- The Ark of the Covenant, a gold-covered wooden chest
containing the stone tablets of the 10 Commandments, thought to be an artifact of legend only, some evidence has presented itself that not only does it exist but that it is still
discoverable in this world today. The following places may be where it actually exists right now. (dramatic music) Here are 10 places the ark
of the covenant might be. Number 10 is a cave in Jordan. According to two Maccabees,
a book of the Bible that's written in Hebrew
and is said to be an account of Jewish history, the Ark of the Covenant was taken from King Solomon's temple and entrusted to Jeremiah,
a prophet of the Lord. Jeremiah, also known
as the weeping prophet, barely avoided capture by
enemy soldiers with the Ark and hid it along with
several other valuable items in an unmarked cave in a
mountain range in Jordan. His hope was to protect it
forever from the Babylonians and anyone else who
wished to covet its power. The text of two Maccabees
was written during the second century BC while Jerusalem was under Babylon's rule. Considering the centuries
that have passed, if the Ark is still hidden in a mountain, it could be a very long time
before it's discovered again. Number nine is Chartres Cathedral. Also known as the Cathedral
of Our Lady of Chartres, this 12th century Roman Catholic Cathedral in Chartres, France, is
incredibly well-preserved and is still open today
for mass and prayer but with all the wonder
and amazing gothic-style architecture comes a
number of mysterious tales from the days of the crusades. One such story told by Louis
Charpentier in his book The Mysteries of Chartres
Cathedral tells of the Knights Templar who were soldiers for the temple of Solomon. According to Charpentier,
the Templar found the Ark of the Covenant
at an undisclosed location and brought it to the church where it remains in secret today. Though the people responsible
for the Cathedral's upkeep haven't claimed to know
of such an artifact inside of the church, many still
believe that it's in there. Number eight is Zimbabwe. In the late 20th century,
a lot of media attention was focused on Zimbabwe in South Africa where a local tribe,
the Lemba, came forward with claims that they'd descended
from ancient Jewish people calling themselves the
Lost Tribe of Israel. In 1999, a DNA survey confirmed
that there were indeed links between their people and Priestly families of the Jewish faith. While this evidence has been disputed, such arguments haven't stopped the Lemba from revealing their replica
of the Ark of the Covenant, specifically a 700 year
old copy that they claim was made with the original Ark's core. The tribe treats the artifact
the way ancient followers of Solomon did, never
touching it with their hands and carrying it on poles. Could this replica be the real Ark sitting in a museum in Zimbabwe? Number seven is Lake Tiberias. Also known as the Sea of
Galilee or Lake of Gennesaret, Lake Tiberias is a
freshwater lake in Israel which might just hold an ancient
secret under its surface. In addition to apparently
being the very lake that Jesus Christ and Peter, his apostle, miraculously walked on
as told in the Bible. The body of water is said to be hiding the Ark of the Covenant
way down in its depths. According to a sect of Shia
Muslims citing passages from Muhammad, the Ark
will rise from Tiberias after Mahdi, the redeemer
of Islam comes to power but before the Day of
Judgment when the world will ultimately end. Could the world's most powerful artifact be at the bottom of this lake? It's possible that we will not know until the end of days. Number six is a government complex. If the Ark of the Covenant is as powerful as has been prophesied,
then it stands to reason that those who lead human
king would make sure it was safely out of the hands of those who would abuse its power. Enter the theory that says
the religious artifact is, in fact, gathering dust
in a government complex underground somewhere and
its existence has been kept secret from all but
a select few individuals whose job is to protect it and
ensure nobody ever finds it. But the question is, which government? What country is it in? No one knows but the writer
of the movie Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost
Ark felt a similar theory was good enough to be the plot. Sadly, no solid evidence
exists to prove the Ark was discovered and discreetly stored away but we'll know if a leader
suddenly gains unreal powers. Number five is Ethiopia. A common story among certain Christians says that the Ark
resides in a small church called Saint Mary of
Zion in Axum Ethiopia. Apparently, 3,000 years
ago, the Ark was moved from Solomon's Temple
to Axum by King Solomon and Queen Sheba's son, Menelik,
before the temple fell. 45 million orthodox Christian Ethiopians believed the Ark of the
Covenant is in Saint Mary's. Many claim that if it was,
it would have been revealed to the world but arguments
abound claiming its unveiling would lead to its theft
or damaging soon after or, worse still, that a reckoning
would come upon the earth for touching or looking inside of it. If you do happen to ask the Devout, they will claim that
they don't have to see it because they can feel the Ark's presence. Number four is the Temple
Mount in Jerusalem. Whether the Ark was a
powerful religious relic, history seems to think it
was, at the very least, a real physical box and
one that was last reported to be within the temple of King Solomon, so it stands to reason that
if nobody can confirm fully that it left, it must still be there. Legends tell of a deep
and secretive complex of hidden chambers under
the ancient foundations where the temple and it's successor, the Second Temple of Solomon, once stood. It's there that it's
believed that faithful guards hid away the Ark while
the temple collapsed under the siege of the Babylonians. Could the search for the
Ark end where it began at Temple Mount in Jerusalem
or is this tale just a distraction to slow
treasure hunters down before the true location
can be determined? Number three is wherever
the dead sea scrolls lead. In the mid to late 1940s,
a number of papyrus scrolls where discovered in the Qumran Caves near the Dead Sea in Western Asia. After being translated from
Hebrew in which it was written, one of the scrolls told of
all of Solomon's treasures being documented on a bronze tablet. When the forces of Babylon
conquered and burned King Solomon's Temple, they
plundered a large amount of treasure from the
building and it's been feared that the Babylonians
left with the Ark itself. The Hebrew text, which
was translated in 2013, claims that the treasures were scattered and put under the care of prophets and even angels shortly after the siege. Unfortunately, much of
the Dead Sea scrolls have been lost to time
and actual thievery, so we may, sadly, never
know where specifically those treasures are. Number two are aliens took it back. The Ark is said to possess many powers including creating food,
destroying stone walls, and bringing forth God himself
which is why it was always covered and out of sight
so not to accidentally invoke his wrath, however,
one theory suggests that the artifact wasn't, in fact, the creation of Moses at
all but actually a device brought to earth by
extraterrestrial beings. That's right, aliens. As ridiculous as this may sound, there's some interesting
evidence to support it. For one thing, the Ark was a
weapon and communication device but why would God need such things? He's omnipotent, so he could
simply appear before a person to communicate with them. Allegedly, before the
Temple of Solomon fell, the Ark's alien owners returned
and reclaimed the technology that they had left behind
for the inferior humans. And number one is that it's destroyed. A number of people don't
believe the Ark of the Covenant is hidden anywhere and
was, in fact, destroyed. Believe to have been in
Solomon's Temple where Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 587
AD, it's possible that, when the city was destroyed,
instead of taking the Ark with the rest of the loot back to Babylon, the soldiers simply destroyed it. This would explain why the
Ark has yet to be unveiled to the world, though it
also suggests that not one but every place that claims
to hold the Holy artifact is either lying or completely
wrong about it being the real one. Other stories claim that the
Ark was broken by a person who was overwhelmed with its power and the later stories of its existence were simply a cover up so
nobody would know the symbol could be so easily destroyed. (ominous music)
