Original subtitles

Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

There is something four feet down

and 14 feet long.

Ooh.

What the heck is that?

- Check out what I just found. - What?

This is definitely pre-discovery of the Money Pit.

That's treasure.

And that's the only one of its kind.

This could be medieval times.

That's right in the era of the Templars.

Did the Knights of Malta come to Oak Island?

We could get an answer

if we go to Malta.

Then let's go!

There is an island in the North Atlantic

where people have been looking for

an incredible treasure for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found a stone slab

with strange symbols carved into it,

man-made workings that date to medieval times,

and a lead cross whose origin may be connected

to the Knights Templar.

To date, six men have died

trying to solve the mystery.

And according to legend, one more will have to die

before the treasure can be found.

Super important day, folks.

We are reaching the end of our ability

to put additional cans in the Money Pit area.

We want to find treasure this year,

or indication of treasure, or the one thing

that would explain what happened on this island.

A new morning has begun on Oak Island

for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina and their team.

All of those things have... are yet to be found,

but we're going to try our best to find them.

And in their determination

to solve a 230-year-old mystery, they are meeting in the war room

to plot a new strategy

for the recovery

of a believed treasure buried deep in the Money Pit area.

The hope this year was to find this one thing

in the Shaft Six caissons.

So, Rick, why don't you just summarize for everybody,

and then we'll discuss where we go next.

Uh, I can do that

in one word, really: disappointment.

I had long believed that the answers

to the mystery were in Shaft Six,

but unfortunately, we didn't find it.

Over the past several weeks,

the Oak Island team excavated

three seven-foot-diameter steel shafts in the Money Pit area,

known as RP-1, RP-2 and RP-3.

Each is believed to have encountered

a 118-foot-deep searcher shaft known as Shaft Six,

as well as an adjacent tunnel

that extended toward the original Money Pit.

These structures were built in 1861

by the Oak Island Association

in an attempt to retrieve two stacked treasure chests

that were believed to sit some 100 feet deep

in the Money Pit,

and just ten feet below a man-made flood tunnel,

connected to the ocean.

Unfortunately, the effort failed and caused

tons of wood timbers in the Money Pit to collapse,

leaving the searchers to speculate

that the treasure chests had fallen

into the Shaft Six tunnel.

We saw two different types of construction:

dimensional wood,

big huge timbers.

Everything about that spoke to a collapse.

What's that? A big piece of wood?

It's adze-cut.

In all three of the RP shafts,

the Laginas and their team unearthed wood,

potentially from the Shaft Six tunnel

and the original Money Pit.

But unfortunately,

they recovered no evidence of treasure.

What we saw, to me, absolutely proved the narrative.

There was every bit of evidence

that there was indeed, a catastrophic collapse.

And that treasure went somewhere.

So, where did the treasure go?

I think what it proved, to me, is that

the treasure that once resided in the Money Pit

currently resides in the solution channel

or somewhere in close proximity to it.

- Yeah. -On our first caisson,

we did see proof that the solution channel--

natural cavity-- can accept a lot of material.

We're almost to our first target depth of interest.

Prior to the three RP shaft excavations,

the team dug a shaft known as "True Believer," or "TB-1"

at the believed location of the original Money Pit,

where they hoped to retrieve the legendary Chappell Vault,

a seven-foot-tall box encased in concrete

that treasure hunter Frederick Blair

and his drill operator William Chappell

reportedly encountered 153 feet deep back in 1897.

Hey, stop! It's caving.

But, upon reaching a depth below 150 feet,

the ground beneath and surrounding TB-1 shaft

suddenly caved in,

leading the team to believe

that tons of earth, and the vault,

may have fallen into the so-called "solution channel,"

a natural cavity in the bedrock that was formed by ground water,

and which the team's previous drilling operations identified

between 160 and 230 feet underground.

The biggest reveal of all is

that the solution channel, or something down deep,

can accept massive amounts of material.

Where else could it have gone?

Could Rick and Marty Lagina be correct

that the collapse

around and below the TB-1 shaft was much larger

than they previously thought?

Meaning that both the believed treasure

in the Shaft Six tunnel, as well as the fabled Chappell Vault,

may now lie more than 200 feet underground

in the so-called "solution channel"?

If so, the team will have

to conduct major repairs to that area

before they can safely attempt another large-scale excavation

in search of the valuables.

We have a real momentous decision to make,

and that is: where does the next can go?

To me,

we must go deep

into the solution channel. We have to.

I'm with you.

I'm all for getting down

into the solution channel.

One thing that I'm going to caution about.

If we're going to go deep on this hole,

- we want to be able to do it right. - Mm-hmm.

So, we'll need to get some other equipment in place to do this.

The last thing we want to do

is put a can down here and not be able to get to the bottom.

- Agreed. - Okay. We need to pick the exact location.

Steve, put that Money Pit plot up there.

Sure will.

Okay. Look at that.

So, the green is the solution channel.

-Yes. -Yeah. -Okay.

Put it in there, Steve.

Put it where it has to go, the only place it could be.

Right there.

That's as close as I can get based on the requirements

- they've asked us to follow. -Exactly.

Let's not forget, we started this year with TB-1.

We're over seven feet south of TB-1, and many of us believe,

TB-1 was the north end of the Money Pit.

Well, this would make the south end of the Money Pit.

All right.

We got a shot right here to solve the whole damn thing.

So, I say, "Let's do it." Anybody disagree?

- No. - Good. Okay,

Scott, can we get going on it?

I'll go out and talk to SBC, and we'll get those plans in motion.

So, we'll have a little bit of a hiatus here then?

It's going to be several weeks to regrade the-the pad.

They'll have to get set up, so we will have some time.

Okay. Good.

Due to the collapse that took place

around and below the TB-1 shaft,

the ground is currently unstable and unsafe for a new excavation.

This means that representatives from SB Canada

and ROC Equipment will need several weeks

to backfill and stabilize the area

to support more than 300 tons of digging equipment.

Okay, so, it sounds like

there's a little bit of a window of time here

to search for answers across the island.

- Perfect gap to do that. - Yup.

Well, here's a perfect segue to finish up on this then.

Nobody talked about naming this.

Clearly, this is "The One Thing," right?

T-O-T, tot.

That's the name of this one: "The One Thing,"

'cause it's going to bring it up.

That is very hopeful, and

all we have to do right now is execute.

- Let's go get it. -Let's go.

Following the meeting in the war room...

-Hey, Tom. -Hey, Rick.

...Rick joins fellow Oak Island landowner

Tom Nolan and metal detection expert Gary Drayton

in the northernmost region of the triangle-shaped swamp.

He's gonna have to take a scoop

behind there 'cause you'll want to do

- level right across? - Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And see if we see the wall.

Whoa!

There's even more big boulders down there.

One week ago,

after uncovering more sections

of a cobblestone pathway...

Here. Here. Here. Here...

...the team was stunned

to find a man-made formation of large boulders.

I think you have a sea wall.

This is how you'd close this swamp off.

This feature was found in the same area

where Tom's late father, Fred Nolan,

reportedly uncovered evidence of a wooden wall in the late 1960s,

which he suspected was used to create the swamp

in order to conceal multiple caches of treasure.

And incredibly,

this feature also matched one labeled "The Dam"

on a reported 14th-century map of Oak Island

that was given to the team

by the late researcher Zena Halpern in 2016.

A map that Zena believed

was created by members of the Knights Templar

during an operation to hide priceless

religious artifacts on Oak Island.

I got a signal, just here.

- You got a signal? - Yeah.

That's not bad, either. Ooh.

Yeah. Good signal just there.

Prediction, Gary?

I'm predicting it's a great find.

Comes from deep enough.

Nice and sandy material, but...

Ooh. What the heck is that?

- Wow. -That is cool.

What the heck is that?

Is this thing hollow?

Yes, it is.

While investigating near a mysterious wall

of boulders in the northern end of the Oak Island swamp,

Gary Drayton has just made

a potentially significant discovery.

Hmm. It's the tip of something.

You know, it almost looks

like something's stamped into it.

You can see this raised...

- See the circle here or the radius? -Yeah.

And then there's, like, a plate there.

That might have something on it, too.

Yeah.

You know what? The more I look at it,

and you see the notch there, and it's a socket.

I think it's weapon or gun-related.

It kind of reminds me of a ramrod guide.

Fire!

Dating back to as early

as the 16th century,

a ramrod is a tool

that is inserted through a guide

on the barrel of a musket rifle

in order to load ammunition charges into the weapon.

Has Gary just found a ramrod guide

near a possible man-made dam in the swamp?

If so, just who left it here?

And what were they doing in this area?

It's amazing though, isn't it?

Look at all the things

that have come out of this bog, all the finds.

We can't make a sentence with a period at the end of it.

-No. -Right?

Yeah. All it takes is one good find.

But again, speaks to the complexity of the mystery.

Yeah, I know the archaeologists are going

to be all over this, and they'll tell us what it is.

The more we uncover these rocks,

the more it just looks like something.

At some point using GPR,

maybe you'll find something else in there.

Maybe there's something deeper.

Oh yeah, yup.

Okay. Well, I've got to leave, but

I'll be back, and hopefully,

you'll have made some more discoveries.

That's fantastic.

- What an unexpected find! -Mm-hmm.

Keep going.

- Okay, mate. -Okay. We'll keep digging.

Good luck.

I am intrigued

with all the things that have been found in the swamp.

The swamp has some very interesting stories to tell.

Is there treasure or not? We'll soon find out.

Hey, Gary?

Yup? What do you got, Tom?

It's a brick.

Yeah. It looks like an older-style brick,

especially as it's all worn out there.

Yeah.

This brick reminds me of the bricks

that we recovered that lined the top

- of that vault feature. - Yeah.

Doesn't that look like a vault to you?

Earlier this year,

after uncovering sections of the cobblestone pathway

several yards to the south,

the team was shocked to find an empty, vault-like structure

made of slate and handmade bricks.

These type of bricks were definitely

around the top of that vault.

Oh, yeah. Maybe we're looking

- at a second deposit site. - Yup.

Is it possible

that Gary and Tom have discovered evidence

that another vault-like structure

is buried near the potential dam?

If so, might it still contain something of value?

Well, my dad thought there could be

multiple treasure burial sites on the island.

- So, maybe this is one we're digging into here. - Yeah.

- More treasures, the better, Tom. -Yup.

- Let's find some more, Gary. -Okay.

As the investigation continues

in the northern end of the swamp,

several hundred yards to the west on Lot 5...

Well, hey, Fiona.

Hi, Jack.

So, can you tell me what's going on here?

We're getting down to business.

...Jack Begley joins

archaeologist Fiona Steele to continue excavating

a mysterious round feature near the shoreline.

So, how's progress on this test pit coming?

- This is an actually a really interesting pit. - Mm-hmm.

Over the past two years,

the Oak Island team has made a series

of significant discoveries in and around this feature

that suggest it may have been used as a campsite

by multiple groups,

and during different time periods

prior to the discovery of the Money Pit.

These include a mortar-like substance

matching soil samples that were unearthed

from more than 100 feet deep in the Money Pit area,

as well as a 14th-century lead barter token,

which like the cross found in 2017 at Smith's Cove,

may be connected to the Knights Templar.

However, they've also discovered four Venetian trade beads

and a button bearing a starburst design...

What's unique about this button is that

the rays going out are counter-clockwise.

...all of which,

team researcher Judi Rudebusch believes

may be connected to the Knights of Malta,

a secretive group that was linked to the order

of the Knights Templar, and which are believed

to have had a presence in Nova Scotia

beginning in the 17th century.

I'm actually just getting down to the artifact layer now.

If you look at the range of the artifacts we're finding,

we have a general range which gives us

an occupation for the majority

of what was happening on the site.

But then we've got all these other outliers

that are giving us earlier date ranges.

Yeah.

When we come down upon what we call

an "artifact-bearing layer," that really means

that we've gone through the various layers,

and we've reached a level

which is what we would call "the occupation level,"

because that's the area that's been used,

so that becomes rich with artifacts.

- Let's get digging. - All right. Great.

We have to keep our eyes peeled because when we get

to the artifact-bearing layer,

this is where things get really exciting for us.

Oh.

Hey!

"Hey" is right!

That's a really old nail!

That is really old.

I can tell from here, it's square.

And it's also tapered down on all sides.

Yeah.

Does that give you a specific date range?

Well, you know what's giving me part of the date range

is actually the bubbling effect like you're seeing on this,

you will get when the metal is older.

And that's definitely got that. See it?

-Oh, yeah. - The bubbling out effect?

Oh, I see it.

So, yeah. I would say that's older.

Before, like, 1795?

You know what? This one?

I could get you back a little... maybe a little earlier.

- Oh. - Again, just based on what I'm seeing.

Yeah. Let's see what else we can find.

Maybe they dropped some other things.

Oh, yeah. We're just getting going with this now.

We need to see if we can further figure out

what this nail was used for.

Maybe there's a specific purpose for it

that can give us more information

as to what happened on Lot 5.

Oh.

Jack? Check out what I just found.

- What? - Ha-ha!

Oh, that's beautiful.

Oh, that's beautiful.

We've got a bead. Look at that.

- That is gorgeous. -This is a glass bead?

Yeah. Look, you can tell.

You can see it's a glass bead.

While searching for new clues

in the mysterious round feature on Lot 5,

archaeologist Fiona Steele has just made

a potentially significant find.

Wow. That's different from all the other ones we found.

- Wow. - So, you know what? Look at the...

- See the striations on it? -Yeah.

That means it's a wound bead.

What's a wound bead?

It's just a different technique that they used.

The other Venetian beads that we had found previously--

they would have taken a long string of glass

and kind of pulled it out and cut it. That's not.

That-- when you see those striations,

that means that they literally would have had, like,

a piece of metal, and they would have wound the glass around it.

But this is still a Venetian bead, you believe?

Uh, probably Venetian, but we'd have to take that back

to the lab and get it analyzed.

Hopefully, we get

an idea on it to say whether or not it's Venetian.

And maybe there's a specific time period

when those Venetian beads were made.

Oh, absolutely. Venetian beads

- go back quite a ways in time. - Mm-hmm.

Like, you know, you could be in the 1400s,

upwards, 16, 1700s.

Dating back to the late 15th century in Italy,

so-called Venetian beads were considered highly valuable

and were often used as a form of currency.

If Fiona is correct

that this could be the fifth Venetian bead

that has been found in this feature,

could it be another clue

that might help identity just who inhabited this structure?

This is definitely, definitely pre-discovery of the Money Pit.

This is, this is all...

either fits in with what we have or earlier.

This particular bead was actually found

about a third of the way down into our artifact-bearing layer,

which means that it has an older date range

in it, because the lower we go when we're digging,

the older the artifacts tend to get.

This is something that would have been

right in the sedimentary layers themselves.

I'd love to find gold and silver around here,

but that's a little piece of jewelry,

and I feel like that's treasure, myself.

- Yeah. - You can see why it was used as a form of currency.

Yeah. They often did do that.

The fact that we found it, and that's the only one

of its kind, so far, that we've found, added bonus.

Hopefully, this bead gives us another clue

of who might have been here and what they were doing.

Maybe we can delineate down more and more

who was here originally.

That's going in a different special bag, I think.

That's a top-pocket find, isn't it? Yeah.

Yeah, I guess we can say that, can't we?

- Right on, Fiona. Good job. - Good find.

What an exciting day.

The following morning...

Gary!

- Are we digging here? - Yeah.

As he fills stuff in, you can detect that.

- Yeah. - That's up to you.

Because it's all cascading down.

As long as he knows you're there.

Going to get in here, Al.

All right. See you guys. Good luck.

...as the investigation in the northern end

of the swamp continues...

As always, you know, we want

to thank you both for inviting the three of us down here.

...Rick Lagina,

Doug Crowell and Scott Barlow

meet with archaeologist Laird Niven

and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan

in the Oak Island lab

to hear their scientific analysis

of the glass bead found on Lot 5.

Emma, Laird, what are we looking at?

I think what struck us was how

it stood out from the other beads.

Whereas the previous beads we found are drawn beads--

which is fairly complex technology--

this is a wound bead.

They would just wind the bead around a wire, right?

Pretty crude. So, that predates the drawn beads.

That's one thing we can conclude.

- Oh, really? - Yeah.

- Yeah. It's a lot more labor intensive. - Wow.

What would this be on?

It could be on anything.

It could be on a necklace.

Um, it could be used as beadwork.

But it was really Emma who came up with

the "Aha" moment about this bead.

So, when I get a bead or anything glass,

I always compare it to the previous artifacts

that I've scanned.

Earlier today,

Emma examined the glass bead

using an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, or XRF,

a device which emits nondestructive radiation

to identify an object's chemical composition,

which can help determine when it may have been created.

And with a bead, I always do a comparison

to the Venetian glass beads that we found in the past.

But with this glass bead,

there is a trait that stands out like a sore thumb.

Um, and it's its potassium content.

So, right here, we have a 26% composition.

And on its own, that's high potassium.

But when I compare it to other glass samples,

the highest we have is a little over ten percent.

Like, this one trumps all potassium contents I've seen

in the glass beads, and also lacks sodium content.

This one has almost no sodium content,

and an astounding potassium content.

And that actually, when looking into it,

has a really interesting history,

because it's derived from greenery.

So, like, ferns from the forest.

And it's called a "forest glass bead."

That is a technique that is strictly known

from Northern Europe.

It's not something that pops up anywhere else.

It's not from Venice, we know for sure.

Mm-hmm. I will say

that all the compositional comparisons

that I was able to find does lean

- towards medieval to 1700s. -Medieval?

It's intriguing.

I will say that all the compositional comparisons

that I was able to find does lean towards medieval to 1700s.

- Oh, really? -Yeah.

It's intriguing.

- Wow. -Yeah.

It is a stunning moment

for Rick Lagina and members

of the Oak Island team.

Well, that 1000 to 1700--

that really interests me.

According to the scientific analysis

of archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan,

the glass bead found one day ago on Lot 5

is of Northern European origin,

and may predate the discovery of the Money Pit

by as much as eight centuries.

This is something quite unique.

You are quite firm in your belief that

that 1000 to 1700 AD is pretty much locked in,

- right? - Mm-hmm.

It's rare that that happens.

The earlier

part of that time frame, more towards 1000--

that's right in the era of our whole theories

- about the Templars. -Yeah.

I mean, that's...

- that's what intrigues me. -Right.

This could be evidence of that.

If it had that date on it,

it would be very difficult for us to explain.

Is it possible

that this glass bead could be another critical clue--

just like the lead cross and barter token--

that may link the medieval order

of the Knights Templar to the Oak Island mystery?

Is it archaeologically significant?

Meaning, do you find these here in North America?

No. They're relatively rare.

Hmm.

It'd almost be more useful

if it dated later in that time period,

'cause if this came up 1575,

you'd know that it was made then.

So, it had to have been lost after that.

That falls right in line with the whole idea

of the Knights of Malta period.

- Right. -But it certainly fits

that window of time

of when something

might have been initiated here on the island.

To me, that-that's quite something.

Could Doug's notion be correct,

that if this bead might support the theory

that members of the Knights Templar

buried sacred treasures on Oak Island

as much as 800 years ago,

then might the Venetian beads

and the so-called "starburst" button

that were found on Lot 5,

offer evidence that the Knights of Malta

may have made another treasure deposit several centuries later?

What about context of how this was found?

- Was it deep down? -No. Fiona found it

in the artifact-bearing layers

on the northwest side,

quite close to the feature.

So, we think there were two different building phases.

And to find it in the artifact-bearing zone...

I mean, you're always on about context.

To find it there is critically important.

- Because it's not a drop. - No.

Well, it's easy to believe

that there was almost certainly an interaction

between the Knights Templar and the Knights of Malta.

We know

from the historical narrative

that they inherited their wealth, their power,

and most importantly, their information.

If there was a multigenerational attempt

to do something here on Oak Island,

their interaction and the timelines

associated with both groups

would strongly suggest that possibility.

I think it certainly warrants further research.

So, I mean, it bears more study.

-Yeah. -That's the same thing

we're doing on the theoretical side, right?

We're looking for where the science may dovetail...

-Mm-hmm. - ...with the theories

- and the historical narrative. - Yeah.

Incredible work.

I-I find it quite fascinating.

So, thank you, Emma. Thank you, Laird.

The three of us have jobs to do.

- Very enlightening. -Thank you.

-Yeah. -Thanks a lot.

Later that afternoon...

Peter, you can run that OKM?

- I have it all set up and ready. - Okay.

...near the mysterious line of boulders

in the northern end of the swamp,

Rick Lagina and Tom Nolan are about to conduct

a new investigation to look

for evidence of a wooden wall

that Tom's father Fred Nolan reportedly discovered

nearly six decades ago.

- What should we call this? -NB-S.

North Bog-South.

And assisting them

is Rick's nephew Peter Fornetti,

who has received specialized training

on a ground-penetrating radar device known as the OKM

Gepard GPR 3D scanner.

- Okay. -I think you should just make one pass.

- Yeah. - Do from there to the far wall.

Okay.

You don't care for anything deeper than 38 feet, do you?

Oh, no. Can't be more than 20.

The OKM device works

by emitting electromagnetic pulses into the ground

that bounce off of solid objects.

The data then produces three-dimensional images

of potential man-made structures that are buried

as much as 130 feet below the surface.

Okay. That's done.

So, it looks like there is something

that is four feet down.

It's probably in this general area right here.

-Mm-hmm. - And it's potentially

14 feet long.

And that's what your father said.

Roughly 14 feet long.

Hmm.

And you didn't know that, right?

- No, I didn't. - Mm.

What would be the odds?

I remember your father.

He said it was 14 feet wide.

Well, we have the one measurement certainly.

It's almost like, "Okay, gents, here it is."

It really is.

A possible 14-foot-long buried structure?

Matching the dimensions of the wall

described in this area by the late Fred Nolan?

If that is what Peter has just detected,

could it also be related to the so-called dam

that was marked on the reported 14th-century map

that Zena Halpern believed was created

by members of the Knights Templar?

The deepest part of the bog is right here.

Four feet down from current grade...

makes a lot more sense.

Well, for this to work, if they were going to work it

at any sort of low tide, it had to be deep.

Mm-hmm. The other thing is that...

What if that rock feature-- what if that is a seawall?

What if it extended out this way

and was something having to do with making sure

that the work could continue?

You need something to protect yourself

when you're down that deep, right?

- It's deeper than we thought it would be. - Yup.

- So... - We can't dig that deep.

- We'd be flooded out. - Yup.

Moya will be able to look at this

- in more detail, I presume? -Yup.

I think Tom raised his eyebrows, as well,

when Peter said, "Well, it's roughly 14 feet long."

But we know that

it's hard to interpret, so,

before we commit to digging

four or five feet deeper, what we need is

for Moya to render her opinion

to confirm what Peter is suggesting is there.

- Let's have Moya look at it. - Mm-hmm.

And then rectify it to the point where we know

roughly where it is and then maybe we drive a core down.

And if there's wood there, then...

then, wow, that's something.

At this point, we can't say, "Oh, well," and walk away.

No.

But it's the end of the day,

- and we can walk away now. - Yeah.

- And then we'll come up with a plan. - Yeah.

-Get more clues. - Got more clues. Yup.

-All righty. -Let's call it.

-Thank you. I think we're done. -Yup.

A new day has dawned on Oak Island.

I think we've got it now.

- You think you got it? - Yeah.

And while representatives

from SB Canada begin the extensive repairs

to the Money Pit area

in preparation for a large-scale excavation...

Good morning, everyone.

Ladies and gentlemen.

...Rick, Marty and Craig Tester

have gathered members of the team in the war room

to hear a follow-up report

from researchers Doug Crowell, Emiliano Sacchetti

and Corjan Mol,

that may further connect two related organizations

to the Oak Island mystery.

The medieval order of the Knights Templar

and the Knights of Malta.

I really appreciate the research hunt,

in terms of trying to understand the complexity

that this mystery presents, and there have been some

very interesting connections

that have been presented between the Knights of Malta

- and the Templars. - Yeah.

One of the more interesting aspects of

our information hunt has been John Edwards' presentation

on the two books we see in front of us.

Over the past two years,

researcher John Edwards has shared information

from two 19th-century Masonic books,

containing encoded clues.

Clues that suggest

members of the Knights Templar

and the Knights of Malta

made repeated visits to Oak Island

between the 12th and 17th centuries

in order to hide priceless religious treasures

that the Templars had discovered in Jerusalem

during the holy wars known as the Crusades.

Incredibly, one of the books not only depicted symbols

associated with the Templars and the Knights of Malta,

but also an image of Oak Island,

and a square feature in the northern region of the swamp

matching the empty brick and slate vault

that the team uncovered earlier this year.

There was an item found on Lot 5, a button.

And then there was this button here

on a Knight of Malta uniform.

Just one week ago,

after researching the documented records

that prove the Knights of Malta had a presence in Nova Scotia

during the 17th century,

Judi Rudebusch informed the team

that the so-called starburst button,

which they discovered in the mysterious stone foundation

on Lot 5, appeared similar in design

to buttons that the Knights of Malta were known

to wear on their uniforms.

- Steve, you want to bring up some slides there? - Yup.

Really, it comes down to this.

We see on one book, it says, "Isle of Oak,"

and it shows the Holy Grail.

It shows the menorah.

And it shows Malta.

We don't know everything the books are trying to tell us.

But what we do know is

they seem to be associated with Nova Scotia,

Oak Island in particular,

and holy relics and Malta.

Did the Knights of Malta learn something about

a deposition by the Templars on Oak Island,

and then follow them to Oak Island

at a later date

when they received all of the possessions

of the Templars after their suppression?

This is something that we've got to try and determine because

the books seem to have a story to tell.

In 1307,

the Catholic Church and the king of France

persecuted the Templar order on charges of heresy

and began seizing their assets.

However, many Templars escaped,

and their treasures were never found.

It is believed that the order of the Knights of Malta

inherited what was left of the Templars' possessions,

and then began moving them throughout Europe,

ultimately settling on the island of Malta

in the 16th century.

Emiliano and Corjan have taken

time off from their very busy lives

to go to Malta and do a scout trip.

Okay.

I did some research, and I found

a manuscript from 1630.

It's called "The Treasure

of the Holy Relics Which Are in Malta."

So, we know for a fact that,

you know, the-the Knights, the order,

managed to bring their relics, their treasures to Malta.

- Mm-hmm. -The Knights of Malta,

they-they moved relics

over huge distances across the sea,

and, you know, thought little of it.

These people were incredibly good sailors.

Yeah. And these books on the table before us

suggest that there were holy treasures

that might have been moved from the East to the West.

Particularly, maybe to Oak Island

because Oak Island's referenced in the books.

- Yes. -Yeah.

There is a strong presence of Knights of Malta

in Canada during the 1600s,

and there's 100 years

where we know for a fact

that the Knights of Malta

were here in Acadia, which now is Nova Scotia.

So, what were these guys doing here?

We know that all of them spent time in Malta.

They were knighted there.

So, what were they doing here?

Were they here just to establish a colony?

Were they here for trading?

Did they have a hidden agenda?

Corjan and I found a lot of interesting clues,

links to Oak Island.

- Perfect. -Yeah, so,

- if you go to the next slide, Steve. - Yup.

This is Valletta.

This is the capital of Malta

and was built overground and underground.

And, you know, Emiliano and myself have seen

some incredible stuff underground: caverns,

all built with the technology of the...

of the 1530s, which are completely,

completely amazing.

Another thing we can find on Malta are clues and symbols,

anything that connects to our search or even to Oak Island.

- Wow. - And I think

they could tell us some interesting things.

- Very cool. -I think

some of these questions could get an answer if we go to Malta.

That's remarkable.

I think some of these questions

could get an answer if we go to Malta.

- Yeah. -Well, you certainly

make a case for looking into this further, that's for sure.

Yeah.

I think this is quite remarkable.

Yeah.

In the war room,

researchers Emiliano Sacchetti and Corjan Mol have

presented the team with compelling new information

suggesting clues that could help solve the Oak Island mystery

may be found more than 4,000 miles away

on the island nation of Malta.

The cool thing about this is that

the Order of Malta still exists.

- Wow. - So,

we can just ask them.

Yeah. I like that.

We've been surmising that the Knights Templar

might have had something to do with Oak Island.

But here we have these Knights of Malta.

We know they were here.

They were here at an appropriate time

for many of these theories,

- or they were the depositors. - Yup.

So, to me, this is

a very important starting point.

And Corjan and I also met,

from Malta, very knowledgeable people--

experts, archaeologists--

that could give us an opinion on our artifacts.

A lot of the curious artifacts that we have,

if we're able to take them with us and speak to experts there,

I think that will be a direct tie that... that I'm hoping for.

- Hmm. -We are on a treasure hunt

and if you're going to come up

with some information that's highly relevant,

then let's go!

Buon viaggio. Buon viaggio.

So, what we need to do is

get ready, pick a team,

go and come back with the information

that everybody is desirous of.

Yes. So, I will stay on the island and keep advancing

the ball, keep looking for treasure,

while you guys go, because I intend

to dig. Is that a surprise?

I'm with you.

- Yup. -To me, the most

fascinating connection here is

this association between the Templars

and the Knights of Malta.

And then, which is quite astounding, was the members

of their order having a presence here in Nova Scotia.

For these reasons, there is every need to pursue

a further understanding of the Knights of Malta.

Hats off to Doug and Emiliano and Corjan and Judi.

Really appreciate all the work.

And I think we owe it to everyone

that has come before us to follow this lead.

- I think it is unique. - Yeah, exactly.

Having said that, there's work to do.

I say we go do it.

- Let's go. - Bye, guys.

Let's get back to work.

Is it possible that critical clues

to the Oak Island mystery might await the team

thousands of miles away in Malta?

Clues that could help prove

that the incredible structures and artifacts

that have been uncovered all across the island were connected

to the Knights Templar and the Knights of Malta?

If so, might the Laginas and their fellowship

also learn the truth about what awaits them

deep below ground in the Money Pit area?

One thing is certain.

Nothing will stop them

from pursuing the answers to this mystery.

Not even... a deadly curse.

Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...

Oh, my goodness. Oh, look at this.

Oh, it's beautiful.

- Oh, my heavens. - Whoa!

Whoa!

- See right there? - Yup. That's massive.

That's been in there a long, long time.

- Yeah. - That could be another vault.

-Welcome to Malta. -Wow, look at this.

It's quite amazing.

It's just absolutely incredible.

That's stunning.

Is this blueish clay?

Blue clay? It was one of the keys in working

- in the Money Pit. -This is evidence

of what happened on Oak Island.

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