January (Web-only) 2003

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Seven centuries later, Knights Templar still looking for Holy Grail
A group of Knights Templar—yes, they still exist centuries after the Crusades—are using ultrasound and thermal imaging to seek the Holy Grail in the vaults beneath the 15th-century Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh, Scotland. "We know many of the Knights are buried in the grounds and there are many references to buried vaults, which we hope this project will finally uncover," John Ritchie, Grand Herald and spokesman for the Knights Templar, told the London Independent. "The machine we are using is the most sophisticated anywhere and is capable of taking readings from the ground up to a mile deep without disturbing any of the land. … Rosslyn is an amazing building. It is a book in stone but, because the symbolism which is written into the chapel is in a medieval language, we haven't even cracked the introduction page yet."

Legends place several other lost relics in the chapel's vaults, including early copies of the gospels and even  the Ark of the Covenant. Which is exactly why the Knights Templar shouldn't mess with it, says an Independent editorial. "Ever since the Turin Shroud was carbon-dated to the 13th or 14th century, the spoilsports of modern science have been looking for more legends to disprove," the paper says. "We say: leave the Holy Grail alone. Finding it could mess up an awful lot of good stories."

Fugitive murder suspect's religion highlightedEdward Paul Morris is accused of murdering his pregnant wife and three young children, whose bodies were found December 21 in Oregon's Tillamook State Forest. And a major part of the story is Morris's religious background. It became even a larger part of the story when Morris used the alias "Jim Elliott" in ...