The Curse of Oak Island: Drilling Down (2016–…): Season 7, Episode 11 - Always Forward - full transcript

Season 9 of The Curse of
Oak Island revealed more than

ever about
the 227-year-old mystery.

Thanks to the efforts
of Rick and Marty Lagina,

Craig Tester and their team,
we now have compelling evidence

related to a ship
in the triangle-shaped swamp.

Science shows that gold
and silver lie buried deep

in the Money Pit and we finally
have a prime suspect

for who was behind it all.

So, what are the team's plans
to get their hands on the goods?

I'm here in beautiful and snowy

Traverse City, Michigan
to find out.



This is Drilling Down.

- Gentlemen.
- Hey, Matty.

- Matty Blake.
- Welcome back to Traverse City.

Oh, man,
I just love coming here.

I appreciate the invite again.

Even when it's
like that out there?

Honestly,
even when it's like that.

- All right.
- We need to talk about

this incredible year.

The island showed you so much

this year, and yet

- only showed you so much...
- Yeah.

If that makes sense.

I mean, the island shows us
something new every year.



You know,
almost just enough to keep us

interested but
never enough to conclusively

- say one way or another if we're on the right track or not.
- Right.

Oak Island giveth and
Oak Island taketh away.

I guess more this
year to me it felt

higher highs and lower lows.

- Yeah.
- To me, the year, you know

how you always do
your one-word thing?

- Yeah.
- It was messy.

We didn't think COVID
was gonna be an issue.

This year it was a big issue.

Then we had very
high expectations

about the southeast
corner of the swamp.

That got messy.

So, it was like expectations

were very high, but
things got messy.

- Yeah.
- I mean, you look at the Money Pit.

We are super excited
about finding gold,

- finding old wood, finding metal that was old.
- Right.

And then, if I focus
just-just on the Money Pit,

that's really, um...
really, really, uh,

incredible what happened
because what are the odds

that you could
drill a hole that big,

come up with an ancient piece

of metal with gold on it...

Metals.

Metals with gold on them, uh,

and the gold not consistent
with the natural gold of the area?

So something
introduced almost for sure.

- Right.
- Um, so...

until somebody can explain
to me, give me a mundane

reason for that, I'm
gonna remain excited.

And that's a perfect
segue to you, Rick.

Um, how do you
process this year?

It was frustrating.

Uh, there's no
question about it for me.

But, uh, I've always
said it's a real

mystery and we need to wrap
it in the arms of real science

and real professionals,
real academics.

And we have done that.
The science, the data is

indicating that there's
something there.

Let's start where this
whole thing started

The Money Pit.

We're only becoming more
and more convinced that there is

a treasure in the Money Pit,
but it keeps running away from us.

The harder you trace
after the treasure,

the more it tends
to just hide itself.

This year, after water
tests in previously drilled boreholes

returned high
concentrations of both

silver and gold
across a strategic

grid in the Money Pit area...

- Hey, look at this.
- Bingo!

That would apply to a
chamber, wouldn't it?

- It could apply to a chamber.
- Holy smokes.

Rick, Marty, Craig and the team

launched the most ambitious plan

in Oak Island history to locate
the legendary mother lode

of treasure that people have
been looking for since 1795.

Ready, Terry?

- This is more like it.
- Oh, it's full of wood!

Phase one involved
a core-drilling operation

of some 20 new boreholes.

And the guys were astonished
when they unearthed evidence

of ancient wooden
tunnels some 90 feet deep.

We sent the wood
out for testing.

- Mm-hmm.
- And, uh, it came back

from Beta Analytical
with one time period.

That's good.

1488 to 1650.

- Really and truthfully?
- Yeah.

Wow.

Oh, there's something in here.

Oh, there it
is. Piece of flat metal.

There's metal right here.

But they were
even more encouraged

by metal fragments recovered
from the same approximate depth,

which geoscientist
Dr. Ian Spooner scanned

using an X-ray
fluorescence device.

- There it is, A-U!
- There it is.

.68?

Yeah, .068%.

That would be gold.

Craig, I mean you
hear gold and you're

talking scientific
corroborative evidence.

That must have moved the
needle for you, I'd imagine.

Uh, very much so.

I was extremely happy
when that information came in.

Yeah, me, too.
Those are real numbers.

I thought we
were going to find it.

Before we put that can
down, I thought, okay,

how could there not be
at least one more piece

down there or the origin

of this little flake of gold?

- Yeah.
- You known, we were originally just

trying to determine where
we'd put a big can down.

And all of a sudden it's like
we have one grade-A prospect

right here to put a can down,
so I was, I was very high.

At that point in time,
I was thinking this,

this very well
could be the year.

- Yeah.
- We got the knowledge that there's something there and

we've got the means
to get it because we got

these big cans coming in.

Right.

You hear that, guys?

I think that's the
sound of treasure.

And so began phase two

of the team's
historic operation.

This is the year!

We are gonna be holding
treasure in our hands.

Working once again
with representatives

from Irving Equipment Limited,

as well as Vanessa
Lucido and her company

ROC Equipment,
they excavated five

ten-foot-diameter,
steel-cased shafts all across

the Money Pit area to
depths of as much as 180 feet

where the precious
metals had been detected.

Here we go. Here's another one.

- Is that a bunch of wood?
- That is wood.

That is a hell of a lot of wood.

What they did recover was
more compelling evidence

of man-made workings
that predated the discovery

of the Money Pit in 1795.

Let's see what the machine says.

There's A-U.

Oh, there's a bit
of gold in there.

And more trace amounts of gold.

But after all that digging,
signs of treasure...

And the fabled
Chappell Vault, first

reported in 1897...
Remained elusive.

- It's just soup.
- Yep.

It was disappointing, hard to...

hard to really figure out,

even sitting back here in

my comfortable
office, what the hell

- happened in the Money Pit?
- Yeah.

But if there's
something left, it's off

to the side or deeper and
that's what I would say.

It was frustrating. I mean
how, to Marty's point...

Really? This hole? And then
this hole? And there's nothing?

Boy, that's... there's
no other word for it.

It's almost absurd.

It seems to me that this year,

nearly everywhere you
dug in the Money Pit,

from C-1 to 50 feet out,

you came up with
either structures

that might lead you to
treasure or evidence of treasure.

So the question then becomes
how do you get your hands on it?

- Good question.
- I was going to ask you that.

- Uh-uh!
- You would find

a very spirited discussion
around this table

on what to do, but we
would certainly do something.

I want to go back to this
muon tomography technology

that you explained
to me earlier this year.

When we left you,
at the end of this year,

you were just starting
to implement it.

Could you help me understand
how it works and then where we stand

now because we left you, you
were just starting to put it in?

Muons are subatomic particles

that are coming
through us all the time.

In this case, we put
a tool down in a hole.

And, uh, it ends up being
very much like an X-ray,

and they can figure
out where the specific

dense spots are, treasure,
or very low-density stuff,

which would be
shafts or tunnels.

Is this another example
of you guys kind of

fabricating a technology
to treasure hunting?

I mean, I don't imagine

this was used for treasure
hunting before. What was it

- used for?
- Oh, it was used in the pyramids.

- Okay, so is that...?
- They found a tunnel.

- A tunnel?
- Previously unknown.

- Okay.
- If there was a legitimate target,

i.e. the muon showing us,

okay, here's where it is, right?

It's at this elevation, here's
your "X marks the spot,"

I wouldn't dig. I'd tunnel.

There are tunneling companies.

They are experts in the field.

They can deal with water.
They shotcrete as they go.

Um, the spoils come
out on a conveyor belt.

Oh, wow.

Shotcreting is a
construction method,

where, in this case, as
a tunnel is excavated,

concrete is applied to
the walls, reinforcing it

and making it
waterproof to the believed

flood tunnels that feed
into the Money Pit area.

Should muon tomography
identify the legendary vault,

the team could
tunnel and shotcrete

their way to it and
have a perfectly

stable structure to bring
it back to the surface.

Look, I mean, the
Money Pit has been

confounding people
for over 227 years.

But I think what
you guys have done,

you've mapped out
literally and figuratively

a smarter, better approach
and you have got tangible results.

There's another
area that once again,

said hello this year.

It won't go away,
and it gave you guys

find after find after find.

Of course, that is Marty's Muck.

His favorite place, the swamp.

Did this officially
become Marty's Muck...?

- I just dubbed it Marty's Muck.
- Okay, great. Fantastic.

- I'm real happy about that.
- Well, let's start with you.

Because, you know,

all kidding aside, we
joke about it, you know,

it's not the easiest
place to search.

- No.
- And yet...

the finds you made
this year were stunning.

The swamp basically
this year said,

"There's more here
than you thought

and it's older
than you thought."

- Fair to say?
- Yeah, it's absolutely fair to say, yeah.

When we dig in the
swamp, we find stuff.

We've found a lot
of things in there with a lot

of dates that are
pretty incredible.

- Maybe it's all in the swamp.
- Wow.

Every time we go in
there, we find old wood,

we find artifacts, we find
all these different things

that-that make me
want to go deeper.

But you can't talk
about the swamp without

at least mentioning that
we got kicked out of the area

- that we really wanted to examine.
- Yeah.

As Marty mentioned earlier,

things this season
got a little messy.

It's deeper in here
than what it is over there.

And that mostly had to do
with the mucky triangle-shaped swamp.

And in more ways than one.

After the discovery of
the massive stone road,

or possible ship's
wharf, last year

in the southeast
corner of the bog...

That is very impressive. Wow.

All focus was put back

on that zone to see
what clues might be found

to help solve the
227-year-old mystery.

In addition to
unearthing a number

of wooden artifacts potentially
connected to sailing ships...

I've never seen
anything like that.

They also heard a compelling
theory from historian

Terry Deveau about
the road's possible origin.

This is a type of road

that was built in
Europe in the 1500s.

Wow.

What comes to my
mind is the Portuguese.

That's the aha right
there. That's something.

Yeah.

In an effort to look

for more clues to
vet Terry's theory,

they kept digging in the
area and were amazed

to uncover a second
stone path feature.

So, when you project this
path, it heads to the Money Pit.

That's interesting.

This is it.

- This is what we've been looking for.
- Right.

It appeared that the team

was on the road to an
amazing breakthrough.

But then the next find

changed everything.

- Whatcha got?
- I have a piece of pottery.

But I think it's
really delicate.

- Yep.
- Cause it's definitely Mi'kmaq.

Laird uncovered

indigenous Mi'kmaq
pottery, which triggered

a shocking reaction from
the provincial government.

I wanted everyone to
understand the current situation.

So, Laird, if you want to
bring everyone up to speed.

Basically Acadia First Nation

got hold of Community,
Culture and Heritage.

Laird...

it's the pottery that's
causing the concern?

Yeah.

And the archeologists asked

that we stop down.

I.e. must cease and
desist immediately.

Well...

The discovery suddenly
made the southeast corner

of the swamp completely
off-limits to the team.

You guys are making
great progress in the swamp.

The year is going great,
you're finding things, as I said,

that are older than
maybe any of us expected.

And then there's a find.

And it's, uh,
Indigenous artifacts.

And now you get shut down,

which was brutal

for fans around the world to
watch you guys go through that.

Well, the biggest angst
was because the boundaries

and the, and the
authorities are...

they're not clear.

We didn't know exactly
what we had "done wrong."

We thought we'd
done everything right.

I was hoping we'd actually
have the chance to really

tackle, uh, the southeast
corner of the swamp.

I think we all figured we'd
find a bunch more artifacts.

There's so much that
could have been done

that we didn't get to do.

So I-I'm disappointed.

I will say from my standpoint,
we want to resolve this.

And we want to
resolve it amicably

and we want to
do the right thing.

Yeah, I-I
agree. I think this is

imminently solvable.

But you've got to get
all parties to the table.

Uh, as of yet, we've
not been able to do that.

So, as we sit here
now, though, today,

- uh, that-that meeting hasn't happened yet?
- It has not.

Well, there is a genuine effort

on behalf of the government

of Nova Scotia to
get this cleared up.

You know, despite the
setbacks that you had,

you still made incredible
finds in the swamp.

Even when we got
deflected to an area

we didn't really want
to dig in, particularly,

we found stuff.

As Marty said,
swamp plus digging equals finds.

With Billy manning
the 80-foot-boom,

long-reach excavator...

Oh, is that a board?

That looks like a board.

That is cool,
mate. Look at that.

The team uncovered a
boatload of new artifacts

and ship pieces
dating from as late as

the mid-17th century...

Hey, Gary.

What have you got, Michael?

And even one curious
piece of planking

that was carbon
dated to potentially be

the oldest known discovery
ever made on Oak Island.

Interesting.

Yeah, very interesting.

Just got this
information back in.

One time frame...

224 to 376 AD.

Wow.

It tells a completely

- different story.
- Yeah.

We're looking for answers to
solve the Oak Island mystery.

And the swamp certainly
has presented itself as, uh...

an area of suspicion,
shall we say.

But, look,

if you're really gonna do an
exhaustive search in the swamp,

I think it would be
that complicated,

that difficult and
that laborious.

You still
wouldn't go in the swamp

- and just start digging all over the place.
- No.

- I mean, we need to figure out a way to get focused first.
- Okay.

There's some new technology

that is applicable to
what you describe.

It's called a Ditch Doctor.

It literally takes a slice,
um, more like a book.

- Pass me that little book?
- This one here?

- Oh, sorry.
- Like if this is the, if this is the swamp,

right, it just keeps
extending, right?

Well, this thing can
crawl into the bog

and then it takes
a... like a cutter

and it just cuts a slice.

- No kidding?
- And it pulls it out like that,

which is what Dr. Spooner
really wants to take a look at.

Basically, it does
on a large scale

what he does with his
percussion cores, right?

- Oh, right.
- Even though Billy is incredibly adept

with a long reach,
you tend to mix up

- the spoils.
- Sure.

With this, it stays intact.

So it would certainly be
able to tell us where these...

finds that date
very, very, very early,

what strata they come from.

So let's assume, as I believe

it will, this will
all get solved

and we'll continue the search,

and the swamp
becomes open ground

- for you again.
- Mm-hmm.

Um, Rick, you
mentioned this kind

of exciting new way
to search in the swamp.

Are there any other things
that anyone here would

like to do in the swamp,
um, moving forward?

To me, there's like, I
don't know, five or six

different areas of the swamp
that I'm interested in pursuing.

In the paved area, is it tied
to the, uh, the Money Pit?

I don't know if it is at all.

But if it's truly from 1200,

that that was put in place by
man, that's another huge story

- for this island.
- They're having a cold winter up there.

- Is there something we could run on the ice?
- Right.

That was ten years ago
we ran stuff on the ice.

Well, one of the main
things we ran was...

the EM-31, which
he's talking about.

The new one, supposedly,
can take different layers.

So you can specifically know
where you're finding something.

We should run it on the ice.

I think if anything, we should

only focus on the swamp,
Marty, from now on.

Marty's Muck.

- Marty's Muck.
- You know, this whole thing

has been an incredible journey.

And we usually mean
that metaphorically.

But there was a
find in the swamp

that led to an
incredible literal journey

and I want to talk
about that now.

Rick, you always like to ask

the who, what, where,
when, why and how.

- As far as the who...
- Mm-hmm.

In terms of nationalities,
who are the prime

suspects remaining
at this point for you?

Well, I think it's
been consistently,

you know, lots of possibilities

of the French and the
English and the Spanish.

- Right.
- But I think at this point,

we certainly have
to add a fourth.

And I know that distresses you

- because you wanted...
- Yeah, supposed to keep crossing 'em out.

- Crossing 'em off.
- You're adding.

And that would be, of
course, the Portuguese.

See? Incredible year.
You have a new suspect.

After this trip, they had

apparently means
and opportunity, right?

- And motive. - And motive.
- Yes.

We have all these different

people who could
have done the work.

And by going there and kind
of taking the treasure hunt

to a possible
location where this

all might have started,
it's-it's intriguing.

Everything just
keeps on adding into it.

Are we across the finish line?

No, nowhere near it.

But it is a very
interesting story, so...

We don't know it
was the Portuguese.

But we're pretty sure that there
is some sort of an involvement

- on the island with them.
- Yeah.

It is well documented
that the Portuguese

began exploring and
establishing settlements

in Northeastern Canada
by the early 1600s.

Ooh! Interesting piece of metal.

What is that?

But over the past two years...

I think that's a cannonball.

The Oak Island team has made

numerous discoveries
potentially dating centuries earlier.

These finds included
part of a ship's cannon,

two small stone
cannonballs... One of which was

found deep in the Money Pit...

And last, but
certainly not least,

the massive stone
road in the swamp.

These discoveries inspired
Rick to travel to Portugal

along with his nephews Alex
and Peter as well as Doug Crowell.

- Corjan. - Ah, good morning.
- Welcome to Portugal.

There, researcher Corjan Mol

and historian Joao Fiandeiro

showed them numerous
clues that they believe

connect the medieval
order of the Knights Templar

to the Oak Island mystery.

Corjan tells me that this
is the first land granted

to the Knights
Templar in Portugal.

Yes. Because they
needed to have, like,

a stronghold, a force here for
the reconquest that was ongoing.

And at the same
time, crusading was

being established to Holy Land.

Beginning in
the early 12th century,

the Knights Templar,
who would later be known

as the Knights of Christ,

established numerous
strongholds throughout Portugal

to not only protect
Christian interests

but also,

according to some
researchers, for the purposes

of temporarily hiding
their holy treasures,

including the Holy Grail
and the Ark of the Covenant,

treasures that many
believe could be buried today

on Oak Island.

Alex, talk about some
of the things you saw

and the preponderance
of them, because if it was

the Portuguese Templars
who-who did this, um,

you might have
seen evidence of it.

Uh, in Fonte Arcada,
we saw some symbols,

some Masons' marks on the stones

that were part of the
90 Foot Stone cipher.

All kinds of symbolism.

I mean, there was
all kinds of symbolism.

You pointed
at one in particular.

It was the carvings you saw

on the old structures

that were most, uh,
impressive to me.

Mason marks that match
some of the carvings

- we see on Oak Island.
- Yeah.

And, like, if you see one
thing that maybe matches

with something on Oak
Island, that's something.

But when you start seeing
two, three, four, five, six things

that might tie to Oak
Island, that's compelling, no?

If the Knights Templar,
which would go on

to become the Order of Christ,

which would go on to
become the Freemasons...

If there is a thread
through all of that,

you know, maybe some of
the symbolism trickled back.

- Good point.
- And then later on, we saw in Sintra

a structure that pretty
closely resembles

- the story of the original Money Pit.
- Oh, wow.

Their amazing visit
culminated with a visit

to Quinta da
Regaleira, an estate

that was built on an
ancient Templar site

by a wealthy Freemason

named António Augusto
de Carvalho Monteiro

in the early 20th century.

There, he refurbished

an incredible
underground structure

known as the Initiation Well.

Remarkable. Wow.

Wow. It's deep.

It had nine levels.

It was 13 feet in diameter

and had a towering oak tree

planted next to
it at the surface.

Sound familiar?

The branch of the oak tree
really put me over the edge.

- Yeah.
- Yeah, that...

That seems

like too much of a coincidence.

You've got an oak tree
hanging over that feature,

which was how the Money Pit
on Oak Island was described.

It had a spiral staircase,

which the Restalls
inferred was there.

And we saw in the...

In the Convent of Christ,
we saw that symbolism

was very important

- to the Knights Templar. I mean, you...
- Yeah.

The scale of it. The detail.

The thing that
really was impressive

- to me was the drain.
- Mm-hmm.

There were drains in the
floor that carried wastewater

and fresh water into and
out of the-the convent.

But there was, like, a door

over where the
drain was in the wall,

and there was a hand

with a middle finger,
much elongated.

And I think it was
Peter who said,

- "Look, there's a finger drain."
- Finger drain.

- Wow.
- Well, that's exactly

how the drains are
described in Smith's Cove.

- Yeah. Finger drains.
- Finger drains.

- Mm-hmm.
- But...

When you walk in
Tomar and you walk

in the Convento
de Cristo and the...

And you see the constructs
that they built with their hands

and their engineering ingenuity,

it's hard not to be impressed.

- I agree.
- And to think to yourself and marvel and say,

"Really? We're... We
think the Money Pit

is almost impossible
to construct?"

- Look. Behold.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- What's in front of you.
- No,

- I agree with that.
- That's a great point.

It's incredible.

And, so, now we would like

to further our understanding
of the symbology

and carry it further, right?

I had always written off

the Knights Templar theories

because I thought
they were eliminated

in the early 1300s.

But going to
Portugal and learning

that the Knights Templar

essentially turned into
the Knights of Christ

in Portugal, uh, intimately tied
with the Portuguese leadership,

and then existed continuously

right up until, you
know, 1583 and beyond,

I can't write that off anymore.

I agree with that.

I had completely
written off Templars,

too, really, from a...
from a realistic standpoint.

But this makes it possible.

So, I want to talk
about another area of the island.

You know, the western
side of the island

has been largely unexplored.

Although not
completely unexplored,

but when you compare
it to, like, the Money Pit,

it's not even close.

Look, I've said
before... Many times, actually...

I don't want to leave
the island with regrets.

Well, it would be regretful

to walk away from this

and say, "Well, two-thirds
of the island is unexplored,

so, let's just go home."

That would be foolish, right?

Thus, let's look.

And, Marty, you've
talked to me before about...

You are open, certainly,

to the fact that
maybe there's a decoy.

Get everyone all busy over here

by the Money Pit,
and then the treasure

is stashed somewhere else.

Could it be that the
treasure might be

on some part of the island
no one's really thought of

- as hiding the treasure?
- Of course

- it's possible.
- Ah.

This is the entire island,

- and-and we're right in this area right here.
- Mm-hmm.

- This is what they considered the hatch.
- Okay.

And, so, what is it?

If there is a hatch,
does it lead to a tunnel?

Early in the
year, the Fellowship

enlisted CSR GeoSurveys Limited

to conduct a magnetometry scan

across the western
side of the island.

Their plan was to
see if they could find

the so-called hole
under the hatch,

a site noted on a
reported 14th-century map

that the late author and
researcher Zena Halpern

believed had been created
by the Knights Templar.

I think today you
have the magnetometer results,

- right? Okay.
- Yep.

These are our maps.

Back by the main road
on the western side?

Just up there on Lot 4.

This is a decent-size anomaly.

I mean, it's right
next to the road.

That's near where

the hatch could be.

The hatch from Zena's map.

That's interesting.

The results of the survey were

more than intriguing as,

sure enough, right
in the general area

where the hole under
the hatch should be

according to Zena's map,

an anomaly was
identified on Lot 4.

- Interesting piece of metal.
- What is that?

While the
anomaly, unfortunately,

would not prove to
be a hatch or a hole,

Gary Drayton and
members of the team

did unearth a number of
compelling and valuable clues

all over Lot 4.

In addition to a gold-plated
button, they also found

pieces of a cannon dating
back at least four centuries

and of possible
Portuguese origin

as well as copper sheathing

believed to have been
part of a treasure chest.

Zena's map certainly makes it
an area of interest in my mind.

You know, the hole
under the hatch.

- Where is that?
- I mean,

you have to remember
it's, uh, hand-drawn.

The "experts" that
have looked at it

believe it was hastily drawn.

So, there's no proper
reference, no scale to the map.

But it's in that general area.

I mean, Gary has found
some-some interesting items there.

I couldn't help but
think when you said, "Where is

the hole under the hatch?"

Apparently,
it's still under the hatch,

because we haven't found it.

You're open to
searching it more?

- Yes, of course.
- Marty,

I want to go to
Lot 8 for a second,

and you found an anomaly.

Did you take any stock in that?

There was a clear anomaly,

so of course we went out there.

I-I set upon myself a task
while they were in Portugal

to dig all the places where
we just hadn't had time to dig.

Problem is when I dug,

I only had a mini
excavator on that.

Um, we didn't find
anything in the hole itself,

and it looked... It
looked disturbed

down to a certain
depth, and then it didn't.

So, I think what
we were digging at

is someone else's dig.

Interesting. So somebody
was doing something.

- Yeah. Well, somebodies, I'd say.
- Right.

We need to find a hard target

that we can investigate
that can explain

the CSR mag hits in this area.

Yes.

Following up on another anomaly

that was first identified in the
CSR magnetometer survey,

the team returned to Lot 8

and conducted a
ground-penetrating radar scan.

The results only deepened
their interest in the location.

Almost kind
of indicative of a shaft

because the area
around it is raised,

and this just sinks
right down in here.

I mean, it's an
interesting feature.

I can see a square depression.

Whether it's truly
square or-or not,

it's a clear depression.
You can see

defined lines on the sides.

So, we have a first
anomaly at five feet,

second anomaly at 19, 20.

Larger one.

A possible shaft and targets

at five and 20 feet.

The team immediately
put in for a permit to dig

and also dispatched Gary Drayton

to go to search near the surface

for important clues.

Musket! Lock plate.

- Is it really?
- Musket!

- We found a musket, mate.
- All right!

- That is...
- Is that... Is that what that is?

That's what it's got to be.

Sure enough,
Gary not only found a flintlock

or part of an ancient
European musket

but also evidence that long ago,

someone went to great effort

to haul cargo over to this area.

But what could it have been?

So, gentlemen, we
all know Scott Clarke.

- Morning, guys.
- Enter 32nd-degree Freemason Scott Clarke.

According to his research,

the semiprecious garnet brooch

also found on Lot
8 four years ago

may have once been part of
a special Masonic vestment

used in a sacred ritual

related to one of the most
sought-after missing relics

in history.

So, as I had thought
more about this garnet,

it occurred to me
that it was actually

the perfect color,
size and general shape

as one of the stones

from a Masonic Royal
Arch High Priest breastplate.

The breastplate was used
in a specific Masonic ritual

meant to mimic the retrieval
of the Ark of the Covenant

from a secret vault underground.

Wow.

As it turns out,
Melbourne R. Chappell

was Grand High Priest
from 1954 to 1956.

Chappell was also a
longtime Oak Island landowner

and Treasure
Trove License holder

and even owned Lot 8,

where the garnet and
setting were found.

Could such an
incredible theory be true?

- What do you say we dig?
- Yeah. Let's do it.

Okay,
mate. I'll get settled.

It was certainly
one that Marty dug.

That's a heck of a lot of rocks.

With permission to conduct

a five-foot-deep
dig at the site,

the team unearthed

a paved area that covered

an obviously backfilled pit.

All of this here?

It all looks like it's
filled. Disturbed.

It's just like the paved
area. There's just a big layer

of rocks right across
this whole area.

But what made

the paved feature so intriguing

in light of Scott
Clarke's theory

and the team's
recent trip to Portugal

was that it was eerily
similar to the one uncovered

two years ago in the swamp,
which Dr. Spooner dated

to as early as 1200 AD.

Here's another thing.

If we were to find
a tunnel over there,

it'd be the most significant
tunnel we've ever found.

It would be more significant
than the flood tunnel.

It would be more
significant than anything

on the eastern side
because that's hard rock.

If somebody
tunneled through there,

it certainly wasn't a farmer,

and it certainly
wasn't a searcher.

To your point,

every time we dig in
the western drumlin,

we find some very
interesting objects.

The flintlock, the swages,

the hand-point chisel.

The... One of the brooches

was found there. We found things

that might be
important to the search,

so we can't walk away.

So, this year is going awesome.

Find after find.
Test after test.

Timeline gets moved back
again and again and again.

And then right at
the end of the year,

this stone path of some kind.

Something pretty
amazing happened there,

- and it's pretty hard to debate that.
- Mm-hmm.

And, I mean, first let me
ask, how frustrating was it

that you found that
at the end of the year?

Well, compared to
getting shut down,

it wasn't that
frustrating at all.

- Yeah.
- Good point.

David and I wanted to
take the OKM and see

if we could trace
this stone road uphill

to where we could look
at it, you know, knowing

that we can't do any
investigation in the swamp.

And we found, you know,

what we thought was
an indication of the road.

And we kept tracing it

and trying to pin it
down with Steve, um...

And we-we got a pretty
good idea where it was going,

- but we needed to verify.
- Mm-hmm.

So you were able to...

- You were able to dig it, right?
- Yeah, went in there.

And preliminarily, it
looks like the-the...

the stone road in the
swamp goes on up the hill.

Perhaps to the Money Pit.

Right.

About here, you think?

Yeah, think that should work.

First scan coming up.

This year, after Alex Lagina

and his cousin David used
ground-penetrating radar

to obtain evidence of a
mysterious buried anomaly

near the eastern
border of the swamp,

Marty and members of the
team uncovered a stone pathway

extending into the uplands
from the massive stone road

in the southeast
corner of the swamp.

Not only did it match a pathway

that Rick and Alex had
just seen in Portugal

but it seemed to be heading
directly toward the Money Pit.

It's an exciting find.

It-it-it potentially

could, as we said, lead
you to the Money Pit.

What was clear was it
would be a daunting task

to have the archaeologists
painstakingly uncover that

like they did this
section of the swamp,

'cause now we're
talking hundreds of feet.

- Right.
- So, it's still gonna be

a challenge next year or
whenever we get back to it.

Let's assume that you
get there day one next year

and, uh, it isn't in a
red zone of any kind.

Do you start digging,
trying to find that path?

You would do an
aggressive discovery process

like you initiated,

and at the same time, you
would task the archaeologist

with-with perhaps
one or two digs

using proper archaeological
methodology, right?

Because it's far too expensive

- to do an archaeological...
- You can't do the whole thing that way.

- Right.
- So, if all parties agree,

you cooperate.

Archaeologically driven here,

technology-driven here.

Let's have a discussion

- about what each party is seeing.
- Okay. Yeah.

Great. And-and
speaking of investigation,

Rick, when you take
an anomaly like this out

at the end of this season,

um, and-and you had mentioned

kind of other
avenues of research

and how, gosh,

if there was something
like that built that went

- to the Money Pit, there might be record of it, for example.
- Mm-hmm.

- Could you elaborate on that?
- I think

when we were in
Portugal, it really, uh,

struck home, if you will,

the amount of information
in these archives.

And so my thought
is we hire researchers

in countries

where we think there
might be information.

I absolutely 100% believe

that at this point,
the information hunt

is every bit as important
if not more important

than the digging
and the drilling.

This is the coolest thing
I've heard in a long time.

So, let me get this
straight. Uh, this is like a...

a Dan Brown novel or something.

You've got researchers. This
isn't something you hope to do.

- It's actually happening.
- No, this is already starting.

We have someone looking
at old maps in Portugal.

We have another
person hired in the Azores

to look at that history,

um, certainly around the era

of the War of
Spanish Succession,

based on Doug Crowell's work.

We have a lead on a very
highly credited individual

uh, in Turin, Italy,

again where the Seborga
Templar archive is.

And maybe, if that
person is accredited,

maybe even access

to the so-called Secret
Vatican Archives.

You've got researchers
working on behalf of Oak Island

who are accredited,
multilingual,

and they're actually right now

- poring over archives.
- Yes.

- And that's huge.
- And that's a worthy endeavor.

Yeah. You know,

this year coming up, when
you return to the island,

it'll be the tenth year,

at least in terms of being
chronicled on camera,

- for the search.
- Mm-hmm.

Do you believe you're close

to solving the Oak
Island mystery?

I sure hope so. I think
there's great potential

with the-the muon
technology, for one,

and the research that Rick
is heading up in the archives.

So, I think we got
two good reasons

for it to be a very
successful year,

- so I'll answer yes.
- All right.

It's an information hunt,

and we got some other
things we could certainly do.

But we better find out where
we're gonna dig treasure up

by at least next
year. That's how I feel.

I believe every
year we're gonna find it.

I believe every year
there's gonna be a solution.

You know, that the
story will be understood

in its complexity and
its... in its entirety.

Absolutely. Otherwise...
I've said it before.

I'm not driving
across the causeway

if I don't believe.

Now that we
have the information,

the scientific finds,

you know, that-that
give credibility

to people being on
Oak Island before 1795,

at this point, we've not only
just rejuvenated the search

for the Oak Island treasure
but, from the science

of the gold and
the silver downhole,

there's treasure still there.

So, it'd be nice
to find it next year.

- Yes.
- I think, Matty,

if this happens and
if we are successful,

it'd be like that character
in the Hemingway book.

Talked about how
he went bankrupt,

- and he said, "Gradually and then suddenly."
- Yeah.

Yeah.

That's, I think,
how this would end.

I mean, we're gradually
circling this thing

for many, many years,
but I think when...

when and if it happens,
it'll be suddenly.

You know, treasure
would be cool.

You know, do I want,

you know, my share? Sure.

You know, Dad told us.

Dad... If there's
treasure on Oak Island,

- what did he tell us?
- Do good.

- Do good with it.
- Okay.

So, been an honor
and a blessing,

and-and I'm most appreciative
of-of the opportunities

and, uh...

But we all...

We all work hard
towards that singular goal,

and-and that is rare in
this day and age, right?

Where people are
focused on the greater good

as we each define it.

Right.

- But am I in? Yeah.
- Awesome.

For me, I'm grateful

for the nine years
that I've been able

to come out and spend the summer

out on Oak Island
with everybody.

- Mm.
- And...

It's hard work. It's tough.

But I'm grateful for it,

and I would be grateful
for another year of it.

The Oak Island family has grown
and grown and grown and grown,

and, like I said, it's been a...

been a wonderful
experience. It really has.

And, uh, don't
think for a minute,

and Marty will attest
to this, that that...

That's not a... That's not
a statement of giving up.

- No.
- That's an appreciation for what has...

However you end, Rick,

it won't... it won't
involve giving up.

That's
right. That's right.

I don't know exactly
what that end looks like,

- but it won't involve giving up.
- Won't be because you gave up.

It won't be
because he... it was too hard.

Wow. Wow. Well,

I think what's
nondebatable, in my opinion,

is that this year,

with the corroboration
of the gold

and the silver, especially,

and all the other finds
we've talked about,

it's no longer "if" when
it comes to Oak Island.

It's "who," "where"

and-and maybe "why."

But the "if" is off the table.
Would you all agree with that?

I mean, it's-it's just
"can-can you get it?"

I think I said
at the end of this year,

we can't be seen

as just having run a
complete wild-goose chase

- anymore.
- No. Those days are over.

- I think those days are over.
- Absolutely.

- And that feels good.
- Good.

I am really gratified
and excited to hear that,

because we started
our conversation today

talking about some of the
difficulties that happened

this year, and there were
some difficulties and frustrations.

There is every year.

But to hear you guys
are all still committed,

the fans are gonna
love that. I love that.

So thank you for your
commitment, and thank you

for keep-keeping this
mystery moving forward.

But the people...

Call them the Acorns...
Deserve the credit

because they have kept
this wonderful mystery alive

for 227 years.

So shout-out to
them. A thank you,

a big thank you to them.

They're gonna like to
hear. There's a lot of groups.

Thank you for all you do.

Now we're gonna
move things forward.

Let's go.

In an era still full
of challenges for us all,

I'd say trying to pinpoint
a potentially priceless cache

of silver and gold
and maybe much more

is a pretty good problem
to have.

Faith may have brought Rick,
Marty, Craig and the team

to the Oak Island treasure hunt,
but tireless effort and science

has proven
that it's all been worth it.

Keep the faith, Acorns.
As Rick says, sempre avanti.

Always forward.

Until we meet again, stay safe,
and thanks for watching.