08x10 - Connecting the Lots

[bunniefuu]

Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island...

What's exciting is
it's like some sort of cribbing.

- Oh, yeah.
- And it keeps going.

Good find, mike.
Look at that head.

It could, in theory,

go back to the early 1700s.

Whoo-wee!

- You sound excited.
- It's an old coin.

All right.

To me, the money pit
is related to the mound.

Maybe you're looking at spoils

from the original money pit.

There you go.

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.

- Hey, guys.
- Hey, rick.

So, we formulated
a-a general plan.

You'll track in

and then start pulling off
the mud on top of that feature.

Yep.

Another hopeful day

has just begun on oak island

as brothers
rick and marty lagina,

along with members
of their team,

continue an investigation

of one of the most perplexing
and compelling structures

ever discovered in the
225-year-old treasure mystery:

A stone-paved pathway,
or possibly a ship's wharf,

found beneath
the brackish water and muck

in the southeastern corner
of the triangle-shaped swamp.

My thought is we dig the trench,

creating that distinction

between the feature itself
and the land proper.

And you may want
to follow that up

if, indeed,
it does go into the upland

to gain some sort of sense

- of the orientation of the feature.
- Direction.

Yeah. For sure.

So, track in

- and dig this side.
- Yep.

- All right?
- Yep.

Heads up!

There's the feature right there.

- That's the edge.
- Perfect.

This is the edge of it, bill!
Right here.

- Okay.
- In order to ensure

that the feature is not damaged
while being fully uncovered,

heavy equipment operator

billy gerhardt
will carefully dig

along each side of it

while archaeologists
dr. Aaron taylor and laird niven

supervise the operation,

cleaning off the rocky surface
while searching

for any valuable clues
or artifacts

that may be found
either on or around it.

Aw,
I know there's something good

just laying under the muck
somewhere in here.

Wow. Look at that.

- We have more of this timber.
- Yeah.

I can see there's
a wood right there.

- See? We got...
- Oh, yeah!

And we got this right here.

- There is some sort of a structure.
- Yeah.

That's awesome!

A wood structure?

Could it be connected
to the stone pathway?

Or has the team
uncovered a different

and completely separate
man-made feature?

Ooh! Come on.

Be something good.

One week ago,
while investigating

- the stone feature...
- Oh!

- A nice old pin. Look at that.
- Oh!

...Metal detection expert
gary drayton and jack begley

discovered
a potentially important find

dating back
to what gary believes

could be as early
as the 17th century.

That is some
kind of speciality tool.

- A plumb bob.
- Yeah,

- it's like a plumb bob.
- Yeah.

You'd have something like that
if you were digging shafts.

Is it possible
that billy gerhardt

has just found the
part of this structure

connected to the plumb bob
discovered by gary and jack?

Oh,
is there another one going the other way?

Let's see if it extends
a little bit more this way.

Yeah. It comes
back to over here.

What's exciting is
it's like it's cribbing.

You've got a-a post
or beam going this way.

Then you've got one,
looks like it's coming the perpendicular.

And then you've got
another one under it

parallel to the top one.

So, sort of... Some sort
of cribbing or something

underneath the feature.

They would've cribbed it,
and then they would've

put the stones on
top of the wood.

They're definitely stacked.

Like,
they're intentionally placed.

- It's no small feat.
- Yeah. So, I'd like

to keep doing what we're doing.

Find out what those,
uh, logs are doing.

Billy, do you want to just
keep trenching this along?

Yeah.

It's a lot of work logistically

just to gather the
quantities of material

needed for the construct.

And then there had to be someone

who made some sort
of engineering analysis

that the peat and
some sort of cribbing

would carry the weight.

So,
is it bigger than what we see?

Does it extend under the road?

It makes you rethink
what your understanding is.

If we clear this face

and see this whole thing exposed,
I mean, that's gonna...

That's a wealth of
information right there.

- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, we can go a little deeper.

Give us a-a bigger profile.

Just keep slowly following

this sort of angle,

and, uh, hopefully,
we'll uncover it

all the way up to the upland.

We really want to
see the interface

between the feature
and the uplands.

Is there a road
leading up the slope?

This feature was built

in order to help them take
something somewhere.

So,
we're just gonna keep following the feature

and see where it leads us.

Aaron?

- Aaron? -

Oh!

Yeah,
I'm getting more of the cribbing going...

Really? Yeah.

We're coming up onto
the upland right there.

Perfect. So,
you know what? Maybe just...

Even just five more
feet that way uphill

- if you can do that. - Yep.

So, I'm gonna go up and check

- on the, uh, serpent mound.
- Okay.

And, um, yeah, let me...

Let me know if
anything else pops up.

- Yep. I'll give you a call.
- All right.

All right. See you guys later.

- See you later.
- See you, aaron.

While rick lagina and the team

continue their
investigation in the swamp...

So, this is turning
into kind of an interesting hole.

Potentially,
we're into a vertical debris field.

Oak island
historian charles barkhouse,

geologist terry matheson

and project manager
scott barlow are supervising

the sonic
core-drilling operation

in the money pit area,

an operation

designed to look for evidence

of what people have been
searching for since 1795:

The fabled money
pit treasure vault.

We're certainly hoping
to find more loose material

and pieces of a chest,

pieces of something
that would indicate

we had a collapse
from the vault.

- Yeah. -That would be nice.
- So, let's...

- Yeah.
- Let's go see what we can see.

- Okay? - Okay. Go get it.

Currently,
the team is drilling a borehole

known as f.25-9.75,

one of more than 20
across the money pit area

that they will be extracting
core samples from

down to depths of
as much as 200 feet

in search of a massive void

where the treasure is
believed to have fallen

after more than two centuries
of digging by previous searchers

followed by cave-ins caused
by an elaborate system

of believed man-made
flood tunnels.

That's a lot of material.

Go over and manhandle
that anaconda.

What do we got here, gentlemen?

So, the bottom is

- 208 and a half. - Thank you.

And right there is 178.

This is the
kind of loose material

we'd hope to see if
something were sitting stably...

Relatively stable above it.

Eventually, it could wash out,

and things could
descend or fall.

But you're getting into more
consistent material here.

Nothing's gonna drop down through that,
and that's cakey.

Why we would have

slushy material like there
or to the left or right of this

and bedded material there,
I mean, that's...

That's hard to say.

So,
here we are touching down on bottom at 209.

Into solid bedrock beneath
this relatively loose material,

but unfortunately,
probably not loose enough

to, uh,
have a descending column of debris

- that we're looking for.
- I guess

she's gonna keep her
secret one more day.

One more day.

While charles, terry and scott

assess their next
move at the money pit...

Near the 10-x drill site,

jack begley has joined

gerhardt property
improvement representatives

michael john and john winters

at the wash table,

where they are
sorting through spoils

that were excavated last year

from borehole oc-1
in the money pit area,

a borehole where
the team encountered

what they believe to
be a wooden tunnel

at a depth of some 150 feet

and which was dated to 1706,

nearly a century
before the discovery

of the original treasure shaft.

If we tapped into an old tunnel,

maybe we'll be able to
recover more than just wood.

Maybe there's some
other indications

of-of tools or who knows what

in this old structure
that we brought up.

Keep your eyes peeled for
anything that's man-made.

Hey, jack. Check this out.

Whoa.

Good find, mike.

- It's square. - Yeah.

And look at that head!

Do you see that?

It looks like it, uh,

it might be pounded
into an old rosehead.

- Exactly. Yeah.
- Yeah.

While searching
through the spoils

excavated one year
ago from borehole oc-1,

jack begley and members
of the oak island team

have just found what could
be a potentially important clue.

Yeah, that's been around awhile.

This is a pretty large fastener.

That could be
something that dates

- with the old wood we found.
- Yeah.

- That could be very early 1700s.
- Wow.

Could this rosehead spike

be connected to
the wooden structure

found some 150 feet deep in
this same borehole last year,

and which was dated to 1706?

If so, could it be more evidence

that the oak
island team is close

to locating the
original money pit?

This is the type of thing
that we're looking for.

I mean,
that's another indication that

humans were doing
something a long time ago,

- deep in the money pit.
- That's right. Yeah.

It'd be interesting
to see exactly what dating

- we do get off this.
- Yeah.

And see how it compares.

Yeah. To other spikes.

Let me text laird

- and get him to come over here.
- Sure.

You know,
we've encountered something here

that predates the money pit,

back to the early 1700s, maybe?

You know,
associated with that wood?

So,
it's definitely worth taking seriously.

Hello, hello.

Hey, laird. Look at this. Here,
pass that over to laird.

Tell us what you
think about that

and let's see if you point
out the same thing I-I did.

Okay.

Well, it's a big spike.

Iron, obviously.

It's got kind of a
classic rosehead.

This doesn't resemble
any of the searcher nails

that I've seen before.

Do you have any idea

of the date that that
would've been made?

You know, it could, in theory,
go back to the early 1700s.

That's great. That
fits right in with the 1706 date

that we got from the
piece of timber down there.

I mean, we can clean it up

and take a look at it, for sure.

I mean, you can take it to
christa brosseau as well.

That's pretty cool.

I think we have to see

if we can clarify that date,

because this could
be an old deposit

or maybe an old unknown

shaft or tunnel.

I think we could be into
some really old works.

- Well, thanks, laird.
- All right. Okay.

Find anything else, let me know.

Definitely.

- Thanks for the opinion, laird.
- All right. Okay. See ya later.

Really nice find, mike.

The following morning,

rick and marty lagina's friend

and business
partner craig tester

has arrived on oak island
for the first time this year,

after a 14-day quarantine

mandated for his
entry into nova scotia

amid the ongoing
covid-19 pandemic.

Hey, guys.

- Hey, craig.
- Hey. Welcome back.

- How are you?
- Thank you. Thank you.

Unfortunately,
no handshakes, eh?

- No.
- Not in this day and age.

- Welcome back. - Thank you.

Is it good to be back?

It's very good to be back.

You know, it's kind of
different being gone for so long.

And usually,
I'm a type of person that...

I don't get excited
until I'm there,

wherever I'm going,
whether it's vacation or coming here.

- Mm-hmm.
- And this time I was more excited

to get here... And
then I get here

and you go into two
weeks of quarantine.

- You survived.
- I survived. Yeah.

I got a lot done. So, you know,

I started reviewing
what we found

and eager to get drilling

and, uh, really eager to
look at the swamp and stuff.

Well,
doug... Doug was just filling us in,

the status of the drilling.

So, we've done

21 holes around rf-1

and we haven't had
any success in finding

the original money pit.
And I think it had to be

between rf-1 and oc-1.

So, I mean,
I guess that's why I'm excited

about the spot you're interested in,
over by oc-1.

Yeah. And you know,

I'm encouraged to keep
on looking in this area.

And I looked at a lot
of the wells in the area

and there's a lot of
weird stuff going on

at the 150-to 165-foot level.

- So, do you have a grid set up?
- Uh, yeah.

And what's on this map was kind of the,
uh...

The original ones that we
talked about early in the year.

And I asked them to
jump on this one first.

It's, uh, e-12.

And we picked that location

because of a little bit of
wood we brought up from oc-1.

You know,
we hit it right at 150 feet,

which should've been
about where the vault was.

In the summer of 1897,

treasure hunter frederick blair

and his drill operator
william chappell

were stunned when
their drill rod penetrated

a seven-foot-tall wooden box

that was encased in concrete

at a depth of some 150
feet in the money pit.

Upon extracting their drill rod,

they were shocked to
discover traces of gold on the bit,

as well as a scrap of parchment

bearing the letters "vi."

now,
in light of both the wood found last year

dating to 1706

and the rosehead spike just
discovered in the oc-1 spoils,

it is craig's hope
that his new grid

of proposed drill
holes in this area

will yield more evidence of
the so-called "chappell vault."

The goals of
the drilling program

are to find evidence
of the chappell vault

and/or real treasure

and/or the collapse
of the money pit.

But we're finding tunnels up there,
too.

If these are searcher tunnels,
why were they up there?

And if they're original tunnels,

well, that's more exciting.

I've looked through
the historical record.

There is absolutely
no mention I can find

of a searcher
structure that deep.

And the dates on the wood,
just coming well before

the start of the known hunt.

- You know, what is that there?
- Yeah.

I'm really hoping that
your program is gonna bring

- something new to the table, for sure.
- Hopefully.

Craig, I'm sure you're
excited about getting up top.

- So... - Absolutely.

Okay. Well, we start today.

- Okay.
- So, the rig's up there

and ready and running.

- I want to go to the swamp.
- Yeah.

Okeydoke. We got a lot going on.

While rick,
craig and members of the team

finish their meeting
in the w*r room...

This is pretty neat.

It's amazing.

...Jack begley, gary drayton,

laird niven and billy gerhardt

continue efforts to uncover
the mysterious stone pathway

in the southeast
corner of the swamp.

You know,
to speculate that it went upland,

and then to see it?

It's pretty cool.

Let's see what we got here.

We've got a good plan in place.

Billy is gonna be scraping
the surface mud off the feature,

and he's gonna be
dumping the spoils.

This should be the mother lode

of coins and artifacts

that we've been waiting for

in the swamp.

Got a good sounding target here,
billy.

Good.

If I can find the bugger.

Whoo-wee!

Hey, hey, hey!

Whoo-wee!

Hey, hey, hey! It's an old coin!

What?!

While investigating

the spoils just removed

from atop the stone road

in the southeast
corner of the swamp...

It looks like an
old copper coin.

- Whoo-hoo! - All right!

...Metal detection
expert gary drayton

has just found what
could be a telling clue.

You sound excited.

You got that right, mate!

Just pulled out a coin.

How old?

I would say late 1600s,

early 1700s.

And it came out of that fill.

- Here, bill? - Yeah.

Yeah. Just right
here in front of me.

That's kind of weird,
because the 1652 maravedi

came out of a mound.

- Oh,.
- What is it?

Over the past decade,

during rick,
marty and craig's search operations...

Whoa!

...They and their
team have found

a number of 17th-century
coins in and near the swamp,

including a spanish
8 cob maravedi

that dated to 1652,

as well as two english coins

dating back to as early as 1673.

- Unbelievable.
- I can't believe it, honestly.

That's pretty cool.

And just last year

the team found a circular,
man-made formation of boulders

at the so-called
"eye of the swamp"

which geoscientist
dr. Ian spooner dated

to approximately 1680.

Is it possible that
they have now found

more evidence of human
activity in the oak island swamp

dating back to the 17th century?

If so,
could it also help identify

who may have constructed
this mysterious stone pathway?

And was it built by
someone looking for treasure?

Or by someone
who made a deposit?

A coin expert should be able

to get this cleaned
up enough to get

some features off it.

To me,
that looks like an old colonial copper.

Well, the hope would be that it
was contemporaneous with this.

Yeah.

Well, it's a pretty cool find.

Yeah. That's a top-pocket find,
gary.

Oh,
I believe it is a top-pocket find.

You know what?
And there might be

- more in there.
- Yeah. Okay, mate. -Yep.

- Okay. - You make more finds.

We'll try.

Another hit!

Yeah. That is an
iron target just there.

I don't know. I-I...

- I think this is part of the stone structure. Yeah.
- You're on the rock?

Yeah. Don't-don't dig into the rocks,
if you can.

- - oh.

I think you got it out.

Yeah,
it's a little piece of iron.

I think it might actually
be a ox shoe nail,

by the look of it.

It's a good sign
they were hauling things.

Earlier this summer,

gary and jack begley found
numerous british ox shoes

along what appeared
to be an ancient path.

Now you've got ox shoes

in an area where we know
there hasn't been a lot of farming.

So, it could be an old track.

Yeah, and it lines right
back towards the tar kiln.

This would suggest
that heavy cargo of some kind

had been transported
between the swamp

and what archaeologist david
macinnes believes could be

a 16th-century british-made
pine tar kiln on lot 15,

a pine tar kiln that is
also potentially connected

to the construction of
the original money pit.

Even the smallest
artifact can tell a story.

And this small ox shoe
nail that we've just recovered

tells us that there's been
hauling going on in this area.

Hey, I'd like to believe that,

along this trail,
there was treasure.

That'll clean up nicely.

Okay,
mate. I will continue scanning.

While the excavation
in the swamp continues...

...In the money pit area,

craig tester joins oak island
historian charles barkhouse

and geologist terry matheson

for a progress report
on borehole e-12,

the first borehole

in his strategically
designed grid program

near oc-1,

where, last year,
the team discovered evidence

of a man-made tunnel
some 150 feet deep.

So,
we're well above our target horizon.

What did you expect to see here?

I was mainly focusing
on the-the tunnel area.

You know,
I got thinking about this tunnel

- that we found and it being at, you know, 1706.
- Yeah.

- Yeah. - I'm thinking, well,

if it's an original structure,

then is it a flood
tunnel or is it a...

You know,
leading off to the vault

- or something? So...
- Exactly.

Which might
explain what this tunnel is,

because there's nothing
in the historical record

- of a tunnel being over in that area.
- No.

And that's too deep
for the early searchers.

The idea that
there's a tunnel over there...

Wow. Very interested
to follow up on that.

There is just a-a
lot of odd stuff going

- in this northeast corner.
- Absolutely.

Surely nice to see a...

Few chunks of
wood in this next one.

- What, would be 139 to 149 section?
- Yeah, right at the bottom.

Here's hoping.

I'm gonna give brennan a hand.

It's awfully watery
there when you're...

So, this is the bottom.

And this is the top of the run.

What's the depth, brennan?

- 149. - 149?

- All right.
- This is the sweet zone, craig.

Let's poke through it.

Look at this one very,
very carefully.

Some dark areas here.

Could point to a disturbance.

It looks like it's a...

A little bit of limestone in it,
a little bit of clastic,

cobbles.

Unfortunately, there's no...

Wood interspersed among it.

We have a number of holes yet to go,
so...

- We'll look at the map and see where we're gonna go next.
- Yeah.

This area's got a whole
lot of things going for it.

So, we're here.

So we'll hit these three,

going on a circle around here.

We'll just come off of this one,
e-12,

and move about seven
feet to the northwest.

So, the next one will be d-11.

Okay. I'm gonna be going a lot
between here and the swamp.

Yeah. We'll give a call, uh,
as we approach the target horizon.

Okay.

Good. Take care.

Catch you later.

While the
core-drilling operation

gets underway at borehole d-11

in the money pit area,

metal detection
expert gary drayton

joins archaeologists
dr. Aaron taylor,

liz michels and miriam
amirault on lot 15,

where they are
continuing to investigate

a recently discovered

130-foot-long earth
and stone feature

that has been dubbed
the serpent mound

due to its curious
snakelike shape.

Morning, guys!

-Hey, gary. -Hi! -Hiya.

I'm looking forward
to getting stuck in here.

Two weeks ago...

Ooh. I got charcoal.

...Dr. Taylor discovered
b*rned charcoal,

offering evidence of significant
human activity within the mound.

But when rick,
marty and craig had it carbon-dated,

the results were nothing
short of astonishing.

That one

had a date of 1320 to 1440.

- Period? - What?

- Wow.
- It might be the knights templar.

- Do you want to give it a little...
- Yeah.

Course.

Not detecting anything.

Might be in that last bucket.

All right.

There's something around here.

You've definitely got
something substantial there.

Oh,
yeah. That one's definitely there still.

In my hand.

Ooh!

That's interesting. I know
it's away from the feature,

but it is another one of
those old-looking spikes.

Wow.

That's a square one.

It looks quite old,
and it had a specific use.

We don't find many that
come down to a point like this.

That served a purpose.

Do you think that
end might be broken?

- It's hard to say.
- No. It was made that way, mate.

It's hand-forged though.

But it could fall
into that timeframe

of the other artifacts
we've recovered in this area.

I'd say, easily, 1700s.

You can just look
at the size of the nail

and figure that maybe there was

some kind of
decking around here,

because that looks
like a deck nail to me.

A hand-forged spike

discovered within the
mysterious serpent-shaped mound

and potentially dating back

to before the discovery
of the money pit?

Could it be another
important clue

that could help explain this
feature's purpose and origin?

That's a great find, gary.

And the more work
we do on this feature,

the more finds
we're gonna recover.

I think you're right. All right,
well, I'm gonna get back at it.

Okay,
guys. I'm gonna let you do your jobs.

- All right. See you guys soon.
- All right.

Cheers.

While the investigation

of the serpent-shaped
mound on lot 15 continues,

and while rick lagina
and members of the team

continue to carefully uncover

the massive stone-paved
feature in the swamp...

Hey, terry. How's it goin'?

Not too bad.

...Craig tester arrives
at the money pit,

having just been informed
by geologist terry matheson

and surveyor steve guptill

of a potentially
major development

in the core-drilling
operation of borehole d-11.

It was at that horizon where
we've seen a lot of tunnels.

- Okay.
- You know, 100 to 105-ish area,

where we're hoping to encounter

the tunnel we
intersected in oc-1.

- Yeah.
- The most important thing

from that horizon was,
somewhere around 100 feet,

we seem to have
encountered a tunnel.

A tunnel?

Found some 100 feet deep

and right in the
vicinity of oc-1?

Could it be evidence of one
of the legendary flood tunnels

protecting whatever lies at
the bottom of the money pit?

Or could it be a structure

that might lead to
the treasure itself?

There was no real cribbing.

There was just dark material.

The-the clay and everything
was stirred up and obliterated

and a few slivers of wood.

- Yeah.
- Doesn't seem to have any known origin.

What type of tunnel,
we're not sure.

Uh, searcher and placer,
we're not sure.

But it's at that horizon where
it's good digging for tunnels.

So,
this is a mystery to us. We don't know what

- we're in right now.
- But, again, early days on this whole...

Phase of the work.

So, time's gonna tell on that.

Mm-hmm. Here we go.

- Good job!
- Ooh! -

what's the bottom?

We got 144 to...?

Okay.

Well, that's our target zone.

Just break it up
a little bit here.

So, we're looking for, ideally,
a sliver or two of wood.

There's some blackening.
That's a little dark-ish.

- Yeah. That's what I was wondering about.
- What does that mean?

Well,
ofttimes when you're in and around wood,

you see that the wood
imparts kind of a dark coloration.

Just like that sec-section
from 97 to about 101,

102 above, where we saw that...

That was all darkened up, so...

It's possible... ofttimes,

it'll get that coloration
from being around wood.

We might be close to something.

We get down

to about 150 feet again,

and... There's some
odd things going on,

which is a good indicator.

We did decide to take it deeper,

and, uh, I'm eager

to see what answers it gives us.

- It's inconclusive. Yeah.
- Inconclusive?

But, I mean,
we're talking about a narrow tunnel here.

But we still, you know...

We could be plus or
minus a foot or two.

So,
we still got a little bit in the next core

that might be of interest.

You know,
we're just a couple feet off of oc-1,

so I think that
core is important.

I mean,
they need to keep on going deeper.

We'll take the next 20 feet

and pull up and see what we get.

- All right.
- All right.

Let's see what happens.

Hey, guys.

How you doing, chaps?

While search operations continue

in the money pit
area and on lot 15,

at the triangle-shaped swamp,

rick lagina and
members of the team

have now made
significant progress

in uncovering the massive

70-foot-long by
20-foot-wide stone road

in the southeastern corner.

Got a few answers
to some questions,

so I'm pretty happy
with how the day went.

When you're staring down

at this stone feature,
it's amazing.

It's remarkable.
It's out of place.

Why is this structure needed?

We have no idea.

It's almost impossible to put
yourself back 300 or 400 years.

That begs answering.

But we've got to
uncover more of the road

to find exactly
where it's going.

Why don't we start...? Uh,
when we head down, we'll start

at miriam's... I call
it miriam's segment.

Mm-hmm. - Uh, right there.

We'll start there, and then,

we'll work our way this way.

The feature is
exceedingly interesting.

I know that marty hasn't
been brought up to speed yet.

I think we should tell him
what you see happening here.

- Sure. - And, uh, give him

a better understanding
of-of what's going on here.

Let me give him a call.

Hey, are you there?

- I'm here, yeah.
- We are in the swamp.

You know a little
bit about that feature

that was found...
That rock feature.

- You mean the road? The road that...
- The road.

- Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
- Exactly.

So,
the archeologists have been working away.

They've revealed quite
a bit of the structure.

But this is certainly
an ongoing project,

in terms of not only revealing

the structure,
but understanding it.

So, anyway,
we'll walk down there,

and we'll show you a little bit
of what's been, uh, revealed.

And I'll turn the
phone over to aaron.

Thank you. I really appreciate
this. I'm very interested.

Hi, marty. Can you see,
uh, the profile there?

Yes.

All right. So,
we got huge stones.

Now moving up to the
center of the feature,

we have these poles.

- Wow.
- So, we have these poles

on the eastern side,
and they're running under the stone.

So, some sort of support,
which probably makes sense,

because if you just put
these big stones in the swamp,

they're just gonna keep sinking.

So, this road was built

in the swamp.

This is amazing, though,

'cause nobody... No searcher

even mentions this road.

It may turn

to the right and
go to the money pit.

That would mean it'd
been there for a long time already.

So, then it's

super significant.

I was gobsmacked
when I saw the road.

This pathway could either lead
to where the treasure's buried

or lead to a very
significant clue,

like a staging area
or something like that.

Could be the biggest clue
we've discovered this year.

So, yeah, we have to follow.
We need to know where it goes.

This... It appears
that we're the first ones

to have any hands on it
since it was probably used.

So, hopefully,
we can get some answers from it.

- Yup.
- The more we uncover,

the more artifacts we're
gonna find in this area,

and the more we'll know
about who made this feature.

- Yeah. For sure.
- I'm grateful

that we stayed the course because,
you know,

I always thought the swamp
was the keeper of secrets.

But without everybody
believing that,

we would have
perhaps left the area,

and this would have
remained undiscovered.

- It really has.
- I remember

clearly when you wanted
to quit on the swamp,

and I said, "rick, no way!

- No way!" -

I'm surprised,
'cause I didn't think

there was anything in
there but swamp stuff.

And I'm gratified that
rick's intuition was correct.

You guys are doing great.

I-I'm just super gratified,
wish I could be there.

This is cool. Good stuff.

- Okay, take care.
- Thanks, marty.

Yup. Bye-bye.

Before another successful day

comes to an end on oak island...

I really appreciate everybody

- coming into the w*r room today.
- ...Brothers rick

and marty lagina,
along with members

of their team,
gather for a meeting

via videoconference
with dr. Christa brosseau...

Hello, dr. Brosseau.

...A professor of chemistry

at st. Mary's university,

to hear her analysis
of the two spikes

recently found on the island.

One in the spoils of oc-1,
and the other

discovered in the
serpent-shaped mound on lot 15.

So, dr. Brosseau,
we welcome you to the w*r room, and, uh,

if you'd be kind enough
to present your analysis,

we look forward to it.

Yeah. So, I have the object
here with me... the spike.

There it is. Oh,
it looks a little bit

better now it's cleaned up.

The spike does go directly
perpendicular into the head

of the spike,
which is an indication

that it's been man-made
and not made by machine.

I'm gonna share my
screen with you here

so you can see the data.

In terms of the
elemental analysis...

And this is really where the...

You know,
the take-home message is...

No manganese, um,
contains phosphorus.

Point five percent.

So, pre-1840 wrought iron.

Consistent with a pre-1790 style of spike,
and

almost identical to
the spike that you found

in oc-1 or the-the money pit.

Phosphorus is a fairly
rare find for floor objects

on oak island. We found a few,

but at exactly the same
phosphorus content,

I would say that it's possible

that these two spikes, um,

were made at the same time.

Wow.

Wow. Wow.

In the oak island w*r room...

They look very similar.

Could be the same blacksmith
that made both of 'em.

...Chemist dr. Christa brosseau

has just informed rick,
marty and the team

that the hand-forged
spike found deep in oc-1

and another found within the
serpent-shaped mound on lot 15

are identical,
and also date back prior

to the discovery of
the original money pit.

Based upon the ox shoes
and the other work we've found,

people were doing work
for several years here.

Let's say that
whatever operation

was going on
here on the island...

Let's say depositor operation...

They must have
prepared for it in some way.

- You would think.
- So, if they had a blacksmith

make up a bunch of spikes for a purpose,
can we tell if

these two spikes are
related to each other?

Yeah. It's possible by
looking at the slag inclusion

and the concentration of
the elements in the slag,

um, to see whether or not,
for example,

the same recipe might have been

- used to produce these two spikes.
- There you go.

It's sort of like a
window into the metal

and also sometimes the
process used to make it.

That would be very telling,

because that would
almost definitively

connect the two spots together.

The money pit is
absolutely related

to the mound feature on-on 15.

- If that was the case.
- Maybe you're looking at

spoils from, let's say,
the original money pit.

Because how is this nail

the exact same as found in oc-1?

Yeah.

Could marty lagina be correct

that the serpent-shaped mound
is simply the spoils left behind

as a result of a previous
excavation of the money pit?

If so,
was it by someone looking for treasure,

or by someone
who made a deposit?

It's significant that
a rosehead spike found

at the base of this
feature resembles closely,

metallurgically,
the spike found in oc-1.

If you can connect the artifact
from one locale to another,

it provides insight
as to the work,

perhaps, was contemporaneous.

That's an important clue.

Let's at least do the analysis

and see if it adds
up to anything.

- That's a good idea. - Yeah.

The important thing
that we need to-to keep,

uh,
focused on: Is it pre-searcher?

And if it's pre-searcher,
then it's depositor.

Yeah.

And if these
artifacts are tying in

with depositor,
and we've got a swamp road that's

a stone's throw away,

I think this is getting
very compelling

that there might be
an association there.

So,
we need to find more artifacts.

And can we use billy's trowel?

- No. -

absolutely not.

Well, all I can say is, uh,
thank you for the insight.

There'll be no
lack of future finds.

- I guarantee you that.
- Sounds good.

Well, careful what you wish for.

We've got you on speed dial.

But again, thank you very much.

We-we certainly
all appreciate it.

Absolutely. Bye-bye.

Thank you. Bye.

For rick, marty,
craig and their fellowship,

the answers to the 225-year-old

oak island treasure mystery
appear closer than ever.

Is it possible that
with the discovery

of a massive road in the
triangle-shaped swamp,

they have found a pathway

that will lead them
directly to a buried vault

containing gold, jewels

and even priceless
relics in the money pit?

Or might it be pointing
them to a different location

where the long-sought
treasure deposit was first brought

to the island?

One thing is certain.

This team will not give up

until every clue
is run to ground

and every stone is
carefully overturned.

Next time on
the curse of oak island...

I've got a hit here!

It might be gold.

- That's gold, isn't it?
- Wow! Hey-hey!

This is more high-end.
Somebody with money.

It could've been
for a secret box.

We're getting remnants
of maybe the money pit.

Wow! Okay. That's wood

- well below any expected depth.
- Wow. That is an "aha."

- yeah.
- We got to keep drilling

because that could be
the money pit itself.

- Yes, it could.
- Drill!