Source: “The Lost Colony of the Templars: Verrazano's Secret Mission to America**”,** By Steven Sora, Destiny Books, 2004.
The Templar Trail In America.wav
This podcast explores the intriguing theory that Prince Henry Sinclair, a Scottish nobleman, may have journeyed to North America in the late 14th century, predating Christopher Columbus. The text presents various unexplained archaeological finds across Nova Scotia and New England, such as stone structures, carvings, and artifacts, suggesting a European presence before the accepted colonial era. It also touches upon the possibility that ancient Norse and possibly Templar connections could explain some of these mysteries, particularly through the Oak Island Money Pit and the Newport Tower, arguing for a deliberate effort to establish a colony or secure valuables. The author suggests a bias against accepting pre-Columbian European contact within academic circles, leading to the misinterpretation or neglect of this compelling evidence.
Topic 1 The sources discuss the historical account of Henry Sinclair's voyage to the New World, drawing primarily on the narration of his commander, Antonio Zeno. This written record is presented as the only existing account of Sinclair's specific journey. According to Zeno's narration, Sinclair's expedition split forces around 1398, before winter, allowing Zeno to return to Scotland while Sinclair continued exploration. The source notes that it would have been expected for such an expedition to turn back before winter, contrasting Sinclair's company with later European sailors who were often ill-prepared and scared of lengthy sea voyages, particularly wintering in the North Atlantic, which was frequently disastrous for English settlers.
Topic 2 A significant topic is the perceived bias within the academic and scientific communities against acknowledging or investigating evidence that suggests pre-Columbian European or Asian presence in the Americas. The sources lament that while discoveries like pyramids in Egypt or mummies in Peru are readily accepted and integrated into existing knowledge, findings such as a Templar baptistery, effigies of knights, castle ruins, complex treasure vaults, and ancient megalithic structures along the northeastern coast of North America are often ignored, downplayed as anomalies or accidents of nature, or actively suppressed. The bias is linked to attitudes of political correctness, where suggesting outside cultural influence on early North American peoples is sometimes deemed racist, implying indigenous cultures were incapable of originating these ideas themselves. This narrow thinking is presented as hindering the expansion of knowledge and leading to the destruction or neglect of potentially significant sites.
Topic 3 The sources highlight numerous unexplained structures and phenomena found along the northeastern coast of North America, specifically from Nova Scotia south to Rhode Island. These include rock-built structures capable of calculating summer solstices, megalithic complexes, stone houses, monuments, dolmens, standing stones, stone chambers, and massive stone walls. Many of these are compared to similar ancient structures found in Europe, particularly in the Orkneys, Hebrides, Ireland, Scotland, and England, where they are generally accepted as ancient heritage. In contrast, the sources argue that in America, such structures are often dismissed or misinterpreted; for example, solar temples are called root cellars, stone monuments become cattle pens, dolmens are explained as Ice Age products, and many are simply destroyed by development.
Topic 4 Mystery Hill, located in North Salem, New Hampshire, is discussed as a key example of the unexplained structures, often billed as "America's Stonehenge." The complex consists of rock-cut rooms, a sacrificial table rock, small passageways, and standing stones arranged in an alignment. This arrangement is noted to strongly resemble features found at Skara Brae and the surrounding area in the Orkney Islands. While European sites like Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar are dated much earlier (2500-3000 B.C.), the North Salem complex is dated to an even older timeframe (3500 B.C.), which corresponds to the period when megalith erection reportedly ceased in England and France. This suggests the possibility that megalith builders may have attempted to establish themselves in prehistoric America.
Topic 5 The Mystery of Oak Island in Nova Scotia, particularly the enigmatic Money Pit structure, is a major focus. Discovered in 1795, the site involved digging through layers of flagstones and oak platforms. At 90 feet, an inscribed and coded stone was found, indicating treasure lay 40 feet deeper. Despite centuries of effort, the treasure remains unrecovered, with the pit being booby-trapped by a massive complex of drains and water tunnels that flood excavations, potentially using coconut husks as a clog-proof material. Carbon dating of the structure provides a problematic timeframe between 1490 and 1660, as organized European expeditions are generally believed to have arrived later. The sources dismiss known early visitors like Irish monks, Vikings, and Basque fishermen as unlikely builders due to the structure's complexity and the nature of their visits (seeking solitude, exploiting resources, fishing). The author hypothesizes that the Sinclair family built the Money Pit as a vault to safeguard rescued Knights Templar wealth, potentially using workers transported from Scotland around the same time construction began on Rosslyn Chapel in the mid-15th century.
Topic 6 Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland is discussed as a monument constructed by the Sinclair family beginning in 1441, which is believed to be a record in stone containing hidden information, possibly only accessible to the initiated. The chapel's construction started five years after workers were reportedly brought to Roslin by William Sinclair. The source contends that these builders were first transported to Nova Scotia to construct the Oak Island complex and a colony envisioned by Henry Sinclair, returning later to build the chapel. The chapel is noted for its inclusion of Celtic symbols, suggesting a sanctuary for various beliefs, and Masonic symbols (hanging man, apprentice pillar, severed heads) for the initiated. Crucially, carvings of aloe and American maize are present, which the source presents as a permanent record of the Sinclairs' voyages to the Americas, occurring well before Columbus.
Topic 7 Various artifacts discovered across North America are presented as further evidence supporting the idea of pre-Columbian European visits. These include a Venetian-style petriero cannon dredged in Louisbourg harbor, Nova Scotia, in 1849; a broken gilt sword and silver earrings of Italian/Venetian manufacture found among Beothuk natives in Newfoundland in 1501; a four-hundred-pound "Runic Stone" bearing inscribed characters found in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; decorative metal chest armor and chain mail found near Lake Memphremagog, Quebec/Vermont; a stone-carved gargoyle head near Lake Memphremagog similar to those at Rosslyn Chapel; an iron spearhead also found near Lake Memphremagog (Native Americans did not work iron, early colonists used firearms); a coat of arms and a partially obscured map carved on a boulder near Lake Memphremagog; a Norse-like boat glyph with a serpent-head prow found among Ojibwa petroglyphs in Peterborough, Ontario; a second breech-loading petriero cannon found in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island; and possible Norse iron boat spikes found in Labrador alongside three-dot steatite pots.
Topic 8 The Westford Knight in Westford, Massachusetts, is presented as definitive evidence of the Sinclair expedition's presence. This is a life-size effigy carving of a knight on a granite ledge. The carving depicts a knight in late 14th-century basinet helmet and chain mail, holding a sword broken below the guard, suggesting the depicted knight was deceased. A shield bears a family crest featuring a ship, a five-pointed star, and two buckles or brooches. Research identified this crest as belonging to the Scottish Gunn clan, who had a relationship with the Sinclairs. It is believed the carving represents James Gunn, a lieutenant of Henry Sinclair, who may have died in a skirmish with Native Americans near Prospect Hill. The practice of creating punch-hole effigies for fallen knights was common. Surrounding discoveries in Westford, such as a boulder with a ship carving and the number 184, and a nearby stone enclosure, are interpreted as potential markers related to the knight's burial or location relative to the effigy.
Topic 9 The Newport Tower in Newport, Rhode Island, is discussed as a potential final stop or planned colony site for Henry Sinclair's expedition and is presented as a possible last Templar sanctuary built of stone. The tower's construction details, such as its twenty-five-foot diameter, thirty-inch deep foundation, eight round columns, and twelve-and-a-half-foot thick first floor (fireproofed with clay, similar to Swedish Templar round churches), are examined. Measurements taken in 1952 suggested a Norse foot (12.35 inches) was used, not the English foot. The tower has a southwest entrance, common in Scandinavian baptisteries. Astronomical alignments are noted, including to the sun at the winter solstice, lunar majors and minors, and certain stars, indicating deliberate design requiring observation of the specific location's latitude. These alignments, some of which were only found in almanacs after 1600, suggest a pre-1600 construction date.
Topic 10 The sources explore potential connections and influences between Norse/European cultures and Native American tribes, particularly the Algonquian and Iroquois. These include similarities in mythology, such as the trickster god Loki (Norse) being similar to Lox (Algonquian) and Oki (Iroquois), and the Algonquian end-of-the-world myth featuring a good god (Glooscap) battling an evil wolf god (Malsumsis), echoing the Norse myth of Fenrir. Justice systems are compared, noting the Iroquois/Huron practice of paying compensation based on the victim's rank, similar to the Icelandic Norse wergild system. Physical descriptions by early European explorers noting the "whiteness" of some Native Americans (Wampanoag, Iroquois) are mentioned as potentially suggesting European kinship or intermarriage. The possible transmission of Norse skills, such as advanced fishing techniques using nets and using fish as fertilizer, is suggested, potentially introduced by Sinclair's men. The naming of the Wampanoag leader King Magnus is noted as a decidedly Norse name, possibly given by Europeans. The Ojibwa belief that their homeland was in the East and their DNA strain linking them to Europeans are also presented as potential evidence of early contact.