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The Curse of Oak Island - Season 13 - Episode 06: The Heat Is On
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00:00Tonight, on the Curse of Oak Island.
00:03The metal we're seeing in the water is in the solution channel.
00:06Absolutely.
00:07There's metal underground that isn't natural.
00:09We found gold.
00:11Got a signal.
00:12Oh, it's hit.
00:13What do you got?
00:14The heck is that doing here?
00:15This right here is a key to navigation,
00:17but it might be a key for the alignment of Nolan's Cross.
00:20This road goes from the beach to the money pit.
00:23We're just under the bottom of the solution channel.
00:25Where are you, little gold coin?
00:26You see it?
00:27Come on.
00:28There you go.
00:31There is an island in the North Atlantic
00:34where 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.
01:01And, according to legend, one more will have to die
01:07before the treasure can be found.
01:23John?
01:24John?
01:24John?
01:24Looks like we just touched bottom of the solution channel here.
01:28While a new morning is still fresh on Oak Island.
01:32Now, he'll go to back down,
01:33make another run after this just to make sure.
01:34Good.
01:35In the Money Pit area, the team's drilling operation may be getting closer to the answers of a 230-year
01:43-old mystery.
01:45All right, we are 178 to 208. We hit bedrock at 205.
01:49So everything in this bore becomes highly interesting to us.
01:53Yeah.
01:54The current borehole, known as F8.5, is located in an area where previous underground water tests revealed evidence of
02:04gold and silver objects.
02:07Okay, let's have a look.
02:09And now, the team has collected a 30-foot core of loose materials in the solution channel.
02:16You getting deep? Here. Pick it right up to me in that, too.
02:21Come on, baby.
02:25Where are you, little gold coin? Come on.
02:31Oh, you got something there.
02:33Well, I think that is something in there. Let's see.
02:39Right there?
02:44Where the hell did it go?
02:47Leave it. We can get Gary to come up with this big detector.
02:50Might as well.
02:51Let's get this.
02:52Bring this in, Doc.
02:54Let's grab this.
02:56When the pinpointer goes off in the core that is from the solution channel, I'm very excited.
03:02Very, very excited.
03:05Here's your go-to guy.
03:07I want you up there.
03:08All right, Gary.
03:09Hey, Gary.
03:10We had a phantom hit here.
03:12Okay.
03:13And so we're wondering if you might see if it was really phantom or not.
03:17Okay.
03:17There's no nails in this table, so.
03:19Okay, great.
03:22We are so intense in that moment, wanting there to be something there.
03:27I just hope it's hiding what we believe it's hiding.
03:31Eh, it sounds...
03:33It's clean, eh?
03:34Clean as a whistle.
03:36All right.
03:37What the hell happened to it?
03:40Regardless, we'll take that section and bag it.
03:43Yeah.
03:44So I want to send that sample in and see what's in there.
03:47That's a good idea.
03:49We've got these pinpointer hits right where we thought the metals should have fallen to, right?
03:54And that's frustrating.
03:56So I think it's right to test the soils for precious metals to see if the pinpointer hit was real.
04:01We're very close to two sites.
04:04We had amongst the highest gold values in water.
04:06Yep.
04:07We had outrageous silver numbers.
04:09Maybe one of the things that's down here that's creating our gold and silver anomaly is gold dust.
04:14It isn't natural.
04:15Gary, if there was gold dust in there and it was in a little spot, and I get a hit,
04:21and then I start moving it around, would it go away?
04:23Or would you have picked it up?
04:24I wouldn't have picked it up with this, even though I'm in the prospecting mode on the manticore right now.
04:30I wouldn't have detected it.
04:32Okay.
04:33All right, well, maybe there's some actual gold in that bag.
04:36Yep.
04:37Is it possible that trace amounts of gold from a buried treasure have not only spread into the water deep
04:44in the money pit,
04:45but also the soils in the solution channel?
04:49All those soil tests could take several weeks to complete.
04:52If Dr. Spooner gets positive results, it will offer additional confirmation that the treasure may be in this area.
05:02Those results indicate or confirm precious metals or for high metal values in the soils.
05:10It would almost necessitate, demand a big dig.
05:15Whatever was above, we now believe that it easily could have fallen to these depths.
05:21So, look, we've just got to keep going.
05:24Okay.
05:26All right, well, let's get on to the next one.
05:31Later that morning...
05:34Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today to feel the heat.
05:38And what I mean by that is I had requested Steve, working with Emma and Jillian, to prepare a heat
05:45map.
05:45Rick, Marty, and Craig meet with other members of the team in the war room.
05:50They were charged with looking at all the artifacts that have been found over the island over the years,
05:56and that is, of course, a lot.
05:58Yeah.
05:59And then put them on the map of the island by how likely they are old.
06:05Yep.
06:07In recent years, the team has found numerous artifacts that predate the discovery of the money pit in 1795.
06:14These include six Roman coins found on Lot 5 that are as much as 2,000 years old.
06:22And just this year, they were shown a 14th century Portuguese silver coin,
06:28one reportedly found in the money pit back in 1849.
06:34Marking the team's oldest discoveries on a grid or heat map of the island
06:38suggests where even more important clues may be found next.
06:44So, we've prepared a legend, so I'm going to throw a few out so you can take a look,
06:48so you know what colors you're looking at.
06:51So, you'll see pink, blue, orange, and green.
06:54Pink represents the possibility of a deposit because it's 1725 and older,
06:58and blue, which is 1800s to now, which means it's searcher.
07:03Okay.
07:04Everything else, like the 1730s, 40s, and 50s, that orange color starts to appear.
07:09All right.
07:09Okay.
07:10So, right now, the two hot areas where depositors could have been
07:15is Lot 5 of the archaeologists.
07:17Yeah.
07:18And the money pit.
07:20We're obviously still searching those areas,
07:22but we have found very old artifacts in other places as well.
07:26What about the odd pink dots over there on the head of the elephant?
07:30That's Lot 15.
07:31Even in the orange colors, you're going back to the mid-1700s, that could be depositor.
07:39Yep.
07:40When you see those older ones up there on Lot 15, I think there's a lot more work to do
07:47there.
07:47Yeah.
07:48I agree.
07:52Located some 200 yards northwest of the money pit area, Lot 15 has produced some of the team's most intriguing
08:01artifacts,
08:01including burned charcoal, that could date back to the 14th century,
08:07a Chinese coin that could be more than 1,000 years old,
08:13and a piece, a pre-17th century cannon stone shot, that originated in the Azores Islands of Portugal.
08:21Seeing this cluster of fines grouped on the heat map makes Lot 15 a prime target for fresh investigation.
08:29Because I look at the dots in Lot 15, and, you know, we barely touch the surface, right?
08:34Yeah.
08:35It makes sense to concentrate there.
08:37Yeah, well, you ain't seen nothing yet.
08:39We're going to change these colors to gold and silver.
08:43We are now convinced that mystery is island-wide.
08:47You go back to where you have been successful before.
08:51So I think it's highly appropriate to start on Lot 15.
08:56Okay.
08:57Thank you very much.
08:58Yep.
08:59I say we get back at it.
09:00I agree.
09:03Following their meeting...
09:06I'm going to metal detect over the top of this plowed area,
09:10and we have a chance of finding some great artifacts on this hillside.
09:15I'm excited to see what you'll find today.
09:16Rick, Gary, and Steve begin searching on Lot 15.
09:20I'm expecting a good day.
09:21Yeah.
09:22Having said that, I say we get going.
09:24Yep.
09:25Okay, mate.
09:25Let's get stuck in.
09:27Okie doke.
09:28Before their arrival, Billy used a two-and-a-half-ton tractor
09:33to pull a three-bottom plow across the surface to help them search for artifacts.
09:38This idea of plowing high-value areas on Oak Island,
09:43this comes from my experience metal detecting on farmland in England.
09:49The farmers turn over the fields by plowing,
09:53and they bring older artifacts closer to the surface
09:57and make them more detectable.
10:07Check this out.
10:11Yeah.
10:13Is that coal?
10:17It's really late, eh?
10:18Yeah.
10:19If that's coal, that would be well out of place.
10:22Looks like it could be.
10:23What do you think, Rick?
10:24One way to tell.
10:34There it is.
10:35I'd say so.
10:36Yep.
10:36Hmm.
10:37What the heck is that doing here?
10:39Very out of place.
10:40Mm-hmm.
10:41It might be that kind of coal that was found on the stone road.
10:45Yep.
10:47Because the team found pieces of coal
10:49when they uncovered the believed Portuguese stone road in the swamp...
10:53I'm going to put this in the bag.
10:55I would.
10:56And give it to Emma.
10:58Is it possible that this discovery,
11:01made where they have also found Portuguese stone shot,
11:04could suggest a connection between the swamp and lot 15?
11:09Good find, Gary.
11:11Good find, Gary.
11:11Just on the top here.
11:13Right.
11:13Keep trucking in.
11:14Let's find something.
11:24There you go.
11:25Yeah.
11:25That sounds good.
11:26Yeah.
11:27Just right in there, Rick, please.
11:34Let me see if I can pinpoint.
11:39What have we got here?
11:42Ooh, look at that.
11:43Wow.
11:47Ooh.
11:48What have we got here?
11:52See those facets?
11:54While metal detecting on lot 15,
11:57the team has just made a curious find.
12:01I wonder if that was a rose-head spike.
12:04Could well be.
12:05Could be.
12:06They went back all the way to the 1500s.
12:08Wow.
12:09And we did find some in the money pit.
12:11Yep.
12:12Mm-hmm.
12:14First made during the 16th century in Europe,
12:17rose-head spikes are hand-forged iron fasteners
12:21with hammered heads resembling the petals of a flower.
12:26They were commonly used up through the 18th century
12:29before machine-made nails replaced them.
12:33And the team has found a number of rose-head spikes
12:36both near the surface on Oak Island
12:39and more than 150 feet deep in the money pit area
12:43that have all been dated to before 1750.
12:48It's brilliant.
12:49There you go.
12:50We'll bag it.
12:51Okay.
12:53And this, I have no doubt, will be going on your eat, man.
12:56It will be.
12:57I hope so, anyway.
12:59We have seen rose-head spikes many times on Oak Island,
13:04especially connected to old features and old areas.
13:09These are valuable finds.
13:11We could have a connection here
13:13between Lot 15 and the money pit.
13:20That's diggable.
13:21You got something?
13:23Just there, mate.
13:24Center right there?
13:25Yep.
13:44Let me see if I can pinpoint.
13:52Oh, what have we got here?
13:56I believe this is called a pintle.
14:00That's cool.
14:01It is?
14:01Yeah.
14:02Pintle was used for, as a gate or a door hanger,
14:07and it could have easily been used to hang a lantern,
14:10or even in the mines when they were digging the shafts for the money pit.
14:16You need some light.
14:18This one does indeed need to go to the lab.
14:21It could be meaningful.
14:22I think this is a really cool find that could go way back.
14:27All right.
14:28We'll put it in the bag and put a flag in it.
14:31Good find, Gary.
14:32Mm-hmm.
14:33Interested to see where this iron comes from.
14:36Ready?
14:37Yep.
14:38Okay.
14:44The next morning.
14:47We're going to keep our eyes peeled.
14:49We're going deep.
14:49Fire below.
14:50We're taking it to the bedrock.
14:52Yep.
14:53As a new borehole is drilled in the money pit area,
14:56and the team waits for their soil test results.
14:59A big part of the year is the swamp work.
15:02Yeah.
15:03And you look at this map, and you realize why that is so.
15:07Having received new permits for exploration in the swamp,
15:11Rick meets with Steve and Billy in the research center.
15:15To plan their next phase of digging in the triangle-shaped feature.
15:19Everything we've found continues to amaze us,
15:23and the hope is that the new permitted areas
15:25will help explain some of the questions we have in the bog.
15:28We've already completed the so-called West Hill location.
15:32Steve, if you want to bring that up.
15:34Sure will.
15:35During recent excavations at the western border of the swamp.
15:40There's another one.
15:41Jeez, they're coming up.
15:42What in the world is happening?
15:43The team uncovered a series of hand-cut wooden survey stakes,
15:48lining what they believe to be a log road,
15:52as well as a strange feature made of cobblestones.
15:56On the edge, it looks very similar to the stone road.
15:59It looks very similar.
16:03But the most compelling find was a hand cannon of European origin
16:08that could date back to the 13th century.
16:12And we picked that area because maybe the depositors
16:15potentially would have pushed and had a path through the swamp itself
16:18because the road that we use around the swamp didn't exist at that point in time.
16:22Now, having fully searched that location, the team must decide where to move next.
16:28I think finding the cobble platform and finding the stakes in what appears to be a road,
16:34but not finding it north, makes it that much more important that we've moved south now or southwest.
16:41And we've done very little work with the southwest.
16:44You can see it called Permanent Area 25-1.
16:48Well, and in drier times, people would have walked through there, right?
16:53Mm-hmm.
16:54Surely it should be a pretty good spot for people traffic.
16:57You would think.
16:58We've done nothing through there.
16:59So there's a whole big area that we, you know, maybe don't know much about,
17:03but we're going to learn more in the next corner, right?
17:05Yeah.
17:06There are very selected areas in the bog where people long ago did work.
17:10As we moved our way north, we didn't encounter stone.
17:16The hope is that as we continue to move towards the southwest corner,
17:20we will find artifacts and or stakes that may help provide an explanation as to the purpose of these features.
17:28It's a big open area that we need to take a look at.
17:32But in order to do that, you've got to get in the excavator.
17:35Exactly.
17:36That's good.
17:37All right.
17:37And your rubber boots.
17:39And your rubber boots.
17:40Exactly.
17:41All right.
17:41Thanks, Steve.
17:44Following the meeting...
17:46Hey, Billy.
17:47Morning.
17:47Hi, Mike.
17:48Ready to jump in?
17:49Oh, yeah.
17:50The team gets to work in the southwest corner of the swamp.
17:54We've got quite a large area here.
17:57It's going to be one of our bigger permit areas we've ever done.
18:00You can see all the stakes.
18:01We start here.
18:02We hit a couple hundred feet north along the bank.
18:04Yeah.
18:05You know, closer to the trees might be the most artifacts.
18:07Yep.
18:08Okay.
18:08Let's get to it, then.
18:09Yep.
18:10Let's get stuck in.
18:20All right, guys.
18:21I've got a little bit of work to do, so I will be back.
18:23Okay, mate.
18:23Sounds good.
18:25Obviously, the swamp has provided some really unique discoveries, and we have very little
18:34understanding of what they represent in terms of, is there any association with the money
18:39pit mystery?
18:41With the southwest corner, I feel very hopeful for answers.
18:49A lot of rocks.
18:50Yeah.
19:01It really does look like a line of rocks along there.
19:06It's not just big rocks.
19:08It's mixed in with gravelly stuff, right?
19:15Big ones.
19:21All those rocks here.
19:23Yeah.
19:28What do you think of all the rocks, Billy?
19:31Peter, I'm surprised to see, you know, very road-like.
19:34Yeah.
19:34They wouldn't normally, you know, occur together, so it seems like somebody might have threw them
19:38in there.
19:39Yeah.
19:40I want to get my Uncle Rick up here.
19:43Absolutely fantastic.
19:49Hey.
19:50Hello.
19:51Eric.
19:51Eric.
19:52Wow.
19:53Rock.
19:54A lot of rocks.
19:55In the southwest corner of the swamp, Rick joins the team after being alerted to a potential
20:01new discovery.
20:03Is this how a bog would develop?
20:06How do you explain the amount of rock in here?
20:09When you look at the cobbles, it is all the makings of what we're looking for.
20:13But that rock really shouldn't be up in the till like that.
20:16It should be deeper.
20:17So you're thinking some sort of effort because they're sitting on top of the...
20:23Yeah.
20:24It just seems like it's possibly land clearing or road.
20:27I don't think that all these rocks got put in here other than by hand of people.
20:31Yeah.
20:33This area reminds me of where we were digging and where we found that potential up cannon.
20:40There's a heck of a lot of rocks here.
20:42This might be a way to get from the beach to the upland, right?
20:48Yeah.
20:49If you're coming around the island on a ship, then you're going to come in this area here.
20:55So I am expecting to find some great finds here.
20:59It would be really summing if we found another Portuguese-style road on this side of the swamp.
21:08When the team first uncovered the believed Portuguese-style road in the southeast corner, it was speculated that it may
21:17have been part of a ship's wharf used to unload cargo onto the island.
21:23Is it possible that the team has just found a similar structure in the southwest corner?
21:30We couldn't get a nicer day, so we might as well put it to good use.
21:34Let's keep going.
21:35Yep.
21:36Foggy with a chance of artifacts.
21:37There you go.
21:39While the dig continues in the swamp, later that afternoon...
21:45Hey, Charles, Terry.
21:47Hey, Ian.
21:48Dr. Ian Spooner joins members of the team in the Money Pit area.
21:52Water samples.
21:53I've got to take some water samples.
21:55So I could use a hand.
21:57No problems at all.
21:57Let's get at her.
21:58Okay.
21:59After a disappointing few weeks in which the team has been unable to find hard evidence of treasure while drilling
22:05in the solution channel...
22:08Dr. Spooner will collect and test new water samples to look for signs that the team is drilling in the
22:14right place.
22:16We did get some samples last year, and they were high in metals, and so we've got to get more
22:21water samples.
22:23And send them in and see what they show us now.
22:24Absolutely.
22:25So I'm going to start right with B.5 and 11.
22:29I think that's a good idea.
22:30Great.
22:37Yep, B.5 and 11 right here.
22:40So if we have high metals in these samples that we've been taking, it could mean that the metal that
22:45we're seeing in the water is in the solution channel.
22:48Yeah.
22:48So it follows that the solution channel may be moving metal from the Money Pit.
22:54It's a conduit, absolutely.
22:55It's a conduit.
22:56It's a pathway, yeah.
22:57A lot of water moving down there.
22:58Yep.
22:59Because the massive underground solution channel is full of moving water, Dr. Spooner will take water samples from previously drilled
23:08boreholes where precious metals have been detected in the past.
23:13I'm going to get you to hold that.
23:16Depending on the test results, he may be able to determine where water with the highest trace evidence of gold
23:22and silver is flowing from deep underground, and help the team pick new drilling locations in this area to search
23:29for the treasure.
23:31I'm going to go down to 110 feet.
23:34There's 105 right there.
23:36Yeah, and I'm just going to let this fall on the ground.
23:37Okay.
23:38To collect the water samples, Dr. Spooner is dropping a single valve baler into the borehole.
23:45As it descends, an open valve allows water to flow through it.
23:50Once the desired depth is reached, a metal ball drops into place, securing the sample.
23:56There are metals in the water that the scientists say those metals are not natural.
24:03That's still there.
24:04And that's what keeps us going to find it.
24:07Hopefully, the water testing will tell us where to actually find the treasure.
24:12Hey, look at that.
24:14Oh, my gosh.
24:15There's the die.
24:17That's pretty amazing.
24:18Yeah.
24:19That's the die we put in last year in the money pit.
24:23Yeah.
24:25In 2024, Dr. Spooner and members of the team conducted a series of tests to locate the source of gold
24:34and silver in the money pit area.
24:37This involved pumping red die some 200 feet deep into the solution channel through several boreholes.
24:44Dr. Spooner then re-sampled water in other boreholes across the area, looking for remnants of the die to track
24:53the direction of water flow underground.
24:56It'd be very interesting to see what metals this has in it.
24:59Now that Dr. Spooner has just recovered water with red die from just 105 feet deep,
25:07could that mean that the water in the solution channel is flowing upwards and into other locations in the money
25:15pit area?
25:16And that's all we need.
25:17Yep.
25:18So that's one down?
25:19That's one down, and we'll send them in today and see what we got.
25:23Yep.
25:25Compared to soil testing, which is time-consuming,
25:28the new water samples can be analyzed for signs of precious metals in just a matter of days.
25:34Okay, let's take this back, and we'll go get another sample.
25:38Yep.
25:40As Dr. Spooner and Terry continue gathering samples in the money pit area...
25:46I really like this lot.
25:48Me too.
25:49Katya Drayton and Peter continue searching for clues on lot 15.
26:00Ooh.
26:02Sounds good, no?
26:03Yeah.
26:03Ooh!
26:08Anything in front of me is okay.
26:12Ooh!
26:14Out?
26:14Yep.
26:24Oh, my gosh.
26:25What do you got?
26:29Um...
26:30I think we found ourselves a button.
26:32Well, it's certainly a button.
26:34Looks to be a green, so it might be copper.
26:37What kind of button do you think it is?
26:39But it's pretty big.
26:41It's pretty big.
26:41I think this would be more of a shirt button.
26:43Yeah.
26:44Is it possible that Peter and Katya found a clue that will help identify who left the artifacts previously found
26:52by the team on lot 15?
26:54You don't see a design.
26:56You don't see a design, but there could be a design there.
26:57Mm-hmm.
26:57Well, I'm excited to get this one back to the lab.
27:00Yeah, and your dad always says people who had buttons had pockets, and people who had pockets had coins.
27:06Exactly.
27:07All right, let's bag tag it.
27:08Keep going.
27:09Yeah, good start.
27:15It's a little chippy, but it's two-way, and it could be something just really deep and on edge.
27:21We're here to dig it.
27:22Let's do it.
27:23Let's try it.
27:36Yeah, it's up.
27:38What do you got?
27:40I'm not sure.
27:47What do you got?
27:49I'm not sure.
27:52On lot 15, Katya and Peter have just unearthed an intriguing metal artifact.
27:59Do you know what this looks like?
28:01What do you think?
28:03This looks like a pin on a compass almost.
28:07Oh, I can see that.
28:09What do you think?
28:11Yeah, here's the top of it.
28:13It might even, it might have both pieces for the navigation tool.
28:18Mm-hmm.
28:18Like this.
28:20That is so cool.
28:22A possible compass found on lot 15?
28:27Dating back to the times of ancient Greece, a compass is a drawing instrument used to measure
28:33distances on maps and for designing the layout of structures on land.
28:38For centuries, it was a standard tool of architects, navigators, craftsmen, and astronomers.
28:48And it makes sense.
28:49And it makes sense.
28:49Yeah.
28:49Where we are.
28:50We have this beach just down here.
28:52Mm-hmm.
28:52Obviously, at some point, boats came ashore.
28:56And that could be used on a boat or on land.
29:01Mm-hmm.
29:01Whenever my Uncle Rick's talking and we're talking about Nolan's cross, they're very precisely put
29:09in place, and they're put in place due to the stars.
29:12Yeah.
29:13Which is the same way that people long ago would travel across the sea.
29:18So, to your point, this could be nautical, but it also could have been for the alignment
29:23of Nolan's cross.
29:25Mm-hmm.
29:26If this is a compass, could Peter be correct that it may have been the kind of tool needed
29:32to create some of the megalithic structures that have been found on Oak Island, such as
29:38Nolan's cross, a feature that some scientific experts believe could date back to the 13th
29:44century.
29:46That's amazing.
29:47We have sought mightily to create a timeline of human activity in the Oak Island mystery,
29:55where people work.
29:56They drop things, lose things.
29:58And in order to figure out who, what, when, where, why, and how, it begins with finding
30:05artifacts that tell a story.
30:08This right here is a key to navigation, but it might be a key to Oak Island as well.
30:13I know we don't find many nautical things on the island, so this is something I really
30:17want to take back to the lab.
30:20Great.
30:21Okay.
30:22Keep going.
30:25As another exciting day dawns on Oak Island.
30:31Find some, uh, effects.
30:33Get going.
30:35Alex and Peter join Billy and Gary in the swamp as they continue to search the southwest corner.
30:43Going in.
30:46We think we are seeing signs of, uh, a structure or a road on the west side of the swamp
30:52along
30:53the edge.
30:54Wow.
30:55There's nothing in here.
30:56This is quiet.
30:57But like everything, we need to investigate it further and look for artifacts to see if we
31:03can prove, one way or the other, what's going on here.
31:12Oh, we're getting rock here.
31:13That's the sand.
31:15There's this really dark stuff.
31:17Can't tell where it's coming from.
31:22There.
31:26Organic stuff?
31:28There's some organics in that.
31:29There's a layer of rocks that's more than one rock thick.
31:33And in between those rocks is swamp material, sort of decaying plant matter.
31:39In my head, the only way that could be there is if the rocks were added to the swamp after
31:44the fact deliberately.
31:46In my opinion, there's a chance that it's not natural.
31:49It definitely looks out of place.
31:50And if it is man-made, the artifacts are going to help us date it.
31:54Yep.
31:55So, that's what we've got to do is find the artifacts.
31:57Yep.
31:58All right.
31:59Coming in, Billy.
32:08What's the signal?
32:09Got a signal?
32:12It's a good, strong iron signal.
32:14Fairly shallow.
32:15Yeah, it's just, uh, it's in that area.
32:24All right.
32:24Let's see if I can pinpoint it.
32:28Oh!
32:28Oh, look at that!
32:31Ho-ho!
32:32Oxen!
32:33Oh, yeah.
32:34But look how unusual it is.
32:36Look how long that body is.
32:38Mm-hmm.
32:39But, I mean, I wouldn't imagine you'd have oxen in the middle of a swamp.
32:42So, I think this is telling us that either there's a road here or, at this time, this was passable.
32:48Yeah.
32:48We find a lot of French and English ox shoes on the island, but this is totally different to any
32:56of those ox shoes.
32:58We're very close to this road, if it is a road, and finding an ox shoe here kind of reinforces
33:04that.
33:05That's where the draft animals would be walking and, you know, dragging the load.
33:10So, hopefully, we can find out when it would have been used, why it might have been used, and who
33:16might have been using it.
33:17Well, yeah.
33:18Well, we'll put it in the bag.
33:19Yeah.
33:20And we'll find answers at the lab.
33:22That's right.
33:23Nice.
33:23If it's a road, there should be more, but that right there is a little bit of proof that there
33:27is a road here.
33:29Let's leave it at this.
33:30Indications that it could be man-made.
33:32Dr. Spooner needs to take a look.
33:33Yep.
33:35Nice work.
33:36Good stuff.
33:40Hey, Dr. Spooner.
33:42Hey, Ian.
33:43We've got another red scratcher for you.
33:45Hmm.
33:46Now that the team has unearthed more of the strange rock feature in the southwest corner of the swamp, Dr.
33:54Ian Spooner arrives to examine it for signs of human construction.
33:58You look at this area now, the more we're digging, the more we're uncovering, the more rocks and boulders, and
34:06they all seem to be in like a linear feature, like a road.
34:11I agree.
34:12This is, this is manipulated.
34:14You know, it's, it's pretty obvious.
34:16It's what we call in geology, it's open work.
34:19The airspace around those boulders means that those boulders aren't naturally in place.
34:24There's no till in between the boulders.
34:26So they're moved.
34:28It's not perfectly smooth like you would expect it to see if it was done with more modern machinery.
34:33Right.
34:33One thing to look at is that this area here is elevated somewhat above that side and that side.
34:41So it has the look of a very crude beginning of something.
34:46The key thing is the age.
34:48Any artifacts?
34:50We did find one ox shoe on the far end there.
34:52Yeah.
34:53Okay.
34:53But it was actually amongst the rocks.
34:56Oh, really?
34:56Okay.
34:57Yeah.
34:58Do you think all these rocks and boulders could have been the start of the road, like the foundation, before
35:04they put the cobbles on?
35:06Yeah, possibly.
35:07Maybe they were pushing stuff.
35:09Maybe they were using oxen.
35:10I don't know.
35:11The reoccurring theme here is people are here with purpose.
35:14It has a purpose.
35:15We just don't know quite yet what that purpose is.
35:18Yeah.
35:19If Dr. Spooner is correct that this stone feature may have been used to move heavy cargo, just what kind
35:26of cargo was it?
35:27And where did it end up?
35:30At this stage, what we need to do is just excavate the length of it.
35:33Yeah.
35:33And see if what we've got is some beginning of something.
35:36There are answers in the swamp.
35:38But we only have a limited understanding of the possible interactions between the work in the bog and the work
35:46conducted in the money pit.
35:47The money pit, it was an attempt to hide something.
35:51What was the bog work about?
35:53I don't think we have that story close to being written or understood.
36:00The good news is we've got two directions to go.
36:02Okay, good.
36:03I'm going to head back to the lab.
36:05Okay, we'll start digging.
36:10The following afternoon.
36:13Ian, I understand you've done some work on the water samples.
36:17And you have some results you want to talk to us about.
36:19Yeah.
36:20While the results of the soil tests are being completed, Rick, Marty, and members of the team meet with Dr.
36:27Spooner in the war room for an update on the water samples he recently collected in the money pit area.
36:33I think we've shown, at least to our satisfaction, that there's metal underground that isn't natural.
36:42And then, of course, we found gold.
36:46Yep.
36:47The problem's being where?
36:48Yeah.
36:49So, we've got some monitoring wells.
36:52These samples are from the west side, from your area that you're drilling right now.
36:57What's that one?
36:58Over here, we've got the east side, sort of near the garden shaft.
37:03Oh, this is the dye.
37:04And it's dye.
37:05Yeah, I see.
37:06It's a rhodamine dye.
37:08And last year, we did a bunch of dye tests.
37:11We put the dye in at depth in the solution channel area, or in the traditional money pit area.
37:16And now, it comes up in wells near the garden shaft.
37:21So, it just tells us that water can move that direction.
37:25There's precious metals in these samples.
37:28So, where are the metals coming from?
37:32And what the dye has told us in this little collection of wells is that there's every possibility it's coming
37:39from the south, from the solution channel.
37:41Through that conduit, the dye traveled very rapidly.
37:47Dr. Spooner's new test results suggest that the traces of precious metals are indeed coming from the solution channel.
37:56You're saying that water is moving south to north.
38:01Yeah.
38:02So, the way that the water is moving from deep down, solution channel, uphill, basically, is all the work we're
38:08doing.
38:08With all the drilling, we're pushing down in one area, and that's pushing water up in another area.
38:15And that's why we're getting water moving uphill.
38:17Almost as if there was a pipe just connecting the two, you know.
38:21So, you know, you're flushing water.
38:22And it's, bam, pushing it down.
38:24And it's pushing it down, forcing it out, drawing it back.
38:26Yeah.
38:26It's a giant plunger, right?
38:27Exactly.
38:28It's a plunger in the toilet, yeah.
38:30It's validating that they're looking for the treasure in the right area.
38:34That's amazing.
38:40You think at this point, given all the data, that the source of the metals are deep down in the
38:45solution channel?
38:46Yeah.
38:46It's validating that they're looking for the treasure in the right area.
38:50Rick, Marty, and the Oak Island team have just received encouraging news from Dr. Ian Spooner.
38:57After testing new water samples collected from boreholes all across the Money Pit area, he has found evidence that the
39:06water deep underground, which contains the highest amounts of precious metals, is likely originating in the solution channel.
39:16Well, here's what I heard.
39:18I heard that your cumulative data is consistent with our prevailing theory this year.
39:23If, in fact, a great treasure, or even a minor treasure, fell down into the solution channel, it explains everything.
39:31It explains what happened.
39:32It explains why people didn't find it.
39:34It explains the metals in the water deep.
39:36Yeah.
39:37Where you're looking is a good place?
39:38Yeah.
39:39That's really good to hear.
39:40Yeah.
39:40What Dr. Spooner related substantiates our belief, currently, that the treasure had fallen to greater depth.
39:48An area like the Money Pit has been so investigated for 230 years to still have under-investigated areas where
39:55the treasure or treasurers may still lie is really quite interesting.
39:59And that's where we're going to focus our efforts, justifiably.
40:04The solution channel is the number one thing that makes sense with regards to where the treasure might still be.
40:12Everything I've heard this year makes me want to get back out there and implement our plan.
40:17Sounds like we're doing the right thing, and I hope we do focus in and really do the right thing
40:21and actually solve this thing.
40:23I think we got a chance.
40:25Let's define that solution cavity quantitatively and qualitatively.
40:30We have to find the place in the solution channel, very in the conventional Money Pit area, where it's wide
40:36open enough to accept something dropping from above.
40:40That's what this has told us today, that we are on the correct path.
40:45Let's just keep moving forward, and I appreciate the effort.
40:49Well, we'll keep on.
40:51And I'm calling the end of the meeting right there, okay?
40:54Let's move on.
40:55Well done, Ian.
41:26And finally, break the curse, believe, to protect them.
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