The Curse of Oak Island: Drilling Down (2016–…): Season 7, Episode 8 - The Ultimate Timeline - full transcript
MATTY: Was it pirates who
constructed the Money Pit?
Could Vikings have sunk a ship
in the triangle-shaped swamp?
Or did the Knights Templar
bury a vast treasure
here in the North Atlantic
centuries ago?
On The Curse of Oak Island,
we've watched
Rick and Marty Lagina,
along with their team,
make discoveries that show
every one of those possibilities
could be true.
So tonight,
we're testing those finds
up against documented history
to try and reveal
the ultimate answers of who,
what, where, when, why and how.
Get ready to go deep,
my friends.
This is Drilling Down.
♪ ♪
MARTY:
I woke up this morning thinking,
"This is kind of a big task."
- Yeah.
- If we find something
man-made at depth
that we can
definitively date prior to...
Give me a number... 1790, then.
Go with 1800.
All right, 1800.
Then, we've got something
nobody else has gotten.
Yet.
MATTY: When Rick and
Marty Lagina and their team
first began their quest to solve
the Oak Island mystery
approximately a decade ago,
of course, they were
looking for treasure...
DAN H.:
Oh, there it is.
MATTY: but they
were also looking for proof
that something major
took place here
prior to the discovery
of the Money Pit in 1795.
There were all kinds of legends
about a buried treasure
connected to everyone
from pirates
to the British
and French militaries
to even the medieval order
of the Knights Templar.
However, one thing was missing
to support any of them:
hard evidence.
MARTY:
Come on, baby!
Good day to find treasure.
MATTY:
But over the last nine seasons
of The Curse of Oak Island,
we've watched
as the brothers and their team
have made extraordinary find...
GARY:
Look at this, Rick.
- That's gorgeous.
- We just found a jewel.
MATTY:
after find...
Wow. It's quite impressive.
MATTY:
after find.
It looks like a piece
of finished wood.
MATTY:
And according to the experts...
We've got us a gemstone.
- Yes, you do.
- BROSSEAU: The bright area?
- Yeah?
- Gold.
MATTY: they have not
only discovered hard evidence
that treasure still lies
buried on Oak Island...
IAN:
Down in those holes,
there is something close by
that contains
a fair bit of silver.
MATTY: but also that
any of those theories
could be true.
So now, as the guys
are deep into season nine
of The Curse of Oak Island,
I'm back to drill down
on how some of their biggest
discoveries match up
with the historical time line
of North America
and may offer answers
to how that silver, gold
and who knows what else
ended up buried here.
Yeah, I mean,
this is a special place,
when you think about the finds
you guys have made here
- over the years.
- Yeah.
When you look at, you know,
the work it took to unveil
the U-shaped structure
and the Slipway...
Uh, the U-shaped structure
was a big deal for me.
(horn honks)
They're here.
Here we go.
MATTY:
In 2018,
the guys surrounded Smith's Cove
with a 525-foot-long
steel cofferdam.
They were not only
trying to locate
the legendary box drains
and flood tunnel
that feeds seawater
into the Money Pit,
but also a feature
that Rick, Marty
and Craig Tester's partner
Dan Blankenship
originally unearthed
back in 1970:
a mysterious, wooden,
U-shaped structure
featuring Roman numerals.
There's a log right there.
Billy, there's one right
over there,
- I see it.
- Yeah.
MATTY: Sure enough, they
unearthed the massive feature,
but incredibly,
they also found the remains
of a previously unknown
ship's wharf, or slipway,
both of which dated
to approximately 1770,
25 years before the discovery
of the Money Pit.
I'm sure you'll recall that
I have consistently thought,
prior to this excavation
at Smith's Cove,
that one of the leading theories
of what happened on Oak Island
prior to 1795 was nothing.
- (chuckles): Yeah.
- No, I really did.
I thought maybe it was just
sort of collective madness here.
So, I could no longer say
nothing significant happened
on this island prior to 1795.
That would be a fool's,
uh, comment at that point.
And I'd like to think
I wouldn't do that.
- (chuckles)
- No.
Uh, that's not how you operate.
- You try.
- I try.
I try not to.
I say dumb things all the time.
These dates back here,
hugely significant dates
if you insert them into history
because, look,
that was a time of great
upheaval in the world,
particularly to those of us who
reside in North America, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- I think there's a decent chance
because of those dates that
this treasure or this activity
had something to do
with the American Revolution.
- Mm.
- And, of course, money
is often behind
a lot of those things.
MATTY: Now, the guys have
found artifacts on Oak Island
which date back over 500 years...
Which we'll get to later...
But the late 18th century
discoveries at Smith's Cove
validated a theory regarding
a partial treasure recovery,
one potentially connected
to the greatest conflict
in North American history.
Louis-Alexandre Rochefoucauld,
in his friendship
with Benjamin Franklin
and Thomas Jefferson,
he may have actually told them
of Oak Island
or whatever secret was there.
- MARTY: Holy smokes.
- Wow.
MATTY:
In 2018,
author and researcher
Cort Lindahl
presented his theory
that the wealthy French
Rochefoucauld family,
which had ties
to both the Freemasons
and the Knights Templar,
conspired with a number
of America's key
founding fathers
to help them finance the War for
Independence against England.
It is well-documented
that both Benjamin Franklin
and Thomas Jefferson
were close associates of
Louis-Alexandre Rochefoucauld,
the son of the Duc d'Anville,
a French admiral
who some believe buried treasure
in the Money Pit back in 1746.
CORT: Throughout Thomas
Jefferson's time in France,
there's some chances
that he was even initiated
into a form of Knights Templar
that the Rochefoucaulds
and others
may have been members
of at that time.
BRUCE: All these families
were all involved
in secret societies
like the Templars...
- MARTY: Right. - That's true.
- Like the Freemasons.
MATTY: Cort's brother
Bruce even showed Marty
and members of the team
a carving of a pine tree
that sets on the island's
northern shore.
- CORT: Wow.
- A carving that matched
a Revolutionary
battle flag design,
which had been commissioned
by a well-known Freemason
named George Washington.
MARTY: So, let's say it was the
Americans who were tipped off,
came here and retrieved
the treasure or some of it.
When we first came, we thought,
at the very least,
very early on,
"We're gonna eliminate
this theory,
- this theory and this theory."
- We haven't eliminated anything.
- Exactly.
- In fact, that time line
has lengthened and broadened,
in terms of history,
because of some of the finds
that came from the swamp.
Rick, uh, what stands out
to you?
Top-pocket find, of course.
MARTY:
What you got in your pocket?
Oh, you've got something
with you?
What do you think it is?
MARTY:
I don't know.
That was where I saw you
be extremely excited.
- Yeah, I was.
- 'Cause I wasn't by the find.
RICK:
You were the guy
- who was looking at it.
- MARTY: Yeah, I remember,
- it's the famous maravedi.
- MATTY: Hmm-mm.
RICK: And I thought,
"Is that really a coin?"
Because a coin, I mean,
that's what treasure is, right?
I mean, I-I talk about the story
and to me, that is treasure,
but this is temporal wealth
treasure,
it's-it's what you would
open up a chest and see, right?
- Yeah.
- It's treasure.
MARTY: And so this
turned the dial, too.
This, at the time,
led me to believe there was
really treasure here...
And you, too.
- I've never seen you so happy.
- No.
RICK:
And then we go to Dan,
and he believed
there was some sort
of Spanish connection, right?
And here Marty holds in
his hand a Spanish maravedi.
Fred believed that Spanish
treasure from Havana,
when the sacking of Havana
o-occurred by the British,
came here,
and was deposited here.
MATTY: In 1762, during
the Seven Years' War
between England and Spain,
the British Royal Navy
invaded the Spanish stronghold
of Havana
and confiscated a vast treasure.
Most of these riches
had been previously looted
from Indigenous cultures
by conquistadors
in much earlier eras.
Now, it is documented
that a fleet of British ships
transported their
"spoils of war" to Halifax,
less than 60 miles
north of Oak Island.
However, the late landowner
Fred Nolan
believed that a secret stop
was made here first
after he discovered
numerous ship parts
in the triangle-shaped swamp.
MARTY: Fred's the guy who
should've been excited about this,
because the U-shaped structure
fits his...
It really does,
I mean it's close enough.
- Very close.
- Yeah, and then, this is clearly Spanish in origin.
That's a great point.
You know, Rick,
there are other areas
on this island where
the dates go way, way back.
- Absolutely.
- And one of those big areas is right behind me,
right up that hill,
and that's the Money Pit.
And some of the finds in there
have just been extraordinary
in terms of the dates.
Uh, that's for sure.
And you know what?
There are members
of the Fellowship
who could give you
a primer on that
based on a lot of stuff
that happened very recently.
And that would be, um,
Craig and Doug and my son Alex.
They-they've been
keenly following that.
Yeah, I think, Matty,
you should go talk to them,
because they have all the data,
all the test results,
and they are scrutinizing them.
So, you'll get
the complete lowdown.
Awesome. Great, thanks, guys.
This was fantastic.
- Okay, put that in your pocket before I lose it.
- (chuckles)
MATTY:
Do not lose that.
This is the most
curious thing of all.
- What is that?
- RICK: That's one of the pieces
of metal we retrieved
from D-2, up by C-1.
There's a gold signature
on that.
- Really?
- Yep.
MATTY: With the
revelation in season nine
of The Curse of Oak Island
that precious metals
really do lie deep
in the Money Pit...
MARTY:
This is probably
- the most exciting thing...
- Yep.
- In terms of a treasure hunt.
- Yes.
MATTY: any doubt that something
of major historical importance
happened long ago on Oak Island
has pretty much been buried.
Come on! Bring something up!
MATTY:
But based on the cache
of other clues
that Rick, Marty and the team
have found in the Money Pit
over the years,
the true history behind
the original treasure shaft
is a bigger mystery than ever.
CHARLES:
There's some more right here.
CRAIG: These are big
chunks to be at this depth.
MATTY: So, I'm meeting
in the research center
with three key members
of the Fellowship of the Dig
to drill down on how the finds
might match up
with the documented
historical record.
So, Alex, Doug
and, virtually, Craig, uh,
thanks for meeting with
me here in the research center.
You guys have
to remain objective.
You're the research team.
You know, Craig heading up
the scientific data
that comes in,
the literal "tester." (chuckles)
A-And you're the healthy
skeptic, Alex,
- in a sense, and...
- Try to be.
And Doug, you're the researcher.
Do you guys see yourself
like that?
Do you see this team as the...
Where the, where the speculation
kind of stops
and the hard research begins?
You know,
Doug's got the expertise
and the historical research
and all that.
Craig's got expertise
and experience
with drilling and testing
and-and I kind of come in
- like a wet blanket and just...
- (both laugh)
No, I just try to make sense
of it, honestly,
- and contribute where I can.
- DOUG: We got to compare
what history tells us against
what we're seeing before us,
and allow a little bit
of what-if.
CRAIG: And to make sure,
when we are getting tests,
we're getting
the true, uh, answers
that-that we're looking for.
I mean, there's a lot that goes
into quality control,
if you will.
When you think of the date
ranges of this time line,
of this mystery, it's getting
more and more extraordinary.
The Money Pit itself has yielded
dates that are mind-blowing.
In recent years, the team
has recovered everything
from rose-head spikes
dating to 1706
to evidence of a wooden shaft
dating to 1648,
high-end shoe leather
dating to 1492,
and just this year, along with
the traces of silver and gold,
pieces of a wood tunnel
dating to between 1488 and 1650.
When you see something coming
from the 15th century, possibly,
Craig, what do you do
with that in your mind?
Well, I mean,
it-it takes you back
to when Christopher Columbus
was coming to the Americas.
I love that.
Did Christopher Columbus have
a secret little mission that
we don't know about in 1492?
Take a stop at Oak Island,
deposit some stuff
for the queen, maybe?
I mean, it opens up all those
really incredible possibilities.
In 1492, when Christopher
Columbus and his fleet sailed
on behalf of Spain
in search of a route to India,
he would change the course
of history when he made landfall
in the Caribbean.
However, some Oak Island
theorists believe
that his mission included
a very secret agenda
to hide priceless
Old World treasures
in the New World on Oak Island,
and they point to massive clues
that adorned his ship's sails.
The cross of a Portuguese wing
of the Knights Templar.
Some theorists claim
that Christopher Columbus sailed
under the Portuguese Knights
of the Order of Christ,
their cross,
which is very similar
to the Knights Templar cross.
So, that opens up
the possibility, I mean,
some of these artifacts
are falling in that date range.
The Knights Templar were said
to have been assimilated
- into the Knights of Christ.
- Wow.
So, a Templar association,
possibly, between, uh,
Christopher Columbus
and-and that organization.
And the Portuguese,
you mentioned the Portuguese,
again, they keep coming up.
It might sound pretty wild
to speculate
that Christopher Columbus
may have been in cahoots
with the Portuguese
Knights of Christ
to deposit treasure
on Oak Island,
but scientific evidence persists
that someone may have accessed
the Money Pit around 1492.
And, as it turns out,
Columbus was married
to Filipa Moniz Perestrelo,
the daughter
of Bartolomeu Perestrelo,
who was a grand master
in the Knights of Christ.
Could that explain
the two potentially Portuguese
pieces of round shot
that the team has discovered?
One of which came from deep
in the Money Pit area?
Or even the massive stone wharf
that the team unearthed
in the swamp,
which historian Terry Deveau
believes
to be at least 500 years old
and of Portuguese design?
Just a little
historical sidenote,
the Portuguese under
Prince Henry the Navigator
were the first
to put cannon on board ship.
- Wow.
- And those cannon, early on, would have fired stone shot.
Oh, wow.
Boy, I mean, Alex,
we mentioned
a healthy skepticism,
but the evidence is mounting up.
Well, it is mounting up,
and that's, you know,
when the evidence
takes you in this direction,
you have to...
You-you can't just deny it.
- Right.
- MATTY: And, you know,
we-we talk about
this wood from D-2,
with a date range going back
to the 15th century, the 1400s.
And that makes me think of this
item that you found, Alex...
- Mm-hmm.
- This shoe leather,
which also had a date range
hitting the 1400s.
What do you do with that?
I found that on the wash table,
and I thought it was
a piece of rubber,
I thought it was modern.
We determined the date range.
The window encompasses
all the way back to 1492.
Doug, when I see
that fancy shoe leather,
we know it was high-end, right?
And these both came
from The Money Pit.
I see that person
standing at the Money Pit
observing his workers
build that.
That may not be
wild speculation at all.
And these two artifacts, Matty,
haven't, uh,
told their full story yet.
Craig can tell you,
there's a-a method of testing
that may give us the origin
of especially the shoe leather.
You mean...
Uh, Craig, is he referring
to the, uh, region,
like geographical?
You know, in the past,
we've done a little bit of, uh,
isotope testing.
So this piece of leather,
hope to get that sent out
and get that tested,
and maybe it'll tell us, um,
whether it's from Portugal,
Spain, wherever.
Wow. Well,
if it turns out to be
on the low end
of that date, 1492,
and it's either Italian
or Spanish, I'm gonna go ahead
and start calling it
Christopher Columbus' boot.
- (laughter)
- I just am, guys.
And at that point,
even I would have to say,
what is it doing, you know, deep
underground in the Money Pit?
- Right.
- Well, one thing that's really important is,
you know,
that the numbers be verified.
Uh, you know, duplicated
and then... and repeated
with multiple artifacts.
And that's what
we're seeing here.
A lot of potential activity
that could be tied
to that very, very early dates
into the late 1400s.
So, uh, you know,
you got to keep on verifying,
keep on getting more data.
I feel like, in season nine,
you guys are zeroing in
on what happened here.
And I think it's fantastic.
- Congratulations.
- Well, thank you.
Thank you, Matty,
and this is just a small part
of what makes this
such an exciting year.
MATTY: You know I
love to hear that, Doug.
When we come back,
we're tunneling our way
MATTY: We're drilling down
on h
by the Fellowship of the Dig
have created
an incredible time line
of who may have been behind
the Oak Island mystery.
And here now to discuss a couple
of the most compelling items
on that time line
is my mate from another state,
metal detecting expert
Gary Drayton.
- How you doing, buddy?
- Good, mate. How are you?
Good. Uh, you know,
one of the finds that I just
think is just so incredible
in terms of what it could mean
for this time line
are those swages that you found.
I mean, the moment
you looked at them,
- what were you thinking?
- I'll be honest,
I thought they were
just quarrying tools.
It was an unusual shape.
And then we recovered
another one close by
and we're well away
from the Money Pit, on Lot 21.
And I'm thinking to myself,
you know,
"Someone was quarrying here,"
but boy, was I wrong.
Wow. Look at that.
Whoever made this
did it a long time ago.
RICK:
Yeah, I believe
that this would be
a top-pocket find.
(laughter)
I need a big top pocket, mate.
Strong pocket, yeah.
MATTY:
In 2019,
while searching for clues
on Lot 21,
nearly a mile west
of the Money Pit...
GARY:
Wow.
It's another hammer,
and this is even bigger.
- Look.
- RICK: It's twice as big as the other one.
MATTY: Gary, Rick
Lagina and Dan Henskee
discovered two iron objects
that looked like
they may have been designed
for splitting large rocks.
In other words,
they seemed like something
a 19th-century farmer
may have used to clear land.
And I should tell you,
when we first found these,
we thought they was, like,
stonemason's tools.
MATTY: But when the team
had blacksmithing expert
Carmen Legge analyze them, they
were stunned by his assessment.
Mm-hmm.
They're not?
It's a sharpening tool, then?
For tunneling?
Where did these come from?
MARTY:
Wow. So, as old as 1400.
When-when would they
not be being made anymore?
Really?
- (laughter)
- CHARLES: Wow.
MATTY: So, Gary, when
you hear that date range
of 1450 to 1750,
what possibilities
does that open up in your mind?
So I was a little bit
disappointed
when I first heard
the time line,
1450 to around 1750,
because I was hoping
they went back to Templar days.
- Sure.
- But we have to be objective about the finds, mate.
I'm a metal-detecting guy.
I only believe
what I hold in my hands.
When we recover finds
that match up
with the historical time line
on Oak Island, mate,
we know we're getting closer
to solving the mystery
of Oak Island.
One of those, mate,
is a top-pocket find.
- (laughs softly)
- And it was found
not too far away from here,
mate, and I am so proud of this.
Look at this fantastic brooch.
MATTY:
I mean, that is gorgeous.
That's the cleanest
I've seen it in person.
This jewel brooch, mate,
is definitely pre-searcher,
pre-1700s.
But it also could tie in
with the dates
that we got from the swages
that were recovered
in this area, too.
That opens up the possibility
of a different organization,
the Knights Baronet.
MATTY: Gary is correct
that the tunneling swages
and the garnet brooch,
that were all found on Lot 21,
were dated to between
the mid-15th century
and the mid-18th century.
RICK:
Hey, James.
MATTY:
And in 2019,
author and historian
James McQuiston
met with members
of the Fellowship
to explain who he believed
may have left
those items on Oak Island.
So, here's the theory
in a nutshell.
The followers of a group
of Scottish knights
created by William Alexander,
settled in Nova Scotia
during the early 1600s,
and this is historic fact.
MATTY: In 1625, the Scottish
order of the Knights Baronet,
many of whom were Freemasons
and direct descendants
of the Knights Templar,
began a settlement in
Nova Scotia, or "New Scotland."
Founded by
Sir William Alexander,
a Scottish royal advisor
to King James I of England
the organization's mission
was to establish
a refuge for Templar
descendants in the New World.
However, in 1632,
they were expelled
when France
conquered the region.
JAMES: Unfortunately, the
French attacked Nova Scotia,
leaving the Scots ousted
in the spring of 1632
and unable to sail directly
across the North Atlantic
back to Great Britain
due to the bad spring weather.
And I believe they took
shelter in Mahone Bay,
which would have been
the best place to take shelter
and Oak Island
is at the back of it.
So, it would be the perfect
place to hide back there
and bury what they couldn't
take back with them.
MATTY:
Could James McQuiston's theory,
based on
the historical time line,
explain how the tunneling swages
and garnet brooch
ended up on Oak Island?
Well, the theory could
also apply to the dates
of the finds made in the Money
Pit that we discussed earlier.
Those discoveries
could reach back to 1492,
but they also could be from
as late as the 17th century.
And when you consider
the Masonic T square tool
found one year ago in the swamp,
James's theory hits the nail
squarely on the head.
It was carbon-dated
to as early as 1632.
I mean, that is
a fascinating organization,
the Knights Baronet.
You know,
descendants of the Templars.
And when you, when you factor in
Masonic connections, I mean,
that's a secret society, right?
So what do they have?
Secret knowledge.
So, is that where you're going?
The Templars bury
a treasure here.
The descendants know about it.
They come here to build a new
society and-and maybe access it.
Yeah, exactly, mate.
Uh, this is not just treasure
that's been handed down
and added to
through the generations.
This is knowledge.
And they would have known
to come here.
It's a place
where they can bury treasure
and leave it
for future generations.
You believe now,
based on all your discoveries,
that there have been
generational activities
here on Oak Island.
- Do you still stand by that?
- Yeah, I do, mate.
You've got to look at the finds.
I like a lot of the theories,
especially James McQuiston's
theories.
- Right.
- They go with this time line.
Amazing. Um, well, let's get you
finding more of these.
- How about that?
- All right, mate.
The finds will tell the story
of Oak Island, mate.
MATTY:
Awesome.
Don't go anywhere.
Really?
MATTY:
In 2016,
the late author and researcher
Zena Halpern
presented the Fellowship
with two maps that she believed
were direct links between
the medieval Christian order
of the Knights Templar
and the Oak Island mystery.
One was dated to 1178 AD.
The other,
which depicted Oak Island
and featured locations
identified in French,
was dated to 1347 AD.
For the team, it pushed the
possible historical time line
of the mystery back earlier
than anyone
ever thought possible.
Thanks for meeting me here
in the research center,
and Judi, it's a real honor
to meet you.
So, I met with Rick, Oak Island
historian Doug Crowell
and Zena's longtime friend and
research partner Judi Rudebusch
to discuss how
a couple Fellowship finds
may not only support
Zena's research
but potentially
change everything we know
about North American history.
The two finds I want to drill
down on right now in terms
of the Oak Island time line
and what we're learning
are the paved area in the swamp
and the lead cross,
this beauty right here.
Yes, when Zena
became aware of that find,
she put great relevance in it.
That was a game changer for her,
a game changer for all of us.
And all of a sudden,
at warp speed,
it seemed like,
we turned to more,
uh, a more focused attention
to a possible association
with-with Templars.
MATTY:
It is well-documented history
that the Christian military
order of monks
known as the Knights Templar
were headquartered on the ruins
of King Solomon's Temple
in Jerusalem
during the Crusades
beginning in the 11th century.
In addition to their role
of protecting religious pilgrims
and their valuables, they also
conducted major excavations
beneath the Temple Mount
and are believed by some
to have recovered numerous
priceless treasures,
including the Holy Grail
and the Ark of the Covenant.
However, in 1307,
after falling into massive debt
to the Templars,
King Philip IV of France
had many in the order
imprisoned and executed.
In 1314, 18 Templar ships
were known to have escaped
La Rochelle, France
with a vast treasure.
It was never recovered,
and that's where
the documented history ends.
Some researchers believe
they fled to Scotland first,
but then several decades later,
sailed their treasures
across the Atlantic Ocean
to North America.
GARY: Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Holy...
Holy schmoly, all right.
- RICK: It's a cross.
- That's a cross.
MATTY: So, when Rick
and Gary Drayton found
the lead cross
at Smith's Cove in 2017,
it offered hard evidence
of possible Templar activity
on Oak Island.
I've seen that shape before.
Where do you think
you've seen it before?
When I was in France.
How would they have carved this?
They surely would not
have had implements.
JERRY:
When they were imprisoned,
they would have had
to have maybe
used their teeth
or their fingernails.
MATTY: Just weeks
before finding the cross,
Rick had seen the exact design
carved into the wall
of a 14th-century Templar prison
in Domme, France.
RICK: So Jack, if you
can, uh, bring Tobias up.
Hello, Tobias.
Hi, guys.
MATTY: And when geochemist
Tobias Skowronek
dated the lead in the cross
using isotope analysis,
another potential puzzle piece
fell into place.
MARTY:
And time period-wise,
you think
it's pre-15th century, then?
I think it's pre-15th century,
yes.
This could be Templar-connected.
But where the heck
did it come from?
TOBIAS:
The data of the cross
is very consistent with the area
of Southern France.
- Wow.
- That's fantastic.
DOUG: Here's what really
hooked Zena on Oak Island.
You look at some of these maps
that she provided with us.
This is, without a doubt,
indisputably Nova Scotia.
- MATTY: Mm-hmm.
- And then to have this found on the shores of Oak Island,
it just reinforced her belief.
Every time there's a date
in there that it fits in,
always makes you start thinking
over her multitude
of information
that I... she gave me.
You know?
You just keep going over it.
Then you get the dates
of the paved area.
I mean, that must have been
very gratifying for you as well,
working with Zena and seeing
those dates come to bear.
The scientific data on the cross
backing up Zena's 14th-century
Templar theory was amazing,
but then in 2019,
while investigating
the triangle-shaped swamp...
RICK:
Tell me that's natural.
TOM: Oh, there's no
way that's natural, Rick.
Look at it.
It's just layered right on top.
MATTY: the team
unearthed a stone-paved feature
covering the middle
of the brackish bog.
There's the dates we're getting.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
- What are they?
- IAN: Around...
1200 AD.
(soft laughter)
MATTY:
Incredibly, the paved area
dated to a historical period
matching up
with Zena's believed
12th-century Templar map.
Medieval.
Medieval, baby.
(laughter)
MATTY: So, could that
mean that the Templars
journeyed to the New World
and Oak Island
during the Crusades?
Are we getting closer, then,
to at least the who of the who,
what, where, when, why and how?
RICK:
This aspect of the who,
we are slowly but surely
building a narrative,
but these other possibilities
still exist.
That is what's so captivating
and disconcerting
about Oak Island, right?
We have as of yet been unable
to say, "They didn't do it."
- Right.
- Right.
But if you really,
truly want to be a researcher,
you've got to be open to it all.
That's just the way it is.
Well, luckily, I'm not.
It was Templars.
- (laughter)
- So...
Hate to break it to you.
It was Templars.
Well, it certainly would be
gratifying to-to prove it.
MATTY:
Thank you for your time.
- Thank you, Matty.
- JUDI: Thank you, Matty.
Coming up next,
the Oak Island time line
MATTY:
So far we've d
on how a number of Rick,
Marty and the team's
greatest Oak Island finds
could match up
with documented
historical events
spanning from the 18th century
all the way back to 1200 AD.
Well, now, I'm meeting up
with Alex Lagina,
Doug Crowell and Gary Drayton
to look at two finds
that pushed the time line
of this mystery back further
than anyone could have
ever imagined.
I'm so glad we're here
on Lot 15,
because there were
a couple finds
made right around here that set
the time line back so far.
They might be two of
the biggest finds ever made
in North America,
never mind Oak Island.
And Gary, you found one of them
right around here.
- And you know where it is.
- Oh, good.
In the top pocket.
- Ah, you brought it.
- Check this baby out.
The Chinese cash coin.
(beeping)
JACK:
What's that?
MATTY:
In 2020,
while investigating Lot 15,
where the team found evidence
of an ancient pathway
between the swamp
and Money Pit...
GARY:
I see it.
- Oh, no way.
- Ooh.
GARY: Now, that's a little
beauty. Look at that.
MATTY: Gary and Jack Begley
were stunned to unearth a coin
that was unlike any other
ever found on the island.
- RICK: Let's see what we have.
- SANDY: Okay.
SANDY: It clearly is
a Chinese cash coin.
- Wow.
- And-and really,
it would be hard to identify,
but I'm-I'm guessing it's...
you know, it could be 11, 12,
1,300 years old or even older.
Sandy told us he thought
at least a thousand years old,
and maybe as many as 1,300.
Unbelievable, but Doug,
what-what was going on
in the world, you know,
Maritimes, globally,
at that time that could
explain a date like this
or an item like this?
We've given that some thought,
and, uh,
the time line for North America,
of course,
you got to think Viking.
You got to think
the Norse exploration.
MATTY:
It is historically documented
that between the eighth
and 11th centuries AD,
the Scandinavian civilization
known today as the Vikings
navigated across Europe
and areas of Northern Africa
and the Middle East,
trading goods
and establishing settlements.
One culture that the Vikings
traded extensively with
to obtain finer goods,
such as silk, was the Chinese.
Recent archaeological
discoveries
in Newfoundland, Canada,
have revealed Viking settlements
dating back to the 11th century.
So, if it's documented
that they reached Eastern Canada
more than 1,000 years ago,
could the Chinese coin
really offer evidence
that they also visited
Oak Island?
The Vikings did not
have their own mint.
They did not create
their own coins until the end
of the tenth century,
so the coins
that they predominately used
were Middle Eastern and Asian.
And you have other finds
here on Oak Island
that fit this date,
and that's the thing.
ALEX: Yeah, you could
easily say of this coin,
you know, it was dropped here
in the 17, 1800s.
- MATTY: Right.
- Whenever it may be.
Except we have this,
which is a piece of wood
that was found in the swamp.
To me, beyond
a reasonable doubt,
- it appears to be man-made.
- Yes.
ALEX: And the dates that came
up for this were 660 to 770 AD.
MATTY: Of all the
incredible discoveries
that the team has made
in the swamp
over the last decade,
one that still remains
a tantalizing mystery
is a massive, 200-foot-long,
ship-shaped anomaly
that was detected
with seismic scanning in 2018.
Now, we've seen the team unearth
a boatload of ship pieces
just in season nine alone,
but none are as well-preserved
as this piece
of possible ship railing,
which dates
to the same approximate time
period as the Chinese cash coin.
And the fact that
it's that old...
So you could, this could be
part of a Viking ship.
- Yeah.
- I mean, and this could be what they were carrying.
ALEX:
Well, it's-it's hard to know,
and it's hard to know
if it's tied to Oak Island.
You know, it-it's...
It was found in the swamp,
which is right by the ocean, and
the ocean mixes everything up.
Yeah, but I'll quote your dad:
you can't argue with the data.
Look at the dates
on these two artifacts,
and to me, they say ship,
and they say travel,
from a very long way away.
Gary's right,
you can't argue with the data.
This was tested twice,
independently,
and they both came back
to the same age range.
- Vikings, baby.
- (laughter)
- I've been waiting to say that a long time.
- MATTY: Yeah.
Doug, any historical connections
between the Vikings...
I mean, we-we always go
Knights Templar
to, let's say, Knights Baronet
when we're talking about Oak
Island and then forward, right?
How about Vikings to Templar?
- Good luck, Doug.
- No, actually, actually,
I believe there is.
- ALEX: You do?
- I do, from a very fact-based perspective,
because the Vikings
explored our coast
in around 1000 to 1365, 67.
They had knowledge of this area,
perhaps Oak Island.
They go back,
they invade Northern France.
Northern France, they settle.
They become the Normans, they
integrate into society there.
They have knowledge
of the New World.
It was in France,
particularly in Northern France,
where a lot of the early
Crusaders came from.
We know those early Templars
were basically warriors,
uh, crusaders, fighters.
Did they learn some skills
from the Vikings?
Did they trade information?
It's-it's possible?
A lot of the early Templars
probably had Viking heritage.
So, there's a very
good possibility
that the Templars,
when they needed some place
to hide their wealth
before the suppression,
they would already...
Because of their heritage...
Have knowledge of the New World
and know how to get here.
- Potentially from Vikings.
- Potentially.
- What seems like a pretty far-fetched scenario...
- Right.
May not be
so far-fetched after all.
Wow. Incredible, guys.
My head is spinning,
the time line is getting
out of control, so...
- Let's try and find more of these, Gary, all right?
- And... Yeah.
Uh, speaking of that, mate,
I'm gonna need that
- back in the top pocket.
- Oh, sorry. Yeah.
- I was hoping you weren't paying attention.
- Cheers.
MATTY:
Thanks, guys.
MATTY: You know
what's r
as we talk about the time line?
We did this a few years ago,
- laid out finds on this very table.
- Yes.
- Mm-hmm.
- And this lead cross
was the far end,
the earliest find.
- Was it?
- Yeah. Now look at this thing.
Boom. All the way back there
in just a-a few years.
I'm-I'm wondering
what your initial thoughts are,
seeing this laid out like this.
These are selected finds
going all the way
from the seventh century
to the 18th century.
I mean, that must kind of
subvert your expectations
when you started
this whole journey.
That's a good way to put it.
(laughs)
RICK: You know,
when I look at it, really,
what is impactful to me
is we are on the same trail,
the same kind of hunt
as every treasure hunter
- we've ever talked to, right?
- Yeah.
Where they say, look,
you have to do your homework.
It's research. It's-it's paying
attention to the details.
It's trying to understand,
you know,
where these items come from.
That leather boot heel,
there's some isotope testing
we may be able
to have done on that.
So, there's still some data
to be retrieved
s... from some of these items.
What we call the ship's
railing there,
we tested it twice 'cause
it was such an outlier date.
Remember,
when it first came back,
- we said, "No. Can't be."
- Yeah.
But now we are
of the affirmation
that that is indeed the date.
So, when I look at this,
even though these are artifacts,
and they're supposed
to tell us a story,
I still think there's
still some refusal on their part
to tell us the whole story.
Well, we don't have
all their brothers and sisters,
like, uh, uh, Gary always says.
That's, that is correct.
MARTY: You know? I
mean, this fits all kinds of stuff.
- RICK: Yeah. That's the problem.
- You do have
to throw away some
of the older stuff to fit...
- British military.
- Fred's... Yeah, British military and stuff.
- Right.
- Then what are these 1200s items doing here?
- I-I don't know. They...
- Unless... unless...
- (laughter)
- Here we go. Theorist.
Secret societies
trade this information.
They know that Oak Island
is a place
that something great was buried.
So, even a British
military operation
would either deposit
or be looking for
what they heard rumors about.
- And that would explain a lot of this.
- That would, but it wouldn't,
it wouldn't make the treasure be
the sacking of Havana, though.
- Correct. Correct.
- Right, y-yeah.
Unless they knew
there were chambers
and tunnels with which
they could access.
- Okay. Boy, you're good.
- (laughter)
Well, I think about this a lot.
And what that indicates...
Talk about that, actually.
So, what I'm basically
theorizing
is multiple operations, multiple
treasure stories on Oak Island.
- Yeah?
- I just think that, given the extensive amount of work,
I think this was
a-a staged effort.
I think some of the work
was initially done
in preparation for a deposition.
And then the deposition happens,
and then the majority
of these finds
are related
to a searcher activity.
Because I just find it
hard to believe that they...
if one is to believe
Smith's Cove
and all the associated work,
if one is to believe
the Money Pit
and all the associated work,
if one is to look at the paved
area and the stone road
and say, "Really,
all of this was-was done
at one single moment in time?"
I'm not so sure. I think
there was a plan, a master plan.
We've always said
certainly it suggested
command and control.
I just wonder just, emotionally,
what you guys think,
seeing just a small fraction
of what this team
has accomplished
laid out before you.
Something about
this island attracted
an awful lot of attention going
back way before it should have.
We've got dates, we've got
actual precious metals.
It's an incomplete explanation,
isn't it?
That's the inspiration,
that's what tells us
and motivates us every day
to move this forward,
because the story
needs to be told.
The mystery needs to be solved.
MARTY:
We've got some real
potential discovery work yet,
this year, to be done.
T-There's a mystery
laid out here,
and we'll get
to the bottom of it.
So stay tuned.
- Let's go get it. - Yep.
- RICK: Together.
- MARTY: Yes.
- MATTY: Together.
From where I'm standing,
the Fellowship's time line
of finds
shows that the 227-year-old
treasure mystery
is more profound and complex
than anyone ever knew.
But with Rick, Marty and
the team's varied disciplines,
faith and drive
to get to the truth,
the story of that time line
will continue to take shape.
Will the next find they make
be the most precious of all
and finally reveal
the ultimate answers?
Stay tuned.
That day in history
may be sooner than you think.
Thanks for watching.
constructed the Money Pit?
Could Vikings have sunk a ship
in the triangle-shaped swamp?
Or did the Knights Templar
bury a vast treasure
here in the North Atlantic
centuries ago?
On The Curse of Oak Island,
we've watched
Rick and Marty Lagina,
along with their team,
make discoveries that show
every one of those possibilities
could be true.
So tonight,
we're testing those finds
up against documented history
to try and reveal
the ultimate answers of who,
what, where, when, why and how.
Get ready to go deep,
my friends.
This is Drilling Down.
♪ ♪
MARTY:
I woke up this morning thinking,
"This is kind of a big task."
- Yeah.
- If we find something
man-made at depth
that we can
definitively date prior to...
Give me a number... 1790, then.
Go with 1800.
All right, 1800.
Then, we've got something
nobody else has gotten.
Yet.
MATTY: When Rick and
Marty Lagina and their team
first began their quest to solve
the Oak Island mystery
approximately a decade ago,
of course, they were
looking for treasure...
DAN H.:
Oh, there it is.
MATTY: but they
were also looking for proof
that something major
took place here
prior to the discovery
of the Money Pit in 1795.
There were all kinds of legends
about a buried treasure
connected to everyone
from pirates
to the British
and French militaries
to even the medieval order
of the Knights Templar.
However, one thing was missing
to support any of them:
hard evidence.
MARTY:
Come on, baby!
Good day to find treasure.
MATTY:
But over the last nine seasons
of The Curse of Oak Island,
we've watched
as the brothers and their team
have made extraordinary find...
GARY:
Look at this, Rick.
- That's gorgeous.
- We just found a jewel.
MATTY:
after find...
Wow. It's quite impressive.
MATTY:
after find.
It looks like a piece
of finished wood.
MATTY:
And according to the experts...
We've got us a gemstone.
- Yes, you do.
- BROSSEAU: The bright area?
- Yeah?
- Gold.
MATTY: they have not
only discovered hard evidence
that treasure still lies
buried on Oak Island...
IAN:
Down in those holes,
there is something close by
that contains
a fair bit of silver.
MATTY: but also that
any of those theories
could be true.
So now, as the guys
are deep into season nine
of The Curse of Oak Island,
I'm back to drill down
on how some of their biggest
discoveries match up
with the historical time line
of North America
and may offer answers
to how that silver, gold
and who knows what else
ended up buried here.
Yeah, I mean,
this is a special place,
when you think about the finds
you guys have made here
- over the years.
- Yeah.
When you look at, you know,
the work it took to unveil
the U-shaped structure
and the Slipway...
Uh, the U-shaped structure
was a big deal for me.
(horn honks)
They're here.
Here we go.
MATTY:
In 2018,
the guys surrounded Smith's Cove
with a 525-foot-long
steel cofferdam.
They were not only
trying to locate
the legendary box drains
and flood tunnel
that feeds seawater
into the Money Pit,
but also a feature
that Rick, Marty
and Craig Tester's partner
Dan Blankenship
originally unearthed
back in 1970:
a mysterious, wooden,
U-shaped structure
featuring Roman numerals.
There's a log right there.
Billy, there's one right
over there,
- I see it.
- Yeah.
MATTY: Sure enough, they
unearthed the massive feature,
but incredibly,
they also found the remains
of a previously unknown
ship's wharf, or slipway,
both of which dated
to approximately 1770,
25 years before the discovery
of the Money Pit.
I'm sure you'll recall that
I have consistently thought,
prior to this excavation
at Smith's Cove,
that one of the leading theories
of what happened on Oak Island
prior to 1795 was nothing.
- (chuckles): Yeah.
- No, I really did.
I thought maybe it was just
sort of collective madness here.
So, I could no longer say
nothing significant happened
on this island prior to 1795.
That would be a fool's,
uh, comment at that point.
And I'd like to think
I wouldn't do that.
- (chuckles)
- No.
Uh, that's not how you operate.
- You try.
- I try.
I try not to.
I say dumb things all the time.
These dates back here,
hugely significant dates
if you insert them into history
because, look,
that was a time of great
upheaval in the world,
particularly to those of us who
reside in North America, right?
- Mm-hmm.
- I think there's a decent chance
because of those dates that
this treasure or this activity
had something to do
with the American Revolution.
- Mm.
- And, of course, money
is often behind
a lot of those things.
MATTY: Now, the guys have
found artifacts on Oak Island
which date back over 500 years...
Which we'll get to later...
But the late 18th century
discoveries at Smith's Cove
validated a theory regarding
a partial treasure recovery,
one potentially connected
to the greatest conflict
in North American history.
Louis-Alexandre Rochefoucauld,
in his friendship
with Benjamin Franklin
and Thomas Jefferson,
he may have actually told them
of Oak Island
or whatever secret was there.
- MARTY: Holy smokes.
- Wow.
MATTY:
In 2018,
author and researcher
Cort Lindahl
presented his theory
that the wealthy French
Rochefoucauld family,
which had ties
to both the Freemasons
and the Knights Templar,
conspired with a number
of America's key
founding fathers
to help them finance the War for
Independence against England.
It is well-documented
that both Benjamin Franklin
and Thomas Jefferson
were close associates of
Louis-Alexandre Rochefoucauld,
the son of the Duc d'Anville,
a French admiral
who some believe buried treasure
in the Money Pit back in 1746.
CORT: Throughout Thomas
Jefferson's time in France,
there's some chances
that he was even initiated
into a form of Knights Templar
that the Rochefoucaulds
and others
may have been members
of at that time.
BRUCE: All these families
were all involved
in secret societies
like the Templars...
- MARTY: Right. - That's true.
- Like the Freemasons.
MATTY: Cort's brother
Bruce even showed Marty
and members of the team
a carving of a pine tree
that sets on the island's
northern shore.
- CORT: Wow.
- A carving that matched
a Revolutionary
battle flag design,
which had been commissioned
by a well-known Freemason
named George Washington.
MARTY: So, let's say it was the
Americans who were tipped off,
came here and retrieved
the treasure or some of it.
When we first came, we thought,
at the very least,
very early on,
"We're gonna eliminate
this theory,
- this theory and this theory."
- We haven't eliminated anything.
- Exactly.
- In fact, that time line
has lengthened and broadened,
in terms of history,
because of some of the finds
that came from the swamp.
Rick, uh, what stands out
to you?
Top-pocket find, of course.
MARTY:
What you got in your pocket?
Oh, you've got something
with you?
What do you think it is?
MARTY:
I don't know.
That was where I saw you
be extremely excited.
- Yeah, I was.
- 'Cause I wasn't by the find.
RICK:
You were the guy
- who was looking at it.
- MARTY: Yeah, I remember,
- it's the famous maravedi.
- MATTY: Hmm-mm.
RICK: And I thought,
"Is that really a coin?"
Because a coin, I mean,
that's what treasure is, right?
I mean, I-I talk about the story
and to me, that is treasure,
but this is temporal wealth
treasure,
it's-it's what you would
open up a chest and see, right?
- Yeah.
- It's treasure.
MARTY: And so this
turned the dial, too.
This, at the time,
led me to believe there was
really treasure here...
And you, too.
- I've never seen you so happy.
- No.
RICK:
And then we go to Dan,
and he believed
there was some sort
of Spanish connection, right?
And here Marty holds in
his hand a Spanish maravedi.
Fred believed that Spanish
treasure from Havana,
when the sacking of Havana
o-occurred by the British,
came here,
and was deposited here.
MATTY: In 1762, during
the Seven Years' War
between England and Spain,
the British Royal Navy
invaded the Spanish stronghold
of Havana
and confiscated a vast treasure.
Most of these riches
had been previously looted
from Indigenous cultures
by conquistadors
in much earlier eras.
Now, it is documented
that a fleet of British ships
transported their
"spoils of war" to Halifax,
less than 60 miles
north of Oak Island.
However, the late landowner
Fred Nolan
believed that a secret stop
was made here first
after he discovered
numerous ship parts
in the triangle-shaped swamp.
MARTY: Fred's the guy who
should've been excited about this,
because the U-shaped structure
fits his...
It really does,
I mean it's close enough.
- Very close.
- Yeah, and then, this is clearly Spanish in origin.
That's a great point.
You know, Rick,
there are other areas
on this island where
the dates go way, way back.
- Absolutely.
- And one of those big areas is right behind me,
right up that hill,
and that's the Money Pit.
And some of the finds in there
have just been extraordinary
in terms of the dates.
Uh, that's for sure.
And you know what?
There are members
of the Fellowship
who could give you
a primer on that
based on a lot of stuff
that happened very recently.
And that would be, um,
Craig and Doug and my son Alex.
They-they've been
keenly following that.
Yeah, I think, Matty,
you should go talk to them,
because they have all the data,
all the test results,
and they are scrutinizing them.
So, you'll get
the complete lowdown.
Awesome. Great, thanks, guys.
This was fantastic.
- Okay, put that in your pocket before I lose it.
- (chuckles)
MATTY:
Do not lose that.
This is the most
curious thing of all.
- What is that?
- RICK: That's one of the pieces
of metal we retrieved
from D-2, up by C-1.
There's a gold signature
on that.
- Really?
- Yep.
MATTY: With the
revelation in season nine
of The Curse of Oak Island
that precious metals
really do lie deep
in the Money Pit...
MARTY:
This is probably
- the most exciting thing...
- Yep.
- In terms of a treasure hunt.
- Yes.
MATTY: any doubt that something
of major historical importance
happened long ago on Oak Island
has pretty much been buried.
Come on! Bring something up!
MATTY:
But based on the cache
of other clues
that Rick, Marty and the team
have found in the Money Pit
over the years,
the true history behind
the original treasure shaft
is a bigger mystery than ever.
CHARLES:
There's some more right here.
CRAIG: These are big
chunks to be at this depth.
MATTY: So, I'm meeting
in the research center
with three key members
of the Fellowship of the Dig
to drill down on how the finds
might match up
with the documented
historical record.
So, Alex, Doug
and, virtually, Craig, uh,
thanks for meeting with
me here in the research center.
You guys have
to remain objective.
You're the research team.
You know, Craig heading up
the scientific data
that comes in,
the literal "tester." (chuckles)
A-And you're the healthy
skeptic, Alex,
- in a sense, and...
- Try to be.
And Doug, you're the researcher.
Do you guys see yourself
like that?
Do you see this team as the...
Where the, where the speculation
kind of stops
and the hard research begins?
You know,
Doug's got the expertise
and the historical research
and all that.
Craig's got expertise
and experience
with drilling and testing
and-and I kind of come in
- like a wet blanket and just...
- (both laugh)
No, I just try to make sense
of it, honestly,
- and contribute where I can.
- DOUG: We got to compare
what history tells us against
what we're seeing before us,
and allow a little bit
of what-if.
CRAIG: And to make sure,
when we are getting tests,
we're getting
the true, uh, answers
that-that we're looking for.
I mean, there's a lot that goes
into quality control,
if you will.
When you think of the date
ranges of this time line,
of this mystery, it's getting
more and more extraordinary.
The Money Pit itself has yielded
dates that are mind-blowing.
In recent years, the team
has recovered everything
from rose-head spikes
dating to 1706
to evidence of a wooden shaft
dating to 1648,
high-end shoe leather
dating to 1492,
and just this year, along with
the traces of silver and gold,
pieces of a wood tunnel
dating to between 1488 and 1650.
When you see something coming
from the 15th century, possibly,
Craig, what do you do
with that in your mind?
Well, I mean,
it-it takes you back
to when Christopher Columbus
was coming to the Americas.
I love that.
Did Christopher Columbus have
a secret little mission that
we don't know about in 1492?
Take a stop at Oak Island,
deposit some stuff
for the queen, maybe?
I mean, it opens up all those
really incredible possibilities.
In 1492, when Christopher
Columbus and his fleet sailed
on behalf of Spain
in search of a route to India,
he would change the course
of history when he made landfall
in the Caribbean.
However, some Oak Island
theorists believe
that his mission included
a very secret agenda
to hide priceless
Old World treasures
in the New World on Oak Island,
and they point to massive clues
that adorned his ship's sails.
The cross of a Portuguese wing
of the Knights Templar.
Some theorists claim
that Christopher Columbus sailed
under the Portuguese Knights
of the Order of Christ,
their cross,
which is very similar
to the Knights Templar cross.
So, that opens up
the possibility, I mean,
some of these artifacts
are falling in that date range.
The Knights Templar were said
to have been assimilated
- into the Knights of Christ.
- Wow.
So, a Templar association,
possibly, between, uh,
Christopher Columbus
and-and that organization.
And the Portuguese,
you mentioned the Portuguese,
again, they keep coming up.
It might sound pretty wild
to speculate
that Christopher Columbus
may have been in cahoots
with the Portuguese
Knights of Christ
to deposit treasure
on Oak Island,
but scientific evidence persists
that someone may have accessed
the Money Pit around 1492.
And, as it turns out,
Columbus was married
to Filipa Moniz Perestrelo,
the daughter
of Bartolomeu Perestrelo,
who was a grand master
in the Knights of Christ.
Could that explain
the two potentially Portuguese
pieces of round shot
that the team has discovered?
One of which came from deep
in the Money Pit area?
Or even the massive stone wharf
that the team unearthed
in the swamp,
which historian Terry Deveau
believes
to be at least 500 years old
and of Portuguese design?
Just a little
historical sidenote,
the Portuguese under
Prince Henry the Navigator
were the first
to put cannon on board ship.
- Wow.
- And those cannon, early on, would have fired stone shot.
Oh, wow.
Boy, I mean, Alex,
we mentioned
a healthy skepticism,
but the evidence is mounting up.
Well, it is mounting up,
and that's, you know,
when the evidence
takes you in this direction,
you have to...
You-you can't just deny it.
- Right.
- MATTY: And, you know,
we-we talk about
this wood from D-2,
with a date range going back
to the 15th century, the 1400s.
And that makes me think of this
item that you found, Alex...
- Mm-hmm.
- This shoe leather,
which also had a date range
hitting the 1400s.
What do you do with that?
I found that on the wash table,
and I thought it was
a piece of rubber,
I thought it was modern.
We determined the date range.
The window encompasses
all the way back to 1492.
Doug, when I see
that fancy shoe leather,
we know it was high-end, right?
And these both came
from The Money Pit.
I see that person
standing at the Money Pit
observing his workers
build that.
That may not be
wild speculation at all.
And these two artifacts, Matty,
haven't, uh,
told their full story yet.
Craig can tell you,
there's a-a method of testing
that may give us the origin
of especially the shoe leather.
You mean...
Uh, Craig, is he referring
to the, uh, region,
like geographical?
You know, in the past,
we've done a little bit of, uh,
isotope testing.
So this piece of leather,
hope to get that sent out
and get that tested,
and maybe it'll tell us, um,
whether it's from Portugal,
Spain, wherever.
Wow. Well,
if it turns out to be
on the low end
of that date, 1492,
and it's either Italian
or Spanish, I'm gonna go ahead
and start calling it
Christopher Columbus' boot.
- (laughter)
- I just am, guys.
And at that point,
even I would have to say,
what is it doing, you know, deep
underground in the Money Pit?
- Right.
- Well, one thing that's really important is,
you know,
that the numbers be verified.
Uh, you know, duplicated
and then... and repeated
with multiple artifacts.
And that's what
we're seeing here.
A lot of potential activity
that could be tied
to that very, very early dates
into the late 1400s.
So, uh, you know,
you got to keep on verifying,
keep on getting more data.
I feel like, in season nine,
you guys are zeroing in
on what happened here.
And I think it's fantastic.
- Congratulations.
- Well, thank you.
Thank you, Matty,
and this is just a small part
of what makes this
such an exciting year.
MATTY: You know I
love to hear that, Doug.
When we come back,
we're tunneling our way
MATTY: We're drilling down
on h
by the Fellowship of the Dig
have created
an incredible time line
of who may have been behind
the Oak Island mystery.
And here now to discuss a couple
of the most compelling items
on that time line
is my mate from another state,
metal detecting expert
Gary Drayton.
- How you doing, buddy?
- Good, mate. How are you?
Good. Uh, you know,
one of the finds that I just
think is just so incredible
in terms of what it could mean
for this time line
are those swages that you found.
I mean, the moment
you looked at them,
- what were you thinking?
- I'll be honest,
I thought they were
just quarrying tools.
It was an unusual shape.
And then we recovered
another one close by
and we're well away
from the Money Pit, on Lot 21.
And I'm thinking to myself,
you know,
"Someone was quarrying here,"
but boy, was I wrong.
Wow. Look at that.
Whoever made this
did it a long time ago.
RICK:
Yeah, I believe
that this would be
a top-pocket find.
(laughter)
I need a big top pocket, mate.
Strong pocket, yeah.
MATTY:
In 2019,
while searching for clues
on Lot 21,
nearly a mile west
of the Money Pit...
GARY:
Wow.
It's another hammer,
and this is even bigger.
- Look.
- RICK: It's twice as big as the other one.
MATTY: Gary, Rick
Lagina and Dan Henskee
discovered two iron objects
that looked like
they may have been designed
for splitting large rocks.
In other words,
they seemed like something
a 19th-century farmer
may have used to clear land.
And I should tell you,
when we first found these,
we thought they was, like,
stonemason's tools.
MATTY: But when the team
had blacksmithing expert
Carmen Legge analyze them, they
were stunned by his assessment.
Mm-hmm.
They're not?
It's a sharpening tool, then?
For tunneling?
Where did these come from?
MARTY:
Wow. So, as old as 1400.
When-when would they
not be being made anymore?
Really?
- (laughter)
- CHARLES: Wow.
MATTY: So, Gary, when
you hear that date range
of 1450 to 1750,
what possibilities
does that open up in your mind?
So I was a little bit
disappointed
when I first heard
the time line,
1450 to around 1750,
because I was hoping
they went back to Templar days.
- Sure.
- But we have to be objective about the finds, mate.
I'm a metal-detecting guy.
I only believe
what I hold in my hands.
When we recover finds
that match up
with the historical time line
on Oak Island, mate,
we know we're getting closer
to solving the mystery
of Oak Island.
One of those, mate,
is a top-pocket find.
- (laughs softly)
- And it was found
not too far away from here,
mate, and I am so proud of this.
Look at this fantastic brooch.
MATTY:
I mean, that is gorgeous.
That's the cleanest
I've seen it in person.
This jewel brooch, mate,
is definitely pre-searcher,
pre-1700s.
But it also could tie in
with the dates
that we got from the swages
that were recovered
in this area, too.
That opens up the possibility
of a different organization,
the Knights Baronet.
MATTY: Gary is correct
that the tunneling swages
and the garnet brooch,
that were all found on Lot 21,
were dated to between
the mid-15th century
and the mid-18th century.
RICK:
Hey, James.
MATTY:
And in 2019,
author and historian
James McQuiston
met with members
of the Fellowship
to explain who he believed
may have left
those items on Oak Island.
So, here's the theory
in a nutshell.
The followers of a group
of Scottish knights
created by William Alexander,
settled in Nova Scotia
during the early 1600s,
and this is historic fact.
MATTY: In 1625, the Scottish
order of the Knights Baronet,
many of whom were Freemasons
and direct descendants
of the Knights Templar,
began a settlement in
Nova Scotia, or "New Scotland."
Founded by
Sir William Alexander,
a Scottish royal advisor
to King James I of England
the organization's mission
was to establish
a refuge for Templar
descendants in the New World.
However, in 1632,
they were expelled
when France
conquered the region.
JAMES: Unfortunately, the
French attacked Nova Scotia,
leaving the Scots ousted
in the spring of 1632
and unable to sail directly
across the North Atlantic
back to Great Britain
due to the bad spring weather.
And I believe they took
shelter in Mahone Bay,
which would have been
the best place to take shelter
and Oak Island
is at the back of it.
So, it would be the perfect
place to hide back there
and bury what they couldn't
take back with them.
MATTY:
Could James McQuiston's theory,
based on
the historical time line,
explain how the tunneling swages
and garnet brooch
ended up on Oak Island?
Well, the theory could
also apply to the dates
of the finds made in the Money
Pit that we discussed earlier.
Those discoveries
could reach back to 1492,
but they also could be from
as late as the 17th century.
And when you consider
the Masonic T square tool
found one year ago in the swamp,
James's theory hits the nail
squarely on the head.
It was carbon-dated
to as early as 1632.
I mean, that is
a fascinating organization,
the Knights Baronet.
You know,
descendants of the Templars.
And when you, when you factor in
Masonic connections, I mean,
that's a secret society, right?
So what do they have?
Secret knowledge.
So, is that where you're going?
The Templars bury
a treasure here.
The descendants know about it.
They come here to build a new
society and-and maybe access it.
Yeah, exactly, mate.
Uh, this is not just treasure
that's been handed down
and added to
through the generations.
This is knowledge.
And they would have known
to come here.
It's a place
where they can bury treasure
and leave it
for future generations.
You believe now,
based on all your discoveries,
that there have been
generational activities
here on Oak Island.
- Do you still stand by that?
- Yeah, I do, mate.
You've got to look at the finds.
I like a lot of the theories,
especially James McQuiston's
theories.
- Right.
- They go with this time line.
Amazing. Um, well, let's get you
finding more of these.
- How about that?
- All right, mate.
The finds will tell the story
of Oak Island, mate.
MATTY:
Awesome.
Don't go anywhere.
Really?
MATTY:
In 2016,
the late author and researcher
Zena Halpern
presented the Fellowship
with two maps that she believed
were direct links between
the medieval Christian order
of the Knights Templar
and the Oak Island mystery.
One was dated to 1178 AD.
The other,
which depicted Oak Island
and featured locations
identified in French,
was dated to 1347 AD.
For the team, it pushed the
possible historical time line
of the mystery back earlier
than anyone
ever thought possible.
Thanks for meeting me here
in the research center,
and Judi, it's a real honor
to meet you.
So, I met with Rick, Oak Island
historian Doug Crowell
and Zena's longtime friend and
research partner Judi Rudebusch
to discuss how
a couple Fellowship finds
may not only support
Zena's research
but potentially
change everything we know
about North American history.
The two finds I want to drill
down on right now in terms
of the Oak Island time line
and what we're learning
are the paved area in the swamp
and the lead cross,
this beauty right here.
Yes, when Zena
became aware of that find,
she put great relevance in it.
That was a game changer for her,
a game changer for all of us.
And all of a sudden,
at warp speed,
it seemed like,
we turned to more,
uh, a more focused attention
to a possible association
with-with Templars.
MATTY:
It is well-documented history
that the Christian military
order of monks
known as the Knights Templar
were headquartered on the ruins
of King Solomon's Temple
in Jerusalem
during the Crusades
beginning in the 11th century.
In addition to their role
of protecting religious pilgrims
and their valuables, they also
conducted major excavations
beneath the Temple Mount
and are believed by some
to have recovered numerous
priceless treasures,
including the Holy Grail
and the Ark of the Covenant.
However, in 1307,
after falling into massive debt
to the Templars,
King Philip IV of France
had many in the order
imprisoned and executed.
In 1314, 18 Templar ships
were known to have escaped
La Rochelle, France
with a vast treasure.
It was never recovered,
and that's where
the documented history ends.
Some researchers believe
they fled to Scotland first,
but then several decades later,
sailed their treasures
across the Atlantic Ocean
to North America.
GARY: Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Holy...
Holy schmoly, all right.
- RICK: It's a cross.
- That's a cross.
MATTY: So, when Rick
and Gary Drayton found
the lead cross
at Smith's Cove in 2017,
it offered hard evidence
of possible Templar activity
on Oak Island.
I've seen that shape before.
Where do you think
you've seen it before?
When I was in France.
How would they have carved this?
They surely would not
have had implements.
JERRY:
When they were imprisoned,
they would have had
to have maybe
used their teeth
or their fingernails.
MATTY: Just weeks
before finding the cross,
Rick had seen the exact design
carved into the wall
of a 14th-century Templar prison
in Domme, France.
RICK: So Jack, if you
can, uh, bring Tobias up.
Hello, Tobias.
Hi, guys.
MATTY: And when geochemist
Tobias Skowronek
dated the lead in the cross
using isotope analysis,
another potential puzzle piece
fell into place.
MARTY:
And time period-wise,
you think
it's pre-15th century, then?
I think it's pre-15th century,
yes.
This could be Templar-connected.
But where the heck
did it come from?
TOBIAS:
The data of the cross
is very consistent with the area
of Southern France.
- Wow.
- That's fantastic.
DOUG: Here's what really
hooked Zena on Oak Island.
You look at some of these maps
that she provided with us.
This is, without a doubt,
indisputably Nova Scotia.
- MATTY: Mm-hmm.
- And then to have this found on the shores of Oak Island,
it just reinforced her belief.
Every time there's a date
in there that it fits in,
always makes you start thinking
over her multitude
of information
that I... she gave me.
You know?
You just keep going over it.
Then you get the dates
of the paved area.
I mean, that must have been
very gratifying for you as well,
working with Zena and seeing
those dates come to bear.
The scientific data on the cross
backing up Zena's 14th-century
Templar theory was amazing,
but then in 2019,
while investigating
the triangle-shaped swamp...
RICK:
Tell me that's natural.
TOM: Oh, there's no
way that's natural, Rick.
Look at it.
It's just layered right on top.
MATTY: the team
unearthed a stone-paved feature
covering the middle
of the brackish bog.
There's the dates we're getting.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
- What are they?
- IAN: Around...
1200 AD.
(soft laughter)
MATTY:
Incredibly, the paved area
dated to a historical period
matching up
with Zena's believed
12th-century Templar map.
Medieval.
Medieval, baby.
(laughter)
MATTY: So, could that
mean that the Templars
journeyed to the New World
and Oak Island
during the Crusades?
Are we getting closer, then,
to at least the who of the who,
what, where, when, why and how?
RICK:
This aspect of the who,
we are slowly but surely
building a narrative,
but these other possibilities
still exist.
That is what's so captivating
and disconcerting
about Oak Island, right?
We have as of yet been unable
to say, "They didn't do it."
- Right.
- Right.
But if you really,
truly want to be a researcher,
you've got to be open to it all.
That's just the way it is.
Well, luckily, I'm not.
It was Templars.
- (laughter)
- So...
Hate to break it to you.
It was Templars.
Well, it certainly would be
gratifying to-to prove it.
MATTY:
Thank you for your time.
- Thank you, Matty.
- JUDI: Thank you, Matty.
Coming up next,
the Oak Island time line
MATTY:
So far we've d
on how a number of Rick,
Marty and the team's
greatest Oak Island finds
could match up
with documented
historical events
spanning from the 18th century
all the way back to 1200 AD.
Well, now, I'm meeting up
with Alex Lagina,
Doug Crowell and Gary Drayton
to look at two finds
that pushed the time line
of this mystery back further
than anyone could have
ever imagined.
I'm so glad we're here
on Lot 15,
because there were
a couple finds
made right around here that set
the time line back so far.
They might be two of
the biggest finds ever made
in North America,
never mind Oak Island.
And Gary, you found one of them
right around here.
- And you know where it is.
- Oh, good.
In the top pocket.
- Ah, you brought it.
- Check this baby out.
The Chinese cash coin.
(beeping)
JACK:
What's that?
MATTY:
In 2020,
while investigating Lot 15,
where the team found evidence
of an ancient pathway
between the swamp
and Money Pit...
GARY:
I see it.
- Oh, no way.
- Ooh.
GARY: Now, that's a little
beauty. Look at that.
MATTY: Gary and Jack Begley
were stunned to unearth a coin
that was unlike any other
ever found on the island.
- RICK: Let's see what we have.
- SANDY: Okay.
SANDY: It clearly is
a Chinese cash coin.
- Wow.
- And-and really,
it would be hard to identify,
but I'm-I'm guessing it's...
you know, it could be 11, 12,
1,300 years old or even older.
Sandy told us he thought
at least a thousand years old,
and maybe as many as 1,300.
Unbelievable, but Doug,
what-what was going on
in the world, you know,
Maritimes, globally,
at that time that could
explain a date like this
or an item like this?
We've given that some thought,
and, uh,
the time line for North America,
of course,
you got to think Viking.
You got to think
the Norse exploration.
MATTY:
It is historically documented
that between the eighth
and 11th centuries AD,
the Scandinavian civilization
known today as the Vikings
navigated across Europe
and areas of Northern Africa
and the Middle East,
trading goods
and establishing settlements.
One culture that the Vikings
traded extensively with
to obtain finer goods,
such as silk, was the Chinese.
Recent archaeological
discoveries
in Newfoundland, Canada,
have revealed Viking settlements
dating back to the 11th century.
So, if it's documented
that they reached Eastern Canada
more than 1,000 years ago,
could the Chinese coin
really offer evidence
that they also visited
Oak Island?
The Vikings did not
have their own mint.
They did not create
their own coins until the end
of the tenth century,
so the coins
that they predominately used
were Middle Eastern and Asian.
And you have other finds
here on Oak Island
that fit this date,
and that's the thing.
ALEX: Yeah, you could
easily say of this coin,
you know, it was dropped here
in the 17, 1800s.
- MATTY: Right.
- Whenever it may be.
Except we have this,
which is a piece of wood
that was found in the swamp.
To me, beyond
a reasonable doubt,
- it appears to be man-made.
- Yes.
ALEX: And the dates that came
up for this were 660 to 770 AD.
MATTY: Of all the
incredible discoveries
that the team has made
in the swamp
over the last decade,
one that still remains
a tantalizing mystery
is a massive, 200-foot-long,
ship-shaped anomaly
that was detected
with seismic scanning in 2018.
Now, we've seen the team unearth
a boatload of ship pieces
just in season nine alone,
but none are as well-preserved
as this piece
of possible ship railing,
which dates
to the same approximate time
period as the Chinese cash coin.
And the fact that
it's that old...
So you could, this could be
part of a Viking ship.
- Yeah.
- I mean, and this could be what they were carrying.
ALEX:
Well, it's-it's hard to know,
and it's hard to know
if it's tied to Oak Island.
You know, it-it's...
It was found in the swamp,
which is right by the ocean, and
the ocean mixes everything up.
Yeah, but I'll quote your dad:
you can't argue with the data.
Look at the dates
on these two artifacts,
and to me, they say ship,
and they say travel,
from a very long way away.
Gary's right,
you can't argue with the data.
This was tested twice,
independently,
and they both came back
to the same age range.
- Vikings, baby.
- (laughter)
- I've been waiting to say that a long time.
- MATTY: Yeah.
Doug, any historical connections
between the Vikings...
I mean, we-we always go
Knights Templar
to, let's say, Knights Baronet
when we're talking about Oak
Island and then forward, right?
How about Vikings to Templar?
- Good luck, Doug.
- No, actually, actually,
I believe there is.
- ALEX: You do?
- I do, from a very fact-based perspective,
because the Vikings
explored our coast
in around 1000 to 1365, 67.
They had knowledge of this area,
perhaps Oak Island.
They go back,
they invade Northern France.
Northern France, they settle.
They become the Normans, they
integrate into society there.
They have knowledge
of the New World.
It was in France,
particularly in Northern France,
where a lot of the early
Crusaders came from.
We know those early Templars
were basically warriors,
uh, crusaders, fighters.
Did they learn some skills
from the Vikings?
Did they trade information?
It's-it's possible?
A lot of the early Templars
probably had Viking heritage.
So, there's a very
good possibility
that the Templars,
when they needed some place
to hide their wealth
before the suppression,
they would already...
Because of their heritage...
Have knowledge of the New World
and know how to get here.
- Potentially from Vikings.
- Potentially.
- What seems like a pretty far-fetched scenario...
- Right.
May not be
so far-fetched after all.
Wow. Incredible, guys.
My head is spinning,
the time line is getting
out of control, so...
- Let's try and find more of these, Gary, all right?
- And... Yeah.
Uh, speaking of that, mate,
I'm gonna need that
- back in the top pocket.
- Oh, sorry. Yeah.
- I was hoping you weren't paying attention.
- Cheers.
MATTY:
Thanks, guys.
MATTY: You know
what's r
as we talk about the time line?
We did this a few years ago,
- laid out finds on this very table.
- Yes.
- Mm-hmm.
- And this lead cross
was the far end,
the earliest find.
- Was it?
- Yeah. Now look at this thing.
Boom. All the way back there
in just a-a few years.
I'm-I'm wondering
what your initial thoughts are,
seeing this laid out like this.
These are selected finds
going all the way
from the seventh century
to the 18th century.
I mean, that must kind of
subvert your expectations
when you started
this whole journey.
That's a good way to put it.
(laughs)
RICK: You know,
when I look at it, really,
what is impactful to me
is we are on the same trail,
the same kind of hunt
as every treasure hunter
- we've ever talked to, right?
- Yeah.
Where they say, look,
you have to do your homework.
It's research. It's-it's paying
attention to the details.
It's trying to understand,
you know,
where these items come from.
That leather boot heel,
there's some isotope testing
we may be able
to have done on that.
So, there's still some data
to be retrieved
s... from some of these items.
What we call the ship's
railing there,
we tested it twice 'cause
it was such an outlier date.
Remember,
when it first came back,
- we said, "No. Can't be."
- Yeah.
But now we are
of the affirmation
that that is indeed the date.
So, when I look at this,
even though these are artifacts,
and they're supposed
to tell us a story,
I still think there's
still some refusal on their part
to tell us the whole story.
Well, we don't have
all their brothers and sisters,
like, uh, uh, Gary always says.
That's, that is correct.
MARTY: You know? I
mean, this fits all kinds of stuff.
- RICK: Yeah. That's the problem.
- You do have
to throw away some
of the older stuff to fit...
- British military.
- Fred's... Yeah, British military and stuff.
- Right.
- Then what are these 1200s items doing here?
- I-I don't know. They...
- Unless... unless...
- (laughter)
- Here we go. Theorist.
Secret societies
trade this information.
They know that Oak Island
is a place
that something great was buried.
So, even a British
military operation
would either deposit
or be looking for
what they heard rumors about.
- And that would explain a lot of this.
- That would, but it wouldn't,
it wouldn't make the treasure be
the sacking of Havana, though.
- Correct. Correct.
- Right, y-yeah.
Unless they knew
there were chambers
and tunnels with which
they could access.
- Okay. Boy, you're good.
- (laughter)
Well, I think about this a lot.
And what that indicates...
Talk about that, actually.
So, what I'm basically
theorizing
is multiple operations, multiple
treasure stories on Oak Island.
- Yeah?
- I just think that, given the extensive amount of work,
I think this was
a-a staged effort.
I think some of the work
was initially done
in preparation for a deposition.
And then the deposition happens,
and then the majority
of these finds
are related
to a searcher activity.
Because I just find it
hard to believe that they...
if one is to believe
Smith's Cove
and all the associated work,
if one is to believe
the Money Pit
and all the associated work,
if one is to look at the paved
area and the stone road
and say, "Really,
all of this was-was done
at one single moment in time?"
I'm not so sure. I think
there was a plan, a master plan.
We've always said
certainly it suggested
command and control.
I just wonder just, emotionally,
what you guys think,
seeing just a small fraction
of what this team
has accomplished
laid out before you.
Something about
this island attracted
an awful lot of attention going
back way before it should have.
We've got dates, we've got
actual precious metals.
It's an incomplete explanation,
isn't it?
That's the inspiration,
that's what tells us
and motivates us every day
to move this forward,
because the story
needs to be told.
The mystery needs to be solved.
MARTY:
We've got some real
potential discovery work yet,
this year, to be done.
T-There's a mystery
laid out here,
and we'll get
to the bottom of it.
So stay tuned.
- Let's go get it. - Yep.
- RICK: Together.
- MARTY: Yes.
- MATTY: Together.
From where I'm standing,
the Fellowship's time line
of finds
shows that the 227-year-old
treasure mystery
is more profound and complex
than anyone ever knew.
But with Rick, Marty and
the team's varied disciplines,
faith and drive
to get to the truth,
the story of that time line
will continue to take shape.
Will the next find they make
be the most precious of all
and finally reveal
the ultimate answers?
Stay tuned.
That day in history
may be sooner than you think.
Thanks for watching.