07x12 - Fortified

[bunniefuu]

Whatever this is,
it's been here a while.

Ooh!

It's an old a*‐head.

This a* could be a w*apon.

That sample
came out to be 1741.

Whoa. What the hell
does that fit with?

The raids
on Fortress Louisbourg.

Oh! Rick, look at this one.

A drain system.

Looks like flood tunnel
or box drains.

Whoa!
‐Whoa. We're uncovering
something here

that people haven't seen
for hundreds of years.

There is an island
in the North Atlantic

where people have been looking
for an incredible treasure

for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found
a stone slab

with strange symbols
carved into it,

mysterious fragments
of human bone,

and a lead cross
whose origin may stretch back

to the days
of the Knights Templar.

To date, six men have d*ed
trying to solve the mystery.

And, according to legend,

one more will have to die

before the treasure
can be found.

Let's see what we've got.

Huh.

There's a lot of water in here.

There certainly is.

In the aftermath
of a powerful hurricane

which hit Oak Island
and the surrounding region

with winds
of nearly 100 miles per hour,

downing trees

and causing structural damage
across the island,

brothers Rick and Marty Lagina

are eagerly trying
to put their search efforts

back on track.

Our excavation area was full,
but we're making headway.

I think
we're still in good shape.

I think we are, yep.

Hurricane Dorian
also completely filled

the recently drained swamp
with ocean water,

thwarting the team's efforts
to investigate

the mysterious
stone‐paved pathway

that was discovered
earlier this year.

After the extensive
pumping we did,

we are currently back
to square one in the swamp.

That's problematic.
We've got to drain it

as quickly as we can
and hope the weather holds.

Just looking at it, Scott,
I think that, you know,

it‐it's gonna be wet
no matter how long we wait.

So, I think
we're just gonna have

to let this settle out
and‐and pump down.

I'd say, two to three days
before we get in here.

‐A day or two will make
a big difference here.
‐Yep.

Uh, but the real impact
is gonna be this place, really.

‐That paved area.
That's right.

So this is critical.

If we can get this dry
to the point where we can

at least investigate
a ten by 20 area,

come to some understanding
of what it may or may not be,

whether it's natural
or artificial.

I agree with that.

Every day is a new day.

Do what we can
and move forward.

Yep.

Later that same day,

as the pumping operation at the
Oak Island swamp continues...

Hey. Hey, Craig.
Hey, Craig.

Hello, mate.
Hey, guys.

...Rick and Marty
gather with other members

of their team for an important
meeting in the w*r room.

Joining them
via videoconference

is Rick and Marty's partner
Craig Tester.

Okay. So, you know, today
is Marty's favorite day.

‐Yep.
‐Uh, it's about science
and getting results.

Um, Craig has some
very interesting results,

uh, about our work
in Smith's Cove.

And it's about dendrochronology,
which I'm hoping

that there'll be some really
definitive answers here.

‐Yeah.
‐Yeah.

Billy!

We want to get a piece
of dendro off of it

for dendro testing.

One week ago,
after fully exposing

a mysterious log structure
in what has become known

as the bump‐out area,

the team obtained
a large sample to be tested

through a process known
as dendrochronology...

‐Perfect!
‐There you go.

...which analyzes
growth rings on wood

in an effort to determine
not only the age of a tree

but also when it was cut
for use in construction.

It was this process
that determined

that the wooden slipway
unearthed last year

was most likely built in 1769,
nearly three decades

before the discovery of
the original Money Pit in 1795.

Now that the team
has discovered

an additional structure,
they are eager to find out

if it could have been built
during the same period

or perhaps even earlier.

Fill us in and make us happy.

Okay. Well, we had
one sample that we, uh,

sent to, uh, Colin Laroque

to do the dendrochronology.

He said it's a, uh, red spruce.

Um...

It's a little head‐scratcher.

Uh‐oh.

1741.

‐Whoa.
‐

1741?

Is it possible
that the structure was built

more than two decades
before the nearby slipway?

Knock me upside the head
with a fish.

I mean, you know,
it's just amazing.

It's amazing. 1741 now?

I'm surprised.
I thought the‐the date

would be contemporaneous
with the U‐shaped structure.

I really did.

In 1741,
there was virtually nobody.

You know, if you look
at the foundings of these towns,

none of them are that old.

What was going on here in 1741?

According
to historical records,

prior to 1795, Oak Island
was virtually uninhabited.

Other than its occasional use
by local farmers,

who would ferry livestock
over to the island

so that they could graze
without the need of fences,

there were
no reported activities

that would require anything
as elaborate as a large slipway

or loading dock.

Could it be that this log
structure was built

by the same mysterious visitors
who constructed the Money Pit,

perhaps for the purpose of
unloading and burying something

of great importance
on the island?

‐I like those 1700s.
‐Whoa, though.

What the hell
does that fit with?

‐It's pushing it back
further in time.
Wow.

What was happening here in '41?
Not a lot, right?

Well, there were the raids
on Fortress Louisbourg.

They‐they lost Fortress
Louisbourg to the British

before 1746.

So, I mean, we could look closer
at those dates,

‐because maybe the French
had a need to hide something.
‐Yeah.

Chipp Reid, who was a m*llitary
historian, felt so, right?

‐Yeah.
Oh, yeah.

Earlier this year,

naval historian and author
Chipp Reid

presented Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team

with an astonishing theory.

One suggesting
that the incredible structures

uncovered at Smith's Cove
could be connected

to an early 18th‐century
French fort

located some 300 miles
northeast of Oak Island

and which contained
similar features and tunnels.

If we look at these structures,

I don't know if this structure
looks familiar in any way.

Well, that's
the L‐shaped structure.

Yeah.

It was Chipp Reid's belief

that the French, while
preparing for a British siege

on Louisbourg in 1745,

might have secretly moved
a vast fortune

in gold and riches
to Oak Island for safekeeping.

A fortune which,
following their defeat,

was never recovered.

Could Craig Tester's news,
that the wood sample

dates back as far as the 1740s,
provide scientific evidence

that Chipp Reid's theory
might be true?

So, I think a trip
to Fort Louisbourg can help us

try to come to an understanding
of what may have happened here.

Yeah. That's what I'm thinking.

So, the bump‐out was a success.

We'd never have known this date.

‐That's true.
‐Never had guessed that.

Yeah.
‐Yep.
Oh, yeah.

I mean, this is certainly
the absolute

earliest date we've ever had
regarding any activity,

other than the cross.

Somebody can drop a coin

‐from a long time ago,
but nobody dropped that log.
‐Exactly.

‐Exactly.
‐And it didn't fall down
by itself

and dig itself five feet
in the ground, either.

I've always said
you have to look backwards

in order to move forward, but
we keep going deeper and deeper

‐in the weeds.
‐

Uh, I like it, okay?

Because, remember, when we first
stepped foot on here, I said,

"Find me concrete evidence
of substantial human activity."

I said underground, but if you
take the word underground out,

prior to the discovery
of the Money Pit, you know what?

You did it.

Something rather massive
happened here, at least in 1741.

For me, that's a big deal.

For the longest time I thought
maybe nothing happened here

prior to 1795.

I think it was a success,
the way I look at it,

because we got good data.

And I'm happy that he thinks
it was a success.

‐As deluded as he might be.
‐

Let's deal with it, try and put
it in context and move forward.

Let's go.

Yeah, see you, Craig.
Thank you.

As a new day begins
on Oak Island,

and as the team
continues their efforts

to re‐drain the swamp...

We've got a nice day
for the visit.

Oh, it's beautiful.

...Rick Lagina
and historian Doug Crowell

are traveling some 300 miles
northeast of Oak Island

to the town
of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.

They are eager
to explore firsthand

the 18th century
French fortress which,

according to naval historian
and author Chipp Reid,

has a direct connection
to Oak Island

and its 225‐year‐old
treasure mystery.

If there was French involvement
on Oak Island,

here we have some examples of
their engineering underground.

At the time the French
had completed construction

of the fortress
at Louisbourg in 1740,

it was considered a monument

to 18th century
m*llitary engineering,

with over two miles
of stone walls

which were built as much as 30
feet high and eight feet thick.

But perhaps one
of the installation's

most compelling features

is the vast network
of secret tunnels

that were constructed
beneath it,

tunnels which Rick and Doug
believe may contain

design
or construction similarities

to those found on Oak Island.

We now have two structures
on the island that

were quite laborious in terms
of their construct, right?

Louisbourg‐‐
wasn't it started in 1713

and then it falls in 1745?

Well, when you look at the dates
that we got

through dendrochronology
this year,

like the, the end
of the wharf area,

the end of the slipway,

dating to 1741,

you're right in the heyday
of Louisbourg.

In fact, uh,
I believe it was, uh,

Jean‐Baptiste
de La Rochefoucauld,

‐the Duc D'Anville.
‐Mm‐hmm.

It was my understanding
that's where

the duc d'Anville is buried.

That's interesting.

It is.

In 1746,

one year after Louisbourg fell
to British m*llitary forces,

the French sent
a massive armada to Nova Scotia

in an attempt to seize back
their conquered fortress.

Led by the duc d'Anville,

a member of the same
Rochefoucauld family

that boasted direct ties
to the Knights Templar,

the 97‐ship fleet
was reportedly carrying

a treasure in gold and jewels,

presumably in order
to finance a local army.

Unfortunately,

before the ambitious operation
could be carried out,

a series of severe storms
delayed and plagued

the doomed mission.

Typhus and scurvy
quickly spread

among the soldiers and sailor,

causing hundreds to die at se,

including the duc d'Anville
himself.

I found eight pages of

what looks like a ship's log.

According to
a recently discovered journal,

the duke's crew,
after his death,

was able to hide
the treasure he was carrying

on a wooded island
in Mahone Bay,

in hopes of keeping it out
of the hands of the British.

"It has been agreed
that a deep pit be dug.

"The pit to have
a secret entrance

by a tunnel from the shore."

I mean,
a great quantity of treasure,

and‐and that‐‐
they appear to be in this bay.

I mean, it fits in every aspect.

Exactly.

Could it be

that the surviving members
of the duc d'Anville's mission

chose Oak Island
not by accident

but because they knew
that a vast treasure vault

had already been built there,

one that was established
centuries earlier by members

of the Knights Templar?

Louisbourg is
a fascinating place,

and there's
incredible history there.

Duc D'Anville is buried there,

who may be part
of a hypothetical reason

as to what was done here
on Oak Island.

I mean, we're not that far away.

I look forward to just‐‐
actually just seeing it.

Yes.

I hope there's
some answers here.

‐That's my hope.
Yeah.

As Rick and Doug continue
their journey to Louisbourg...

All right, here's Lot 27.

Yup.

...Jack Begley, Peter Fornett,

and metal detection expert
Gary Drayton

continue to search for clues
on Oak Island's Lot 27.

All right, mate.
I've got my magic wand.

Let's make some magic.

Look at that!
Look at the size of that.

That's chunky.

Yeah. An hefty chisel.

It was on this same lot,
seven weeks ago,

that Gary, Jack, and Peter

discovered what was
later identified

as an ancient chisel‐‐

a chisel that Gary believes
could be connected

to the 14th century
tunneling tools,

known as swages,
that were found on Lot 21.

Because the recent hurricane
battered and stirred up

the island's surface,

Gary is eager
to search the area once again,

in the hopes of finding
any newly exposed clues

or valuable artifacts.

All right, here's
a good place to start.

Okay.

We're here to find
some good stuff.

Hmm.
Nothing in here.

You don't want
to go for it?
No.

Not feeling any love
at the moment.

Got something?
Yeah.

This is a nice
repeatable signal.

‐
‐Got to dig that, mate.

It's out.

Whatever it is, it's out.

‐
‐Ooh.

It's in me hand.

What have we got here?

That is nice.

‐A bit of cut lead.
‐Hmm.

It's always good when you find
cut lead on old sites.

Let's have a gander.

What's that little knob for?

Yeah, that little knob
reminds me of a sprue.

When they make musket balls,

they would pour 'em in a mold,

and then they would snip
all the musket balls off

on the line, and this
would've just got thrown away.

‐Mm‐hmm.
It's old.

It's 17s, early 1800s.

A musket ball?

Dating as far back
as the 1700s?

Is it possible
that the team has just found

another piece
of physical evidence

supporting Chipp Reid's theory
about the French m*llitary

burying treasure on Oak Island
in the early 1740s?

Maybe there was some sort
of m*llitary force on Oak Island.

We know that
there were French here,

so maybe we'll find more
evidence in the area

to be able to pin down
exactly who it was.

All right, chaps.
Let's see what's on the beach.

Okay. We will follow you.

Nice, low tide.

There's a lot
of the lower beach exposed.

This looks good.

I'm gonna start
zigzagging down here.

‐Just there.
‐That sounds fairly good.

Yep. Just there.

Yeah.
It doesn't sound too bad.

Whatever this is,
it's been here a while.

Yep.

You got that right, Jack.
That deep?

That's gone undetected.

A lot of rust.
Ooh.

I like the look of that.

Take it real easy, mate.
Oh, my God.

I like the look of this.

Look.
You see what I'm seeing?

I'm gonna have to get down
and dirty on this one, mate.

All right.

Let's scrape some stuff off.

This could be a good one.

Watch your fingers.
It could be sharp.

‐Look at that.
‐Yeah.

What the heck is that?

Is that it?

Wow.

It's an encrusted conglomerate.

So, there's something
inside of that mass?

Yeah.
That's nice.

And who knows what's in this?

Oh, what's that?
It's just a big
conglomerate.

Mm‐hmm.
It could be anything
in there.

While exploring
the beach on Lot 27,

metal detection expert
Gary Drayton,

along with Jack Begley
and Peter Fornetti,

have just made what could be
an important discovery.

You never know what's in
something like this.

That's why it's called
an encrusted object.

And what happens is,
in a saltwater environment,

all the sand and the shells,

they become encrusted
onto the piece of iron.

The salvage guys love these
on the shipwrecks,

because they bring 'em up,
and they find gold and silver,

mainly coins, attached
to the iron object.

And that looks to me
like an artifact.

Oh, look.
I can see the shape of it.

‐That's an old a*.
a*. Mm‐hmm.

And that could be
an old a*, as well.

And you know what?

Yeah.

‐This could be either
a tool or a w*apon.
Mm‐hmm.

‐And you're right, it goes...
‐Yeah.

‐Yeah, it's an old a*‐head.
‐Look at that.

‐Wow.
‐Yeah, and that looks

like an oldie, as well.

This is 1700s, baby.

‐Could it be older than 1700?
It really could.

This could be older than 1700s.

‐Could be, for example,
a ship's rigging a*.
‐Yeah.

A rigging a*?

Dating back
to the early 18th century,

or even older?

Commonly kept on board
large sailing vessels,

a rigging a* was used
for everyday maintenance

and safety while at sea,

as well as
to gather new materials

for construction when ashore.

Could this rigging a*
be evidence of a ship

landing on the island prior

to the Money Pit's discovery
in 1795?

If so, could it be connected
to the massive wooden wharf

recently unearthed
at Smith's Cove,

which was
scientifically proven

to have been built in 1741?

That's nice.

‐Let's stick her
in the bag, mate.
‐Yeah.

All right. Awesome.

Let's keep moving.

As Gary, Jack, and Peter

continue their search
for artifacts on Lot 27...

...some 300 miles northeast
of Oak Island...

Pretty impressive.

...Rick Lagina
and historian Doug Crowell

arrive in the town
of Louisbourg

to visit the site
of what was once

a French m*llitary fortress.

Hey, Sarah!

Hello.

Good to meet you in person.

Great to meet you
in person, too.

Welcome to
the Fortress of Louisbourg

National Historic Site.

Assisting Rick
and Doug in their investigation

is historian Sarah MacInnes.

It's a beautiful edifice.

It's just, uh...

awe‐inspiring.
It's absolutely stunning.

It's really, really,
phenomenally gorgeous.

Yes.
Yeah.

And what you see here
is actually only one‐fifth

of what it originally was
in the 18th century.

Wow.

Sarah, we have, uh,

some questions that
we're trying to answer

on the island.

Over the last couple years,
we've uncovered some structures.

‐Mm‐hmm.
‐And we've had
a naval historian tell us

that perhaps they're
temporary siege works, of sorts.

So, we were hoping perhaps
we'd find something

of a similar nature here.

‐And we understand you have
some tunnels under the fort.
‐Mm‐hmm.

And tunnels under... underground
are of big interest to us.

And we're hoping to find
something that might be similar.

Well, hopefully, we can find
some answers for you.

Ah, that'd be great.

‐That'd be fantastic.
‐You know what I'd love
to do first,

though? I'd love to see where
the duc d'Anville is buried.

‐All right,
let's go see him first.
‐All right.

These people,

long ago, were committed

to building this
on such a large scale.

They did it
because they had to,

and that's the key enigma
of Oak Island.

Sometimes you think,

oh, you know,
they couldn't have gone down

to the bedrock
in the Money Pit area.

They couldn't have tunneled
to Smith's Cove.

And then you look at this,
and you realize

it is possible.

We'll go into the chapel now.

This is where the duc d'Anville
has been buried.

Wow.

In 1749,

after Louisbourg was returned
to the French,

the English took
the duc d'Anville,

who was previously buried
in what's now Halifax Harbour,

and sent his remains here.

And they were interred
under the altar of the chapel.

"De la Rochefoucauld"
is the last word.

The Rochefoucauld family has
been of interest to us

the last couple of years
because of some other documents

we've been looking at
on the island. We're tracing

some possibilities
that that family

may have had some
of the answers

‐for which we seek.
‐Hmm.

Not only was
the duc d'Anville a member

of the Rochefoucauld family,
which, in turn,

had close associates with
members of the Knights Templar,

but the name Rochefoucauld
is also featured

on a mysterious
14th century map of Oak Island.

Given to Rick Lagina
by his close friend,

the late author and researcher
Zena Halpern,

it is one of three maps that
were found in an ancient book

and which suggest
that the Rochefoucaulds were,

in some way, directly connected
to the Oak Island mystery.

So, is there a crypt
beneath here that is accessible?

Yeah. It's not a crypt

as, uh, many people
would think of it,

but there are a number of
burials underneath the chapel.

One of the things we were

hoping to find or see‐‐
some original works,

so that we could see it
as it was built in the time.

Is there anything
like that here?

Definitely. Yeah.
‐That'd be great.

Let's go.

So, the casemates were
constructed to protect civilians

during times of w*r.

And they were
one of the only structures

that remained standing
after the British destroyed

the Fortress of Louisbourg
between 1760 and 1768.

So, these are the ones.

You can get an idea
of the construction.

Oh, Rick.

Come look at this one.

What's your impression of that?

A drain system.

Yeah, that's what
caught my eye, Rick.

Look at that.

Look at that.

Oh. Yeah.

Now, we were talking earlier
about controlling the water.

It goes into the dry moat.

A stone drain system?

Could Rick and Doug be looking

at the same kind
of water‐flow system

that the Oak Island team
has found evidence of

over the past three years
at Smith's Cove?

A water‐flow system known
as a French drain.

It's certainly one way to run
water off, that's for sure.

This is very cool.

I can't wait to see
what you show us next.

All right. Let's go look
at that fortification

‐that you were wondering about.
Excellent.

I just found it
exceedingly strange

that the‐the drain system
in the original fortifications,

they certainly have
an appearance

of some of the structures
that we saw in Smith's Cove.

I just found that
more than interesting.

So, the countermine tunnel
was constructed

as a means of defending
the fortress.

So, it's that red door
down there.

It was made so that it could be
filled with powder,

and if the enemies
were approaching,

the powder could explode
and cut off enemy att*ck.

Dating back as early
as the ninth century BC,

countermines were a kind
of defensive tunnel

commonly utilized in warfare

for the purpose
of preventing enemy attempts

to dig beneath walls
or other fortifications.

These countermine tunnels
would often be rigged

with booby traps,
such as expl*sive powder.

Unfortunately, we can't go in

because it's home
to a bat colony right now,

but one neat thing about
the countermine tunnel

is that it's one of the only
features that's still

in the same condition that
it was from the 18th century.

It was never destroyed, and it
hasn't been reconstructed.

‐So it's stuck in time.
Oh, really?

It's a lot of work,
when you think about it,

because the land's
really marshy.

It's a good ways out.

So, underground then,
when they built it,

they had to have a way
to manipulate the water?

They had to deal
with that, yeah.

A tunnel?

One that was built
through a marshy waterway?

Could it be that the same
engineering knowledge

used to build
the countermine tunnel

in the surrounding swamp
at Louisbourg

was also employed
in the construction

of Oak Island's
elaborate network

of booby‐trapped flood tunnel?

It's what we're
constantly amazed at

on the work
on Oak Island, right?

All the tunneling,
all the shafts.

I mean, the amount of work.
You know, a tunnel is a tunnel.

Digging underground
is digging underground.

It'd be interesting
to see the plans.

We can definitely look into some
plans if you're interested.

Yeah. Be very interested.

Well, let's head out.
‐Great.

We pulled some plans that we
thought you'd be interested in.

And these actually show
the countermine tunnel.

While visiting
a nearly 300‐year‐old

French naval fortress
in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia,

Rick Lagina and Doug Crowell
have been given the opportunity

to examine not only
the actual plans of the fort

but also the system of tunnels
that exists beneath it.

So, the countermine tunnel
is 180 feet out

and it's in the shape
of a cross.

We thought that was
fairly interesting.

We have a cross on Oak Island...
Nolan's cross.

‐Mm‐hmm.
‐Which is a‐a collection

of precisely arranged boulders
to form a‐a cross.

Tunnels, laid out
in the shape of a cross?

Have Rick and Doug just found

their first piece
of concrete evidence connecting

this 18th century French fort
to Oak Island,

and more specifically,
to the megalithic structure,

discovered in 1981,
known as Nolan's Cross?

But you don't know if there's an
engineer drawing of the tunnel?

It's at, like, a side? No.

Not that we know of.
But there are some images.

‐Oh, there are?
‐Yeah.

So, it's hard to tell
because of the flooding.

That's cool.

Beautifully done.

‐Oh, it's gorgeous.
‐Mm‐hmm.

And to do that for 180 feet.

That's a significant...

‐Straight as an arrow.
‐Mm‐hmm.

‐Math comes back into it, again.
‐

Yeah, we've always, we've always
wondered, you know, like,

the tunnels that
are on Oak Island,

how were they able to do that
straight as an arrow?

I suppose it just depends

on the time and precision
you want to put into it.

But that goes to command
and control,

because look what
was achieved here.

Visiting Louisbourg was
exceedingly interesting.

They were able to manipulate
water underground,

i.e. specifically
to create that tunnel.

So... what did they know?

How did they come to learn
of it, i.e. moving water?

They certainly were
able to do it.

Could be done here
on the island.

Well, we don't want to take up
any more of your time.

You've given us
some great takeaways.

There's a tunnel right out here
that says you can

drive a tunnel in a wet
environment and keep it dry.

That's interesting.

Thank you, guys, for coming.

Can't thank you enough.

One day after
his visit to Louisbourg...

This is the paved area, right
there, where Billy's digging.

Mm‐hmm.

...Rick Lagina
and his nephew Alex

arrive at
the triangle‐shaped swamp.

Now that the area has once
again been drained

to the point where it is now
safe to begin excavating,

they are eager
to resume this year's plan

to fully reveal the mysterious
stone‐paved walkway

discovered earlier this year.

Hey, Bill!

You know, Dr. Spooner's

gonna want to come out
and take a look at it.

‐Yeah.
‐As you dig,

maybe you might want to swing
some of it over there?

Yeah, this one pile
is already there.

‐It's dry.
‐All right.

How deep do you want
to dig here?

I say we dig until
we can't dig any deeper.
‐Yeah.

Because the recent hurricane

has significantly stirred up
the bottom of the swamp

and, once again, buried
the possible stone walkway,

the team will have
to carefully drench out

several feet of water and muck
without damaging the structure.

I have to remove myself.

I've got another,
uh, errand to run,

so you'll be Billy's eyes
and boots.

Okay.
‐Anything you see that might be

‐"out of the ordinary..."
‐Yep.

If I stop us down,
I'll call you.

‐Okay? Thanks, Alex.
‐Yep.

We're going for the...

whole enchilada, if you will.

We're gonna try to expose it
in its entirety,

and hopefully we'll get an idea
of the length, the width,

get a cross section of it
and look at it

and see how deep it really is.

I think we all have some hope
that it's much bigger,

uh, because then,
lends itself to the belief

that it's man‐made.

Hey, Billy!

That's a lot of stones
in the side there.

But if we clean this off,
maybe it's something.

I would think we're looking
for flatness, too.

I‐I'm not sure.

I'll get a little more
of that brown stuff off

and then we'll pick 'em all out
and see what's there.

Yep. Sounds good.

As Billy Gerhardt

uncovers the rocky surface...

Alex! How you doing?
‐Hey, Terry.

...geologist Terry Matheson
arrives to help identify

if the feature is natural
or man‐made.

Unfortunately, the water's
come up quite a bit in here,

‐so you can't see
the edges as well.
‐Right.

Approximately what depth
did you get the boulders?

Probably about five feet below
that, maybe a little bit more,

‐at the maximum depth.
Okay, so

those are probably clastics.
They're not limestone...

Mm‐hmm.

...and they're not the gypsum
we find deeper, so...

I'm surprised to see
what I think

I would not encounter
until about 120 feet down

in the Money Pit area.

Boulders near the surface

that would otherwise be found
more than 100 feet underground?

Has Terry Matheson just
identified potential evidence

that the stone‐paved area
is man‐made?

I'm hoping it'll reveal

a little bit more
of the wall to you.

Let's keep digging.

That's what it's all about.

As another new day begins

on Oak Island...

‐Rick, good to see you.
‐How are you? Good to see you.

...Rick Lagina joins
his nephew Alex,

geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner,

and heavy equipment operator
Billy Gerhardt at the swamp,

where they are continuing
their effort

to expose the possible
stone walkway.

Having located
what they believe to be

the outer edge
of the structure,

the team is now
carefully washing away

layers of mud and debris

that was deposited
during the recent hurricane.

There's a lot of water in there.

What is the area
that you want to see

‐over here in the paved,
"paved" area?
‐I just want to get

maybe a ten‐foot‐long
by the whole width section.

Get it cleaned,
see what it looks like.

The paved area is certainly
a well‐defined target.

We want to remove the organics
and the sediments

and visually inspect
the paved area

to ascertain whether
there's anything there

worth investigating.

That looks strange to me.

It looks strange to me, too,
so we're in agreement,

there's something strange.

The main thing about it is,
you've got all these rocks

that are all fitting together,
and my problem is from

a geo point of view,
straight geo,

all those rocks,

that's not common.

It's almost as if
the rocks were brought in,

and I don't‐don't
quite know why.

That is very strange.

That's the paved area
right there.

‐It's fairly flat
and fairly consistent.
Yeah.

Is this different enough
for you to say

this is natural or

the hand of man
being introduced here?

It's different enough
for me to consider that.

I would like to clean off,
like, a ten by 20.

‐See if it is exactly
what we see here.
Yep.

The paved area in the swamp
is exceedingly interesting.

It truly is an unknown,
you know?

When we go looking for a shaft
here and there,

we have some background,
we have some history.

This thing has materialized out
of the ether.

It's quite uniform.

It's level.

My initial thought is,
this is indeed man‐made.

Having finally
exposed a portion

of the paved stone area...

‐Hi, chaps.
‐Hey, Gary.

Hi, Gary.

...Rick has called
archaeologist Laird Niven

down to the site to examine i.

So, that is the feature that

we are troubled by,
right over there.

Okay.

It doesn't look like
any natural formation.

It looks like what to you?

It looks like it‐it‐‐
they've been introduced.

‐You do think so? Okay.
‐Yeah.

I can't see any natural way
for it to get here.

‐So you've never seen anything
like this before?
‐No.

‐Billy, would you finish this?
Yeah.

I'll get that water moving,

‐Bill, and then you can remove
the rest of this.
‐Yeah.

My mind rounds to

all the work it took

to build this paved area.

I've done a lot
of stonework myself

in my younger days, and, uh,

this is an enormous undertaking.

Building it was probably
a lot more difficult

than it is uncovering this,

but we have to uncover it
because we need to know

what, when, where, why and ho.

And the hope is that we will be
able to investigate it.

So here's the thing,
I don't know to make of it.

I mean, I think we all,
to varying degrees of belief,

that this is

something out of the ordinary.

But I do know this,
it's just made the swamp

‐that much more interesting.
Absolutely.

‐Yeah.
So to that end, I think

tomorrow morning
we'll have another go at it

‐and see what it looks like.
‐Yeah.

There's something strange here.

That's a puzzle.

One day
after successfully exposing

part of the paved stone feature
at the swamp, Rick Lagina

and geoscientist
Dr. Ian Spooner

return to the site
to see what else

may have been revealed

now that even more water
has been removed.

My issue is,

if this was just dumped by
glaciers or something like that,

it would be piles. It would be
a little less horizontal.

You'd see these undulate a bit,
but it's straight across.

You have to have
somebody to do it.

In my mind,
somebody created a surface.

You know, I‐I truly
want to send my brother

some photographs of this.

And then I'm‐‐
I'll give him a call.

I'm sure he's gonna ask your
opinion, I'm certain of that.

We have this significant
mystery ongoing in the swamp

because the paved area
has proven to be

quite a puzzle within a puzzle.

Hey. Morning.

I have, uh, Dr. Spooner here,

and we're looking
at the so‐called paved area.

I sent you some photographs,
which I think you have.

I'll be honest, my eyes
and boots perspective,

it's man‐made.

Uh, there's these
layers of stone

above the till that have
no clay around them,

and yet have swamp sediment
around them.

It has to be manipulated.

I can't find a natural process
that would have led to this.

It's a manipulated site.

I've worked
in these environments

and in a similar environment,
but it's nothing like this.

To me, it's like

somebody came in and put
the small rocks on the bottom,

just like building
a road, and then

put the bigger rocks
on top of that.

It's that, I think, precise.

He said he has no explanation
other than it's man‐made.

‐I don't know.
‐Well,

if you go seaward,
we're on a line,

like, if you have the eye
as a excavated site.

If you have this paved area
as a filled‐in site,

maybe trying to make
a platform, something solid,

and then if you go seaward,

you have the deepest portion
of the swamp,

where it was actually an inle.

It all lines up

with the peninsula
cutting through it.

And, so, was this some kind of
work surface if people

brought boats in?

A work surface, like a dock?

Possibly used
for boats or ships?

And located in the middle
of the Oak Island swamp?

Could the team have finally
unearthed definitive proof

that the swamp was artificially
created centuries ago,

and that a ship or sailing
vessel was offloaded here

and then sunk in such a way
as to hide all evidence?

It's as wide as a two‐lane road,

no question about that.

This is not
what I expected to see

in how clear
the interface is and how

orderly the stones look,
as if they're placed.

I've always thought the swamp
held some sort of information,

uh, maybe not everything,
but something.

I mean, it's just very strange.
It shouldn't be there.

Oh, yeah, we can. Yeah.

‐Bye.
‐Take care. Bye.

For Rick, Marty,
and their team,

unearthing what appears to be
a man‐made stone platform,

or wharf, in the middle
of the swamp

is nothing short of a historic
breakthrough discovery.

One that may prove
to be just as critical

to solving
the Oak Island mystery

as finding
the original Money Pit.

But who built it? When?

And for what purpose?

Those are the questions that,
when answered,

might very well provide

the keys to solving the entire
Oak Island mystery,

and could, in turn,
change the history

not only of North America

but of the world.

Next time on
The Curse of Oak Island...

The 90 Foot Stone is
the most important artifact.

Rick, look at this one.
I think we found it.

Yeah.
Whoa!

The eye of the swamp is
connected to the paved area.

Ooh! Look at that!

That is a really old
tunneling tool.

That's awesome!

‐Oh. Holy crow.
‐What the heck is it?

‐This is old.
We found
the smoking g*n.

‐The paved area is man‐made.
All right!