Original subtitles

Tonight on the Curse of Oak Island.

We're on an obstruction.

Oh no.

What was pouring out?

Houston, we have a problem.

What is that?

These are the type of hinges that come off chests or boxes.

Yeah. This one is from the Phoenicians from 1200 BC.

It's a study.

This is the find of the century.

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 died trying to

solve the mystery.

And, according to legend, one more will have to die before the treasure

can be found.

of another day on Oak Island, one filled with a mix of both eagerness and

anticipation, as the team continues with their massive excavation of the shaft

known as DMT in the Money Pit area.

Vanessa, how far is the casing down already?

32 feet.

So just over one section. Yeah. Right?

Yep, yep.

Named in honor of Craig Tester's son, Drake, who tragically passed away

earlier this year, DMT's location was chosen after careful research.

It is hoped that by placing the drill site approximately 10 feet south of the

recently excavated shaft named H8, the team might be able to find the elusive

object that slipped away from the H8 drilling caisson two weeks ago.

Man, it sure satisfies me in full bucket. Oh, you're right, eh? Yeah.

That's some thick old stuff there, isn't it?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, no wood at all at anything.

Yeah. But a little bit there, right?

That piece is laying up against there, and there's some in the other bucket.

Yeah, we think we just caught maybe just the south edge of the chapel shaft.

The fact that the team is not encountering wood or other evidence of

previous searcher activity is a promising sign.

It indicates.

that the DMT shaft is drilling through unexplored ground and that they may be

able to excavate down to their target depth much quicker than expected.

Good bucketful is out there anyway.

It is, yeah. He's excavating out really fast.

While the team from Irving Equipment Limited continues to drill down into the

DMT shaft,

Rick Lagina meets in the war room with metal detection expert Gary Drayton and

researcher Doug Crowell.

Doug, look, as always, thanks for coming. I think we're all still sky high

about Gary's find.

I mean, I know I am.

They are hoping to obtain new information on what could be the most

significant discovery ever made on Oak Island.

A lead cross found at Smith's Cove three weeks ago.

What really captivates people about Oak Island is the what ifs.

You know, what?

could this mystery be all about if we can directly connect this object with

templars yes that's huge when it first came out of the ground i pressed you for

a window on time i i was amazed 1200 to 1600 i mean remarkable

but it all runs back to you're fine you're still ecstatic i'm gulp smash

it's unbelievable i mean i can't believe you guys are talking about templars wow

there is a direct tie to from the depiction in the

templar prison in dome to that figurine right there that you hold in your hand

it'll be interesting just to see what zena thinks of it yeah why don't we give

her a call okay to help identify and possibly date the lead cross Rick has

decided to reach out to his friend, New York-based historian and author Zena

Halpern.

It was

Zena's earlier research concerning

a number of mysterious maps that compelled Rick, along with two of his

nephews, to journey to France one month ago.

And it was there, while visiting a former Templar prison, that Rick spotted

a carving of a crucifix that bears an eerie similarity to the lead cross.

Hello?

Hi, Zena.

This is Rick.

Hi, Rick.

Nice to hear from you. Nice to hear from you. Doug is in the room, and also Gary

Drayton. Okay.

And I believe that we've sent you a picture of the latest find.

Do you have that?

And what do you think?

Is there a time period for her?

The

cross?

Not a Christian symbol, but one representing a 3,000-year-old Phoenician

goddess?

Worshipped by ancient civilizations from North Africa to Europe.

to the Middle East, and even to parts of Asia.

Tanit was a Punic and Phoenician deity who is revered as the goddess of the

moon. She was also known as the goddess of fertility, love, motherhood, and the

protector of sailors on the high seas.

Although her likeness has been depicted in many forms, her most common

representation consists of a circular head with outstretched arms and a

triangular body.

Is there any record of the Templars having some belief in the goddess

figure? Oh yes, they would have definitely revered her.

In the War Room, Rick Lagina, Gary Drayton, and Doug Crowell have just been

told by historian and author Zena Halpern.

that the mysterious lead cross they recently found on Oak Island depicts the

goddess Tanit.

Zena? Yeah? It's Doug.

What would you think if we told you that on the trip to France that Rick made, he

saw the same carving in a Templar prison?

Could the cross-shaped carving Rick Lagina was shown in the 14th century

Templar prison in Dome, France, actually be a depiction of the goddess Tanit?

In 1307, the order of the Knights Templar was disbanded by Pope Clement V

and were charged with heresy by his close ally, King Philip IV of France.

Many believe that the Templars were innocent of the charges.

But their accusers were desperate to take possession of the precious

religious treasure they had accumulated during the Crusades, including the Ark

of the Covenant and the Holy Grail.

Thousands of Templars were rounded up, imprisoned, and eventually executed.

But could the cross-shaped carving Rick Lagina wish shown in the 14th century

Templar prison in Dome, France?

actually be a depiction not only of Jesus Christ, but also of the goddess

Tanit? Was there a period in history when both were thought to be symbols of

protection as well as resurrection?

Where does the reverence for the goddess come from? Is it associated with a

Middle Eastern culture?

Would that include Jerusalem as well?

Yes.

I'm not surprised by what she thought of it. I'm shocked.

It's a very different take. I think both Gary and I thought it was a depiction of

a Christian cross.

Do you think Templars, when they were on the Crusades, do you think this is

something they would have encountered in the Holy Land? Absolutely.

During the Crusades in the 12th century, the Knights Templar were headquartered

in the Middle Eastern city of Jerusalem.

There, they came to adopt the symbols of other religious faiths, including the

Jerusalem Cross and the Hebraic Tree of Life.

But could they have also come to revere the goddess Tanit?

But have you seen a three-dimensional representation of the goddess? Because

initially, when we pulled it out of the earth,

I immediately thought it was a representation of Christ crucified.

But then we noticed that the arms, the outstretched arms, are rounded, if you

will, as though the statue is reaching out to embrace.

although commonly representative of Christianity for centuries.

The cross did not become a familiar symbol until nearly 300 years after the

crucifixion of Jesus.

The Egyptian cross, also known as the Ankh, signified immortality and was

widely associated with Isis, the goddess of life, going back thousands of years.

In Greek history, the cross was said to represent the four elements of water.

wind, fire, and earth.

Could it be possible that the cross that Rick and the team believe to be an

ancient crucifix is actually an even older artifact?

You have a spectacular find.

Zena, are you sitting down?

Yeah. Okay. Rick wants me to tell you about the find that was made in the

Money Pit area.

One of the holes brought up a couple pieces of human bone.

Uh-oh.

The origin of the person that piece of bone belonged to was the Middle East.

Oh, my God.

Well, the only word I can say right now is wow.

Congratulations.

This is stunning.

This is the five of the century.

I do know this, that she's excited.

And Gary is over the top happy.

Is it an incredibly interesting find on Oak Island? You bet it is.

But we need experts to give us an opinion.

Zena, you take care.

Thank you. You take care, Zena. Congratulations.

Thank you, Zena. Bye.

All right. Goodbye.

Bye-bye. Bye.

Wow.

I thought, at least initially, this was a depiction of Christ crucified.

but she is adamant that it is not.

And so we need to do some further research.

I'm not saying that I don't believe her, but there's always a benefit to

corroborative evidence.

As the team continues to investigate various theories about the mysterious

cross and its possible origins, they will also need to subject it to a number

of scientific tests.

If it can be determined, that the object really does date back to the 14th

century or even earlier.

They may have come close to proving that members of the Knights Templar really

did come to Oak Island and that the money pit might be much older than

previously thought.

Amazing find.

I don't know what else to say other than let's go back out and find some more.

Yeah.

Later that day, Rick Lagita and Charles Barkhouse head to the northernmost area

of the Oak Island Swamp on property owned by the family of Fred Nolan, the

legendary treasure hunter who passed away in 2016.

Yeah, intake's on this side, Rick.

Okay.

One week ago, Rick and Charles met with Fred's son, Tom, who shared with them

his father's invaluable survey maps of the island.

and granted them unprecedented access to explore the 16 acres of Nolan's

property, a large area that was off-limits to the team's search efforts

until now.

Let's put this together.

Let's put it to bed.

Let's do it.

One location long believed by Fred Nolan to hold the key to solving the Oak

Island mystery is the northern point, or apex, of the mysterious triangle-shaped

swamp.

Not only has the swamp been theorized to be a man-made body of water, but its

shape has been thought to be a deliberate symbol of the Freemasons, a

secretive fraternity that evolved from the Knights Templar and have been

connected to the Oak Island mystery for more than two centuries.

It is also here at the apex of the swamp, a location corresponding with the

Masonic all-seeing eye, that Fred Nolan believed important clues

Perhaps even a secret tunnel entrance to the money pit might be found.

Fred related that he had found some interesting things in the swamp. And I'm

hoping that with the maps, with Tom's understanding of some of the work that

his father did, and in fact, Tom did some of the work.

So I'm hoping that, again, working together, we can get some answers.

Now, after obtaining permission from both Tom and the Canadian government,

Rick, Marty, and the Oak Island team are draining this section of the swamp to

see just what could be hidden here.

Whoa. I didn't think it was that deep.

Can you give me some more hose?

Yep.

I think it's going to draw off the water pretty quick.

There it goes.

This isn't going to take very long, I don't think.

While the northern section of the swamp drains enough to allow for exploration,

and while the team from Irving Equipment Limited continues excavating the DMT

shaft,

Charles Barkhouse joins Jack Begley and metal detection expert Gary Drayton as

they continue searching an old dump site believed to be connected to the

construction of the original money pit.

Last week, after studying Fred Nolan's detailed survey maps of the island,

Rick, Marty, and the team began excavating the dump and began finding

potentially important clues.

I got some pottery here.

Look.

That's a lot of pottery.

So we're getting into the sterile soil now?

Yeah.

This is great. This is enough room for me to metal detect on the bottom and the

sides.

How far do you want them to go, Gary?

Just to where the first trench ends.

Okay.

I think what I should do, Charles, is scan over this area and the spoil piles.

Okay. I'm ready to start detecting.

Small, small iron. That'll be a little nail.

Ooh. First decent sounding target of the day.

Here we go.

Come on, Gary. Pull out a coin.

Would be nice.

Ooh.

This is worth digging, guys.

What is it?

Ah, it's a beauty.

On Lot 12, near the middle of the island, metal detection expert Gary

Drayton, along with Charles Barkhouse and Jack Bengley, have just made a

potentially important find.

That's like a decorative hinge.

I found some beautiful ones that were off chests on Spanish shipwreck sites.

I would say this is very old.

A decorative hinge?

From a chest?

Oh, look at this. Check this thing out.

Could it be connected to one of the three missing chests that once belonged

to the pirate Captain James Anderson?

And if so, could there be a connection to the skeleton key found by Fred Nolan?

Back in the old days, you don't take your money and put it in a bank. People

kept it on their property. They put it in a tin can, they put it in a chest or

somewhere, and they buried it on their property.

Let's see if there's any more.

It's amazing. I'm still hearing little pieces of iron.

No, chirpy little iron signal.

You don't want to go for it?

No.

There's something.

What is that?

Wow.

It's got a nail in it or something. You know what that is?

That's a strap of some sort. No, it's an hinge.

That is a hinge. That's another hinge.

Yeah. That's exactly what that is. Wow.

Yeah. These are the type of hinges that come off chests or boxes. Yeah.

Look at that.

Saved the best till last.

Yeah. Another hinge possibly belonging to a chest?

Could these hinges be evidence that this centuries-old dump site was used not

only during the construction of the original money pit, but also as a place

where treasure was deposited long ago?

If so, what else might this so-called dump contain?

Here's some pottery.

Yeah. Here's the pottery?

Yeah. Tiny little pottery shelf. Gentlemen.

Yep. Hey, guys.

Hi. Well, is he danced yet?

Not yet. No dancing yet. I mean, we've really hammered this area.

It sure looks like it.

And I'm pretty positive this is the site of the dump.

All right.

Well, that's good.

You have a whole bunch of stuff. Yeah.

There's a couple of nice finds that came out the end there.

What are they?

Hinges. Oh, yeah.

And I found decorative hinges like this off boxes or chests.

I mean, for me, the Nolan property is a mystery within a mystery.

I don't know what Fred came to know, but there are answers there. There's no

question about that.

Who knows what may be excavated out of that? Who knows how many more items of

interest may surface?

That could be the missing chest. Yeah.

So this is a really good first step in terms of cooperating with Tom. I think

that, you know, we find the limits of this dump. Yeah. And, you know, as we go

forward with... Cooperating with Tom, again, this is the first step. I think

it's a positive first step.

It's a success. We were looking for an old dump, and we found an old dump.

Good job, guys. Carry on.

The next day, as the excavation of the DMT shaft continues at the money pit,

Rick and Marty Lagina, along with Marty's son Alex, and

metal detection expert gary drayton are now ready to begin investigating the

apex of the swamp located on nolan's property

hey rick do you see these gloves

sticking up out of the swamp i want you to come get me

got it

I do not want to go back into the swamp. I will follow him into the swamp if I

have to. He knows I don't like it.

It stinks, and you never know where the bottom's going to be on your next step.

That is true. Yeah.

Oh, God.

I'll go with Gary. You guys run and start that other pump. See what it looks

like.

With the first of the four small ponds on the Nolan property drained, Rick and

Gary begin exploring with a metal detector.

Meanwhile, Marty and Alex continue to drain another nearby area, preparing

large plywood boards to create a safe walkway over the deep sludge.

God, I hate this swamp.

Go and don't.

It is the team's hope that by searching an area of the swamp that was previously

closed off to them, they may discover compelling new evidence that the swamp

is man-made and that it was created to hide either a sunken pirate ship or a

secret entrance into the Oak Island money pit.

Digging on the Nolan side of the swamp, it's important to me for one reason.

Fred believed that the swamp was key to solving the mystery.

Is there a treasure galleon in the swamp or is there a vault?

And my hope is that it's there and that we can find it.

Because, look, it's part of Fred's legacy.

See, this is the type of area where he's got that trough and there's a runoff.

Could expose something.

You okay?

Yeah, just...

Got something here. I don't know what it is.

Said it's a piece of wood. A piece of wood, yeah.

A long tooth.

That's not what we're looking for.

Maybe.

Look at that. Yeah.

Now that's what we're looking for.

Holy shmoly. Look at that.

At the northern point of the swamp, on property belonging to the family of Fred

Nolan, Rick Lagina has just found a large wooden stake.

Does it look old here?

Tough to tell, isn't it? It looks like it's been hacked. It's axe cut. There's

no question about that.

A wooden stake found in the swamp?

In 1969...

oak island landowner and treasure hunter fred nolan set out to drain the swamp

after becoming convinced that the answers to the oak island mystery were

located within it during his investigation fred was astonished to

discover several uniform lines of wooden stakes which were carbon dated to the

1500s a land surveyor by trade it was fred's professional assessment that

these stakes were evidence of centuries-old survey markers used to

plot out the boundaries in a massive construction project.

This led Fred to the astonishing conclusion that Oak Island was once

actually two islands, artificially joined together by means of the triangle

-shaped swamp.

How many cuts are there?

Fred and Tom both told me there were four or five on every one. One, two.

Three.

Four. Yeah, five.

That's exactly what they described.

Fred actually did show me one. It certainly got the proper look to it.

It's got the proper size, diameter, and thus one could speculate, again,

it's speculation, that the swamp had been created.

If it were a fence post, there'd be fasteners.

Yeah, there is nothing.

I mean, I went over that area with a metal detector. I didn't detect

anything.

So there's no lion there. Definitely ax cutters. Oh, yeah.

Well, Dan and Fred, they pulled one up together, cut the tip off, and Triton

Alliance sent it off to be carbon dated.

Carbon date came back 1575 plus or minus 85 years.

Finding a survey stake is important because it's corroborative.

Is this really a man-made activity that is associated with the swamp?

You know, it's items like that that may provide answers.

Marty! Hey. Yo.

I think I found one of the survey stakes.

Why don't you come over and take a look?

Hey, that sounds great. We're on it. It's a pretty big deal, right? Yeah,

well, that's what he was looking for.

All right, let's see it.

What you got?

Oh, yeah.

Well, that's for real.

Oh.

That's not a natural shape.

No. And remember how they said it was preserved?

Yeah, from the bottom. From the bottom.

Well, it's definitely been in place a while because you can tell if you look

at the preservation here and how much it's decayed up there.

So you get a kind of sense of time with the top. Oh, yeah. This looks virgin.

Right. But this looks old. Very much so. I agree with you.

It's pretty cool.

Hey, Rick.

What? Okay, so I don't get it. Why aren't you over the moon about this

survey steak?

Why aren't you doing a steak dance?

Because I don't do steak dances.

I'm very interested in it. To me, they look exactly right. Exactly right. It is

what you were looking for.

Yeah, I was impressed, honestly, because to me it looks identical to what he's

described, and my skepticism level diminishes.

For Rick, Marty, and the team, finding new evidence that the mysterious

triangle-shaped swamp is man-made could soon lead to another major breakthrough.

It also means... that the access they now have to Fred Nolan's property could

allow them to gather a host of even more important clues.

The next day, back at the money pit.

Hey, Dave, how deep are we? The case is 75 and the plug is 60.

All right, sounds good.

Rick Lagina joins members of the Oak Island team.

where the excavation of the DMT shaft continues.

So far, the caisson is advancing faster than expected, having reached a depth of

some 75 feet.

This is going to be a beautiful day. I can feel it.

I can feel it. I know it. I hope you're right. I hope you're right. Sweet.

We're ready.

We're ready for when the gold comes over.

We'll know soon.

All goes well. How far do you think you'll get today?

She was taking full scoops. If we're keeping this material, we'll probably at

least get that can down and another can down.

Tomorrow you'll get to the zone of interest for sure.

As the oscillator drives the 26-foot sections of 60-inch wide caissons into

the ground, it is Rick Lagina's hope that within one more day, the excavation

will reach a depth of 170 feet.

where the team hopes to encounter the so-called Chapel Vault.

Buckets, we need buckets.

Having reached an excavation depth of just 75 feet in the DMT shaft.

Go grab me a pan or something to contain all that.

The drilling oscillator has suddenly stopped working and is leaking massive

amounts of hydraulic fluid.

There it is, there it is.

Probably just split it. Split it, yeah.

The Irving team has found a failed O-ring.

A round gasket.

designed to seal the hydraulic fluid needed for the oscillator to safely

operate.

O-ring was no match.

Poor little guy.

No, he didn't stand a chance. Casualties of war.

But what has caused the oscillator to suddenly malfunction?

The hammer's jamming on something in there.

Yeah.

We can't get any material out, Mick, because of that obstruction. We may look

at putting the smaller grab on and go kind of around it.

An obstruction at a depth of just 75 feet?

Although the Irving team is unable to advance the casing until the oscillator

can be repaired, they will attempt to break up and remove whatever lies at the

bottom of the DMT shaft using the hammer grab tool.

It ain't a rock.

I know that.

No. It's not a rock?

No.

It's strong enough to stop our grab for... No sense of boulder or... No. But

like I said, it's strong enough to slow that thing down on a pre-pall. That's

crazy. Lots of crazy things happen here. I know.

I'm learning that.

Since it is Danny Smith's opinion that the obstruction is not made of rock,

what could it possibly be?

And is it natural or man-made?

Okay, so what do you want to do then? We're going to chisel it. If everybody's

okay with that, we'll put the chisel on, try to mash it out of the way. That way

he can get his free fall going.

Okay, let's get on to it. See if that thing will come up.

With all other options proving unsuccessful, the team is resorting to a

four-ton steel chisel bit in a calculated effort to penetrate the

mysterious obstruction.

Using it as a type of vertical battering ram, the device will be repeatedly

dropped down the shaft and onto the object below.

If the bit can successfully break up the mysterious barrier, the pieces will then

be removed by the hammer grab tool.

What is the obstruction?

Is it steel? Is it a boulder? Is it something else?

What is this thing?

There's no record of there being a casing anywhere near that hole.

Not like that.

So if they can break it and pull it or just smash it out of the way, if they

can get past it, they can continue. At the end of the day, they've got to get

past this obstruction.

Take that sack on this side and switch over to the ground.

It is the Irving team's assessment that the chisel bit may have broken through

whatever was blocking the DMT shaft.

They will now switch back to the hammer grab tool in an attempt to remove the

obstruction so that their drilling efforts can continue.

Well, that's good. They've started hammer grabbing again.

Hopefully, it'll go through whatever's stopping it.

Well, hopefully they tore it up with that chisel bit.

I'll tell you what, there, I hope on something that it slipped off the last

bucket. I don't know if it's a rock or what, but it slipped off.

Kind of weird, eh? But your jaws are open the widest, so if you were to hug

the side of the pipe, let it ride by the side of the pipe, and go that side, this

side, that side, you'll knock it off in there?

Okay, I'll try one side more.

Although the team from Irving believes they've been able to begin breaking up

the obstruction, removing it, for some reason, is strangely proving more

difficult.

Hey, Mike.

Troubles? Well, it's not something normal.

Any of the pipes that we ran into before, we were able to get through.

The obstruction seems to be in underneath the edge.

Hopefully it's...

Going to work for us. We've tried every scenario now.

Like, there again, it just felt like he got a hold of something there and

slipped off.

While the team continues their attempt to bring the mysterious object to the

surface, Jack Bagley and Gary Drayton begin searching the excavated materials

for artifacts and clues.

Oh!

A tooth.

No missing that. That is for sure.

Another tooth, Joe.

Yeah, I don't think they're going to be happy about this.

Finding cutting teeth from the steel caissons in the spoils is a concerning

development. It means that whatever the obstruction is, it is made of something

that the massive steel shaft may not be able to dig through.

But if that is the case, what on earth could the obstruction be?

All right.

I'll see if there's any more in here.

Yeah, probably another, yeah.

That's crazy, isn't it? Oh, gosh.

Okay, that's two.

Yep. Yep. Three teeth.

Okay.

Really dulled down.

Even more?

Yep, even more. Shoot.

It's not good.

It's not good at all.

Well, Mike.

Yes. We have a problem.

I see it. We just all discovered it, I think.

We're only just a little bit into this pile, and we have a lot of teeth, yeah.

No, we're on something very, very solid.

So what happens if we don't have any more teeth?

You don't go any further.

Son,

look at this thing. It has been chewed up.

Oh.

11 out of 36, we ain't gonna have no teeth on it.

There's another one in here?

That was our biggest fear come true.

Rick Lagina and representatives from Irving Equipment Limited now gather to

discuss their possible options.

Let me get my brother's opinion here.

Hello?

Hey, guess what?

Houston, we have a problem.

I'll let Mike and or Danny explain what's going on here.

So basically what we ended up with, Marty, definitely feels like we're on

something very solid.

Our casing is down 77 feet, and the casing has to come out to get the teeth

replaced.

Shocking. Shocking. Shocking. Yep.

Danny has suggested the possibility of pulling the can, fixing the teeth,

moving the hole forward about a foot and a half, and restarting from

surface. The other option is to introduce flock and a camera tomorrow

morning and try to get a picture of it and see what's happening.

For Rick, Marty, and their partners, both options will cost precious time,

money, and perhaps a key chance to solve the Oak Island mystery.

If they choose to begin a new excavation at a different location, they run the

risk of just missing their target.

Why not try to put a camera down, put the big blue lights on it, and you might

see that it's cutting into it.

Yeah.

All right. We'll be on top of it. That's a good game plan.

Game plan that we didn't anticipate making. Exactly.

For Rick, Marty and the Oak Island team, identifying just what the mysterious

obstruction in the DMT shaft is and finding a way to get past it are

critical if they ever hope to reach what lies at the bottom of the money pit.

But if they are successful, what will they discover?

Priceless religious treasures of the Knights Templar?

Vast riches ingeniously hidden by Spanish pirates?

Or will they find that on Oak Island, the price they may be required to pay

for the answer will come at too high and too dangerous a cost?

Next time on The Curse of Oak Island.

I'm going to put the camera in. I'm on it. Let's see what this thing is.

We come through all that undisturbed ground and then hit something man-made.

There's no cold water.

Damn it.

Look at that. Oh, my goodness. It's a little keyhole. That's clearly a

keyhole.

Oh.

This was how they smuggled gold. There was gold under this cross, and the cross

was covered with lead. So there's a chance that they're out in Smith's Cove

still. If you want to rewrite history, we're rewriting it now.