NARRATOR: Sintra, Portugal.
This popular tourist destination is
known for its pristine beaches, historic gardens,
and numerous palatial estates.
One of those estates is named Quinta de Regaleira.
This Gothic palace has been unoccupied for more than 30
years, and it has a reputation for being
a mysterious, eerie place.
Regaleira is really the-- it's the spooky mansion on the hill.
But when you get up closer, it immediately
seizes your imagination and draws you in,
and you begin to appreciate the secrets
that it holds compared to the other, more
glitzy palaces nearby.
NARRATOR: According to historical records,
Quinta de Regaleira is an ancient estate that
dates back nearly 1,000 years.
And it was bought in the late 19th century
by an eccentric Portuguese businessman named
Carvalho Monteiro, who reportedly had
a fascination with the occult.
LYNN PICKNETT: Monteiro was a multimillionaire,
and he embraced all manner of mystical philosophies
and traditions.
And so he invested an awful lot of his wealth at Quinta.
He enhanced the property to add symbolism.
There are statues, and inscriptions, and carvings that
are connected with Freemasonry, the Knights
Templar, and occultists of various descriptions.
Monteiro basically adapted the property
into this extraordinary sort of theme park to the occult.
People thought it was odd.
But to a serious occultist, if you've got the money,
you're going to go for it.
And that's exactly what he did.
NARRATOR: Each year, thousands of tourists
visit Quinta de Regaleira to walk
through the palace and gardens.
But what attracts the most attention
is a curious underground structure
known as the initiation well.
TONY MCMAHON: The initiation well is like some kind
of Gothic fantasy.
It's called the initiation well, but it's not a well.
It's like an inverted tower that's going
90 foot deep into the ground.
And your senses are completely confused by the sight of this.
FREDDY SILVA: When you enter, you're
looking down at this shaft with the spiral staircase
full of niches going clockwise down this corkscrew
deep to the Earth, and you become
very aware that you're passing through into a completely
new level of reality.
You almost have a spiritual moment, like a revelation.
NARRATOR: The initiation well is the most elaborate creation
in Monteiro's sprawling monument to the occult.
However, some historians believe that Monteiro
was not the original architect of the well.
They claim that he merely refurbished it,
and that this structure was first built in the Middle Ages
by the Knights Templar, who were a secretive group
of Christian warrior monks.
FREDDY SILVA: It's highly likely that the Templars
were responsible for the well.
The Templars were the first deed holders
of the property that became Regaleira many centuries later.
And they were definitely working on this property
in the 12th century.
NARRATOR: Another piece of evidence
which suggests that the Knights Templar built the initiation
well is the fact that there is a network of underground tunnels
that extend out from it.
FREDDY SILVA: At the bottom of the well,
you suddenly find yourself in this labyrinth of tunnels which
go every single direction.
Some of the tunnels extend deep into the mountain to the point
where you could come up underneath a chapel
or a convent in the hilltop five miles away.
The whole place is honeycombed with tunnels.
TONY MCMAHON: So there's plenty of evidence
for the Templars being there.
And Monteiro was effectively buying a chunk of real estate
right on top of where the Templars had been.
There's no accident in this.
He's then recreating what he thinks the Templars stood for.
It's believed that Monteiro may have been looking for something
the Knights Templar have left behind
in those many tunnels that were underneath,
which may have included the Holy Grail.
NARRATOR: According to Christian tradition,
the Holy Grail was the chalice that Jesus
drank from at the Last Supper.
The Knights Templar were known to have searched
for important religious artifacts while in the Holy
Land during the Crusades.
And there is evidence to suggest that, if they
did find the Holy Grail, they may
have brought it to Portugal.
FREDDY SILVA: One of the big clues
that we know that the Templars left something
of incredible importance there lies in the seal that was
printed by the first king of Portugal in a deed
that he gave to the Templars.
And if you look very carefully at the seal
that the king put on there, it has the word "Portugal"
written as an anagram.
It reads por tu o gral, which means "through you, the Grail."
What the King of Portugal is insinuating
is that the Templars brought the Grail to Portugal.
TONY MCMAHON: So when the Templars are bringing
their treasure out of Jerusalem, they could have
brought the Grail to Regaleira.
They had fortresses and they had secret tunnels.
They could get their treasure there,
and it would be protected.
If you look around Regaleira, you'll
see evidence for the Grail.
We have, rather intriguingly, a bench referred to as bench 515.
At the center of it is a female character,
and she's holding out a chalice.
And that's believed to represent the Holy Grail.
NARRATOR: Was the Holy Grail hidden somewhere
in the initiation well?
And, if so, did Monteiro find it there?
We'll never know for sure because Monteiro died in 1920
and took the secrets of the initiation well to the grave.
You come away from Regaleira, there's
no doubt it's the initiation well that plays on your mind.
It's so odd that so much effort went into creating this,
and yet, what does it all mean?
And that's what is the big unanswered question.