NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
JACK: We're gonna drain the well
to search the bottom.
Oh. Look at that. It looks hand-wrought.
This is one of the older objects you've found.
-Wow. -PHAROAH: You have four lines measured
from Nolan's Cross perfectly intersecting
at the Garden Shaft.
Wow. Let's get the answers
-at the bottom of that shaft. -Absolutely, absolutely.
GARY: That is a stairway to treasure.
-Let's go for the gold. -Yes.
-ALEX: That's what we want. -JACK: Yeah. Let's go.
That is awesome.
NARRATOR: There is an island in the North Atlantic
where people have been looking for
an incredible treasure for more than 200 years.
So far, they have found a stone slab
with strange symbols carved into it...
...man-made workings that date to medieval times,
and a lead cross whose origin may be connected
to the Knights Templar.
To date, six men have died
trying to solve the mystery.
And according to legend, one more will have to die
before the treasure can be found.
♪ ♪
ALEX: First day of the shaft rehab.
DOUG: Yep.
It's nice to see Dumas back on the island
-and ready to go. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: A highly anticipated day
has finally dawned on Oak Island for brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina,
and the entire Fellowship of the Dig.
This is so unique
and so different from everything we've done
-for ten years. -Mm-hmm.
It's-it's an opportunity that,
you know, rare indeed.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: After a six-week delay,
representatives from a mining company
named Dumas Contracting Limited
have returned in order to continue refurbishing
the so-called Garden Shaft.
The Garden Shaft was a big, unanswered question.
I mean, it's good to see everything in place now.
Right.
NARRATOR: The Garden Shaft is a dilapidated,
80-foot-deep wooden structure
that the team initially believed was built
and then abandoned in the 19th century
by previous treasure hunters.
But earlier this year,
after wood from the feature was scientifically dated
to as early as 1735...
There we go.
NARRATOR: ...and high-trace evidence of gold
was found in the water
inside the structure,
Rick, Marty and their partner Craig Tester
commissioned Dumas to reconstruct it
down to a depth of at least 80 feet--
an operation that will also allow for lateral tunneling
should evidence of treasure be located
outside of the vertical structure.
RICK: Wow. Look at everybody. Waiting to get started.
NARRATOR: Although Dumas was able to complete
a steel and concrete frame at the surface
and began reconstructing the first 16 feet of the shaft,
the project was shut down
due to a safety review conducted
by the provincial government.
Wow, everybody's here. Woo-hoo.
NARRATOR: Now, with all of those concerns satisfied,
Dumas has been given clearance to continue their work
and hopefully provide a breakthrough
that will help the team solve the Oak Island mystery.
So, uh, look, it's a really big day today. I mean, this is
the project for the year.
We're glad you're here.
This mystery has endured, you know, for 228 years.
Far too long.
And we find ourselves now
on the precipice of getting
underground in the Money Pit
for the first time
during our stewardship of the mystery.
Well, I'm gonna
give you the keys, and I'd like you
to give us the honor of opening
-this lock for me. -RICK: All right.
Point me in the right direction. I'll turn the key.
-DOUG: Let's go for the gold. -Yes.
ROGER: That's-that's what we want.
-And answers. And answers. -The answers, yeah.
RICK: Oak Island is 228 years of
dedication, passion, mystery.
So, to be the person
who unlocks it,
it's-it's quite humbling.
Rick, you've got the keys to the treasure chest right there.
I hope you're right, Gary.
RICK: When I turn the key,
it's not just for me or even for the guys standing around.
It's for all of us.
Anyone who wants answers to the Oak Island mystery,
that key may have opened the door to getting those answers.
All right, guys, here you go.
Maybe this is the doorway
to everything we've sought to uncover.
Wow.
Really? I can't go down there right now?
(laughter)
MARTY: Dumas is back, and you can feel the camaraderie.
You can feel the Fellowship come together
and get excited and think, "We're close. Maybe this is it."
ROGER: This is where we start.
MARTY: Maybe the Garden Shaft connects
with the original Money Pit.
Okay. Here we go.
It's actually like opening a door to a treasure chest.
(laughter)
ALEX: Any treasure chest you need to open with a crane is a good one.
-Yeah. -(laughter)
NARRATOR: In the coming days,
Dumas will complete
the first two levels
down to a depth of 16 feet.
Come on, guys, let's take a look.
NARRATOR: From there, they will continue
excavating and reconstructing
the remaining eight-foot levels,
all the way to the bottom
and to whatever may be waiting to be uncovered.
-Wow. -GARY: That is the stairway to treasure.
ALEX: Pretty cool.
RICK: Let's back up and let them get to work.
-JACK: Yeah, let's go. -RICK: All right. Let's do it.
NARRATOR: As the team from Dumas Contracting Limited
continues their work in the Garden shaft...
So, here we are with our Blob drill holes
and monitoring wells.
NARRATOR: ...approximately 30 feet to the west,
Oak Island historian Paul Troutman
and geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner
are preparing to collect water samples
from recently drilled boreholes
in a 25 by 70 square foot area
that the team has affectionately named the Blob.
It is within this zone
where, after testing the water
in previously drilled boreholes three weeks ago,
the team determined that a large source of gold
is buried between 80 and 120 feet deep belowground.
I'll get set up and, uh,
-yeah, we'll go. -Okay. Sounds good.
NARRATOR: Now, it is Dr. Spooner's hope
that additional water testing inside the Blob area
will help the team to further pinpoint
the possible location of the fabled Money Pit treasure vault.
PAUL: Whatever we find here will lead us one step closer
to finding the source of this gold in the water.
IAN: Yep.
NARRATOR: To collect the water samples,
Dr. Spooner is using a single valve bailer.
As the device descends in the borehole,
an open valve allows water to flow through it.
Once the desired depth is reached,
a metal ball drops into place,
securing the sample.
-There we go. -Okay.
-We good? -Yeah, we're good.
PAUL: Okay, right up to the top.
And that's what we need. We're good to go.
Well, I'll get that to the lab right away.
Okay. What's the time frame,
are you thinking, to get all this data?
-A week or two. -A week or two?
Yeah. We'll-we'll put in a rush.
Yeah. This would be nice to find out
if this holds the truth right here in our hand.
Well, let's get it back to the lab.
-Let's-let's get going. -Okay. All right.
NARRATOR: As the operations
in the Money Pit area continue...
PETER: All right, let's go find the first flag.
GARY: Okay, mate.
NARRATOR: ...metal detection expert
Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti return to Lot 5,
located on the western side of the island.
This one's good, I can feel it.
Okay, we'll see if it is or not.
(beeping)
Yeah, nice little faint signal.
My best guesstimate is just there.
-This is a lot of roots. -PETER: Mm-hmm.
NARRATOR: Since acquiring Lot 5 earlier this year,
the team has unearthed some of the most incredible finds
ever made on Oak Island.
These include a deliberately buried stone feature
believed to date back to the mid-1700s,
metal tools and pipe stems that may be
as much as four centuries old,
and a nearly 2,000-year-old Roman coin
that has been scientifically determined
to have originated in Spain or Portugal.
I'm quite confident this is going to be a coin or a button.
I just want that one tag on it.
-(beeping) -There it is. -There it is.
I think it's in me hand, mate.
Oh, ho!
-See that nice round shape there, mate. -Round and copper alloy.
You do the honors. Is it a coin or a button?
-It's a button. -Oh!
Now it is a button and it's an oldie.
And our hope is that this has some,
-got some kind of design on it. -Mm-hmm.
GARY: If there's some kind of military insignia,
some regimental numbers, we're in business.
-Oh, yeah. -Because that would really help track it down.
Put a date and a nationality on it.
I'm thinking maybe military.
Easy 1700s.
NARRATOR: A possible 18th-century military button?
Could it be related to the mysterious rock-filled
feature that was discovered nearby?
If so, might there be more clues in the area
to explain who created it?
And what its purpose may have been?
-PETER: Next one's here? -GARY: Yep.
GARY: See what we've got in store for us.
(beeping)
Great-sounding signal.
-PETER: Okay. -Just there, mate.
-Could be something good. -Yeah.
Sounds like it could be here.
You know what?
-Look at that. -PETER: Interesting.
-GARY: Look at that. -NARRATOR: On Lot 5,
located on the western side of Oak Island,
Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti have just made
another potentially important discovery.
PETER: A little bit of curvature to it?
-Yep. -What does that tell ya?
GARY: This kind of reminds me of those pieces
of metal we found on Lot 26,
-down by the old well. -Mm-hmm.
And they turned out to be
bush scythes.
-Mm-hmm. -And I believe Carmen
-dated those to go way back. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: One week ago, while searching for clues
near a mysterious stone well on Lot 26,
which has been determined to contain trace evidence
of silver and may date back more than nine centuries,
Gary and Peter found
two similar bush scythes that blacksmithing expert
Carmen Legge believed were made in the 1600s.
Because these cutting tools were typically used
by European explorers between the 16th
and 18th centuries,
could this bush scythe offer
more evidence of human activity on Oak Island
more than a century prior
to the discovery of the Money Pit?
If so, might it have been someone
who came here looking for something of great value?
Or perhaps someone who made a deposit?
If we're finding an artifact on Lot 5
that matches with something that's on Lot 26,
that's interesting, 'cause we want to get context to this lot.
So we're finding bush scythes
on Lot 5 now and Lot 26.
And it could suggest multiple people being here,
maybe at the same time or at different times.
So it's important to keep scouring
the land for more information.
Sweet, mate. So we'll bag this up, mate.
-Okay, next one is this way? -Yep.
All right. Let's go get those artifacts.
Okay, mate.
NARRATOR: As Gary and Peter search
for more clues on Lot 5...
JACK: The well looks rather full.
-LAIRD: Looks clean, though. -Mm-hmm.
...Jack Begley, along with archeologists
Laird Niven and Helen Sheldon, arrive
on Lot 26 to continue searching
the 900-hundred-year-old stone well
for clues that might explain
who built it, as well as evidence that it contains
something of value.
-JACK: What's our plan today? -LAIRD: We're gonna pump it out.
And then I was thinking if you wouldn't mind
scooping out the debris...
But we're going to save it on a tarp,
as best we can.
And hopefully find an artifact.
LAIRD: Yeah, if we find something
that's datable down there,
even better.
All right, well, let's get started.
All right. We're going to need the, uh...
-The genie turned on. -...the genie turned on.
-I'll do that. -Okay.
NARRATOR: The team is especially interested in the well,
not only because it is one
of the oldest man-made features ever discovered
-on Oak Island... -(generator revving)
...but also because a recent water test
conducted inside it by Dr. Spooner
revealed high trace evidence of silver.
Here we go.
RICK: The well on Lot 26 is interesting
because we've got an elevated level of silver
in the water. How do you explain that?
HELEN: Actually, that pump works really quickly.
RICK: It's been speculated before, there are constructs
across the width and breadth of the island that possibly
could be used as a "bank."
And you have to remember that Oak Island is somewhat remote.
So where would you put something that you,
you fancied or that you thought was precious to you?
Well, you might hide it in an old well.
Jack will do the-- when we get down there-- the scooping.
-I mean, I can already start to scoop it, right? -Yep.
NARRATOR: While Laird works to keep the pump clear of debris,
Jack will scoop the muck and detritus
out of the well onto a tarp,
which Helen will carefully sift through for clues
once it all dries out.
JACK: I feel like I'm getting to a more gravely,
-rocky layer right now. -LAIRD: Oh, yeah? Okay, yeah.
There, now you can see it.
It's actually beautifully rounded here.
It's a nice, round well
to a certain point, then all the angular rocks
-start coming in. -JACK: Yeah.
Like these, up here, seem quite
-out of place, those big ones. -Yeah.
MARTY: Lot 26 has become very interesting.
The well is as old as 11th century.
What do I do with that?
But it does fit a couple other outliers on the island.
We have the paved area in the swamp.
We have the so-called ship's railing.
So it's, it's astounding.
(laughing): I can't explain it.
JACK: Oh, yeah, there's still a lot of muck down there.
-LAIRD: There's a lot of debris. -Yeah.
JACK: It's gonna kind of be a process over days
-to be able to clean up the water, -LAIRD: Yeah.
and to pump it effectively.
But it might have
the answers we, we need at the bottom.
I must say, I've never excavated like this before.
JACK: Well, there's a first time for everything, right?
-LAIRD: Yeah. -(Jack laughs)
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
HELEN: Which bucket do you want to do first, that one?
-Sure. -NARRATOR: ...outside the Oak Island Interpretive Centre,
Helen Sheldon
and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan
begin carefully sifting the dried spoils
that were collected earlier from the stone well on Lot 26.
HELEN: Nice and misty.
EMMA: It's just a little organic.
RICK: Emma and Helen have taken the initiative
to create a sifting station, if you will.
Then if for sure there's nothing in it,
just flick it over the side.
RICK: Hopefully, there will be
an artifact or two within that material.
I just think there's something uniquely strange
about this well,
and I hope, no pun intended,
that we get to the bottom of it.
-Want to give it a soaking? -Uh-huh.
HELEN: Oh, here's something.
Look at that.
Hmm.
It's definitely, definitely iron.
HELEN: It looks handwrought.
The shape is really weird.
Maybe a file.
EMMA: Yeah, 'cause it looks broken or torn off here.
HELEN: Yeah, it does.
Which is weird, unless that's the tip that's...
Would you say that's a nail? 'Cause I don't...
EMMA: I wouldn't say it's a nail.
HELEN: 'Cause nah, it doesn't look right.
EMMA: So this right here is rounded and it seems intentional.
-HELEN: Mm-hmm. -While down here, it...
-it seems like it could been longer. -It's broken, yeah.
Yeah. (sniffing)
Really sulfuric, actually.
Which makes it old.
We're finding more and more sulfur content
in iron this year.
It just means it was made within a furnace
of lower temperatures.
So that is an indicator that it is an older iron.
So just from that alone, I'm thinking around 1700s.
HELEN: So maybe we should give Rick a text and see
-if he wants to come and see it. -EMMA: All right.
EMMA: Okay, sent.
HELEN: Okay.
RICK: You young ladies are
to your ankles in mud and water.
-Yes, sir. -We are, yes.
So what have you found?
So we found a piece of metal
-that we think is not a nail. -Where is that?
It's actually right over there. I can go grab it.
-Sure. -All right.
NARRATOR: Outside the Oak Island Interpretive Centre,
Rick Lagina and Dr. Ian Spooner
have arrived to inspect a possibly important artifact
that Helen Sheldon and Emma Culligan
just found in the spoils that have been excavated
from the mysterious well on Lot 26.
EMMA: So this is the piece.
It's nail-like, but we're pretty sure it's not a nail.
What do you mean it was a nail, but not a nail?
So... it kind of does look like a nail.
But the tip right here is rounded,
and it seems intentional, while down here it bends
and the fact that the tip is torn off here, so it's actually
-probably longer around here. -IAN: Right.
-So a cut nail, maybe? -EMMA: I don't know.
I can't be for certain because I haven't CT scanned it.
Right. So one question.
I heard that in the old days,
when they used nails on shipbuilding,
they'd hammer them in, but they'd bend...
-Clench them. -Clench them.
-Could that be a clench? -Oh, possibly.
-EMMA: Yeah. -HELEN: And to me, it looks handwrought.
-Yeah, so it is a pretty old metal. -Oh.
EMMA: Age-wise, it could be from the 1700s.
Great.
NARRATOR: A possible handwrought nail?
Potentially related to a large sailing vessel?
Because machines came into use
for nail production beginning around 1800,
could archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan
be correct that this artifact
may predate the discovery of the Money Pit
in 1795?
If so, just when was it made?
And how might it be related to the 900-year-old well
that it was found in on Lot 26?
EMMA: And the material itself, it's, like, pretty heavy.
-Right. -You can see from the patina
that it is rust, that's the main-main ingredient.
But it's also pretty-- in pretty good condition.
Like, the rust itself, there's not much buildup of it.
Right. Doesn't really surprise me much.
Metal should last almost forever in that muck.
-EMMA: Yeah. -RICK: You'll have to finish
going through this, I would assume, then put it
in the CT scanner and see what it says, right?
-EMMA: Yeah. -RICK: That's interesting.
IAN: At least there's stuff to date that's human-made.
Yep. We'll wait and see what, what the machine says
-about that iron. -EMMA: Yeah. -Mm-hmm.
RICK: This certainly would be a candidate
for further investigation
to allow that little item to possibly tell us a story.
Okay.
Well, we'll let you continue with your work.
-We have another bucket to go, so, yep. -IAN: Good.
-Okey doke. Well, thank you very much. -Thank you.
-Appreciate it. -EMMA: All right. See ya.
IAN: Yep.
NARRATOR: The following day...
ROGER: All right. Blow pipe coming down.
...while the team from Dumas Contracting Limited
continues their reconstruction of the Garden Shaft
-in the Money Pit area... -Perfect.
RICK: Gentlemen, today is going to be a very informative
"information" hunt.
-We welcome Brian Pharoah to the war room. -Thank you.
Thanks for the opportunity, guys, to present to you today.
...Rick Lagina has invited
architect and author Brian Pharoah
to share research with members of the team,
along with fellow Oak Island landowner Tom Nolan.
I think of all the theories we've entertained, this one
is quite... stimulating, I would say.
NARRATOR: It is Brian's belief that he has uncovered critical clues
between the megalithic formation of six boulders
that Tom's late father, Fred Nolan, discovered in 1981,
known as Nolan's Cross,
and the precise location of the fabled Oak Island treasure.
RICK: I hope today that we will all
come to a little greater understanding of the who,
what, when, where, why and how of Oak Island.
So, Brian, over to you.
So, I believe that there is an ancient,
ancient treasure hidden deep below Oak Island.
And Nolan's Cross is the key to finding it.
And today, I'll reveal some of the secrets
hidden in Nolan's Cross.
So let's just jump right into it
and kind of get started.
So Nolan's Cross is a megalithic
and mathematical phenomenon created by design,
just as Fred Nolan believed.
Curiously, also...
Nolan's Cross is encoding sacred numbers and geometry.
So I really believe that Nolan's Cross
may lead us to a Money Pit location
and where the treasure might be.
That's great.
NARRATOR: Sacred geometry is a concept
that assigns symbolic meaning to certain shapes
and numbers which are also considered to be sacred
and can be found in the designs and measurements
of many ancient houses of worship all across the globe.
PHAROAH: So we're gonna look at some of these sacred numbers.
Now, there are many sacred numbers,
but we're gonna focus on the following numbers.
We got the number 144, 288,
360, 432,
720 and 864.
So these numbers are encoded in Nolan's Cross.
Next slide.
The numbers of Nolan's Cross are encoded in many,
many sacred sites all around the world.
Encoded in Chartes Cathedral.
Encoded in Rosslyn Chapel.
They're encoded in Temple Mount.
If you look at the measurements of these sacred sites,
you will find these same numbers
repeated again and again
and again around the world.
Next slide.
So, when you see these numbers,
you're gonna start to see a pattern form,
and these numbers will be a key
to understanding the treasure of Oak Island.
So how does this work with Nolan's Cross?
Well, let's go to the next slide and I'll show you.
So these are my measurements of Nolan's Cross.
The short axes had a length of 720 feet.
720 feet could be broken down
into two 360-foot lengths.
The long axes was measured at 864 feet.
I looked at the head of the cross and it was
extremely close to the 144 sacred number.
And then from the center,
we got 432 feet.
And at the bottom, we have 288 feet.
All of our sacred numbers now appear
in Nolan's Cross.
Wow.
It's quite amazing.
So let's take a look at some of the hidden geometry
in Nolan's Cross.
Next slide.
If we look at Nolan's Cross, at the bottom of it,
we can see a square.
720 feet by 720 feet.
Now the square would have a perimeter
of 2,880 feet,
which recalls the 288 sacred number
that we've seen before.
We could inscribe a circle in this square
and the circle would have a diameter
of 720 feet, converted to inches,
8,640 inches.
Also, we have a 360-foot radius,
4,320 inches.
Again, repeating,
repeating, repeating these numbers endlessly.
All of this cannot be happenstance.
It has to be planned.
So how's Nolan's Cross gonna give us a Money Pit solution?
Let's take a look at the next slide.
Well, if you take Nolan's Cross
and you go to Cone A,
and we create a circle,
which has a radius of 864 feet
matching the long axes of Nolan's Cross...
Recall that one of our sacred numbers is the 864.
Next, we're going to draw a point from Cone C
through Cone A and we're going to extend that purple line
all the way out to the green circle.
Next, we're going to draw a line
from the long axes
of Nolan's Cross, the yellow line,
all the way up to the circle.
If you then draw a line due south,
again intersects perfectly with the purple line
from Cone C through Cone A.
Next, recall we have a square at the bottom
of Nolan's Cross, 720 feet by 720 feet.
If we go to the center of that square,
and we draw a line from that square,
through Cone B, all the way out
to the green circle.
Finally, if you take a line from Cone E
through the large boulder in Smith's Cove,
again perfectly intersecting at that point.
Now you have four lines
perfectly intersecting at the Money Pit.
So this is...
my Money Pit location.
It's just west of the Garden Shaft.
RICK: Wow. X marks the spot.
PHAROAH: So, my Money Pit location, as you can see,
it's just near the Garden Shaft.
-Wow. -NARRATOR: In the war room,
architect and author Brian Pharoah
has just presented Rick, Craig,
and members of the team with his theory
that the megalithic boulder formation
known as Nolan's Cross
contains encoded sacred geometry
that points to the true location of the original Money Pit--
a location that just happens to be near the Garden Shaft.
That's an interesting spot.
I was gonna say, we should've had him here
-a few years ago. -(laughter)
Would have saved us a little time.
-Yeah, yeah. -Yeah.
We went over and Dr. Spooner
collected samples of the water.
And he had it tested and it came up
one of the highest levels of gold,
-right in the water we had. -Wow.
-Right in that area. -Yeah.
Now I've used his calcs, um,
with Nolan's Cross as it sits as we know it,
and it's even closer to the Garden Shaft.
You're north of the Garden Shaft, within feet.
-Perfectly. -That's amazing.
NARRATOR: Although it is exciting for the team
to receive an exact location
where the fabled treasure may be buried,
unfortunately, while Dumas Contracting Limited
is reconstructing the Garden Shaft,
the Oak Island team will be unable
to investigate the area to find out for sure.
RICK: I was hoping that Brian's X marks the spot
would be a very easy location to access.
And thus we could put a drill on it
and-and drill it immediately.
It's that intriguing.
But once we get to the bottom of the Garden Shaft,
there might be an opportunity to tunnel across and investigate.
I've always been about the who, what, when, where, why and how.
-Who? -Templars.
Well, that's quite interesting.
Pretty interesting, yeah.
The Templars built in stone.
They knew that stone would last forever.
They also knew sacred geometry.
The Templars had the knowledge and the means to execute this.
NARRATOR: Although many religious faiths
around the globe
have incorporated sacred geometry
into the designs for their houses of worship,
the medieval Christian order of the Knights Templar--
who some believe buried priceless religious artifacts
on Oak Island--
also utilized sacred geometry
to build cathedrals throughout Europe
from the 12th to the 14th centuries.
-Welcome to Portugal. -RICK: Thank you.
In recent years, the team
has made a number of potential connections
between known European Templar strongholds
and discoveries they've made on Oak Island.
-This symbol is definitely on the 90 Foot Stone. -RICK: It's perfect.
NARRATOR: These include the 14th-century lead cross,
the 12th-century paved area in the swamp,
and a number of artifacts that were found
deep in the Money Pit area.
Is it possible that Brian Pharoah has uncovered
more critical clues with Nolan's Cross
that may not only prove that the Knights Templar
were behind the Oak Island mystery,
but that also point to where their sacred treasures
lie hidden in the Money Pit?
First of all, Brian, I want to say thank you.
This has been incredibly informative.
And I think we'll stay awake tonight,
all of us, thinking about it. So, again, I think
we should all say thank you to Brian.
-Thank you. -Thank you. -Thank you.
PHAROAH: I appreciate that.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon,
approximately 50 miles northeast of Oak Island
in Halifax, Nova Scotia...
-CHRISTA: Hi, how's it going? -CHARLES: Hi, Dr. Brosseau.
...Peter Fornetti, Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse,
and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan
arrive at St. Mary's University.
So what are you bringing in today?
We have a couple interesting finds.
NARRATOR: They have arranged to have chemist
Dr. Christa Brosseau analyze the mysterious
iron artifact found one day ago
in the stone well on Lot 26,
and the two bush scythes found
in the nearby area last week.
So this was off the top layer of the well.
So, yeah, obviously iron.
-It could be some form of file. Yeah. -Right.
You know, one thing you'll notice is it has a sort of
rectangular shape, which is quite characteristic
of handwrought nails.
So I'll take a small sample of this one,
and then we can look at the next artifact.
-PETER: Okay. Sounds great. -All right.
PETER: Lot 26 is one of the most unique lots on this island.
So I'm always hopeful that we get
that pre-1840s,
no manganese result.
That sample is set, then?
Yep.
This next artifact,
we brought it to...
-Carmen Legge to take a look at it. -All right.
And he told us that he believes it's a bush scythe.
CHRISTA: All right, so we'll see what we can do here.
PETER: I'm excited because
these two artifacts could prove
that people were on this island
before the Money Pit was discovered.
CHRISTA: All right. We're ready to have a look
at these samples and see what Lot 26 has to tell us today.
-All right. -Let's go downstairs.
RICK: You can find all the artifacts you want,
but at the end of the day they have to tell a story.
We need to try to figure out a timeline.
How old is it?
There's potential here to uncover a mystery.
-Hey, Xiang, how are you today? -XIANG: Hello.
-Hi. We've got some visitors here. -Okay.
NARRATOR: Assisting Dr. Brosseau is her colleague,
Dr. Xiang Yang.
-Xiang, we've got two samples to look at today. -Okay.
NARRATOR: In order to analyze the artifact samples...
CHRISTA: The first one we'll look at is that bush scythe.
...Doctors Brosseau and Yang will use
a scanning electron microscope
or S.E.M.
By magnifying objects up to 200,000 times
their actual size, the S.E.M. can identify
not only the chemical composition of the items,
but also help determine their age
and geographic regions of origin.
So there we have a nice piece of iron.
No manganese, so, again,
we-we do use that as a marker
that it's, uh,
pre-1840, most likely.
It does look like an older iron.
PETER: That pre-1840
is good for us, because we have Carmen
who kind of gave us the general idea that it's 1650.
I would say that's consistent.
XIANG: Are we set for the next one?
-Yes. We're ready for the next one. So... -Okay.
CHRISTA: This object was the iron piece.
It looks like a handwrought nail.
We got a nice, uh, sample here, it looks like.
-XIANG: No manganese. -Right. So, no manganese.
Oh, you see phosphorus.
CHRISTA: We see phosphorus.
Uh, fairly high content.
About 0.7%,
which is fairly significant.
If your iron ore is rich in phosphorus,
you're probably looking at a fairly early date.
So I-I think, everything taken together, this is
one of-- one of the older objects you've probably found.
Looking at the fact that it-it is headless,
it's very much a hallmark of nails
that were used from the 1600s into the late 1700s.
CHARLES: Wow.
CHRISTA: Looking at the fact that it-it is headless,
it's very much a hallmark of nails
that were used from the 1600s into the late 1700s.
-Wow. -It's quite old.
NARRATOR: At St. Mary's University
in Halifax, Nova Scotia,
chemists Dr. Xiang Yang and Dr. Christa Brosseau
have just determined that the wrought iron nail
recently found inside the mysterious stone well on Lot 26
may be a significant clue
that could help solve the Oak Island mystery.
-CHARLES: With these artifacts that we're finding... -CHRISTA: Mm-hmm.
...I think it just-- it just speaks to itself
that there's activity that happened on this lot
prior to-to any inhabitants being on Oak Island.
-Mm-hmm. -It's nowhere near the Money Pit.
Question is,
what were they doing there?
A-And, you know, were they depositing something?
Was that an access point or was it an exit point?
PETER: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Because the bush scythes and the iron nail
are all believed to date back to the same time period
in the 17th century,
is it possible that they were left behind
by someone who repurposed the 900-year-old well
to hide something of great value?
If so, could that explain
why the team has detected traces of silver in the water?
I think Lot 26 still has a lot of secrets for you guys.
Yeah. We have some really good information
to share with the guys back on the island.
So, thank you. And hopefully we'll be back in the future.
-There you go. You're welcome. Take care. -Thank you.
-CHRISTA: Thanks a lot for coming in. -CHARLES: Bye now.
-EMMA: Yeah. -CHRISTA: Bye-bye.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
ROGER: That should be good.
...as preparations to resume reconstruction
of the Garden Shaft continue in the Money Pit area...
Oh, look at that. That was easy.
-ALEX: Here they are. -CHARLES: Hey.
-Hey, hey. -ALEX and RICK: Hey. -Hey, guys.
...Emma Culligan and Charles Barkhouse join
Rick Lagina, Craig Tester
and other members of the team
at the Interpretive Centre
to share their report from St. Mary's University.
So, which one do you want to go first with?
Uh...
Why don't we do a bush scythe?
Or part of a bush scythe.
So, Carmen made that-- You know, he's--
he made the suggestion that it was a bush scythe.
Dr. Brosseau, she agrees
with Carmen's dating with 1650.
We do have another artifact,
which originally was thought to be a file.
But turns out it is not.
EMMA: So, it is a nail.
-This piece right here, I'm gonna carefully... -RICK: Yeah.
-I remember it. -Yeah.
So it is, um, wrought iron.
But this one does have a 0.7% content of phosphorus,
which is high.
CRAIG: Okay. So it's very old,
-most likely. -Mm-hmm.
When we find artifacts
that have phosphorus in iron,
it indicates an older, earlier date
because of how it was made.
The thing is, though,
we've found phosphorous metal in areas
that have been h-highly manipulated.
Right? The Money Pit.
Edges of the swamp.
And now the well. That area.
I find that quite interesting.
One could infer
that that work was always contemporaneous, right?
We have found high-phosphorous iron in areas
that might be of significance
in terms of furthering our understanding of the mystery.
Might this prove Brian's Templar theory?
It's possible, and thus the reason
to continue to investigate.
CRAIG: So, I will quote Marty.
Okay, Gary, uh, get out there and find us something else.
-I will do that. -CRAIG: Okay! Let's go. -(chuckling)
RICK: Thanks, guys.
I really, really appreciate it.
NARRATOR: As a new day begins on Oak Island...
-ROGER: Hey! Morning, Rick. -Morning, Roger.
ROGER: How's it going?
...Rick Lagina arrives
in the Money Pit area,
where the team from Dumas Contracting Limited
has completed their excavation of the first two
eight-foot levels of the Garden Shaft.
-Want to come in and have a look, Rick? -You betcha.
-Yeah, let's go see what it looks like. -Well, what I'd like to do
-is go down. -Oh! Absolutely. -(laughter)
-That won't be long! -I know I can't. I know I can't yet.
It won't be long.
-Come on in. Have a look. -Won't be long.
Actually, good. You can see how tight our clam is, and...
RICK: Wow.
I mean, it's just... It's exciting.
-Oh, yeah. -I mean, we're gonna go down
underground in the Money Pit because of your efforts
for the first time.
It's exciting for us.
-Yeah! -(chuckles)
MARTY: It feels great that the Fellowship
of the Dig is actually gonna go underground.
Being able to actually get underground at this location
could be very, very meaningful.
Who knows what could be found at the base of the Garden Shaft?
Could be anything.
But, yeah, she's, uh... she's going down good and, uh,
we're ready to hammer grab now.
If, uh... Whenever you guys are ready,
-I'm gonna... -I-I'm ready. I-I want to see it come up and out of the hole.
Let's start hammer grabbing.
-ROGER: Sounds good. -Right on. -You got some work to do
-for this. -Yeah. -I'll escort you guys out,
and you guys can have a look
-as we, uh... -Okey doke.
...as we pull some muck out of there.
All right, guys! We're good to go!
♪ ♪
RICK: The project is now starting.
And we can begin the process of getting
to the bottom of that shaft and what
the bottom of that shaft may tell us.
AL: Here we go.
Yeah, there it is.
First bucket.
RICK: Every bucket
might yield something-- an artifact
or something that demands further investigation.
You never know what you're about to encounter.
I'm ready.
-Let's go down. -(laughter)
Keep going.
AL: All right. Sounds good.
NARRATOR: After more than a decade
of working to complete the Oak Island puzzle,
Rick, Marty, Craig and their team
may finally have a clear picture
of where the ultimate answers to the 228-year-old mystery
lie hidden.
But as they dig deeper into the Garden Shaft,
just what awaits them?
Priceless sacred objects?
A vault filled with gold and silver?
Or will they find that the puzzle they are trying to solve
is more complex and dangerous...
...than they ever bargained for?
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
-(rapid beeping) -(gasps)
-No way! -Look what we found! Look at that!
-(laughs) -Yes!
-GARY: This is magnificent. -RICK: It's incredible.
-We found a piece of treasure. -It's amazing.
IAN: Gold and silver, copper,
zinc, tin, lead-- they're all now metals of interest.
There is still a treasure to be found here.
ALEX: This is as close as we've gotten
-to an "X marks the spot." -RICK: We've got to go down.
SCOTT: We've waited a long time for a moment like this.
RICK: This is astounding.
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