- 8 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:01Tonight, on The Curse of Oak Island.
00:03Let's say we're getting started.
00:05Oh, yeah, we're spinning off.
00:06We're due for a little good karma.
00:07We are.
00:08We just have to find that one thing.
00:10Here we go, a signal.
00:11Hey, hey.
00:12I should be able to pinpoint it.
00:13Oh, look at that.
00:15See if you recognize this one.
00:16Wow.
00:17That might have been an individual with Masonic ties.
00:19Yes.
00:19Well, that is extraordinarily cool.
00:22All right, here we go.
00:23It's time to lift that rock, all right?
00:25Hey, look at that.
00:25Wow.
00:26Look at that.
00:27Yeah!
00:31There is an island in the North Atlantic
00:35where people have been looking for an incredible treasure
00:38for more than 200 years.
00:41So far, they have found a stone slab
00:44with strange symbols carved into it.
00:47Man-made workings that date to medieval times
00:50and a lead cross whose origin may be connected
00:54to the Knights Templar.
00:56To date, six men have died trying to solve the mystery.
01:02And according to legend, one more will have to die
01:07before the treasure can be found.
01:21This isn't such good news, Rick.
01:24I mean, it's not a happy thing.
01:25We just got going on TPF-1.
01:28A lot of pomp and circumstance.
01:30The team all energized.
01:32Yeah, yeah.
01:32And we are at about 25 feet and we're stuck.
01:37Before a new day of exploration can begin on Oak Island,
01:42brothers Rick and Marty Lagina, their partner Craig Tester
01:46and Scott Barlow meet to discuss a shocking setback
01:50that has occurred in the Money Pit area.
01:53If you notice, this is our current canister
01:56and it is digging into fill rock.
01:59And we got stuck at 25 feet.
02:01Yeah.
02:01They can't pull it up.
02:02They can't push down.
02:04The auger, of course, can go in and out,
02:06but the cans itself won't move.
02:09Yep.
02:10All right.
02:11Start her up.
02:12Find some treasure, boys.
02:15Just one day ago, the teams from Solitanche, Bashi, Canada
02:20and Rock Equipment began a new excavation method
02:24using a seven-foot diameter auger in the hopes of rapidly
02:29installing a steel shaft known as Top Pocket Find.
02:34It was at that location where soil samples collected
02:37from more than 200 feet deep in the solution channel
02:41during the team's core drilling operation
02:43revealed high traces of silver.
02:47But after encountering gravel some 25 feet deep
02:51that was used to backfill one of the team's previous
02:54and much more shallow excavations,
02:57the drilling rig was unable to advance the steel caissons
03:01deeper into the ground.
03:03And while Rock Equipment's massive rotating oscillator
03:06could be used to continue the dig.
03:09Parts needed to operate it won't arrive on the island
03:12for two more days.
03:16So we have to decide what to do.
03:18Yeah.
03:19Well, to save days, we'd just move over here
03:23and go ahead and drill one that had very little backfill.
03:27Yes.
03:28To me, it's a really good area because the 1850s drill casing
03:31that we brought up, H.5, 8.5, it was right there.
03:35Well, we theorized that Cormero could have brought up that coin.
03:38That's right. It was from the correct time period
03:40when they knew where the money pit was.
03:42Yeah.
03:42I just think that's a really good location.
03:46Earlier this year, while drilling borehole H.5, 8.5,
03:50to explore the solution channel for signs of treasure.
03:54At 178 feet deep, the team recovered a piece of old drill pipe
03:59that may be connected to a drilling operation by the Truro Company in 1849.
04:06That is when a 14th century Portuguese silver coin linked to the Knights Templar
04:12was reportedly recovered from the original money pit
04:15by drilling foreman James Pitblado.
04:19The new hole location is one of the holes that we picked,
04:23and it's in the area that still has very elevated amounts of silver
04:27and some other metals in it.
04:29We know we're definitely going to go back to top pocket fine,
04:34but we need to make some holes
04:35and get down to the bottom of the solution channel out here,
04:38and we don't want to wait around,
04:39so we're going to dig this one.
04:42You know what? It's Karma, you know?
04:45It's really over here.
04:46Yeah.
04:47Well, not only that, but maybe we only need one hole.
04:50And maybe Karma's saying, you know what?
04:52It's not here. It's here.
04:54Maybe that's a name for a new case, huh?
04:56Karma.
04:56Karma 1.
04:57Karma 1.
04:58Nice joint effort, guys. Excellent.
05:00Teamwork.
05:00Teamwork.
05:01Makes the dream work.
05:04In a worst-case scenario or a very negative situation,
05:08we've got to look at the upside.
05:10Maybe it's good Karma.
05:11Maybe we are forced to move to this location.
05:15This area still has precious metals in the water
05:18and might contain some secrets.
05:22Okay.
05:22Well, I guess it's time to go up there and make it so.
05:25Okay.
05:26Karma 1.
05:27Let's go.
05:30Later that morning,
05:32as the teams from SB Canada and Rock Equipment
05:35reposition equipment to the new digging location
05:38known as Karma 1.
05:41Is he working his way back this way?
05:43Yeah.
05:43Okay.
05:44The cobble is so tricky.
05:46Where we are now, I mean,
05:48we're sort of on the perimeter of it here.
05:50Craig joins Tom Nolan and other members of the team
05:54on Tom's property in the northern region of the swamp
05:58as they continue to investigate a cobblestone pathway.
06:01I know Steve's been surveying, marking all the stakes as they've come up,
06:07so it'll be interesting to see what Steve has on his map.
06:10Yeah, everything we've found, be it a stake or the cobble, he's pinned it.
06:14And you want to just continue working your way around here?
06:16We're just going to do a continuous loop right over to where we left off from the other side.
06:21Okay.
06:23Okay, sounds good.
06:25After uncovering numerous sections of the cobblestone path throughout the swamp
06:29that have been lined with eight-sided wooden survey stakes,
06:33the team is hoping to find clues that may help determine if it is related
06:38to other mysterious structures in the swamp, such as an empty brick and slate vault,
06:44the potentially 16th-century stone road in the southeast corner,
06:48which may be of Portuguese origin,
06:51and the massive paved area near the center that could be as much as 800 years old.
06:58We have a multiple number of carbon dates from the bog that lend credence to the belief
07:05that people were here doing something in the 1200s and the 1600s,
07:11possibly Knights Templar, the Knights of Malta.
07:14But are they the ones? Are they the who? We don't know that yet.
07:18Maybe there will be some answers as the way the work proceeds.
07:32Is that a stake?
07:33It looks like a stake, Al.
07:37Where were you digging, Al?
07:39Just right behind me.
07:40Close to the road?
07:43No, I think I got that closer to my track here.
07:46Okay.
07:46Yeah.
07:47One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
07:51Yeah, definitely one of those stakes.
07:53Eight-sided as well.
07:54Is it really?
07:55No kidding.
07:56I'll pass it down to you guys.
08:01No mistake in that.
08:02That looks like an oldie.
08:03No, that's the same stake we've been finding over and over again in the bog.
08:09Seems to be right along the edge of the swamp.
08:11And normally when we find these old stakes, we find cobbles in the area.
08:16Yeah.
08:17They're connected.
08:18Should we survey that in?
08:21Yeah, I would say so.
08:22Yeah, let's do that then.
08:23I'll text Steve and let him know that we need that surveyed so that we can continue.
08:28Okay, guys.
08:45We're getting close to having uncovered most, if not all, of the north side of the swamp.
08:53And one of the major finds that sticks out is this row of stakes.
08:57Here we go.
08:58Right back.
09:00To me, it's the alignment more than anything.
09:03You know, it's the combination of all these individual stakes that's going to point the direction that we need to
09:08take the treasure hunt.
09:12We got a signal.
09:16Got a signal.
09:21Non-ferrous signal in that last load.
09:24I should be able to pinpoint it.
09:26Let's see what it is.
09:27Let's see if it's trash or if it's treasure.
09:32There it is.
09:37Got it in my hand.
09:41Oh, what have we got here?
09:44Wow.
09:49Ooh.
09:49I think it's lead.
09:51And I see things on there.
09:53Do you see some kind of design?
09:54It does look like it has markings.
09:57Almost like a crest or a coat of arms on there.
10:00Mm-hmm.
10:01Maybe some kind of coin or token.
10:06In the northern region of the swamp.
10:08Guys, check this out, what we've just found up here.
10:12I wonder what he's come up with.
10:14I don't know.
10:15Gary has just discovered a curious and potentially valuable artifact.
10:21Check this out.
10:24Ooh.
10:25Alex and I believe we see a design on the front of it.
10:29Sure does look like some kind of coin or token.
10:33There is a pattern on that.
10:35Yeah.
10:36I see a couple lines that are shiny.
10:38Little specks making their way through this patine, if you will.
10:42Yeah.
10:42What is it made of, Gary?
10:44It was a low to mid-tone.
10:47First, I'm thinking lead, but I believe it's some kind of copper alloy.
10:52Look, might be a mix.
10:53We have found some strange metals on the island.
10:57Might be even pooter.
10:59Yeah, it's not very heavy.
11:00No.
11:02That's a head-scratcher, isn't it?
11:03Yeah, it is.
11:05Just the edges of it remind you of an old silver piece of Spanish coin.
11:10Yeah, the front of it's busy.
11:12The back is rounded, but it's soft.
11:15So what we're seeing is just material stuck to it.
11:18That's a great sign, then.
11:20So there's a chance this could be like an old Maravide or some other coin.
11:26That's what I would be my guess.
11:28I like the look of what we have uncovered.
11:34We don't know what it is, but I know where it came from.
11:37Oh, this was bang on the deck of the excavation and the swamp.
11:43This has been there a very long time.
11:46It's encrusted.
11:47I don't know if it's a kind of seal.
11:50Could be a button, but I'm hoping it's a coin.
11:53I think we should get this back to the lab.
11:55Yeah.
11:56Get it back right away.
11:58Oh, I'm looking forward to seeing what this looks like.
12:05As a new morning breaks on Oak Island.
12:08Looks like we're getting started, Peter.
12:10Yeah, we're spinning on.
12:12We're due for a little good karma.
12:14We are.
12:15Yeah.
12:15Peter Fernetti and Charles Barkhouse oversee operations in the Money Pit area, as the Karma
12:221 case on is about to break ground.
12:25We have so many pieces of equipment here.
12:27We have two different crane systems.
12:29We have a front end loader to move material.
12:31But what I really like is the fact that this year we have an auger, which as it's spinning, you
12:37can see the material come out.
12:38It's really, really cool to see that in action.
12:42In order to get down to the solution channel, SB Canada and Rock Equipment are using the massive auger bed
12:49to rapidly drive through soil, hard clay, or debris, and bring the spoils to the surface.
12:55Once the Karma 1 shaft penetrates the solution channel below a depth of approximately 160 feet, the auger will be
13:05replaced by a giant dig bucket that will safely collect any remaining spoils and possible treasure.
13:13We're moving over to the hopefully named Karma location.
13:18It's not in a back-filled area, so we don't have to worry about this rock.
13:22That caused the first one to seize up.
13:24If it lives up to its name and the Karma is good Karma, I hope it's one and done.
13:29I hope we find something in the solution channel.
13:32Anywhere between 170 and 220, I'm really excited about.
13:36I know that we have 250 feet of casing, so if there's a deep target, we're going to get it.
13:42We certainly are.
13:44We've got all the tools here to really go deep and hopefully find that one thing.
13:49That you can put in my uncle's hand.
13:52Well, you came here as a skeptic, right?
13:55You're starting to move over to our side.
13:57You're coming from the dark side over to the light side.
14:00Based on what we're finding, there's more evidence that work was done down here.
14:04Yeah.
14:04We just have to find that one thing and it might be this hole.
14:07I'm looking forward to seeing something come up out of there and finally put this story to death.
14:12Yeah.
14:13Let's do it.
14:14Right here, Karma.
14:16As the Karma one shaft descends toward the solution channel...
14:20All right, guys.
14:21Today is a big day.
14:22Big day, big boulder.
14:24Rick, Marty, and Craig are on their way to Lot 8 on the western side of the island.
14:31I have a question for each of you.
14:34What's under it?
14:35I'm thinking maybe a tunnel.
14:37That would be absolutely fabulous.
14:40Exciting and special.
14:42Well, let's go find out then, shall we?
14:45It's time.
14:47After weeks of patiently waiting, they are about to remove a massive obstacle between them and possible answers to the
14:55Oak Island mystery.
14:56A 40,000 pound boulder.
14:59While this feature has never been documented by previous searchers.
15:04Over the past two months, the team has been methodically excavating around and beneath the boulder by hand.
15:11And discovered a series of evenly spaced stones holding it in place, as well as a backfilled void beneath it.
15:20I'll show you there's a really good spot.
15:22All right.
15:22After inserting a camera into the narrow space that was cleared under the boulder, video evidence was recorded of a
15:31possible tool.
15:32It's gold looking.
15:34It certainly is.
15:35And even a gold colored substance.
15:38And soil samples recently collected beneath it contained unnaturally high traces of lead.
15:45We're seeing as high as 140 parts per million lead in that organic matter underneath the boulder.
15:52This has made Dr. Ian Spooner and the team speculate that there may be an old mine shaft underground that
15:59the boulder is concealing.
16:02Good morning, team.
16:03Good morning.
16:05Are we excited?
16:06All right. Absolutely.
16:08We are emboldened.
16:10You've been working on that one, haven't you?
16:11I am.
16:13What time is it, Marty?
16:14It's time to lift that rock, Gary.
16:16Oh, I can't wait to get stuck in.
16:19Now, archaeologist Laird Niven has given the team permission to lift the boulder using a 130-ton crane.
16:27Here it comes, folks.
16:29Right there.
16:29We're about to get this show on the road.
16:33It's very exciting.
16:35I've been wanting to move a lot a boulder as soon as I heard about it.
16:40Every scientist who has looked at it says that this giant boulder was moved into position.
16:46Well, people don't do that even today for no reason.
16:50Back in the day, it would have been a massive undertaking.
16:52So it's very exciting as to why this thing was placed there and what on earth is underneath it.
16:58All of a sudden the chains don't look big enough.
17:01No, they don't.
17:03Well, it's exciting.
17:04You can tell there's a little bit of a buzz in the air that people are hopeful that once the
17:09rock comes up out of the ground that there'll be an aha moment and you'll see something.
17:13I.e. answers to the Oak Island mystery.
17:17Here in real time, we're going to get an answer.
17:20Is there something underneath it or not?
17:25All right.
17:26All right.
17:26Okay.
17:26We're going to have a liftoff.
17:28Everybody back up.
17:36There he goes.
17:37There he goes.
17:39Cool.
17:40This is off the chain.
17:47Look at that.
17:52Wow.
17:54No way.
17:57Wow.
17:59No way.
18:00Look at that.
18:01Nicely done.
18:02Piece of cake.
18:03Big piece of cake.
18:07Look how deep it was in that bottom.
18:10On lot eight, a crane has just lifted the 40,000 pound boulder.
18:15Yeah.
18:16Let's go take a look.
18:18A boulder that the team suspects may have been moved into place long ago in order to hide something beneath
18:25it.
18:27The heck is going on under there?
18:30Laird, you're up.
18:32Initial observation is there's no sterile subsoil.
18:35We're seeing organics that were introduced somehow and not naturally.
18:41Because a dark soil is not supposed to be under it.
18:43Yeah, it looks like a filled hole.
18:45Exactly.
18:46Yeah.
18:47And we don't see any structures yet.
18:49That doesn't mean there's nothing down there.
18:51There could be something much deeper under there.
18:53Absolutely.
18:54Okay.
18:55Boulders lifted out and it should be sitting in glacial soils from 10,000 years ago when it was originally
19:01deposited naturally.
19:02But all of those soils have been removed from under it.
19:06It confirmed 100% that that boulder was not in its original position.
19:11What time is it, Marty?
19:12It's time to metal detect, Gary.
19:15Right, I'm going to get stuck in.
19:18It's confounding to think about who got that out, how they got it out.
19:23All right, here we go.
19:24I'll do this side first.
19:26And I think it reinforces the theory that this was a coordinated effort by a well-organized large group of
19:36people for whatever reason.
19:39Nothing.
19:39No.
19:41Just not getting any metal hits.
19:43On the outside.
19:44That doesn't really surprise me either, though, because if somebody did this and was wanting to hide it, you're really
19:48going to be careful about not dropping artifacts in there, too.
19:52Plus, we've excavated even some 1,800 shafts in the money pit and there's no metal.
19:56I mean, it's just wood all the way.
19:59So, no metal hits doesn't mean that there isn't something down there much deeper.
20:04The conjecture is the Lot 8 boulder was placed for some reason.
20:08Dr. Spooner is certain the metals in the soil doesn't fit the soil composition as it should be.
20:14I think you can definitively say it was worth moving because there's all topsoil there.
20:18It doesn't make any sense.
20:19I absolutely think there's a possibility that this boulder covered something buried deeper in terms of potential structures or finds
20:27that could help us solve the overall mystery because it was done a very long time ago for an important
20:33reason.
20:34And we haven't figured that out yet.
20:36I think the mystery continues.
20:38It's possible we could have closed the door on it just now.
20:41We could have picked this up and said, looks like it was in place naturally, but we didn't.
20:45When it was being lifted, I did not see any signs of any sort of mechanical equipment touching the underside.
20:52So, it's still a bit of a mystery how they ever would have moved this in the first place.
20:56Okay, well, let's go to the next step, which is sampling, correct?
21:00And you guys got to do your thing real carefully.
21:02Clean up, yeah.
21:02We're going to clean up all the loose soils around the edge, clean up the loose soils in the middle,
21:06and see how far down it goes.
21:09It could be much deeper than what we're seeing on the surface.
21:12I'm still very hopeful that there's something under here.
21:14Absolutely.
21:15This could absolutely be the highlight of this year's entire efforts.
21:19There's no question about that.
21:21So, we've just got to let the work proceed.
21:23You guys do your thing, and we'll come back.
21:25We'll keep you posted, too.
21:26Yeah, okay.
21:26Yeah, if we find treasure, we'll let you know.
21:28Let's let them get to work.
21:29Okay.
21:30Here we go.
21:30Thanks.
21:31Yep.
22:02Let's go.
22:09Let's go.
22:11Let's go.
22:20Let's go.
22:23Let's go.
22:24Let's go.
22:27Let's go.
22:40Let's go.
22:45Let's go.
22:53Let's go.
22:56Let's go.
23:00Let's go.
23:03Let's go.
23:07Let's go.
23:11Let's go.
23:17Let's go.
23:19Let's go.
23:31Let's go.
23:41Let's go.
23:42Let's go.
23:43Let's go.
23:44Let's go.
23:47Let's go.
23:50Let's go.
23:52Let's go.
24:00Let's go.
24:01Let's go.
24:02Let's go.
24:02Let's go.
24:03Let's go.
24:04Let's go.
24:05I find that extraordinarily exciting.
24:07You do too, don't you? I can tell by your...
24:09Oh, yeah.
24:09Yeah, well, it's like everything we find.
24:12It makes no sense.
24:14Well, this is the second president that's actually tied to the Oak Island mystery
24:17because there's FDR and there's George Washington.
24:20I think they were both Masons, both those presidents, for sure.
24:24Ever since the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795,
24:29Freemasons such as Daniel McGuinness, Melbourne Chapel, and Franklin D. Roosevelt
24:35have either led or been involved in nearly every organized treasure hunt on Oak Island.
24:41And just as curious are the many Masonic symbols that have been found across its 140 acres,
24:49including a man-made feature in the northern region of the triangle-shaped swamp
24:54that may represent the all-seeing eye.
24:59I really like this.
25:00I think this is really trying to tell some kind of story.
25:03Yeah.
25:04What's he doing here?
25:05I have no idea.
25:07Well, listen, I would be remiss if I didn't get Big Brother over here.
25:12So, hang on, let me text him.
25:14Okay.
25:16Something you need to see.
25:19Bloody amazing, isn't it?
25:24He'll be here in a minute, I think.
25:27Hello, Big Brother.
25:29Hey, Rick.
25:29Hey, Rick.
25:30What secrets do we have today?
25:32Here it is.
25:34No secrets, but a great story.
25:36Who is that?
25:38Well, that's Washington.
25:39Yep.
25:40It sure as heck is.
25:41In the Oak Island lab, Rick joins the team to see the Masonic funerary medal
25:46bearing the likeness of George Washington.
25:49So, it's an 1800 medal commemorating George Washington's death in 1799.
25:57Really?
25:58Yeah.
25:59Found here on Oak Island in the swamp.
26:02Hmm.
26:03This almost has to be somebody very much associated with George Washington.
26:09That might have been an individual with Masonic ties.
26:11Yes.
26:12It fits in with one of my pet theories.
26:16Yeah.
26:17Somehow, Oak Island was associated with revenues to fund the American Revolution, right?
26:23Right.
26:24We know Freemasons who were Knights Templar, that they had a hand in the creation of the United States.
26:32Yeah.
26:33In 2018, author and researcher Court Lindahl, along with his brother Bruce, presented the team with this compelling theory.
26:43Louis Alexander Rochefoucauld, in his friendship with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson,
26:49he may have actually told them of Oak Island or whatever secret was there.
26:55It was court's belief that secret knowledge of Templar treasures on Oak Island was given to General George Washington
27:03and other leaders of the American Revolution by a member of the Rochefoucauld family,
27:08a family of French nobles with ties to the Knights Templar dating back to the 12th century.
27:15They could have had part of the treasure from Oak Island as a way to finance the war
27:22and help establish the new country.
27:26Holy smokes.
27:28Watch your step. This stuff is slippery.
27:31Following their meeting, Bruce, Marty, and members of the team examined a carving located on the island's northern shore.
27:39One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen.
27:46It was a carving believed to depict a symbol known as an appeal to heaven.
27:52Commissioned by General George Washington in 1775,
27:56the symbol adorned battle flags throughout the 13 American colonies
28:00to inspire support for the revolution against Great Britain.
28:06One has to remember that in 1800, the treasure hunt had just started.
28:10What was someone doing with a commemorative token of George Washington's funeral,
28:16traipsing about in the north end of the bog?
28:19It defies logic.
28:22Unless that person had knowledge of some enterprise happening on the island.
28:28Maybe it's possibly connected to the group of individuals responsible for the vault in the swamp.
28:36It probably would be worth looking at who was still living on the island in this period of time
28:42that might have had sympathies to the revolution on the American side.
28:45I think that's what it's crying out for.
28:47Yeah.
28:47Yeah, I do.
28:48You going to go back there?
28:49Oh, yeah.
28:50And I always say the same.
28:52All it takes is one good find.
28:53This is a good find.
28:54It is a good find.
28:55It's excellent.
28:56We've got to get back to work.
28:57Yeah.
28:58All right.
28:58We'll see you later.
28:59Thank you later.
29:00Excellent, excellent, excellent.
29:04Later that day...
29:06Hello.
29:08Hey, Larry.
29:09Hey, Fiona.
29:10Boulder's gone.
29:11That's pretty impressive.
29:12Craig, Jack, and Dr. Ian Spooner arrive at the site of the Lot 8 Boulder.
29:18It came up like nothing.
29:20Zero resistance.
29:22And interestingly, looks like this may have been all rock line.
29:26Yeah.
29:27And we now have the opportunity to see if there's metals in that soil that might tell
29:33us a little bit more about what was happening.
29:35Yeah.
29:36It may help guide your work because if we see an area that's, you know, high in metals,
29:41we should be really careful with that.
29:43Yeah.
29:43Okay.
29:44I think it's a good idea just to run a quick XRF.
29:46Okay.
29:47Your machine's taking an image right off the surface, right?
29:51Right off the surface, yeah.
29:52So we can do the top of the upper layer, the top of the lower layer, and even hit it
29:56from
29:56the side to get different ideas?
29:58Yep.
29:59Okay.
29:59So let's get this thing sparked up.
30:03I see you brought in the A-team here, guys.
30:06I'm going to come down there and you guys tell me what's going on.
30:08Just getting ready to test the soil down there for anything else.
30:12Anything else, yeah.
30:13Well, let's run the XRF.
30:14Yeah, so I'm going to scamper down there and do some scans.
30:17Okay.
30:19Because Dr. Spooner has previously detected lead in the soil beneath the boulder, he will
30:25now scan the entire area that was previously covered by the boulder with a Vanta XRF spectrometer.
30:32By emitting a stream of X-rays, the device can identify various types of metals in the soil
30:38that may not be natural to the environment.
30:43So we should be all warmed up.
30:45This is ready to go.
30:46Okay.
30:47But I'm going to get down in there.
30:50Well, I like the instant gratification of that machine, so hop on down there.
30:54Lead shouldn't be in those organic soils.
30:57There's nothing around the boulder.
30:58So that's another indication that this thing covered something.
31:02A handheld XRF gives you immediate data on the elements that might be in various quantities
31:09in the soil.
31:10I want to know what's underneath it, and I want to know in a hurry.
31:14So you're in the area right now where we had the high-lead samples.
31:18It's showing something that I didn't see in the other sample.
31:21Oh.
31:23Which is some silver.
31:24Yeah.
31:27Silver is exciting, isn't it?
31:28Yes, it is.
31:32It's showing some silver and copper there.
31:36Silver is exciting, isn't it?
31:38Yes, it is.
31:38No.
31:39On lot eight, Dr. Spooner has just made a stunning discovery in the soils that were covered by
31:46the massive boulder.
31:47So to be clear, then you're finding more of the silver content in the lower layer, not in
31:52that upper layer.
31:53Well, and that's very preliminary.
31:54It has to go to Emma.
31:56Could that be from something seeping up that you could be detecting?
31:59If there was silver here at one point, it could leach into that soil.
32:04Well, what if it's still there underneath?
32:06Yeah, I think there's every possibility.
32:08Could Fiona be correct that Dr. Spooner may have detected evidence of a large cache of
32:14silver buried deeper below this feature?
32:17If this was an air shaft for a tunnel, then there would be forces that would be bringing
32:24up, let's say, mists and things.
32:26Yeah.
32:26Super saturated air that could carry along and then condense under here.
32:32Yeah, but where's the silver coming from?
32:34Treasure, right?
32:35Yeah.
32:35Yeah.
32:36Well, that's a conjecture.
32:38I think it goes much deeper.
32:40Lifting the boulder initially confirms that it was placed by people.
32:44So the next step is for the archaeologists to carefully excavate the dark soils and then
32:50see what's underneath them.
32:52Silver is just as exciting as gold when you're talking about a treasure hunt and you're talking
32:56about coins.
32:57I mean, the Pit Blado coin didn't have any gold in it.
33:00It was a silver coin with copper.
33:02Silver and copper showed up right here.
33:04So I want to know where the heck it came from, and we don't know that yet.
33:09Interesting results, anomalous results.
33:11We need to do more work.
33:13Yep.
33:13And Craig and I got plenty of other work to do.
33:16Okay.
33:16That's great.
33:16Perfect.
33:17All right, let's get after it.
33:18Okay.
33:25Two days later.
33:29Welcome to the water room.
33:30I am very enthusiastic about what we will learn today.
33:33As operations continue across the island, members of the team meet via video conference with
33:40archaeoastronomy expert, Professor Adriano Gaspani.
33:45To me, the most inscrutable, hard to understand data in the swamp are the stakes.
33:52The position of them, the orientation of them.
33:55I believe they are trying to tell us something.
33:57So I tasked Emiliano with getting in touch with Professor Gaspani and having him look at that data.
34:05The professor has done an incredible amount of work with Nolan's Cross.
34:09That also goes through this swamp.
34:12Yes.
34:14In 2022, Professor Gaspani conducted a peer-reviewed study of the six megalithic boulders that form
34:22Nolan's Cross.
34:23Based on historical alignments that the boulders had with certain stars in the night sky,
34:29Professor Gaspani believes that Nolan's Cross was created in approximately 1200 A.D. by members of the Knights Templar.
34:39It's almost undeniable these stakes are put in these orientations for a purpose.
34:46Professor Gaspani's unique perspective, using archaeoastronomy, stellar solar alignments,
34:52he may be able to give us a timeline, and if indeed it can point us in the right direction
34:59or give us the elusive bullseye, it would be fantastic.
35:04I would like to welcome Professor Gaspani and Marzia Sebastiani, who's kind enough to translate for Professor Gaspani.
35:14Now, after receiving Steve Guptill's detailed survey of the eight-sided stakes that have been discovered in the swamp,
35:25Professor Gaspani has completed his analysis of their possible historical alignments with specific stars and constellations.
35:58So these are the stakes that are located in the north, it's two separate groups.
36:04Red and light blue.
36:07And there's one very interesting aspect.
36:10The interesting thing is that the sun is the sun is the sun, the sun is the sun, the sun
36:18is the sun, the sun is the sun.
36:20Why is this so important?
36:23Deneb is the main star in the Cygnus constellation,
36:31and we have a map of the Cygnus constellation on Nolan's cross.
36:38This very peculiar stellar alignment that Gaspani found for the stakes share the same constellation with Nolan's cross.
36:50When Professor Gaspani reported his belief that Nolan's cross was constructed around 1200 AD,
36:58he came to that conclusion by matching the location of the boulders with historical positions of certain stars in the
37:05sky,
37:06including Deneb in the Cygnus constellation,
37:11a constellation that multiple researchers over the years have suggested alliance with the cross.
37:18Very interesting.
37:20The two sets of stakes were dated astronomically.
37:51And make us think, once again,
37:54that this link with Templar culture was present.
38:02This is mind-blowing to me.
38:08My conclusion is that Europeans with Templar culture were present on Oak Island in the 13th century.
38:19It's quite astounding.
38:20In the war room, Professor Adriano Gaspani has just presented his analysis
38:26that a line of the eight-sided survey stakes found in the swamp could date back to the 13th century
38:33and share historic stellar alignments with the boulders of Nolan's cross,
38:39meaning that both features may have been created by the same people nearly 800 years ago.
38:46If those stakes represent something from the 1200s, that means there's a plan out there.
38:52And so for me, that's probably the most important piece that I've taken from this
38:56because what we're missing is that plan, right?
38:59And it goes back to even what we found this year,
39:01the lot eight boulder and the lot five marker stone.
39:05Many of us here believe that those are potentially settlements in that time period, the 1200s.
39:11They might be part of a bigger plan to survey a treasure.
39:15Maybe we haven't found other structures that carry those alignments, and they're still there.
39:23What we need to do is target some areas.
39:27There's three large boulders that form the stem of Nolan's cross.
39:33The stem of the cross goes through the bog, not very far from the stakes we found.
39:37I think we'd be crazy not to search that.
39:40Who knows what we could find in there?
39:43I think Nolan's cross is saying something to us that we've yet to understand.
39:47There is a new world, old world connection vis-a-vis these stakes, these structures, and these alignments.
39:53I would like to go back and revisit the stem of the cross.
39:57It's too significant.
39:59I think within that construction, there are clues that will be incredibly instrumental in helping to solve this mystery.
40:07My hope and belief is that we finally put a few puzzle pieces together.
40:13The stakes are reflective of something, and I think the work in the bog needs to continue.
40:18Right.
40:19I think we should all be quite proud of where we have taken the Oak Island mystery to date.
40:25It is things like this that will help tell the story, and the story, hopefully, eventually, will lead to the
40:33treasure.
40:34So, Professor Gispani, we all, as we sit here, we're exceedingly interested in pursuing this,
40:40and we want to thank you both very, very much.
40:44Grazie mille.
40:45Grazie mille.
40:47Ciao.
40:48Ciao, yeah.
40:48For Rick, Marty, and their team, a week that began with a daunting setback has ended with renewed hope
40:57that they are closing in on the truth behind the 231-year-old mystery,
41:03having now discovered evidence of precious metals buried deep in the Money Pit area,
41:08and beneath a megalithic boulder on Lot 8.
41:12compelling new data has affirmed that Oak Island secrets could stretch back nearly 800 years.
41:19So now, as the team digs deeper for the ultimate answers, the stakes for what they may find have never
41:29been higher.
41:31Even though it is a worth, however, if you've been there, you will be able to declare...
41:34... ahead, if you have seen the results of the Dead as well.
41:37...
41:37You
Comments