15. There’s More Than One Holy Grail Legend
The one that most people are familiar with is undoubtedly that of King Arthur, the legendary British king who set out with his knights of the round table to fulfill a divine mission of finding the Holy Grail. Not only are there many legends about the grail, but within the Arthurian legends themselves, there are varying stories about the nature of the chalice and where it is. For people today, possibly the second-most popular grail legend is the one presented in the 1980s novel, Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which became the basis for Dan Brown’s blockbuster, The Da Vinci Code. These stories trace the grail legend back to Mary Magdalene, who was allegedly married to Jesus and gave birth to His child. She and her daughter fled to France, away from the eyes of the authorities, and the grail legends grew up around them.
These are all just legends. They may have some semblance of history, but there is little definitive proof to back any of them up. As such, there are many different ideas about where the grail might be. Some contend that it is somewhere in the British Islands – presumably in Roslin, Scotland or Glastonbury, England – based on legends surrounding the Knights Templar or Joseph of Arimathea. Others believe that it may be in the Americas and are willing to invest their own money in trying to dig it out of the Oak Island money pit.