NARRATOR: Tonight, on the thrilling season finale
of The Curse of Oak Island...
LAIRD: I think that's meant to go through something
-like chain mail. -That would make it old.
From the composition, pre-1600s.
HELEN: Remember the lead weight?
-Yes. -I've just found two more.
What would they be measuring?
Gold.
-MARTY: All right, here we go. -Fingers crossed?
-Yeah. -RICK: I'm looking for a vault.
This one might tell the tale.
MARTY: We got a chance of actually finding treasure with this one.
-RICK: X marks the spot. -MARTY: That's the spot, man.
-I can feel it. -I hope so.
MARTY: Come on, baby!
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.
♪ ♪
MARTY: All right, well, here we go, gents.
NARRATOR: With the harsh North Atlantic winter
fast approaching,
the final week of search activities this year
has begun on Oak island.
Well, can we get there?
-I want to find the metal. -NARRATOR: However,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and their team
believe that they still have the necessary time needed
to make a discovery in the fabled Money Pit area
that could finally solve
a 229-year-old treasure mystery.
This is that spot on the map I gave you?
The spot you gave me on the map? Right there.
STEVE: We're only about eight feet
northwest off the Garden Shaft.
-CRAIG: Okay. -RICK: You got to remember,
we're looking for a room.
we're looking for a vault.
This one might tell the tale.
MARTY: All right, let's get out of the way
and let's let this hole get drilled.
-Come on. -Okay, good.
NARRATOR: Just over a month ago,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
were conducting a probe-drilling operation
some 106 feet deep in the 18th-century Garden Shaft
to investigate a partially dismantled
seven-foot-high tunnel.
A tunnel that leads directly
into a region dubbed the Baby Blob,
where high-trace evidence of precious metals
has been detected through groundwater testing
between depths of 80 and 120 feet underground.
NARRATOR: However, saltwater
mysteriously rushed into the shaft...
NARRATOR: ...forcing the team to abandon the effort
and to speculate that one of the legendary flood tunnels
had been triggered, which have prevented searchers
from digging below 90 feet in the Money Pit area
for more than two centuries.
SCOTT: One last crack.
-Let's make it count. -COLTEN: Will do.
Last one of the year.
NARRATOR: Now, after geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner
and his colleague Dr. Fred Michel
conducted new water sampling tests near the Garden Shaft,
they have marked a new borehole location
known as E.5N-14.5,
where they believe the source of the precious metals
may be located some 100 feet below.
MARTY: We're gonna take one big swing
and, you know, we got a chance of actually finding
treasure with this one.
RICK: Dr. Spooner and Dr. Michel have strongly stated
that, in this area,
there is a source of the metals they're detecting
and they don't believe it's natural.
Thus, this location,
maybe, uh, X marks the spot.
I'm calling this Bravo-Sierra.
That's the spot, man. I can feel it.
-I hope so. -This is the last hole,
and we might as well drill till we can't drill.
TERRY: We got a lot of secrets yet to unfold.
NARRATOR: As Marty and Craig Tester
continue supervising the core-drilling operation
in the Money Pit area...
...later that morning...
JACK: Hey, Rick. Hey, Doug.
DOUG: Hey, all.
-How are you? -Very good.
-Yeah, we're excited, actually. -NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina
and Oak Island historian Doug Crowell
meet with Jack Begley, lead archaeologist Laird Niven
and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan
in the Oak island lab.
I have a top-pocket find here,
one that we didn't find, but that someone else did.
I think we're all gonna find
this artifact extremely interesting.
We showed Ane at the Viking museum.
Turns out, it's an arrowhead.
NARRATOR: During the past three weeks...
-Oh, wow. -NARRATOR: ...Rick,
Doug and members of the team
visited numerous sites in Italy...
-Oh, is this it? -Denmark...
-Wow. -the Netherlands...
This contains information about astronomy.
and Iceland
in order to investigate an incredible theory:
that nearly eight centuries ago,
the Scandinavian culture known as the Vikings
helped members of the medieval Christian order
of the Knights Templar
transport priceless religious treasures
to North America and hide them on Oak island.
Wow.
This is very interesting to me.
NARRATOR: During their journey, they brought
a picture of a metal artifact which was discovered
on Oak Island in the 1960s by Robert Dunfield
to the Ladby Viking Museum in Kerteminde, Denmark.
There, curator Ane Jepsen Nyborg
gave the team a stunning analysis.
This is very quintessentially the way
that they made these artifacts in the Viking age.
We couldn't wait to come back here
because my hope, o-of course, is that
you have some very interesting results.
NARRATOR: Now, Rick and Doug are eager
to have Laird and Emma conduct a scientific examination
on the arrowhead to hopefully determine
that it truly could be a critical clue
that could help solve the Oak Island mystery.
This is an interesting one.
M-My first observation is th... how thin it is,
-how narrow it is. -EMMA: Mm-hmm.
To me, that speaks of piercing, not hunting.
The hunting arrows would be broader.
I think that's meant to go through something like
-chain mail. -RICK: Hmm.
Wow. That would make it old.
LAIRD: It would make it old. It also changes its function,
like, why is it here for that purpose?
I see Emma smiling.
I bet you can't wait to put that in the XRF.
Nervous and excited, yeah, yeah.
-Why don't you? -Okay.
NARRATOR: Emma is scanning the artifact
using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer.
The device emits nondestructive radiation
in order to identify the elements
that are present within objects
which can help in determining their age.
So, the scans are ready,
and I think you guys will be happy
-with the results. -Okay.
EMMA: From the composition, yeah, I can say
-that it's quite old. -Hmm.
EMMA: I think these levels would indicate,
like, pre, you know, 1600s.
-No way. -LARID: As far as we know.
-Wow. -Yeah.
-Wow. -EMMA: The phosphorus and sulfur
is common in English iron.
So, comfortably, I would put it in the English region.
-Hmm. -LAIRD: Being English
doesn't preclude it being Norse.
So far, there's nothing to say it isn't.
-That it isn't Viking? -Yeah.
The Vikings pillaged a lot of England.
Oh, and they also lived there.
DOUG: It may be supportive
of these other dates from our other findings on the island
-Yeah. -that we have in a medieval context.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
NARRATOR: In recent years, the team has investigated
numerous structures on the island
which experts have suggested
could date back as early as 1200 AD.
These include a stone well on Lot 26,
a massive paved feature in the swamp
and the megalithic formation of six boulders
known as Nolan's Cross.
Incredibly, they have also found
two lead artifacts and a pickax
that have been scientifically linked to Scandinavia.
Could this arrowhead be another critical piece of evidence
supporting the theory that Vikings
may have helped the Templar order
bury sacred treasures on Oak island?
If so, could that also explain
the high-trace evidence of precious metals
that the team has detected in the Money Pit area?
If these are out there,
who knows what else is out there?
So, let's keep looking into it.
-Okay? -We will.
-RICK: Thank you. -JACK: Thanks.
NARRATOR: As Rick and Doug finish their meeting
with Laird and Emma in the lab...
ALEX: All right, Gary.
-Yep. -What do we have here?
Back at it, mate. Lots of flags to dig today.
NARRATOR: ...Alex Lagina
and metal detection expert Gary Drayton
arrive on Lot 10,
where Gary detected a number of promising metal targets
earlier this morning.
It is gonna be a cold one today, mate.
-This island tells you when it's time to leave. -Yep.
So, uh, whatever we can get out of the ground before it freezes,
-we got to get out. -Okay, mate.
NARRATOR: Two weeks ago, near this area,
Marty Lagina and members of the team
lifted one of the six megalithic boulders of Nolan's Cross
known as Cone E
in order to look for clues that might help identify
just who created the feature.
MARTY: I mean, if that's cement,
then we found something.
NARRATOR: Incredibly, Marty discovered
a strange concrete-like substance
beneath Cone E that contained animal hair of some kind,
and which the team plans to further analyze
through DNA testing.
GARY: All right, let's see what we got here.
NARRATOR: Now, after getting permission from Laird Niven
to dig up the targets that were marked earlier today,
Gary and Alex hope to find
additional important or valuable clues.
That sounds good, mate.
It's right there.
ALEX: I'll see what I can do.
GARY: It is snowing now, mate.
-Hopefully, it's a bit of snowy treasure. -Oh.
-I'll try pinpointing it. -Okay.
There it is.
Oh, that is very interesting.
GARY: We'll see what we got.
Oh, very interesting.
Is it a pin or is it a chisel?
NARRATOR: On lot ten, near the middle of Oak Island,
Alex Lagina and Gary Drayton
may have just uncovered a potentially important clue.
To me, that looks like a tool.
You see, it looks like it's kind of mushroomed on the top.
-Meaning it's been hammered. -Yeah.
It's like a tool
you would use to inscribe stones.
And that is part of the story of Oak Island.
NARRATOR: A possible chisel?
Over the years,
several boulders and large stones
have been reportedly found on Oak Island
that featured curious carved symbols.
One, known as the H+O stone,
was discovered on the northern shore
and featured an H,
a cross surrounded by four dots
and a circle with a dot in its center,
which some believe signifies the presence of gold.
Another was the legendary 90 Foot Stone,
which was found at that depth
in the original Money Pit back in 1804.
-CORJAN: There is a four-dot cross here, like, you see? -ALEX: Yeah, yeah.
NARRATOR: During their recent trip across Europe...
On the other side here,
-circle and dot. -ALEX: Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...Alex, his uncle Rick
and members of the team
visited numerous sites
connected to the Knights Templar
and others related to the Vikings,
where they saw many structures
and even runestones that featured
the same kinds of symbols.
RICK: Look at how many of those runes
-match the 90 Foot Stone. -ALEX: Oh, wow.
NARRATOR: Could it be possible that Gary and Alex
have just unearthed a tool
in the area near Nolan's Cross
that may have played a significant role
in the Oak Island mystery?
That is a cool find, mate.
-ALEX: Into the pouch. -Yeah.
Good digging.
I think this is a heck of a find, Alex.
ALEX: I agree.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
COLTEN: Going back down two more times.
NARRATOR: ...as the core drilling operation
inches closer to target depth in the Money Pit area,
on Lot 5, located on
the western side of the island...
LAIRD: Might have to build
a shelter over this thing for the winter.
...Archaeologists Laird Niven
and Helen Sheldon continue
investigating a rectangular stone foundation.
Within this feature,
just like a larger,
more rounded structure near the shoreline,
the team has unearthed artificially manipulated soils
that match samples recovered from the Money Pit area.
And curiously, in recent weeks,
Helen has helped uncover not only an iron spike
that may date back nearly nine centuries,
but also a lead weight,
which the team believes might have been designed
for measuring portions of valuables.
Now, with only a few more days
before winter forces the team to suspend
all search operations until next spring,
Laird and Helen are hoping to find more clues
that could determine just who created this feature
and for what purpose.
HELEN: Oh, what's this coming out?
Huh. HELEN: Look at that...
HELEN: That's another one...
...of those lead weights.
-Like the other one that we found over there. -Yeah.
Yeah, it looks the same.
Finding one is odd,
-finding two -Finding two.
is bizarre.
HELEN: And it's all on this layer
just above this really hard stuff.
Basically, what we think is the floor.
-Yeah. Yeah. -The very, very bottom.
The really interesting part of this whole excavation
are things we didn't expect,
like the soils between Lot 5 and the Money Pit match.
-HELEN: It looks almost identical -It does.
-to the other ones. -It does.
There are so many artifacts that we haven't
seen before. The more we excavate,
the more we uncover within this structure,
the more confusing it gets.
It's unlike anything I've seen in the 38 years
I've been doing archaeology.
Oh, my heavens. Laird.
You're not gonna believe this.
LAIRD: Oh, not another one.
HELEN (chuckling): Another one.
Same, shaved on the edges.
Here, look.
And, again, it's down here in this very sandy layer.
LAIRD: Very bizarre.
Three of the same thing
-that we've never seen before. -No.
Really weird.
But Marty would be pretty interested to see those.
MARTY: One of the things that was always missing
here on Oak Island was
if there was such a massive undertaking,
where did they house the people who did it?
Maybe that's what we're uncovering on Lot 5.
If, in fact, we have found the staging area
for whatever happened originally at the Money Pit,
that would make sense. That had to happen somewhere.
Maybe, finally, we're gonna figure that out.
-MARTY: Laird. -HELEN: Hi.
-MARTY: Helen. -Ooh.
What'd you find there?
Yeah. Remember the lead weight?
-Yep. -Yes. -Yeah, well,
I've just found two more.
-Oh! -Two more?
-Wow. -Yeah.
MARTY: Are they identical?
LAIRD: One looks identical, one looks a bit smaller.
MARTY: The other one was almost exactly
.7 ounces, was it not?
-HELEN: Yeah. -Yeah.
You don't have any way to weigh them out here?
Uh, we do, actually.
MARTY: Helen's found two more
pieces of lead more or less identical to
the first little cylindrical lead piece.
That alone is interesting.
You start to believe
that they actually are meaningful.
-So, there's number two. -Number two.
-.69 -MARTY: .69.
That's pretty close.
That is pretty damn exact.
There's number three.
LAIRD: .69.
-That's amazing. -LAIRD: I mean, that's just not coincidental.
No, that's not coincidental. Not three of them.
-LAIRD: No. -No.
JACK: Well, what would they be measuring,
-do you think? -Money.
Treasure?
Gold.
(laughs)
NARRATOR: Given that soils
found within this feature on Lot 5
have been scientifically matched
to man-made workings that were unearthed
deep in the Money Pit area,
could that mean that these three lead weights
may be directly related
to the large amounts of precious metals
that have been detected
within the so-called Baby Blob?
MARTY: I've become more and more interested
in what's going on on Lot 5 because the archaeologists
are telling me that this is not normal.
-Three weights, .69 ounces. -LAIRD: Yeah.
MARTY: It's got something to do, maybe, with the Money Pit.
That could be the piece that's been missing forever.
Okay, you guys carry on and keep digging.
Jack and I are gonna go, and it's cool stuff.
-Let's go, Jack. -JACK: Yeah.
LAIRD: See you later.
Okay, this next core could have some good potential in it.
Good possibility where the metals are coming from.
-Yep. -Little something different, hopefully.
NARRATOR: It is a critical moment
for Rick and Marty Lagina and their team
in the Money Pit area...
Charles, you got your fingers crossed?
Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...as the core drilling operation
in borehole Bravo-Sierra
has finally reached a depth of some 100 feet,
where vast amounts of precious metals
were recently detected.
MARTY: We're supposedly zeroing in
on the source of the metals very near the Garden Shaft.
More so than any other drilling this summer
or, really, any prior years,
I'm looking for this borehole
to penetrate a treasure vault.
CHARLES: We have a core, gentlemen.
-This is it. -TERRY: One of our last
best chances right here.
What do you have, Marvin?
-119. -CHARLES: 119.
TERRY: Thank you.
Let's have a look.
MARTY: Come on, be something.
SCOTT: Sand, sand, miserable sand.
TERRY: Yeah.
MARTY: Does not look promising.
TERRY: Unfortunately, it's just in situ material, sadly.
MARTY: Hey, Ian.
-Yep. -So, can we
conclude we're through the zone of interest
-for the time being? -IAN: Yeah, we're through
the area that we're really focused on.
I mean, for us, the big deal now is letting this whole place
rest a bit so we can see
if we can pick up anything in the water.
TERRY: Absolutely.
NARRATOR: It is a profoundly
disappointing moment for Rick, Marty,
Craig and their team.
The vast source of precious metals
that have been repeatedly detected in this area
remains elusive.
MARTY: Well, look, I'm disappointed.
It's the end of the season, and we don't have
the treasure or the story in our hands.
And it doesn't make any sense.
The data strongly shows
that there is some mass of metal
that was put down in the Money Pit.
So, once again, Oak Island hands us a mystery.
The problem with this sand is
there's so much clay with it.
I mean, the sand might transmit a lot of water
if it wasn't so full of other stuff.
Yeah, not even really saturated.
MARTY: I mean, there's nothing here that can
deliver the kind of water that's going in
-the Garden Shaft. -CRAIG: No, no.
MARTY: So, I mean, the obvious, Ian, I mean,
what's staring us in the face is
this sand is incapable of doing what happened
in the Garden Shaft, then it kind of leads
credence to the so-called flood tunnel.
Yep.
RICK: It's just hard to believe
that 479 gallons a minute is being pushed
through the kinds of sands that we're seeing on the table
to flood the Garden Shaft.
Then where's the water coming from?
Perhaps a flood tunnel.
It's meaningful. There is historical narrative.
Craig, what does it do for you?
I think there's an external source.
So, a flood tunnel.
And I think, given this,
I totally agree with Craig.
MARTY: Yeah, me too.
NARRATOR: Although the team is greatly disappointed
that they didn't recover valuables,
could they be correct that they have unearthed
compelling evidence that a man-made tunnel
connected to the ocean
may have caused the flooding that recently took place
some 100 feet deep in the Garden Shaft?
Let's you two and me go and have
-a little confab here. -Okay.
NARRATOR: If so,
could that offer more proof
that the treasure is in fact somewhere nearby...
...and protected by a genuine booby trap,
as many have believed for more than two centuries?
MARTY: Well, okay, guys, so, uh...
so ends another season,
-at least for drilling, right? -Yeah.
I am...
sad that we didn't make progress or solve it.
Uh, it's-it's disappointing.
But in the last five years, each year, I'm thinking
that we better do it pretty soon.
I mean, what are we up to-- 600 wells now?
I-I don't know.
-I mean, we still have the metals in the water. -Sure do.
And I do think what we just learned down there is important.
That could not have transmitted the kind of water
-that's in the Garden Shaft, right? -MARTY: No.
I still think, though, the metals are in the water
and we have two really good scientists
that say it's meaningful.
It's not just some sort of fluke.
We're still excited.
These metals in the water
still strongly suggest some sort of treasure deposit.
There we go.
MARTY: I think we need to take a deep breath
and we need to look at what we did
and then try and figure out what we need to do next year.
Look, you know what?
Tomorrow we're gonna get the team together.
We're gonna have a lot more on the table to talk about.
But I got to say, Rick, it's nice to hear you
still very positive.
RICK: 100%.
If you believe in something, you-you just persevere.
Sempre Avanti.
MARTY: Sempre Avanti.
♪ ♪
MARTY: Thanks for everybody being here.
Want to have a little recap.
This is sort of the deal where we make sure
-we're all on the same page. -Right.
NARRATOR: A bittersweet day has arrived
for Rick and Marty Lagina, Craig Tester and their team.
With the harsh North Atlantic winter fast approaching,
their search operations on Oak island will have to be
suspended until next spring.
So let's get started.
We're talking about what happened this year
and where everybody wants to go next year.
NARRATOR: But before departing,
the team gathers for a final time in the war room
to weigh the great progress
that has been made in their quest
to solve a 229-year-old treasure mystery.
Let's start with Lot 5, which became
quite interesting last year and continued this year.
And, of course, Laird, you ran the investigation,
so why don't you comment first and let us know
what your takeaways are
from all that archaeological work?
Well, it became a much larger project
and complex and interesting project
than expected.
And it led to some interesting and intriguing artifacts.
GARY: Yep.
NARRATOR: Since the team acquired Lot 5 in 2022,
they have made numerous discoveries there,
which suggests it may have been occupied
by several different groups over a number of centuries.
At the so-called round feature near the shoreline...
...they have unearthed a 14th century barter token
that may be connected to the believed Templar cross
that was discovered at Smith's Cove in 2017.
However, they have also found
potentially 16th-century Venetian trade beads.
And several iron tools that have been
scientifically connected to Sir William Phips,
the 17th century English nobleman
who some believe
hid a vast cache of Spanish silver
in the Money Pit in 1687.
In the rectangular feature located farther inland,
they not only found the three lead weights
that were possibly designed
for measuring quantities of treasure...
...but also an iron spike,
which Emma Culligan has dated to as early as the 12th century.
And incredibly, all of those discoveries
were eclipsed in age by four Roman coins
that the team uncovered on Lot 5,
which have been dated to between
2,000 and 1,500 years old.
So, given that soil samples
found in both of the mysterious structures
have been matched to others recovered
from deep in the Money Pit,
could that mean that Lot 5
may still hold secrets
that will prove critical
to solving the Oak Island mystery?
LAIRD: The so-called round structure
transitioned into... I'm not sure what.
MARTY: Mm-hmm.
LAIRD: It's a structure.
And the size of the rectangular structure
in the end, and the artifacts that came from that
were also a big surprise to us.
-Yeah. -JACK: And both the features were
completely buried and covered over,
-I think, intentionally. -LAIRD: Yeah.
We still contend that the former circular feature
is older than the occupation that's represented within it.
Yeah.
To me, the most significant thing
that happened there this year was this tie to the Money Pit.
Yeah.
The Money Pit might have been built by whoever was
inhabiting the two different structures.
MARTY: Right.
Maybe you can get the who
and you can even get a why and, you know, you tie it
to the treasure hunt that way.
-Right. -Yeah.
I'm quite impressed by the potential of how
Lot 5 may improve our understanding
of the mystery and its totalities.
Right.
MARTY: Okay. That's Lot 5.
One of the other prime areas of investigation this year--
-swamp. -(all chuckling)
Uh, who wants to kick it off?
I guess, Billy, why don't you?
You did most of the digging.
Well, I know you like the swamp, Marty.
I love it.
-(laughs) -BILLY: Every time we dig in the swamp,
it's just another surprise, I would say, really,
just one thing after the other.
CRAIG: We started hitting rocks everywhere.
NARRATOR: The team's excavations
in the triangle-shaped swamp this year revealed
even more stunning evidence that it may be
an entirely man-made feature.
Near the previously uncovered paved area
in the center of the swamp,
which Dr. Spooner has dated
to as early as 1200 AD,
they discovered a layer of massive tree stumps
that were possibly cut down
over 600 years ago,
when that area was potentially dry land.
In the southeast corner,
they uncovered a wooden extension
to the believed 500-year-old stone road
or ship's wharf
which may have been constructed for unloading heavy cargo.
What stands out to me is this stone
and this stone, this stone and this stone,
all in a line--
I'm pretty confident it's a human-made structure.
NARRATOR: And just several yards north of the stone road,
they unearthed a cobblestone pathway
leading to a massive cone-shaped boulder
that is nearly identical
to the boulders that form Nolan's Cross.
There's no question that humans have
manipulated that environment.
-Right. -JACK: Aside from the stumps, we had found
part of the stone pathway
kind of leads out to one of the boulders
that looks about the same size and shape
as some of the other Nolan's Cross rocks.
And that one was sitting on a considerable amount of sticks.
But did you get a date or anything off of it?
Well, the sticks were old. I think we got the dates back.
-CRAIG: Yes. -MARTY: Craig has the C-14 results.
Is that what this is?
Yep. The date was
656 to 703 AD.
The second time period,
740 to 774 AD.
(laughing)
MARTY: Oh, my goodness.
CRAIG: The second time period, 740 to 774 AD.
-So... -JACK: The dates just keep going further
and further back.
NARRATOR: In the Oak island war room,
Craig Tester has just presented
a stunning carbon 14 report
on organic materials in the swamp...
suggesting that the cobblestone pathway,
which leads to a massive cone-shaped boulder
located several yards north of the stone road,
could be more than 1,200 years old.
CRAIG: The big thing is, you know,
there's no natural process,
really, to push that huge boulder there.
Could this be another marking boulder?
Right? because somebody put boulders in the swamp.
It matches the ship's railing,
and it wasn't found all that far from here.
What do you got?
It looks like a piece of finished wood.
NARRATOR: In 2020,
while digging just to the west of the stone road
at the southern border of the swamp,
members of the team unearthed a finely crafted piece
of possible ship's railing that, incredibly,
was also carbon-dated to as early as the eighth century.
As I look around, I only see one piece of wood
that kind of resembles it. And that's up here
-along the bow. -MARTIN: Yeah.
NARRATOR: One week ago, while visiting
the Viking ship museum in Denmark,
Doug Krohl, along with Rick Lagina
and other members of the team,
noticed a strikingly similar piece of deck railing
on a reconstructed Viking ship.
Although it is well documented that members
of the Viking culture explored and settled in Greenland
and areas of northern Canada
some 1,000 years ago,
Is it possible that the team has now found
not only artifacts
but also structures on Oak island that suggest
Vikings may have reached as far south as Nova Scotia
and may indeed be connected
to the Oak Island mystery?
You know, one of the key things this year was
this big European trip that you took.
I came away with our interaction in Europe
more convinced than ever that Nolan's Cross was relevant.
So we've invited Emiliano and Corjan to join us here.
Corjan, Emiliano, I appreciate you guys being on board.
-Thank you. -Thank you so much.
RICK: My objective was irrefutable proof
that an old-world treasure
and an old-world mystery could have
come to the new world long, long ago.
My long, long ago is 1200s.
That was the hope: prove
east to west is possible at those early dates.
And the Templars, who had interactions
with the Norse/Vikings from long ago,
made those voyages. And something of value,
either information or treasure,
was brought to the New World.
I personally came away with a belief in that.
I think we came away from that trip having
proved what you just said. It is possible that it happened.
EMILIANO: Well, I mean, the voyage was
very informative.
We moved from northern Italy to Iceland,
and Iceland is exactly halfway through
this trip, from east to west,
from the old world to the new one.
-Corjan? -You know, the four-dot cross,
the symbol that was on the H+O stone on Oak island.
You saw it in various places where it was used
by the Knights Templar,
which shows
a very real connection there.
DOUG: The major takeaway for me was
science of astronomy was very important.
So, it makes it easy for me to believe
that they would have utilized that same science
here on Oak Island in the 13th century
-to accomplish their goals here. -RICK: Mm-hmm.
The information hunt is incredibly important.
We would be remiss in not following it.
At this point, it has produced tangible results.
Emiliano and Corjan, thank you for coming on the trip.
You've made it more enlightening and more enjoyable.
Thank you very much.
-Ciao. Ciao. -Thank you.
MARTY: We're on a treasure hunt,
and I think the most significant thing to us
is probably the Money Pit.
-Yeah. -MARTY: So let's get to it.
We have in front of us a very fine exhibit.
I really like this.
-These are the canisters? -STEVE: They are.
I guess, in my view, there were two big things
this year that we wanted to accomplish.
One was to find out where those metals were coming from.
And the other is to see what
the Garden Shaft itself could tell us.
We got down to 95-ish feet.
We start, just about, to commence
our horizontal drilling, which is one of
the purposes, and we were flooded out.
And not just flooded out, big time flooded out.
I mean, what's always interested me about it is this tunnel
goes right into the Baby Blob, right?
-Yes. -And so I'm super interested
in what's happening in that direction.
MARTY: Fred,
are the amount of metals you see consistent
with a treasure that was once there and gone,
-or not? -Those metal anomalies that we've been seeing
are truly anomalous.
So, to answer your question,
in order to be getting those
anomalies, there still has to be something present
in the subsurface.
-Yes! -MARTY: That's for sure.
Yeah, you're damn right on that.
MATT: Like, my feeling is we are
not seeing residuals
from things that were deposited and extracted
decades or hundreds of years ago.
The area that I think I would put
one would be just north of the Blob.
And the reason is is we... we know
the Blob is where we're seeing the metal anomalies,
and we know the water flow is coming from that direction.
Except that you don't have enough sampling.
You have no sampling up there.
-None. -IAN: No.
Guys, I have a thought that hasn't been floated before.
MARTY: Guys, I have a thought
that hasn't been floated before.
I'm thinking what we do is we take this pad,
we cut right back here a long ways,
open this whole area up,
and we continue our sonic drilling up,
and we can do some more testing up here.
We don't know what's going on up there.
Right now, our search is leading us here.
NARRATOR: In the war room,
Marty Lagina has just made a bold proposal for next year
that he hopes could finally pinpoint the possible
buried treasure that has been detected
between 80 and 120 feet
underground in the Money Pit area.
His plan may necessitate removing tons of earth
as well as the rock formation that surrounds the Garden Shaft
to create a flat surface that will allow
for the drilling of new six-inch boreholes
and subsequent water tests within them.
RICK: I think you have to.
In terms of the science, you have to
continue to explore that.
MARTY: Dr. Fred Michel
is absolutely rock solid
that there's some quantity of metal
that's giving off these metals in the water.
We drilled the heck out of the Baby Blob
and we didn't find anything.
So I want to dig to the northeast between
the Baby Blob and the Garden Shaft
until we get more data.
We can put some potential caissons on here,
just so we all know what is possible.
I'd be open to Aladdin's cave.
Yeah, that's been a very interesting area,
from what I've been looking at.
SCOTT: One of my areas of interest
is just outside of RF-1.
I mean, RF-1 is, to me,
the original Money Pit location.
Another area I'd like to go back to is just
around H-8. I mean, clearly, that was one of the more
interesting areas that we've drilled into in the Money Pit.
With a caisson this size, we can cover a lot more ground.
NARRATOR: In addition to the regions surrounding the Garden Shaft,
the team has recovered evidence in three other locations
that suggest there could be numerous deposits
of treasure in the Money Pit area.
One of these is known as Aladdin's cave...
-MARTY: Whoa, whoa, whoa. -Hold up.
...where the team discovered a massive cavern
some 150 feet deep,
containing water that has yielded
trace evidence of precious metals and wooden structures.
Look at all the wood.
NARRATOR: Another area of interest
is borehole RF-1, where in 2019,
the team was astounded to discover massive wooden beams
more than 100 feet deep that featured Roman numerals,
as well as the pickax,
which has been scientifically linked to Scandinavia.
The other location is known as borehole H-8,
which was excavated in 2017,
that the team not only discovered
possible evidence of the fabled Chappell Vault,
nearly 180 feet underground
but also pieces of parchment
and leather bookbinding.
MARTY: Rf-1 and H-8, we thought, were the Money Pit.
It's exciting,
as it just shows how much opportunity is still here.
I do want to say thanks to Rick
and the team that put this together,
'cause I-I do think this is very helpful.
I think we covered a hell of a lot of ground
and I thank everybody for their input.
What do you guys think?
Yeah, I think we had a good year,
and I think we got a lot of opportunity going forward.
Uh, I'll-I'll be honest.
I thought the other night about,
you know, when I was a little kid
and, uh, do I still believe?
Is the little boy still inside of me?
And...
I thought...
I thought long and hard about that,
and, uh...
and what I came to realize is, he's still...
he still is there.
But he's there because of you guys.
And you ladies.
And, uh, I still believe in the little boy
who's still cheering us on,
and I am extremely grateful for each and every one of you.
And, uh...
that's all I have to say.
So, thank you all.
♪ ♪
Okay, so I've often said nobody can follow a Rick Lagina speech.
So, with that, I think we're done for the season.
After a speech like that, to the longboats.
(laughing)
NARRATOR: What started as a dream for two boys from Michigan
nearly 60 years ago
has become a real-life adventure
that fulfilled their wildest imaginations.
Matt, good to see you.
NARRATOR: According to determined research,
tireless effort and hard science,
something of profound value and importance
lies buried on Oak Island.
Thanks, guys, for all the hard work.
NARRATOR: And when Rick, Marty and the Fellowship of the Dig
return next spring, it may finally spell
the end of a mystery
that has lasted for more than two centuries.
MARTY: If you look at the totality of the stuff
we have in front of us right now, something
rather significant happened here, so
it's time to find treasure on this island.
But not today.
Not yet.
RICK: I want an answer. (chuckles)
I want an answer because there's a richness to the story,
and the story's not complete.
Who's gonna give up? Nobody.
The last pages aren't written.
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