07x18 - The Turning Point

[bunniefuu]

Now we've got
the largest can possible.

-So it's a little bit bigger this year.
-Yeah, much bigger. Wow.

The cores show high lead
and mercury at the base.

The eye was excavated
to extract clay.

We have two anomalies here.

It's like treasure chest
anomaly.

We got five different experts
saying this is man-made.

-Wow. - We're gonna start
slamming can.

- It's time to dig!
-Here we go.

Does this one come
with a guarantee?

Oh, 100% treasure
guaranteed, yep.

Okay!

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.

Trucks are on their way, guys.

Good.

As a new day
begins on oak island

for brothers rick and
marty lagina and their team,

they are about to begin
their most ambitious

and expensive operation yet,

in the hopes of finally
locating the fabled money pit

treasure shaft and solving

a 225-year-old mystery.

There she is!

-Hi!
- Howdy, howdy!

Hey, guys.

Hello, vanessa and team.

-Hey, guys.
-How are ya?

Today, the team

from irving equipment limited,

along with roc equipment,

are delivering
a number of massive steel

caissons, each measuring

eight-feet-wide
by 26-feet-long,

as well as the heavy equipment
needed to drive and stack them

into the earth down to depths
of more than 200 feet.

I don't know if you guys
can see that our can's a little

-bit bigger this year.
It's a little bit bigger.

We've got a lot
of washing to do.

You've got
a lot of washing to do.

Unlike the 60-inch-wide shafts

that the oak island team
has put down in recent years,

these larger caissons
will allow them to excavate

and search through more than
twice the amount of earth

or spoils for any evidence
of the fabled chappell vault

first reported
by searchers in 1897,

at a depth of more
than 150 feet underground.

We've pushed the envelope here.

The-the thing that has been so
difficult about the money pit,

is you don't know
if you miss it by a centimeter

or a millimeter or five feet.

Well, now we've got
the largest can possible

to try to encompass
as large an area as possible.

How much can is here?

We brought up 210 feet.

-That should do.
-Yeah.

So we'll need to leave,
you know,

six to eight feet
through the oscillator,

so we'll be able to get
down to 202 for you.

Do you think you'll get to 202?

We'll see we brought up
a different set of teeth,

and it's placed a little
bit different, and we

did our starter can
as a two-inch wall,

the entire thing versus
just the cutting shoe,

so, you know, and we got a lot,
a lot more weight this year.

So the starter can last year
only weighed 30,000 pounds.

This year's starter can
weighs 54,000.

-Wow.
-So almost twice.

This project
is completely different

than any other project we do.

But I've been pulled
on this adventure.

And as-as rick says,
I'm invested.

So we were very excited
to be able to come back up

and have another sh*t
to help them find

and discover
and get their answers.

You got a location this year?

We got a pretty good
target down deep,

-which would explain a lot.
- We've done a lot

of research
and we really believe

we've located what we believe
to be the money pit.

Earlier this year,

rick, marty, craig
and members of the team

conducted an extensive
core-drilling operation

in the money pit area.

This led to the discovery

of numerous compelling clues..

Whoa! This is hand-cut.

This is cut with an axe.

That is quite remarkable.

...Including axe-cut wood

from a mysterious
wooden structure

at a depth of some 106 feet

in a borehole known as fg-12.

A wooden structure that
when carbon tested,

proved to date back
more than a century

before the discovery
of the original money pit

in 1795.

We spent most of the summer
getting ready, really, to dig.

We haven't done a lot
of true exploration till,

till you guys arrived,
so we're ready now.

-Now it's time to dig. Yeah.
-It's time to dig!

While the teams from
irving equipment limited

and roc equipment

begin their
extensive preparations

at the money pit dig site...

Hey, guys.

...Rick lagina heads over to

the triangle-shaped swamp where
other members of the team,

along with geoscientist,
dr. Ian spooner,

are continuing to investigate
a mysterious formation

of boulders and other stones
near the northernmost point.

Also known as
the "eye of the swamp,"

the team believes
this strange area,

where no vegetation
seems to grow,

may represent
the "all-seeing eye,"

a symbol whose origins date
back to the ancient egyptians.

The symbol was also
adopted and made sacred

by the order
of medieval warrior monks

known as the knights templar,

as well as their descendants,
the freemasons.

It is also where oak island
theorists chris morford

and corjan mol believe
could mark the location

of a vast treasure vault.

you look a bit exasperated.

Well, uh...

This material,
I'm almost, you know, 95

to 98% certain I think gary's

got a sample of it up there.

There's a piece here.

-You see the organic matter here?
-Mm-hmm.

-Yep. -We got this organic material,
then into the gray material.

In the surface, it's obviously
been heavily compacted.

So the only way you can really

get that in my books
is to have the rock...

Come in later.

Yeah.

The theorists presented

a very compelling case

that the stone
is bang on to the theory.

You know, we looked
at some samples

we took before from here.

And so in the bottom
of the core,

we get this high mercury
and high, high, um, lead.

The cores in it show high lead
and mercury at the base

and some really
interesting things

that speak more specifically
to human activity.

High levels of mercury?

And found at
the eye of the swamp?

It's not what we see

in all the other
environments we have.

Something was going on here,
but it's anomalous.

I don't know.

I am trying to figure it out.

Certainly one of
the most stunning aspects

of the test results was that

it contained
a high level of mercury.

Well, you take that little bit
of information and you round

to, certainly,
the baconian connection.

Uh, francis bacon had
developed a process

by which documents could be
preserved with mercury.

The 17th century english
philosopher, politician,

and scientist,
sir francis bacon

was not only a highly
respected member

of queen elizabeth's court,

he was also believed to be
the leader of the rosicrucians,

a secret society
of intellectuals,

who many believe are
responsible for the burial

of a vast treasure
on oak island

that included a number
of sacred artifacts

connected
to the knights templar,

as well as volumes
of ancient knowledge.

In his scientific work,

novum organum,
published in 1620,

bacon detailed a method
for preserving documents

by placing them in sealed
containers filled with mercury.

Has the team actually
found hard scientific evidence

that supports
this incredible theory?

-If you're correct and they,
this was dug... -Mm-hmm.

-I'd like to know how deep.
-Sure, if you go down

to refusal, then we can
see a nice face there.

-Yes.
-Yeah.

I think we go back
and we lay it out

and see if we see
some sort of connection.

But for right now, it's all
about, you know, eyes and boots.

So for me,
this area was critical

because it shows human activity

that was significant.

That's what we know right now.

We gonna move those rocks
over there?

Yep.

This is where they excavated.

And if there's any artifact,
I think it'd be

-in here.
-If we're gonna find

anything to tell us...
Who and when,

or even what,

it's gonna be in this material.

We'll keep working along.

As another day begins
on oak island,

and while rick lagina

supervises the teams
from irving and roc

as they continue preparations

for a large-scale dig
in the money pit area...

Okay, guys.

Here we are.
Ian, how are you, sir?

Good to see you
back on the island.

-Happy to be here.
-Yeah, you know...

...Marty lagina, his son alex,

and archeologist
laird niven, along with

fellow oak island landowner
tom nolan, meet

once again with geoscientist
dr. Ian spooner

at the triangle-shaped swamp.

This is, uh, aaron,
aaron taylor.

-Hi, aaron. I'm marty.
-Hi, nice to meet you.

Joining them is
dr. Spooner's colleague,

archaeologist aaron taylor.

Well, we're really
glad you're here.

We have some interesting things

we've dug up in the swamp here.

We're trying to make
heads or tails of them.

We seriously welcome your input.

Hopefully, I can help

-in some small way.
-Great, let's go.

As a professor of archeology
at st. Mary's university

in nearby halifax,
aaron has spent

nearly a decade
studying historical sites

in both coastal
and wetland areas

across nova scotia.

Today, he has been invited
to examine

the mysterious stone formations
that the team has recently

uncovered in the area,

including at the so-called
eye of the swamp,

and the massive
stone-paved feature,

or possible ship's wharf,
unearthed earlier this year.

This is the so-called
paved area.

Yeah, it's a puzzling thing.
What do you see here?

-Can I go down a little closer?
-You can do whatever you want.

Some of that sediment is
from back

this is the low point.

He probably talked about
the eye of the swamp.

So, if this was all natural,
where why no stumps?

Why no soil?
Why no nothing?

Yeah, well, it didn't arrive
when the glaciers

in my opinion when the
glaciers came through here

and deposited this.

Just because there wouldn't be
such a pronounced interface

between the stones and the clay.

I don't mind the first layer
of stones.

Like this?
This is fine. That's embedded.

But the stones above it,
I can't figure it out.

It's incredibly level.
There's no stumps.

There's-there's no other place
in the swamp like it.

In archaeology, we have
an expression:

When in doubt, excavate.

So if we can take a section,
excavate it,

that would be interesting,
just to see the boundary of it.

Hey, billy, how long would
it take to bail that down

so you can see the interface?

Just a couple minutes.
Doesn't take long.

-Can you hop in there?
-Yeah.

Tom, what are you thinking?

You and the swamp go back
a long ways.

We do, marty.

I mean, we were never
into it like this

and finding this stuff.

But you don't run into
something like this in a bog.

-It's-it's just
it's not natural.

That's great.

Like, look at this, and then
compare it to over there.

Yeah, totally different.

Yeah. Yeah, that was perfect.

'cause now we see the difference
between here and there.

And the till is here.
Right there.

And it's lower there, and yet
it's a flat surface.

And so, I just don't get it.
Other than...

Yeah, that's not
10,000 years old.

No, it isn't.

Aaron, if you had to guess,

-what is this?
-I don't know what it is,

but I believe that
it was intentionally made.

-Man-made?
-Man-made.

So it's just
it's too level, in my opinion,

to be a-a naturally occurring
thing.

For what it's worth,
I'll just tell you.

We have one other spot
I'd love to show you, aaron.

-Great. I'd love to see it.
-I mean, I think

I think we've puzzled you enough
with this one.

Yeah, this is... This is fun.

Let's go look.

I think something like
five or six experts

have looked at this,
and they're all quite certain

it's a man-made structure
of some sort.

So I have to go with that.

And I'm happy that
perhaps rick is right;

that the swamp has answers,

that the swamp is a key
to this whole thing.

This is the so-called "eye,"

which has the rocks
all the way around it.

And then, dr. Spooner believes
it was excavated.

And I guess down there
in the bottom,

which I can't see right now,
it's all nice, smooth clay.

In addition to the large
boulders the team has found

at the so-called
eye of the swamp,

over the past few weeks,
the team has made

a number of equally curious
discoveries in the area,

such as blue clay,
similar to the kind

reportedly found
by daniel mcginnis

and members of
the onslow company in 1804

while excavating
the original money pit.

The laginas and their team
also discovered

a number of tree stumps
surrounding the site,

which is unusual,
considering the fact that trees

do not commonly grow
in wetland environments.

This evidence has given
further credence

to the analysis presented
earlier this year

by dr. Spooner, suggesting that
significant human activity

took place in this area
during the late 17th century,

more than 100 years prior to
the discovery of the money pit

in 1795.

The deal here was when we
cored it, we got a nice record

of sediment that we know goes
back about 300 years.

And then, underneath that,
we had clay,

and that clay that was disturbed
had wood in it.

We dated that 1680.

So, where I'm going with this
now is I think the eye,

it was excavated
to extract clay.

It was a clay mine.
That's what I believe it was.

-If they're mining clay here...
-Yeah.

...And there's a substantial
amount of clay here...

-And you got to remember this
clay would have weighed a lot. -Right.

How would they get the clay
out of here?

So what I'm thinking is if that
was intentionally leveled,

which we believe it is,
why would they do it?

They probably leveled it
so that they could get

horse and carts in here.

So I can see them
putting it in barrels,

and taking it out.

If dr. Spooner and aaron
taylor's theories are correct,

the team might be able to find
a direct link between

the blue clay found
in the swamp,

and that used
in the construction

of the original money pit.

If so, they might be able to
determine not only a date

when the treasure shaft was
originally built,

but also the identities of
those who constructed it.

This concept of dr. Spooner and
professor taylor that the eye

was used as a clay mine,
that's interesting stuff.

You couple that with the paved
area being man-made.

That, to me, would indicate
that there was significant

industrial-like activity
on the island

long before we thought anything
should have happened here.

So... The intrigue
of the mystery

has actually intensified.

-Aaron: I think it's man-made.
- Okay.

I think here
I agree with ian that

-right here they were
mining clay. -Okay.

And there's quite possible
a connection to

the leveling area and this area.

This is probably the most
complex site I've ever been to.

I don't know.
It's a mystery.

All right, well, let's all
let that rattle around

in our brains for a while,
and maybe we can

come up with something.

As usual, we've got
more questions than answers,

but you know, you certainly, uh,
verified that it looks like

somebody did something
in here, so I don't know.

-Thank you very much, aaron.
Thank you, dr. Spooner. -Aaron: Yeah, thank you.

- Yep.
- Let's go.

Following the day's activities
in the swamp...

Hey, guys. Hey, guys.
- There they are.

...Marty and alex head to
the mug & anchor pub

in nearby mahone bay

to share their findings
with rick lagina

and other members of the team.

Just a real brief preamble,

and then I'm gonna let
turn it over to alex.

We met with yet another
archaeologist

his name is aaron taylor

to check out the man-made
question in the swamp,

and tell 'em what
tell 'em what happened, alex.

I mean, we basically just
took him through the landmarks.

First, we took him
to the paved area.

And we also took him to
the eye of the swamp.

And he thinks, actually,
having seen the clay

that's around there, and having
thought about it a while,

he speculated that it could have
actually been a clay mine.

And he said, in conjunction
with the paved area,

it does make sense that,

if you are mining something
like clay, which is very heavy,

you're gonna need a place
to get it out of the swamp.

Of all the clays
I've seen on oak island,

that was the most pure.

But clay is extremely useful.

I mean, you'd make vessels
out of it, too, right?

I mean, pottery.

It was probably used for
some works on oak island,

whether it was searcher
or depositor.

You know, when experts say 100%,
I perk up.

You go to the paved area,
we got five

different experts
from four different disciplines

saying this is man-made.

It could be two distinctly
different things going on:

The money pit treasure story
and the swamp story.

So, I hate to say this,

and I know you probably won't
even raise your glass, but...

-I may not.

...I'll say just three words.

To the swamp.

-All: To the swamp.
-We'll drink to this.

One day after new information
was revealed to the team

that could connect man-made
activity in the swamp

to the construction
of the money pit...

Look at the size of
that spherical grab, rick.

- I know.
That's huge.

...Rick lagina, oak island
historian doug crowell

and surveyor steve guptill jon
vanessa lucido and mike jardie

at the money pit area...
At the drill site

that the team has dubbed
"oc-1."

so you really did bring
the big equipment.

Hey, you said let's
go bigger this year.

-I think that was my brother.
-I wasn't afraid.

He said, "go big or go home."
that's what he said.

-Morning.
-Morning.

-Morning, vanessa.
-Vanessa, good to see you again. -Morning.

Are we on schedule
is the real key.

Yeah, I think so.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll be
putting the can in the ground.

As the team from
irving equipment limited

finishes building the massive
frame bridge

around the oc-1 dig site,

a 60-ton rotating oscillator
arrives on the island.

Custom-built in south korea,
it will be used to drill

the massive eight-foot-wide
digging caissons

down into the ground
at the money pit area

in search of the original
oak island treasure vault.

Well, it's an exciting day today
because the oscillator

is coming to the island.

Up till now, the historical
research, all the analytics,

all the data acquisition
has given us a spot.

But the spot doesn't
mean anything

if we can't get underground.

That oscillator is gonna
do the trick.

All right, well, it looks like
the equipment's getting here.

- Yep. -The oscillator's
just pulling up.

So it's a little bit bigger
this year.

Yeah, much bigger. Yeah.

-Yeah?
-How heavy?

Uh, 110,000 pounds.

-And the other one was?
-64,000 pounds.

-Wow. Double.
-This is almost double.

But it's no different, right,
than the other one you brought?

So, it-it is.

But this is a crane-mount
oscillator,

so it's going to attach
right to the crane.

As the oscillator drives
the sections of steel caissons

down to depths
of some 200 feet,

a 26-ton hammer grab tool
will be used to excavate

the tons of earth, as well
as any objects, artifacts

and hopefully treasure
contained inside.

Does this one come
with a guarantee?

Like, we are gonna find
something this hole?

-Oh, 100% treasure guarantee.

-yep. Yeah, they stamp that
right on the side. -Okay.

-Okay, uh, everybody heard that.

everybody heard that.

Danny:
We're gonna start unchaining it?

-Yeah. Let's go, boys.
-Let's do it.

We're gonna clear this area

so we can fly
the oscillator over

and we're gonna start
slamming can.

Okay.

Let's make this happen.
Let's find this thing.

As the team works to position

the massive oscillator
using a 220-ton crane,

later that day,

rick joins jack begley, metal
detection expert gary drayton

and heavy equipment operator
billy gerhardt at the swamp.

In light of the new evidence
connecting the paved area

to the eye of the swamp,

rick is eager to attempt
to uncover and explore

more of the massive
stone-paved feature

to see just how big it might e

and also,
if any important clues

as to its true origin
can be discovered.

We're barely down
to the paved area right now.

We should be about
to that depth, you'd think.

I don't think so.
We're way down over there.

We're close,
but we're not there yet.

Nothing, gary?

No, nothing yet.

Well, water's rushing in
quite fast from over there,

from right under here.

Yeah, I see that, right there.

Although the team has spent

thousands of hours
draining and drying the swamp,

it is believed that the area
is littered with everything

from underground springs
to the flood tunnels

that were constructed
to booby-trap the money pit.

And it's coming in
underneath us, too.

You can see, along the edges,
it's bubbling up.

You wouldn't think you'd get
a water flow that shallow.

-Of that volume, right?
-Yeah.

We haven't seen that much water
flowing in in the swamp so far.

Nope. But what does it mean?

Look, you can see the rocks

where the water is sh**ting in
on this side.

Yep. It looks like we kind of
hit the paved area.

You see the layer of rocks
that the water's running in?

A layer of rocks?

Could rick and the team have
found another section

of the paved-stone structure?

Billy, you noticed
the rocks, and now,

since you've uncovered
this side more,

you can see the water's
running in from that layer.

I think it could be the proper
depth for the paved area.

But y it's filling in
so fast with water,

I haven't been able to get
a good view of it again.

It's very simple, right?
You pile rocks,

and water will flow through,
certainly.

Was it a way to conduct water
from one area to another?

I-it's possible.

It'd be great if it
were a french drain

or part of the, uh,
flood tunnel system.

But, uh, as of yet,
we have not been able

to ascertain its purpose.

It'd be interesting
if we could get

a water sample
from the different sources.

I mean, that one appears to be
coming from that direction.

Could it be the sea or not?

They're both a little foamy,
though.

-Mm. -Which would tend to be
salt water, potentially.

You got a bucket?
You got a bottle?

I guess we can see
how long it flows for, too.

How long can we keep
bailing this? 'cause...

-Yeah. -...If it's just
the water table,

it's gonna stop
eventually, right?

Yep.

Oh...

- Little bit salty.

-What?
-It's a little salty.

-Little salty?
-Brackish, for sure.

That easily could be...

Just one bed
going through there.

-We grabbed the middle, now it's just draining from both sides.
-We disrupted it. Yeah.

Yeah, but there's
another one over there.

Yeah.

It's quite a bit of water.

Hey, terry.

What kind of structure
do we have here?

We know there's a the
so-called paved area over there.

You do see a rim of rock.

I-I think we would like,
certainly, all of us,

to come to an understanding.

Is this a natural feature,
is it man-made?

If it's man-made,

can we associate it
with something else?

The paved area, maybe,
possibly work in the money pit?

I-I don't know.
I'm, I am confused.

Craig? What-what do you,
what do you see?

Um, I mean, I don't know.

I-I agree.

I think we see it come from
a couple different directions.

-Mainly because we cut it in half.
-It's been cut off, yes.

Somebody came here
a long time ago, hid something

extremely valuable,
and then protected it

by extraordinary means.

What we were aware of
was a flood tunnel.

Maybe there were other traps.

So, some sort of heretofore
unknown booby trap

fits perfectly
with the whole concept

of this island.

Thought it might be some sort of

freshwater spring,
but it's definitely salty.

It'd be interesting,
now that it's been down,

a couple spots have been
leaking over there,

to see if they've
slowed up at all.

-'cause those have been going on for weeks.
-Yeah. Yep.

I wonder if we just stand down,

put a pump in there,
when dr. Spooner comes,

let him take a look at it.

put a couple pumps.

As a new day begins
on oak island,

and while waiting for
the permits needed to continue

excavating the mcginnis
foundation on lot 21...

Gentlemen.
Good to see you.

...Oak island historians

doug crowell
and charles barkhouse,

along with archaeologist
laird niven,

meet with ground-penetrating
radar experts

steve watson and don johnston
to begin what they hope

will be an exciting search
operation on lot 25,

the site of the home built
by former american sl*ve

turned cabbage farmer
samuel ball.

We have very little information
about samuel ball,

his house and his property,
and so,

-that's where you guys come in.
-Right.

Although he was born
into sl*very

on a south carolina planation
in 1765,

at the age of 11,
samuel ball escaped captivity

and made his way north
where he would eventually earn

his freedom by joining
the british m*llitary

during the american revolutio.

After the w*r's end,
ball fled north to nova scotia,

and in 1786,
purchased four acres

on lot 25, where he established
a small cabbage farm.

Over the next three decades,

samuel ball purchased
more and more land.

Not only on oak island,
but also on the mainland,

so that, by the time
of his death in 1846,

he was one of the richest

and most successful landowners
in nova scotia.

So rich, in fact,
that there are many who began

to speculate that ball may
actually have found a portion

of the oak island treasure.

Although samuel ball's
home fell into disrepair

and was removed many years ag,

the surviving foundation
has been made

a protected heritage site
by the canadian government,

which in the past
has prohibited

any search activity
within 200 feet.

However, laird niven has
obtained a special permit

to allow a gpr scan
of the site.

I mean, I'm very curious
to take a look at this

because samuel ball is
the mystery man of oak island,

as charles describes him.

And there has been
this connection,

perhaps that samuel had found
something, I.E., treasure.

Enigmatic, interesting fellow.

There could be secrets
hidden there.

If we can investigate it
properly,

we might find the clues
we want in there.

So, what's the game plan, here?

So, what we do is we collect
data across the area...

-Right. -...And then what we are able
to do is take that data,

knit it all together
and make a 3d model

of what's going on
in the ground.

We're gonna try
and stay within the

for the clearing area
for this grid.

ground-penetrating radar,
or gpr,

emits electromagnetic pulses
into the earth

to identify any large objects,
structures or voids

buried as much
as 15 feet belowground.

Samuel ball had a huge area,
didn't he?

Hopefully this is the beginning
of our interpretation

of what his land
was actually like.

Who knows what he might have
found here on the island.

And I would think you'd tend

to bring that stuff
back to your home.

Yeah. Anyway...

-We'll let you get to it.
- Okay. We'll get at it.

Excellent. Thank you.

As steve watson
and don johnston

begin their scan around
the ball foundation...

...Rick lagina returns
to the swamp

with geoscientist
dr. Ian spooner

to show him the mysterious rock
feature unearthed one day ago.

So what we're doing here
is trying to determine

-the, uh, boundaries of the paved area.
-Right.

We have a full crew
of witnesses here.

We were digging the shaft
because fred was never

forthcoming in terms
of what his aspirations were,

-what his goals were.
-Right.

So, the idea was just dig below

that to see what might be there.

But then, we noticed
a-a rock feature there.

Well, initially, we saw a lot
of water, but then it exposed

itself to a deeper it looked
like a deeper paved area.

Like, multiple rocks?

Yeah. A stacking of rocks.

Yeah, well, I'd really like
to see this.

We can show that to you.

-Bill, why don't you start...
Bailing -yeah, yeah.

-And we'll take a look.
-Yep.

We've not revealed
the paved area in its entirety,

but at this point,
we're all surprised.

Think about it, 225 years,
here, in the swamp,

the most enigmatic place
on the entire island.

This structure was not known
till just lately.

And yet it's
highly suggestive of the fact

that it holds
clues or information.

- They s think it's
that-that way.

-This way. Right in here. -No, it's-it's all,
all this way, all the way around

-okay. Right.
-And it stops about here.

Can you see that,
how it's bubbling up?

Yup, yup.

But as we get down to it,

you'll see the water starts
coming in at such a fast rate.

If this paved area
continued here and he hit it,

the water would've gone...
Right in.

Because it's open work. It's...
There's rock on rock.

It's just it would be like
a natural aquifer.

Yeah, I-it was uncontrollable.

Yeah.

Like, I can see...

Look at it coming in,
right over there.

Yes.

Yep.

It's not what we see
anywhere else out here

except the paved area.

- See the sticks and the rocks?
- Yep. Yep.

That, to me,
looks very, very similar.

I mean, I would say
it's the same.

This... Yeah.

There is a direct connection
to the paved area.

But it still doesn't
answer the question

as to the why of things.

And it rounds back to
the who, why and how of it.

Something happened here.

The paved area has gone way up
in terms of interest.

I just want to say thank you
for coming out.

I mean... You know,
just like that is a puzzle,

this is a even,
somewhat even bigger puzzle,

because we had no expectation
that this were here.

Right. I-it's getting to be
a real conundrum.

Absolutely.

Okay, now go down.

Go down.

-Now go back. - While rick lagina
and dr. Ian spooner

continue their investigation
in the oak island swamp...

So, I'm pretty excited to see

what they come up with
in this area.

...Archaeologist laird niven,

along with
oak island historians

doug crowell
and charles barkhouse,

-continue to oversee
the gpr scan

at the site of samuel ball's
18th-century home.

-well, we got something here.

Uh, laird, laird,
you might want to see this.

All right.

What do we have?

-So, this is a plan
of what we're collecting. - Right.

-And this is the side view,
so think of that

-as a slice through the ground.
- Oh, I see what you mean.

-Uh, we have two anomalies here,
- Yeah.

Which potentially
could be walls.

-Really? Wow...
- Walls?

Beneath the ground
near the ball foundation?

Could it be evidence of
a secret structure or tunnel

buried beneath the property?

And if so, was it built by
samuel ball himself

for some reason?

Or could it have been
something he found

and covered up in order
to keep it a secret?

There could be some kind of
an outside entrance.

-Yeah.
Wow.

It's approximately...

-It's almost, like, six feet...
Yep. - Okay. Wow.

That's great. That's exactly
what we're looking for.

That allows you
to get things in there and...

Larger items, obviously...
-Mm-hmm.

...That you would be
putting in there, right?

Yeah.

And if it's six feet wide,
that's a big entrance, too.

They're not normally that big.

It's, like, treasure chest wide.

You know, I had my suspicions,

but to prove it
I'd have to excavate.

It's that kind of data that
we take back and say,

"we'd like to excavate here
because we see this anomaly,

-and it may be this." right?
-Right. -Yeah.

-So, now we're gonna
extend the grid to the east. -Yeah...

I'm excited. All right.
We'll let you get back to it.

-Excellent, thank you.
-Okay. We'll get at it. All right.

According to steve watson,

the gpr expert,

-there's something there.

something that looks like
it could be a wall.

I'm keenly interested in it.

I'm excited about them because,
whether they'll have

anything to do with
the money pit or not,

that's interesting stuff.

So, we're-we're all on about

wanting to see
what that's about.

well, that's it for the day.

-We're wrapping up.
-All done?

-We're wrapping up.
-Excellent. Excellent.

So what we've got is the full
grid that we've just completed

-in the tree area.
-Right. Trees. Yeah.

And we have an anomaly
in this area.

That's one and a half feet deep.

- That darker orange grid?
- Y-yes.

The orange is
where the anomaly is.

Yeah.

And blue is
our consistent ground.

So, the little orange spots,
could those...

They could be something as well.

-They could turn into something.
-Yes.

-So, this, again,
a preliminary process. -Mm-hmm.

-This is just very quick
that the system does, -yeah.

But it gives us some,
some ideas.

- No, that's great. Yeah.
- Yeah.

Yeah, I'm pretty excited about
this whole process,

about everything
you guys have done.

Yeah, I think we have
enough data right now

to start a new application
for a new permit

to do some test excavations
in here.

Excellent.
Well, that's very good.

With any luck, the team
may be one permit away

from having the opportunity
to uncover key answers

that could help solve
the oak island mystery.

Unfortunately,
they must now be patient

while laird niven files
the proper request,

which may take several weeks
to be granted, if at all.

Now we have an anomaly
worthy of investigation.

So, it would certainly, uh,
be the connective tissue

to this long-held belief
by a lot of people

that samuel found something, uh,
related to the treasure.

-All right. Thanks, guys.
-Can't thank you enough for coming out.

-oh, thank you.
-Thank you.

It's all coming together.

- This is the start of it.
-Dan h.: Yeah.

It's exciting. I mean...

My hope is that after all
the hard work over 225 years,

that there really is
something to this story,

this mystery,
and that there really is

something to retrieve at that
great depth in the money pit.

Yeah.
Hopefully it pays off, rick.

Everybody's here.

If we can just find
that one thing,

a little piece of gold
is gonna at least be big enough

to start to prove
that something is hidden

somewhere down deep
in the money pit area.

-It's got to be.
-It's down there, jack.

We haven't found it yet,
that's all.

Yeah, well,
with the size of these cans,

we'll find
whatever's down there.

The day that
brothers rick and marty lagina,

along with their team,
have worked and waited for

has finally arrived.

-Oh!
- Now look at that!

That is a really old pick.

After a summer filled
with amazing discoveries,

from ancient tunneling tools
dating back

as early as the 15th century..

-Wow. -...To lead
artifacts whose origins,

much like the medieval cross,

may connect to
the knights templar...

And absolute proof that
the swamp was man-made

as much as
eight centuries ago...

The oak island team is now
more hopeful than ever

that they could make an equally
incredible and historic find

in borehole oc-1.

So, we're ready to go.

I'm only gonna say a few words
and that is that, you know,

I want to thank everybody
for all the hard work this year.

Um, I think it would be
appropriate,

and I hope everyone would agree,

that I think david and dan
should do the honors.

-you ready, bud? of course,
I'm always ready.

You're gonna oscillate.

I just thought it was very
apropos, if you will,

to have david blankenship
and dan henskee

initiate the process

because they now are
the two titans of oak island.

David working with his father
all those years,

and dan henskee having
what I always say

lived, breathed and bled
oak island

for, well,
most of his adult life.

I think it's apropos.

You guys have been here

longer than the rest of us
put together.

What are you here,
50, 40-some years?

-Yeah, 40-some-odd. Yeah.
-Dan? Oh, how many years?

About 47 years, uh, actively.

I think between all of us,
there's...

-We're pushing 150 years of
interest in this mystery... -Oh, yeah.

And it's about time, right?

Not only for ourselves, but...

No. It is past time.

It is past time.
Well said, dave.

-Everybody's thinking good
thoughts, let's do this. -I like it. Let's do it.

-And make a wish before you press the button.
-Exactly, both of you.

-oh, boy.

All right, dan.
Why don't you do the duty?

Okay. -Go ahead
and turn that on for us.

Okay. Here we go.

Yep, there you go. It clicked.

Dan h.:
There it is. It's on.

-Do it, dave.
-Do it. Do it!

Here we go!

-Yeah!
-Now let it up.

Push it back. There you go.

Makin' hole.

-Are you thinking of your dad
right now? - Yeah, well,

he pushed it last year.

-He did. - He did.
-Yeah. So...

I truly believe, dan,

there's-there's something
down there.

I really do.

It's about time to get to it.

As the massive steel caissons

advance deeper into the earth

at the money pit dig site,

the anticipation for a
historic breakthrough discovery

has never been greater for
brothers rick and marty lagina

and their oak island team.

It is a sentiment made stronger
by the bonds they share,

not only with one another,

but also with the
generations of men and women

who came before them.

Especially those
who gave their lives

attempting to reveal
the island's secrets.

But if rick, marty and the team
can finally reach

what's at the bottom of
the legendary money pit,

just what will be revealed?

Priceless artifacts
of an ancient culture?

Sacred religious treasures?

One thing seems certain.

Whatever it is will likely
change history as we know it.

Next time,
on the curse of oak island...

- Coming up.
-This is the money pit area.

All right, so we have a chance
at the treasure.

We're on the right spot.

I can't wait to see
what comes out of that hole.

You're certain that's bone?

It's big.
It's probably a human bone.

-It's the bottom of a barrel.
-What would a barrel be doing down there?

That's a component of
the original treasure cache.

Oh, my gosh! It's a ring!
This is a ring, mate!

Charles lewton-brain:
It appears to have been chiseled

prior to 1730s.

Possibly spanish.

We're back in business!