NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
-ALEX: Here we go. -RICK: We are going to run
a geophysical investigation in the swamp.
-Whoa. Yeah. Big hit. -Big one?
Fantastic!
-(whoops) -I see it!
I see it as well. Look.
Ooh. I mean, this is nice.
-TEDFORD: Whoa! -The bottom dropped
-right out from under you? -That’s right.
This is not a natural cavity. That doesn’t happen.
We’d better get a camera down there.
SCOTT: Here we go. Keep going.
-There’s the edge of something. -Wait. No, stop.
Some sort of, like, pedestal sticking out.
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.
♪ ♪
A new morning has dawned on Oak Island.
But unlike others in recent weeks,
it has begun with an eerie stillness
surrounding the Garden Shaft in the Money Pit area,
where one of the boldest operations ever undertaken
in the hopes of solving a 228-year-old treasure mystery
has suddenly come to an unexpected standstill.
-MARTY: Hey, guys. -CRAIG: Hey, Marty!
RICK: Hey.
Good news, right?
-Bravo Tango. -No.
All right.
RICK: We wanted to bring you up to speed on
the Garden Shaft project.
We’ve ran into a bit of a problem.
Okay.
Uh, Craig and Scott were on the phone
with the people at Dumas,
so I’m gonna turn it over to Craig and have him fill you in.
MARTY: That’d be great.
So what’s going on, Craig?
Well, Dumas needs some more permits,
and, uh, they got a list of,
I don’t know, close to 50 questions,
uh, from different governmental agencies.
They’re going through it and answering them,
but it is definitely a delay.
And, uh, it’s a slow process. It’s not days.
It’s gonna be a while yet.
From my perspective, no end in sight.
-Great. -Yup.
Are they shut down until this gets resolved?
Yeah. They left the site.
Is it safety issues? What is it?
The problem is, this was a rehab of a shaft,
and that’s the way Dumas approached this project,
but the government side of it was,
"No, this is a mining operation,"
so that’s where the disconnect happened.
And the rules for mining are a bit tighter than the rules
for what was considered to be just a shaft rehabilitation.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Three weeks ago,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Ltd.
began the process of rebuilding
an old, dilapidated wooden structure,
believed to be nearly 80 feet deep,
known as the Garden Shaft.
Okay, that was big, probably the outside wall there.
NARRATOR: First unearthed by the team in 2017...
...it was believed to simply be a 19-century searcher structure.
However, recent scientific analysis of wood samples
have been dated to the 1730s,
meaning that it could actually be related
to the original Money Pit.
And even more intriguing is the fact
that water testing conducted inside the shaft
has produced high-trace evidence of gold.
The Garden Shaft project,
to me, it’s the focal point of the year,
and the hope was that it would proceed seamlessly.
-That’s right. -It’s just kind of frustrating.
-Yeah. -Yep.
NARRATOR: The team’s plan is to have Dumas clear out the muck and water
from the existing shaft, and then build a new waterproof,
wooden structure down to a depth of at least 80 feet.
Additionally, if evidence of voids
or man-made workings are detected during the process,
Dumas is also equipped to construct lateral tunnels
away from the shaft to allow members
of the Oak Island team to personally investigate
for important clues and the fabled Oak Island treasure.
I’m very concerned about this.
It always seems to be something.
I mean, time is not on our side.
Not at this point.
MARTY: It’s disconcerting, because
if the Dumas effort gets pushed off too far,
we’re not gonna be able to utilize it this year.
Uh, we’re not gonna be able to use it as a tool
to help resolve the mystery.
RICK: Nova Scotia has really dedicated themselves
to keep the mining operations exceedingly safe,
and we now are under those regulations.
And we have to honor them and respect them.
As soon as this is resolved, they’ll start up the crane
and start mucking it out and start retimbering.
-Great. -RICK: So, now we can redirect our energies.
The drill program has not been affected.
-Yep. -So there’s a lot of work to do
that will help us move the search agenda forward.
All right. Good. Thank you for the update.
-I much appreciate it. -Okey doke. That’s all we’ve got.
-MARTY: See you later. -RICK: All right. See you.
CRAIG: Talk to you later.
NARRATOR: Later that day...
CHARLES: Well, we got another core coming.
98 feet, guys.
-98? -Yup. -Thank you, Brandon.
...members of the team are eagerly proceeding
with the other major search activity
in the Money Pit area for this year.
The core-drilling operation along their strategic grid,
is currently at a borehole known as IJ-15.25.
Here, they are hoping to once again intersect a tunnel
located some 103 feet deep,
which has been carbon-dated to as early as the 17th century.
And what makes the feature even more compelling to the team is
that a sonar operation conducted six weeks ago determined that
it is heading in the direction of the Garden Shaft.
TERRY: So, here we are at 98, and the tunnel will extend
from about 102 to about 107-ish.
Five foot-ish tunnels, often times what we’re encountering.
We should be in very close proximity
to the tunnel at this point.
We’re just above it with this.
PAUL: Hopefully, we get a chunk of wood here
in the next run.
TERRY: Here we go. I’m gonna help him with that.
-That’s our 108. -This will be 108.
-105, so... -Yeah. This should be, uh,
There should be something in here.
That’s the bottom there, right at 108.
PAUL: Let’s see.
-STEVE G.: It looks soft, Terry. -TERRY: Yeah.
Thank you.
TERRY: Okay.
Let’s see what it gives us.
♪ ♪
It does not look good.
CHARLES: Well, I’m not seeing any wood.
TERRY: Ah, yeah.
PAUL: It doesn’t look like there’s any splinters,
any nicks in here at all, nothing.
No, it’s just... It’s full of clay.
-Nothing. -TERRY: Unfortunately,
we’ve-we’ve missed the tunnel.
♪ ♪
RICK: It’s unfortunate that we did not discover the tunnel,
but there are still other opportunities
to drill and define that location.
Sadly, it’s a miss, but we still have a lot of good data.
I’m gonna plot the data,
and we’re going to pick the next most likely borehole
-to hit this tunnel. -Right.
-Hopefully, we can pinpoint where that treasure is. -Absolutely.
TERRY: Sempre avanti, gentlemen.
-Always forward. -PAUL: Exactly.
NARRATOR: As members of the team plot their next borehole
in the Money Pit area...
-GARY: This is gonna be a great day. -JACK: Yeah.
...metal detection expert Gary Drayton
and Jack Begley arrive at Lot 8,
located on the western side of the island.
Lot 8 just keeps producing.
Every time we come back here, we’re finding artifacts, mate.
-Yeah. -There’s bound to be
some more in this area, mate.
-Let’s go have some fun. -Let’s get stuck in, mate.
NARRATOR: Although it sets more than half a mile from the Money Pit,
in recent years, the team has made a number
of potentially important discoveries on Lot 8.
These include a semiprecious garnet gemstone
that some believe could have come
from a ceremonial masonic breastplate
related to sacred treasures of the Knights Templar,
as well as a bunk hook
that may date back more than four centuries
and which was designed for lifting heavy cargo.
And just one week ago, it was here
that Gary and Jack unearthed a copper artifact
featuring strange, handcrafted symbols.
It’s some sort of ornate metallic cover to an object.
NARRATOR: An artifact that archaeologist Dr. Edwin Barnhart
believes could possibly be another significant clue.
It does have some iconography on it,
so it could be some sort of religious object.
Really?
-(beeping) -(chuckles)
Little screamer.
-Just there, mate. -That’s a sweet sound.
Yeah, it really is.
(beeping)
♪ ♪
-GARY: That’s a plug. -(beeping)
And it’s still in the ground.
-Uh, either that, or we’re just missing it. -Maybe.
Might be off to the side.
(high-pitched beeping)
Oh, it’s deeper.
-Let’s see if I can winkle it out. -What is it?
-Ooh! -Whoa!
GARY: Look at that.
-GARY: Ooh-hoo! Sweet. -JACK: Whoa.
That is a part of a claw hammer.
NARRATOR: While searching on Lot 8,
located northwest of the Oak Island swamp,
Gary Drayton and Jack Begley have just made
another potentially important discovery.
I don’t know how old it is, but I do remember
Pete and I finding an old claw hammer--
I think it was Lot 14, Lot 15, over there--
-and it was an oldie. -Oh.
NARRATOR: A claw hammer?
One year ago,
while searching on Lot 15 for evidence of
a mysterious stone pathway
running between the swamp and the Money Pit...
...Gary, along with Rick and Marty’s nephew
Peter Fornetti, found a nearly identical tool...
RICK: Hello, Dr. Brousseau.
CHRISTA: Hi, everyone. How’s it going?
...one that chemist Dr. Christa Brosseau believed
could predate the discovery of the Money Pit
by nearly three centuries.
CHRISTA: This type of hammerhead has been known since the 1500s.
MARTY: Very interesting.
NARRATOR: But what made this find particularly interesting is
that it potentially dated to the same era
as the stone road found two years ago
in the southeast corner of the swamp.
The same stone road that was nearly identical
to one Rick Lagina and members of the team
were shown in Portugal one year ago
where the Portuguese sect of the Knights Templar
maintained a stronghold between the 12the and 16th centuries.
GARY: The socket would have been here.
It all has to do with the socket shape.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that Gary and Jack have just found
another clue that could connect the religious order
of the Knights Templar to the Oak Island mystery?
You notice how small that is?
If you’re bringing a tool kit ashore,
it’s all gonna be portable stuff.
It might be a good indication that we’re coming
-into an area that there was work done. -Yeah.
Okay, mate. We’ll bag it.
Keep moving.
MARTY: Any place we find anything on Oak Island, any of the lots,
could be the thing that unlocks Oak Island.
Any item we find on any of the lots.
Lot 8 is no different.
Lot 8 might be even better for one simple reason:
it was never occupied.
There was never a house there.
So, if there’s something that tells a story on Lot 8,
then that means something else happened there.
And, uh, next flag, mate, is...
-There. -...over there, yeah.
The guys in the lab are gonna love that.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
-MARTY: Hey, there he is! -JEREMY: Hello.
MARTY: Jeremy, how are you?
I’m great. Good to see all you guys.
..Marty Lagina along with his son, Alex,
and Craig Tester are meeting
with geoscientists Jeremy Church and Burton Cosgrove
in the Research Centre.
Due to the delay of the Garden Shaft reconstruction,
and also in light of the recent discoveries
made on the western side of the island...
MARTY: Jeremy, you guys brought some high-tech stuff
-that we’re gonna deploy on the island. -Yeah.
...the Oak Island team has invited Jeremy
and Burton to conduct a comprehensive geophysical scan
of all of Oak Island’s 32 four-acre lots.
So, the unit is known as EM31-8.
-Okay. Mm-hmm. -It is a near production prototype.
But, uh, it’s based on, uh, an older technology
that’s been around for a few decades now.
It’s just kind of a new riff on it.
What it measures is conductivity,
and it’s gonna collect that data down to a depth of 30 feet.
-Cool. -JEREMY: So, you know,
wherever you’re gonna have metallic objects on the island,
obviously, this thing’s gonna pick it up real nice.
But you also could be picking up things
like old foundations where the soil has been disturbed,
or there’s large anomalies.
These are all gonna be clues to the activity of,
you know, previous occupants of the island.
-Sounds good. -Yeah.
We were talking about, what are we doing in the swamp?
That’s-that’s my first suggestion.
MARTY: No, that’s spot-on, Alex,
’cause it’s warm right now,
-but the bugs aren’t out yet. -Mm-hmm.
MARTY: That would be a really good place to start.
And you could take it in a boat, no problem, right?
Yeah. Definitely.
ALEX: Another reason for starting with the swamp is
a couple years back you guys had that ship-shaped anomaly, uh,
in the swamp, and we tried to dig it.
Uh, we didn’t have a lot of success,
but if this equipment can give us another look at that area,
just to confirm, and hopefully get
-more meaningful information that way. -JEREMY: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
NARRATOR: It was during a seismic scanning operation,
conducted in 2018
by Jeremy and his colleagues from Eagle Canada
that identified a massive anomaly
resembling the size and shape of an ancient galleon ship
in the middle of the swamp.
Although the team has been unable to verify
just what the feature is,
since then, they’ve unearthed numerous pieces
of believed sailing vessels
dating from as late as the 17th century,
to as early as the third century AD.
Now it is the team’s hope that Jeremy and Burton
can identify new clues, not only on dry land
but also in the swamp, that might help them obtain
new permits to drain it
and confirm just what it may contain.
RICK: We’re here to try to solve an incredible mystery.
Is there a swamp component to solving that mystery?
I believe there is,
and I absolutely want to pursue it.
If we can get data from you early on
to incorporate in part of the permit, that’d be great.
-Yeah. -So, we’ll get you going.
-Thanks, guys. -Seriously, guys. Go get it.
-BURTON: Thank you. Bye. -MARTY: See ya. Appreciate it.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
-CRAIG: Jeremy. -JEREMY: Gentlemen, hello.
-Good to see you. -Hello, Craig.
-Tony, good to see you. -Good to see you. Nice to see you.
...diver Tony Sampson has joined Craig, Alex,
Jeremy Church and Burton Cosgrove
at the swamp
as they prepare to begin conducting their survey
using the EM31-8 scanning device.
So, how’s it going to work?
Really the key to all this is getting good lines.
It’s all about the grid that we do.
We need really a tight grid,
so we don’t miss any small anomalies.
And that’s part of the reason why Tony’s gonna be
in the water rather than rowing.
Yeah, but to get the straightest, cleanest lines,
you can’t beat human power.
NARRATOR: In order to scan the swamp,
Tony will guide the boat in straight grid lines.
The EM31-8 ground conductivity device measures
the magnetic field emitted by metallic objects,
or structures, that may be buried
as much as 30 feet deep underground.
Although the device can register immediate preliminary results,
the data that it collects will require several weeks
of post processing in order to generate
a three-dimensional map of potential man-made targets.
Okay, gentlemen, um...
I’m gonna go and do some other things,
-but I’ll check back in every once in a while. -Okay.
-Thanks. -OTHERS: See you later, Craig.
Okay. What do we need to do?
All right, well, let’s get this on the boat.
The first thing we need to do in the swamp is
to determine actual targets.
-Yeah, we’re good. -Nondestructive, noninvasive,
and if we come up with a legitimate target, or targets...
Okay, so you guys got it all set up?
I believe so.
...then we will begin that process
of applying for permits,
and, uh, try to come up with a plan.
Here we go.
-Thank you, sir. -Best of luck.
Thank you.
♪ ♪
TONY: How’s that for a starting point, guys?
JEREMY: Yeah, that’s a good one.
Yup, we’re online.
-TONY: Still good? -JEREMY: Yeah.
(low, steady beeping)
-(rapid beeping) -Whoa.
-Yeah, she’s going off. -TONY: Big one?
Like off through the roof, yeah.
TONY: Fantastic!
-JEREMY: Whoa, yeah, she’s going off. -TONY: Big one?
-Really? -Like off through the roof. Yeah.
-(rapid beeping) -Fantastic!
-Got a marker? -JEREMY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: While scanning for potential metallic objects and structures
in the Oak Island swamp...
TONY: I’m really happy we got a hit right out of the gate.
-Yep. -...geoscientists
Jeremy Church and Burton Cosgrove,
along with Tony Sampson and Alex Lagina,
have detected a potentially important clue.
What level was that at?
-It was all through them, so... -Really?
Yeah. It was basically sitting on top
of the-the seismic anomaly, too.
Could be some metallic objects in there.
Wow.
NARRATOR: Possible metal objects?
In the same location where Jeremy Church detected
a 200-foot-long ship-shaped anomaly four years ago?
Has the team potentially found more evidence
that the swamp could contain
the wreck of a centuries-old treasure galleon?
And if so, could it be related to the stone road
as well as the other discoveries made around the island
that may be Portuguese in origin?
-Good to go, Tony. -Good to go.
(steady beeping)
-(rapid beeping) -JEREMY: Boom.
Something’s happening right there. Yeah.
BURTON: Another hit there?
-Another hit there? -JEREMY: Yeah.
MARTY: I have to admit that
every time we’ve dug in the swamp,
we’ve found stuff that seems to be significant.
We have all kinds of stuff from the swamp that’s intriguing.
We have the enigmatic stone road
that anyone could tell is a man-made feature
and doesn’t make any sense to be in a swamp.
We have bits of wood that have
very peculiar dates on them from the swamp.
So, in order to finish this quest,
we have to finish the swamp.
You seeing anything?
It’s going really well, and yes, we are.
-Any theories? -JEREMY: Yeah, it does somewhat correlate
with the seismic anomaly from a couple years back.
-Interesting. Yeah. -Very interesting.
Tony, when you... when you’re going across those areas
where they got the hits, are you feeling anything with your feet?
I can feel the density of the bottom change.
So, similar over the last few years,
like when we found the stone walkway
and the stone roadway down here.
Yeah. That’s-that’s really exciting.
That many hits in this... just this small area
of the swamp is really, really encouraging.
-Excellent. -So, I’ll stop wasting your time and let you get back to it,
’cause I know I and the rest of the guys
are gonna be excited to take a look at this.
Right on. Yeah.
-JEREMY: Thanks, Alex. -ALEX: Thanks, guys.
-Thank you, Tony. -TONY: Thanks, Alex.
We’ll see you later, buddy.
NARRATOR: As the geophysical scan continues in the swamp,
later that afternoon...
TERRY: Looks fairly maroon-ish, Charles.
-CHARLES: It would be great to tunnel in. -TERRY: Yep.
...in the Money Pit area,
geologist Terry Matheson and other members of the team
are drilling a new borehole known as L-15.
Located some 15 feet south of their previous target,
here, they are hoping to once again intersect
a five-foot-high wood-cribbed tunnel
at a depth of 103 feet
believed to be heading toward the Garden Shaft.
TERRY: As for right now, we’re not into the tunnel,
but the next run we’re gonna be right to the top of the tunnel.
-If it’s there, we’ll hit it. -If it’s there, we’ll hit it.
TEDFORD: Oh, yeah, baby!
-BRANDON: Found it? -TEDFORD: I think so.
Now he’s on the bottom.
-TEDFORD: Must have been a chunk of wood at the top. -BRANDON: Yeah.
Hopefully. I don’t know...
(whirring)
CHARLES: 109?
-Yeah. Down at 109. -That’s the bottom, 109.
We’re looking for wood here, Charles.
TERRY: Hey, Mike.
-Right there. Look. Terry, right here. -Yeah.
-Oh, yeah. -CHARLES: There it is.
TERRY: We definitely hit the tunnel. Let’s have a look.
Let’s see just how much there is.
-There’s a fair good chunk. -CHARLES: Here we go.
Okay. There it is, there.
So, that’s not anything terribly substantial.
No.
What’s your read on this, Mike? What do you think?
Well, with all of this in the bottom?
-Yep. -Shouldn’t be there
-if we’re in the tunnel. -Yeah.
Look, bottom of the tunnel should be right here,
and we’ve got good, clean, bedded material, so...
We just nicked the side of it
-or the top of it or something, so... -Yeah.
So, the tunnel is collapsed over or shifted slightly,
and we’ve caught a small portion of it.
CHARLES: Yeah.
TERRY: This is not gonna give us
the direction of the tunnel.
NARRATOR: Could Terry be correct
that they’ve intersected the tunnel
they were hoping to find
but found evidence that it has,
in fact, collapsed at this location?
If so, it means that, unfortunately, Borehole L-15
will not provide any more confirmation
that the tunnel is leading toward the Garden Shaft.
TERRY: Okay, so there you have it.
To me, that means that there’s more exploration
-that has to be done. -Absolutely.
We know so very little about
the underground in the Money Pit.
And we have areas of significant interest
within the Garden Shaft.
We would be remiss, I think, at this point
not to drill deeper past this collapsed feature
to provide a greater understanding
of what this might be.
TERRY: We’re supposed to carry on to about 145.
-Yeah. -So, I think we should just carry on.
All right.
TERRY: It’s what lies beneath
is what we’re looking for.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
RICK: Good afternoon, sir.
-Hey. -Hello, mate. -Hello, guys.
...Rick Lagina and other members of the team
have gathered in the war room
for a follow-up meeting via video conference
with renowned archaeologist Dr. Edwin Barnhart,
regarding the mysterious copper artifact
that was found one week ago on Lot 8.
RICK: Well, we’re very interested in
the reports that were sent on to you
and what you make of them.
It was definitely illuminating.
NARRATOR: After reviewing the metallurgy report
that was provided by team archaeologist Emma Culligan,
and researching the strange handcrafted symbols
embedded on the object,
Dr. Barnhart has prepared his final analysis for the team.
EDWIN: The composition of the metal shows that
it is definitely an alloy
that is copper, zinc, and a tiny bit of lead.
Nothing in the Americas was ever alloyed,
so I can 100% surely tell you
it was not created by Indigenous American cultures.
ALEX: I’m glad to have 100%.
Yeah. When you can eliminate things, definitively,
that’s, uh, very helpful.
Now, the elements do tell us a little more, though.
You have 95% copper and just five percent zinc
and about .5 lead, says the report,
which means that it’s brass.
That’s interesting, because most brass
comes from Europe.
And brass was really more common
in the 1500s.
-Really? -Yep.
And, you know, the region that y’all are in
was a true crossroads of the world.
-There were a number of possibilities. -Hmm.
I mean, the-the Portuguese were up there
long before Plymouth Rock.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: Could Dr. Barnhart’s speculation
that the object found on Lot 8
is potentially of Portuguese origin be true?
If so, was it brought here by an explorer?
A religious missionary?
Or might it offer more evidence
that could connect the Portuguese sect
of the Knights Templar to the Oak Island mystery?
The possibilities of such an object coming
to your island really increase starting in the 1500s,
but it could be
some sort of older object.
The other possibility is the Vikings.
We know they came over around 1,000.
And we know that they plated
a lot of things with brass.
♪ ♪
EDWIN: The Vikings came over
around 1,000,
and we know they were there.
And, interestingly enough,
they plated a lot of things with brass.
NARRATOR: In the Oak Island war room,
archaeologist Dr. Edwin Barnhart
has just given Rick Lagina and members of the team
his stunning assessment of the metal object
that was recently found on Lot 8.
EDWIN: They used brass that was
part copper and part zinc.
NARRATOR: Based on its elemental composition,
it may be as much as ten centuries old,
and could be related to the Vikings.
That kind of plating around an object
being used for containers.
I would put it in the running as a possibility.
NARRATOR: It is well documented
that between the eighth and 11th centuries,
the Scandinavian people known as the Vikings,
or Norse, were powerful seafarers who traded with...
-(yells) -...and also pillaged,
many other cultures throughout Europe,
North Africa, and even parts of Asia.
By 985 AD,
Vikings began making voyages across the Atlantic Ocean
and established settlements in both Greenland and Newfoundland.
However, archaeological evidence has suggested
that they may have also visited modern-day Nova Scotia,
as well as areas in the United States.
When you mention the possibility of Viking or Norse,
obviously our ears perk up,
because there have been some carbon-dated artifacts
that have come up, uh,
with dates that are extremely old
-with high confidence. -ALEX: Mm-hmm.
And there was a coin found on Lot 5,
which the person who owned it previously, Robert Young,
uh, felt that he had found an old Norse coin on the island.
NARRATOR: In 1996,
the late Oak Island landowner Robert Young
reportedly found what he believed to be
a genuine pre-12th-century Norse coin
while metal detecting on his Lot 5 property.
Currently, these four acres are off-limits
to the Laginas and their team.
But in 2020,
they made two curious finds of their own
that are also among the most ancient discoveries
ever made on Oak Island.
One was a Chinese cash coin, found on Lot 15
between the swamp and the Money Pit...
SANDY: It’s probably somewhere
from 400 BC to 900 AD.
...which numismatist Sandy Campbell believes
to be 1,300 years old or even older.
The second was a piece of believed ship’s railing,
unearthed in the swamp that was carbon-dated
to as early as the 7th century.
Is it possible that these discoveries,
and the brass artifact unearthed on Lot 8,
offer corroborating evidence that Vikings may have been
the first Europeans to visit Oak Island?
If so, then just what were they doing here?
RICK: I think there are very interesting
and very exciting clues that lead one to believe
that there were early voyages to the New World,
perhaps to bring something here to Oak Island.
The real key is connecting those data points.
It’s an island of "what ifs" and possibilities.
-That’s what I’ve always said. -For sure.
Your reference to possible early Norse connections,
uh, we will certainly use to look at,
uh, artifacts we find from that perspective.
So we thank you for that insight.
EDWIN: My pleasure.
The signature that it seems that you’re getting
is a place that had multiple episodes of contact.
I feel for you guys.
-You have a very churned-up context. -Mm-hmm.
Context is everything to archaeology, that’s why
if the island hadn’t been so churned up
by varying processes,
you’d be able to put everything
in perspective.
Well, please don’t feel sorry for us.
We’re treasure hunting on Oak Island.
-(laughter) -Doesn’t get any better than that.
Well, I think we have another expert
that we have brought into the Oak Island family.
Yep. You’re right. I’m in.
-(laughter) -Great. Good to hear.
Thank you very much for your time.
-Yeah, thanks. -We really appreciate it. -Thanks, guys.
-RICK: See you later. -EDWIN: Take care.
NARRATOR: Following their meeting in the war room...
-(whirring) -ALEX: Hey, Terry.
-TERRY: Hi, guys. How you doing? -ALEX: Good.
Where are we at?
Oh, we’re just pulling a sample from 139 to 149.
...Alex Lagina and surveyor Steve Guptill
join geologist Terry Matheson in the Money Pit area
where the core-drilling operation continues
in Borehole L-15.
We’re just pushing to bedrock in the next run,
-and then we’ll see where we are. -Got it.
NARRATOR: After drilling through a collapsed portion
of a believed 17th-century tunnel one day ago
that may be connected to the Garden Shaft,
the team has proceeded to drill deeper
in the hopes of finding important clues
or potential valuables.
Here it comes.
TERRY: Okay.
-Hey, Mike. -TEDFORD: Hey, guys. -TERRY: Mike, how you doing?
STEVE G.: What do you got there?
That’s... about 146.
-STEVE G.: 146. -Yeah.
Okay. Excellent.
139 to 146?
-Yeah. -That’s...
-not enough core. -No.
When I was going down, right about 146,
it just, like, the bottom dropped out of it.
The bottom dropped right out from under you there?
Yeah. Almost like there was nothing there.
Like a void.
TERRY: The bottom dropped right out from under you there?
-TEDFORD: That’s right. -TERRY: Wow.
Almost like there was nothing there.
Like a void.
NARRATOR: It is a curious and exciting moment
in the Money Pit area for members of the Oak Island team.
How far did you drop, Mike?
-Ten feet. -TERRY: Ten feet?
So you’re down to about 150.
-That’s right. -Okay. Wow.
NARRATOR: Upon reaching a depth of more than 145 feet
in Borehole L-15,
located some 65 feet south of the Garden Shaft,
they have just encountered a mysterious void.
Wow, this is something we got to look into.
Mike, that’s really interesting information.
So, bottom drops at, one more time, 140...
-146. -TERRY: 146.
-Yeah. -That’s a big cavity. -ALEX: That’s huge.
-Yeah. -Did we know that there was a void there?
No, there, uh, there’s no voids in this area that we know of.
So, this is not a natural cavity, right?
I mean, that doesn’t happen.
-Does it? -(chuckles) We haven’t seen it.
-(laughs) -Let’s just put it that way.
-That’s fair. -Very unusual.
So if we’re at 146 to a 150-something,
this is a different cavity we don’t have any information on.
-Yeah. -So this is a brand-new cavity.
Luckily, we have a sonar and a camera here,
so the first thing we should do is put a camera down
-and see if we can see an opening. -Yes.
Yeah, I agree. I agree,
and I think Rick will probably want to know about this,
so I’m gonna let him know,
and then we can get the camera set up
-and-and take a look. -TERRY: For sure.
Okay. Sounds good.
TERRY: Interesting times. Good stuff.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The following morning...
-STEVE G.: Hey, Rick. -SCOTT: Hey, guys.
So, we’re set up.
Wow.
You guys are first-class.
...Rick and Marty Lagina join members of the team
in the Money Pit area where they have just inserted
a high-definition camera down Borehole L-15
to investigate the mysterious void
located 146 feet underground.
SCOTT: Pretty clear so far.
By the way, I want to name this thing, okay?
Yeah.
So I’m officially gonna start calling this... Ready?
-Yup. -Aladdin’s Cave.
Aladdin’s Cave?
Are we finding some magic down here?
-Touch nothing. -(laughter)
For me, this void, cavity, is interesting.
Is there any man-made association
with a treasure deposition?
This could be a possible explanation for it.
We’re on a downward pull now.
SCOTT: So, when you see the 150-mark come up,
let’s stop before that, and we’ll just creep down slowly
-from there so we can see it coming out of the casing. -STEVE G.: Yup.
PAUL: It’s coming up shortly.
SCOTT: Slow down. Slow down.
There’s 150.
-All right, so, there we go. -MARTY: Okay. Careful.
PAUL: Start creeping from here.
Keep going. Keep going.
Keep going.
-SCOTT: There we go. Right there. -STEVE G.: There it is.
You can see in the cavity?
SCOTT: We’re getting a lot of reflection back
-from particulate. -MARTY: You can see stuff
-that’s following you down. -SCOTT: Yeah.
So, our next stop will be 151, eight inches.
MARTY: Okay. Go real slow.
♪ ♪
SCOTT: There we go.
STEVE G.: Right now, we’re looking into the cavity.
PAUL: There’s some material or rocks.
MARTY: The cave is very interesting to me,
because it’s hard to figure out
how that could be a natural feature.
It doesn’t make sense.
It’s all by itself. There are no others like it.
So we need to figure that thing out.
You can’t be very far off bottom.
You want to point it straight down, Scott,
and lower it and just see what’s directly beneath us?
SCOTT: Yeah.
-STEVE G.: Good. -SCOTT: Here you go.
We should be looking straight down there.
We’re pretty close to the bottom, aren’t we?
Yep.
That’s very clear.
SCOTT: Let’s do a rotation
and see if there’s anything else stands out.
PAUL: The hope is that we scan around,
and we find a chunk of wood somewhere.
Come on.
No. You can go down.
-STEVE G.: You got something? -SCOTT: Something coming in.
Yeah, so let’s...
See how weird that is?
PAUL: Yeah, I can see that.
There’s the edge of something.
-STEVE G.: You got something? -SCOTT: Something coming in.
See how weird that is?
PAUL: Yeah. I can see that.
There’s the edge of something.
SCOTT: This piece right here?
This piece right here.
NARRATOR: In the Money Pit area,
while investigating a mysterious void
some 146 feet deep in Borehole L-15...
I wonder if I can zoom in on that a little better
or focus on it a little better.
...Rick and Marty Lagina,
along with other members of the team,
may have just found a potentially important clue.
That’s a weird way for a rock to fracture.
Well, why don’t you try and zoom out?
I’m just trying to-- making a rotation, a full circle.
Wait. No. Stop.
That’s pretty square.
Some sort of, like, pedestal sticking out.
Wow.
RICK: Every expert has told us,
you see right angles,
whether they be above ground or below ground,
that’s something that was constructed by humans.
Anything constructed by humans on Oak Island
is of interest to us.
And thus, the reason to continue to investigate.
I think you’re seeing a pile of jumble underneath the camera.
Maybe there’s been a collapse down there.
NARRATOR: A possible collapsed structure?
In a cavity nearly 150 feet deep?
If so, could it have been built by treasure hunters
after the Money Pit’s discovery in 1795?
Or was it created by someone
who came to Oak Island much, much earlier?
And do you think you’re seeing off the edge of a pile,
-right there? -PAUL: That’s what
we’re looking at right now, straight down.
And the hole came down very close to
the wall of the cave, we’ll call it.
And I think that’s what we see whenever
we’re looking horizontally.
Okay, put it at 90 and take a loop.
Think that’s the wall? The nearest wall?
SCOTT: I think that’s what we’re seeing.
Some sort of structure close to the hole.
I think it has the possibility of not being natural.
I’d really love to explain the cavernous area,
but I am, uh, I’m a little lost on this thing.
I don’t see a mechanism, a natural mechanism
to have been created.
So, it’s a long shot, but this could be the chamber.
So we need to know everything that’s inside this thing.
We can rotate it around,
then we can kind of see into the abyss.
You can’t focus on that any better?
Let’s try.
MARTY: I don’t see anything.
Okay. So, we have a decision to make.
I need more data, if we’re gonna explore this.
RICK: To me, it just simply says
we need the mapping sonar
if you’re ever gonna learn anything at all about this.
Correct. If we have a sonar,
-a 3D sonar, I would run it. -Okay.
RICK: It’s huge. It’s remarkable.
I think that what we need to do is understand
the size of this void, the floor, the ceiling,
the orientation with the other knowns in the area.
We need to get 3D mapping sonar
down into that hole and map that entire void.
-We’re done here. -Okay.
Spool it all up. On to the next thing.
-Thank you, guys. -STEVE G.: Thanks, guys.
NARRATOR: In spite of a frustrating setback
with the Garden Shaft excavation,
Rick, Marty, Craig and their team continue
to forge ahead with possible breakthrough discoveries
and potentially history-changing revelations.
Could it be that the origins of the Oak Island mystery
stretch back even further in time than anyone ever imagined?
Perhaps that question can only be answered
by locating the treasure that has been detected
in the Money Pit.
And there is no force powerful enough on Oak Island
that will stop this team from trying to find it.
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
-ALEX: Sonar’s set up. -STEVE G.: Let’s get it down hole.
-PAUL: Yeah, there it is. -SCOTT: It is a significant opening.
This could be the off-set chamber.
Another anomaly was this one in the northern tip of the swamp.
TOM: Awfully close to the Eye of the Swamp.
Would a metal box give you that?
-Oh, for sure. Yeah. -MARTY: Wow.
We have managed to purchase Lot 5.
-(beeping) -Oh. Ooh!
-Look at that! -Wow.
That’s treasure, mate.
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