Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

We have new information

about the stone pile in Lot 15.

MICHAEL A.: The conclusion is they were made

by the Templars.

This is really cool.

This could be medieval.

That could be a friend of the cross.

Is it a match for other artifacts

-we found on the island? -Yeah.

Whoa.

RICK: Those are big beams.

I've been in a lot of old mines. Never seen this.

GARY: That's Oak Island Money Pit history right here.

(laughs): Yeah, it is.

NARRATOR: There is an island in the North Atlantic

where people have been looking for

an incredible treasure for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found a stone slab

with strange symbols carved into it...

...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.

♪ ♪

-RICK: That's a strong as a wind as I've ever been in. -ALEX: Yeah.

I wonder how the island did.

RICK: That's what we're gonna figure out, right?

-Mm-hmm. -There's a potential

that it's really quite bad.

NARRATOR: A new morning has dawned

under a cloud of great concern

for Rick Lagina, his nephew Alex

and Jack Begley as they make their way to Oak Island.

ALEX: Well, the Causeway's there.

RICK: Yeah, I know, it looks pretty good.

NARRATOR: 48 hours ago,

a devastating storm known as Hurricane Lee

reached the eastern coastline of Nova Scotia,

causing torrential rains, flooding

and millions of dollars in damage to the province.

ALEX: The swamp is full.

JACK: Yeah.

-That's a lot of water to pump out. -It's a lot of water.

Speaking of that, I think we'll start the pump right now.

ALEX: Oh, wow. Look how deep it is.

RICK: You remember how deep

-t-those digs were. -Yeah.

RICK: There's-there's three, four feet of water in there.

NARRATOR: Finding the swamp, which was drained several weeks ago,

now nearly refilled with rain and seawater

is especially frustrating for the team.

Let's start the pumps.

NARRATOR: It means that they will have to spend

the rest of the week pumping it dry,

and won't be able to explore critical areas

such as the region near the 800-year-old paved area...

-ALEX: It's going. -where just one week ago,

they discovered axe-cut tree stumps

that dated back to as early the 14th century.

Let's go check on the Money Pit.

The storm has been very detrimental

to the search agenda.

ALEX: It looks okay.

RICK: Well, they're working, that's a good thing.

Mother Nature has done what Mother Nature does,

and thus, we have to have patience.

And we will continue to move forward.

-Good morning, Roger. -Hey, how's it going, guys?

So, what happened?

ROGER: It was rough,

uh, with the hurricane, but little to no damage here.

JACK: Are you ready to start

-digging again today? -Oh, yeah, for sure.

We've been, we dug quite a bit yesterday.

Actually, we dug down to 99 feet.

Oh, wow.

NARRATOR: The fact that the hurricane

did not prevent representatives of Dumas Contracting Limited

from continuing to deepen the 18th-century structure

known as the Garden Shaft

means that the team's most important operation of the year

has thankfully not been interrupted.

So, is the tunnel exposed?

ROGER: So, that's what we're...

planning on doing next.

We're gonna get in there and expose

that-that timber that's there.

Okay.

NARRATOR: In the coming days,

Dumas is hopeful that they will be able to fully expose

a seven-foot-tall tunnel nearly 100 feet deep

just below the Garden Shaft.

A tunnel that leads due west into the so-called Baby Blob,

where high-trace evidence of precious metals

has been detected in the groundwater

between 80 and 120 feet underground.

RICK: Nothing detrimental happened to the Garden Shaft.

We should be very grateful for that,

because now they can move seamlessly forward.

That's why we're here.

We're here to treasure hunt. We're here to solve a mystery.

Anyway, Rog, uh, we're glad that you stayed safe,

-your team stayed safe. -Yep.

You get to that wood, give us a call.

We've got a lot of cleanup to do.

-So, we're gonna get after it. -Yeah.

-RICK: Good luck today. -ROGER: Sounds good.

-RICK: All right. Thanks, Roger. -ROGER: Talk to you later, guys.

NARRATOR: Later that afternoon...

-DOUG: Hey, gentlemen. -RICK: Hello, gentlemen.

CRAIG: Hey guys.

RICK: Ciao. So, I think

this war room in particular

might reflect what we have long sought to do:

establish some sort of origination story

to the Oak Island mystery.

Sì.

NARRATOR: In the war room,

Rick, along with his brother Marty,

Craig Tester and other members of the team

are meeting via video conference

with archaeoastronomy expert Professor Adriano Gaspani.

RICK: We have Professor Gaspani with us today.

We obviously have Emiliano, and we have Michael Amadio,

who is going to be the interpreter

for Professor Gaspani.

As you know, we met Professor Gaspani

last year outside of Rome.

He quite literally shocked us with his interpretation

of Nolan's Cross and its import here on the island.

ALEX: Boy.

-RICK: Stunning. -Everything is just so well-built.

-RICK (chuckles): Yeah. Really. -CORJAN: Wow.

NARRATOR: In 2022,

Rick and members of the team

visited numerous sites in Italy

that once served as strongholds for the Knights Templar,

the medieval order of warrior monks

who some believe made numerous visits to Oak Island

in order to hide priceless religious treasures

between the 12th and 17th centuries.

ALEX: Hey, Rick.

Check this out.

We have seen this symbol before...

-on Oak Island. -RICK: H+O Stone. -PETER: Yeah.

NARRATOR: During their visit,

they not only saw a number of carved symbols

that have been found over the years

on and near Oak Island

but also met with Professor Gaspani

regarding the megalithic formation of six boulders

that were discovered in 1981 by Fred Nolan,

known as Nolan's Cross.

NARRATOR: According to Professor Gaspani's 40 years of expertise

in the field of archaeoastronomy,

the boulders in Nolan's Cross were positioned on Oak Island

to align with certain stars in the night sky.

And furthermore, by studying the historic positions

of those stars, he was able to determine

the approximate time period that it was created.

Wow.

We have tasked Professor Gaspani

with looking at the research with new information

and new perspective.

DOUG: Yes, some of the additional information

we sent to Professor Gaspani to consider

were the location of the stone piles on Lot 15

and the stone triangle,

to see if there's any astronomical relevance

-to those as well. -Mm-hmm.

NARRATOR: Now, after being given the coordinates

of other megalithic stone formations

that have been discovered

during the past two centuries on Oak Island,

including the remains of five stone piles located on Lot 15

that were shaped like pyramids,

and which were first documented by Fred Nolan

back in the 1960s,

and the stone triangle,

which was unfortunately destroyed

by searcher activities in 1965,

Professor Gaspani has prepared a report

on their possible origins as well.

RICK: I turn it over to Professor Gaspani.

I'm quite excited to listen to what he has to tell us.

ADRIANO: Perfetto.

Right.

NARRATOR: Similar to Nolan's Cross,

it is Professor Gaspani's belief that the positions

of the five stone piles on Lot 15

were constructed long ago, according to alignments

with specific stars, including the Sun,

as well as the position of the Moon in the night sky.

And, thus, by calculating how long ago

the positions of the piles perfectly aligned

with those stars in relation to the position of the Moon,

he can approximate when the piles were created.

MICHAEL A.: And so, somebody was on the island

all those years, uh, laying out

those piles of stones,

and the stones of the Nolan's Cross.

MARTY: Wow.

-Amazing. -RICK: That's pretty cool.

It's incredible.

NARRATOR: In the war room,

archaeoastronomy expert Professor Adriano Gaspani

has just presented

the Oak Island team with an astonishing

scientific report.

He believes that Nolan's Cross

and the five stone piles, or cairns, located on Lot 15

were possibly created by the same group of people

nearly 800 years ago.

MICHAEL A.: There is a level of certainty,

a level of coincidence

which is incredible.

Right.

So, can the professor

speculate as to the people

who constructed it?

Wow.

There's intelligent design to this, it seems.

Esatto.

NARRATOR: The Templar order?

Could Professor Gaspani be correct?

If so, would that explain

why the team has seen numerous carvings

in former Templar strongholds across Europe

that have also been found on Oak Island?

Might it explain who created the paved area in the swamp,

in addition to Nolan's Cross, the stone cairns on Lot 15

and the stone triangle?

And, finally, could it also identify who was responsible

for the high-trace evidence of gold,

silver and other metals that have been detected

in the Money Pit area?

I think Dr. Gaspani is correct.

It turns the Oak Island history on its ear.

It may even turn history as it's understood

in terms of European contact on its ear

and in the Maritimes, for sure.

MICHAEL A.: The message is a secret.

It's not for everybody to know.

The conclusion is they were made by the Templars.

ALEX: That's a fact.

(laughing)

RICK: The amazing thing is

that it was constructed by Europeans.

The level of certainty

he has put to it is amazing.

RICK: I've always believed in the importance of Nolan's Cross.

But now we have to come

to a complete understanding of the stone cairns,

what the stone triangle represents.

So we need to get busy.

Yeah.

MARTY: Professori Gaspani, um,

It's an incredible presentation.

And we may have some follow-up questions

after we have time to think about it a little bit.

-ADRIANO: Okay. -RICK: Grazie.

NARRATOR: The following morning,

as restoration efforts continue across the island...

TERRY: We're going deep.

Here we are right here, Charles.

Bedrock is gonna be about

210, 215 feet below grade.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: ...in the Money Pit area,

Charles Barkhouse joins geologist Terry Matheson

to supervise a new core-drilling operation

in borehole F.25-8.25

located 55 feet southwest of the Garden Shaft.

TERRY: We're very close to RF-1

and that's the reason why we're drilling this hole.

-Yeah. -Because we found

-such interesting artifacts in RF-1. -Yes.

So it's very interesting.

Look at all the wood.

-GARY: That is spectacular. -SCOTT: That's cool.

NARRATOR: In 2019,

the team first excavated an eight-foot-wide steel caisson

in this area, known as RF-1.

Incredibly, below a depth of 100 feet,

they unearthed the handle of a pickax

as well as massive wooden timbers that,

just one week ago, were scientifically proven

to have originated in Europe.

So this is a very interesting area and hopefully,

-now we can find something else. -Yep.

NARRATOR: Now, because recent

water testing in this area

has also yielded high traces of gold and silver

below a depth of 150 feet,

the team is hoping to find more evidence of man-made workings

and ultimately, the source of the precious metals...

Here it comes.

NARRATOR: ...that have been detected

deep underground.

-Thank you, my friend. -Eight.

What've we got? Eight feet below grade.

-Here we go, Charles. -Yep.

-Zero to eight. -I think that's going to be it.

Looks like they've locked onto cobble.

This is all we--

all the recovery we have.

Not so much to write home about here, Charles.

Very early days, yep.

We've got quite a ways to go.

NARRATOR: As the drilling operation continues

in the Money Pit area

some 200 yards to the northwest

on Lot 15...

This is an important area for us, mate.

NARRATOR: ...metal detection expert Gary Drayton

and Jack Begley arrive at the site of the stone cairns.

It's become really important

due to Professor Gaspani's work.

We're looking for anything that could allude

to that 12, 1300s visit.

Yeah. Well, now you're in my wheelhouse, mate.

I'm from England.

I search for medieval treasure.

You ready to get stuck in?

-Let's get started. -Okay.

NARRATOR: When these five stone formations

were first surveyed by Fred Nolan in the 1960s,

they were described as pyramid-shaped

and stood between five and seven feet high.

However, since then, searcher activities caused them

to be partially dismantled.

First flag here.

All right. Right next to these stones.

-(beeping) -Great sounding signal.

Just there, mate.

Dang.

JACK: Is this one of the piles or something?

It's out.

JACK: That's a lot of stones.

Let's see what we've got.

What have we got here? Oh.

Ooh, hoo, hoo, hoo.

Now, this is interesting.

GARY: What have we got here?

-Oh, ho, ho. -Is that a bit of lead?

GARY: Yeah, a bit of lead. It's like a lead strip.

NARRATOR: On Lot 15, located several hundred feet

northwest of the Money Pit area...

-Now, this is interesting. -Yeah, that is.

NARRATOR: ...Gary Drayton

and Jack Begley have just found

a potentially important clue near the believed

750-year-old stone cairns.

GARY: This is fantastic, mate.

It's shaped.

That could be very, very interesting, mate,

'cause it looks decorated.

And it was made like that on purpose.

This has the potential to be medieval.

-You think it's medieval? -Yeah.

-Honestly? -Yeah. I really do, mate.

When I'm working medieval sites in England

with me metal detector,

you find a lot of old iron and a lot of old lead.

And then, if you're lucky,

you find medieval silver and gold.

I think we've just scored

a really great find on Lot 15,

right next to these old stone piles.

This might link back, somehow,

to help prove Professor Gaspani's work.

NARRATOR: The so-called medieval period was an era of European history

that lasted from roughly 500 to 1500 AD.

Could Gary Drayton be correct

that this lead artifact may be more than 600 years old?

If so,

might it offer hard evidence

that Professor Adriano Gaspani's belief

that the stone piles,

or cairns, were created in the 13th century is true?

GARY: This is fantastic, mate.

I can't wait to see the data on this.

I think we should take it straight to the lab.

Yep. I'm with you, mate.

-Sweet find, Gary. -Good digging, mate.

NARRATOR: While Gary and Jack finish their search on Lot 15...

-SCOTT: Hey, Roger. -ROGER: How's it going, Scott?

SCOTT: Good.

You've uncovered some wood down there, now?

Yeah. So Rodney just gave me a call not too long ago

and, yeah,

he's uncovered quite a bit of wood, actually.

NARRATOR: ...Operations Manager Scott Barlow

meets with Roger Fortin in the Money Pit area

after being informed that representatives

from Dumas Contracting Limited

have finally uncovered a large section

of the believed treasure tunnel

located just below the Garden Shaft

at a depth of some 100 feet underground.

This is exciting.

-Oh, yeah, yeah. -This is what we've been

-waiting for. -Absolutely, and that's why

I told Rodney to stop and they know

before we start excavating, I want

to make sure nothing gets damaged,

that we'll go at it nice and easy and-and

preserve every little piece that's in there.

-It's a big day on Oak Island. -Oh, yeah.

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

SCOTT: Very few people have had this opportunity

and we're fortunate enough to be unearthing

a very old tunnel, uh, potentially a depositor tunnel.

-This is exciting. -Oh, yeah.

-Let's go down and have a look. -Sounds good.

Grab's out of the hole.

SCOTT: Working with the guys from Dumas, I mean, it's a privilege.

They're hard-working guys. You know, they're miners.

It's back-breaking work. They're down there.

They're on their hands and their knees. They're chipping.

They're digging. They're doing whatever

it takes to move this material.

But the great this about it is,

they're just as excited as we are for this project.

They want to put their hands and their eyes on this tunnel.

They want to see what we want to see.

-Scotty, do you want to come and take a closer look? -Yeah.

-Yes. -That's impressive structure.

I mean, look at the size of those planks.

-Yes. -The beams.

-Yeah, all logs of different sizes. -ROGER: Yeah.

SCOTT: Oh, wow. Look at the size of those.

I mean, we can get some great information from that.

That's gonna be, you know, 12 or 14 inches across.

ROGER: Yeah.

SCOTT: It's a pretty exciting moment to be down there

and to put eyes on this wood that,

you know, nobody's seen

for potentially upwards of 400 years.

Pretty incredible.

When we see this rounded edge here,

like that looks like it may even have bark on it.

The log, you look at the size of that,

that rounded as an outside edge,

and we can see the center in there

there's a lot of rings in there.

Which is great, that's a good indicator that it's old growth.

NARRATOR: A possibly older, rounded timber,

found nearly 100 feet underground in the Garden Shaft?

In 1804, when treasure hunters

began the first major excavation of the Money Pit,

They reported finding a series of platforms

made of round logs every ten feet,

down to the 90-foot level.

Is it possible that this tunnel may be connected

to the original treasure shaft?

If so, just what might the team find at the end of it?

SCOTT: I can't wait to get this uncovered

and get some of this material out of here.

ROGER: Yeah. You and I both.

We might be able to slide that plank right out of there.

Oh, yeah, you can tell, there's like, say,

you got a piece here, a piece there, a piece here.

I think that tunnel would be probably

no more than five feet wide.

There's kind of, like, wedges,

like, if you can take that wedge off right there.

SCOTT: Let's give it her try, yep.

ROBERT: That piece looks like it's loose, Scott.

You might be able to pry that right up.

SCOTT: Yep.

There we go. Look at that.

Definitely a wedge.

This looks like bark there as well.

ROGER: You don't get more homemade wedge than that.

This is pretty exciting. We should let Rick know

that we're on this and starting to remove some stuff.

ROGER: Oh, for sure he's gonna be excited to put eyes on this.

-SCOTT: Yeah. -I've been in a lot of old mines, never seen this.

-SCOTT: Let's keep digging. -ROGER: Sounds good.

-ROGER: Okay, Rick. -RICK: All set?

ROGER: All set. I'll hold the ladder for you.

RICK: Coming down.

NARRATOR: It is an extraordinary moment for Rick Lagina.

Having been alerted

that a large section of the possible treasure tunnel,

located just beneath the Garden Shaft

at a depth of some 100 feet,

has been exposed.

SCOTT: Look at that. Right there. -RICK: Wow.

-Those are big beams. -SCOTT: They are. -ROGER: Oh, yeah.

SCOTT: And no two are the same.

-RICK: That's impressive. -SCOTT: Yeah.

RICK: To get down there and realize

that there is hard evidence

that the tunnel is not a interpretation, it's real,

you get a little bit of chills.

Now we need to understand

its relevance to the mystery.

Boy, I'd love to get one of those, though.

Well, what we're gonna do is clean some of it off

and then we're gonna try to get the whole length out.

-RICK: And I think it would be nice to get that one. -SCOTT: Yeah.

-And then this one here we know is good and wide. -RICK: Yep.

And this one is definitely rounded here.

This is much thinner here.

-SCOTT: And that could be an upright piece. -RICK: Yep.

It's cool. It's very cool,

especially given the C-14 results.

So, that's why it's imperative that we get samples.

It is.

The whole idea of what happened in the Money Pit,

you know, we have a timeline.

NARRATOR: Earlier this year,

wood samples from this tunnel,

which the team obtained during a core-drilling operation,

were carbon-dated to the 17th century.

RICK: You know, you'd want to get that piece out whole.

ROGER: Yeah. Absolutely.

NARRATOR: But now that much more of the structure has been revealed,

the team will remove some of the massive beams

for additional testing,

in the hopes of confirming

just when this tunnel was created.

It's a year of pivotal moments.

Timber there.

I think the Professor Gaspani's work is pivotal.

This recovery of these timbers

may be a pivotal moment if it represents original work.

This is important.

SCOTT: What I'd like to see happen here

is these three timbers right here,

even the fourth one being the one on top,

get one pulled out so we can see a whole length.

-Absolutely. We can get that done for you. -Great.

If this is original depositor, there's a good chance

that there may be treasure at the end of this tunnel.

-Yep. -But I also want to get Steve Guptill

to come down here and survey this.

-Yes. -RICK: Great.

I wonder, just, you know,

have Gary come down, scan that real quick.

-SCOTT: Yep. -ROGER: Yep. Absolutely.

-So, anyway, we will let you get started. -Yes.

And I will get up and out of your way.

My thought was, you know,

to have Gary come down, I mean, why not?

It is a treasure hunt, after all.

And we have exposed a new area

for him to investigate.

-STEVE: Ready, Gary? -GARY: Yep. Ready, mate.

RICK: And hope that we find a artifact or artifacts

that can be associated with cultural context

as it relates to the construct.

-How freaking awesome is this? -STEVE: It's pretty great.

-We got everything we need, Gary. -GARY: Thanks, mate.

Time to unleash the beast.

You guys ready to find some treasure?

Let's find some treasure.

Let's strike up the magic wand.

-(beeping) -Right.

See if there's any metals in there.

(beeping)

And unfortunately, I can't get too close to this iron.

All right, mate, well, unfortunately, no hits

but we ain't finished yet, mate.

If you can hang on to my detector,

-I'm gonna try pinpointing. -Sure.

(beeping rapidly)

-GARY: Oh. -Oh.

-Oh, you've got it. -GARY: It's in me hand.

Let's see what we got.

-It is this. -STEVE: What is that?

GARY: Tough to tell what it is.

I'm not getting a rapid vibration off it,

which would tell me it's iron.

-So, this is gonna go back to the lab. -STEVE: Yep.

And hopefully, Emma's got some great news about this.

STEVE: All right.

-Good find, Gary. -GARY: Yeah. All right.

Let's see what we got here.

(beeping)

Fingers crossed.

(beeping rapidly)

STEVE: Gary, you've got another hit.

Yep. Now, what have we got here?

Yeah. We have got a piece of metal.

Look, it's shaped.

-See that flat edge on it? -STEVE: Mm-hmm. -RODNEY: Yeah.

It's an interesting shape, for sure.

You seen anything like this from your operation?

-So, it's probably from the tunnel construction. -Yeah.

Even more curious now.

Yeah, it really is.

NARRATOR: Could Gary be correct

that this metal artifact may have been used

in the construction of the tunnel?

It's fantastic news.

NARRATOR: If so, could it be another critical clue

that could help the team determine

just when it was built?

All right, chaps. I'm gonna put this

in the front pocket there and zip it.

Do you want me to help you do some measurements, mate?

I wouldn't mind. For the first time, I can put

survey control points on this tunnel

and this is gonna help me draft

and project this tunnel accurately now

because this is the first time we've stood on it.

GARY: Okay, mate.

I think it's great we're doing this, Steve,

- for good measure. -(Steve chuckles)

NARRATOR: While Steve and Gary complete their survey

of the tunnel beneath the Garden Shaft...

CHARLES: I think we have a core coming up now.

NARRATOR: ...some 50 feet to the southwest...

-What do we got, Adam? -One fifty-one.

CHARLES: One fifty-one.

NARRATOR: ...geologist Terry Matheson

and Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse

are continuing to monitor

the core-drilling operation

in borehole F.25-8.25.

Thank you, Adam.

NARRATOR: A borehole where they hope to find

more evidence of another man-made structure

-more than 150 feet deep... -Scalpel.

that, according to recent scientific testing

is of European origin.

Let's slice this open and take a look.

-We've got wood here, Terry. -What?

-We got wood. -Wow.

Yeah. This is all undisturbed here.

So, we must be right at the edge of something.

CHARLES: You know, Terry,

the fact that we're finding wood at this depth--

we could maybe be in the original Money Pit.

-So, all the more important we get a sample. -CHARLES: Oh, absolutely.

-That's what we do, right? -Yeah.

Well, we got another core coming.

And hopefully we'll pull up some of that real treasure.

Yeah.

What have you got, Adam?

-One seventy-one. -One seventy-one.

-Ooh, looks like we're into bedrock. -Yeah.

TERRY: Yep. We're into the side of the bedrock.

CHARLES: Yeah.

TERRY: And here's some more of that punky,

relatively soft material.

M-Much harder gypsum bedrock here.

Yeah.

TERRY: This stuff is just as Mother Nature left it.

NARRATOR: It is an unfortunate revelation for Charles and Terry

that the drilling operation has reached bedrock

at a depth of some 170 feet.

However, since they recovered evidence

of a wooden structure less than 20 feet higher

and have also detected precious metals in this area,

could it be that they just missed direct contact

with something of great importance or value?

We are in and out of old workings.

-Yeah. -Something went on down there.

Let's, uh, clear this table

and hopefully have another target to drill on.

There's still a lot of areas where-where we haven't drilled.

Absolutely.

CHARLES: We'll move on.

TERRY: Mystery abounds on Oak Island.

CHARLES: Certainly does.

NARRATOR: As an exciting new day begins on Oak Island.

ROGER: All right, guys.

If you're ready, we're gonna get this wood up.

-Okey doke. -ROGER: Yep.

-Let's do it. -NARRATOR: Rick Lagina

and other members of the team

arrive in the Money Pit area

as massive timbers from the potential treasure tunnel,

located some 100 feet underground,

are about to be removed from the Garden Shaft.

All right, Jeremy. Let's get her up here.

♪ ♪

We've never had this opportunity before

and we need to make certain we do everything we can

to understand what this represents.

ALEX: Here it comes right here.

RICK: I absolutely hope that this leads us

five steps closer to-to solving the mystery.

(straining): Oh, not quite. Now I do.

RICK: You can see in that piece of wood

a man down there cutting that timber,

creating that tunnel to-to go somewhere,

hopefully, to hide treasure.

Look at that. We got a rounded edge here

-and rounded on this side. -CHARLES: Yep.

And it's adze-cut.

GARY: Yeah, that's adze-cut.

NARRATOR: A timber cut with an adze?

Dating back to the days of ancient Egypt,

an adze was a type of cutting tool

designed for the construction of ships and wooden structures,

until the 18th century, when they were replaced

by mechanized tools.

That's a bit of Oak Island Money Pit history right here.

NARRATOR: So now, the question is

just how long before the 18th century

might this tunnel have been created?

ROGER: Watch your fingers.

RICK: It's real aha moment.

There's no question about it.

After all the struggles and all the setbacks

and all the time and all the effort,

to see it there in front of you...

Well, this is real history,

and I want to hold it in my hand.

This has more going for it than anything else so far.

I mean, this could lead right to the treasure.

We don't know yet.

Let me just test it,

see if it's sturdy enough for a gold dance.

-Yeah. It will be. -(laughter)

RICK: The good news is

we still do have the horizontal drilling.

-Still to come. -Still to come.

NARRATOR: Because the tunnel must be more fully exposed and inspected

before the team can possibly access it,

in the coming days,

representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited

will conduct a probe-drilling operation

from the bottom of the Garden Shaft

into the tunnel's interior

to hopefully pinpoint the source of the precious metals

that have been detected nearby in the Baby Blob.

Kudos to everybody, especially the guys down hole,

you know, 'cause they did the work.

Let's stay the course,

get as much information as we can.

So, it's been a very good day.

NARRATOR: While the operation continues in the Garden Shaft,

later that afternoon...

-LAIRD: Hey, Rick. -RICK: Laird. How are you? Emma?

-Hey. -Hey.

NARRATOR: ...Rick, his nephew Alex

and Doug Crowell join

archaeologist Laird Niven

and archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan

in the Oak Island laboratory.

RICK: So, I see this artifact that was found on Lot 15.

Was it found close to the, uh, stone cairn piles?

Yes.

NARRATOR: They are eager to hear Emma's scientific analysis

of the decorative lead artifact

that was found just one day ago

near the potentially 750-year-old stone cairns

located on Lot 15.

Is it a match for any of the other lead artifacts

we found on the island?

Um, so, because it's lead,

I can't give 100% confirmation of a match.

But 99%, which is still pretty good.

It matched a lot

with an artifact from 2021.

-Which I do have here in the lab. -Oh.

DOUG: That was the piece Chris McFarlane found a hit

as being possibly from Scandinavian origin.

-GARY: Here we go. -NARRATOR: Two years ago,

while searching Lot 13

between the swamp and the Money Pit...

What the heck?

-That's lead! -Yeah.

...Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti

found a lead artifact with a decorative, spiral design.

This is the data for the twisted rod.

...an artifact that surprised geochemist Dr. Chris McFarlane

after he conducted a form of isotope testing on it

known as laser ablation.

When we run the results through the database,

uh, one source would be

in Eastern Scandinavia.

Here it is, right here.

DOUG: Lot 13-- where this twisted lead was found--

that's just downhill from Lot 15.

-Mm-hmm. -Professor Gaspani posited this idea

that those stone cairns were placed there in the 1200s,

so any and all metal artifacts,

whether they're precious metal or not,

could play a part in identifying who was there,

possibly, in that time period.

-So, yeah. I think it's important. -Correct. Yep.

And given this item being found

in such close proximity to the stone cairns,

I think we have to, uh, follow up on that:

a possible Scandinavian connection to the island.

♪ ♪

DOUG: I think we have to, uh, follow up

on a possible Scandinavian connection to the island.

NARRATOR: In the Oak Island laboratory,

Rick Lagina and members of the team

have just found out

that a lead artifact unearthed just one day ago

on Lot 15, near the stone cairns,

is a near compositional match to the lead object

that was found two years ago on Lot 13

and may have come from Scandinavia.

RICK: It's certainly probable if not definitive

that this is not a North American mystery, i.e.,

it wasn't originated here.

It had to have come from the Old World.

In years past, we've investigated the possibility

that the Knights Templar were behind this mystery.

The only people that we know of

for sure that made the voyage pre-Columbian are the Norse.

The historical record and some science

puts the Norse along these shores,

like L'Anse aux Meadows, right?

Where else they were is another question.

And we also know that the Templars

were at the height of their power

in the same time period.

So, did they know each other?

♪ ♪

NARRATOR: It is well documented

that the Scandinavian warrior civilization

known as the Norse, or Vikings,

explored and established settlements

on the North American continent

including Iceland, Greenland

and New Brunswick

as much as 1,000 years ago.

But could Doug's idea that the Vikings may have

possibly been connected to the Knights Templar

as well as the Oak Island mystery

have any basis in reality?

I think it's imperative to follow up on that research.

NARRATOR: If so,

could that explain how structures

like the paved area in the swamp,

the stone cairns on Lot 15

and these lead artifacts came to be on Oak Island?

Could that also explain the man-made workings

that were recovered from deep in the RF-1 caisson

and which are potentially of Scandinavian origin,

as well as the traces of gold and silver

that have been detected in the Money Pit area?

I've always said it's a wonderful mystery,

and that's why it's complex.

And that's why it's interesting.

And that's why it continues to puzzle.

So, when you take items like this,

you have to find the context.

You know, you have to find the one thing.

-And we only need one. -One.

One that connects the Norse,

perhaps Norse-Templar connection,

to those constructs up on that hill.

Now, with what we're finding

and with what Professor Gaspani is-is suggesting,

your one thing might be found outside the Money Pit.

RICK: We just have to find it.

♪ ♪

Emma, Laird, again, thank you both very much.

I think we've got some homework to do.

-Let's get after it. -All right. -Take care, guys.

-RICK: Thank you. -ALEX: Thanks.

NARRATOR: Another historic week on Oak Island has come to an end.

And like many others in recent years,

it may have revealed another chapter in a mystery

that now appears to stretch back further in time

and to further regions of the globe

than anyone ever dreamed possible.

As Rick, Marty and the team continue to dig,

just what will they find?

And where might it lead them

on their quest for the ultimate answers?

Next time on The Curse of Oak Island...

GARY: We found these in the Garden Shaft.

CARMEN: It's very old.

It definitely wasn't used to put together structures.

It could be off boxes on a treasure.

There's a wall in the swamp.

It could be related to the stone road.

That red stuff is what's underneath the stone road--

that will place that wood structure

further back in time.

Vikings had knowledge of North America

with contacts to early Templars.

They could have had knowledge of this area.

That's correct.

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