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00:00All right, here we go, there's a genie in a lamp and all your wishes will be granted. It looks like there's something here. Oh
00:07Look at the head on that thing that could have easily come out a treasure chest. These teeth are ready to buy on some gold
00:15I think we're breaking through the cave agreed. We're hitting something right? This could be the most important hammer grabbing history
00:26There is an island in the North Atlantic
00:28Where people have been looking for an incredible treasure for more than 200 years
00:36So far they have found a stone slab with strange symbols carved into it man-made workings that date to medieval times
00:45And a lead cross whose origin may be connected to the Knights Templar
00:51To date six men have died trying to solve the mystery
00:55And according to legend one more will have to die before the treasure can be found
01:04A peaceful morning has begun on Oak Island
01:21But in the fabled money pit area a sobering sense of stagnation has set in
01:26As more than 300 tons of heavy digging equipment sits idle
01:32Okay, everybody welcome to an impromptu session of the war room
01:38Vanessa you've been here before both in person and on the screen and of course on the screen right now is Craig participating from Traverse City
01:45Here's the reason we're here the island as usual is throwing us a few curve balls
01:51We obviously have suffered a an event. We'll call it with TB1
01:56We've lost considerable amount of soils and there are legitimate concerns about the caisson
02:02Correct
02:03Yeah
02:04Three weeks ago brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and their team began excavating a seven-foot diameter steel shaft known as TB1
02:16A shaft located in an area where they have not only detected high trace evidence of precious metals in groundwater below a depth of 100 feet
02:27But also where a recent core drilling operation recovered possible evidence of the legendary Chapel vault this looks like the ball
02:39A seven-foot high concrete encased wooden chest that was reportedly encountered at a depth of
02:46153 feet by treasure hunter Frederick Blair and his drilling operator William Chapel back in 1897
02:54However, after additional promising discoveries were made in TB1
03:01including possible evidence of the original money pit and
03:06Concrete at a depth of nearly 160 feet
03:10This collapses is not stopping. I just don't know where it's going, but it's going somewhere
03:15The earth surrounding and beneath the shaft began to cave in
03:20This has caused the team to believe that more than 100 cubic yards of soil along with the possible treasure
03:28May have fallen into a so-called solution channel or naturally occurring cavern in the bedrock some 200 feet underground
03:39It really looks like the culprit for these collapses is so far this the solution channel
03:44Mm-hmm the treasure could easily have fallen to 200 feet plus and we haven't really searched that area, right?
03:51If you had a chest of gold and it broke open, it'd be in the last inch
03:56With that having been said I
03:58Think we need a very vigorous discussion about what we do next and an update from both of you as to
04:05What problems you've encountered and how to deal with them?
04:07My biggest concern is I don't want to set up on shafts. We just drilled so where we're drilling right now
04:13I do not want to put the crane or the oscillator on right because we're gonna already have settling. We know that
04:19The area around TB1 is clearly compromised if the solution channel which we know is quite large can be swallowing a hundred yards of sand and gravel overnight or during the day
04:30Uh, who knows how bad this could get if we're facing, you know
04:34The back of the crane over here now turning it over here might get us away from that
04:38We're gonna have to wait for the material to settle
04:41It'll probably become more stable and we can come back close and I want to come back close
04:46We have a renewed determination to get down into that solution cavity or at least I do
04:53Okay, let's talk about where are we going next and what are the specifics about it?
04:58Yeah, so I think our next target is right there
05:02That's what we call laden's cave
05:05That's one that we had decided as a group we'd like to do this year. Okay
05:10Despite the devastating setback in TB1
05:14Curiously the laginas and their team have discovered evidence that multiple treasures could be buried in the money pit area
05:24And one of those additional targets has been expectantly dubbed
05:28Aladdin's cave
05:30Okay, go real slow
05:32After drilling into this mysterious flooded cavern some 145 feet underground back in
05:402022
05:41The team has not only collected trace evidence of precious metals and organic materials in the water
05:48Now we have another image coming in
05:50Whoa, well, that's a good opening. It is you can see the opening coming down here
05:55But they have also obtained video and sonar evidence that it could be a man-made chamber with tunnels that may connect to the original money pit
06:05What is the dimensions of that cave once we do break through yeah, so you're about 20 feet by 20 feet
06:12So 20 feet north so 20 feet east west you can see it here
06:16All right, and then deep as much as 12 feet if you want to do a landscape
06:23I would say do that next I think there's enough room back here for us to sit and be on competent ground
06:28Okay, yeah, Greg, you're fully on board. Yes
06:32absolutely
06:34Okay, great. I
06:36Think
06:37Given the drill program the dendrochronology the artifact recoveries and the water sample testing program
06:45There is a very good logic to there being at least two treasures in the so-called money pit area
06:53Aladdin's cave may be one of those sites
06:57All right, look I hear broad consensus. I hear no nays. I hear everybody saying let's go drill Aladdin's cave. Let's find the lamp
07:06And touch nothing else
07:09Let's see what happens
07:11Let's go
07:15Later that afternoon
07:18As representatives from rock equipment and sb canada bring it straight back prepared to excavate the new shaft known as
07:26Aladdin's cave one in the money pit area
07:29that looks better
07:32We're gonna follow the path of the cobble towards the water we're heading
07:37North and see what we find on this trail rick lagina
07:41fellow oak island landowner tom nolan and other members of the team
07:47Continue another critical search for valuables in the northern region of the triangle shaped swamp
07:52We laid out you see the red stakes
07:57That's the line we believe we'll find more survey stakes along that line if we find them out here may be
08:03Purposeful in terms of laying out this path. What did we find on the other side of the bog?
08:08What did you find the square structure?
08:13Exactly and I hope that at the end of this path there is another one yes
08:17While investigating this area over the past several months
08:22The team has uncovered sections of a believed man-made cobblestone pathway
08:27That has led to a number of potentially critical discoveries
08:30These include several wood plank structures
08:36And even an empty brick and slate vault
08:39Which the team believes may have once contained something of great value?
08:44Hey, Alan, you're up
08:50As we continue to explore the possibility of the continuation of this path in the north
08:57We need to reassess and look at it in its totality
09:00The hope is as this work proceeds we will find something very definitive in terms of
09:07Why this end of the bog was worked and weave the story of what this represents?
09:12Hopefully there are full vaults that we have yet to uncover
09:15Wait a minute pull up
09:28Oh
09:32Oh wow, what do we have here? I don't know
09:36It's a plank
09:46These wouldn't have been put here by your dad would they tom with this amount of till on top of it?
09:50I don't think
09:52While searching for a continuation of the cobblestone pathway in the northern region of the oak island swamp
09:59Rick Lagina and members of the team have just made a potentially important discovery
10:05This looks exactly like what we found right by the square structure where we also found the big stakes
10:14If katya drayton's suspicion is correct that this plank structure might be related to the one that the team found four weeks ago
10:22Just several yards to the south
10:25Could she also be correct that other important clues or structures might be buried nearby
10:31What's that there rick that's not a stake is it that is a stake no question about that
10:43We're kind of on the line
10:45We are singularly focused on
10:48Learning as much as we can about the north end of the bog and the line of survey stakes as we currently understand them
10:55And maybe this line relates to another possible vault
11:00Let's see how many more there are. Okay, you will take another swipe there out
11:04Yep
11:06Oh, this looks like another stake right here.
11:26Yep.
11:29What were they trying to stake out over here?
11:31It seems to be leading away from the end of that cobblestone path.
11:36We're deviating way off the line.
11:40Oh, you're right.
11:42The line is here, but these stakes are here.
11:45Oh, they're off to the side.
11:48Yep.
11:48The question is, are we seeing two different lines of survey stakes?
11:54Two divergent lines of survey stakes?
11:56Could that mean that there are additional sections of the cobblestone pathway?
12:01Here's where we are.
12:02Under the muck and mud that lead to different destinations?
12:06And those are over here.
12:10If so, has the team found more evidence that additional vault-like structures are waiting to be discovered in the swamp?
12:17It's deviating, right?
12:20It's this line is here.
12:22This line is here.
12:24It seems like there's two different directions going here.
12:27What's interesting, we have never found two stakes side by side.
12:31And I wonder if that's where they diverge.
12:36Where does it go?
12:37Who built it?
12:38It's a complicated environment.
12:41We have a lot of clues.
12:42We have a lot of data.
12:44And we just have to sit patiently and try to understand it.
12:47Well, I think at this point, what we should do is have Steve come out, take a line, pin those two stakes, pin the lay of that board.
12:57And then I would pull the board, have Alan dig a little bit deeper, see what we find.
13:04Yeah, let's do it.
13:05The following morning, as the investigation continues in the swamp.
13:16Here we go.
13:17And the dig now proceeds in the Money Pit area.
13:21That's a full one.
13:24Over on lot five, located on the western side of the island.
13:29So you're in the gravel, Ethan?
13:31Yeah, I'm just coming down onto it.
13:33Okay.
13:33Jack Begley, along with members of the archaeology team, are excavating a 15-by-15-foot test pit just to the south of a mysterious rounded stone foundation.
13:45I'm hoping that this area gives us a better idea of what this feature was originally built and used for.
13:53Yeah.
13:54Since the team first discovered the rounded feature in 2022,
13:59they've unearthed numerous sections and artifacts that suggest it may have been used as a campsite by several different groups between the 14th and the 18th centuries.
14:10And while numerous suspects have been potentially linked to the structure, including the medieval order of the Knights Templar,
14:20several iron tools have been found here that were scientifically traced to the birthplace of Sir William Phipps,
14:26the 17th century English politician who some believe buried a vast cache of Spanish silver on Oak Island back in 1687.
14:36One cannot refute the fact that the preponderance of the evidence is indicating some efforts on Lot 5 may be associated with work in the Money Pit area.
14:49One cannot dispute that.
14:51What it speaks to is there are more clues to be found on Lot 5.
14:56What did you find, Fiona?
15:07Well, I just pulled this piece of brick out.
15:11It's unusual for us to get pieces that have the glaze on all sides,
15:15so that's giving us a really good indication of the actual size of the brick.
15:21Is there any way that we can figure out where those bricks originated from?
15:24Yeah, we've been working on that, actually.
15:26We've been building a database.
15:28We're looking at the clay itself, trying to figure out where the clay came from.
15:31Oh, really? Okay.
15:33So we've actually been finding brick all over the island, not just in Lot 5.
15:37With the bricks that we find, we do some specific analysis on them.
15:41We're looking at the composition of the brick and trying to actually trace where some of the clay may have come from,
15:47whether that it took place on Oak Island or whether it was somewhere nearby.
15:50It may just be a brick, but every little piece can still tell a part of a story.
15:55Oh, yes.
15:56Every little piece helps, and that's why I'm going to get back to sifting.
16:00Great job, Fiona.
16:01Thanks.
16:02While the team continues to search for clues on Lot 5, back on the eastern side of the island in the Money Pit area.
16:11Oh, Lot 1.
16:12Following the collapse of their first case on target, TB1, Rick Lagina and other members of the team
16:19are anxiously monitoring the excavation of their next target, called AC-1,
16:24where a potentially important discovery has been made some 100 feet underground.
16:30Look at that.
16:32Hit the jackpot with wood.
16:34That looks like an old timber.
16:38There you go.
16:39All right.
16:40We're hitting something, right?
16:41Yeah.
16:42Okay, we're at 96 with the dig.
16:45So, what's this wood telling us?
16:47It's like we're busting through a tunnel.
16:49A possible tunnel located nearly 100 feet deep?
16:54That's impressive, isn't it?
16:56Very impressive.
16:57The team was not expecting to encounter man-made workings
17:00until they reached the mysterious cave at a depth of 145 feet.
17:05Can you give me a hand?
17:06Yep.
17:07This raises two critical questions.
17:09Have they merely discovered a structure that was built by previous searchers?
17:15Or have they found a tunnel built by someone who buried treasure deep in the Money Pit area?
17:22That looks Andoon, doesn't it?
17:24Yeah.
17:25You feel it?
17:26Yeah.
17:27These timbers look really old.
17:29Yeah.
17:30And there's no iron fasteners in them, which is interesting.
17:33I think that's an older construction.
17:36Yeah.
17:37Any ideas what tunnel this would be?
17:39No.
17:40Not with wood exhibiting those characteristics.
17:43Yeah.
17:45Ooh, look at what we've got here.
17:48This could be the most important hammer grab in Nova Scotian history.
17:57Look at that piece in there, the pile.
18:00That is massive.
18:02It's going to be heavy.
18:02An unexpected, but potentially critical discovery has just been made in the Money Pit area.
18:10Let me help you there, Rick.
18:12Too excited.
18:14While installing a shaft known as Aladdin's Cave, or AC-1, which the Oak Island team hopes
18:20will encounter a man-made cavern at a depth of 145 feet.
18:25A mysterious tunnel has just been breached at a depth of some 100 feet.
18:31Nothing, yeah?
18:32No metal hits, no.
18:34Could be.
18:34Really old.
18:35Is it possible that the team has intercepted a tunnel that was constructed by someone in
18:42order to hide something of great value long ago?
18:45And if so, could it be related in some way to Aladdin's Cave?
18:50More wood, Rick.
18:54My gut feeling and your gut feeling says this is some kind of old tunnel.
18:59Sometimes you've got to go where you're going.
19:01We're both hungry for treasure.
19:03Hopefully it's around this tunnel.
19:06Maybe.
19:07Maybe.
19:10The guys are really excited about finding this wood, indicating a possible previously unknown
19:16tunnel.
19:17It could be critically important.
19:18As Dr. Spooner says, the treasure will not materialize in solid soil.
19:24There has to be a structure associated with it.
19:31Hey, Scott.
19:32How are you doing, guys?
19:33We're just finishing up our spoils down there at the wash table.
19:37And this beautiful spike came out of those spoils.
19:41Oh, that's nice.
19:43You look at the head on that thing.
19:45That's really, really old.
19:47That's nice.
19:47If I was guessing, I would say it's 1600s or even older.
19:54Yeah.
19:54Definitely, it goes back.
19:56It's beautiful.
19:57That's bloody gorgeous.
19:59I would never have expected to find that in the spoils coming out of that tunnel.
20:02No.
20:03Nope.
20:03The tunnel would.
20:04It had no fasteners.
20:05No.
20:06This must have come out of something else.
20:09Can you imagine that in the side of a chest or a lid of a chest?
20:13Sounds good to me.
20:15Could Gary Drayton be correct that this spike might not only date back to the 17th century
20:23or earlier, but also be related to a possible container.
20:27If so, what else might the team find at the bottom of Aladdin's cave?
20:33That's exciting, guys.
20:35We've had real great examples of wood before.
20:40We've had great artifacts before.
20:42We've never been able to tie the two together in the same hole, same location, verify.
20:48We've got great dendrosamples, and we now have a real artifact that we can scientifically analyze.
20:55So there's winds across the board here today.
20:58Yeah.
20:59We're hoping to find what happened here long ago, or at least answers to what happened here long ago.
21:05One of the Ws.
21:06Who, what, when, where, why?
21:08That's why this is a very interesting, if not a very exciting moment, because we don't know what might be down here.
21:15How are we doing?
21:19Good, good.
21:19Just wanted to give you an update.
21:21Okay.
21:21What do you got?
21:23My pole is at 115.
21:25With the dig at 115, that makes it about 30 feet from top of our, where we're hoping to intersect this thing.
21:33Okay.
21:34Wonderful.
21:34I will stop for the night, and then I will see you all in the morning.
21:38Thank you, Vanessa.
21:39Appreciate it.
21:42Two things I look forward to tomorrow.
21:44One is, what is at the bottom of that cave?
21:47But the second biggest thing is, there has to be a way in there.
21:52If we can confirm that, makes it all the more exciting.
21:56And remember, bring your sunglasses tomorrow.
21:59And we're going to see some shiny stuff.
22:02Here, here.
22:03I hope you're right, Gary.
22:04Keep your fingers crossed.
22:06So buckle up for tomorrow.
22:08The following morning, as the excavation in AC-1 proceeds toward a target depth of 145 feet.
22:24You know, the bricks have been a puzzle.
22:25Rick Lagina and Scott Barlow meet with archaeologists Laird Niven and Moya MacDonald and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan in the Oak Island Laboratory.
22:38We found bricks, literally, from Smith's Cove all the way to the western side of the island.
22:43Is there any connective tissue here that we can make some sort of a greater understanding of their importance?
22:49Yeah, so I brought some bricks out that we had done some sampling on.
22:54We have two Lot 5 bricks.
22:56This is a sample from the eastern Drumlin, Smith's Cove area.
23:00And then we have two bricks from the swamp, the vault bricks that you guys found earlier this summer.
23:05Moya and Emma have analyzed samples of the clay bricks that have recently been found across the island, utilizing an X-ray diffraction device.
23:16A machine that uses X-ray radiation to examine the chemical composition and physical properties of objects in order to help determine the time period that they were created.
23:29We did two runs of each through the machine just to really cover our bases.
23:35The Lot 5 bricks and a sample from Smith's Cove were compositionally very similar.
23:42And I did find a really interesting connection.
23:45Both of them match compositionally with a brick hill sample.
23:50It's a local brick making company.
23:52It's a brick kiln and it's from the 1600s.
23:57That's remarkable.
23:58It's a brick kiln and it's from the 1600s.
24:06So it's locally sourced, which I find really interesting.
24:11In the Oak Island Laboratory, Moya MacDonald, Emma Culligan and Laird Nevin have just made a startling revelation about the clay bricks that were unearthed near Smith's Cove and inside of the rounded stone foundation on Lot 5.
24:26So we have these two samples from Lot 5.
24:29Both were locally made and likely date to as far back as the 17th century.
24:35When you say 1600s, where are we in that 1600s timeline?
24:42Was it early 16s, mid-16s, late 16s?
24:46Or is it just a general framework of time?
24:49It's just a general framework.
24:52The Lot 5 bricks are coming from the fill.
24:55We haven't found a brick feature.
24:57Right.
24:57Exactly associated with the Lot 5 circular feature.
25:02So they're in the backfill.
25:03They're in the backfill.
25:04So it may be that there's a brick feature close by.
25:08And what we're finding is just debris from that.
25:11The bricks, they're not ubiquitous.
25:13They're not everywhere.
25:14They're found in very specific locations.
25:16Smith's Cove, Lot 5.
25:19Why were they found in these areas where a tremendous amount of work was done?
25:22If they do indeed go back to the 1600s, well, there is a connection with the historical narrative.
25:30It's corroborative evidence.
25:33So we have the vault brick that you guys found in the swamp.
25:36It kind of fits more in with other local 1800s bricks that Helen and Laird have also provided.
25:43Yeah.
25:43The brick from the vault you're suggesting is younger than the other items here in front of us.
25:50Yeah.
25:52If this being the one from the vault, this is a newer brick, that probably better suits the Anthony Graves timeline than before,
26:01given what we know about him and going to town and buying things with Spanish coins.
26:06Anthony Graves was a farmer who purchased several lots on Oak Island in 1857
26:11and built his homestead just north of the swamp.
26:16Although he never officially took part in the searches for treasure in the money pit,
26:20several years after he settled on the island,
26:24rumors began to swirl that he would often pay for supplies on the mainland using Spanish silver coins.
26:30Curiously, the team has found evidence within the so-called slate vault in the swamp
26:36that suggests it may have been constructed in the 1700s or earlier.
26:41However, could the bricks that the team found on the vault's top layer offer a clue that Anthony Graves discovered it nearly two centuries ago
26:52and helped himself to its contents?
26:56I think your results have squarely placed this in the time that Anthony Graves would have known about it.
27:01Yeah.
27:01And you know what that also says is, if you really had something valuable, would you put it only in one place?
27:07You don't keep all your eggs in one basket.
27:09Exactly.
27:09So on the other side of the swamp, I would bet you there's another one of those.
27:15Agreed.
27:15We want to thank the three of you.
27:17The lab has given us such a unique opportunity to advance the ball, so again, thank you very much.
27:23But in order for you to do the work in here, we've got to go and find more things, right?
27:28Yep.
27:30As Rick and members of the team conclude their meeting in the lab,
27:35and as the excavation of AC-1 continues in the Money Pit area.
27:40Okay, guys, I think we've got several directions here we could go in, based on what we're looking at out there.
27:47In the northern region of the swamp, Jack Begley, Oak Island landowner Tom Nolan,
27:53and metal detection expert Gary Drayton are continuing to search for new sections of the cobblestone pathway
27:59and additional structures that may contain hidden valuables.
28:05You've also got the cobble here.
28:07So, I mean, this could be part of a continual path.
28:11I'm hoping that it's Artifact Central waiting for us.
28:14We'll fire up the machine and start digging.
28:17Let's rock and roll.
28:18Okay.
28:19When looking at some of these cobblestones around here, they kind of diverge in two different directions.
28:25Is that a rock?
28:27So, as we follow the lines of stakes, we're going to have to search a wider area just to make sure we don't miss any.
28:35Yeah, definitely more of that cobble.
28:38Looks like it, doesn't it?
28:40Well, that doesn't cleanly converge with this other cobble path.
28:45This isn't leading to anywhere.
28:46If this is more cobble, say, a path, it stops.
28:52Is it possible?
28:53They stopped, then they built a platform to cross over to the other pile of cobble.
28:58A platform?
29:00It looks like there's something here.
29:02Could it be an extension of the cobblestone path, as Tom Nolan has suggested?
29:06Hey, Gary, do you want to come over and give this area a sweep?
29:09I sure do, mate.
29:10Coming over.
29:11Or might it be covering something that was hidden beneath it?
29:16Yeah, I'm trying to get your...
29:18Oh!
29:20Yep, there's a piece of iron there, by the sound of it.
29:22In that area just there.
29:33Let's see if you moved it.
29:38Let me try with my pinpointer.
29:41I see the...
29:42Maybe on that side?
29:43Maybe there.
29:44Whatever it is, Jack.
29:46Just there.
29:50Oh, that's pretty big.
29:52What is it?
29:52Some type of metal object.
30:00What is this?
30:01It's got a head on it.
30:03Here, you know best, Gary.
30:05Is it old, Gary?
30:07Yeah.
30:07It's really, really light.
30:09You feel how light that is.
30:13Could that be some sort of a wharf pin, Gary?
30:16Yeah, it could be.
30:17It's got mushrooming on the other end, so you know it's been whacked into something or other.
30:23It just ain't got a really, really old feel about it.
30:27Predates your dad.
30:28Yeah.
30:28The team's inspiration to search the triangle-shaped swamp came from Tom's late father, the legendary surveyor and treasure hunter, Fred Nolan.
30:38After draining the swamp in 1969, Fred discovered not only numerous 16th century survey sticks, but also parts of large sailing vessels.
30:49These vines led him to believe that Oak Island had once been two separate landmasses, and that the swamp had been created in order to find evidence of where treasure had been unloaded long ago.
31:05Could this possible wharf pin, and the mysterious wooden structure that the team has just uncovered, be the remains of a dock where valuables were offloaded onto Oak Island?
31:17Yeah, we'll set that aside.
31:20Oh, yeah.
31:21It's everything we find in here is going back to the lab.
31:23Yeah.
31:24Good start.
31:28You want to scrape it down just a little bit more?
31:31Yeah, okay.
31:32Maybe one more scrape.
31:34As the search for clues and hidden valuables continues in the Oak Island swamp, in the Money Pit area...
31:41All right, John, where are we at?
31:43Reserves are spiking a little bit, and then it drops.
31:47I think we're breaking through the cave.
31:52Agreed.
31:53I'm going to go let the guys know, and you keep going.
31:55Sounds good.
31:57The AC-1 shaft may have finally breached its intended target some 145 feet underground.
32:05A large, potentially man-made cavern known as Aladdin's Cave.
32:10So there was no, like, aha moment, like there's no pressure.
32:14Nope.
32:15All done.
32:15While we were cutting all the way down, we were at 150 pressure.
32:20The last five feet today, we've been at 120.
32:23So that is a sign of either a cavity or a cave.
32:27Right.
32:27So the hope here, me, would be that if we can get a camera on that, we can say, depending
32:35on whether yay or nay, what might be there.
32:37Yeah.
32:38Yeah.
32:39That's great, because these teeth are ready to buy them some gold.
32:42The hope is to get proper visual, introduce a camera or the 3D sonar, and see what we see.
32:50This is about getting as much information as possible and using that information to further
32:56the search agenda.
32:57Proof that human beings were in this void where the treasure could be, and then recover it.
33:03Water clarity, obviously, is going to be a problem here.
33:06And I think you earlier mentioned that you had a flocculent to precipitate in the water
33:11and get it down and get it clear.
33:13That would be of immense help, because the camera certainly would need that.
33:17Yeah.
33:18Flocculent is a substance that causes loose particles in water to clump together and float
33:24to the surface, thereby increasing visual clarity.
33:28There's a sense that having eyes on a target could well and truly break this mystery wide open.
33:35You know, my brother named it Aladdin's Cave.
33:37Well, think about what Aladdin's Cave means to you.
33:41There's a genie in a bottle, or in a lamp, and all your wishes will be granted, and I
33:45have but one wish.
33:47Find the one thing.
33:49So we leave it overnight, hope that the flocculent does its work, hope that, you know, just leaving
33:53it will help clear it out, and then we're ready for the camera tomorrow morning.
33:57You know, well, let's give it a try.
34:00Okay, let's do it.
34:00Give fingers to us.
34:01Yeah.
34:03Want to pick it up tomorrow?
34:04Yep.
34:05Later that afternoon, as the team from ROC Equipment begins adding flocculant to the
34:15interior of the AC-1 caisson.
34:19We are in AC-1, and between 90 and 110 feet, lo and behold, a spike was found.
34:27In the war room, Rick and Marty Lagina, along with other members of the team, are meeting
34:34once again with Emma Culligan.
34:36Emma is about to share her scientific report on the iron spike that was recovered one day
34:42ago inside a mysterious tunnel during the excavation of the AC-1 shaft.
34:48Emma, I'll turn it over to you.
34:48Emma, I'll turn it over to you.
34:50Okay, well, first off, the XRM, so safety scans of the nail.
34:55We see the wood-like grain structure, so it is wrought iron.
35:00We see the striking of the different angles of the head, which it does indicate that it is
35:07a rose head.
35:09Cross-section is squared, meaning it's hand-forged, not machine-cut.
35:12In the composition, it's really minimal.
35:17We have a lot of sulfur and phosphorus content, which indicates more of a likely English origin.
35:23We see a potassium content throughout, which it does indicate that it's a charcoal-fueled
35:28furnace, so not coke-coal.
35:30So all of these combined give it a most recent date of mid-1700s, and possibly earlier.
35:38Right?
35:39That's crazy.
35:40That's amazing.
35:41Yeah.
35:42What other data do we have?
35:44We've got some data from an old English melt detectorist, Marty.
35:48I don't know how trustworthy that might be, but go ahead.
35:52Emma, you said pre-1750s.
35:56I'm saying 1750s, but could be earlier.
36:00I've found a lot of these.
36:03When you see this, this thick, chunky spike with that big rose head on, that's an oldie.
36:08If you go anywhere in Europe, you see this type of iron spike in cabinets, doors, and chests.
36:18That could've easily come out of a treasure chest.
36:20That could've easily come out of treasure chest.
36:22This is your typical 1600 spike.
36:24I like 1600s.
36:25I like 1600s.
36:26That has to be deposited.
36:27Yep.
36:28That is exciting.
36:30Wow.
36:31It's quite amazing.
36:33That could've easily come out of treasure chest.
36:38In the war room, the Oak Island team has just been informed by archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan that the spike recovered from some 110 feet in the AC1 shaft is likely of English origin.
37:00Well, this is unexpected.
37:02And could date back to as early as the 17th century.
37:07This spike could be an important clue, and it could be either pointing to an early recovery effort or perhaps original deposit.
37:17Yeah, I agree.
37:18Yeah.
37:19There are several theories that fit that timeframe, 1600s into 1750.
37:24Yeah.
37:25It could well be William Phipps.
37:27Right.
37:28When you say 1600s, it fits the timeline for Sir William Phipps.
37:35We've found an incredible amount of hard-to-refute evidence suggesting Sir William Phipps had a presence within the round feature on Lot 5.
37:47People associated with Lot 5 may have been living on the island, possibly for the original construction of the money pit.
37:56Well, now we may have evidence of William Phipps depositing a treasure on Oak Island in the money pit.
38:03In 1687, under the direction of the English crown, Captain William Phipps located the famed wreck of the Concepcion, a Spanish treasure galleon which sank off the coast of the modern-day Dominican Republic in 1641, along with 100 tons of Spanish silver, gold, and jewels.
38:26After recovering 34 tons of silver, Phipps was knighted and ordered to return for the remaining valuables.
38:34However, when he and his assistant, a high-ranking Freemason named Andrew Belcher, completed the second salvage operation, they reported that locals had looted the wreck and that they recovered only 5 additional tons of treasure.
38:51This is where my first discovery comes in.
38:54I found a 1688 letter that shows that Captain Andrew Belcher was caught with one of Phipps' ships in the Mahone Bay area.
39:02At the exact time that Phipps was coming back from the second attempt, where he officially did not find as much silver.
39:07According to the research of 32nd-degree Freemason, Scott Clark, Sir William Phipps and Captain Andrew Belcher buried the missing Spanish treasure on Oak Island, based on their knowledge of an existing vault that had been deposited in the money pit centuries earlier by members of the Knights Templar.
39:28Could this spike that was recovered in AC1, along with the tools and bricks unearthed on Lot 5, not only help explain why the team has found evidence that multiple treasures could be buried in the money pit area, but also suggest what might await them in Aladdin's cave?
39:49It certainly fits with the Phipps' theory.
39:52If it was from the 1600s, then it fits a lot of stuff.
39:56But none of that matters to me.
39:58What matters to me is that that spike would indicate that somebody was down deep in the money pit well before the discovery of the money pit.
40:07That's the most significant conclusion.
40:10The treasure could be below us yet in the cave.
40:13Mystery upon intrigue upon mystery.
40:16Yeah.
40:17That is what makes this, ladies and gentlemen, a really beautiful story, mystery, treasure hunt.
40:26Absolutely.
40:27We're at the precipice of opening the door of that cave, and everyone around this table has high hopes of what might lie within.
40:36And I think together, all of us will do the best job possible to see and retrieve whatever might be in Aladdin's cave.
40:43Token sesame.
40:44Let's get out there and find it.
40:46Agreed.
40:47Well said.
40:49What began as a devastating setback in the money pit area has now led to a series of surprising and potentially critical revelations for Rick, Marty, Craig, and their team.
41:02Is it possible that after 223 years, the murky truth behind the Oak Island mystery is on the verge of coming into clear view?
41:15Or could there be something much darker lurking below that will keep them at bay?
41:24Next time on The Curse of Oak Island.
41:27How does Lot 5 connect to the money pit?
41:29This may be that pathway.
41:31This could be the connection we've been looking for.
41:33Wow.
41:34I don't know what that is.
41:35This is very unusual.
41:36Everything suggests an earlier date, 1600s to 1700s.
41:39There we go.
41:40Look at this.
41:41That could easily be off a box or a chest.
41:43I agree.
41:44Where are we going to find what fell out of those chests?
41:46We're ready to go diving.
41:47Let's go diving.
41:48We wanted to see if there's treasure within Aladdin's cave.
41:51Oh, my God.
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