I-TEAM

(WCCO) When former I-Team producer Maria Awes did a story about the Kensington Runestone a couple years ago, she knew it would make a good movie.

"It's such a great story," she said. "You've got the controversy about whether this particular artifact in Minnesota, the Runestone, whether that's authentic or not."

She was intrigued by the what-ifs the story offered, wondering who could have carved it, who could have left it here and why would it be here. Could Europeans have been to America before Columbus?

For a long time, Maria's idea was just that — an idea.

Then, when the 35-W bridge collapsed, Maria talked to Scott Wolter, a forensic geologist who she first met when she produced a WCCO story about the Kensington Runestone. After that second meeting, Maria took a step toward turning her idea into a film.

"I said, 'That really would make a really good documentary,'" she recalls, adding that she told Wolter he should talk to her husband, Andy Awes.

Together the couple produced, "The Holy Grail in America," which is scheduled to air on The History Channel on Sept. 20. Andy did the directing and Maria set up interviews and wrote the script.

"Committee Films, my production company, we've done a lot of commercial work and a lot of short films, indie films, things like that, but we've never done anything of this scale," Andy said.

Earlier this summer, Maria and Andy shot part of their film in Afton State Park. "This is our biggest day of the whole shoot," said Andy. "In over a year, this is the most people, biggest set, biggest everything, we're shooting, today."

If you didn't know better, you might think it was some sort of offshoot of the Renaissance Festival. There are guys dressed up like knights tromping through the park.

"I walk uphill, and then I walk downhill, and then I walk uphill again and then I walk downhill," explained one actor. "It's something everyone should do, put on some chainmail and walk uphill."

The knights' outfits look authentic. Of course, nobody knows exactly what the Knights Templar would have looked like if they came to America.

"It's a little bit of guesswork and a little bit of research," Andy said.

He showed his art director and costume designer still pictures from the movie, "Kingdom of Heaven," which starred Orlando Bloom. Instead of simply finding chainmail that looked like those used in the film, they actually secured the exact costumes from the big budget flick.

"It was pretty cool," Andy said.

Maria and Andy hope their film will prompt further study of the Kensington Runestone and similar runestones found on the East Coast. A farmer, Olof Ohman, discovered the Kensington stone in 1898. An inscription on it referred to, "eight Goths and 22 Norwegians on exploration journey." And there is a year listed -- 1362, which is more than 100 years before Columbus sailed to the New World.

"For a long time, the majority of people have thought it was a hoax," Andy said. "People of Scandinavian descent tend to think it's real more than not, or want it to be real. But there really is some compelling evidence that's come forward, that really is pointing toward authenticity."

Wolters, the scientist who's studied the famous stone, was on hand during filming and even got a hand in the action. The filmmakers asked him to do the carving for the runestone reenactment scenes.

"Scott's testing showed that the stone itself was 200 years old before it was pulled from the ground by Olaf Ohman," Maria said. "That means he couldn't have, he couldn't have perpetrated this hoax. It was there, for at least 200 years before he found it."

Shooting "Holy Grail in America" took the filmmakers to Nova Scotia, Sweden, Scotland and more.

"We went to all kind of places," Maria said.

And by "we," she means Andy.

"We've got two little kids at home and we both couldn't be gone for weeks on end, so I think I owe her pretty big time on the next one," Andy said.

The couple is already planning the next project, and they expect it will be for the History Channel.

"Once you get a foot in the door, if you can do a good job for them, at least rumor has it, they'll continue to use you," Andy said. "That's what we're hoping anyway."

That's why Maria is our former co-worker. She decided to leave 'CCO during a leave of absence to finish "Holy Grail in America." As much as she loved investigating tornado sirens that didn't work, oil changes that cost too much and the high incidence of autism in local schools, she likes making movies even more.

"I cannot think of any better way to spend time as far as working," she said. "This is a great job."

The 2-hour long "The Holy Grail in America" is scheduled to air on The History Channel on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. and again at 11 p.m.

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