of it or below their rank. Help a fellow Mason in distress if it doesn't infringe upon local law and isn't impractical. And only men are allowed to be initiated except for women-specific lodges. Ugh. Anyways, these rules aren't absolute, but lodges which stray too far from the common regulations risk losing recognition from the others around the globe as legitimate Freemasons. A network of lodges which accept each other's rules form a global network, a real-life secret society. Well, okay, well, not too secret. A lot of the lodges have websites you can visit. And if you can find a lodge, you can usually just ask to join. Perhaps they are less of a secret society and more of a society of secrets. Though entry into a Masonic lodge may not be too difficult, working your way up to learn the secrets at the highest level, no doubt is. In National Treasure, the great ancestor of the main character is unexpectedly roped into this network of secrets by being given the first clue of a Freemason's riddled directions towards the ancient treasure. Charlotte. A secret life. Where's Charlotte? Ben's granddad is shown telling him stories about the treasure as a kid and that the story has been passed on from their ancestor, Thomas Gates, who in turn got it from Charles Carroll, a wealthy plantation owner from Maryland. While the original Charles Carroll wasn't a Mason, his son also named Charles Carroll because the Founding Fathers were apparently super creative in their naming conventions, definitely was. Now, the origins of Freemasonry can be a little foggy. The official story from the Masons themselves is that medieval stone masons formed coalitions to make sure fellow builders were up to snuff and got paid properly from clients. This is the reason that their symbols and insignias are so related to geometry and medieval construction. They didn't shy away from philosophy and eventually the group was more known for holding members with great influence in the outside world. In fact, National Treasure is accurate when it claimed that the Founding Fathers of the US had Freemasons among them. Nine of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons. The oldest Freemasonry document, the Regius Poem, or Hallowell Manuscript, is dated to 1425, but there is reason to believe their origins go deeper. Many people believe that Freemasonry itself is connected to an older organization, the Knights Templar. In National Treasure, this was the group that brought the ancient treasure to America and vowed to hide it. Apparently, they then formed Freemasonry as a subset of themselves, which continued on to the present day. Here we find a bit of a problem with the film. They said that the treasure was too great for one man, so they hid it from the world instead of sharing it with everyone? That seems like a bit of an egocentric control complex if there ever was one. The Knights Templar themselves are no big mystery or small group. They started as an elite military unit during the Crusades in 1139 and thrived for the next 200 years with wide support from their European Christian faith, but they weren't just a military unit. In fact, 90% of their members were non-combatant. Most of the organization was busy setting up networks of banks and businesses throughout Christian nations, not too different from how Freemasonry operates today. Illuminati confirmed? The Knights Templar were not subject to local government and they crossed borders freely. Their economic, military, and social contributions made them a part of everyday local life where they existed. Some historians even argue that they are the very first multinational corporation. Someone tell Ezio that Abstergo is legit. If this isn't Illuminati confirmed, I don't know what is. So what ended up happening to the Templars? Well, Deus Volting took a turn in the 12th century and Templars fell victim to division and disagreement within themselves and eventually lost their headquarters in Jerusalem. Over the next century, their army would progressively weaken along with their support from the public with their dwindling power, but still widespread presence over Europe, aspirations to form their own state bubbled up within them. King Philip IV of France took advantage of the moment though and began charging and arresting high-ranking knights. By the early 1300s, the Knights Templar was merely a shadow of itself. Important members were burned at the stake for heresy and their armies absorbed into the kingdom's military. It was just 100 years later we placed the dating of the oldest Freemason document, the Regius poem. So what does any of this have to do with ancient treasure? And what are the links between the Freemasons and the Knights Templar? Interestingly, one of the legacies of the Templars were the buildings they built across Europe. Many still standing to this day and Freemason restarted as a builder's coalition. Perhaps there is something to this after all. The timeline of the downfall of the Knights Templar does roughly coincide with what records we have of early Freemasonry. The official downfall of the Templars was about 100 years before the Regius poem is dated and given the widespread and severe persecution of the Knights Templar at the time, it makes sense that if old surviving members of the Templars wanted to stay in touch, they wouldn't do so with any iconography resembling their old coalition for fear of persecution. If it were true that Freemasonry was born of the remaining Templars, it would certainly explain the great emphasis Freemasonry has on keeping secrets. But perhaps the best evidence to support the conjecture that Freemasons and Knights are related comes from the Rosalind Chapel, which famously linked the two coalitions in the story the Da Vinci Code. But is there any concrete evidence supporting this? You'll have to decide for yourself, but we can only show you the facts and you'll have to decide for yourself. Rosalind Chapel started work in 1456 thanks to William Sinclair, the first Earl of Cathness. If we follow the Sinclair family line into the future from him, we actually find evidence that there were prominent Freemasons in the 1400s, quoted as being patrons, protectors, judges, or masters of Freemasonry. Evidence of a Knights Templar connection is starting to look good. One clue is that a great ancestor of William Sinclair who founded the Rosalind Chapel is Sir Henry St. Clair II, Baron of Rosalind, who participated in the full Crusade. Full disclosure, this was before the Knights Templar was even created. But it does give the Rosalind family history some link to the Crusades. So, you know, deus vault and all that. But what evidence does Rosalind Chapel give? Some say that it houses the Holy Grail in an unopened chamber beneath. In fact, there really is an unopened chamber there, said to be the crypts of members of the Rosalind family. Out of respect for the family though, it's still closed and might not yet be possible to prove that the Rosalinds had any direct involvement with the Knights Templar. But Scotland, where the chapel is, was a place of refuge for knights facing prosecution in other parts of Europe. Though only speculation, it is interesting that shortly after Scotland becomes a place of refuge for the Knights Templar, some of the earliest Freemason history also begins to crop up in the same place. So, is it really plausible that the Knights Templar had ancient treasures that survived all the way to the founding of the United States and that somehow the forefathers of America set up an elaborate chain of clues tied to documents of American history, just like in the movie? Let's start by seeing what evidence there is for the Masons or Templars ever having such a treasure. We know that the Templars had some hardcore economic structures like businesses and banks across Europe, so it's clear their net worth was high. But did they ever hold any historical treasures? Well, the legends say that the great wealth the Templars collected was either confiscated or well-hidden after the persecution of the Knights. Some of the ancient treasures are still said to be hidden, though, including the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant and the real Shroud of Turin, among others. For now, all we can say for certain is that they had a lot of wealth to hide and that the best place to keep it safely was the same place the Freemasons show some of the earliest signs of life. Considering the growing power of the British in the 1700s, it's reasonable to assume that if the Masons had a treasure worth protecting, they might hide it in a new, mysterious faraway land. America. Now, with a film like National Treasure, there might be some aspect of this that could be considered purposeful deception or plausible deniability. This was explained very well in Stargate SG-1, the TV show, where the basis of the show is that there is a secret military base with a Stargate and they go world-hopping. But one day, a TV network makes a show about this very premise. When the real SG-1 team inquires about this and says, I mean, doesn't this put our operation at risk? The chief commander says, no, it's plausible deniability. Whenever a conspiracy theorist claims that the Stargate program is real, the general public can just point at the TV show and say, nonsense, you saw that on TV. It's genius because the Stargate program probably does exist. And in this, we get Super Meta, a TV show within a TV show, and pointing out that the government and militaries of the world could have secret ties to create these entertainment illusions based on reality to convince people that it's all just entertainment. Just like how people watch Doctor Strange and think, shh, astral projection, that's just in the movies. So in the case of National Treasure, the question is this. Is this movie a social cover-up about an actual ancient super-treasure that is hiding somewhere in the States, covered up by the Freemasons? Perhaps it's like a map in the movie. Under normal circumstances, it's hidden in plain sight. But when you squeeze lemon juice on the DVD, holy crap, it's a clue! Seriously though, if there really is an ancient super-treasure and that it's held by people who also have ties to the banks and other global industries, you know, Rockefellers and Rothschilds and whatnot, then they're probably using it to continue ruling the world. Then again, there's probably a lot more here for us to explore. If you have any clues or evidence about any of this, please share it in the comments below. We'd love to learn more about it and maybe do a sequel on National Treasure 2. As always, thank you so much for watching. Make sure to like, comment, subscribe, and we'll see you again soon.