NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...
That is part of a larger human-made structure.
A rock like this came from an excavation.
Nolan's Cross was created to locate
the treasure in the Money Pit.
This drilled stone is perfectly half the distance
to Nolan's Cross.
Things are starting
to line up. It makes sense.
-RON: You ready? -COTE: There you go.
MARTY: Yeah, baby!
RICK: That's like the original Money Pit.
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.
♪ ♪
RICK: So, Ian, this is one of the reasons
why we asked you to come down.
-Sure. -It's this relationship,
if there is one, between the stone and that little,
-uh, stone walkway, we'll call it. -Mm-hmm.
NARRATOR: As another day begins on Oak Island
for brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina and their team, they are hoping
that a recently unearthed discovery
in the triangle-shaped swamp
might offer new critical clues
that will help them solve a 229-year-old mystery.
So what are your thoughts upon initial observation?
Yeah. This feature that Bill's
uncovering, that...
is very suspicious to me,
especially the angularity of the rocks.
Right.
Rick, there's something curious about this boulder.
NARRATOR: One week ago, while digging just north
of the potentially 500-year-old stone road--
or ship's wharf-- in the southeast corner
of the swamp, the team uncovered
what appeared to be another stone walkway
leading to a massive boulder.
JACK: And this boulder is about the size
of some of those other Nolan's Cross rocks.
RICK: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Curiously, the boulder
at the end of the believed walkway
bears a striking resemblance
to the five cone-shaped boulders
that were discovered in 1981
by the late Fred Nolan,
which form a perfectly symmetrical,
megalithic cross.
I think what we should do is get Billy to wash this.
-Mm-hmm. Okay. -That would help us
understand if this is human-made.
The why is gonna be very difficult.
-JACK: Yeah. -Billy, you're up.
Okay.
NARRATOR: Now the team is hoping
that geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner
can determine not only if this feature
was indeed constructed by man
but also when it may have been created
and what sort of function it might have served.
There is part of what I call the book about Oak Island.
Some of those pages are yet to be written
about what the swamp holds,
what the mysteries are within,
and why that work was done.
Good?
That should be fine. Just let it drain.
Okay.
RICK: I don't think you'll ever come
to a conclusive answer to this mystery
without understanding what happened in that bog.
What stands out to me is this stone
and this stone, this stone and this stone,
all in a line.
When there's nothing over to the right-hand side.
-That's not natural. -Mm-hmm.
I-I'm pretty confident it's a human-made structure.
Hmm.
But what I do know is,
a rock like this didn't come from the beach.
And my contention is, a lot of the rocks
from this came from an excavation, not from a beach.
From excavations, like the digging of the Money Pit.
IAN: Something like that.
NARRATOR: The rocks that form the mysterious walkway?
A geological type that would have come
from deep underground?
Could Jack's notion that they were placed
in the swamp by those who created
the original Money Pit be correct?
Or, since the team has found evidence
throughout the swamp suggesting that it may be
an entirely artificially made feature,
could these rocks have come from a deep excavation
that was conducted in order to hide something
of great value right in this area?
RICK: The more you dig,
the more you look in-in the body
of the swamp proper, you find human constructs.
Why are they there?
They imply purpose, intent.
I do believe
that we can connect these dots.
-Hey, guys. -IAN: Hey, Steve.
-BILLY: Hey, Tom. -Good to see you.
So, what you see is what you see, but...
I'll let the two of you describe what you know.
Yeah. What we know is, the stones are placed by people.
-Mm-hmm. -Um...
It's kind of almost a little bit like a mini stone road.
-Well, that's what I'm seeing. The similarity. -STEVE: Yeah.
You have a grade elevation, so
to me it looks like at least a ramp of some sort.
I think the next steps are to leave this.
And we haven't gone to the other end.
We need to continue
-looking for features. -RICK: Yeah.
For now, that shoreline is the most important area.
-That's where people traveled. -RICK: Mm-hmm.
Well, now let's just take a look over there.
And we let Billy loose and keep digging.
Sure.
JACK: Let's keep digging.
I mean, who knows what else we're gonna find around here?
NARRATOR: While the investigation proceeds
in the triangle-shaped swamp...
CHARLES: Hey, Scott.
SCOTT: Hey, Charles.
CHARLES: So where are we today?
So, as you can see here,
the boys are just working on deepening
-the shaft here right now. -CHARLES: Okay.
NARRATOR: In the Money Pit area,
Scott Barlow and Charles Barkhouse
are supervising the operation to deepen
the mid-18th century structure known as the Garden Shaft
down to a depth of some 95 feet.
-SCOTT: That was a good grab there. -CHARLES: Yeah.
NARRATOR: An operation that may soon lead the team to the valuables
that people have been trying to find
since the treasure hunt began
in 1795.
They're probably within a foot or two
above where the top of the tunnel should be.
-Wow. -So, they've been
making good progress. They're excited today.
I can't wait to see it.
Yeah, you and I both.
NARRATOR: In the coming days,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
will finish installing the final set
in the Garden Shaft extension,
where they hope to breach a seven-foot-high tunnel
that may not only be as much as 400 years old
but which leads to an area that has been dubbed
the Baby Blob.
It is in this region where the team has obtained
water samples from previously drilled boreholes
that indicate a large cache of silver,
gold and other metal objects could be buried
between depths of 80 and 120 feet.
At this stage, based on what we see,
it is quite possible that this is
not a searcher tunnel, meaning
a depositor tunnel.
And we still have the anomalous metals
in the water near the Garden Shaft.
So we have to get to the bottom of that.
CHARLES: Shouldn't be too much longer
before they, uh, reach that top of the tunnel.
SCOTT: I'll see what they have to say.
Hey, Ronnie. Can you hear me?
SCOTT: How is it down there?
Okay. Well, we'll let you get back to work.
You're doing a great job.
SCOTT: We're really looking forward to it, thanks.
NARRATOR: As the search operations continue on Oak Island...
...later that afternoon...
DOUG: These field trips are usually quite rewarding.
SCOTT: Absolutely.
This is the printshop.
...Scott Barlow
and Oak Island historian Doug Crowell
have traveled some 50 miles northeast
to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Hey, Joe.
-Hi. -Good to see you again.
-Good to see you. -NARRATOR: Here,
they have arranged to meet with ancient documents
and leather expert Joe Landry at Dawson Print Shop
to have him examine part
of a potentially ancient shoe that was discovered
two weeks ago in the southeast corner of the swamp.
So, we uncovered a stone road, if you will, in the swamp.
-Sure. -And this was found just off to the side of it.
It was found by Rick and Gary
when they were out there metal detecting.
DOUG: It'll be curious to see what Joe thinks of this shoe leather.
Hopefully, he can confirm that that is
what it is and give us an idea of the age of it.
Oh, yes.
Wow.
Well, this is hand-stitched.
I mean, it's very fine work.
This is a shoe or light boot, by the looks of things.
-Okay. -And it would have been a gentleman's boot.
-Interesting. -JOE: Yes.
DOUG: Does the leather itself tell you anything?
Well, it appears to be a vegetable tan leather.
When you say a vegetable tan, that's just,
basically they were using a vegetable to color it?
JOE: That's right. That's one of the earliest
-forms of tannage. -DOUG: Oh, really? -SCOTT: Really?
-Yeah. -DOUG: Can you tell anything
from the stitching what age this shoe may have come from?
JOE: Yeah.
You're talking late 1600s,
early, uh, 1700s.
-Oh, wow. -That's great.
SCOTT: Absolutely.
s.
Well, as you can see, this is amazing,
something like this still intact after all those years.
-It is well preserved, I'll say that. -JOE: Yeah.
NARRATOR: At the Dawson Print Shop in Halifax, Nova Scotia...
That, uh, that's beautiful, beautiful work.
...leather expert Joe Landry
has just given his assessment
that the piece of a leather boot,
which was recently found near the stone road
in the Oak Island swamp,
could date back more than a century
before the discovery of the Money Pit.
Who would have worn a boot like this?
Well, it would have been an officer...
...you know, who could afford a fine boot like this,
rather than a general crew member.
SCOTT: Well, I find that very interesting
because it speaks to somebody who wasn't doing the work
but probably dictating the work.
DAN L.: Yes. And this, it's, uh, quite plain to see,
was, uh, was hand-stitched.
This would have been more likely done in Europe and brought.
-DOUG: Oh, really? -SCOTT: Really?
DAN L.: Yes. Yeah.
It speaks to me of French work.
Although, you know, it was practiced quite widely.
So, at this point, we can't rule out the Portuguese,
the French, or the British.
-They all remain suspects. -DAN L.: Or even the Spanish.
I mean, they did fine leather work as well.
DOUG: Joe's observations are pointing
to pre-discovery of the Money Pit.
I mean, this is important for the search
because we're always trying to figure out
what to investigate further...
It's a possibility that this was the toe.
DOUG: ...what needs further testing,
and this lines up with so many of our artifacts.
NARRATOR: Has the team found another critical piece of evidence
that could help them narrow in on the identity
of those who created the stone road
and the recently uncovered walkway
and boulder feature in the swamp?
If so, could it also help reveal
who was responsible for the high-trace evidence
of precious metals that have been detected
in the Money Pit area?
DOUG: We knew when it was leather
that you were the man to come and see first.
SCOTT: Yeah. We really appreciate your input on this.
-Yeah, you're quite welcome. -Until next time.
-That was interesting. -Very.
NARRATOR: As Doug and Scott begin their return journey...
RICK: Miners reporting for duty.
...back on Oak Island...
-(laughter) -Oh, yeah.
RON (over radio): Coming down.
The boys are calling you the Silver Fox.
NARRATOR: ...Rick and Marty Lagina
are about to join the operation
to help Dumas reach the potential treasure tunnel
located just below the Garden Shaft.
What are we gonna do? Explain to us what we're gonna do.
So, uh, we got to excavate a little bit more.
We got to chip some of that clay.
-Right. -And then we can put another set in.
-Okay. -We're now at 90, 93 feet.
You've got to be within two feet then, something like that.
-Yeah, somewhere around there. Yeah. -MARTY: Yeah.
Well, let's get suited up
and have a go at this, big brother.
NARRATOR: Before Dumas can finish construction
on the final wooden set
that will extend the Garden Shaft into the tunnel,
several feet of hard clay must be removed.
It is a task that Rick and Marty
are more than eager to help complete.
MARTY: Well, it's gonna be exciting.
To go down in that shaft and actually do some digging
and maybe be part of unearthing an original tunnel
would be incredibly gratifying.
All kinds of thoughts are streaming through my head.
I mean, you can't help it. This is an exciting moment.
RICK: Ready.
MARTY: We're gonna go down deep
into the Garden Shaft, big brother and I.
-COTE: All set. -MARTY: Let's go.
My brother and I are gonna be miners.
And our heritage is mining.
Our grandfather came here in order to work
in the mines out of Michigan.
It's really an amazing thing that's happening here.
A confluence of heritage.
COTE: Very good.
MARTY: That's right. Now we can begin.
Marty, that's gonna be your corner over there.
-That's your baby over there. -That corner over there? Okay.
RON: Yours is called the Destroyer.
-Mine is? -Yeah. Yours is the Destroyer.
-MARTY: All right. -RON: You got Big Betsy.
-Cool. -MARTY: Well, here's the deal, Rick.
You could be standing a couple feet above
the tunnel we've been looking for
for at least two years.
-Right there. -More than could. We are.
Okay. Well, let's get busy. How do you work this thing?
RON: Okay.
A little bit at a time? Yeah. Okay.
-Pump going on. -DAN (over radio): Pump on.
RON: Silver Fox and his brother are ready to go.
(laughter)
(hissing)
(clattering)
NARRATOR: In order to break up the hard clay below the shaft,
Rick and Marty are using a pneumatic jackhammer.
Then, representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
will use the three-ton hammer grab tool
to remove the materials.
-MARTY: Yeah, baby! -COTE: There you go.
There you go. You're getting the hang...
-(rattling) -(indistinct shouting)
Work your way around.
This is no job for old men.
(laughter)
Jackhammers themselves weigh 60 or 70 pounds.
They tend to get stuck in the clay.
It is some of the hardest work I've done in many years.
All right. Break time.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
RICK: In the moment,
I'm an eyes and boots guy. I'm down there.
I want to get that clay out of the hole.
I want to find the tunnel.
I, I didn't think of much else, to be honest.
(rattling)
MARTY: What do you think you hit?
The last spade bit,
I thought I hit something different.
See that?
MARTY: Oh, yeah.
Try digging right up there.
Look at that. It's nothing.
RICK: It's really soft. Get me a bar.
-Do you have a bar down here? -COTE: Yeah. Right there, Rick.
MARTY: Right there by your hand.
COTE: The other one's right there.
RICK: I thought, at the bottom of the spade bit,
that I was on top of something.
And I thought, "Wow, wow, maybe, maybe I'm on a tunnel."
NARRATOR: Could Rick Lagina's speculation
that he may have reached the mysterious--
and potentially ancient-- tunnel be correct?
If so, the team may be closer than ever
to the answers and reward that they've worked
for more than a decade to uncover.
Yeah. "Right there" is a relative term,
though, isn't it, with this stuff?
"Right there" is a relative term.
All right, well, we got it all loosened up for you.
So, now the hammer grab is gonna come down?
-Yeah. We'll hammer grab. We'll clean that hole. -Yep.
Wood, uh, delineates man-made things,
obviously, when it's way underground.
So we need to keep going.
We could be closer than we've ever been
to this actual treasure, or to where it was deposited.
So, when we start doing the tunnel,
you guys are gonna come down for a day or what?
Yes! Yes.
-Try to keep us out. -That's gonna be an experience.
That would be cool.
We got to be really close. We got to be.
COTE: Yeah, we are.
NARRATOR: As a new day begins on Oak Island...
ST. LOUIS: One, two.
(grunting)
Beautiful.
NARRATOR: ...while representatives
from Dumas Contracting Limited
finish extending the Garden Shaft
down to the believed treasure tunnel in the Money Pit area...
RICK: So, gentlemen,
I have no need
to introduce Chris Morford to everyone here.
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina along with other members
of the team meet once again
with author and 32nd degree Freemason
Chris Morford in the war room.
In recent years,
Chris and his research partner Corjan Mol
have assisted the team both on the island
and in numerous destinations across Europe
to investigate the incredible theory
that the medieval order of the Knights Templar,
and their believed descendants, known as the Freemasons,
made repeated visits to Oak Island
between the 12th and 18th centuries
in order to hide items
of great historic and monetary value.
I very much look forward to the presentation.
I think it's going to be informative
and-and quite interesting, so please proceed.
Oh, thank you, Rick. Thank you, everybody.
What I'd like to discuss today is an alignment
that I found with Nolan's Cross.
NARRATOR: Now, in light of the team's ongoing efforts
to locate the source of precious metals that have been detected
in the Money Pit area...
CHRIS: So, you can see here Nolan's Cross.
...Chris has conducted new research
that he believes could help them pinpoint it
using the megalithic boulders of Nolan's Cross.
CHRIS: Now, who placed the stones there as well as why
is a question that has been nagging all of us for decades.
So, why go through the trouble
of moving these enormous stones
into such an arrangement?
I believe this structure was built by the Templars.
And the Templars may have used the alignment of Nolan's Cross
to guide us to the treasure.
Wow.
CHRIS: This treasure is said to be no less than the Holy Grail itself.
This goes back to the research that Corjan and I have done.
I do believe that the original Temple Menorah
was safeguarded here
to make way for the new Jerusalem
and the new temple.
NARRATOR: Between the 12th and 14th centuries,
the military order of the Knights Templar
fiercely battled for Christian interests
in the Middle East and Europe
during the holy wars known as the Crusades.
After building their headquarters on the site
of the original Temple of King Solomon in Jerusalem,
they accumulated vast riches
by establishing the world's first banking system.
However, some believe that their great treasure
also included priceless relics
that they discovered during excavations
beneath the temple ruins,
including King Solomon's golden menorah
and the Holy Grail.
In 1307, the order was disbanded
and persecuted by the Pope and the king of France
over controversial charges of heresy.
Many were imprisoned and executed.
However, their believed sacred treasures
have never been found.
Is it possible that some of these relics
are buried on Oak Island, as Chris Morford believes?
And could Nolan's Cross hold the key
to locating where they are buried?
CHRIS: Now, I spent a lot of time wondering
what clues would these knights have left
for the future brothers
to locate the treasure
so that their enemies or the uninitiated
would not be able to find it.
Nolan's Cross could be the answer.
I needed a first step,
and the most obvious to me
was Stone C, up on the beach.
This would be the only stone visible from a ship.
As you leave Cone C,
of course, you will hit Cone A.
They actually have a nice sight line to each other,
and straight to the Money Pit.
But still you would need markers
to help you get from that point
to the Money Pit
because it's pretty easy to wander off course.
I saw, on some updated maps you have, that
there were two drilled stones.
Remarkably, they were right on that line.
It seems to me they were intentionally
put there as markers.
STEVE: Yep. We had one on Lot 15
and the other one was on the Nolan property.
Well, remember now, there was another drilled stone
in the Money Pit area that Frederick Blair found.
CHARLES: Yes.
NARRATOR: In 1895,
treasure hunter Frederick Blair
discovered a mysterious drilled stone in the Money Pit area.
Although the stone was moved
during future searcher excavations,
its original location was marked on a survey
conducted by Charles Roper in the 1930s.
More than three decades later,
Fred Nolan noted two additional drilled stones
during surveys that he conducted
between the swamp and the Money Pit.
Could Chris Morford be correct
that these drilled stones were related to Nolan's Cross
and placed as markers in order to help pinpoint
the location of the fabled Oak Island treasure?
CHRIS: So, when you get to the Money Pit area,
I would think that there was a marker there,
and then from there you would know where to dig.
JACK: We should get proper measurements
and see if we can have it align through the Money Pit.
'Cause what are the chances we run into
these two drilled stones right through Cone A and Cone C?
And maybe we can project
where the Money Pit was.
RICK: That could be highly relevant.
Chris, do you believe that Templars or descendants
or versions of the Templars
came and did the work here?
Either is plausible.
RICK: It's so romantic to think
that the Templars come to this tiny, nondescript island,
they do this incredible amount of work,
and then Chris has taken that
to help put an "X" on the ground on Oak Island.
It doesn't prove anything,
but the line created by Cone C,
the drilled stones, and Cone A
may ultimately assist us in finding
the original Money Pit, and that's the goal.
Chris, I certainly believe that research is
a huge component to figure out what happened here
on this island long ago.
So the debt of gratitude
lays on our heads and our shoulders to you.
Thank you so much.
We should check that projection of Nolan's Cross.
It's always important to put eyes and boots.
-Okay. -RICK: Having said that,
-let's get back to work. -ALEX: Thanks, Chris.
CHRIS: Thank you.
RICK: So, Tom,
I suppose you're wondering why
we asked you to come out today, right?
Well, I know roughly where we are here,
-as I look at that. -RICK: Exactly.
-Cone C of Nolan's Cross. -TOM: Yeah.
NARRATOR: Following their meeting
with 32nd degree Freemason Chris Morford,
Rick Lagina and Steve Guptill
join fellow Oak Island landowner Tom Nolan
on his property at Cone C,
the northernmost boulder near the shoreline,
which marks the so-called left arm of Nolan's Cross.
We had a theorist come. Chris Morford.
-You're quite familiar with him. -Yep.
RICK: He made an association between
Cone C, Cone A,
drilled stones, and alignment
-to the Money Pit. -Wow.
NARRATOR: It is Rick's intention to have Steve,
a professional surveyor,
track the line from Cone C
through several drilled stones,
as well as Cone A of Nolan's Cross,
and, finally, to the Money Pit area,
where Chris Morford believes
the precise location of the fabled Oak Island treasure
may be buried deep underground.
-Okay. Let's go. -Let's go.
RICK: We're all excited.
We want to measure it ourselves,
we want to walk the line,
and hopefully we corroborate
what Chris has suggested.
We have to find out where it goes,
specifically in the Money Pit.
STEVE: All right, so this is
-our first drilled stone. -RICK: Yep.
And for reference, I'll tag it again.
Okey doke.
All right, let me take you to Cone A.
-RICK: Okay. -TOM: Okay.
STEVE: So, I'm gonna do my best to actually walk the line.
RICK: As we walk that line,
we know the elevation will change,
thus the reason for the drilled stones.
The purpose is to draw
an alignment between Cone C
and perhaps the location of a treasure.
STEVE: All right, so, I mean, we all know this is Cone A.
-RICK: Yep. -STEVE: I'm gonna tag it
and then calculate the next point.
RICK: Okay.
Got it.
-Got it. -Thank you.
All right, we've got it there.
-Follow me through. -RICK: Okay.
TOM: Okay.
STEVE: So, I'm currently on the line.
-I guess we'll go through here. -RICK: Yep.
RICK: As we walk the line,
we're getting closer to the Money Pit.
I'm excited to
see where it goes.
STEVE: So, here's the next drilled stone.
It's right on line.
RICK: Can I just see that?
STEVE: Sure can. I'm gonna tag it while you're here.
RICK: You see how they would have turned the chisel?
TOM: Yes, as they were... Yeah, as they were going.
So, here's an observation.
This is the exact half point from Cone C in the water...
-Mm-hmm. -...to Lot 15,
and the next half is the Money Pit,
so this is almost perfectly half the distance.
Hmm.
What are the odds of that?
I don't know. For Chris to make this observation
and then have these measurements
lay out as they are?
-Right. -Quite remarkable. Really is.
I'd be very curious
if it-- half again, the measurement
-to the Money Pit. -STEVE: Let's find out.
-Let's find out. -STEVE: Follow me.
RICK: It's quite remarkable that the drilled stone on Lot 15
is exactly halfway from Cone C to the Money Pit.
So, now, what we need to do
is walk the other half to the Money Pit.
So, the next stop is our end point,
so I'll take you to the end point.
-RICK: Okay. -TOM: Okay.
STEVE: Watch your step here.
So, the final location of the other half
of the distance from Lot 15 is right here.
RICK: Oh, my goodness.
STEVE: As you can see,
it's not perfectly on the shaft,
but what it is on top of is the tunnel.
Really?
-Yeah. -Wow.
RICK: The bingo point, if you will,
is almost exactly where
the tunnel under the Garden Shaft is.
Now, that's quite remarkable.
-That's pretty close. -That's pretty close.
TOM: That's pretty darn close.
RICK: Remember, the reason why we're there is
because of the high gold and silver values,
but to have that line,
based on two of the stones of Nolan's Cross
and two drilled stones,
land on that corner of the Garden Shaft,
that's... dramatic.
Now we have to expose the bottom of
the structure and exploit that information.
We have to come to a further understanding
of what this tunnel
-potentially represents. -Yep.
-We're a ways from that yet. -TOM: Yeah.
RICK: But for right now,
there's a lot of work to do, so let's get to it.
TOM: Okay. Sounds good.
NARRATOR: As the operation to deepen the Garden Shaft continues
in the Money Pit area...
JACK: I'm really interested to see what we dig up
over here as we continue digging along the stone path.
GARY: Yeah.
NARRATOR: ...Jack Begley
along with Gary Drayton
and Billy Gerhardt are proceeding with
their excavation to the north of
the newly uncovered stone walkway or ramp...
JACK: Let's go.
...where they hope to find
additional evidence of man-made structures
and buried valuables.
GARY: Yeah. Well, let's get back, mate,
'cause we're running out of room.
There we go. Look.
Whew. Look at the size of that.
That's a big stump.
JACK: That's a big tree.
Makes you wonder how big the trees used to be.
Yeah.
It would've took a big fella to get this down.
This is giving me hope.
Every time I see a trunk like that coming out,
that means the woods, the forest,
there's more in there.
Like Dr. Spooner said, this did not
-used to be a swamp. -No.
It used to allow trees to grow.
GARY: Exactly.
NARRATOR: The stump of a tree,
unearthed from the deepest area of the swamp?
Because trees cannot generally grow in bodies of water,
the team has found more evidence to support
Dr. Ian Spooner's belief that the swamp was
at least a partially man-made feature.
No. No metals.
We're metal-less.
But the wood more than makes up for it.
It's about the context, and the wood was found
at the very bottom of the swamp,
and it wasn't thrown in later.
This is, this is wood from a very old source.
NARRATOR: If Dr. Spooner can successfully
date this stump, could it help the team confirm
when the swamp was artificially created?
GARY: Billy!
This was perfect timing, mate,
getting these interesting pieces of wood out.
We know that that storm's coming from down south,
-and we are gonna get drenched. -BILLY: You can feel it.
-The air is changing. -GARY: 'Cause, I mean,
the swamp's gonna fill up for sure.
Those stumps are pretty unique.
We should get Rick down here to take a look at 'em.
Oh, we will. Yeah.
Yeah. Great work, Billy, mate.
-See you later, mate. -JACK: See you, Bill.
GARY: Ah, what a glorious day to be in the swamp, Rick, eh?
New day.
A fresh dig.
NARRATOR: As another day dawns on Oak Island
Rick Lagina has joined Gary Drayton
and Billy Gerhardt to continue their investigation
near the middle of the triangle-shaped swamp.
There might be a story here that we're standing on
and don't even know it.
Yeah. Right.
Let's find some good stuff.
NARRATOR: Because a heavy overnight rainstorm
has partially refilled the brackish bog,
the team is now excavating several feet to the north
of where they discovered a large tree stump--
and possible evidence of ancient human activity--
just one day ago.
GARY: Pulling up another stump.
Billy, hey!
That layer there,
-that's a change. -BILLY: Right.
A significant change.
How did it go from forestland-- and when--
to a deepwater cove?
BILLY: I think it might prove
when somebody did something here.
Yeah.
RICK: We know that,
according to Dr. Spooner,
and certainly the evidence is there, that...
at one point, the swamp was forested.
Well, now the key question is, was that manipulated?
Hopefully, Dr. Spooner can provide us with some answers.
RICK: Oh, oh, oh.
BILLY: Is that a trunk and a notch there or not?
GARY: It's all uneven, like it was axe-cut.
BILLY: If that broke off, the log should be laying right there
beside it, I think.
-Oh, absolutely. -BILLY: Right?
And it's not...
-RICK: It's not there. -It's not there.
It's just not there.
Somebody took the logs...
-Yep. -Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
...for something. Maybe to build the Money Pit.
NARRATOR: Could Billy Gerhardt be correct,
that long ago,
trees were removed from this area when it was dry land...
in order to construct the nine wooden platforms
of rounded logs that were reportedly discovered
more than two centuries ago in the original Money Pit?
Yeah, I don't know.
-We need Dr. Spooner to weigh in... -GARY: Yeah, for sure.
...to see if he can date when that event happened.
Okay. For right now, I've got to take off.
You guys are in charge.
Hopefully you'll find some more things.
-Okay, mate. -Thanks, Billy.
-BILLY: Yep. -GARY: Good luck.
NARRATOR: As Gary and Billy continue their excavation
for answers in the swamp...
...later that afternoon...
COTE: So, it seems like we hit your target. Finally.
-You found her. -COTE: Yeah.
(laughter)
NARRATOR: ...Rick Lagina,
Scott Barlow, and Craig Tester
have just received long-awaited news.
After extending the Garden Shaft
to an approximate depth of 95 feet in the Money Pit area,
representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited
have finally reached a believed seven-foot-high tunnel
that leads toward the Baby Blob
and perhaps a vast cache of buried treasure.
We can actually see wood.
-Okay. -COTE: But it's either collapsed or whatever.
-Who knows what the...? -Yeah.
COTE: Yeah, until we uncover more of it.
-Okay. Get us dressed. -Well.
-Let's get going. -COTE: Okay.
RICK: Hey, finally, we can actually
put eyes and boots on the tunnel that was found
by the sonic drill program.
You get a little bit of chills.
Let's go take a peek.
It's been frustratingly slow at times, but it's exciting.
-CRAIG: Good luck, guys. -We'll take you a pic...
-We'll take you a picture. -SCOTT: Thanks.
RICK: If it was original, it's our belief
that we're talking hundreds of years ago.
(chuckles) Now, that's-- that raises the bar.
There's hope. There's promise.
There's... You might find the one thing.
So I think there are some answers here.
There you go.
Okay.
Okay, so what are we looking at here, Paul?
COTE: So that's where we got the sample out of the wood.
Do you feel anything?
RICK: Ah...
Yeah. There's definitely wood right here.
-I see your bar here. -COTE: Yeah.
So, we drove that bar
-that was just, uh, for guiding. -RICK: Yeah.
COTE: So here's a round log, there.
-RICK: Oh, okay. -COTE: Okay?
RICK: Right here, that's wood?
-COTE: That's wood right there. -RICK: Oh, really?
-See that? -(laughs)
See, there's some wood right there.
Yeah.
RICK: But that's right here. See that right there?
That looks like wood there, too.
Well, now it gets exciting, right?
h.
NARRATOR: It is a historic
and exciting moment
for Rick and Marty Lagina,
their partner Craig Tester,
and their entire team.
You got the crowbar right there behind you.
NARRATOR: At the bottom of the Garden Shaft
in the fabled Money Pit area,
a wooden tunnel that may lead
to a legendary cache of buried treasure
has finally been reached at a depth of some 95 feet.
RICK: You know there's something going on there.
RICK: You hear that?
Doesn't that sound hollow?
Yeah.
RICK: Listen to that.
That's, that's one of the beams.
This beam is not hollow like that.
There's only so much you can see between the clay, the water,
but it's real.
And that's the important part.
There's a wood structure down there.
And at that point, it becomes "Okay,
we can't stop now."
If you want to expose more of it,
we can add one more section and then go deeper,
-and that'll give us another 32 inches. -Yes.
You-you have to, you have to go deeper.
-Absolutely. -RICK: Because the board this way,
if you pound on it, sounds hollow to me,
like there's air and empty space below that.
-SCOTT: Right. -And that would be,
to me, that would be indicative
of the top of the tunnel.
We did probe the logs
that were in line with the projection.
It seemed hollow underneath it.
Hit that. Hit that one timber.
It sounds hollow to me.
SCOTT: Yep.
RICK: And the hope is to extend the shaft
to explore this further.
COTE (over radio): We'll excavate, squaring off,
and then keep digging.
SCOTT: It's exciting seeing round timbers down there
'cause, to me, round timbers are
a great indication, it's potentially old.
You, you have to go back to the original story, right?
You know, logs every ten feet
in the Money Pit.
Logs. That's the description.
It's an interesting possible connection.
Round timbers associated with the original construct
of the Money Pit and a round timber here.
When I look back and think about reading
the Reader's Digest article,
it does bring your mind back to round logs
in the original Money Pit, round logs in this feature.
And so, I don't have to believe
that we're making progress at solving the mystery.
I know we are.
If we only saw square timbers down there,
I'd think that we're more-- into more modern searcher times.
So we'll just square off the-the excavation
-and we'll add another section on top. -Yeah.
And then we'll be ready to dig for another three feet,
and we'll be right on top of the structure.
MARTY: I mean, you can't help but let your mind go on this.
(chuckles)
After 15 years,
we may be just a few feet above original works.
It could be it. It could be the thing!
I am very excited
that this is going to lead us to a treasure.
Yeah. It's gonna be, uh,
it's gonna be quite a day
when we set eyes on it completely.
Let's get it done.
Let's figure out
what that tunnel represents, right?
-COTE: Yeah. -And where it's going.
SCOTT: We're gonna find that out in time.
You know, it's right below us.
RICK: I think we need to get
-out of their way, Scott. -SCOTT: I think so.
You guys stay safe down here. Okay?
Yeah. Thanks for stopping by.
NARRATOR: For Rick and Marty Lagina,
what began as a childhood dream
may soon be fulfilled by a discovery
that could rewrite history as we know it.
Do the ultimate answers of just who and what was behind
the Oak Island mystery
lie at the end of a mysterious tunnel
below the Garden Shaft?
Perhaps one more dig is all it will take.
But as they proceed, they must also prepare for the unknown,
for the unforeseen and the unforgiving forces
that have guarded Oak Island's secrets for hundreds of years.
Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...
ALEX: That's deep.
If it dates 1200 on those logs,
that's the same as the paved area.
AARON SATKOSKI (on monitor): The Money Pit samples are
the most interesting samples that we have.
Where do you think that sample comes from?
Southeast France.
Remarkable.
We're on it. Oh, oh, oh,
I see something round, mate.
-Oh, it's got a design on it. -It does.
RICK: The hurricane is coming.
There's no denying it.
This could be the most dangerous day on this island.
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