♪ ♪
-ROGER: Hey, Scott. -SCOTT: Hey, Roger.
What kind of progress are they making today?
So right now they're putting on the 6-inch
as you see, so we can get a good angle.
SCOTT: So we'll go back down with a 6-inch auger
and then we'll try and get a sample of that tunnel.
That's right.
NARRATOR: After more than a decade of tireless effort,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,
their partner Craig Tester,
and a dedicated fellowship of diverse experts
believe they may finally be on the verge of solving
the 228-year-old Oak Island mystery.
SCOTT: Here, we feel we struck wood at 91 feet.
So that works for, you know, on a four-foot-high tunnel.
-PAUL: Yes, it does. -CHARLES: Yeah.
NARRATOR: In the fabled Money Pit area,
representatives of Dumas Contracting Limited
are about to begin a new probe drilling operation
at a depth of some 82 feet in the bottom
of the newly reconstructed Garden Shaft
in the hopes of penetrating a believed wooden tunnel
located less than ten feet deeper below.
A tunnel that is also believed to run directly westward
toward the so-called Baby Blob where water tests performed
in previously drilled boreholes have detected
high-trace evidence of both silver and gold.
Knowing that we found something below this shaft,
-that's pretty exciting. -Absolutely.
-We have to find out what that is. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: One week ago, the team made a first attempt to
drill into the possible tunnel
with a 4-inch diameter bit,
but unfortunately, they were not successful.
There we go. I think we're done down there.
We should be ready to go.
Yeah, looks like they're ready to go.
NARRATOR: Now, the team has obtained a much more powerful
6-inch diameter bit that they hope will not only
penetrate the tunnel but also help them determine
just what it might contain.
As long as we're steady and careful,
maybe we'll be able to get a good, clean hole.
I hope so.
NARRATOR: Time has never been
a more precious commodity for the team.
Because in less than a week they will be forced to halt
all search activities on the island
due to the fast-approaching North Atlantic winter.
We're all quite excited about the possibilities of
what this shaft represents.
But we have to move very quickly and do everything we can,
apply as many resources as possible
to try to come to an understanding of
what answers lie either at the bottom of the Garden Shaft
or in very close proximity to it.
MARTY: It's a possibility
this tunnel is leading to the offset chamber
and maybe we're about to find out that it is.
I almost fantasize
that there's something down there
that tells us exactly what happened here.
PAUL: Yeah, so it's hard drilling right now.
It should go a lot faster than that.
They could be spinning on some cobbles down there.
ROGER: Oh, yeah.
It looks like it's gonna take some time
-before we get down there. -ROGER: Yeah.
Yeah, I'm anxious for them to get down there
and see what we can see.
NARRATOR: As the probe drilling operation continues
in the Garden Shaft...
MARTY: Might as well join in the fun.
NARRATOR: On Lot 5,
located on the western side of the island...
That's a big one.
...Rick and Marty Lagina,
along with Marty's son Alex, Jack Begley
and archaeologist Laird Niven...
Man, that was tricky right there.
..continue investigating a circular depression
that is completely lined with large stones.
Okay, heads up, guys.
NARRATOR: Of the numerous potentially ancient structures
that the team has investigated
on the western side of Oak Island,
this feature on Lot 5 is among the most mysterious.
It is not only located in the area where earlier this year
the team found a 1,500-year-old Roman coin
as well as a lead token that may be connected
to the 14th century lead cross.
-Hey, Gary. -Lot 5, I hear an excavator.
-I'm here. -Gary's here.
(laughing)
NARRATOR: But perhaps even more curious
is the fact that it has a 13-foot inner diameter,
just like the original Money Pit.
This has made Rick, Marty and the team wonder
if it could be the so-called "hole under the hatch"--
a feature that appears on a reported 14th century map
of Oak Island.
A map that the late author and researcher Zena Halpern
believed was created by members of the Knights Templar.
GARY: All right. Gonna have a scan.
See what we're looking at.
It's a strange feature on Lot 5 where
more than several unique finds have been made.
-(detector beeping) -GARY: Oh, that doesn't sound too bad, though.
That sounds good.
ALEX: That's very close.
RICK: I think the archaeologists,
at some point, will be able to tell us
what it well and truly represents.
Right now, it could be anything.
GARY: Got it?
-JACK: Is that a nail? -Yeah.
GARY: Is it a square-shanked nail?
It's hard to say.
LAIRD: It looks...
-GARY: It looks old. -LAIRD: Yeah.
It's good because we were wondering
-if there was a building over this. -GARY: Yeah.
Each nail we find is evidence of that.
NARRATOR: Could Laird be correct that they are finding evidence of
some kind of structure
that once covered this mysterious depression?
-That'll CT scan well. -Yeah.
NARRATOR: If so, just what might the team find
deeper inside the feature as they continue to investigate?
That deposit I'm in down there, it's deep.
-Oh, it still goes deeper? -Yeah.
RICK: Want to dig that one?
My problem is it's... I'm worried it's gonna collapse.
Yeah, I think I'd rather excavate that soil
by hand, back down to the rock level.
The key is to expand, find the edge.
It may help us extrapolate the total size of the building.
-Yeah. -LAIRD: Whatever it is,
this is massive, I think.
It's curious enough to find out. And you will learn what this is.
And we do it in a few days.
Hopefully, yes.
Because that's all we have, yeah.
MARTY: All right, let's get after it.
LAIRD: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Later that morning...
MARTY: Gentlemen.
Today we're gonna have some data on the swamp.
NARRATOR: Rick, Marty and Craig Tester gather in the war room
with other members of the team.
MARTY: Okay. We have two samples here--
I'm looking at them-- that came from the ramp area.
You were involved in both,
so why don't you give us a little background
and then you have carbon dating results, correct?
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Over the past several weeks,
the team has uncovered what appears to be
a man-made stone ramp in the northeastern region
of the triangle-shaped swamp.
A ramp that connects the massive 800-year-old paved area
with a stone pathway
that may possibly lead towards the Money Pit.
CRAIG: The ramp itself-- Dr. Spooner felt
it was definitely man-made.
We found a couple sticks
under the first layer of rocks.
And then we also found a stick
under a second layer of rock.
So we felt we got
a good representation right in that immediate area, at least.
MARTY: What are the brackets, Craig?
You know, the confidence intervals?
The deepest piece, which was under the second rock,
it could have been there, you know,
as they were building it.
It was dated...
1495
to 1656.
MARTY: Whoa!
(all laughing)
MARTY: That is amazing.
CRAIG: The deepest piece,
which was under the ramp itself
was 1495
to 1656.
NARRATOR: In the war room, Craig Tester
has just informed Rick, Marty,
and the team that the stone ramp
that was recently unearthed in the swamp
and which connects the massive paved area
with a cobblestone pathway
could date back to as early as the late 15th century.
And the big picture is, it's indicating
the ramp was put in place
the same time as the stone road and the stone path.
Like the stakes we found along the edge.
NARRATOR: The stone ramp, potentially dating to the same period
as the stone road that the team uncovered
in the southeast corner of the swamp two years ago?
What makes this revelation significant in terms of
possibly helping to solve the Oak Island mystery
is that Rick and members of the team
saw an identical stone road
in Alqueidão da Serra, Portugal, in 2021.
A city that between the 12th and 16th centuries
served as a stronghold for the Knights Templar.
MARTY: So, you're saying all the data says that
the stone road, the path, the ramp were all made
at the same time, but the paved area is way older?
Does that make sense to you?
That's what the data is showing so far.
I just think if you're trying to reconcile
the two time periods...
-I am. -...1200s to 1600s?
I am.
DOUG: So the ramp could have been
built down to an existing structure
for the purpose of whatever they were doing at the time.
It just continued to be re-enforced with rocks to ensure
there was a nice stable work area,
a ramp and a path.
And it probably somehow connects to the Money Pit.
They knew and probably used that-- the paved area.
RICK: The ramp is coming from the paved area,
which dates to 1200.
And the ramp leading from it is 1495 to 1656.
So, does that mean
there were successive attempts to construct something,
to conduct some enterprise,
and that it was done over centuries?
Right now that's the only plausible explanation.
There's still answers to find.
Yes, and we're not gonna find them this year.
We're running out of time, again.
And as much as I'd hope the swamp would be done,
it's clearly not.
RICK: Unfortunately, again we're under
the difficulties of dealing with time and weather.
So... we've made great strides,
but the swamp isn't going anywhere
and we'll be back to find answers
-as soon as possible. -MARTY: Okay.
This meeting's over-- let's get back to doing what we're doing.
Craig, thank you,
appreciate all the information
and we'll keep you posted.
ALL: See you, Craig.
CRAIG: Okay. Talk to you guys later.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: The following day...
Copy, Rodney.
Does it look like you're on
something or what does it feel like?
ROGER: Just give me some heads-up when you get there.
RODNEY: 10-4.
NARRATOR: As the probe
drilling operation continues
in the Garden Shaft...
MARTY: Hey, folks.
-Archaeologists. -MIRIAM: Hey.
How are you?
We're ready for an update.
We're deeper. (chuckles)
MARTY: Yeah, you are. I see that.
NARRATOR: ...Marty and Alex Lagina return to Lot 5
where archaeologists Laird Niven, Miriam Amirault
and Helen Sheldon are investigating
the mysterious stone feature for additional clues,
and evidence of valuables.
MARTY: What can you tell us?
I thought we were getting the bottom,
-but we still have a ways to go. -Okay.
We have some big rocks that we need removed.
MARTY: Okay. I'll tell you what, I'll jump in and work on that.
Here we go.
This circular feature, it's inexplicable.
(chuckles) It appears to be very old.
(starts engine)
And there could be something deeper.
If there's something below there,
then it could get really interesting.
♪ ♪
ALEX: You got it.
RICK: Hey, guys.
LAIRD: Hey, Rick.
-Hey. -Hey.
ALEX: Have a look.
LAIRD: I thought this was the bottom,
but we have
a little more structure possibly.
-Does that sound solid to you? -No.
But you think that this is more rubble-filled?
-Yes. -MARTY: You know, Rick, if you come over here,
on this side and look back...
From here, I can see the rubble.
It almost does look stuffed with rubble.
Yeah. Oh, I agree.
Like on the Lot 26 wall, that's done for stability.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: The stone depression?
Possibly made with a similar style as the rock wall
located nearly half a mile away on Lot 26?
Curiously, the wall,
which researcher Francisco Nogueira speculated
may be of Portuguese origin
contained charcoal that was scientifically dated
to as far back as the 15th century.
-I mean, you're not to the bottom of it yet. -No.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that Rick and Marty could be correct
that these features may be related?
And if so,
might they have been created by
the same people who constructed the stone ramp
and the stone road in the swamp?
From a discovery perspective, what do you intend to do
the rest of the year?
We want to come down to this, this level.
That's a lot.
Except we are almost completely out of time.
Frustrating.
Yeah.
MARTY: Oak Island has beat it into me
that things aren't easy to figure out here.
Next year, Lot 5, clearly, is going to be
a place where we are going to allocate more resources.
We have to.
Yeah, so, Alex, if you want to work in there
-with Miriam? -ALEX: Okay.
We'll get started.
MARTY: Carry on.
NARRATOR: Later that morning...
MARTY: Well, you're clearly drilling.
-Yes. -I can hear it.
Absolutely.
Rick and Marty Lagina arrive at the Money Pit area
to check on the progress of
the probe drilling operation within the Garden Shaft.
RICK: How deep are they?
SCOTT: They're at depth, down to 93 feet.
Well, then they should be
right at the point where there's supposedly wood.
-They should be right on wood. -SCOTT: Yes.
NARRATOR: Having reached the approximate depth of
the believed tunnel that may lead directly westward
into the possible treasure zone,
the burning questions are, can they locate the structure,
and if so, can they breach it
to see what it may contain?
Today is the last day. There's no question about it.
Dumas have to pack up.
We have, really, only half a day of real active search agenda.
-Somethings binding it up. -Oh, yeah.
Wood would do that.
Wood would do that, or even if he was
coming down the side of it and hooked into it.
Okay.
That's it. Pull it up.
Here it comes.
PAUL: Just unbelievable.
MARTY: Something's binding it up.
-ROGER: Oh, yeah. -CHARLES: Yeah.
Wood would do that.
NARRATOR: In the Money Pit area,
Rick and Marty Lagina,
along with members of the team...
Oh, some material that was moving around there.
Off to the side.
NARRATOR: ...believe that their probe drilling operation
has reached a possible tunnel below the Garden Shaft
at a depth of some 93 feet deep.
You can see it over on the edge of the auger.
NARRATOR: A tunnel which may lead directly
to the Money Pit treasure vault.
I'm curious what's in the drill bit.
-It should be on or into it now. -ROGER: Oh, yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
I'd like to pull the bits
and see what's down there.
What do you guys think?
I'd do it before we run out of time.
-Okay. -Yeah, that's a good idea.
ROGER: Copy, Rodney.
RODNEY: Go ahead, Roger.
Yeah, the guys would like you to stop drilling right now.
Let's pull the rods out.
Let's clean out the filings,
make sure everything goes in a bag
and see what we can see.
RODNEY: 10-4.
Oak Island doesn't give up her secrets very easy.
No, she does not.
MARTY: This is it.
We're gonna have to get
whatever information we can get
and hopefully figure out what this wood is
at the base of the Garden Shaft.
So I'm hoping Rodney has found something significant.
-Hello, gentlemen. -Hey, Rodney.
MARTY: What you got, Rodney?
Bags of goods. Any sign of any wood in it?
Nothing big.
Let me just ask you this.
You were pretty sure you were on wood.
Are you still pretty sure?
I'm like 99.9% sure I hit wood on the north side.
SCOTT: Unfortunately,
we didn't get a direct hit and able to get
into the tunnel, but...
we may have come down beside it.
I think so, yes.
If we just came down
on the edge of it, we can use that
to project the line of the tunnel.
Rick, you and I got to go down there.
We haven't explored the bottom yet to see where the tunnel is.
So let's go get suited up. I want to go down in that shaft.
RICK: We built the shaft so we could investigate.
So of course, Marty and I are gonna go down.
As the project terminates for now,
certainly it warrants one last look around and maybe,
just maybe we'll see something that has gone unnoticed.
-Let's go find it. -Okay.
-MARTY: Lead on, Roger. -ROGER: Sounds good.
RICK: Ten years ago,
or longer,
we never would've anticipated this moment
where Marty and I get to go down together
underground in the Money Pit.
Well, Rick, uh,
it all started here,
and so we're going down there together, right?
So it's gonna be pretty unique,
it'll be interesting to see what our takeaways are.
Now let's go down the damn shaft.
-Okay. Let's go. -MARTY: Roger, are you leading
-or am I leading? -ROGER: Yeah.
I'll lead you guys down there.
-We're ready to rock. -MARTY: Yeah.
We're gonna figure it all out.
ROGER: Yeah, yeah.
It's like a childhood fantasy, isn't it?
I mean, Rick and I, 60 years later,
are going way underground in the Money Pit area.
And we're in a position that
other people were in over, literally, hundreds of years
trying to find this treasure.
And I'm there with Rick
who has been enamored of this thing since he was ten.
And you know, here we are doing it together as brothers.
All right, big brother.
I know this is really quite awe-inspiring.
RICK: Yeah. It really is quite a trip back in time.
-It's pretty amazing. -ROGER: Oh, absolutely.
MARTY: Okay, we're running out of time this year,
but this thing is not going anywhere.
ROGER: Oh, no. Oh, no.
You know, this is where things would fall and Gary always says,
"Things fall to the lowest point," right?
If there's anything to be found in this shaft,
it might be there.
-I think it's worth running a metal detector. -MARTY: Yes.
But also, what if we're five feet above something?
-He might be able to detect it. -That's a great idea.
RICK: And the other thing is,
the coil he's got on there you can immerse it in water.
-Yes. -So he could stand on the edge
-and put the coil down in there. -MARTY: Yeah.
Yeah, I'm gonna give them a call.
Hey, guys.
Hey, Roger, this is Scott.
ROGER: Hey, Scott.
Yeah, we're down here wondering if you guys can get
Gary to come over here?
Copy that. We'll get Gary
and get him geared up to go down the hole.
-Works. -Yeah, yeah.
With the literally few moments we have left
is to get Gary to try and metal detect.
Ah, finally.
We could be close to the actual treasure.
GARY: All right, mate, coming down.
MARTY: Well, what do you think, Gary?
GARY: Oh, wow!
-Huh? -GARY: What a ride.
(all laughing)
Oh, my God. This is fantastic.
I have a chance
to be the first person metal detecting
down in the Money Pit.
-MARTY: Okay, detector coming down. -Okay, keep it coming.
GARY: This is it.
Standing next to Rick and Marty
on these thick planks and knowing that
there's all this mud and water below me.
Got it.
GARY: This feels fantastic.
And the whole scene around me
looks like it's medieval.
Almost like I'm in a dungeon in a castle
back in Templar days.
Just so you know, there's gonna be a lot of modern nails
-and wire down, down there. -Yeah, no--
No worries, mate.
That's why I'm using my CTX-3030,
you got the discrimination,
-bells and whistles, with this. -That's what we need, Gary.
Okay, we're looking at two different things--
Rick's idea is that we are at the base of the old shaft,
and if those guys dropped anything, it's here.
-Oh, yeah. -Yeah, and then, the other thing is,
what if we're close to some-- something big?
-You know, you and I... -(laughing)
Look at his smile.
There's that, too. So... all right.
We got to move that board. Rick, let's you and I do that.
♪ ♪
-MARTY: Over here. -RICK: Let it go.
Okay.
There's a hole, it's two feet deep.
GARY: Okay.
Well, where there's muck, there's treasure, mate.
Yeah. (chuckles)
GARY: We'll see what's down there, mate.
MARTY: All right.
GARY: Extend it a little bit.
All right.
(detector beeping)
Ooh, that's the best sounding target.
That's a nonferrous, yeah.
-MARTY: Really? -GARY: Yeah.
MARTY: Oh, my goodness.
RICK: You got to be kidding me.
GARY: Ooh! That's the best sounding target.
-MARTY: Seriously? -That's a nonferrous. Yeah.
-MARTY: Really? -GARY: Yeah.
MARTY: Well, no kidding.
NARRATOR: In the Money Pit area,
metal detection expert Gary Drayton
has just detected possible evidence of precious metals
more than 82 feet deep,
below the bottom of the Garden Shaft.
MARTY: I mean, that's a screaming large hit,
-isn't it? -GARY: Yeah.
That sounded really good.
-We know where the hits are. -MARTY: Yeah.
GARY: Just as important.
This is a nonferrous target.
This could be gold. It could be silver.
It could be copper.
Either way, it's a great sounding signal.
Gary, you're the man. You're the man.
-That was so much fun! -(laughing)
(groans)
NARRATOR: Is it possible
that Gary has detected evidence
of the fabled Oak Island treasure in the muddy soil
just a few feet below the bottom level
of the Garden Shaft?
Or, could the signals be coming from the believed tunnel
some ten feet below,
which runs westward toward the Baby Blob?
You guys are grinning from ear to ear.
NARRATOR: As exciting as this moment is,
it is also bittersweet
because at this point in the year,
Dumas does not have the legal permits
to extend the shaft any deeper.
And Rick and Marty cannot risk the future of the project,
nor the safety of their team, by attempting to breach
the bottom of the shaft to explore what could be
dangerously unstable ground below.
RICK: The level of excitement when he describes
a nonferrous hit, it's through the roof.
That's why it's so frustrating not to go after this target,
but we're at the end of the year.
I wish there was more time.
MARTY: All right, here's the deal.
We're done for today. Everybody's cold.
Put this ladder back up. Let's get out of here.
RICK: Tomorrow, we will have the final war room.
GARY: Yep.
NARRATOR: The following morning...
MARTY: Gentlemen, ladies.
We've got the whole team here.
Either in this room physically or on the screen up there.
Peter was unavailable,
but I think otherwise we have the whole team.
This is our "coming to the end of the season" meeting--
lots to cover.
NARRATOR: Rick, Marty
and Craig gather in the war room
with the other members of their fellowship.
I will start by saying what a difference a day makes.
Yesterday, we were almost in the bottom of the Money Pit.
Yeah.
Gary Drayton here was getting nonferrous hits.
Feeling emotional about the fact that we were down
where those who came before us were.
Way underground.
And yet, today, we're here to sit around
this table, talk about what we've done
and where we're gonna go.
NARRATOR: After months of tireless searching,
they not only may have come to
within mere feet of what lies hidden
on Oak Island but have also amassed
many more clues to help answer
who was behind this mystery and just when
it may have begun.
I see all this stuff laid out here,
and I knew it was gonna be here.
And as I walked in, I thought to myself,
what do a clipped Roman coin and a scalloped disc
and a horseshoe,
what do those things have in common?
And I was certain that the answer was "nothing."
(laughing)
Except that they're found here on Oak Island.
Yeah.
This year is over 800.
-Wow. So I've been slacking. -(all laughing)
-Yeah. Get busy. -(laughs)
Before us sits a year's worth of work.
-Yeah. -RICK: You're trying to put
all of these disparate facts,
all of these strange discoveries,
all the things that don't seem to
tell a story, somehow they are and they will
to a mystery that has endured for 228 years.
But there are clues here.
-There are puzzle pieces. -GARY: Yeah.
MARTY: So let's talk first about the Money Pit area.
The Garden Shaft.
The metals in the water.
What we've done,
what we've seen
and what we have yet to do.
If we didn't still have these elevated metals
in the water, I would say we were done.
We've drilled... how many wells?
Somebody tell me how many wells. Steve...
how many wells have we drilled
in the Money Pit area?
We've drilled about 500 boreholes,
and just over 20 caissons.
MARTY: Yeah. I mean, if someone had told me ten years ago
when this big adventure began that you could put down
500 wells,
would you've expected that you would either
find it or it wasn't there, I would have said yes.
-Yeah. -IAN: Yeah.
But we've found tunnels we didn't know existed.
-Well... -TERRY: Exactly so.
The east-west tunnel we find
that runs beneath the Garden Shaft,
that's an incredible find.
MARTY: Yeah. It's pretty amazing.
So, Ian, if you could bring us up to speed.
There's some new stuff here
as we have our final gettogether?
Yeah. Yeah.
And I'd like to hear it.
Yeah, and Dr. Fred Michel can't be here as well,
and he did the heavy lifting with the latest water testing.
Everything that we have seen supports what we saw
when we took the sample in the Garden Shaft
and that was amongst the highest gold values
of any that we had on the island.
The most recent data is pointing towards there being
something significant within, I would say,
about a 15-foot radius of that Garden Shaft.
-Wow. -MARTY: Wow.
Isn't that something?
(all laughing)
GARY: That's as good as it gets.
There is something significant
within about a 15-foot radius
of the Garden Shaft.
-Wow. -MARTY: Wow.
Geez. Within 15 feet, you said, of the Garden Shaft?
-Right. -That's as good as it gets.
(all laughing)
NARRATOR: As the Oak Island team meets for the final time
this year in the war room...
MARTY: 15 feet? That's not that big.
That's a 30-foot diameter.
-Yeah. -We can dig that out.
Absolutely. Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner
has just reported
that new water-sampling data
obtained from boreholes in the Money Pit area
indicates that the fabled treasure could lie anywhere
between a 15-foot radius below the Garden Shaft.
Okay, so...
what do you want to do next year in the Money Pit area?
I can't believe anyone would say
we don't want to deepen the Garden Shaft.
We want to gain access to that tunnel.
See the implications of it.
-Yep. -RICK: And then,
you would want to be able to transition immediately to
a tunneling option from the bottom of the Garden Shaft.
TOM: Yeah. 30-foot diameter around that shaft.
I do think within that 30 feet
we're gonna find something.
RICK: Okay. Well, I think all options are on the table--
caissons, tunneling, extending the shaft,
maybe even introducing a new shaft into the Money Pit.
CRAIG: Oh, yeah. Hopefully we can
determine where the tunnels are,
and the shafts are, and where the treasure is.
I agree. Okay.
RICK: The next area of interest, certainly has been
the surprises on Lot 26.
Absolutely.
RICK: We do have a very legitimate date
for the wall on Lot 26, 1464.
You know,
that's exceedingly interesting.
But it's the well that we really find quite remarkable.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Earlier this year,
before investigating
the possible 15th century wall on Lot 26...
IAN: So lift it up.
NARRATOR: ...the team investigated a mysterious well
less than 100 feet away.
IAN: That's a pretty good core.
NARRATOR: A well that not only yielded
trace evidence of silver during water testing...
The date I got on the twig at the bottom was 1028 to 1172.
Great.
NARRATOR: ...but which also contained
organic materials
that revealed the feature was constructed
as much as 900 years ago
or approximately the same era as the paved area in the swamp.
I love the way you can fit things together--
What's paved area,
well...
So these are the clues to occupation.
-Right. -IAN: So...
there is some more we can do with the well.
-Absolutely. -MARTY: Yeah. -RICK: Well, then we come to,
obviously, Marty's favorite place on the entire island.
And that is the swamp.
(all laughing)
-Here we go again. -RICK: Yeah, well,
you know the swamp's not gonna run away.
And I think we do believe, all of us,
Tom has probably made the most definitive statement of all.
-What do you always say? -The answers are in the swamp.
There you go.
You know, there's one thing we know for sure.
The ramp is amazing and if we can find
where the pathways went,
I think we would have a really good shot at
knowing where the treasure's hidden.
Yeah, and the ramp I think
is extremely important.
And Craig's got some carbon dates that came in for that.
CRAIG: Yeah. I mean we had
samples that we took associated with the ramp.
So, uh, you know, 1495 to 1656.
-Isn't that something. -CRAIG: It sure seems like
a very good time period.
IAN: Yeah.
So the ramp is about the same age as the stone path.
-And those are definitive. -RICK: Right.
-That's pretty amazing. -Yeah.
I think the swamp is every bit as interesting as the Money Pit.
It begs of answers.
-Yep. -MARTY: So that takes care of--
in my mind anyway-- a-a full discussion
and setting up what needs to be done yet
about things on the island.
But, Rick, you did a bunch of stuff
in the information hunt, off-island,
so let's have a summation of that.
In terms of the field trip we made, we went to Italy.
And it has yielded some very interesting connections.
Absolutely.
EMILIANO: Hey, guys, welcome to Italy.
-Emiliano. -Emiliano.
-Ciao. Good to see you. -So good to see you.
NARRATOR: Of all the journeys
that members of the team have made
to Europe over the past decade,
none have been more compelling than the one that Rick,
his nephews Alex and Peter,
and Doug Crowell made less than one month ago to Italy.
-Look at this. -Oh.
Right there. Hey, Rick.
-Mm? -ALEX: Check this out.
PETER: That's cool.
ALEX: We have seen this symbol before.
-RICK: H+O Stone. -PETER: Yeah.
ALEX: That's a direct tie to Oak Island.
NARRATOR: There, while visiting
a medieval church in Viterbo,
where the Templars held a stronghold
between the 12th and 14th centuries...
-Rick. -RICK: Mm?
NARRATOR: ...the team saw numerous carved symbols
that have also been found over the years on Oak Island.
-Yeah. -Right there.
Hmm.
H-I-C.
If you do this...
you get the H+O Stone.
If you put it all together,
I mean, there's the possibility that
the H+O Stone represents
"Here, Templar gold."
NARRATOR: They met with archaeoastronomer
Professor Adriano Gaspani, who presented
historic star alignments
that suggested the megalithic formation
on Oak Island, known as Nolan's Cross,
might have been created
approximately 800 years ago.
Wow.
That's crazy.
NARRATOR: And in the ancient town of Camerano,
they explored a cave system with direct Templar ties
that, incredibly, was designed in the exact shape
as the 14th century lead cross
that was found on Oak Island back in 2017.
I believe something was learned of or possessed long ago
that was handed down,
and the whole point of the exercise was to keep it
protected generationally, for a long, long, long time.
I believe that a possible explanation
for Oak Island is this...
♪ ♪
You have these 1200 dates, 1400, 1500, 1600s.
There's representation of infrastructure.
Logistics, meaning the swamp.
You have to have a way to come in,
be very secretive about
what you're going to do.
And it takes a long time.
And we're only beginning to understand
the importance of that hunt.
It's quite a, quite a remarkable story
and it continues to evolve and develop.
That's very true.
Absolutely.
And our research trip to Italy
just put an exclamation point
on this whole endeavor.
That was very enlightening to me.
ALEX: Yeah, and I think
there's more to do but it was, you know,
in terms of kind of opening the door and investigating--
Okay,
let's add a little bit more background
to this possible Templar connection.
I think it went a long way.
JACK: Those older dates allude to
people being here pre-Money Pit discovery
doing a lot of work.
We're showing that the amount of works there,
so the plausibility behind there being a treasure hunt
seems to be more prevalent than ever.
Yeah, you know, when I look at this table now,
I honestly think it was one of our,
maybe one of our best years ever.
Does everybody feel we're closer than ever?
(overlapping agreements)
We're narrowing it down.
I think we're moving in the right direction.
How could you stop after finding a Roman coin
or all the other stuff here?
And he's found an absurd number of artifacts.
Yeah, it's not just the story of the Money Pit anymore.
We could find treasure on any one of these lots.
What I see in front of this table, to me is...
makes me more enthusiastic and more committed
to continuing the work that we have all done.
And I am proud of each and every one of us
sitting around this table and remotely.
It's not just this table.
You could put 30 tables in here and fill them up.
It occurs to me, honestly,
ladies and gentlemen, that, I don't have to go around
the room and ask, you know, "Are you guys in?"
or "Are you ladies in?" I already know the answer.
I think we're coming back to do some more work here.
(overlapping agreements)
Absolutely.
-Good. -To me,
I'm not gonna get real eloquent
and everybody knows that I'm pretty shy, but I...
I do want to say that, you know...
...every journey is a shared experience
and we have been on a decade's long journey,
together, all of us, and that's quite remarkable.
Look how eclectic this group is. How different we are.
How we bring different skill sets,
different perspectives,
different understandings, different logic
to what is an incredible mystery.
And remember where the journey started.
That little five pages.
That's where the journey started.
And this is decades in the making.
And then think of all the others
that have come before us.
It's-it's incredible.
It's absolutely incredible.
Just give yourself a moment in time
and say, "You know what?
I was part of something that was much bigger than myself."
I just want to say that,
you guys know I get a little bit emotional, but...
...I appreciate each and every one of you.
I really think that we have done something
together that is quite remarkable.
I'm glad my brother's been with me.
And my nephew, and Peter, and David as well.
And everybody, you know, the whole family
has really been involved in this, as has Tom's.
And so I-I'm...
I am really grateful for the experience.
-We're not done yet. -RICK: We're not done yet.
No.
We're grateful you brought us for the ride.
-Absolutely. -Oh, what a ride.
(laughing)
MARTY: Look, Rick, you say you're not eloquent.
I would say you're quite eloquent,
and I think that is a perfect ending to this year.
I will just thank everybody again.
I know everybody here does live and breathe all this.
-But for now, I think we're done. -GARY: Yep.
And we haven't seen nothing yet.
That's right, Gary.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: For Rick, Marty,
Craig and their fellowship, the quest to solve
the world's greatest treasure mystery continues.
-Well, Gary, until next year. -GARY: Yep.
MARTY: We seem to be closing in
on the one piece of data that is irrefutable,
and that is the metals in the water,
in the vicinity of the Garden Shaft.
Another great year.
-Partner. (chuckles) -Partner. Partner!
I think we did move the dial towards finding
where the treasure is.
See you, guys.
NARRATOR: Although the fabled treasure
that people have sought for 228 years was not found,
this team has obtained more compelling evidence
that it is a reality
and still waiting to be recovered
from somewhere deep in the Money Pit.
RICK: I remember reading the Reader's Digest article,
turning the last page and being a little disappointed
because the story ended.
And there was still room for more verbiage, more answers.
And I thought, "Well, that's disappointing.
What happened?"
NARRATOR: As they prepare for
the next great chapter of this adventure next spring,
will Rick,
Marty and the team finally be able to answer
the ultimate questions and shatter the curse of Oak Island?
It's been a good year and, I mean,
maybe next year we uncork this bloody thing.
-Right? -Yep.
RICK: I still want
the "What happened?" I still want
those last few paragraphs.
And I think we're on the cusp of writing that.
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