The Curse of Oak Island (2014–…): Season 4, Episode 8 - The Mystery of Samuel Ball - full transcript

tonight on the curse of Oak Island

that's a king George this is a treasure

on the street 1700s that changes a lot

they're not supposed to be here the

people who did this wanted it to be

found

take it slow the world hasn't seen this

hey what's that goal shiny thing needs

holy smokes

that's amazing

my hope as I'm watching this just show



me one man-made object what's that

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 bits of

gold chain a stone slab with strange

symbols carved into it even a 17th

century Spanish coin 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

well let's a little can see one and then

take a few grabs out of it for Rick and



Marty lagina and their partners this

search for treasure on Oak Island has

led them to a massive 40 inch wide steel

case for haul to simply known sc1 today

sir good day the Scots

lashed out there yeah we are absolutely

ready to go man it was at this very spot

where last year Island historian Charles

Barkhouse advised the team to drill an

exploratory borehole in an effort to

locate the site of the original money

pit after reaching a depth of 171 feet

they encountered would appear to be a 21

foot deep void in the bedrock below

here we go but even more astonishing was

what they saw after placing a pipe

inspection camera into the hole what's

that looks metallic yellow that is your

gold color

now after drilling a hole that is wide

enough and secure enough for a diver to

explore they are inserting a

high-resolution camera into the shaft in

an effort to see if they can locate the

mysterious gold colored object they

spotted last year

I'm gonna make a prediction that the

waters like off don't take smoosh into

water I don't know how many hours I've

spent watching swirly things in water

Brad forty feet right now he's going

quick sure is this shiny gold thing

gonna be there I hope for David that the

shiny gold thing is there oh look at

that it's remarkably clear I stand

corrected on this one I thought it'd be

- nothing I never thought it'd be just

clear he gave it a 90 percent chance of

not seeing anything - me too I believe I

was at a hundred so as your casing at

one oh yeah

you write down or it's a black thing

right there straight over here you'd

rotate it around Scott go up 90 degrees

and then perpendicular or horizontal and

rotate okay well this we're close to the

wall or it almost looks like yeah it's a

cavity yeah

and the plane goes back further opens up

that one yeah we saw an interesting

anomalous feature in the wall of the

cavity down see one is that a tunnel is

it an access point it's somewhat of a

guess can you pan around do stuff yep

way that looks chipped out right there

zoom in on this

that has a 90 degree angle to it there's

no way that's more than you

because 90-degree angles are something

rarely found in nature it's possible

that what Rick Marty and the team are

looking at is really a man-made feature

but if some who carved it and for what

purpose

every time we're looking underground on

Oak Island it's intriguing and

interesting the problem is you know you

come away with what did I really see

what does that really mean

where's our shiny gold thing Oh what is

that shiny thing as the team actually

located the same mysterious gold colored

object Rick and Charles spotted last

year or perhaps another one

are you rotating up Scotty yeah I just

want to see like see anything yeah what

do you think it looks like well it's

shining off the wall there's something

sticking out from the wall looks like

Greg don't you think yeah I think it's

just chips in there anhydrate when the

quartz is reflecting back the light yeah

you know I hate to say it I hope that

wasn't Dave's gold shiny thing that

shape color had a curved shape dude

the team's inability to find further

evidence of the shiny gold colored

object they photographed last year is

puzzling could it be that by making the

hole wider the object has been dislodged

and now lies somewhere at the bottom of

the cavity I'm gonna go find the bottom

go on down

how deep are we the four feet from the

bottom 176 all right yeah okay

177 I think is where we go into the

black silk what about I don't know a

foot off bottom looks like now let's

come up so I know much clearer cavity we

have the sudden presence of a layer of

heavy silt and black sludge as for now

prevented further examination 575 okay

so we got seven feet of clear hole

there's a bunch of cavity below there we

can't see anything the Oak Island team

will have to resort to other options if

they are ever to find anything like a

precious Marta fact or possibly evidence

of treasure lying within the void

so with us do you think he was still in

a hammer grab yes yes I can't think of

anything we'd see here that would make

me not want a hammer grab in here what

about a diver I think we need to get the

true dimensions before we send a guy

down there yeah maybe we should try

summer I agree

this island keeps tantalizing it keeps

giving you a little bit and then dashing

you on the rocks so to speak I think we

can come home come on oh it's got yeah

we were hoping we'd see something

metallic gold would be great we had

indications of it and we did not see it

with the camera but of course as always

we're not done we're gonna hammer grab

till we can't hammer grab anymore we're

gonna run sonar and then depending on

the results of the sonar we may put a

diver down there we got the conduit if

there's anything worth doing we're gonna

have a look at it now let's go do our

other jobs okay yep

while Rick Marty and the team arrange to

set up a hammer grab tool to further

explore the c1 shaft

what is this area in natchez this would

be lot 24 Oak Island historian Charles

Barkhouse and metal detection expert

Gary Drayton searched for clues on lot

24 near the western end of the island

this was one of the nine four acre lots

that were once owned by the former

American slave Samuel ball it's a little

chippy on signal okay born into slavery

in South Carolina in 1765

Samuel ball won his freedom by agreeing

to fight for the British during the

American Revolution but although he was

reported to have lived on Oak Island as

a simple cabbage farmer by the time of

his death in 1846 he had become one of

the wealthiest men in the area he's

always been the mystery out of Oak

Island and there are a lot of mystery

men but he's always been at the top of

the list and what's very intriguing

yesterday for the monies that were paid

for the lots that he ended up owning on

Oak Island he could have bought hundreds

of acres on the mainland why did he

choose to remain here Judge des roses

history of the county of Lunenburg right

which does have a section regarding

Samuel ball on a recent trip to the

Genealogical Society in nearby Lunenburg

Charles Barkhouse along with journalist

and author Randall Sullivan you

discovered important evidence that it

might have been Samuel ball and not

Anthony Vaughn who is one of the three

original discoverers of the Oak Island

money pit in the first edition of this

book Samuel ball he's named as one of

the original finders of the money pit

and in the subsequent editions his name

is removed and no explanation

this is money pit where your ancestors

were standing probably right in this

area right here Wow

last year during a rare visit three of

Daniel mcginnises direct descendants

returned to Oak Island to share an

incredible story one that had never been

publicly told before grandpa Daniel

noticed the depression in the ground so

he and his two friends started digging

now I've been told they found three

treasure chests really really and what

is in this box

is one of the things that came from that

chest the one that McGinnis took Wow

could Samuel ball have used the money

from one of the three reported treasure

chests to purchase additional acreage on

Oak Island

I believe the legend or the folklore is

that Samuel ball got kind of

unexpectedly wealthy and it came here

with nothing we're pretty sure of that

there are a lot of questions that mode

sent me wall

thankfully it's a coin it's not it's not

very deep reading it's only six inches

there yeah good weight of it now

it's not a good sign when it says

shallow lazarey

it's not a coin no it's a book that's a

fancy bomb

yeah that's seventeen hundred's really

yeah they call of dandy buttons did

anybody yeah as opposed to more of a

common yeah yeah there is something like

a shield on there they call these the

small ones are normally referred to as

cuff buttons and the larger ones are

normally jacket coat buttons but cool

fine yeah very cool fine hey keep going

okay Gary started getting these hits I

mean he was pretty excited and when Gary

gets excited that's when everybody else

should get excited let me check it yeah

the fact that there are a number of

metal objects being discovered on lock

24 is an indication that the area was

once the site of much human activity but

could this location also yield other

important information perhaps revealing

just how samuel ball amassed his fortune

look at this girl look I can see the

round edge at the side of B roof Zeca

coin yeah it's the coin

yeah I recognize that guy you know is

that's King George the second defamation

so that would put this coin to the 1700

yeah this is a treasure on this dream

King George the second reigned over

Great Britain from 1727 to 1760 a period

that predates the discovery of the money

pit by nearly four decades could this

coin have once been part of the Oak

Island treasure or could it have been

left here more than two centuries ago by

someone who came to the island looking

for it

let's keep going

it's another coin signal Charles yeah I

mean about here yep

just a lot very deep

what

you know what that is said this is a

type of thing that would be carried by a

British soldier and he would chop off an

inch of it and put it in the lead mold

for making the musket balls this is a

ninja a letting go for making musket

balls Wow

now we've got start putting things

together we've got a button we've got

coins and this may be this is some kind

of clamp

you know the encampment part that you're

talking about kind of fits into Fred

Nolan's theory he believed that this is

a British military operation in 1762

after the sacking of the vana in 1762

during the period known as the Seven

Years War the British Royal Navy invaded

Havana Cuba in an effort to defeat the

Spanish Armada after capturing the city

the British confiscated a vast hoard of

treasure much of which had been looted

by conquistadors centuries before the

British then loaded their spoils and

sailed to the board of Halifax some 60

miles north of Oak Island

but there are many theorists who believe

that part of the treasure was

deliberately diverted south to Oak

Island or renegade naval officers

instructed a team of military engineers

to hide the treasure ship

could gary drayton be finding evidence

that this incredible theory is true that

sounds better not very deep Iver

okay it's reading like four or five

inches

you see that on the top what is that

like that yeah

I know what it looks like to me okay I'm

writing on it it sounds like some kind

of script right you see here across it I

see that yeah

what would you say that is new to me it

would look like it was off for the stock

of like a or a musket okay you know

somebody's signature this is somebody's

name

Highschool that is very cool this is

somebody's signature this is somebody's

name while searching for artifacts on

lot 24 the area once owned in the early

1800s by Oak Island resident Samuel ball

metal detection expert Gary Drayton

along with Oak Island historian Charles

Barkhouse have just made a number of

incredible and potentially significant

discoveries so we've got six coins of

fancy Bolton and we look at that rivet

yeah and the way that's curves that

could have been on the end of a pistol

based on your experience are you willing

to say that this could be a camp yeah

some kind of encampment that's amazing

an encampment good Charles and Gary be

looking at evidence that the stories

about stolen Spanish gold are true if so

could the treasure still be hidden

somewhere on the island hey Marty yeah

over here what do you guys got tell them

what you think we found lay it on me

what do you got some good news good news

roundness rounder yep

Holy Smoke look at these Wow

oh hi there yes see king george ii was

that date from early 1700 no kidneys are

all British coppers all in one spot

yeah we've got six of them in this small

little radius here

and this there's got script no I think

this is offer the end of a pistol you

see the writing on them that could be

the person's name you own the pistol I

just think this there's so much stuff

here I think this is an encampment or a

camp well then we really could be onto

something right it's very exciting we

could be on some kind of encampment and

Gary feels it's George the seconds head

on there so if it's George the second it

predates the original finding of the

money pit so even more exciting this

quite a haul Wow Gary 1700s that changes

a lot they're not supposed to be here no

gary drayton spine names on lot 24 have

validated much that has long been

speculated about Samuel ball and his

connections to both the discovery of the

money pit and the search for treasure on

Oak Island

if anything it only serves to fuel

interest in the possibility that

something of enormous value was buried

here centuries ago something that still

may lie undiscovered and undisturbed

several hundred feet deep underground

this would have been just everyday mommy

Wow Gary that's got a jingle to where's

the gold never satisfied yeah I know

well you're only as good as your last

fine yeah well we'll give you credit

okay let's take a break it gets tiring

digging all these King George copies

yeah

after a day fall up new discoveries Oh

Randall I wanna thank you for coming

back Rick Marty and their partners meet

in the war room with investigative

journalist and author Randall Sullivan

and though you've been out in a boat in

the field researching Oak Island and

were very much interested in what you've

been up to well I've been learning

things I didn't know after spending the

previous four weeks in Nova Scotia he

has all but completed the research

needed for a book that promises to shed

new light on the Oak Island mystery

somebody did some fantastic work here it

has to be for some fantastic reason and

that has inclined me to think it's more

likely than not that the people who did

this wanted it to be found you're

intimating that the depositor never

intended to come back for it themselves

it was meant to be fun at some point in

the future yes that's the theory I find

most compelling to motivate people to do

it and then keep it secret I just think

you'd have to have some higher purpose

honestly had to start back it at the

beginning but just based on the things I

heard during a meeting in the war room

Rick Marty Craig and members of the team

are getting a debriefing from

investigative journalists and Oak Island

historian Randal Sullivan but you know

we're just like you I mean I'm making

the best guess I can based on what is

there early maps after spending several

years conducting research in addition to

spending the past several weeks

interviewing archivists and historians

in and around Halifax Nova Scotia and

this is a genealogy it is yeah

he believes he has finally been able to

verify the identity of the very person

who could have been the architect of the

entire Oak Island mystery

the one theory that really has connected

with me is the whole thing involving

Francis Bacon there is so much evidence

that is connected to Francis Bacon that

supports the idea that I find myself

pretty fascinated by the whole story is

mysterious but he actually is the one

that I think is the most mysterious Sir

Francis Bacon the 17th century British

philosopher scientist and nobleman of

the many intriguing theories about Oak

Island those involving Francis Bacon

proved the most persistent and

persuasive some even suggest that bacon

was the secret author of the works of

William Shakespeare and hid the original

handwritten manuscripts of Shakespeare's

plays on Oak Island for safekeeping

I was very dismissive of the bacon

theory until I actually started doing

some research why is everybody so

enamored of this guy well if you if you

ask a traditional academic is greatest

accomplishment was he founded the

scientific method he was the father of

empiricism but he was also a statesman

and philosopher but those who are the

true Baconian and especially the ones

that have followed him in those days and

now is because he was like a christ-like

figure he was a spiritual master who was

teaching them all how you create did he

belong to any particular order he

founded the Rosicrucians although many

questions remain about the elite secret

society of intellectuals known as the

Rosicrucians there are many who believe

they had a strong connection to the

Knights Templar and that they came into

possession of some of the Templars most

sacred treasures including the Ark of

the Covenant the Holy Grail and the

golden menorah that once stood in King

Solomon's Temple

is it possible that Sir Francis Bacon

could have come to Oak Island to hide

not only the manuscripts of William

Shakespeare but also precious religious

relics from the Holy Land he was a

member of the Royal Society as well as

you know founded the room he was

essentially in the bedrock of the Royal

Society when there was this almost

religious cult of devotion around them

but when I actually started looking at

what the facts were I realized man

there's just so much that seems like it

could be connected to Oak Island I just

have to find it hard to believe that

people go to this much effort to hide a

treasure of gold that it had to be

something gained a bunch of books well I

you know I think you could find people

who would say that Shakespeare's

manuscripts are more worth a hundred

times per ounce what gold is know if you

if you actually have shakes there's

manuscripts I would find the gold and

give you their way to them okay I deal

has been struck yeah ten times

Bacon's seminal work was New Atlantis

which was the description of a paradise

that would be created in North America

utopian a utopia

that would be created in North America

that would be finally the perfect

society when you look at the stuff that

bacon wrote one of the sections in

Silvis alarm is a description of how to

create a perpetual spring and the very

first line of instruction is dig a pit

upon the seashore they say find the high

ground near the seashore to start and

then we have a system of tunnels I mean

it it sounds like he's describing a

pilot

if I was gonna pursue a theory if I was

in your place I would go with the bacon

theory and follow it

Randall's theory that bacon did this

it's surely intriguing surely very

interesting bacon was a savant he was

the Michelangelo of his day might he

have labored to conduct this enterprise

possible well Randall this has been

great thank you for sharing this all

with us yeah okay well we all have a lot

to do let's go do it

as a new day begins on Oak Island here

we go

Rick lagina Craig tester and members of

the team are more eager than ever to

continue their exploration of the

mysterious borehole known as c1

now that the hammer Graham has been

positioned above the hole

they are hoping it can retrieve evidence

of the shiny metallic object they

discovered when they explored the site

last year

yep this is it

that's it with that

I got a few other things crossed

#NOME?

is proceeding that something definitive

will fall out of those jaws that one

singular something will fall into that

bucket and then we'll go AHA that's the

hope

it's always the hope it continues to be

the hope here comes Dan

let's come on Rick well you want to come

over there it's quite an interesting

development we hit the cavity at 171

gotta come out take a look at

we've worn those more than a few times

somebody has a big head around here

as the Oak Island team watches the 3-ton

hammer graph tool excavate mud and

debris from the bottom of Siwan

they are hoping that the Spoils will

contain important evidence of manmade

workings Matt Charles dear all or

perhaps proof that the shiny metallic

object Rick and Charles spotted last

year was not just an illusion hey Craig

what's that

or not I don't know what it is

your Dan man

it's black black

then which that

in dance more than five decades of

searching for treasure on Oak Island he

has seen more than anyone alive he also

knows when to be dismissive of a find

and when to be intrigued with it

is that water or is it charcoal or what

is it that is otk wood that's

interesting interesting save that old

decayed wood could the team have just

found evidence of an ancient man-made

structure some 170 feet below ground

he says that's decayed wood oh ok so how

do we how do we get that off my hands

and into a bag

I thought it was metal that thirst

coming up

that's the shoe

that honest healthy

that's interesting but that's not Vedra

Rick that's the good part of it since

the bedrock on this side of the island

is known to be limestone and hydride the

presence of this strange rock only adds

to the curiosity about the nature of the

mysterious underground void see what the

water has done to it that's okay I have

never ran into that a neurotic

that one piece of rock that came up I

found incredibly intriguing to me it

looked like the type of rock and the

type of formation in the rock that we

saw in the video we saw that type of

rock formation on the walls when the

camera was panning around inside of your

cavities yeah I'd say that that was the

this was the ceiling and that was the

problem

oh there was something hanging right off

of there

we're wood or wood look at that piece

yeah that's what right there big

question is is this wood part of an old

roof that's caved in

an old roof could it be a piece of an

underground tunnel or box or perhaps a

piece of the wooden vault first

discovered by treasure hunters William

Chappell and Frederick Blair in 1897

is not ours that's for damn sure cuz I

never I never drilled over there yeah

now this is a new cavity so I I guess is

it's a great sign having the wood coming

up yeah

Craig more wood ceiling

what is wood if it comes from that level

what's it doing

rather than having been introduced by

some activity of a human being Craig I

think what the what the big question

here is what is wood doing at that depth

below bedrock below virgin soil how do

we explain that I mean no I think it's

very encouraging I mean it there is a a

ceiling that had wood on it and it's

collapsed a bit then we're you know

we're bringing up some of that wood

that's from the class

now that the hammer grab at c1 has

yielded evidence that something of value

could lie at the bottom of the

underground void the team must figure

out what to do next do they continue to

blindly excavate the void which could

damage or destroy precious artifacts or

do they send a diver down to make a

firsthand investigation we need to

puzzle on how we're gonna explore this

we have two lineups on our lineup an ROV

any info is good info at this point my

opinion

the next step is to put us on our dog we

need the image the cavity we have to

know width breadth depth we have to get

as much information as possible before

we put a human being down into that

cavity just have to figure it all we got

more questions again today we thought

we'd get some answers we got quiet Oh

Skylanders maybe not tomorrow

at the end of a long day that saw

progress made at the c1 shaft we all

want to know this object that's leather

to the ceiling whether it's in the wall

or something there were all convinced

yeah Rick lagina Charles Barkhouse and

Jack Begley gather in the oak island war

room they are planning a further

exploration of what could be a man-made

cavity some 170 feet underground Charles

I know c1 intrigued you from getting oh

and now we've got this difficulty if you

will about how to explore it how to find

the shiny gold thing and there's only

one way to get it and that's the put a

diverter on the hole yeah John and

Howard did an exemplary dive in 10x so

we need to get them on the horn and see

if they're interested absolutely last

year world-renowned diver John

Chatterton made the perilous 235-foot

descent to the bottom of borehole 10x in

an effort to help the team look for

artifacts tunnels or other signs of

man-made workings

unfortunately this ability was virtually

zero and Chatterton's findings indicated

that what dan Blankenship had long

believed to be a man-made chamber could

be a natural formation yeah what what is

that done

it's far in a way more difficult than

10x god forbid there's a collapse and I

think if anyone can do it it's those two

all right let's ring them up see what

happens

hey guys John Howard hooria hey guys how

you doing good good

joining John Chatterton on the video

conference is his business partner and

safety diver Howard Ehrenberg we have a

proposition for you if you will awesome

you guys when you left you got bit by

the Oak Island bug you said you wanted

to be kept in the know yeah we've been

doing some digging in the money pit and

one of the holes based on last year's

work we thought we entered avoid a

swimmable cavity that may extend into

the original money pit so your question

is are we interested that is our

question I mean we really and truly wish

you guys the greatest success in all

this

I see but at the same time we prefer you

didn't have that great success without

us so I think all right that'd be great

yeah

so we've dropped the 43 inch case on to

get us a free access to the cavity so

you wouldn't be encumbered by like TEDx

the ladder the hoist rails all of that

we thought we'd give you really clear

dyes yeah the 43 inch caisson was

anchored in the bedrock but we did pull

off about 10 feet so you'd be going down

through uncase rock into the cavity okay

that's the last yes exactly and again at

that point of entry we're not sure if

there was a collapse of the ceiling so

there are a lot of questions it

certainly seems as though it's it's a

dynamic environment yes it's it's like

whether it's stable how or not figure it

out okay there was one other thing that

we noticed John as Rick said we hit this

void at two 171 and they put a camera

down and it appeared to show this shiny

gold thing but we're concerned that did

the caisson drop this gold object

somewhere down in the muck sure yes the

other part of the investigation aspect

of this hole we'd like to drop blue view

sonar down there and get a 3d computer

model of it what

else we can come up with in as much of

the knowns out of that hole as possible

and then you guys decide let's see what

it looks like with number one the sonar

and and then decide whether we really

need to make an exploratory dive or we

can feel like we've know enough that we

get right to work all right Joan and

Howard are committed even without a

complete understanding of what limited

information we have I say move ahead put

them in the hole thank you both very

much

appreciate it we're excited man all

right thanks Carol see ya I would love

to find something of monetary value that

would be great but to get some answers

would be sort of the de minimis wish

let's at least get some answers for Rick

Marty and the Oak Island team the dream

of making an important discovery in the

ce-1 shaft may soon become a reality

armed with both video footage of a

mysterious gold colored object and

physical evidence of a possible wooden

structure there is reason to believe

that the laginas and their partners

could be on the verge of a major

breakthrough

but if so what will they find

a chest containing the priceless

manuscripts of William Shakespeare a

wooden vault filled with stolen gold

or we'll see one proved to be a deadly

trap

one that will give to the island yet

another human trophy next time on the

curse of Oak Island I think we explored

10x no no wait wait why do you guys keep

hanging on to this because I believe

let's put this machine is yeah let's get

it all I still am puzzled by what's in

the bottom of 10x yeah still see the

square target I think it's still in the

same position John Chatterton is back

hopefully he can put his eyes on the

target he's got something on the metal

detector

Subtitled by Diego Moraes