06x14 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Cenote

Episode transcripts for the TV show "The Curse of Oak Island". Aired: January 5, 2014 to present.*
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Follows brothers Marty and Rick as they search for the infamous treasure on Oak Island.
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06x14 - Voyage to the Bottom of the Cenote

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Tonight on the curse of Oak Island

Let's find it should be this area recording

recording that thing might be man-made

almost looks like gonna anchor we're

gonna find out scientifically how all

these bits of paper are red diamond

doesn't seem to have something on this

is from maybe even pop the grounds gone

its Kevin this is a very dangerous place

the whole money pit could collapse

Oh baby be careful Oh

there is an island in the North Atlantic

where people have been looking for an

incredible treasure for more than

years so far they have found a stone

slab with strange symbols carved into it

mysterious fragments of human bone and a

LED 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

[Music]

as a new day begins on Oak Island and as

the excavation of borehole h continues

at the money pit site

Brothers Marty and Rick lagina check in on their extensive

search operations at Smith's Cove have

you figured this out yet

it's a lot to figure we're closing in on

a few points Warren and Laird

how are you buddy good Barney how are

you good Jerry

well you guys have made a hell of a mess

here oh yeah you just got down to where

you can see things that's all a lot of

people thought that this was a very

significant place to do something put a

lot of effort in to put a lot of effort

it's very strange

shortly after the excavation of Smith's

Cove began six weeks ago

the Oak Island team quickly made a

series of incredible and often baffling

discoveries among them a number of

massive wooden structures one featuring

large notched beams marked with Roman

numerals and another in the shape of an

L the team also uncovered the remains of

what appears to be an ancient slipway

used for hauling ships into and out of

the water and a mysterious concrete wall

we don't understand some of these

structures we've found all kinds of

crazy things walls and slipways and

concrete walls that we didn't even know

existed and all of it massive and all of

it looking like it took an enormous

effort to do all of it underwater very

very puzzling right there see the

opening yeah two flat rocks laid

together like a triangle but perhaps the

most significant discovery so far is

what Rick and Marty believe could be the

remains of one of what were reported to

be five stone box drains designed as a

means of booby trapping the money pit

with seawater the odd thing from the

spillway we found really nice ceramics

from down at the East End it slaughter

or searcher yeah searcher early searcher

so could they possibly have done all

this without really concrete proof of

the box drains it seems hard to believe

doesn't I mean yeah could they have done

this on conjecture where's the so-called

convergence point we don't know where it

comes in I thought we would find

something here was some sort of

alignment coming in although Rick and

Marty are excited by all their other

discoveries at Smith's Cove unearthing

one of the stone box drains has given

them hope of finding what they refer to

as the convergence point the place where

each of the five box drains joined

together

if it is located it could lead the team

directly to the original money pit

treasure vault if it were the Box trains

if we can actually prove that it was a

way to get water from Smith's Cove to

the money pit since it's a huge

discovery well one thing is extremely

consistent nothing makes sense as the

excavation continues at Smith's Cove

just across the bay from Oak Island in

the town of western shore Nova Scotia

good morning morning how are you today

Craig tester and Jack Begley arrived at

the Oak Island marina they have arranged

to meet with an oceanic survey team from

the center of Geographic Sciences also

known as cogs I'm looking forward to

being able to scan from the south end of

the island if some of the theories are

that that that was kind of an old flood

system that went out there although it

has long been believed that the origin

of the booby-trapped flood tunnels

system could be found at Smith's Cove

Craig tester is equally intrigued by a

theory held by journalist and author

Randall Sullivan which suggests that a

second set of flood tunnels might be

found on the islands southern shore just

east of the triangle-shaped swamp I'm

certain that the real core stones in the

flood tunnel is you knowing way offshore

you know on the south side

so what are we running today well so

what we have up here is a lidar scanner

okay

so that is going to actually take a scan

of the shoreline of Oak Island okay and

then we'll be running a side-scan fish

right from the court here on the stern

so anything that looks man-made it'll

pick it up okay sounds great

using state-of-the-art marine imaging

equipment the team from cogs will employ

both sound and laser based technologies

to scan the waters surrounding Oak

Island if successful they might be able

to find evidence of manmade formations

up to feet beneath the seabed

turning turning are we getting ready to

do some lines yeah

we're lining up okay are you going

east-west lines or north-south right now

we're doing north-south lines but we

actually have east-west in there as well

plus you're gonna do both yeah great

start reporting start reporting we're

recording the team will scan along a

total of some lines arranged five

meters apart in a systematic grid

pattern which will allow them to totally

encompass the islands coastal area

and ER what deaf do you have . you

guys getting rocks

I can't see anything what's your depth

right now two and a half got some rocks

quite a bit of raw

there's like a line of rocks but that's

not necessarily

that's interesting yeah I'm finally

seeing something yeah cuz almost looks

like there's a hole down through stuff

will come up there's definitely a

distinctive line there

yeah okay turn it

I almost look big it could be a caved-in

area or something that's still there now

that right there looks like some sort of

shaped like it could be van me

okay

while scanning the waters off the south

shore of Oak Island Craig tester and

Jack Begley along with the team from the

center of geographic Sciences have just

made what could be an exciting discovery

an offshore hole located in the same

area where author and researcher Randall

Sullivan believes there could be a

second booby-trapped flood tunnels

system that feeds ocean water to the

money pit

now that right there looks like some

very light material and the depression

love that very anything oh yeah so you

don't know of anything that's in here do

you some of the ice holes could be here

in this area okay during the winter of

veteran treasure hunter dan

Blankenship was conducting an operation

in the money pit area which involved

pumping water out of recently drilled

bore holes into the ocean just off the

islands southern shore but shortly after

the operation began dan was astonished

to notice four of what he described as

ice holes circular depressions in the

ice that he thought might have been

caused by underground caves or man-made

tunnels could the anomaly Craig and Jack

are seen on the ocean floor be further

evidence that his second flood tunnel

system really exists

on one line we saw what I could have

been like an edge of an ice hole really

but that's what I mean there was suppose

a for isil's yeah they should be right

here right should be in this area yeah

you have to look at that after

processing to see if it jumps out

morning we're getting real-time images

coming back but there's a lot of noise

associated with it it's just like you're

turned into a radio station and he kind

of can hear the music but there's a lot

of noise well she can take it back and

process it and get rid of that noise you

get a nice clear image what's the next

line NS + c recording recording

and see anything what's out on the

right-hand side there well right there

you can see there's clearly something

there that doesn't look like it could be

natural it's very angular almost like an

anchor an anchor from a ship although

finding an anchor in the waters of

Mahone Bay is not a surprising discovery

if it can be successfully identified and

proves to be from an era prior to the

discovery of the money pit in it

could offer important clues that might

help the team solve the Oak Island

mystery so we're thinking that that

thing was probably wada it's about yay

long or something I think that's the

approximate size of one that's supposed

to be yeah and then once you guys go

through the post-processing you should

have the exact location of that object

good you know on the scans today we

definitely saw some anomalies out there

so I'm eager to see what they come up

with once they start processing this

data I mean if we come up with a

shipwreck or we come up with one of

these ice holes the next step is to get

a diver out there and keep on searching

this keep on tying the ocean to the

island itself post-processing

bring something out

at the start of another day on Oak

Island good morning Rick lagina has

invited other members of the Oak Island

team to join him in the w*r room so

gentlemen as you see before you we have

a you know a number of items here and

they're all from age th certainly has

rendered the most significant objects

and in the entire money pit exploration

[Music]

of all the exploratory bore holes

drilled at the money pit site the one

that is the most intriguing is the one

simply known as a chain

last year while drilling at this site

Rick and his brother Marty along with

other members of the Oak Island team

found evidence of parchment leather

bookbinding and two fragments of th

century human bone one which was

determined to be of European origin and

another whose DNA could be traced to the

Middle East Paul if you want to see if

dr. Russo hello dr. Bruce all dr. Bruce

oh we're back dr. Krista Bruce oh he's

an analytical chemist in residence at

st. Mary's University in Halifax she has

been invited by Rick and the team to

evaluate several of the recent finds

made in h to see if any of them

contained precious metal human remains

or other materials that can be proven to

be older than the discovery of the money

pit you know we're all very excited for

you to render an opinion about these

objects so if you'd be kind enough to

let us know what you found out

sure I can walk you through these

objects so when you send me these

objects they came with a number and also

what you thought they might be question

mark mm-hmm so I guess we'll start with

sample

that was a sample that you were

wondering if it was a bone and then had

some fibers on it mm-hmm so that came

back as iron rich in sulfur it has about

seven percent sulfur and so I would

think of that as being a slag sort of

cast off from a poor refining process so

it's sort of metal slag metal slag

created when metal is extracted from raw

or slag is most often found near

foundries or other places where smelting

is conducted because it is made part

officially it is rarely as in the case

of Oak Island found deep underground

yeah I mean a slag is not that strange

but I guess being founded depth might be

so the next sample sample you

indicated that you thought it might be

leather mm-hmm

that is definitely plant material I can

clearly see the plant vasculature in the

electron micrograph so that could be

just tree bark okay okay

sample you had indicated you thought

it might be leather it's not leather

it's again a plant based material this

is likely to be a piece of tree per

I expected a whole lot more leather this

year and these were the best pieces that

we were able to find okay moving on

sample so I did infrared spectroscopy

on it and it is cellulose based it came

back as all organic

it is very fibrous so under the

microscope looks like paper and so our

indication at that point was that it

that wasn't parchment but a cotton right

beaker which would be an older form of

paper rag paper as early as the th

century AD the first paper produced

throughout medieval Europe was made

entirely from linen and cotton scraps

known more commonly as rags by the mid

th century rag paper was much more

commonly used in the production of books

and manuscripts often bound together

with more durable parchment

when treasure hunters William Chappell

and Frederick Blair drilled into what

they believed to be a wooden vault in

they discovered a tiny piece of

parchment that had the letters V I

written on it could this piece of rag

paper found more than feet deep be

evidence that books or even original

manuscripts might have been buried in

the money pit centuries ago

okay sample this is also paper it's

more contaminated this particular sample

is certainly three Wow

what would we do what further testing

methodologies would we apply to to date

it well probably what I would do is have

I looked at by someone who works with

papers historical papers well dr. BIR so

thank you for your time we really

appreciate it

we hope to send you some gold soon for

testing already speaking of that let's

get back to you

following their informative meeting in

the oak island w*r room jack begley and

gary drayton joined Marty lagina Craig

tester and dan henskee at the h drill

site they are eager to examine the

spoils recently excavated from the shaft

in search of any additional artifacts

and hopefully pieces of treasure

plastic plastic maybe

Oh what thick that is that's a pottery

big chunk of pottery it's a blue yeah

damn sure is

Wow that's interesting yeah

it's game time because every bucket that

comes up might lead us to some

conclusions and help us with the hunt it

might lead us to where we want to go and

where we want to go is to find the

original money limestone lots of it yeah

this looks like pretty recent lumber

like within the last hundred years or so

it's all cleaned and cut perfectly

square that tends to be searchers

proving or something mm-hmm I'm not

seeing anything Jackie there we go

this looks like organic material and it

doesn't look like bark I think this is

leather that's a really good piece of it

because you can see all the fibrous

material definitely bag that one okay I

will beg it anyway I have to look at

everything yep

what is it boy yes Wow

that is an old beautiful square man yeah

that's nice good fun how does this

compare to the other spikes we found in

the money a different usage these were

mainly used for planking if I was a

maritime nail that would be a deck in

nail a decking nail from a ship but how

would a deck email come to be found at a

depth of some feet

in the years after Daniel McGinnis and

two friends discovered the original

money pit in many began to

speculate that the wood used to

construct the treasure shaft may have

come from a large ship possibly a pirate

ship or Spanish galleon according to

this theory it was done both to build

the ship and to hide all evidence of the

craft that transported the treasure to

the island

could the discovery of a ship's nail

found in the h spoils b*at evidence

that this incredible theory is true we

haven't actually found this tide before

this is the first one it is we could be

in the original money pit that yep

that might be a really good sign yeah

I'm gonna tag him back this squid now

really good fine as the operation at age

continues we're here Alex lagina and

historian Doug crawl travel some

miles to the nearby city of Halifax

where they have arranged a meeting at

the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design

Hey Joe Joe Joe Landry is considered an

expert in the study and restoration of

ancient manuscripts he has been invited

to follow up on information recently

received from dr. Christopher O soul at

Saint Mary's University which indicated

that the small fragments of paper

recently found in the h spoils had been

made of cotton rags

well thanks for taking the time to sit

down with us again know we have a few

things that we'd love your expertise on

we were a step ahead and we already

checked to see if it was parchment we

got a negative tell me what you think

this is

certainiy feels like paper but we think

this came from feet below or a

little deeper this was underground for

you know maybe a couple hundred years is

it plausible that it would be in that

state if it was deep underground and wet

there's probably very little oxygen

getting getting at it and perhaps lots

of many microbes and insects to eat eat

it away so yeah it could be it could be

very old and could be original is what

that sounds like yes yes that's great

yeah

it's very different from the other piece

so I think to me it seems to be a

different material so I'll just actually

hand it to you because it might fall out

some color here right the interest you

don't see whether it's an ink or a page

or something I'm hoping that there's

maybe some traces of writing on there

yeah it should be impossible to say

unless unless we open it up right

I think that's there's no reason not to

do that in my opinion yeah I would wet

it again in order to unfold it you don't

want to do that dry because you're

damaged the paper right we'd love to

have you taking a closer look

certainly it's difficult to think of a

reason for paper to be feet down in

the money pit area if Joe is able to

unfold this paper and if it's got

writing on it it's gonna be a really

really important clue working with his

apprentice Katherine Taylor Joe Landry

soaks both of the paper fragments in

water we've started the process of

soaking it to make it pliable so we can

open it up right

the sample is then carefully manipulated

using surgical forceps in an effort to

determine if any possible writing or

important clues could still be visible

it looks like this is folded but it's

almost like there's something adhering

inside definitely seems like there's a

crease there and binding it could it be

that this tiny fragment of paper is not

a piece from a single document but part

of a page from an ancient book any

thoughts on the the coloration of that

sometimes they deliberately colored

paper in book bindings or end papers or

something of that nature what can you

infer from what you've seen so far is it

an older type of paper it appears so if

you look through the lens looks very

very even do you mind if I have a look

here what does that even s indicate to

you well could indicate either a wou

paper or a piece of thin cloth if it's a

wolf paper then we know that it's post

or maybe you've been earlier you

can see the fibers but we can't see

anything else all the dates seem to be

centered around the mid to late s

and it fits really nicely with the

origin story of Oak Island really you

know the discovery of freshmen in

the ground fits really well with a bunch

of activity to years before

we have this other piece as well which

in a way it's even more interesting

because there's color involved and it

does I think there it could be there's

certainly a red spot here we don't know

what that is whether it's a matter that

it picked up in the ground almost looks

like a speck of red ink right let that

line there cuz like a line to me oh yes

right here yes

if you look through the loop here he

definitely looks like a mark online

doesn't it no for sure I'd like to

investigate the ink yeah I don't know

that we're seeing anything here that's

going to be a lot of help

no the ideal situation would be to get

it hooked up to a microscope well it's a


camera do you have a microscope here no

oh we don't okay so maybe that's our

next step hopefully you'd be able to

tell us maybe how old it might be or yes

or what it purpose yeah

well for now I think we packed this up

although Alexander Gard is appointed

that Joe Landry was not able to make a

more conclusive evaluation they are now

more convinced than ever that the red

markings on the paper are inked and that

both fragments could be hundreds of

years old I can't thank you guys enough

oh you're welcome really appreciate it

thank you very much

as a new day dawns on Oak Island

all kinds of what dissin bet it is Rick

lagina and Craig tester continue to

carefully examine the spoils being

retrieved from borehole h

you know he'll know

can is long

[Music]

and fell

keep seeing her go what's going on

we should be ground there and there's

not

the other grounds gone

oh that light over here you see see

right back there

looks crazy in there they're worried we

should be worried

it's Cavin kV is it possible that the h

shaft has started to collapse in on

itself

we do have some caving in around the

shaft we're starting to get voids under

the oscillator

doll news it looks like it's about

inches ish down all the way around and

then it's kind of falling out so we got

a slowdown nothing comforting the more

what you're seeing comforting for Rick

and Craig a cave-in of the h shaft is a

potentially devastating development if

the Earth's surrounding the drill site

is severely compromised it could be a

warning sign that a much larger and much

more catastrophic collapse could happen

at any moment

huge collapse but it is you can see that

it's it's moved away from the deck

yeah but this has been Swiss cheese

right so many people have drilled in

here yeah that's not good for the past

two centuries more than bore holes

shafts and tunnels have been dug

throughout the money pit area by

searchers hoping to avoid the booby

traps protecting the bottom of the money

pit as each excavation inevitably failed

due to flooding the holes were filled

back in leaving the ground compromised

and unstable if the cave-in surrounding

a chain continues to expand it could

cause a collapse through the entire

money pit area

the team's search operation

definitely subsiding sir there's no

question about that yeah there there

were all this work all the research and

it may come down to we can't continue

as the team from Erving equipment

limited continues to inspect the cabin

around borehole h

some fifty miles northeast of Oak Island

in the city of Halifax hello again Joe

nice to see you sir good to see you

Marty lagina and researcher Doug crawl

have arranged to meet once again with

medieval book expert Joe Landry at st.

Mary's University they are hoping that

the high-powered microscopes and other

sophisticated equipment available at the

University will give them valuable

information concerning the small piece

of rag paper recently recovered from the

h h aft well gentlemen furgus Joe let's

do it working with lab technician Fergus

Tweeddale the team will analyze the

paper sample using a polarized light

microscope capable of magnifying objects

up to times their actual size so

we'll start with a times

magnification view of it so there's the

top surface can you go to the edge

Fergus one may be able to see something

more there yeah that's a good idea

who's that that make no red dye right

there you can see yes that's what made

this piece so interesting because it

doesn't seem to have something printed

on it that's the closest thing to fibers

that we've seen so far that's for sure

but I mean this is a ribbed edge so the

orientation probably isn't telling you

anything that's really you know what it

looked like when it was made that's true

I think that if you could go to low

magnification before we leave that one

yeah

[Music]

that's times magnification

almost looks crystalline yeah it does

this crystalline substance that we're

seeing here that you think might be

pigment are their pigments made of

material that would give this appearance

well we certainly know it's early ink

probably a medieval or Renaissance ink

red for instance would be cinnabar

cinnabar as early as the th century AD

the red colored mineral known as

Cinnabon was a key component in the

manufacture of a type of ink that was

used throughout medieval Europe most

notably in the production of important

documents and religious manuscripts

could this simple fragment of paper

found in h be evidence that it along

with the other pieces of leather

bookbinding recovered from the shaft is

of medieval origin so you're seeing

Stu

, on the outside when somebody like

Joe Landry who basically has been

involved in paper their whole lives says

that it could be medieval an expert's

opinion like that has wait I find that

highly significant all right well thank

you guys really appreciate it welcome

let's appreciate your time

Fergus a pleasure nice meeting you

John if you were to guess how deep would

you say that is around KB more

inches definitely over there because

there's about a foot and that looks way

deeper on this side deep enough scare me

worried because they think it's gonna

collapse yeah they're they're worried

it is a tense and critical moment at the

Oak Island money pit as Rick lagina and

Craig tester a way to report from

representatives of Irving equipment

limited about the consequences of the

cave-in that is developed around

borehole h any benefit in flying the

oscillator off right now and he can just

keep crabbing

we're not gonna oscillate on that can

anymore it's probably a good plan

so what's your concern so we're gonna

need it stop oscillating on this we can

definitely continue today with the

camera graph oh really yes we can hold

but we want to go forward with caution

yes the worst case scenario would be to

continue here compromise the integrity

here in this general area it's

concerning enough that I think we're

doing the right thing but it's not

concerning enough that we're evacuating

and run everyone's moving out of here

right this minute

but as long as we're getting full

buckets and we're still bringing up wood

and things like we want to keep going ok

hard to walk away right now

yeah because continuing to oscillate the

a chain shaft would risk a larger and

potentially more dangerous collapse

underground Rick and Craig are hoping

that by carefully excavating a chain

with a three-ton hammer grab tool they

may still be able to recover important

clues or treasure without causing

further damage the good news is the hole

is not increasing neither in depth nor

width so I'm thinking this is a very

localized subsidence and we can deal

with it so I'm quite happy about that

let's start hammer grabbing again

later that night after receiving an

urgent call from Charles Barkhouse Rick

lagina hurries to the money pit drill

site yeah looking at here piece of stone

cave in there the cabin that occurred

around the h shaft earlier today has

suddenly become a much larger sinkhole a

sinkhole that is now growing at an

alarming rate you can hear rumblings

underground and I have no idea what's

about to happen let's go take a look

let's do this

Eisen boots I agree we know the

integrity of the earth if you will is

you know it's compromised Oh baby

be careful

Valis you

[Music]

hang on one second

I'm worried I'll be honest with you I my

thoughts run - we may be done

[Music]

after a harrowing and near sleepless

night on Oak Island brothers Rick and

Marty lagina along with their partner

Craig tester and Dave Blankenship make

their way back to the money pit area

they have come to see if the sinkhole

that opened up at the AJ drill site has

gotten any worse how bad last night when

I got there it was about six feet across

I called Mike dirty he arranged to have

two of his crew come they moved the

crane I moved the excavator in the

backhoe because there was some thought

that it was gonna continue to subside

you know when Danny came this morning he

had ideas that the case was gonna be

like this then yeah sure sure the

powerpack could be hanging by the hoses

off of the oscillator well let's go have

a look

[Music]

you do to our whole gentleman everything

is your fault you realize hey guys hey

alright let's have a look alright

how bad

eight feet deep but loving feet across

this fell in last night peace just fell

right in its undermined already careful

it is a little dicey on the lip yeah and

I'm glad nobody got hurt boy definitely

found its way to the top yeah good thing

nobody was standing over that when I

went in this is no good the further

collapse of the ground surrounding the

h shaft is deeply concerning for Rick

Marty and their partners it could mean

that the entire area is now too unstable

for the ton crane and oscillator to

continue working and that a catastrophic

collapse could be imminent I'll be

honest it was of some concern that we

were in jeopardy I'm worried if we can't

get to that work and get it done

completed we're gonna be in trouble

there are voids underneath here there

are yeah you put a bunch of shafts in

the same area and be pulling them and

moving them and all that stuff one gets

into Sun water you're gonna get settling

we just were eroding it away underneath

there yes there still is a danger at any

time and we will see this yes that's

right

well I hate to say it but one of these

days we're all gonna be standing here

and just disappear it's a decent

possibility at any point that the whole

money pit area could collapse it's not

just lip service when we say safety is

paramount out here I mean this is a very

dangerous place it's a very dangerous

undertaking and we have to minimize it

we're all about safety Ricky said it a

million times we're not gonna do

anything foolish

okay well then the key is to wait for

the engineer to come render an opinion

and hopefully proceed so that's the plan

guys for Rick Marty and the Oak Island

team a week that began with great

promise now ends with the most

devastating setback they've ever

experienced but is the money pit area

collapsing as the result of more than

two centuries of searchers digging here

or is something more mysterious and

perilous happening like the flood

tunnels could Rick and Marty have

encountered yet another ingeniously

designed booby trap one that was set to

be triggered if anyone got too close if

so perhaps it is a sign that the

brothers are closer than they think to

solving this year old mystery a

mystery whose origins might be linked to

a simple piece of paper placed there for

safekeeping

centuries ago next time on the curse of

Oak Island

it's time to redo the dye test we're

gonna get everybody lined out here real

quick see if that red dye comes out and

we're we're ready to begin let's do this

there's no treasure in the world worth

anyone getting perfect there's some

weird anomaly in the water one is if we

get red dye is this cold I might be

gonna believer

oh I think I see it that's the red guy
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