07x09 - An Eye For An Eye

[bunniefuu]

Wow.

‐Check that out.
‐There. Look at that.

‐That's the floor.
‐DOUG: We got a shaft

‐and we got a tunnel
coming off it to the west.
‐GARY: Oh, yeah.

That is one heck of a log,
isn't it?

RICK:
That's massive. Puzzle pieces
are getting bigger.

Picture's getting smaller.

CORJAN:
If you would draw the lines
to find the center, this is the

dead center of the pentagram.

CHRIS:
Right on the eye of the swamp.

The swamp dates
at around 1220 AD.

‐This is Templar, baby.
‐(laughter)

NARRATOR:
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.

♪ ♪

TERRY:
Oh! Oh! Oh!

Look at this. Wow. Oh, my.

That's a box joint, right there.

NARRATOR:
After finding what they believe
to be the location

of Oak Island's first
and oldest searcher shaft,

Shaft Two, which was dug

by treasure hunter
Daniel McGinnis

and his partners in hopes

of finding a back door
into the fabled Money Pit,

brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
and members of their team

are convinced that years
of scanning, testing,

and drilling
are finally paying off.

RICK:
We found the first
searcher shaft

in close proximity
to the original Money Pit.

It doesn't get
any better than that,

other than if the core
had come up

with a piece of treasure in it.

Nothing could be better
at this point.

We have to take advantage of it.

MARTY:
Well, here's the deal, guys.

We found Shaft Two, we believe.
Right, Steve? Rick?

‐We do.
‐RICK: Yep.

So, what do we do next?

I would assume that the way
you're looking at Shaft Two,

sitting here, from our
current drill program.

We're all pretty comfortable,
including yourself,

was that's the orientation
of Shaft Two.

Now we just need to get
the orientation of the tunnel.

Shaft Two is a better
reference point than Shaft Nine.

Yeah.

That will lead us
to the Money Pit.

DOUG:
The tunnel's the better target.

The lore that's been
passed down to us

was that it was 14 feet away.

They dug over 12,

and then the water broke in
and chased them out.

‐Yeah.
‐What a shock.

They never actually fully
reached the Money Pit proper.

‐Well, it reached it for 'em.
‐Yeah. It came to them.

So there could be treasure
in that tunnel.

It's possible.

‐There could be.
‐Yeah.

You have to go after the tunnel.

MARTY:
So I think we should drill

a bunch more holes
or several more

and try and delineate
that tunnel.

Yeah.

Look, I‐I think all of this
l‐lends itself

to making one simple statement,
and that is:

looking backwards in time
is gonna facilitate us

being much more efficient

in terms of where we dig
the eight‐foot can.

We now have two significant
reference points

in terms of finding
and delineating

where the Money Pit might be,

so it'd be foolish
not to chase this tunnel,

and hopefully we get
an "X marks the spot."

Well, Steve,
if you have time right now,

let's go out
and pin a couple holes.

‐Sure.
‐'Cause you've got these
marked right where we can

relocate them and we can see
where we want to go.

Let's go do it.

NARRATOR:
Following their meeting
in the w*r room,

historian Doug Crowell
and surveyor Steve Guptill

head to the Money Pit site.

Doug, you wouldn't grab me
a spike and a hammer?

DOUG:
I got a spike
and I got a hatchet.

STEVE G.:
Is this our recent one?

‐Yeah.
‐Well, we're just
two straight feet north of it.

So we should be
in here somewhere.

NARRATOR:
Using the GPS data collected
from their previous boreholes,

Steve Guptill will now mark
the new drilling site

where the team should encounter
the Shaft Two tunnel

at a depth of some 110 feet.

If the archival data
is correct,

this tunnel,
although never completed,

should lead the Laginas
and their partners

directly to the original
Money Pit treasure shaft.

Now the critical piece
of missing information is:

what is the orientation
of the tunnel?

Does it go west by southwest,
or does it go west by northwest?

Where does it lie?

Right there, Doug.

MIKE T.:
Good to go?

‐DOUG: Yep.
‐All right.

Here's hoping,
I mean, hopefully,

this is the one, right? Like,
hopefully, this is our tunnel.

TERRY:
That's good.
Well, here's hoping.

Here we go. F‐14 here we come.

NARRATOR:
As the team from
Choice Drilling positions

the sonic drill rig over
the borehole known as F‐14...

GARY:
Ready for action.

PETER:
All right, let's get to it.

NARRATOR:
...metal detection expert
Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti

join Billy Gerhardt
at Smith's Cove.

They're eager to find artifacts
that could provide

important information, not only

about when the Oak Island
treasure was buried,

but also who buried it.

Can we get through here, Billy?

BILLY:
Yeah, I think if you

come here and then follow
those rocks, it'd be okay.

They got a few spots there
for you to check.

All right, mate.

NARRATOR:
One week ago,

the Oak Island team
unearthed a mysterious

and previously undocumented
log shaft...

Is this part of the
flood tunnel system?

NARRATOR:
...sitting above what could be

one of the five
stone box drains

that feed seawater
into the Money Pit.

I don't think there's an urgent
need to do this.

NARRATOR:
But after realizing
that continued excavation

of the structure
might cut off their access

to the rest of the recently
constructed "bump out" site,

the team has decided
to explore the area

beyond the slipway first.

There's just
a lot of curiosities

about, uh, what might be
in this area.

If ships were
offloading items that,

at the end of the slipway,
items may have been dropped.

So if there's anything
to be found,

it's at the end of that slipway.
Well, hopefully we'll find it.

GARY:
Gonna have a little
investigate around here.

‐Looks like he's scraped
this area off.
‐Yeah.

So we just zigzag along,
hopefully get lucky.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to
turn around here, Pete.

‐Too close to the wall.
‐Too close to the wall?

‐(detector whines)
‐This doesn't sound too bad.

First signal here, mate.

I'd like some gold coins
to go, please.

I'll use my pin‐pointer.

(beeps)

Wow.

What the heck is that?
Yeah, it just...

Is that it?

Yeah. It could be anything.

There's something metal in here.

‐It's tough to tell what it is.
‐Yeah.

Probably iron.

‐Might be a goodie
hidden inside.
‐Could be.

‐All right, mate,
we'll put it to one side.
‐Over there.

BILLY:
Peter.

PETER:
What's up?

BILLY:
Right where I'm digging,

there was all rocks,
and I didn't know if it's, like,

the rocks we saw
on the other side.

‐I‐I didn't know
if you could just...
‐The flat rocks?

GARY:
What's he seeing, Pete?

‐It's the same flat rocks.
‐BILLY: It's a thin, flat rock,

and it's quite rocky underneath,
so I'm laying a bunch

of flat ones aside.

If we don't have them
on this beach here,

they should be all brown, right?

Even the varying descriptions
of the flood tunnels

all involve, you know, a flat
rock of some sort, so we always

got to be watchful
of them, but...

GARY:
Yeah, those flat rocks

could be part
of the French drains.

BILLY:
Yeah.

NARRATOR:
A French drain?

Is it possible that the team
has uncovered

another part
of the island's legendary

booby‐trapped flooding system?

BILLY:
Let's go a little more.
See what we get.

GARY:
Ooh! Look at that.

Hey, Billy,
you got a bit of timber there.

‐BILLY: Oh, yeah. There it is.
‐PETER: Wow.

GARY:
This is fantastic, mate.

ATOR: After being alerted
to Billy, Peter and Gary's
It does look more
like a pier to me.

potentially important discovery
at Smith's Cove,

Rick Lagina and geologist
Terry Matheson

have come to the area
to check it out firsthand.

‐What do you got, Billy?
‐Hey, Terry.

Hey, Rick.

So we're‐we're peeling this off.

‐Right.
‐And it's quite rocky

in through here.

‐Rocks, rocks and more rocks.
‐TERRY: Yeah.

BILLY:
So now I'm three,
four feet down,

now I'm starting to pull wood.

RICK:
I see the rocks.

I don't see timber.

‐This wood here?
‐BILLY: Yeah.

RICK:
Oh, right there?

TERRY:
Well, there was a treated

or untr‐‐
probably an untreated timber.

‐That's an old beam then.
‐Right.

This is some kind of a working.

All of these boulders,
I'm thinking

that's not a natural
conglomeration

of man‐size boulders.

You know, people put that there.

RICK:
Do you think
it's strange, Terry?

Well, it's definitely
a man‐made structure.

There was even
more boulders piled up.

Let's take a look.

‐It's pretty solid under here.
‐Is it?

Yeah, I just lifted on that
a little bit

‐with the excavator.
‐TERRY: And the whole thing
moved, so...

BILLY:
The beam is fully intact
for a ways here, I would say.

That's round right to there.

‐RICK: Yep.
‐You see that?

RICK:
But it keeps going.

‐Keeps going.
‐And it keeps going, yeah.

Somewhere down around there,
you can see the bottom, perhaps,

‐where the rocks were piled.
‐Yeah.

Billy, I'd just dump
your bucket in here

‐and wash this whole thing.
‐BILLY: Yeah, I was gonna
suggest that.

TERRY:
All right.
Get up out of your way.

I think it's very preliminary
to make an assessment

as to this wood that we've
encountered, these logs.

However, it's what we were
hoping to find.

Previously unknown structures
in Smith's Cove.

That's exciting.
That's‐that's important.

What do you think, Doug?

It seems to be oriented

‐like this.
‐Yeah.

Which is the way you would think
the slipway would set.

Looking at the rocks
inside that structure,

more like a pier to me,
for a wharf.

NARRATOR:
A wharf or pier?

Is it possible that
it could be connected

to the 18th century slipway
discovered nearby?

Or, has the team found evidence
of an entirely different

and possibly
even older structure?

RICK:
There's certainly a distinct
possibility that this structure

could be the slipway.

I mean, it very much could be.

The caveat here is we have to
be very careful to make

one simple statement about what
might be a complex structure.

There's a possibility that
the slipway was built on top

of a much older structure,
and that is something

we'll have to take
into consideration.

Careful now, Billy.

Hardly any rock here,
big pile of rock there

with some timbers under it.

Timber‐‐ Oh, is that a plank
sticking out like?

RICK:
Can you wash this?

That‐That's enough.

Just put the bucket down there.

‐Hello, hello, hello.
‐Hey, Laird.

You get a better look
if you come over here, Laird.

‐See, there's a timber
running back towards...
‐Oh.

LAIRD: And this is
off the slipway, right?

DOUG:
It seems to be off the slipway.

Then Rick says this one,
where he's digging,

continues right into the bed.

A lot of rocks inside,
hardly anything outside.

TERRY:
That's a log right there,
eh, Rick?

RICK:
Th‐Th‐The cross log is here.

Yeah, right there.

TERRY:
Yep. Wow.

The bottom beam is right here.

There's no, uh...

no end to the log here.

TERRY:
No end to the log.

This one.

To me, all those rocks
is what I would expect

inside a pier.

‐Yeah. Yeah.
‐Yeah.

LAIRD:
But even concluding
footings for a pier...

big cribbing logs, eh?

If that's cribbing, it's big.
It was a big wharf.

RICK:
Strange cribbing.
I mean, I'll be honest.

I don't know what this is.

Could be a structure associated
with deposition.

It could be a structure
associated with the search.

We don't know.

I know what I would like it
to be: something original.

Let's come to an understanding
of what this is,

and then slowly remove
what needs to be removed

to get a proper sample.

‐Absolutely.
‐Okay.

NARRATOR:
Later that day,

as the investigation
at Smith's Cove continues...

DAVE:
What do we got here, Terry?

All in situ. Undisturbed,
down to 89 feet.

NARRATOR:
Geologist Terry Matheson

has joined Dave Blankenship
at the Money Pit,

where they are supervising
the drilling operation

at the borehole known as F‐14.

They are hoping to find
evidence of a horizontal tunnel

which was constructed in 1805
for the purpose

of connecting Shaft Two
to the original Money Pit.

‐Hey, Brennan. How you doing?
‐Good.

‐Hey, Dave.
‐DAVE: Hello.

So what are we at?
89 right now, right?

‐This looks the same?
‐89 feet. Yeah.

99 to 105 is where we hope
to break out into the tunnel.

Okay.

NARRATOR:
Using a 30‐ton
sonic drilling rig,

which generates
powerful vibrations

to pulverize earth
and other obstacles,

the team will extract
core samples

at intervals of ten feet.

The spoils will then be
collected into plastic sleeves

to be carefully searched
for any evidence

of the man‐made tunnel.

MIKE:
99 to 105.

Okay, gentlemen, turn that
down here. Down here, Mike.

Thank you.

This could be it.

What do you think, Mike?

‐I want to see it.
‐Anything, uh,

‐anything of interest in here?
‐(chuckles)

Felt like I punched through it

and then there was,
like, a void.

Let's operate.

This is where the rubber
meets the road.

I'll tell you what,
boys and girls.

‐Check that out.
‐SCOTT: Right there.
Look at that.

BRENNAN:
That's the floor.

TERRY:
That's the floor
or it could be the ceiling.

Pushed directly to the top.

We just drilled here and
hit the tunnel, gentlemen.

NARRATOR:
The ceiling of a tunnel?

Found at a depth
of some 100 feet?

Could the team have found
the searcher shaft?

The one that could
lead directly

to the actual Money Pit?

No, this is gonna
be good for Rick.

Rick's gonna love
to hear about this.

Did I hear we have
something interesting

‐going on?
‐DAVE: Hey, Doug.
‐BRENNAN: Yes.

‐Hey, Rick.
‐Look who's here.

‐Okay. I...
‐Hey, Rick.

Let me guess. I've seen a lot‐‐
I see a lot of smiles.

SCOTT:
Morale is definitely high.

Right here?

TERRY:
Feast your eyes.

BRENNAN:
We're at 98 and a half

to basically
a ten‐foot run here.

TERRY:
Pretty good chunks of beam?

RICK:
Pretty good chunks
of beam, yeah.

DOUG:
Truth be known,
all's we know is that

a tunnel came out towards
the west of the Money Pit.

We don't know what the
dimensions were on that tunnel.

That's great. It's a win.

This is definitive,

‐you know? I mean...
‐It's huge.

...everything else was
"minor wins," right?

Highly interpretive,
highly subjective, highly...

somewhat suspicious, because of
all the work that has been done.

You guys narrowed in
on the shaft,

figured out
the orientation, came off.

What you have to do now, though,

is find the direction
of the tunnel.

Without that, the importance of
this find is somewhat limited.

Yeah. Yeah.

What's the next proposed hole?

‐SCOTT: F‐15.
‐Right.
‐DOUG: Yeah.

It's, uh, it's still in line
with where this should run.

‐We came out
between our two hits.
‐Mm‐hmm.

RICK:
We know definitively
we located Shaft Two.

So if we find the orientation
of the Shaft Two tunnel,

we should be very, very close
to the original Money Pit.

That's huge.

That's the Holy Grail
of Oak Island:

where is the original Money Pit?

So, there's still a lot
of puzzle pieces

yet to‐to fit together,

but the puzzle pieces
are getting bigger.

The picture's getting smaller.

It just ramps up the interest.

‐Right? And the hope.
‐TERRY: Absolutely.

Maybe, just maybe,
this is the year.

NARRATOR:
As a new day begins
on Oak Island,

and as the search operations
at both the Money Pit

and Smith's Cove continue...

MARTY:
Gentlemen.

NARRATOR: ...brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina,

along with members
of their team,

are meeting once again
with theorist Corjan Mol.

With him is fellow researcher
Chris Morford,

who has come to pinpoint what
could be additional targets

of interest in the mysterious
triangle‐shaped swamp.

RICK:
So, the reason for this meeting

is, I believe Corjan and Chris
have worked together

and come up
with an "X" marks the spot.

They've been developing
an additional theory,

I will call it, something
that I think you're gonna find

extremely interesting.

Unfortunately, for you,
it's about the swamp.

‐Oh. Yay.
‐(soft laughter)

How predictable is that?

RICK:
So, I'm gonna turn
over to these two gentlemen,

and‐‐ hopefully,
for the big reveal.

‐Okay.
‐Thanks, Rick.

NARRATOR:
One week ago, Corjan Mol

presented the team
with an incredible theory

which connects
the Oak Island mystery

to the work of the prolific
17th century French painter

Nicolas Poussin.

CORJAN:
From my perspective,

he was an instrument
to, uh, record

a secret about Oak Island.

NARRATOR:
According to Corjan's research,

Poussin had been
given secret knowledge

of a sacred, religious treasure
that had been buried

on Oak Island centuries ago by
members of the Knights Templar.

Poussin then created
a series of three paintings,

each containing important clues
which, when viewed together,

reveal where the Oak Island
treasure can be found.

We started by having
a closer look at, uh, Poussin.

‐And then if, Steve, you can
bring up the picture of him?
‐Sure.

CORJAN:
This is a self‐portrait
that he did in 1650,

and we noticed that on the left,
uh, the lady over there,

if you look at her hat,
there's another eye.

RICK:
Mm‐hmm.

CHRIS:
Almost like a third eye.

She's obviously holding
a place of importance here.

CORJAN:
We think

that's the lady that figures
on the second version

of The Shepherds of Arcadia.

‐CHRIS: Same woman.
‐It's the same woman.

CORJAN:
So, what we did is,

we went back
to The Shepherds of Arcadia

and we had a look.

Where is this woman positioned?

So, if you can bring
the wireframe, Steve.

There you go.

So, if you draw a line
from each of the five points

to the other point across,
you land in the same spot,

which is exactly on her eye.

And you can do this
in many ways,

but the‐the result
is always the same.

This is the dead center
of the pentacle.

Okay.

‐Then, uh, the next step is, if
we, uh, switch to the CAD model.
‐Sure.

CORJAN:
Last time I was here, uh,
I showed the, uh, the pentagram,

‐um, mapped on Nolan's Cross.
‐Mm‐hmm.

So, uh, we used
that same mapping.

‐So, if you can bring up, uh...
‐STEVE G.: Sure.

So, here's how it would lie,

using what we know
is to be Nolan's Cross.

CORJAN:
Now, if you would draw the lines

‐to find the center.
‐Sure.

‐We'll go "ta‐da."
‐(soft laughter)

CORJAN:
There you go. Right on
the eye of the swamp.

RICK:
Wow.

The all‐seeing eye?

Yeah.

Holy smokes.

NARRATOR:
The all‐seeing eye?

The so‐called
Eye of Providence,

which is featured
in the iconography

of both Freemasons

and their predecessors,
the Knights Templar?

And connected
to the man‐made structure

the team found
earlier this year,

which Marty Lagina dubbed
"the eye of the swamp"?

Could this recently
discovered spot,

located at the tip
of the man‐made swamp,

provide the key to unlocking
the Oak Island mystery?

RICK:
I have made mention
to every theorist

that have come and gone.

A theory is but a theory until
you hold the proof in your hand,

but, uh, my hope is that

this won't be just theoretical,

that we can take this theory

and‐and pick a position
on the land

where we can find the one thing,

hold something in your hand.

That's probably the hardest spot
to dig in the island. Well done.

‐Well done, guys. Yeah.
‐I promise you that. Yeah.

We think this makes
an awful lot of sense.

Again, there's a fixed cross
on the island

that you can use to project
a pentagram

and then you just find
the center. That's easy.

That's something
you can do with, uh,

11th, 12th century,
uh, technology.

Mm‐hmm.

Already had a lot of interest
in the eye because, you know,

Gary and I were out there

probing for rocks,
and, you know, there seems to be

rocks all around that circle,

and, I mean,
they're mapped out there.

From a purely observational
point of view,

that position in the swamp
was always

significantly interesting.

So there's no reason
not to dig that.

Yeah.

All right, gentlemen.
Well, you've set us a task.

I mean, I...
I am a skeptic by nature,

so, uh, you know, I guess

the‐the digging will be
the proof of the pudding.

In this case
it's in the digging, isn't it?

‐Yeah. Fantastic.
‐MARTY: So we will see

what happens and, you know,

uh, keep communicating
with each other.

If you, uh, have another
"aha" moment,

‐as Rick calls them...
‐For sure.

‐...uh, let us know, okay?
‐Yeah, absolutely.

And we'll keep you in the loop.
Thank you very much.

RICK:
You're welcome back any time.

‐IAN: Steve.
Se‐STEVE G.: How you doing? re.

‐Good to meet you.
‐Nice to see you, again.

NARRATOR:
One day after
the team's meeting

with Oak Island theorists

Chris Morford and Corjan Mol,

surveyor Steve Guptill
has arranged to meet

with geoscientist

Dr. Ian Spooner and his team
in order to further

investigate the area known
as "the eye of the swamp."

So the game plan for today,
we're gonna go back to the pond.

We're gonna go back to the pond.
What I want to do is

try to locate the stones,
uh, much more accurately.

Try to figure out what this ring

‐of stones is, uh,
up at the pond.
‐Okay.

Lauren is gonna go
with you and I,

and we're gonna look at Site A.

‐Sure.
‐And Julia and, uh, Chelsea

are gonna be doing

a whole bunch of probing
in this area right here.

We're trying to get, uh,
a depth o‐of the swamp.

That'll be good.

We've got a lot of data
from here,

‐but we need some of your data
for this area...
‐Yeah. Okay.

‐Good.
‐RICK: Dr. Spooner was

interested enough to come back

with his students to extract a‐‐

what he's called
a vibra‐core sample

from the back pond area.

On a couple fronts,
this is exciting and rewarding.

We have always felt that that

back pond area was of interest,

that there were some mystery

surrounding that,
and he has singularly

focused on that area,
and I'm grateful for it.

He and his students
are gonna do

a proper job,
and I'm very hopeful

that the cores they extract
will give us some information.

I'm gonna try just to hit
the top of this, Lauren.

There's the sediment
right there.

I'm just gonna try to hit it.

‐Ready?
‐Yeah.

Good, okay. Here we go.

So there's our core.

What's critical about this core
and why it's a good core...

‐See how it's undisturbed?
‐STEVE G.: Mm‐hmm.

And so the water's
relatively clear here.

Uh, Steve, so that‐‐ what that
means is, I didn't disturb this.

So, when we extrude it,
when we take a look at it,

centimeter by centimeter,
you're going back in time.

It's kind of like a book

‐where you haven't mixed up
all the pages.
‐Mm‐hmm.

So this is a good core.

We'll cap it and then
we will get another one.

STEVE G.:
Yeah. Let's go.

NARRATOR:
As Dr. Spooner, Steve Guptill,
and the team

conduct their coring operation
in the swamp...

GARY:
Here comes our big spade.

NARRATOR: Rick Lagina
and his nephew Peter Fornetti,

along with Gary Drayton
and Billy Gerhardt,

continue to investigate

the large wooden structure
at Smith's Cove.

Another flat rock, Billy.

Hang on. Hang on, Billy.

See what we got going on here.

(chuckles):
Oh, yeah.

Wow, that is one heck of a log,
isn't it?

BILLY:
Yep.

‐Been there a while.
‐GARY: Yeah.

I mean, that is bloody massive.

What is that... that round...

Looks like a...

‐PETER: What?
‐Just a little bit.

Looks like a tube. There.

Is it just mud or is it a peg?

Good fishing, Pete.

A wooden peg.

I thought
that looked like a peg.

Good eye.

I mean, you think about it,
the only place we found

wooden pegs was in
the U‐shaped structure.

Maybe this is connected
to the U‐shaped structure.

NARRATOR:
A wooden peg

similar to those found
in the U‐shaped structure

that the team
unearthed last year?

And which was proven
to predate the discovery

of the original Money Pit
by more than two decades?

Another wooden peg, mate.

PETER:
Wow. Awesome.

‐That's a peg.
‐PETER: That's cool.

‐Yeah.
‐It's getting interesting.

Hey, Rick.
You ain't gonna believe this.

‐What's that?
‐Look at how big that is.

RICK:
Wow. That is huge.

And we're finding wooden pegs.

Got one here and one there.

That's several.

‐Seen the size of that log?
‐(laughs)

GARY:
What's it remind you of, though?

‐RICK: U‐shaped structure.
‐GARY: Exactly.

RICK:
Does it stop there?

GARY:
Yeah, it stops there, but you
can see where it's been cut.

I wonder if it's just that.

If we go deeper,
I'm sure I'll get more.

‐Hey. How you doing?
‐Welcome, Terry.

‐TERRY: Hey, Rick.
‐RICK: Hey.

So it looks like we got
quite a bit of crib work here,

Much more extensive
than we had thought.

Does it continue or is it just
in and around the boulders?

‐We don't, we don't know.
‐Okay.

This is very strange.

You've got this massive log,

then you've got this carry log,

then you've got a beam
coming across here,

then you've got
another beam there,

and another carry log.

Wow.

RICK:
That is massive.

That's bigger than
the U‐shaped structure log.

GARY:
Yeah. That is very old.

RICK:
Steve said

that elevation was seven feet
below sea level.

This is another
three feet beyond.

And we know that
the deeper you go, this log‐‐

it is possible that this
is much older than this.

GARY:
That looks old,
that bottom layer,

and all the rest
has been repurposed.

It's been built up.

‐It's been layered.
‐Agreed.

Upon visual inspection only, um,

we can see that
it's saddle‐notched.

We can see it's easily
every bit as large

as the U‐shaped structure logs,

but we have to uncover it
because we need to know,

hopefully answer "Who?"

Hopefully answer "When?"

And maybe even possibly "What?"

TERRY:
So we're not sure what
we're looking at here yet.

Rick, what do you think it is?

RICK:
I have no idea.

‐It's that real sandy clay.
‐TERRY: Yeah, yeah, very sandy,

silty, it cakes together.

Almost appears as though
this is packed.

Yeah.

RICK:
And this could be oak.

NARRATOR:
Oak beams packed with clay?

In 1804, one year before
treasure hunter Daniel McGinnis

and his partners
constructed Shaft Two,

they excavated the original
Money Pit down to

the 90‐foot level.

At every ten‐foot interval,

they discovered a platform
made of oak logs,

but starting
at the 40‐foot level,

they found the logs were packed
with dense blue clay,

which acted as a water sealant.

Could the team
have found evidence

that this massive log structure
at Smith's Cove

could be connected
to the construction

of the original Money Pit?

It's certainly
a massive structure.

Whether it's original
or searcher work,

it's absolutely phenomenal.

This structure
could be the slipway.

At the very least, the
suspicion is growing that it's

the slipway and then the‐the
possibility of the wharf

being built on top of it.

I hate to say it, but I wonder

if we shouldn't
leave this for Laird.

GARY:
I was thinking the same, Rick.

We have got a lot of it exposed,
but we could be missing

something an archaeologist
would spot straightaway.

RICK:
This is a success.

The swamp itself initiated
at on Oak Island,

and as operations continue
at both Smith's Cove

and in the Money Pit area...

MARTY:
Gentlemen,

‐it's another data day,
which I always like.
‐Yeah.

NARRATOR: ...brothers
Rick and Marty Lagina

meet in the w*r room,

where they are joined

by fellow Oak Island
landowner Tom Nolan

and other members
of their team.

They have gathered to hear
Dr. Ian Spooner

give his report

on the core samples
he and his team

retrieved from the swamp
one day ago.

MARTY:
Dr. Ian Spooner's here.

He's done a lot of work
in the swamp,

and I‐I‐I'll give you a preamble

in the sense that
it surprised you

as to how difficult
it was, right?

Yeah, um, I would say
what surprised me

was that the data

did not meet my expectations.

Welcome to Oak Island,
Dr. Spooner.

(all chuckle)

So what we did here,
this is Site A.

We're calling that
the "eye of the swamp."

But Site A will do.

This is the core, uh,
from Site A,

and, and what we can see

at the bottom here
is the gray sediment.

There's gravel in it.
It's a glacial till.

The key thing here‐‐

there's a few really important
things going on.

And that is, we got the till.

We've got the organic matter.

And then it's disturbed
in the middle.

RICK:
Wow.

I find that interesting.

IAN:
How do I know it's disturbed?

It's because we've got
interlayered organic matter

and till.
You just can't get that.

‐Yeah.
‐The glaciers don't go
in‐out, in‐out,

and trees grow in the glacier,
come in and out.

The other thing is,
there's no soil.

So, there was a glacier,
there was a swamp.

What happened in between?

Usually, it'd be
a marine environment.

Maybe it would be
a land environment,

but we don't see any soil,

so we're really quite sure
it's disturbed

by something.
And so, the question is,

what is that?

Wow.

‐That's really interesting.
‐RICK: Mm‐hmm.

IAN:
So what we did was

we got way down in here

and we got a sample,

and the sample dated out
at 1600 to 1700.

MARTY:
So what you're saying is,

in 16‐something,
somebody dug a hole there?

‐Right.
‐Okay. (chuckles)

And the only thing
I can come up with is,

it's being excavated.

It's being dug,
or it's being disturbed.

So what is the time, you know,

the exact time
of that disturbance?

Can we have
the next slide there, Steve?

Sure can.

So, this is kind of neat.

This is the extruded core.

This is the same site, Site A.
Another sample.

And it's‐it's really good.
It's a twig. It's fine.

And we get these dates:

1674 to 1778.

And so, I'm very confident
we're looking

at 1680 to 1700 that that
disturbance took place.

‐Really interesting.
‐There's reasonable cause

‐to believe there was
significant human activity.
‐Yes.

Yeah. That's the other
big piece. Right.

NARRATOR:
Significant human activity

in the area now known
as "the eye of the swamp"

sometime between
the 17th and 18th centuries?

Could it be in some way related
to the theory presented

earlier in the week by
Corjan Mol and Chris Morford?

So this is quite
a provocative site.

It all points to something
pretty complex taking place

at that time.

RICK:
Can I just ask a question,
not to yourself, but...

Your father had somewhat
of a fascination

with that back pond area.

‐Yeah.
‐Wh‐What‐‐ Do you know
anything at all

about the work
he did there or...

‐what he came to believe?
‐It wouldn't dry out.

There's one area of the swamp,
no matter how much

we pumped it out,
it always stayed wet,

so, you know,
we always wondered why‐‐

‐if it was spring‐fed
or whatever.
‐Mm‐hmm.

Which just, I mean,
how do you explain it in a bog?

MARTY: When you look
in other parts of the swamp,

is it like this
or much different?

IAN:
Uh, so we go into S2, and S2's
kind of fun for me

because when I was looking
at one of them,

at that gray sediment,
the till,

an organic interface,
it was a nice twig.

And so we sampled that.

It tells me that the swamp
itself initiated

at around 1220 AD.

‐Oh. I was thinking
Templar, baby.
‐(all chuckle)

Well, Dr. Spooner,
I mean, I hate to say it,

but it fits right into
all the lore.

I mean,
it all fits into the lore

that it's...
(chuckles) Look at Gary.

‐Oh, yeah. Medieval.
‐You got...

You got somebody making a swamp

in about 1200, and then
you got somebody digging

‐a lot time later.
‐Yeah.

IAN:
And my sense on it is,

if there is this kind
of incredible manipulation

over the last thousand years

of this site,
that there was something

super big going on.

This opens up the possibility
that the swamp was man‐made

on a grander scale
then we ever expected.

‐Yeah.
‐GARY: And the crazy thing

is, your dad Fred's
probably looking down now,

‐going, "I told you so."
‐(all laugh)

TOM:
Oh, he believed
the swamp had been worked.

Your information seems to point

that he may have been
well onto...

‐Yeah.
‐...the mysteries
that swamp holds.

This‐this is exciting,
what you've...

‐what you've
uncovered here, so...
‐IAN: Yeah.

What do you think, Laird?
What's this say to you?

Oh, I'm intrigued. I mean,

I like the whole idea
that it was terrestrial.

I like the whole idea that there
was human activity in there.

‐Right.
‐LAIRD: I just... I'd love

to find some intact contexts

‐that could really add
to the story.
‐Absolutely.

‐We need to find some gold
in the cargo hold.
‐RICK: Exactly.

Oh, absolutely.

If you asked me a month ago,

likelihood of it
being manipulated by man

in any significant aspect,
I would've said, "Eh,

I don't know. 20%."

Now,
after Dr. Ian Spooner's work,

I've been moved a long ways.

If the data says so,

then we got to go there.

So, there is one thing
that, you know,

when speaking
about the‐the swamp, you know...

It's‐it's Zena's map
that has always intrigued us.

A‐And there's a... there's
something curious about the map.

You might want to render
an opinion about it.

This is the map
that Zena brought to us. Uh...

Indicates a landing in 1347.

NARRATOR:
Three years ago,

the late author and researcher
Zena Halpern

presented Rick Lagina
and the team

with several documents and maps
related to Oak Island

that she believed
had been created

by members
of the Knights Templar.

NARRATOR:
According to her research,

the Templars
had first visited Oak Island

as far back
as the 12th century.

But what has always

been curious about it
is these references.

I think, Steve,

‐you have the translation.
‐I have the digital. I do.

RICK:
This map comes from
what Zena believed,

or came to believe,
was referencing

a Templar voyage
to the New World in 1179.

Those areas, you can see.

You‐you have to put
your mind to it.

There. It says that the swamp
on the left there...

But when we're talking

about manipulation
of the swamp...

You see the reference
to the dam?

Certainly,
this map is indicating

that there are significant areas
of interest in the swamp.

‐Yeah.
‐IAN: I'd like to look at it
a little more closely

and just see how
it matches up with what

we think might have existed
at that time

with lower sea level.

Look, would I love it
to be Templar‐associated? Yes.

To fill in that gap in history
would be...

(exhales)

...to me,
better than any treasure.

I've always believed
that a greater understanding

of the swamp had
some connection

to the original work
on Oak Island.

There's an answer there,

or an answer
which will propel us forward.

But we have a ways to go.

I'm getting all enthused
about the swamp. Come on, man.

‐(all laugh)
‐So, you know,

the objective is
to figure this all out.

‐Yeah.
‐MARTY: So, let's get
the data we need,

and I‐I just speak
for everyone here,

and I thank you very much.

Very interesting.

It was a very good presentation.

Yeah. Well, thank you.

So, let's get back to it.

IAN:
Thank you.

NARRATOR:
For Rick, Marty and their team,

receiving scientific evidence

that a major engineering effort
could have taken place

in the Oak Island swamp
nearly 800 years ago

is nothing short
of a historic breakthrough.

If anything,

it supports
the incredible theories

that the region now known

as Nova Scotia
may have been visited

by members
of the Knights Templar.

But once the team is able
to dig in the swamp,

what will they find?

Perhaps a secret tunnel

leading to a vault
at the bottom

of the original Money Pit?

Priceless religious artifacts

like the Holy Grail

or the ark of the covenant?

Or will they find

something even more incredible?

Something that will explain
why it needed to be

so carefully
and elaborately hidden

deep beneath the ground?

Next time
on The Curse of Oak Island...

JACK:
Fire up the pump!

RICK:
There we go.

MARTY:
Showtime!

All right, here we go.

JACK:
I'm excited to finally
be digging in the swamp.

TERRY:
We hit the side of a tunnel,
gentlemen.

Complete success on this hole.

We could be very, very close
to the Money Pit.

GARY:
We're hot on the trail.

(beeping)

Got a signal, Pete.

‐PETER: What's that?
‐GARY: Oh, my gosh.

That's bloody silver, mate.

This is what
we've been looking for!