11x19 - Hi Ho Silver
Posted: 04/17/24 08:34
NARRATOR: Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island...[/font]
This is the secret of secrets.[/font]
The message being
conveyed in code[/font]
is that the Ark of the
Covenant is on Oak Island.[/font]
- You can put X on the spot?
- Correct.[/font]
JAMIE: Holy cow.[/font]
- Wow.
- Is it truly silver?[/font]
It is silver. About 90%.[/font]
- [laughs]: Yes.
- LAIRD: In 40 years, I can’t remember[/font]
- a piece of silver I found.
- GARY: Is that it?[/font]
I see it, mate.
Underneath that boulder.[/font]
- Look at that.
- Oh.[/font]
What the heck is that?[/font]
NARRATOR: There is an
island in the North Atlantic[/font]
where people have
been looking for[/font]
an incredible treasure
for more than 200 years.[/font]
So far, they have
found a stone slab[/font]
with strange symbols
carved into it...[/font]
man-made workings
that date to medieval times,[/font]
and a lead cross whose
origin may be connected[/font]
to the Knights Templar.[/font]
To date, six men have d*ed[/font]
trying to solve the mystery.[/font]
And according to legend,
one more will have to die[/font]
before the treasure
can be found.[/font]
♪ ♪[/font]
JACK: I heard you
guys found something.[/font]
We found something.
That’s correct.[/font]
Come down here
and you can see it.[/font]
NARRATOR: As a fresh
morning dawns on Oak Island[/font]
for brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina[/font]
-and their team... -Right there.[/font]
NARRATOR: they are
braving the stench and muck[/font]
of the triangle-shaped swamp[/font]
in order to reveal a
man-made feature[/font]
that may help them solve
a 229-year-old mystery.[/font]
That’s probably
the southern wall,[/font]
- and that’s the eastern wall.
- RICK: We don’t know.[/font]
The only thing is, Gary
hasn’t found any fasteners,[/font]
and there’s evidence of dowels.[/font]
JACK: That speaks
to being much older.[/font]
GARY: What’s happening, Billy?[/font]
BILLY: We just
got a little wood.[/font]
NARRATOR: Just a few days ago...[/font]
BILLY: Somebody’s dug
down in the swamp, and there...[/font]
We got a bunch of
horizontal and vertical boards.[/font]
I think we’re onto
something, mate.[/font]
NARRATOR: Billy Gerhardt
and other members of the team[/font]
unearthed a wooden structure[/font]
embedded in the southern
border of the brackish bog.[/font]
Could this have
been some sort of[/font]
a loading and
unloading platform?[/font]
NARRATOR: Curiously,[/font]
it was found in the same
area where, in the 1970s,[/font]
the late Fred Nolan
reported finding evidence[/font]
of a wooden dam...[/font]
A dam which Fred believed[/font]
offered proof that the
swamp was artificially created[/font]
in order to hide
something of great value.[/font]
Take some of this, too.[/font]
-Yeah. -NARRATOR: Now,[/font]
due to this feature’s
close proximity[/font]
to the potentially 500-year-old
stone road, or ship’s wharf,[/font]
they are hoping
to find more clues[/font]
that will help them
determine its true purpose,[/font]
when it was constructed
and just who created it.[/font]
Pottery.[/font]
- Look at that.
- Yeah.[/font]
Couple more pieces here.[/font]
- GARY [laughs]: Oh, man. Yeah, that’s nice.
- RICK: Here.[/font]
- Check this one out.
- Yeah. Wow.[/font]
That’s some high-end stuff.[/font]
Pottery can tell just as
an important story as a coin[/font]
And the more parts
you got, the better,[/font]
because then the
archaeologists will be able[/font]
to ID the artifact[/font]
and give it a time frame of
when people was in this area[/font]
Okay, so I’ll take these
back and get it C-14 tested.[/font]
But we’re just gonna try
to expose the structure,[/font]
the width and breadth of it.[/font]
Hey, I’m looking for gold, too.[/font]
- There you go.
- [chuckles][/font]
BILLY: Gary, there’s
a piece of wood[/font]
that’s really deep
in the bucket there.[/font]
Oh, look.[/font]
- You see the edges on it?
- Oh, yeah.[/font]
GARY: That’s a barrel
stave. It has to be.[/font]
BILLY: Oh, 100%. Yeah,
no, that’s a barrel stave.[/font]
- That was really deep, as well.
- It’s really deep.[/font]
NARRATOR: A barrel stave,[/font]
or fragment of a
cargo container?[/font]
- IAN: So, that’s a keg. Lid to a keg?
- RICK: Yep.[/font]
NARRATOR: In 2020,[/font]
while investigating a
cobblestone pathway[/font]
that was uncovered nearby,
just north of the stone road,[/font]
the team found pieces
of wooden barrels[/font]
which, incredibly, were dated[/font]
by blacksmithing
expert Carmen Legge[/font]
to as far back as
the 15th century.[/font]
Could this barrel stave
offer more evidence[/font]
that something of great value[/font]
may have been brought
to Oak Island long ago?[/font]
If so, might those valuables[/font]
have been hidden
in the Money Pit?[/font]
Or could they still
be here in the swamp[/font]
as Fred Nolan believed?[/font]
They’d put coins in a barrel.[/font]
Yeah, test it on the
inside of the stave[/font]
and see what wi... might
have been in the barrel, right?[/font]
- Yeah.
- What might have left a...[/font]
- All right, mate, I’ll put it to one side.
- Okay.[/font]
GARY: Good eye, Billy.[/font]
NARRATOR: As the investigation[/font]
in the swamp continues...[/font]
- MARTY: Paul.
- COTE: Hey. How’s it going, Marty?[/font]
- Good, you old w*r horse, you.
- [both laugh][/font]
- Yeah.
- You found something.[/font]
COTE: Yeah, it
seems that way, eh?[/font]
NARRATOR: in
the Money Pit area,[/font]
Marty Lagina arrives
at the Garden Shaft[/font]
for an update on another
potentially important discovery[/font]
that was recently
made by the team.[/font]
A lot of mystery to that.[/font]
Well, it’s kind of strange that,
uh, there’s only the bottom.[/font]
- Yeah. Yeah, you think?
- Yeah.[/font]
I-I’m just wondering
where the other...[/font]
- sides and top went.
- The sides and the top.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Yeah, me, too.[/font]
SCOTT: Look at that.[/font]
- Right there.
- MARTY: Wow.[/font]
MARTY: Those are big beams.[/font]
NARRATOR: Two weeks ago,[/font]
after more than a year[/font]
of tireless effort and
frustrating setbacks,[/font]
representatives from
Dumas Contracting Limited[/font]
finished extending the
known as the Garden Shaft[/font]
down to a depth
of some 100 feet,[/font]
where they reached a
mysterious wooden tunnel.[/font]
A tunnel that has not
only been carbon-dated[/font]
to as early as the 17th century[/font]
but which also runs westward
into the so-called Baby Blob.[/font]
It is in this region where
high-trace evidence[/font]
of gold, silver and other
metal have been detected[/font]
between 80 and 120
feet below ground.[/font]
SCOTT: We cannot find[/font]
any sign of walls or a ceiling.[/font]
NARRATOR: However,
upon reaching the tunnel,[/font]
the team discovered that it
had either collapsed in that area[/font]
or had been partially dismantle[/font]
sometime in the past.[/font]
So, where are you right
now? Bring me up to speed.[/font]
So, right now,
we got one set in.[/font]
The guys lowered the landing
where it’s supposed to be.[/font]
- Which is about 102 or so.
- Mm-hmm.[/font]
We’re going to 106.[/font]
And from then
on, uh, we’ll start[/font]
- drilling horizontal.
- Good.[/font]
- We got a plan.
- Yeah.[/font]
NARRATOR: In the coming days,[/font]
Dumas will further
extend the Garden Shaft[/font]
to a total depth of 106 feet.[/font]
This will allow them to conduct[/font]
a manual
probe-drilling operation[/font]
to determine if other
sections of the tunnel[/font]
leading toward the
Baby Blob are still intact,[/font]
while also searching
for evidence[/font]
of the possible treasure that
has been detected in the area.[/font]
The horizontal drilling
will allow us to, hopefully,[/font]
find out what that’s all about.[/font]
Yeah. It’ll give you a
little bit more information.[/font]
- Yes. And may...
- Or more questions.[/font]
-[chuckles] -Yeah.
Probably. Yeah.[/font]
All right, I’m-a let
you get back to work.[/font]
- Yeah. Later, man.
- Cheers. Thank you.[/font]
NARRATOR: As the excavation
of the Garden Shaft continues..[/font]
RICK: I will say this.[/font]
We have found literally
hundreds if not thousands of nails,[/font]
but what you have
here in front of us,[/font]
it’s interesting,
right, Craig? I mean...[/font]
CRAIG: It’s unique. Yeah.[/font]
NARRATOR: Rick
Lagina and Craig Tester[/font]
are meeting with
archaeologist Laird Niven[/font]
and archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan[/font]
in the Oak Island laboratory.[/font]
- It’s very strange. I mean...
- Mm-hmm.[/font]
And to have found it on Lot 5...[/font]
In a, what I believe is
the rectangular feature...[/font]
Makes no sense.[/font]
- Correct.
- So, we’re hoping that you[/font]
- will make sense of this.
- Mm-hmm.[/font]
NARRATOR: One week
ago, as members of the team[/font]
were carefully excavating a
rectangular stone foundation[/font]
located near the
northern regio of Lot 5[/font]
on the western
side of the island...[/font]
HELEN: Oh, wow. I think
we got something here.[/font]
NARRATOR:
archaeologist Helen Sheldon[/font]
found a hand-forged
iron nail in one of its walls[/font]
near the bottom
of the structure.[/font]
Because of previous
discoveries that have been made[/font]
in the upper layers
of this foundation,[/font]
such as 18th-century
pottery and clay pipe stems,[/font]
Helen believes that it
was deliberately backfilled,[/font]
or buried, by
someone in the 1780s,[/font]
but may have been
originally constructed[/font]
by someone else much earlier.[/font]
Now, it is Rick and Craig’s hop[/font]
that the metallurgy analysis
of this hand-forged spike,[/font]
which was conducted
by Emma Culligan,[/font]
might reveal not only its age[/font]
but perhaps also when
the original structure[/font]
may have been created.[/font]
No pressure, Emma.[/font]
-No pressure.
[chuckles] -[clears throat][/font]
So, what I can tell you is that[/font]
- it’s definitely hand-wrought...
- Mm-hmm.[/font]
EMMA: um, as can be
seen by the grain structure,[/font]
- which is, like, that wood-like grain structure.
- RICK: Mm-hmm.[/font]
NARRATOR: Earlier today,
Emma scanned the artifact[/font]
with the SkyScan
a device which emits
nondestructive X-ray radiation[/font]
to penetrate corrosion
and reveal its finer details.[/font]
Additionally, she
also scanned it[/font]
with an X-ray fluorescence
spectrometer, or XRF device,[/font]
that can identify its
metallic composition.[/font]
And I did do an XRF on it,[/font]
which I think you guys
will be really happy about.[/font]
Okay.[/font]
EMMA: So, there’s
a high sulfur content,[/font]
absolutely no manganese,[/font]
which would make it hot brittle.[/font]
- Oh, really?
- EMMA: Yes.[/font]
So, too much sulfur[/font]
in the iron can make it brittle,
or hard to work with, when hot,[/font]
which is not something
you want in your irons,[/font]
which is why we started
adding manganese.[/font]
- Mm-hmm.
- So it could be 1500s, 1600s,[/font]
early 1700s.[/font]
Or it could be, like,[/font]
- really, really early.
- What is really, really early?[/font]
Like, 1100s to, like, 1300s.[/font]
- RICK: Wow.
- LAIRD: Yeah.[/font]
RICK: What is
really, really early?[/font]
Like, 1100s to, like, 1300s.[/font]
- Really?
- EMMA: Yes.[/font]
RICK: Why do you say that?[/font]
’Cause the iron is really clean.[/font]
There’s few impurities,
which is what you would[/font]
see a lot of in that time range.[/font]
NARRATOR: In the
Oak Island laboratory,[/font]
archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan[/font]
has just presented
an astonishing report.[/font]
Quite remarkable.[/font]
NARRATOR: The
hand-wrought iron artifact[/font]
that was found one week ago[/font]
in the rectangular
feature on Lot 5[/font]
could date to as far
back as the 12th century.[/font]
So what is it?[/font]
I think we’ve decided it
doesn’t function as a fastener.[/font]
Why... And why not? Too thin?[/font]
Yeah.[/font]
And it’s not a file.[/font]
RICK: No.[/font]
So I’m as puzzled as anyone.[/font]
- EMMA: Mm-hmm.
- RICK: I mean, Lot 5 continues[/font]
to surprise and that’s for sure.[/font]
NARRATOR: In
addition to this spike[/font]
that was found in the
rectangular feature,[/font]
the team has made several
other ancient discoveries on Lot 5[/font]
since they purchased
it just one year ago.[/font]
These include three Roman
coins that have been dated[/font]
to between 1,500
and 2,000 years ago,[/font]
as well as a 14th-century
lead barter token[/font]
that was unearthed from another
structure closer to the shore[/font]
and which may be
connected to the lead cross[/font]
that the team discovered
at Smith’s Cove in 2017.[/font]
I mean, timelines are important[/font]
to solving any sort
of mystery like this.[/font]
There are a number of finds[/font]
from the early
to the late 1600s.[/font]
And now we find this.[/font]
People were here much
earlier than had been presumed.[/font]
That may impact
the search agenda.[/font]
That’s always the hope.[/font]
Hopefully, we’ll find something
even more interesting.[/font]
LAIRD: Agreed, yeah.[/font]
Someone will know
what that represents.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Yeah.[/font]
- CRAIG: Thank you.
- RICK: Okay. Thank you, Emma.[/font]
- Thank you, Laird.
- LAIRD: All right, see ya later[/font]
NARRATOR: The
following morning...[/font]
Hey, chaps.[/font]
- I brought the expert.
- Hey, Gary. Wow.[/font]
Those are huge planks.[/font]
NARRATOR: Rick Lagina returns[/font]
to the southern
edge of the swamp[/font]
with geoscientist
Dr. Ian Spooner[/font]
in order to have him inspect
the mysterious wooden feature[/font]
now that more of it
has been revealed.[/font]
It’s really, really deep[/font]
compared even to the stone road.[/font]
Like, to get those planks down[/font]
this low you would
have had to dewater[/font]
the swamp.[/font]
That’s the only way I
would see how to do it.[/font]
Mm.[/font]
RICK: There is
some sort of structure[/font]
but how did it play into the
work around the swamp?[/font]
Did it have relevance
to the stone road?[/font]
What is the relationship
between these discoveries?[/font]
So at this point we need[/font]
to try to collect as much
information as possible.[/font]
IAN: At this stage,[/font]
I-I can’t help
but think that it’s[/font]
some part of this road feature.[/font]
- Yeah.
- It just, like, kind of[/font]
aligns, like,
there’s a post there,[/font]
and then there probably
were posts that we...[/font]
- excavated here.
- RICK: Yeah.[/font]
They put stakes in everywhere[/font]
to shore up this
square structure.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Nicely adze cut[/font]
on this face and it’s rounded.[/font]
RICK: That’s shaped.[/font]
NARRATOR: An adze
is a type of cutting tool[/font]
dating back to the
days of Ancient Egypt[/font]
that was generally replaced[/font]
by mechanized saws[/font]
beginning in the
late 18th century.[/font]
And, curiously, the
timbers that were recently[/font]
recovered from the tunnel
beneath the Garden Shaft[/font]
also featured cuts that
were made by an adze.[/font]
Is it possible that
the Oak Island team[/font]
has uncovered a
structure in the swamp[/font]
that might be connected to
the possible treasure tunnel[/font]
in the Money Pit area?[/font]
Right now, we should stand down.[/font]
And Steve can pin the corners,[/font]
- so he can put it on the, uh, grid.
- RICK: Mm-hmm.[/font]
NARRATOR: Because
he believes this structure[/font]
could be of historic importance[/font]
and perhaps connected
to the Oak Island mystery,[/font]
Dr. Spooner would like
surveyor Steve Guptill[/font]
to fully document
it before the team[/font]
conducts any more
excavations around the feature.[/font]
RICK: We’ll wait for Steve.[/font]
- BILLY: Yeah.
- I think that’s all we can do right now, right?[/font]
- Yeah.
- I think just leave it.[/font]
I say we’re done.[/font]
Good job, guys.[/font]
NARRATOR: Later
that afternoon...[/font]
RICK: We have...[/font]
sat around this w*r room table[/font]
and heard some very
interesting theories.[/font]
And today, we are
going to hear something[/font]
that I think will easily[/font]
match that metric and, uh,[/font]
how it may impact the search,
this search year, in particular.[/font]
So let me introduce
John Edwards to you all.[/font]
John, welcome to the w*r room.[/font]
- Thank you, Rick.
- Thank you for coming.[/font]
Appreciate everyone
having me here.[/font]
NARRATOR: Rick has invited[/font]
researcher John Edwards,[/font]
who he has been corresponding
with for several months,[/font]
to share new information
regarding the Oak Island myster[/font]
with Marty and other
members of the team.[/font]
EDWARDS: I’ve spent
the past 30 years studying[/font]
symbols and icons, with
emphasis on that kind of[/font]
Knights Templar through
the Age of Exploration. So...[/font]
something that I think
is relevant to Oak Island.[/font]
Awesome.[/font]
NARRATOR: For several decades,
a number of researchers have[/font]
presented theories
that the medieval order[/font]
of Christian monks known
as the Knights Templar,[/font]
who were persecuted
by the Catholic Church[/font]
in the early 14th century,[/font]
conspired with their
believed descendants[/font]
known as the Rosicrucians
and the Freemasons,[/font]
to hide and protect
sacred religious treasures[/font]
on Oak Island between
the 12th and 18th centuries.[/font]
While a number of clues
have been found on the island[/font]
that support this
incredible theory,[/font]
such as 12th-century structures[/font]
14th-century
religious artifacts,[/font]
and the fact that every
company that has ever looked[/font]
for the treasure has
included Freemasons,[/font]
it has yet to be proven.[/font]
Is it possible that
John Edward has finally[/font]
uncovered the
irrefutable evidence[/font]
that this theory is true?[/font]
EDWARDS: You know,
one of the things that[/font]
I’ve been doing is looking
at the Royal Arch Ode.[/font]
NARRATOR: Masonic
Odes are poems or hymns[/font]
that are sung or recited during
secret Masonic ceremonies.[/font]
And according to John
Edwards’ research,[/font]
they also contain encoded
information that only[/font]
high-ranking members of the
organization may understand[/font]
So, if we read it, "This
shall be the sacred mark[/font]
"which shall guide
us in the skies,[/font]
bearing like a holy ark."[/font]
So if you look at that, we have[/font]
a reference to a "holy ark."[/font]
Now, many people believe that[/font]
there are certain Jewish
artifacts that the Templars had.[/font]
Like the Ark of the Covenant.[/font]
Now, "Joy, the
secret vault is found[/font]
"full the sunbeam falls within,[/font]
pointing darkly underground,
to the treasure we would win."[/font]
And it makes reference to
"pointing darkly underground."[/font]
To like a vault. Okay?[/font]
Now, the question is,
where is that vault located?[/font]
So we have an early Masonic text[/font]
and you see someone
being lowered into a vault.[/font]
Looks like someone
recovering the ark to me.[/font]
Hmm.[/font]
Now, interestingly,[/font]
I’ve acquired[/font]
two ancient books that have[/font]
codes and maps
and things that I think[/font]
would be, uh, relevant
to the Oak Island search.[/font]
- Mm-hmm.
- EDWARDS: One was[/font]
The Whole Genuine
Works of Flavius Josephus.[/font]
The publication date was 1812.[/font]
And he was a Jewish historian[/font]
from 37 CE to about
And then the second book
has a publication date of 1763.[/font]
It’s in French and it
translates as Holy Week.[/font]
So I believe, possibly,[/font]
in the books could be
some Masonic ciphering.[/font]
I just did this one page here,[/font]
which has Masonic abbreviations.[/font]
- Okay.
- EDWARDS: So...[/font]
"SS," which is
"sanctum sanctorum"[/font]
or "holy of holies."[/font]
"ME," "most eminent,
most excellent."[/font]
And then it was signed[/font]
with the number 137.[/font]
Now, 137 is
significant, because...[/font]
And what’s really
interesting is here,[/font]
when we look at this page,[/font]
there were symbols sketched.[/font]
And that looks like the
Ark of the Covenant to me.[/font]
ALEX: Right.[/font]
EDWARDS: And right here.[/font]
- Wow.
- It certainly looks like Oak Island.[/font]
EDWARDS: Yes, and if
it’s referencing Oak Island,[/font]
what project would that be?[/font]
That is quite interesting.[/font]
Yeah.[/font]
EDWARDS: So if all
the clues are correct,[/font]
the message being conveyed[/font]
in code is that the Ark
of the Covenant is here.[/font]
EDWARDS: The
message being conveyed[/font]
is that the Ark of
the Covenant is here.[/font]
Awesome.[/font]
NARRATOR: In the
Oak Island w*r room,[/font]
researcher John
Edwards has just presented[/font]
what he believes to be secret
Masonic documents suggesting[/font]
that the Ark of the Covenant[/font]
might have been hidden
on Oak Island by members[/font]
of the Knights
Templar centuries ago.[/font]
But if I’m right, in
order to understand...[/font]
So...[/font]
NARRATOR: The Tree of Life is an
ancient Hebrew and Christian symbol[/font]
comprised of ten
points, known as sephirot,[/font]
that represents divine
morals and principles[/font]
for a spiritual path to God.[/font]
It is a symbol that
was also revered[/font]
by the Knights Templar,[/font]
the Rosicrucians[/font]
and the Freemasons.[/font]
- PETTER: This is Nolan’s Cross.
- MARTY: Good.[/font]
NARRATOR: In 2013,[/font]
Norwegian freemason and
filmmaker Petter Amundsen[/font]
presented Rick,
Marty and the team[/font]
with his research suggesting[/font]
that the six megalithic
boulder of Nolan’s Cross[/font]
were part of a larger,
ten-point formation[/font]
depicting the Tree of Life.[/font]
Is this it here?[/font]
- Yeah. This is it.
- ALEX: Good.[/font]
NARRATOR: And to
help prove his theory,[/font]
he led Marty and Alex to Lot 28[/font]
in the middle of the island,[/font]
where he believed they
would find one of the sephirot,[/font]
known as Kingdom, buried
just below the surface.[/font]
- Yeah. Here it comes. Oh.
- There we go.[/font]
-NARRATOR: In 2017... -Oh, wow.[/font]
Rick Lagina and his
nephews Alex and Peter[/font]
visited a 14th-century
prison in Domme, France,[/font]
that held members
of the Templar order[/font]
after their persecution by
the Catholic Church in 1307.[/font]
This way.[/font]
NARRATOR: There, they were shown[/font]
a number of
carvings, including one[/font]
depicting the Tree of Life[/font]
and also another
of a sacred cross.[/font]
A cross that was an exact match[/font]
to the one that Rick and
Gary Drayton would find[/font]
just weeks later on Oak
Island at Smith’s Cove.[/font]
NARRATOR: Could
John Edwards be correct[/font]
that by investigating Nolan’s
Cross and the sephirot,[/font]
which together
make up the symbol[/font]
known as the Tree of Life,[/font]
he might be able
to find the location[/font]
where one of the most
sacred religious artifacts[/font]
ever known to mankind is buried[/font]
So, when you come back,
you can put X on the spot?[/font]
Is that what you’re saying?[/font]
Look, I’d like to
find something.[/font]
As far as I’m concerned,
you got free reign of the island.[/font]
- Tom, you all right with that?
- Oh, absolutely.[/font]
MARTY: Yeah.[/font]
It’s in the proof that the
picture resides, right?[/font]
Hopefully, you will come
back with an X or Xs,[/font]
and from then we
can have a discussion[/font]
about how to proceed.[/font]
You’re welcome, but you’ve
got some work to do, so...[/font]
off we go.[/font]
EDWARDS: Thanks, guys.[/font]
NARRATOR: As John
Edwards prepares to begin[/font]
his field research
of the island...[/font]
FIONA: We’re making progress.[/font]
JAMIE: Let’s keep going.[/font]
FIONA: All right.[/font]
NARRATOR: on Lot 5,[/font]
archaeologists Jamie
Kouba and Fiona Steele[/font]
are investigating the
foundatio near the shoreline[/font]
where the team discovered[/font]
the 14th-century lead
barter token one year ago.[/font]
Oh, hey.[/font]
I got another button.[/font]
FIONA: Oh, that’s great.[/font]
Yeah. This one’s much bigger.[/font]
Oh, that is quite shiny.[/font]
Like, like, gold-plated.[/font]
- You sure it’s a button?
- Oh, I’m sure it’s a button,[/font]
- ’cause we got the loop on the back...
- Oh, I see the ring.[/font]
- But maybe it’s gold-plated.
- Yeah, I can see that now.[/font]
I don’t think we’ve
seen any of those yet.[/font]
I haven’t.[/font]
If this was m*llitary, it
would be an officer’s button[/font]
- if it was gold-plated, so...
- Hmm.[/font]
NARRATOR: A gold-plated button?[/font]
Could Jamie Kouba be correct[/font]
that it belonged to a
high-ranking m*llitary officer[/font]
If so, could it have
been an officer[/font]
who took part in
hiding, or protecting,[/font]
something of great
value on Oak Island?[/font]
Very cool.[/font]
Oh, I can’t wait to see
what that turns out to be.[/font]
JAMIE: Right?[/font]
♪ ♪[/font]
- Holy cow!
- What have you got?[/font]
Wow![/font]
- FIONA: What have you got?
- I’m not entirely sure,[/font]
but I think it’s a piece
of silverware handle.[/font]
FIONA: Really?[/font]
NARRATOR: Near
the shoreline of Lot 5,[/font]
on the western
side of Oak Island...[/font]
- JAMIE: And I think it might actually be silver.
- FIONA: Wow![/font]
Archaeologist Jamie Kouba[/font]
has just found another
potentially valuable clue[/font]
in the mysterious foundation
that was discovered[/font]
below the circular stone
featur earlier this year.[/font]
Oh, it’s gorgeous.
Look at the designs on it.[/font]
I’ve never found a single
piece of precious metal,[/font]
much less a piece this big[/font]
of what could
potentially be silver.[/font]
This is a big deal.[/font]
We’re here on a treasure hunt,[/font]
so we’re hoping that
maybe we can analyze that,[/font]
and that would give us
the best possible chance[/font]
to get answers
on who built this.[/font]
- LAIRD: Hello.
- JACK: Whoa. -JAMIE: Hello.[/font]
So, what do you have?[/font]
So, I don’t really
know where to start,[/font]
so I’m just gonna show you
the first one that I found today,[/font]
- And we’ll work our way through those.
- LAIRD: Oh.[/font]
LAIRD: All righty.[/font]
- It’s a button.
- That looked like gold.[/font]
It’s a very cool button.[/font]
LAIRD: That’s cool, I can
almost imagine a design[/font]
- on the front, too.
- JAMIE: It’s hard to tell.[/font]
- JACK: What else did you find?
- You’re gonna flip. It’s so cool.[/font]
Oh![/font]
- That’s silver, isn’t it?
- CRAIG: Wow.[/font]
I’m-I’m pretty sure it’s silver.[/font]
FIONA: It’s quite
decorative, though, at the top.[/font]
LAIRD: Yeah. Hand-decorated.[/font]
It’s so ornate. Yeah.[/font]
That’s really cool.[/font]
JACK: This is not just your
average domestic building.[/font]
And they were using soil[/font]
- from deep in the Money Pit.
- [laughs][/font]
- And there’s that kind of treasure, as well.
- JACK: Yeah.[/font]
- So, what were they doing here?
- Yeah.[/font]
It reminds me of, like, a
crude mortar or cement.[/font]
NARRATOR: Nearly one month ago,[/font]
Jamie uncovered a man-made[/font]
cement-like substance
in this feature[/font]
that has also been found
around the mysterious tunnel[/font]
below the Garden Shaft.[/font]
This has made the team
wonder if this feature on Lot 5[/font]
was connected to
an operation to hide[/font]
something of great value
deep in the Money Pit area.[/font]
I mean, finding
is the first step.[/font]
- JAMIE: Mm-hmm.
- Take ’em to Emma and trying to get a date[/font]
- on ’em is step number two.
- LAIRD: Yeah. Exactly.[/font]
All right.[/font]
- LAIRD: It’s exciting, really.
- Yeah.[/font]
- We’ll find more stuff for you.
- CRAIG: Okay.[/font]
NARRATOR: While the
investigations of the stone features[/font]
continue on Lot 5...[/font]
later that afternoon...[/font]
GARY: Let’s get
diggy with it, Billy.[/font]
- BILLY: Yep.
- In the southeast corner of the swamp,[/font]
now that Steve Guptill
has completed a survey[/font]
of the mysterious
wooden structure that sits[/font]
next to the stone road,[/font]
Jack Begley, along with Gary
Drayton and Billy Gerhardt[/font]
continue investigating
the feature for clues[/font]
and potential valuables.[/font]
♪ ♪[/font]
We got a hit, Jack.[/font]
Great to hear,
Gary. I’m on my way.[/font]
A little scrappy one.[/font]
[metal detector beeping][/font]
Should be right
underneath there.[/font]
- All right, mate. And I’ll see if you’ve moved it.
- Sure.[/font]
Come out, my little beauty.[/font]
What have we got here?[/font]
I think it’s some
kind of digging tool.[/font]
Not like any sort of modern
digging tool I’ve seen.[/font]
That’s old.[/font]
GARY: It’s-it’s
almost like a trowel.[/font]
I think it’s unique, mate,[/font]
because of where it
came from, as well,[/font]
in between that wooden feature,[/font]
we have no idea what
it is at the moment,[/font]
and the stone road.[/font]
It could be even older.[/font]
GARY: Maybe this piece of
iron could be part of an old tool[/font]
left over from building
the stone roadway[/font]
or even this wood structure.[/font]
And hopefully, we
can put a date on it.[/font]
[beeps][/font]
GARY: Yeah, we got
a signal here, Jack.[/font]
It seems to be right in front[/font]
of this big boulder here.[/font]
Just there, somewhere.[/font]
See if I moved it.[/font]
Let me see if I can
pinpoint it for you.[/font]
The old stick in the mud, here.[/font]
It’s actually still there.[/font]
It’s under there.[/font]
- All right.
- It’s got a good signal.[/font]
GARY: Is that
it? I see it, mate.[/font]
- Look at that.
- [Jack gasps][/font]
GARY: What the heck is that?[/font]
- GARY: Look at that!
- [Jack gasps][/font]
- That’s a big spike.
- Yeah.[/font]
Look, it’s still got wood on it.[/font]
NARRATOR: At the southeastern
border of the Oak Island swamp,[/font]
Gary Drayton, Jack Begley[/font]
and Billy Gerhardt
have just made[/font]
a potentially critical discover[/font]
in the mysterious
wooden structure that was[/font]
recently uncovered
next to the stone road.[/font]
It looks hand-forged,[/font]
wrought iron,[/font]
and it’s still got wood on it,
so you know it was a fastener.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Look at the size of that.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Wow.[/font]
GARY: That’s gonna
come back old, mate.[/font]
JACK: Possibly,
yeah. I think so, too.[/font]
This is gorgeous, as well.
We’ve never found one like this.[/font]
NARRATOR: A
hand-forged, iron spike?[/font]
Could Gary Drayton be correct[/font]
that it is different
from other spikes[/font]
that the team has
found in this area[/font]
and might be a
much older artifact?[/font]
All right, I’m gonna make
my way back down there.[/font]
Okay, mate. I’m gonna
put a bag over the wood[/font]
- and put it to one side.
- NARRATOR: If so,[/font]
could it be a key clue[/font]
that will help the team
determine just when[/font]
this feature was constructed?[/font]
RICK: The question
for us to answer is[/font]
why were these constructs made?[/font]
- Perhaps they were intended to be hidden.
- Oh.[/font]
And there is every
hope that we will,[/font]
at some point, discover the
reason why they were built.[/font]
JACK: Hey, Billy. Look at this.[/font]
It looks like it’s axe-chopped.[/font]
There’s some type of[/font]
a piece of iron
that’s stuck into it.[/font]
And then this is
straight-cut along the top,[/font]
not circular saw.[/font]
JACK: From all the
artifacts that we have found[/font]
and getting a better
look at this wood,[/font]
I think it might connect with[/font]
the stone pathway
and the stone road.[/font]
It’s been a heck of a day, guys.[/font]
JACK: Great job today.[/font]
NARRATOR: The
following morning...[/font]
CRAIG: Three of us
were called out to Lot 5,[/font]
and Jamie came up
with these nice artifacts.[/font]
NARRATOR: at the
Oak Island laboratory[/font]
Rick Lagina, Craig
Tester and Jack Begley[/font]
meet with
archaeologist Laird Niven[/font]
and archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan to receive[/font]
Emma’s scientific analysis
of the gold-plated button[/font]
and the possible silver artifac[/font]
that were unearthed one day ago[/font]
in the large stone
foundation on Lot 5.[/font]
That is somewhat
self-explanatory, right?[/font]
- Yes, it’s a button.
- The key question is[/font]
composition. What is it?[/font]
EMMA: It is a copper
alloy with about 3% gold[/font]
on the surface, so it is gilded.[/font]
NARRATOR: Gilding, which dates
back to the times of ancient Egypt,[/font]
is a decorative technique[/font]
by which thin layers of gold[/font]
are applied to the
surface of an item.[/font]
What’s really revealing
of that age and providence[/font]
in the metallurgical
aspect is the phosphorus.[/font]
You got about 5%.[/font]
But that kind of button
composition you won’t see in[/font]
your regular old casual clothes.[/font]
I’d say it’s more
like naval m*llitary.[/font]
It had to have been, like,
an officer’s button then, right?[/font]
Yes. Officer or a gentleman.[/font]
EMMA: Ayuh, I can
say that it’s most likely[/font]
English, 18th
century, naval m*llitary.[/font]
RICK: This naval button,
does it have something to say[/font]
about the activities on Lot 5?[/font]
Might it have been British[/font]
who came searching
for something?[/font]
But if you’re
doing original work,[/font]
you want to police your area.[/font]
I just hope we continue
to make finds of artifacts[/font]
that will hopefully
fill in the gaps[/font]
in this story on Lot 5.[/font]
You know, this one
appears to be silver,[/font]
but the question
is, is it truly silver?[/font]
Yes, it is silver.[/font]
Yes.[/font]
EMMA: Um, at about 90%.[/font]
LAIRD: In 40 years,[/font]
I can’t remember a
piece of silver I’ve found.[/font]
If you remember the
treasure trove license, right?[/font]
The treasure trove license
would define that as treasure.[/font]
JACK: It is treasure.[/font]
RICK: The treasure trove licens[/font]
would define that as treasure.[/font]
JACK: It is treasure.[/font]
Yeah.[/font]
It’s precious metal.
That’s as far as[/font]
- we can go right now.
- LAIRD: Yes.[/font]
NARRATOR: In the
Oak Island laboratory,[/font]
archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan[/font]
has just confirmed that[/font]
the metal artifact
found one day ago[/font]
in the mysterious stone
foundation on Lot 5[/font]
is composed almost
entirely of pure silver.[/font]
So, what is it?[/font]
If we look at it functionally,[/font]
we both believe,
this is its original form.[/font]
-Oh. -EMMA: Yeah.[/font]
And here you can see the slits[/font]
on these sides, on the edges.[/font]
There’s some artistry there.[/font]
LAIRD: Yeah, I agree with that.[/font]
So, it could be[/font]
almost like the end of
a tassel, decoratively.[/font]
- Oh, wow.
- A Kn*fe hilt,[/font]
you know, something like that.[/font]
It’s one of the cooler
artifacts we’ve found.[/font]
RICK: The initial excitement,[/font]
which you’ve
expressed, is it’s silver.[/font]
And why wouldn’t we
be excited about that?[/font]
But to go further,
I think we need[/font]
- more information.
- Yeah.[/font]
RICK: The idea of[/font]
there must be silver
from the Concepción.[/font]
If it were a
metallurgical match to[/font]
silver from the Concepción,[/font]
and it matches that? Bingo.[/font]
Then we would be onto something.[/font]
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.[/font]
NARRATOR: Since the
beginning of this year,[/font]
the team has found a
number of metal artifacts[/font]
in the large foundation
on Lot 5 that,[/font]
according to Emma’s
metallurgical analysis,[/font]
may be connected
to Sir William Phips,[/font]
the English naval
officer and privateer[/font]
who, in 1687,[/font]
salvaged more than
from the Spanish wreck
known as the Concepción.[/font]
We know that Phips found
silver on the Concepción[/font]
and I believe some
of the treasure from[/font]
the Concepción was
secreted to Oak Island.[/font]
NARRATOR: In 2021, 32nd
degree Freemason Scott Clarke[/font]
informed the team that
Phips worked closely[/font]
with a high-ranking
Freemason from Nova Scotia[/font]
named Captain Andrew Belcher[/font]
during his second salvage
operation of the Concepción.[/font]
And he believes that
much of the treasure[/font]
they recovered was
hidden on Oak Island.[/font]
Laird, you’ve spent a lifetime[/font]
- and you’ve not found it.
- I know, I know.[/font]
So, that-that certainly
is quite interesting.[/font]
I can’t remember a
piece of silver I’ve found.[/font]
NARRATOR: Is it possible,
as Rick Lagina has speculated,[/font]
that the silver artifact
could offer more evidence[/font]
that Scott Clarke’s
theory may be true?[/font]
If so, might that
explain why the team[/font]
has found the same
man-made concrete-like material[/font]
in both the feature on Lot 5,[/font]
and around the tunnel
below the Garden Shaft?[/font]
And finally, could
these discoveries[/font]
also support John
Edwards’ theory[/font]
that members of Freemasonry[/font]
were part of a
generational conspiracy[/font]
to hide and protect
treasure vaults on Oak Island[/font]
that were originally
established by[/font]
the Knights Templar?[/font]
RICK: I think this
find is invigorating,[/font]
there’s no question about it.[/font]
What it does say, emphatically,[/font]
is that the Lot 5
feature is important.[/font]
I don’t think one
can dismiss the fact[/font]
that this find and the
concrete from Lot 5[/font]
strongly hint at a
connection to Phips,[/font]
but also, it speaks to a
connection to the Money Pit.[/font]
I think it only reinforces[/font]
that we might be
on to something.[/font]
JACK: We know we have
the Money pit material,[/font]
that was used in
that foundation.[/font]
They could have kept,
you know, some treasure[/font]
right on site, before
they moved it.[/font]
I can’t wait to see what other
friends pop up as we dig up[/font]
- the rest of the feature.
- There you go.[/font]
And so, I think we’ve got[/font]
- a lot to do.
- Yeah.[/font]
And, uh, I, for one,
am gonna start.[/font]
- CRAIG: Yep. Me, too.
- All right?[/font]
RICK: Thank you both.[/font]
- JACK: Great job.
- LAIRD: Oh, yeah.[/font]
NARRATOR: For Rick,
Marty, Craig and their team,[/font]
a week that began with the
hope for important discoveries[/font]
has been rewarded with
not only exciting new clues[/font]
but also actual
valuables that have[/font]
advanced their efforts to
solve the Oak Island mystery[/font]
And now, as they continue[/font]
digging in the Garden Shaft,[/font]
and investigating the
believed ancient landmarks[/font]
on the island’s
surface will it lead to[/font]
a profound and
history-changing breakthrough?[/font]
Perhaps it all depends[/font]
on whether or not
the curse of Oak Island[/font]
can finally be broken.[/font]
Next time on The
Curse of Oak Island...[/font]
The way to unlock Nolan’s Cross[/font]
is built into the cross itself.[/font]
If the Ark is here,[/font]
it would be found
using Nolan’s Cross.[/font]
Let’s dig there.[/font]
- GARY: Ooh, look at that.
- BILLY: There’s a boulder.[/font]
Maybe this boulder
is marking the spot.[/font]
RICK: This is
the copper artifact[/font]
found on Lot 8.[/font]
This could be
identified as Viking.[/font]
ROGER: The water started
coming in faster and faster.[/font]
RICK: We may have
hit a flood tunnel.[/font]
[men shouting][/font]
The Curse of Oak Island...[/font]
This is the secret of secrets.[/font]
The message being
conveyed in code[/font]
is that the Ark of the
Covenant is on Oak Island.[/font]
- You can put X on the spot?
- Correct.[/font]
JAMIE: Holy cow.[/font]
- Wow.
- Is it truly silver?[/font]
It is silver. About 90%.[/font]
- [laughs]: Yes.
- LAIRD: In 40 years, I can’t remember[/font]
- a piece of silver I found.
- GARY: Is that it?[/font]
I see it, mate.
Underneath that boulder.[/font]
- Look at that.
- Oh.[/font]
What the heck is that?[/font]
NARRATOR: There is an
island in the North Atlantic[/font]
where people have
been looking for[/font]
an incredible treasure
for more than 200 years.[/font]
So far, they have
found a stone slab[/font]
with strange symbols
carved into it...[/font]
man-made workings
that date to medieval times,[/font]
and a lead cross whose
origin may be connected[/font]
to the Knights Templar.[/font]
To date, six men have d*ed[/font]
trying to solve the mystery.[/font]
And according to legend,
one more will have to die[/font]
before the treasure
can be found.[/font]
♪ ♪[/font]
JACK: I heard you
guys found something.[/font]
We found something.
That’s correct.[/font]
Come down here
and you can see it.[/font]
NARRATOR: As a fresh
morning dawns on Oak Island[/font]
for brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina[/font]
-and their team... -Right there.[/font]
NARRATOR: they are
braving the stench and muck[/font]
of the triangle-shaped swamp[/font]
in order to reveal a
man-made feature[/font]
that may help them solve
a 229-year-old mystery.[/font]
That’s probably
the southern wall,[/font]
- and that’s the eastern wall.
- RICK: We don’t know.[/font]
The only thing is, Gary
hasn’t found any fasteners,[/font]
and there’s evidence of dowels.[/font]
JACK: That speaks
to being much older.[/font]
GARY: What’s happening, Billy?[/font]
BILLY: We just
got a little wood.[/font]
NARRATOR: Just a few days ago...[/font]
BILLY: Somebody’s dug
down in the swamp, and there...[/font]
We got a bunch of
horizontal and vertical boards.[/font]
I think we’re onto
something, mate.[/font]
NARRATOR: Billy Gerhardt
and other members of the team[/font]
unearthed a wooden structure[/font]
embedded in the southern
border of the brackish bog.[/font]
Could this have
been some sort of[/font]
a loading and
unloading platform?[/font]
NARRATOR: Curiously,[/font]
it was found in the same
area where, in the 1970s,[/font]
the late Fred Nolan
reported finding evidence[/font]
of a wooden dam...[/font]
A dam which Fred believed[/font]
offered proof that the
swamp was artificially created[/font]
in order to hide
something of great value.[/font]
Take some of this, too.[/font]
-Yeah. -NARRATOR: Now,[/font]
due to this feature’s
close proximity[/font]
to the potentially 500-year-old
stone road, or ship’s wharf,[/font]
they are hoping
to find more clues[/font]
that will help them
determine its true purpose,[/font]
when it was constructed
and just who created it.[/font]
Pottery.[/font]
- Look at that.
- Yeah.[/font]
Couple more pieces here.[/font]
- GARY [laughs]: Oh, man. Yeah, that’s nice.
- RICK: Here.[/font]
- Check this one out.
- Yeah. Wow.[/font]
That’s some high-end stuff.[/font]
Pottery can tell just as
an important story as a coin[/font]
And the more parts
you got, the better,[/font]
because then the
archaeologists will be able[/font]
to ID the artifact[/font]
and give it a time frame of
when people was in this area[/font]
Okay, so I’ll take these
back and get it C-14 tested.[/font]
But we’re just gonna try
to expose the structure,[/font]
the width and breadth of it.[/font]
Hey, I’m looking for gold, too.[/font]
- There you go.
- [chuckles][/font]
BILLY: Gary, there’s
a piece of wood[/font]
that’s really deep
in the bucket there.[/font]
Oh, look.[/font]
- You see the edges on it?
- Oh, yeah.[/font]
GARY: That’s a barrel
stave. It has to be.[/font]
BILLY: Oh, 100%. Yeah,
no, that’s a barrel stave.[/font]
- That was really deep, as well.
- It’s really deep.[/font]
NARRATOR: A barrel stave,[/font]
or fragment of a
cargo container?[/font]
- IAN: So, that’s a keg. Lid to a keg?
- RICK: Yep.[/font]
NARRATOR: In 2020,[/font]
while investigating a
cobblestone pathway[/font]
that was uncovered nearby,
just north of the stone road,[/font]
the team found pieces
of wooden barrels[/font]
which, incredibly, were dated[/font]
by blacksmithing
expert Carmen Legge[/font]
to as far back as
the 15th century.[/font]
Could this barrel stave
offer more evidence[/font]
that something of great value[/font]
may have been brought
to Oak Island long ago?[/font]
If so, might those valuables[/font]
have been hidden
in the Money Pit?[/font]
Or could they still
be here in the swamp[/font]
as Fred Nolan believed?[/font]
They’d put coins in a barrel.[/font]
Yeah, test it on the
inside of the stave[/font]
and see what wi... might
have been in the barrel, right?[/font]
- Yeah.
- What might have left a...[/font]
- All right, mate, I’ll put it to one side.
- Okay.[/font]
GARY: Good eye, Billy.[/font]
NARRATOR: As the investigation[/font]
in the swamp continues...[/font]
- MARTY: Paul.
- COTE: Hey. How’s it going, Marty?[/font]
- Good, you old w*r horse, you.
- [both laugh][/font]
- Yeah.
- You found something.[/font]
COTE: Yeah, it
seems that way, eh?[/font]
NARRATOR: in
the Money Pit area,[/font]
Marty Lagina arrives
at the Garden Shaft[/font]
for an update on another
potentially important discovery[/font]
that was recently
made by the team.[/font]
A lot of mystery to that.[/font]
Well, it’s kind of strange that,
uh, there’s only the bottom.[/font]
- Yeah. Yeah, you think?
- Yeah.[/font]
I-I’m just wondering
where the other...[/font]
- sides and top went.
- The sides and the top.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Yeah, me, too.[/font]
SCOTT: Look at that.[/font]
- Right there.
- MARTY: Wow.[/font]
MARTY: Those are big beams.[/font]
NARRATOR: Two weeks ago,[/font]
after more than a year[/font]
of tireless effort and
frustrating setbacks,[/font]
representatives from
Dumas Contracting Limited[/font]
finished extending the
known as the Garden Shaft[/font]
down to a depth
of some 100 feet,[/font]
where they reached a
mysterious wooden tunnel.[/font]
A tunnel that has not
only been carbon-dated[/font]
to as early as the 17th century[/font]
but which also runs westward
into the so-called Baby Blob.[/font]
It is in this region where
high-trace evidence[/font]
of gold, silver and other
metal have been detected[/font]
between 80 and 120
feet below ground.[/font]
SCOTT: We cannot find[/font]
any sign of walls or a ceiling.[/font]
NARRATOR: However,
upon reaching the tunnel,[/font]
the team discovered that it
had either collapsed in that area[/font]
or had been partially dismantle[/font]
sometime in the past.[/font]
So, where are you right
now? Bring me up to speed.[/font]
So, right now,
we got one set in.[/font]
The guys lowered the landing
where it’s supposed to be.[/font]
- Which is about 102 or so.
- Mm-hmm.[/font]
We’re going to 106.[/font]
And from then
on, uh, we’ll start[/font]
- drilling horizontal.
- Good.[/font]
- We got a plan.
- Yeah.[/font]
NARRATOR: In the coming days,[/font]
Dumas will further
extend the Garden Shaft[/font]
to a total depth of 106 feet.[/font]
This will allow them to conduct[/font]
a manual
probe-drilling operation[/font]
to determine if other
sections of the tunnel[/font]
leading toward the
Baby Blob are still intact,[/font]
while also searching
for evidence[/font]
of the possible treasure that
has been detected in the area.[/font]
The horizontal drilling
will allow us to, hopefully,[/font]
find out what that’s all about.[/font]
Yeah. It’ll give you a
little bit more information.[/font]
- Yes. And may...
- Or more questions.[/font]
-[chuckles] -Yeah.
Probably. Yeah.[/font]
All right, I’m-a let
you get back to work.[/font]
- Yeah. Later, man.
- Cheers. Thank you.[/font]
NARRATOR: As the excavation
of the Garden Shaft continues..[/font]
RICK: I will say this.[/font]
We have found literally
hundreds if not thousands of nails,[/font]
but what you have
here in front of us,[/font]
it’s interesting,
right, Craig? I mean...[/font]
CRAIG: It’s unique. Yeah.[/font]
NARRATOR: Rick
Lagina and Craig Tester[/font]
are meeting with
archaeologist Laird Niven[/font]
and archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan[/font]
in the Oak Island laboratory.[/font]
- It’s very strange. I mean...
- Mm-hmm.[/font]
And to have found it on Lot 5...[/font]
In a, what I believe is
the rectangular feature...[/font]
Makes no sense.[/font]
- Correct.
- So, we’re hoping that you[/font]
- will make sense of this.
- Mm-hmm.[/font]
NARRATOR: One week
ago, as members of the team[/font]
were carefully excavating a
rectangular stone foundation[/font]
located near the
northern regio of Lot 5[/font]
on the western
side of the island...[/font]
HELEN: Oh, wow. I think
we got something here.[/font]
NARRATOR:
archaeologist Helen Sheldon[/font]
found a hand-forged
iron nail in one of its walls[/font]
near the bottom
of the structure.[/font]
Because of previous
discoveries that have been made[/font]
in the upper layers
of this foundation,[/font]
such as 18th-century
pottery and clay pipe stems,[/font]
Helen believes that it
was deliberately backfilled,[/font]
or buried, by
someone in the 1780s,[/font]
but may have been
originally constructed[/font]
by someone else much earlier.[/font]
Now, it is Rick and Craig’s hop[/font]
that the metallurgy analysis
of this hand-forged spike,[/font]
which was conducted
by Emma Culligan,[/font]
might reveal not only its age[/font]
but perhaps also when
the original structure[/font]
may have been created.[/font]
No pressure, Emma.[/font]
-No pressure.
[chuckles] -[clears throat][/font]
So, what I can tell you is that[/font]
- it’s definitely hand-wrought...
- Mm-hmm.[/font]
EMMA: um, as can be
seen by the grain structure,[/font]
- which is, like, that wood-like grain structure.
- RICK: Mm-hmm.[/font]
NARRATOR: Earlier today,
Emma scanned the artifact[/font]
with the SkyScan
a device which emits
nondestructive X-ray radiation[/font]
to penetrate corrosion
and reveal its finer details.[/font]
Additionally, she
also scanned it[/font]
with an X-ray fluorescence
spectrometer, or XRF device,[/font]
that can identify its
metallic composition.[/font]
And I did do an XRF on it,[/font]
which I think you guys
will be really happy about.[/font]
Okay.[/font]
EMMA: So, there’s
a high sulfur content,[/font]
absolutely no manganese,[/font]
which would make it hot brittle.[/font]
- Oh, really?
- EMMA: Yes.[/font]
So, too much sulfur[/font]
in the iron can make it brittle,
or hard to work with, when hot,[/font]
which is not something
you want in your irons,[/font]
which is why we started
adding manganese.[/font]
- Mm-hmm.
- So it could be 1500s, 1600s,[/font]
early 1700s.[/font]
Or it could be, like,[/font]
- really, really early.
- What is really, really early?[/font]
Like, 1100s to, like, 1300s.[/font]
- RICK: Wow.
- LAIRD: Yeah.[/font]
RICK: What is
really, really early?[/font]
Like, 1100s to, like, 1300s.[/font]
- Really?
- EMMA: Yes.[/font]
RICK: Why do you say that?[/font]
’Cause the iron is really clean.[/font]
There’s few impurities,
which is what you would[/font]
see a lot of in that time range.[/font]
NARRATOR: In the
Oak Island laboratory,[/font]
archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan[/font]
has just presented
an astonishing report.[/font]
Quite remarkable.[/font]
NARRATOR: The
hand-wrought iron artifact[/font]
that was found one week ago[/font]
in the rectangular
feature on Lot 5[/font]
could date to as far
back as the 12th century.[/font]
So what is it?[/font]
I think we’ve decided it
doesn’t function as a fastener.[/font]
Why... And why not? Too thin?[/font]
Yeah.[/font]
And it’s not a file.[/font]
RICK: No.[/font]
So I’m as puzzled as anyone.[/font]
- EMMA: Mm-hmm.
- RICK: I mean, Lot 5 continues[/font]
to surprise and that’s for sure.[/font]
NARRATOR: In
addition to this spike[/font]
that was found in the
rectangular feature,[/font]
the team has made several
other ancient discoveries on Lot 5[/font]
since they purchased
it just one year ago.[/font]
These include three Roman
coins that have been dated[/font]
to between 1,500
and 2,000 years ago,[/font]
as well as a 14th-century
lead barter token[/font]
that was unearthed from another
structure closer to the shore[/font]
and which may be
connected to the lead cross[/font]
that the team discovered
at Smith’s Cove in 2017.[/font]
I mean, timelines are important[/font]
to solving any sort
of mystery like this.[/font]
There are a number of finds[/font]
from the early
to the late 1600s.[/font]
And now we find this.[/font]
People were here much
earlier than had been presumed.[/font]
That may impact
the search agenda.[/font]
That’s always the hope.[/font]
Hopefully, we’ll find something
even more interesting.[/font]
LAIRD: Agreed, yeah.[/font]
Someone will know
what that represents.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Yeah.[/font]
- CRAIG: Thank you.
- RICK: Okay. Thank you, Emma.[/font]
- Thank you, Laird.
- LAIRD: All right, see ya later[/font]
NARRATOR: The
following morning...[/font]
Hey, chaps.[/font]
- I brought the expert.
- Hey, Gary. Wow.[/font]
Those are huge planks.[/font]
NARRATOR: Rick Lagina returns[/font]
to the southern
edge of the swamp[/font]
with geoscientist
Dr. Ian Spooner[/font]
in order to have him inspect
the mysterious wooden feature[/font]
now that more of it
has been revealed.[/font]
It’s really, really deep[/font]
compared even to the stone road.[/font]
Like, to get those planks down[/font]
this low you would
have had to dewater[/font]
the swamp.[/font]
That’s the only way I
would see how to do it.[/font]
Mm.[/font]
RICK: There is
some sort of structure[/font]
but how did it play into the
work around the swamp?[/font]
Did it have relevance
to the stone road?[/font]
What is the relationship
between these discoveries?[/font]
So at this point we need[/font]
to try to collect as much
information as possible.[/font]
IAN: At this stage,[/font]
I-I can’t help
but think that it’s[/font]
some part of this road feature.[/font]
- Yeah.
- It just, like, kind of[/font]
aligns, like,
there’s a post there,[/font]
and then there probably
were posts that we...[/font]
- excavated here.
- RICK: Yeah.[/font]
They put stakes in everywhere[/font]
to shore up this
square structure.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Nicely adze cut[/font]
on this face and it’s rounded.[/font]
RICK: That’s shaped.[/font]
NARRATOR: An adze
is a type of cutting tool[/font]
dating back to the
days of Ancient Egypt[/font]
that was generally replaced[/font]
by mechanized saws[/font]
beginning in the
late 18th century.[/font]
And, curiously, the
timbers that were recently[/font]
recovered from the tunnel
beneath the Garden Shaft[/font]
also featured cuts that
were made by an adze.[/font]
Is it possible that
the Oak Island team[/font]
has uncovered a
structure in the swamp[/font]
that might be connected to
the possible treasure tunnel[/font]
in the Money Pit area?[/font]
Right now, we should stand down.[/font]
And Steve can pin the corners,[/font]
- so he can put it on the, uh, grid.
- RICK: Mm-hmm.[/font]
NARRATOR: Because
he believes this structure[/font]
could be of historic importance[/font]
and perhaps connected
to the Oak Island mystery,[/font]
Dr. Spooner would like
surveyor Steve Guptill[/font]
to fully document
it before the team[/font]
conducts any more
excavations around the feature.[/font]
RICK: We’ll wait for Steve.[/font]
- BILLY: Yeah.
- I think that’s all we can do right now, right?[/font]
- Yeah.
- I think just leave it.[/font]
I say we’re done.[/font]
Good job, guys.[/font]
NARRATOR: Later
that afternoon...[/font]
RICK: We have...[/font]
sat around this w*r room table[/font]
and heard some very
interesting theories.[/font]
And today, we are
going to hear something[/font]
that I think will easily[/font]
match that metric and, uh,[/font]
how it may impact the search,
this search year, in particular.[/font]
So let me introduce
John Edwards to you all.[/font]
John, welcome to the w*r room.[/font]
- Thank you, Rick.
- Thank you for coming.[/font]
Appreciate everyone
having me here.[/font]
NARRATOR: Rick has invited[/font]
researcher John Edwards,[/font]
who he has been corresponding
with for several months,[/font]
to share new information
regarding the Oak Island myster[/font]
with Marty and other
members of the team.[/font]
EDWARDS: I’ve spent
the past 30 years studying[/font]
symbols and icons, with
emphasis on that kind of[/font]
Knights Templar through
the Age of Exploration. So...[/font]
something that I think
is relevant to Oak Island.[/font]
Awesome.[/font]
NARRATOR: For several decades,
a number of researchers have[/font]
presented theories
that the medieval order[/font]
of Christian monks known
as the Knights Templar,[/font]
who were persecuted
by the Catholic Church[/font]
in the early 14th century,[/font]
conspired with their
believed descendants[/font]
known as the Rosicrucians
and the Freemasons,[/font]
to hide and protect
sacred religious treasures[/font]
on Oak Island between
the 12th and 18th centuries.[/font]
While a number of clues
have been found on the island[/font]
that support this
incredible theory,[/font]
such as 12th-century structures[/font]
14th-century
religious artifacts,[/font]
and the fact that every
company that has ever looked[/font]
for the treasure has
included Freemasons,[/font]
it has yet to be proven.[/font]
Is it possible that
John Edward has finally[/font]
uncovered the
irrefutable evidence[/font]
that this theory is true?[/font]
EDWARDS: You know,
one of the things that[/font]
I’ve been doing is looking
at the Royal Arch Ode.[/font]
NARRATOR: Masonic
Odes are poems or hymns[/font]
that are sung or recited during
secret Masonic ceremonies.[/font]
And according to John
Edwards’ research,[/font]
they also contain encoded
information that only[/font]
high-ranking members of the
organization may understand[/font]
So, if we read it, "This
shall be the sacred mark[/font]
"which shall guide
us in the skies,[/font]
bearing like a holy ark."[/font]
So if you look at that, we have[/font]
a reference to a "holy ark."[/font]
Now, many people believe that[/font]
there are certain Jewish
artifacts that the Templars had.[/font]
Like the Ark of the Covenant.[/font]
Now, "Joy, the
secret vault is found[/font]
"full the sunbeam falls within,[/font]
pointing darkly underground,
to the treasure we would win."[/font]
And it makes reference to
"pointing darkly underground."[/font]
To like a vault. Okay?[/font]
Now, the question is,
where is that vault located?[/font]
So we have an early Masonic text[/font]
and you see someone
being lowered into a vault.[/font]
Looks like someone
recovering the ark to me.[/font]
Hmm.[/font]
Now, interestingly,[/font]
I’ve acquired[/font]
two ancient books that have[/font]
codes and maps
and things that I think[/font]
would be, uh, relevant
to the Oak Island search.[/font]
- Mm-hmm.
- EDWARDS: One was[/font]
The Whole Genuine
Works of Flavius Josephus.[/font]
The publication date was 1812.[/font]
And he was a Jewish historian[/font]
from 37 CE to about
And then the second book
has a publication date of 1763.[/font]
It’s in French and it
translates as Holy Week.[/font]
So I believe, possibly,[/font]
in the books could be
some Masonic ciphering.[/font]
I just did this one page here,[/font]
which has Masonic abbreviations.[/font]
- Okay.
- EDWARDS: So...[/font]
"SS," which is
"sanctum sanctorum"[/font]
or "holy of holies."[/font]
"ME," "most eminent,
most excellent."[/font]
And then it was signed[/font]
with the number 137.[/font]
Now, 137 is
significant, because...[/font]
And what’s really
interesting is here,[/font]
when we look at this page,[/font]
there were symbols sketched.[/font]
And that looks like the
Ark of the Covenant to me.[/font]
ALEX: Right.[/font]
EDWARDS: And right here.[/font]
- Wow.
- It certainly looks like Oak Island.[/font]
EDWARDS: Yes, and if
it’s referencing Oak Island,[/font]
what project would that be?[/font]
That is quite interesting.[/font]
Yeah.[/font]
EDWARDS: So if all
the clues are correct,[/font]
the message being conveyed[/font]
in code is that the Ark
of the Covenant is here.[/font]
EDWARDS: The
message being conveyed[/font]
is that the Ark of
the Covenant is here.[/font]
Awesome.[/font]
NARRATOR: In the
Oak Island w*r room,[/font]
researcher John
Edwards has just presented[/font]
what he believes to be secret
Masonic documents suggesting[/font]
that the Ark of the Covenant[/font]
might have been hidden
on Oak Island by members[/font]
of the Knights
Templar centuries ago.[/font]
But if I’m right, in
order to understand...[/font]
So...[/font]
NARRATOR: The Tree of Life is an
ancient Hebrew and Christian symbol[/font]
comprised of ten
points, known as sephirot,[/font]
that represents divine
morals and principles[/font]
for a spiritual path to God.[/font]
It is a symbol that
was also revered[/font]
by the Knights Templar,[/font]
the Rosicrucians[/font]
and the Freemasons.[/font]
- PETTER: This is Nolan’s Cross.
- MARTY: Good.[/font]
NARRATOR: In 2013,[/font]
Norwegian freemason and
filmmaker Petter Amundsen[/font]
presented Rick,
Marty and the team[/font]
with his research suggesting[/font]
that the six megalithic
boulder of Nolan’s Cross[/font]
were part of a larger,
ten-point formation[/font]
depicting the Tree of Life.[/font]
Is this it here?[/font]
- Yeah. This is it.
- ALEX: Good.[/font]
NARRATOR: And to
help prove his theory,[/font]
he led Marty and Alex to Lot 28[/font]
in the middle of the island,[/font]
where he believed they
would find one of the sephirot,[/font]
known as Kingdom, buried
just below the surface.[/font]
- Yeah. Here it comes. Oh.
- There we go.[/font]
-NARRATOR: In 2017... -Oh, wow.[/font]
Rick Lagina and his
nephews Alex and Peter[/font]
visited a 14th-century
prison in Domme, France,[/font]
that held members
of the Templar order[/font]
after their persecution by
the Catholic Church in 1307.[/font]
This way.[/font]
NARRATOR: There, they were shown[/font]
a number of
carvings, including one[/font]
depicting the Tree of Life[/font]
and also another
of a sacred cross.[/font]
A cross that was an exact match[/font]
to the one that Rick and
Gary Drayton would find[/font]
just weeks later on Oak
Island at Smith’s Cove.[/font]
NARRATOR: Could
John Edwards be correct[/font]
that by investigating Nolan’s
Cross and the sephirot,[/font]
which together
make up the symbol[/font]
known as the Tree of Life,[/font]
he might be able
to find the location[/font]
where one of the most
sacred religious artifacts[/font]
ever known to mankind is buried[/font]
So, when you come back,
you can put X on the spot?[/font]
Is that what you’re saying?[/font]
Look, I’d like to
find something.[/font]
As far as I’m concerned,
you got free reign of the island.[/font]
- Tom, you all right with that?
- Oh, absolutely.[/font]
MARTY: Yeah.[/font]
It’s in the proof that the
picture resides, right?[/font]
Hopefully, you will come
back with an X or Xs,[/font]
and from then we
can have a discussion[/font]
about how to proceed.[/font]
You’re welcome, but you’ve
got some work to do, so...[/font]
off we go.[/font]
EDWARDS: Thanks, guys.[/font]
NARRATOR: As John
Edwards prepares to begin[/font]
his field research
of the island...[/font]
FIONA: We’re making progress.[/font]
JAMIE: Let’s keep going.[/font]
FIONA: All right.[/font]
NARRATOR: on Lot 5,[/font]
archaeologists Jamie
Kouba and Fiona Steele[/font]
are investigating the
foundatio near the shoreline[/font]
where the team discovered[/font]
the 14th-century lead
barter token one year ago.[/font]
Oh, hey.[/font]
I got another button.[/font]
FIONA: Oh, that’s great.[/font]
Yeah. This one’s much bigger.[/font]
Oh, that is quite shiny.[/font]
Like, like, gold-plated.[/font]
- You sure it’s a button?
- Oh, I’m sure it’s a button,[/font]
- ’cause we got the loop on the back...
- Oh, I see the ring.[/font]
- But maybe it’s gold-plated.
- Yeah, I can see that now.[/font]
I don’t think we’ve
seen any of those yet.[/font]
I haven’t.[/font]
If this was m*llitary, it
would be an officer’s button[/font]
- if it was gold-plated, so...
- Hmm.[/font]
NARRATOR: A gold-plated button?[/font]
Could Jamie Kouba be correct[/font]
that it belonged to a
high-ranking m*llitary officer[/font]
If so, could it have
been an officer[/font]
who took part in
hiding, or protecting,[/font]
something of great
value on Oak Island?[/font]
Very cool.[/font]
Oh, I can’t wait to see
what that turns out to be.[/font]
JAMIE: Right?[/font]
♪ ♪[/font]
- Holy cow!
- What have you got?[/font]
Wow![/font]
- FIONA: What have you got?
- I’m not entirely sure,[/font]
but I think it’s a piece
of silverware handle.[/font]
FIONA: Really?[/font]
NARRATOR: Near
the shoreline of Lot 5,[/font]
on the western
side of Oak Island...[/font]
- JAMIE: And I think it might actually be silver.
- FIONA: Wow![/font]
Archaeologist Jamie Kouba[/font]
has just found another
potentially valuable clue[/font]
in the mysterious foundation
that was discovered[/font]
below the circular stone
featur earlier this year.[/font]
Oh, it’s gorgeous.
Look at the designs on it.[/font]
I’ve never found a single
piece of precious metal,[/font]
much less a piece this big[/font]
of what could
potentially be silver.[/font]
This is a big deal.[/font]
We’re here on a treasure hunt,[/font]
so we’re hoping that
maybe we can analyze that,[/font]
and that would give us
the best possible chance[/font]
to get answers
on who built this.[/font]
- LAIRD: Hello.
- JACK: Whoa. -JAMIE: Hello.[/font]
So, what do you have?[/font]
So, I don’t really
know where to start,[/font]
so I’m just gonna show you
the first one that I found today,[/font]
- And we’ll work our way through those.
- LAIRD: Oh.[/font]
LAIRD: All righty.[/font]
- It’s a button.
- That looked like gold.[/font]
It’s a very cool button.[/font]
LAIRD: That’s cool, I can
almost imagine a design[/font]
- on the front, too.
- JAMIE: It’s hard to tell.[/font]
- JACK: What else did you find?
- You’re gonna flip. It’s so cool.[/font]
Oh![/font]
- That’s silver, isn’t it?
- CRAIG: Wow.[/font]
I’m-I’m pretty sure it’s silver.[/font]
FIONA: It’s quite
decorative, though, at the top.[/font]
LAIRD: Yeah. Hand-decorated.[/font]
It’s so ornate. Yeah.[/font]
That’s really cool.[/font]
JACK: This is not just your
average domestic building.[/font]
And they were using soil[/font]
- from deep in the Money Pit.
- [laughs][/font]
- And there’s that kind of treasure, as well.
- JACK: Yeah.[/font]
- So, what were they doing here?
- Yeah.[/font]
It reminds me of, like, a
crude mortar or cement.[/font]
NARRATOR: Nearly one month ago,[/font]
Jamie uncovered a man-made[/font]
cement-like substance
in this feature[/font]
that has also been found
around the mysterious tunnel[/font]
below the Garden Shaft.[/font]
This has made the team
wonder if this feature on Lot 5[/font]
was connected to
an operation to hide[/font]
something of great value
deep in the Money Pit area.[/font]
I mean, finding
is the first step.[/font]
- JAMIE: Mm-hmm.
- Take ’em to Emma and trying to get a date[/font]
- on ’em is step number two.
- LAIRD: Yeah. Exactly.[/font]
All right.[/font]
- LAIRD: It’s exciting, really.
- Yeah.[/font]
- We’ll find more stuff for you.
- CRAIG: Okay.[/font]
NARRATOR: While the
investigations of the stone features[/font]
continue on Lot 5...[/font]
later that afternoon...[/font]
GARY: Let’s get
diggy with it, Billy.[/font]
- BILLY: Yep.
- In the southeast corner of the swamp,[/font]
now that Steve Guptill
has completed a survey[/font]
of the mysterious
wooden structure that sits[/font]
next to the stone road,[/font]
Jack Begley, along with Gary
Drayton and Billy Gerhardt[/font]
continue investigating
the feature for clues[/font]
and potential valuables.[/font]
♪ ♪[/font]
We got a hit, Jack.[/font]
Great to hear,
Gary. I’m on my way.[/font]
A little scrappy one.[/font]
[metal detector beeping][/font]
Should be right
underneath there.[/font]
- All right, mate. And I’ll see if you’ve moved it.
- Sure.[/font]
Come out, my little beauty.[/font]
What have we got here?[/font]
I think it’s some
kind of digging tool.[/font]
Not like any sort of modern
digging tool I’ve seen.[/font]
That’s old.[/font]
GARY: It’s-it’s
almost like a trowel.[/font]
I think it’s unique, mate,[/font]
because of where it
came from, as well,[/font]
in between that wooden feature,[/font]
we have no idea what
it is at the moment,[/font]
and the stone road.[/font]
It could be even older.[/font]
GARY: Maybe this piece of
iron could be part of an old tool[/font]
left over from building
the stone roadway[/font]
or even this wood structure.[/font]
And hopefully, we
can put a date on it.[/font]
[beeps][/font]
GARY: Yeah, we got
a signal here, Jack.[/font]
It seems to be right in front[/font]
of this big boulder here.[/font]
Just there, somewhere.[/font]
See if I moved it.[/font]
Let me see if I can
pinpoint it for you.[/font]
The old stick in the mud, here.[/font]
It’s actually still there.[/font]
It’s under there.[/font]
- All right.
- It’s got a good signal.[/font]
GARY: Is that
it? I see it, mate.[/font]
- Look at that.
- [Jack gasps][/font]
GARY: What the heck is that?[/font]
- GARY: Look at that!
- [Jack gasps][/font]
- That’s a big spike.
- Yeah.[/font]
Look, it’s still got wood on it.[/font]
NARRATOR: At the southeastern
border of the Oak Island swamp,[/font]
Gary Drayton, Jack Begley[/font]
and Billy Gerhardt
have just made[/font]
a potentially critical discover[/font]
in the mysterious
wooden structure that was[/font]
recently uncovered
next to the stone road.[/font]
It looks hand-forged,[/font]
wrought iron,[/font]
and it’s still got wood on it,
so you know it was a fastener.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Look at the size of that.[/font]
- Yeah.
- Wow.[/font]
GARY: That’s gonna
come back old, mate.[/font]
JACK: Possibly,
yeah. I think so, too.[/font]
This is gorgeous, as well.
We’ve never found one like this.[/font]
NARRATOR: A
hand-forged, iron spike?[/font]
Could Gary Drayton be correct[/font]
that it is different
from other spikes[/font]
that the team has
found in this area[/font]
and might be a
much older artifact?[/font]
All right, I’m gonna make
my way back down there.[/font]
Okay, mate. I’m gonna
put a bag over the wood[/font]
- and put it to one side.
- NARRATOR: If so,[/font]
could it be a key clue[/font]
that will help the team
determine just when[/font]
this feature was constructed?[/font]
RICK: The question
for us to answer is[/font]
why were these constructs made?[/font]
- Perhaps they were intended to be hidden.
- Oh.[/font]
And there is every
hope that we will,[/font]
at some point, discover the
reason why they were built.[/font]
JACK: Hey, Billy. Look at this.[/font]
It looks like it’s axe-chopped.[/font]
There’s some type of[/font]
a piece of iron
that’s stuck into it.[/font]
And then this is
straight-cut along the top,[/font]
not circular saw.[/font]
JACK: From all the
artifacts that we have found[/font]
and getting a better
look at this wood,[/font]
I think it might connect with[/font]
the stone pathway
and the stone road.[/font]
It’s been a heck of a day, guys.[/font]
JACK: Great job today.[/font]
NARRATOR: The
following morning...[/font]
CRAIG: Three of us
were called out to Lot 5,[/font]
and Jamie came up
with these nice artifacts.[/font]
NARRATOR: at the
Oak Island laboratory[/font]
Rick Lagina, Craig
Tester and Jack Begley[/font]
meet with
archaeologist Laird Niven[/font]
and archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan to receive[/font]
Emma’s scientific analysis
of the gold-plated button[/font]
and the possible silver artifac[/font]
that were unearthed one day ago[/font]
in the large stone
foundation on Lot 5.[/font]
That is somewhat
self-explanatory, right?[/font]
- Yes, it’s a button.
- The key question is[/font]
composition. What is it?[/font]
EMMA: It is a copper
alloy with about 3% gold[/font]
on the surface, so it is gilded.[/font]
NARRATOR: Gilding, which dates
back to the times of ancient Egypt,[/font]
is a decorative technique[/font]
by which thin layers of gold[/font]
are applied to the
surface of an item.[/font]
What’s really revealing
of that age and providence[/font]
in the metallurgical
aspect is the phosphorus.[/font]
You got about 5%.[/font]
But that kind of button
composition you won’t see in[/font]
your regular old casual clothes.[/font]
I’d say it’s more
like naval m*llitary.[/font]
It had to have been, like,
an officer’s button then, right?[/font]
Yes. Officer or a gentleman.[/font]
EMMA: Ayuh, I can
say that it’s most likely[/font]
English, 18th
century, naval m*llitary.[/font]
RICK: This naval button,
does it have something to say[/font]
about the activities on Lot 5?[/font]
Might it have been British[/font]
who came searching
for something?[/font]
But if you’re
doing original work,[/font]
you want to police your area.[/font]
I just hope we continue
to make finds of artifacts[/font]
that will hopefully
fill in the gaps[/font]
in this story on Lot 5.[/font]
You know, this one
appears to be silver,[/font]
but the question
is, is it truly silver?[/font]
Yes, it is silver.[/font]
Yes.[/font]
EMMA: Um, at about 90%.[/font]
LAIRD: In 40 years,[/font]
I can’t remember a
piece of silver I’ve found.[/font]
If you remember the
treasure trove license, right?[/font]
The treasure trove license
would define that as treasure.[/font]
JACK: It is treasure.[/font]
RICK: The treasure trove licens[/font]
would define that as treasure.[/font]
JACK: It is treasure.[/font]
Yeah.[/font]
It’s precious metal.
That’s as far as[/font]
- we can go right now.
- LAIRD: Yes.[/font]
NARRATOR: In the
Oak Island laboratory,[/font]
archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan[/font]
has just confirmed that[/font]
the metal artifact
found one day ago[/font]
in the mysterious stone
foundation on Lot 5[/font]
is composed almost
entirely of pure silver.[/font]
So, what is it?[/font]
If we look at it functionally,[/font]
we both believe,
this is its original form.[/font]
-Oh. -EMMA: Yeah.[/font]
And here you can see the slits[/font]
on these sides, on the edges.[/font]
There’s some artistry there.[/font]
LAIRD: Yeah, I agree with that.[/font]
So, it could be[/font]
almost like the end of
a tassel, decoratively.[/font]
- Oh, wow.
- A Kn*fe hilt,[/font]
you know, something like that.[/font]
It’s one of the cooler
artifacts we’ve found.[/font]
RICK: The initial excitement,[/font]
which you’ve
expressed, is it’s silver.[/font]
And why wouldn’t we
be excited about that?[/font]
But to go further,
I think we need[/font]
- more information.
- Yeah.[/font]
RICK: The idea of[/font]
there must be silver
from the Concepción.[/font]
If it were a
metallurgical match to[/font]
silver from the Concepción,[/font]
and it matches that? Bingo.[/font]
Then we would be onto something.[/font]
Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.[/font]
NARRATOR: Since the
beginning of this year,[/font]
the team has found a
number of metal artifacts[/font]
in the large foundation
on Lot 5 that,[/font]
according to Emma’s
metallurgical analysis,[/font]
may be connected
to Sir William Phips,[/font]
the English naval
officer and privateer[/font]
who, in 1687,[/font]
salvaged more than
from the Spanish wreck
known as the Concepción.[/font]
We know that Phips found
silver on the Concepción[/font]
and I believe some
of the treasure from[/font]
the Concepción was
secreted to Oak Island.[/font]
NARRATOR: In 2021, 32nd
degree Freemason Scott Clarke[/font]
informed the team that
Phips worked closely[/font]
with a high-ranking
Freemason from Nova Scotia[/font]
named Captain Andrew Belcher[/font]
during his second salvage
operation of the Concepción.[/font]
And he believes that
much of the treasure[/font]
they recovered was
hidden on Oak Island.[/font]
Laird, you’ve spent a lifetime[/font]
- and you’ve not found it.
- I know, I know.[/font]
So, that-that certainly
is quite interesting.[/font]
I can’t remember a
piece of silver I’ve found.[/font]
NARRATOR: Is it possible,
as Rick Lagina has speculated,[/font]
that the silver artifact
could offer more evidence[/font]
that Scott Clarke’s
theory may be true?[/font]
If so, might that
explain why the team[/font]
has found the same
man-made concrete-like material[/font]
in both the feature on Lot 5,[/font]
and around the tunnel
below the Garden Shaft?[/font]
And finally, could
these discoveries[/font]
also support John
Edwards’ theory[/font]
that members of Freemasonry[/font]
were part of a
generational conspiracy[/font]
to hide and protect
treasure vaults on Oak Island[/font]
that were originally
established by[/font]
the Knights Templar?[/font]
RICK: I think this
find is invigorating,[/font]
there’s no question about it.[/font]
What it does say, emphatically,[/font]
is that the Lot 5
feature is important.[/font]
I don’t think one
can dismiss the fact[/font]
that this find and the
concrete from Lot 5[/font]
strongly hint at a
connection to Phips,[/font]
but also, it speaks to a
connection to the Money Pit.[/font]
I think it only reinforces[/font]
that we might be
on to something.[/font]
JACK: We know we have
the Money pit material,[/font]
that was used in
that foundation.[/font]
They could have kept,
you know, some treasure[/font]
right on site, before
they moved it.[/font]
I can’t wait to see what other
friends pop up as we dig up[/font]
- the rest of the feature.
- There you go.[/font]
And so, I think we’ve got[/font]
- a lot to do.
- Yeah.[/font]
And, uh, I, for one,
am gonna start.[/font]
- CRAIG: Yep. Me, too.
- All right?[/font]
RICK: Thank you both.[/font]
- JACK: Great job.
- LAIRD: Oh, yeah.[/font]
NARRATOR: For Rick,
Marty, Craig and their team,[/font]
a week that began with the
hope for important discoveries[/font]
has been rewarded with
not only exciting new clues[/font]
but also actual
valuables that have[/font]
advanced their efforts to
solve the Oak Island mystery[/font]
And now, as they continue[/font]
digging in the Garden Shaft,[/font]
and investigating the
believed ancient landmarks[/font]
on the island’s
surface will it lead to[/font]
a profound and
history-changing breakthrough?[/font]
Perhaps it all depends[/font]
on whether or not
the curse of Oak Island[/font]
can finally be broken.[/font]
Next time on The
Curse of Oak Island...[/font]
The way to unlock Nolan’s Cross[/font]
is built into the cross itself.[/font]
If the Ark is here,[/font]
it would be found
using Nolan’s Cross.[/font]
Let’s dig there.[/font]
- GARY: Ooh, look at that.
- BILLY: There’s a boulder.[/font]
Maybe this boulder
is marking the spot.[/font]
RICK: This is
the copper artifact[/font]
found on Lot 8.[/font]
This could be
identified as Viking.[/font]
ROGER: The water started
coming in faster and faster.[/font]
RICK: We may have
hit a flood tunnel.[/font]
[men shouting][/font]