Scott Wolter Claims His Research Will Reshape American Culture, Plans Trips to "Templar" Treasure Sites in America

This week, former America Unearthed host Scott F. Wolter spoke at the Conscious Life Expo in Los Angeles, and to promote his appearance, he gave an interview to the Truth Be Told online radio show. Like most of the outlets Wolter patronizes, Truth Be Told is soaked in fringe history and conspiracy theories. It also plays host to many regulars on the cable TV pseudo-history circuit. As per usual, Wolter delivered his canned comments on the Kensington Rune Stone and his upset with mainstream scholars for discounting his conclusions about the same. “I understand the scientific process, the scientific method pretty well,” Wolter said. “I really do understand the process.” Wolter claims that his conclusions constitute “winning” the argument and that the losers “just don’t like the results.”

Wolter expressed his admiration for Robert Schoch, a fellow geologist with extremist views about history. He also repeated his claim that he is working on a new book that will change history forever.
 
He discussed his decision to become a Freemason. “I finally allowed myself to receive new information and learning in a different way,” he said. This is certainly of a piece with Wolter’s recent claims that he is moving toward a more spiritual and supernatural understanding of history. He claims now that Masonry’s mythology has given him additional insight into the Kensington Rune Stone that he cannot yet share. He asserted, however, that no one can truly understand the rune stone without being true believers in Freemasonry and its made-up mysteries. Wolter, however, doesn’t consider that his own claims do not prove what he thinks. For example, even if the KRS contains Masonic codes, that proves nothing about a medieval origin since said codes (a) don’t exist in the historical record before the 1700s/1800s and (b) could have been used at any time after that. Listening to him talk about Masonry is a little uncomfortable because he seems entirely overtaken with Masonic spirituality and apparently believes with genuine conviction in the spiritually transformative power of its rituals. “You can never learn enough in a lifetime,” he says about Masonry. “It’s really cool!” And also not ancient.
 
In the second half of the interview, we finally move on to other topics. Wolter and the hosts compare his work to the National Treasure movie franchise, and then Wolter begins to spin his Templar conspiracy theories. He repeats his usual claims that Native Americans are “blood brothers” with the Templars and that they engaged in Masonic-style fraternal operations. He alleges, again, that Native Americans had preexisting Masonic orders of their own, which, as we know, is not true and is based on Wolter’s misinterpretation of nineteenth century descriptions of specific tribes’ initiation rites.
 
Here, it is worth noting that Wolter accidentally stumbled on an important problem with fringe history. He says point-blank that he had heard nothing about Native Americans from the fringe authors whose work he used, which prompted him to begin imagining a Pre-Columbian period of interracial harmony. The important issue is that, yes, long periods of racism in historiography and especially fringe history contribute to either the myth that America was an “empty” continent or that Europeans were an all-conquering force before which all indigenous people submitted. It’s transparent that Wolter is trying to invert the old ideas to comport with his own sense of multiculturalism.
 
Wolter thanked the History and Travel Channels for their support of the twice-canceled America Unearthed, but he criticized them for not giving him the opportunity to “focus” exclusively on Templar/Holy Bloodline conspiracies. He lamented that his advancing age is limiting the time left to explore such conspiracies. Wolter claims that his investigations will “impact” social and political issues, and says that he alone knows “exactly” what the Founding Fathers envisioned and therefore his work can reinvigorate American governance. It’s as close to an admission that his fantasies are really just expressions of social and political anxieties over a changing America as we are likely to get.
 
As the interview neared its end, Wolter repeated a bunch of his greatest “hits,” including the fake Cremona documents, and asserts that he is going to visit “treasure sites” marked on the forged “medieval” maps he takes for authentic, and he hopes to find evidence that Templar treasure had been buried at these sites, though he admits that he is unlikely to find any treasure. He disses Curse of Oak Island for its false Templar claims about Oak Island treasure but praises the show for “educating” the public about fringe Templar hypotheses.
 
At the end, Wolter, with no sense of irony, says that faith and belief have no role in investigating ancient history. “Are we talking about faith or real life?” Wolter asks. “They are mutually exclusive and they don’t fit together.” So what does he call his Masonic mythology? That, he implies, is simply fact.