NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
TEDFORD: Whoa!
I could feel the rods break through something.
Whoa! We got lots of wood.
Wood all through this core.
TERRY: Oh, my gosh. We're into something.
EMMA: There's some quantities
of gold in the wood.
That's fantastic. Now we have
gold in the wood and in the water.
This might lead us to where the treasure may be.
Wow. Look at that.
They found an old ladder.
-SCOTT: It's all handmade. -This could be
the long-sought-after answer.
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.
♪ ♪
PAUL: This is gonna be an exciting spot.
CHARLES: DN-11.5?
STEVE: Yep.
-Hey, Mike. -Hey.
You ready to bring the rig in?
Yeah. Ready to go.
NARRATOR: As another exciting week begins
-on Oak Island... -CHARLES: Is that it? -Got it.
...for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and their team,
they are more confident than ever
that the answers to a 228-year-old treasure mystery
may soon be within their reach.
Well, this is a location that we think is a prime target.
Dr. Spooner and Dr. Michel feel like
they've isolated, uh, an area of specific interest
based on those water sample testing results.
This is that area.
Sounds good.
Here's what gets me really excited.
We don't think this is geological.
Hmm.
NARRATOR: One week ago,
after conducting water tests
in boreholes across the Money Pit area
that suggested the fabled treasure may be located
within a 70-by-25-foot area just west of the Garden Shaft
that the team affectionately dubbed the Blob...
FRED: The variety of objects that are being buried
that contain those metals.
And they're clustered in this smaller area.
NARRATOR: ...geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner
and hydrogeologist Dr. Fred Michel
conducted new tests
that significantly narrowed the search area even more
to a zone measuring just 20-by-20 feet
and between 80 and 120 feet deep.
Blob version 2.0.
-Baby Blob. -Yeah, Baby Blob.
(laughter)
So, here's a plan of the area.
It's a very curious area,
because we potentially have a tunnel sitting at 95 feet,
which comes into this potential treasure location.
It all leads to this area,
and that area leads right to that "X."
And that "X" is really the best shot we have
-of covering all of it. -Yeah.
So, back the rig in. Let's get going.
-Let's do it. -All right.
NARRATOR: Now the team is about to drill
Borehole DN-11.5 in the Baby Blob,
a borehole that they hope will not only encounter valuables
below a depth of 80 feet
but may also be on track to intercept a tunnel
believed to run directly below the Garden Shaft,
where water testing has also detected evidence of gold.
RICK: There's palpable excitement.
I mean, we've conducted
an extensive water sampling program
literally over months.
-TEDFORD: Bam! -This could be
where the so-called "elusive treasure" may reside.
My hope is that
we will find something there.
Okay, well, Charles, if you find anything,
-give us a call. -Yep. -Thanks, Charles.
-You and Terry are in charge. -Okay.
NARRATOR: As the drilling operation
in Borehole DN-11.5 gets underway...
...a short while later...
ROGER: Go in there and we'll sign ourselves in
-and get on the way. -Okay.
...Rick Lagina and Oak Island operations manager Scott Barlow
prepare to personally inspect the Garden Shaft
now that its reconstruction
is well past the halfway point to reaching
their target depth of 80 feet.
-All right. -Okay, so how deep are we, Roger?
So, I'm-I'm estimating around 59, maybe 60 feet
is where the bottom of the muck is itself.
So we'll be about five feet above that.
Uh, that's where our staging is set.
-Okay. -You'll see the old landing.
The ladder's still leaning on it.
So it'll give you a good idea of,
uh, how they-they constructed things.
Okay.
-I say we get downhole. -All right.
-Sounds good. Let's go. -SCOTT: Go.
NARRATOR: Over the past several weeks,
the team from Dumas Contracting Limited
has been excavating tons of muck and water out of
the dilapidated 80-foot-deep shaft
and then installing new watertight wooden levels
every eight feet known as "sets."
As Dumas progresses further underground,
they will also be probe drilling at various angles
for evidence of potential offset man-made chambers and valuables.
RICK: Scott and I are lucky enough
to go back down into the Garden Shaft.
They have found an old ladder.
Look, it-it's a little part of history.
There we go.
Oh, here we are right here.
SCOTT: Wow.
RICK: Isn't that something?
-SCOTT: Mm-hmm. -ROGER: Been here a while.
RICK: Amazing.
You see how it's all whittled
-and, uh, it's not... -Yeah.
ROGER: Def-Definitely didn't have a wood lathe back then.
SCOTT: It's all handmade.
-Yeah. -You're 100% right. -RICK: Look at that.
-It's a pretty unique piece. I mean... -Like you said.
ROGER: Somebody took a lot of time whittling that.
-That one. -I'd like-- I'd like to speak to the man who built this ladder.
Oh, God. Yeah.
Just to see what he had to say about this whole operation.
Absolutely.
NARRATOR: Given the fact
that the Garden Shaft may have been constructed
more than half a century prior
to the discovery of the original Money Pit,
could this handmade ladder have been left behind
by someone who deposited a vast cache of gold?
If so, might that explain the high readings of precious metals
that the team has detected in this area?
SCOTT: One thing, Roger, I'm seeing-- it looks like
we're starting to sink in that corner
in the original structure.
That-that beam is running downhill.
Is running down-- Uh, you know what, that-that could
very well be. Yeah.
We haven't seen any split in the timbers anywhere,
so we're not sure what's going on.
SCOTT: No, you know, I'm-I'm really curious.
We have a very soft void that's to the south of us,
-and we see sinking on this corner. -Yeah.
-That could be what's happening here. -Yeah.
SCOTT: You know? There could be potential offset chambers,
who knows what?
It's a-- it's a good point, though.
I'll get 'em to check that.
Because just below the staging here
we're gonna be setting up our probe drill.
Who knows what's outside these walls?
We might be two feet away from something
-that's just sitting there. -Yeah.
The proof is in the drilling, I'd say.
NARRATOR: 12 weeks ago,
while drilling Borehole A5N-13.5,
located just 18 feet southwest of the Garden Shaft...
Hey, guys!
Check out the Garden Shaft!
...the team discovered a large void.
This could be the indication of an offset chamber.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that the slump Scott Barlow has noticed
at the same approximate depth in the Garden Shaft
could be related to that void?
If so, what might they find
once they are able to begin probe drilling in that area?
That's exciting, because, I mean,
that's the next step in advancing this.
-Yeah. -I mean, this is gonna give us the ability to
also see outside the shaft. If there's some kind
of a chamber or a tunnel or another shaft
-that's beside it... -Mm.
...this is gonna give us that information.
-Yep. -RICK: Okay.
Let's get the ladder up out of the hole.
Let's get that ladder down so we get topside
-and your guys can come down and continue to work. -Sounds good.
Absolutely. I agree 100%.
NARRATOR: As Rick and Scott finish their inspection
of the Garden Shaft...
GARY: I know you guys are as excited as I am
about this fantastic artifact.
NARRATOR: ...in the Interpretive Centre...
MARTY: All right, team, what have you got
-for me today? -Yeah, we found
what I describe as a bobby-dazzler.
NARRATOR: ...Marty Lagina is meeting via videoconference
with his son Alex,
metal detection expert Gary Drayton,
and archaeologist Laird Niven, who,
along with archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan,
have an updated report to share regarding
a potentially valuable recent discovery.
It is a fantastic-looking piece of jewelry.
It's really intricate and,
of course, a top-pocket find.
Excellent.
NARRATOR: The ornately-designed artifact
was discovered just one week ago on Lot 26,
less than 100 yards
from a mysterious 900-year-old stone well,
a stone well where Dr. Spooner's water testing
has also yielded high trace evidence of silver.
All I've been thinking about is what's it made of
and how old it is.
Okay, what does it tell us?
I'm all ears.
So, I did a really long CT scan
just to get a better look at the interior.
It is very intricate.
Hmm.
NARRATOR: Over the past 24 hours,
Emma has conducted a continuous scan of the artifact
using the computer tomography, or CT, scanner.
The machine emits nondestructive X-ray radiation,
which produces a high-definition,
three-dimensional image of the object,
revealing its finer details.
GARY: So it was probably a pin that went across it,
so it probably is a brooch or a pin.
Mm-hmm.
NARRATOR: In addition to the CT scanner
Emma has also analyzed the object
with the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, or XRF.
This device can identify the types of alloys and elements
that artifacts are composed of,
which can help determine when and where
they may have originated.
So, Emma, I know you've run the XRF on this.
Mm-hmm.
What is this thing made out of?
So, it's a brass iron alloy,
and then you have this
lead glass, and it's definitely a lead-potassium glass.
-Leaded glass normally means older. -Lead is good.
Yeah. That's this piece right here.
So that's the glass piece.
LAIRD: Yeah, and it's rather crudely added.
Well, that's good because crude normally means
something being older.
-LAIRD: Yeah. -MARTY: Laird.
-LAIRD: Yeah? -How old is this?
-I defer to Emma on that. -(Emma chuckles)
I'm not seeing any elements to suggest 1850s-post.
So I'm not seeing any true modern materials in it.
That's fantastic news.
MARTY: Excellent.
MARTY: How old is this?
I'm not seeing any true modern materials in it.
NARRATOR: In the Interpretive Centre,
archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan
has just informed the team
that a decorative artifact
found one week ago on Lot 26
and not far from the 900-year-old stone well
may also predate the discovery of the Money Pit.
What is it?
Well, this is where her artistry comes in.
EMMA: Okay.
So I did separate 3D images.
So you've got two pieces--
you've got this copper wiring part,
then you have the floral bit with the glass.
Glass component.
Are those leaves? Are those fleur-de-lis?
EMMA: They are fleur-de-lis.
Well, that fleur-de-lis is French.
NARRATOR: Although its true origin is
debated by scholars to this day,
the fleur-de-lis, or "flower lily," is
a symbol that was adopted
by the French monarchy in the 12th century
to represent purity.
However, it was also an emblem associated with
the medieval order of the Knights Templar,
who also originated in France
and depicted it on certain versions of their official seal.
Is it possible that this mysterious object
was left on Oak Island by someone of French origin?
And if so, could it be related to other
French artifacts that the team has found in recent years,
such as the 14th century lead cross,
which came from an area in Southern France
that was known to have been a stronghold
of the Templar Order?
GARY: This might go way, way back.
And how do we know this is not treasure, Marty?
Well, it could be, but, you know,
it'd be nicer if you were doing your gold dance
-right now, Gary. -GARY: Yeah.
-Oh, I'd be on this table. -(Alex laughs)
MARTY: This thing can tell us
a story yet, I'm sure.
And we're really looking for the origins of
who was on that lot,
-and what were they doing there? -ALEX: Yep.
We'll get working on it.
MARTY: Excellent.
-LAIRD: See you later. -GARY: See you, mate.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The following day...
TEDFORD: Good to go.
...as the core drilling operation
in Borehole DN-11.5...
ROGER: Coming down. There you go.
...and the reconstruction of the Garden Shaft
continue in the Money Pit area...
ROGER: Good.
RICK: So I'm sure everybody recognizes this area.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina, along with Jack Begley
and archaeologists Laird Niven and Helen Sheldon
arrive on Lot 26,
near the mysterious 900-year-old stone well.
RICK: What's curious to me,
because it's an association with
Gary's metal detecting,
this stone wall.
NARRATOR: In light of the recent discovery of the decorative brooch,
which was found near this rock wall
on the border of Lot 26,
Rick Lagina has decided to
further investigate this stone feature
for clues that might explain
just who may have visited this area
prior to the discovery of the Money Pit.
It's unlike any of the others.
-It's wider. -LAIRD: Yeah.
RICK: Thicker.
There's more of a construct to it.
Regular farmers' stone walls are just--
you find a stone in the field,
you throw it on the pile, right?
This, if you walk back
you can see a linearity to this feature
and a squareness to this structure.
I thought it might be important to conduct
some archaeological investigation of that feature.
Every single rock wall that I've seen
all over the island is more rounded.
Correct.
But if there was a large wall here before,
it would have been used as a lot line.
It's possible.
So, it was 1762,
I believe, when the island was surveyed.
Yeah.
Charles Morris.
NARRATOR: In 1762, Charles Morris,
the surveyor general of Nova Scotia,
divided Oak Island into 32 four-acre lots.
Although the island was relatively uninhabited
until the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795,
curiously, it was the only island in Mahone Bay
to have been divided up in this fashion.
Is it possible that this rock wall contains clues
that could help explain why Oak Island held
particular interest to the provincial government?
It seems like it could have been used
for some other purpose.
I've noticed this before-- related to the wall possibly--
is this feature here.
I'd be interested in seeing
if that is indeed the terminus of the wall...
-LAIRD: Mm-hmm. -...or if it does indeed extend into the pond.
LAIRD: If the wetland was here,
the wall would stop right where it is.
RICK: Mm-hmm.
LAIRD: If it was further away, then perhaps
the wall extended even further.
I think we should start by just probing
-to see if it continues. -Okay.
There's no time like the present to start.
-I think we'll start with probing, right? -Good. Yup.
RICK: We've never understood completely
why the stone wall between Lots 26
and 27 is constructed differently than
the rest of the stone walls across the island.
I'm very curious to see what we find.
♪ ♪
No rock there.
-Ew. No rock there. -No rock there.
RICK: It doesn't go off
in that direction, though, does it, Laird?
♪ ♪
No.
There's nothing going that way.
So, what's the next step?
I'd like to put a test unit hard up against the wall.
So we can get a good cross section
-and see how it was built. -Yeah. Exactly, yeah.
I think we'll set Helen up in her pit,
-along that potential feature. -Sure.
-And then we can just clear the vegetation. -RICK: Okay.
There's a lot to do and we might as well get started.
-Yup. -RICK: Okay.
NARRATOR: While Rick and members of the team begin investigating
the rock wall on Lot 26...
♪ ♪
TERRY: Okay. DN-11.5.
...back in the Money Pit area...
-Thank you, Colten. -Thanks, Colten.
Top of 88, so we got 78 to 88.
Let's see what it's giving us.
Slice and dice.
...Charles Barkhouse and geologist Terry Matheson
are closely monitoring the drilling
of Borehole DN-11.5
now that it has reached
the possible treasure zone between 80
and 120 feet deep.
-Hey, Charles. -Hey, Ian.
Hi, Ian. How you doing?
How you doing, Terry?
Not too bad. Good to see you.
We're down DN-11.5.
We're down 78 to 88 feet.
-We're getting close. Yeah. -We're getting close, yeah, yeah, yeah.
-(machinery squeaks) -TEDFORD: Oh, man.
Whoa!
I think I'm gonna pull this off.
It broke through something.
Let's take a measurement on the pipe.
COLTEN: All righty.
TERRY: What's going on over there?
COLTEN: Ten.
TEDFORD: Saying we're open a foot and a half.
TERRY: How we doing?
TEDFORD: Hey, guys.
So, I was doing my run to a hundred.
-TERRY: Right. -Right at about 90 feet,
broke through something.
Wow, you got an open space 90 feet below grade?
-Right. There's a void down there. -Wow.
TERRY: I can't believe it.
TERRY: You got an open space
-90 feet below grade? -Right.
-There's a void down there. -Wow.
NARRATOR: It is a potentially
critical moment in the Money Pit area
as the drilling operation in Borehole DN-11.5
has encountered a mysterious void
at a depth of 90 feet in the believed treasure zone
also known as the Baby Blob.
So we're just gonna talk this over and think about
-how we're gonna proceed. -Yeah.
We definitely want you to pause.
All right.
I think we better get Rick and Marty up here.
-Sure. -Let me give them a call.
Absolutely.
We're on pause, bruh.
(line ringing)
Hey, Rick.
RICK: Whenever you get a call
from the Money Pit drill program, you're excited.
DN-11.5 is actually within the so-called treasure zone.
The treasure zone we know has
high gold values,
we know the introduction of trapped air,
we know voids in the area.
It's exciting.
CHARLES: Rick's here now.
So you found it and I can go home.
(laughing)
Well, we got something interesting going on.
-Hey, Mike. Colten. -Hey.
-Hey, guys. -Hey, gentlemen.
TERRY: Join the table.
DOUG: Judging by the people gathered here,
something happened.
When I walked up, everybody was smiling.
-What's going on? -Hey.
-TERRY: Come on down. -What have we got?
Mike, why don't you tell us what you saw or hit?
At right about 90 feet,
I could feel the rods break through something.
And, uh...
it was open about a foot and a half past my rods.
Whatever I cored through probably fell out
into this void.
MARTY: So, what is this?
This DN-11.5,
it really seems to line up.
DN-12.5 and DN-13.5
all in that east-west alignment, all have hit
a structure at 94 feet below grade.
Mike hitting this right now at about 90,
that says perhaps we're at the top of the tunnel.
NARRATOR: Because the team has recently encountered
a believed tunnel at this same depth
in two other nearby boreholes,
which all line up with the Garden Shaft,
could Terry Matheson be correct that they have intercepted
another section of the structure?
If so, could it be related to the large amount of gold
that has been detected within the Baby Blob?
We've got to affirm whether or not it is a tunnel.
-Yeah. -And the only way to learn that
is to pull the core.
-TERRY: Exactly. -Let's have at her.
Get us some core.
Time to find some treasure. Go get it, guys. Thanks.
♪ ♪
RICK: Every time a bit goes down,
every time we encounter a void...
...your first thought is, "This might lead us somewhere."
To the long sought-after answers.
the long sought-after treasure.
TEDFORD: Beauty.
Every single time.
If we were to encounter a tunnel in close proximity to this shaft
or even at the base of this shaft,
that's a real aha moment.
-Got something. -Oh, he's got a big one.
TERRY: Thank you.
All right. Where'd you set down?
Uh, the end is 98 and a half.
MARTY: Where did your void end?
The void ended at 97.
You had that much?
-There's some wood, Terry. -Whoa! We got lots of wood.
-We got wood at the bottom here. -Yup.
TERRY: Oh, my gosh. We're into something.
It's all through there.
There's a pretty solid chunk in the middle of it.
There's wood all through this core.
IAN: I'm just gonna squeeze in there and get a wood sample.
This sample right here. We don't need much.
That sample should be fine.
We're just gonna send it in the lab really quickly,
just to see if there's metals in that wood.
Do you guys still think tunnel?
-TERRY: Absolutely. -MARTY: Well, you know what?
Why don't we run the camera down there?
I don't think it's likely, but maybe we see something.
-Why not? -Yeah, sounds good.
I mean, we have it right here
and it only takes a second to drop.
RICK: Yup. I'd say put it on down.
All right, run it.
I'm happy whenever we have the chance to actually
put down a camera.
That's as exciting as it gets. That's as good as it gets.
-STEVE: Ready, Terry? -TERRY: Ready to rock.
MARTY: That's something we can see into.
And any time we have a chance,
we're going to do that and hope we find something new.
STEVE: Recording.
MARTY: Okay, let's see what we can see.
NARRATOR: In order to investigate the possible tunnel,
the team will be using
the Inuktun Spectrum 120 high-definition camera.
-CHARLES: Oh, there you go. -TERRY: We're in the water.
Yup.
NARRATOR: This camera is designed
to withstand depths up to 1,000 feet
underwater and features a lens that can rotate 360 degrees.
That double tape is your 89.
TERRY: Thank you.
STEVE: Look how dirty the water is.
Just the last foot or two of water.
-TERRY: We're almost there. -STEVE: Yup.
♪ ♪
MARTY: I don't see a lot.
Wow.
Tell me what you're seeing.
-STEVE: Nothing. -CHARLES: Nothing.
-RICK: Nothing at all? -CHARLES: Unfortunately, no.
-STEVE: It's pitch black. -CHARLES: Yeah.
STEVE: With a light on.
Come on out.
Okay.
We have zero visibilities with that.
-Okay. So that was disappointing. -MARTY: Gentlemen,
absolutely no visibility.
It was kind of a long shot, but it was worth doing.
We'll leave this hole open and we'll go decide
-where we're going next. -Okay.
MARTY: Oak Island doesn't give up its secrets easily.
NARRATOR: As a new day begins on Oak Island...
MARTY: There's the man, right here.
-Good to see you. -Nice to see you again.
-Roger. -Hey, Rog. -Marty.
NARRATOR: ...Rick, Marty,
and Alex Lagina, along with
Scott Barlow, gather at
the Oak Island Research Center
to meet with Roger Fortin
from Dumas Contracting Limited.
With the recent discoveries
of believed man-made features near the Garden Shaft,
including a large void-- some 55 feet deep--
and now a believed tunnel at a depth of 90 feet,
the Oak Island team is eager to strategize how to further
investigate those features
and any others that may be discovered
through probe drilling
as Dumas completes the shaft
down to a total depth of 80 feet.
This would entail using a hydraulic drilling device
to create a number of exploratory boreholes
in each wall of the Garden Shaft
that extend several feet out from the structure.
SCOTT: So, one thing that we've learned this year,
drilling around that area, was, we had encountered a tunnel.
-Okay. -Initially, we thought
maybe it projected from the Garden Shaft.
Hmm. Interesting.
So, what is the program?
Mm-hmm.
So, eight more feet, then you do it again.
That's right.
So, if you encounter wood in any of those,
we're always interested.
Yeah.
We want to do probe drilling
in various levels as we go down in the shaft,
so we want to probe all over in the bottom
and all off to each of the sides and maybe down at angles
because we have evidence
that there may be a tunnel underneath it.
We want to learn all those things
'cause there are a lot of things that point to
that area being in the treasure zone.
SCOTT: So what we're going to do is,
once you've drilled all your holes,
Steve and I will go down there
and we'll set up some survey equipment
and we'll take the depth that you provide for each hole width
and we'll do the projection on a 3D model and we'll see
-where those land in space. -Yup.
RICK: The probe drilling program is
necessary for two reasons.
One is, there may be a gold-silver component here
in this very shaft,
and one is, is there a cavity, a void,
or a tunnel in close proximity to this shaft indicating
a location that a treasure may be?
Okay, great. Carry on.
-Sounds good, guys. -Thanks.
MARTY: Let's see what this shaft can tell us.
ROGER: Absolutely.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
ALEX: So this is the border
-between 26 and 27? -Correct.
NARRATOR: ...Alex Lagina arrives on Lot 26
to help with the investigation
of the mysterious rock wall
being conducted by Jack Begley,
archaeologist Laird Niven,
and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan.
-So, we put one test pit in. -ALEX: Mm-hmm.
LAIRD: And you can see Gary's flags,
-so things were happening here. -ALEX: Okay.
So, what's the plan moving forward?
Plan moving forward is, we're gonna excavate that--
I think you and Emma, if that's all right?
-Sure. -This, we want to see
how far down the wall goes, right?
If we can find an artifact down below
jammed into the wall that can help us date
-the construction of the wall... -Right.
-Ready to go? -Yeah.
-ALEX: Okay. -JACK: Yeah.
NARRATOR: In order to systematically
search for clues and valuables near the stone wall
Laird has prepared two three-foot-wide search areas
known as test pits.
What's the protocol here?
Like...
are you taking it down to...
the end of this black soil?
-LAIRD: First, I'd flatten it out. -EMMA: Yeah.
Until you see a distinct color change
-or a texture change even. -Okay.
NARRATOR: As Alex, Laird, and Emma
carefully excavate the test pits,
Jack begins clearing away foliage
to search for other types of clues
such as possible carved symbols in the rocks
that may help identify just who created the wall.
It's still pretty clean, like, not a lot of artifacts.
This has always been a really interesting area
because we have this wall
that's unlike any other wall on Oak Island.
(Jack grunting)
LAIRD: So it's a really active area, and it's our job
to figure out what went on and when there.
ALEX: Hey, look at this.
LAIRD: What do you have?
It's either charcoal or just decaying root.
I think this is charcoal here.
LAIRD: Cool.
Yeah, it looks like it to me.
So, if that is, we can probably get
-a date off that, right? -Yeah.
-EMMA: That... is charcoal. -ALEX: Yeah?
ALEX: Finding charcoal is exciting
because it means you're close to
human activity.
-EMMA: Good eye. -ALEX: Thank you.
I will find some more.
And we are only ten feet from the wall.
Hopefully those will help us put,
like, a date or a time period at least
to the construction of the wall and occupation on the property.
JACK: Hey, Laird.
LAIRD: Yup.
Will you come here for a minute?
-Sure. -I got a question for you.
ALEX: I'll come, too.
JACK: Oh, yeah. Everyone come on over.
ALEX: Jack, what you got?
So I know we're looking for evidence to help date the wall.
Look at the size of this tree.
♪ ♪
ALEX: Yeah, it's pretty big.
JACK: And look at how it's growing.
It looks to be growing out of the wall.
LAIRD: Out of the wall, yeah.
It might have been here
before the wall was put in place,
-right? -ALEX: Yeah.
JACK: So...
either the, you know, the tree came after it
or they just built a wall with the tree still standing there.
Yeah, I mean, even if it grew up through the wall,
which kind of looks like it did,
that still makes the wall older than the tree.
JACK: Right?
NARRATOR: A fully grown tree
protruding through the mysterious
stone wall on Lot 26?
Is it possible that Jack
has just found a towering clue
that could prove the wall's construction
predated the discovery of the Money Pit?
And if so, could it be related to the nearby
11th century well where silver has been detected?
Over there, we're trying to dig down
to the bottom of the wall, looking for artifacts
to try to get a date on this thing, but...
-(chuckling): It could be right there. -Yeah.
JACK: Why don't I give Marty a call?
JACK: This tree might have a lot to say.
ALEX: If we get an old date off of this,
you could add probably 50 years
to whatever date this tree comes back
-to try to date the wall. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: On the border of Lot 26,
less than 100 yards from the 11th century stone well,
Jack Begley has noticed
a massive oak tree
that has grown up through the mysterious stone wall,
meaning that the tree could be
several hundred years old and most likely grew
after the stone wall was constructed.
Well, it looks like actual work going on here.
(Alex laughs)
NARRATOR: The questions that arise now are
just who built the wall, when,
and could it be related to the stone well
where the team has also detected
high trace evidence of precious metals?
ALEX: If it's old
-and it's growing on the wall... -MARTY: Yes.
...that's also a forest oak, not a field oak.
And we know this land was
cultivated, so it would have been open at one point.
So you can add a little bit probably
to your estimate of that tree's age
for the surrounding forest to grow up.
Wh-What does that tell you?
This wall was here a long time ago.
LAIRD: If it's pre-Ball...
MARTY: Mm-hmm.
...that changes things, I think.
ALEX: Yeah, we've been investigating
the foundation, and everything we turn up is,
Samuel Ball was here, he did a lot of work,
but that's largely post
the beginning of the treasure hunt.
Yeah, that's a very good point.
NARRATOR: Is it possible the stone wall
predated the habitation of Samuel Ball?
A man who purchased Lot 26
in 1788 when he was merely a humble cabbage farmer
and who by the early 1800s had become mysteriously wealthy?
If so, might the stone wall,
just like the nearby ancient stone well,
still hold clues that could explain
Samuel Ball's turn of fortune?
ALEX: Samuel Ball was living here
at the time that the Money Pit was discovered.
So the question in our minds has always been,
was he aware of it,
or did he witness anything?
You know, what is his connection to the mystery?
And we've long thought that the walls on his property
were just his work and he was a farmer here.
The tree may provide evidence
that some of the features on Lot 26
are not associated with
Samuel Ball and may, in fact, be older.
JACK: So, what do we do? Get a core sample?
We need to get somebody to stick an auger
into that thing and see how old it is, right?
-Mm-hmm. -MARTY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: By using a manual device with an auger drill,
the Oak Island team can penetrate fully grown trees
and extract core samples
containing small circular features known as tree rings.
Simply counting the tree rings,
which grow one at a time every year,
will determine the precise age of the tree.
MARTY: If we know how old that tree is,
the stone wall was there at least that long.
Could've been there much, much longer.
We'll know the minimum age that the stone wall is,
and so it's well worth doing.
ALEX: Well, the point is not just necessarily this tree.
If we get somebody to come out and core this tree,
any other features that we're interested in...
Once they're here, they may as well
-do a bunch. -ALEX: Yeah.
And then we can build our dendro record as well.
I mean, how appropriate would it be
to get an answer like that from an oak tree on Oak Island?
(laughs) Right?
ALEX: The secret was there all along
-in the oaks. -Yup. -MARTY: Great.
I will talk to big brother,
and we'll get that on the agenda.
Great stuff, people.
-JACK: See you in a bit, Marty. -MARTY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...
RICK: Laird.
Do we have something to see?
We do, yes.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina and Craig Tester
join Laird Niven
and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan
in the Oak Island Interpretive Centre
for a highly anticipated scientific report.
LAIRD: We've got the XRF results from
-DN-11.5. -CRAIG: Oh, good.
This definitely appears to be a tunnel...
-Mm-hmm. -...and it sure points
towards the Garden Shaft.
And then this specific area is where,
you know, we've got a number of
the most likely treasure area.
So-called treasure location.
-CRAIG: Yep. -LAIRD: Really?
CRAIG: This will be interesting
to see what we see on this.
NARRATOR: Over the past 24 hours,
the wood sample recovered one day ago
from Borehole DN-11.5,
which came from a believed tunnel
some 90 feet deep that may be connected to the Garden Shaft,
was dried out and then scanned by Emma
using the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, or XRF--
a device that bombards objects with gamma rays
which can detect additional elements or metals
that may be found on or within them.
CRAIG: Emma, what are we seeing?
So, we are seeing some very small quantities,
so I had to do a lot of double-checking.
So, all those are expected materials from our Oak Island.
We have a lot of iron, manganese, titanium,
calcium, potassium, aluminum, so these are all common things.
Those are all what I would expect to find.
-Naturally occurring. -Yeah, yeah, very natural.
-CRAIG: Yeah. -EMMA: But...
we are seeing some quantities...
...of gold.
It shows gold.
Yeah. It-it's there.
(chuckling)
RICK: That's fantastic.
Gold is the outlier?
Gold is a-- yes. (laughs)
It's a very big outlier.
-That's-that's remarkable. -(chuckles)
NARRATOR: In the Oak Island Interpretive Centre,
archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan
has just made an astonishing revelation.
It shouldn't be there, right?
No, it-it definitely shouldn't be there.
-Yeah. -But, yeah, it-it's there.
NARRATOR: The wood discovered one day ago
in a believed tunnel some 90 feet deep
in the Money Pit area, which may be leading
toward the Garden Shaft, has trace evidence of gold
on its surface.
Now we have singularly
unique results from the application of that concept
in two different modems, if you will--
in the wood and in the water.
That's fantastic.
-Yeah. -And this might connect you to
where the treasure may be.
This might connect you to a direction
that you need to go.
This is becoming very impactful.
The narrative's still going on.
-Absolutely. -Yeah.
RICK: The gold sampling of the water
and now the wood is probably
the thing that might carry the day this year.
I mean, that was the hope, it was always the hope
that it would lead to a location
where we could do some exploratory drilling
or digging and hopefully find the one thing.
Will we find this treasure at the bottom of the Garden Shaft?
I'm very hopeful.
Craig, why don't you give Marty a call?
Because there are two reasons at this point
to call my brother.
One is the word "gold..."
-(both chuckling) -...and the other is,
he does genuinely love a science experiment, so...
CRAIG: Yeah, yeah.
RICK: Let me, let me-- I'll say...
-You gonna do it? -Yeah.
(line ringing)
It's a pretty good day today.
We just wanted to call and say hi.
(laughing)
We're actually in the lab.
Emma's run a test.
Uh, we want to fill you in because
your almost favorite word has
arisen in the course of the conversation, so
I'm gonna turn it over to Craig.
Hey, Marty.
It's, uh...
Uh, DN-11.5,
the well in the, you know, potential treasure area,
that found the tunnel...
Emma did a preliminary test on it.
-Point scan. -Yup, a point scan and...
she is coming up with gold.
Yup.
(laughing)
That I don't know.
Yet.
It's helping us hopefully zero in.
-Patience. -CRAIG: Yup.
We've got Emma working 24 hours a day, but...
it's gonna take a little time.
-Okay. -(chuckling)
MARTY: It's certainly positive news.
Maybe the treasure mass itself
is closer to the Garden Shaft than we thought.
I agree, I agree.
-(chuckles) -CRAIG: Okay.
-All right. See you.
Take care. Bye.
This might be the start of evidence.
An evidence trail is every bit as important
as the water sampling has been to date.
-Sure. -So we mustn't falter.
What we always say is, you won't find samples
in here in the lab.
Here's where you come up with the answers.
-Yeah. -So we'll get you more samples.
-Mm-hmm. -All right.
-RICK: All righty? -EMMA: Sounds good.
-RICK: Perfect. -CRAIG: Okay.
NARRATOR: For more than two centuries,
hundreds of faithful searchers dug and drilled in vain,
trying to find a legendary treasure on Oak Island.
But now,
after applying cutting-edge science
that was never available to their predecessors,
Rick, Marty, Craig
and their team may finally be zeroing in
on the fabled riches.
Could it be that modern technology
is the only way to locate the Money Pit treasure vault?
Or might it simply be
the destiny of Rick and Marty's fellowship
to once and for all solve this mystery?
Perhaps only more drilling,
digging and testing...
will tell.
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
PETER ROMKEY: What if somebody was trying to hide
the evidence of underground digging?
The best place
to put it would be in the middle of a wall.
-TEDFORD: Rod dropped. There we go, Marty. -Here we go!
We've got to be close to a tunnel or chamber.
Drill's going in now. Hold it.
BRANDON VANDERHOOFT: They hit something at 11 feet.
That could be where the treasure's hiding.
-I detected gold. -TERRY: Wow!
-Hundred percent? -Yeah.
-This is huge. -Well, there you go, guys.
(laughing)
CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS