The Curse of Oak Island: Drilling Down (2016–…): Season 9, Episode 3 - The Top Ten Signs of Buried Treasure - full transcript
MATTY: Video evidence of
possible precious metals...
The hell is that?
RICK:
That's your gold color.
More than 170 feet underground.
- RICK: That is beautiful.
- GARY: Oh, man.
MATTY: A jeweled b
LEWTON-BRAIN:
It's a garnet.
- We got us a gemstone.
- Yes, you do.
Is he slipping or...?
MATTY:
And a concrete-encased vault,
thought to hold history's
most sacred artifacts.
VANESSA: From a drilling
perspective, we would say
- that's about a ten-foot void.
- That's great news.
Come on, baby!
Good day to find treasure.
It's lasted for 226 years;
it's cost millions of dollars;
and it's claimed the lives
of six men, so far.
I'm talking about
the Oak Island mystery.
This 140-acre North Atlantic
island has drawn hundreds
of searchers over the past
two centuries to risk everything
trying to recover a vast...
Possibly priceless... treasure
that they all fervently
believed was buried here.
But in all that time,
with no verified proof
of a vast treasure cache,
why have they kept coming?
Is it a quest for fame
and wealth? Collective madness?
Or perhaps the legendary curse
that draws them in?
The truth is, all of these
searchers, in their own way,
have been building
a mosaic of valuable clues
that suggest they
were right on the money.
And tonight,
we'll be counting down
their most memorable finds.
Get ready. This is "The Top Ten
Signs of Buried Treasure"
on Oak Island.
♪ ♪
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
MATTY: The mystique
of buried treasure captures
the essence of human curiosity.
Who buried it?
What could it be?
Where did they hide it?
And in Oak Island's case,
did they ever
come back to retrieve it?
These burning
questions have continued to
envelop this place
going back over 200 years.
That's when the first
sign of buried treasure
on our countdown
kicked off what has become
a global
and cultural phenomenon.
Number ten: The Money Pit.
It was in 1795
that Daniel McGinnis
and his two friends,
John Smith and Anthony Vaughan
rowed over from the mainland
to investigate
strange lights
they had witnessed.
As they made their way ashore
and hurried through the woods,
they came to a clearing
and found a very conspicuous
13-foot-wide depression at
the base of a mighty oak tree.
MARTY:
They dig.
They find some stones laid in,
they find some planks,
things that would have
to be man-made.
So, they're sure
they're onto something.
It was the end of
the piracy era, right?
So, everybody's
thinking buried treasure.
No matter how deep they get,
they keep finding more planks
that appear to be
concealing something.
MATTY: The pit wasn't
merely concealing something;
it was an ingenious design.
The boys found heavy oak log
platforms at ten-foot intervals,
which they removed
down to the 30-foot level.
At that point,
it is known that they stopped.
Some say it was because the pit
seemed to be going deeper,
and they couldn't
safely continue on their own.
Others, however,
have suggested that
was only one of the reasons.
- CHARLES: Welcome home.
- JOAN: Thank you. Thank you so much.
MATTY:
In 2015, direct descendants
of Daniel McGinnis visited Rick
and Marty Lagina
and the team on Oak Island
to give some never-before-
revealed insight
about the first Money Pit dig.
RICK:
The reason why we're here is
you ladies made a...
a unique offer, that you had
brought something to Oak Island.
Well, it's my pleasure
to show you.
I can see everyone
start leaning in.
MARTY: Yeah, right, exactly.
What have we got here?
RICK: I'm sitting there thinking,
well, could it be this, could it
be that, is it a story,
is it an artifact, what is it?
It was like Christmas morning.
MARTY:
Just the box is very nice.
JOAN: Grandpa Daniel and
his two friends started digging.
They found
three treasure chests.
- Really?
- Really.
- We never heard that.
- No.
CHARLES:
I've never heard that neither.
Daniel took one, Smith took one,
and Vaughan took one.
And what is in this box
is one of the things
that came from that chest.
- Really?
- The one that McGinnis took.
- Let's have a look.
- JACK: Yeah, I got goose bumps.
MARTY:
Wow!
- May I?
- You may.
Oh, my goodness.
That is quite extraordinary.
Have any experts looked at it?
I have taken it
to several jewelers,
and I'm told that it could be
as old as 500 years old.
Doesn't 500 years ago
fit within our carbon dating?
Might even be earlier than some
of those things we've seen,
so yeah, that would
definitely fit into any kind
of theory if it's 500
or earlier.
Mm-hmm.
MATTY:
Although a report of three
treasure chests
being found 30 feet deep
in the Money Pit was quite
a revelation for the Laginas,
it was certainly not
the first sign of
buried treasure on Oak Island.
That would be
discovered in 1804,
and holds the next spot
on our countdown.
Number nine: The 90 Foot Stone.
Daniel McGinnis and his
two friends would return to
Oak Island with
not only new partners,
but a lot more resources
to continue the dig.
Through their tireless labor,
they excavated more
oak platforms every ten feet
down to the 90-foot level.
There, they were stunned
to find a heavy grayish stone
with mysterious carvings
on its surface.
Believing they were about
to reach the mother lode
of riches, they hauled it out.
But rather than opening
the floodgate to treasure,
they had opened a literal
floodgate to the ocean...
An ingenious booby-trapped
tunnel that fed seawater
into the pit
from nearby Smith's Cove.
It drowned these searchers'
hopes of finding it.
But the 90 Foot Stone
offered what many
believe to be
a tantalizing clue.
There have been several possible
translations of the symbols
over the years,
but the most widely reported
reads: "Forty feet below,
two million pounds are buried."
Unfortunately, the stone
was lost in the early 1900s
so any definitive
translation of the cypher
has remained impossible.
However,
there is one variation of
the decoded message
that is especially compelling.
It says: "Ten feet below,
two million pounds are buried."
And the next top sign
of treasure on our list may just
be the proof that is
the correct translation.
Number eight:
The Stacked Chests.
In 1849,
a new group of searchers
known as the Truro Company
conducted a drilling operation
down the Money Pit, hoping
to encounter the treasure.
At a depth of
approximately 100 feet,
the crew was stunned
when their drill rod cut
through four inches of oak,
then 22 inches of metal pieces,
another eight inches of oak,
and then again,
exactly 22 inches
of metal pieces before
a final four inches of oak.
CHARLES: So, it's one
chest on top of the other.
Now, they could hear the sounds
coming up through the water,
right, and they
could feel it going through
what they described
as loose metal.
That's how they described it.
Could those
two chests actually be
the containers for the legendary
two million pounds?
It's a compelling report.
Unfortunately,
subsequent digs and flooding
from the booby traps caused
a catastrophic collapse of
the Money Pit and no evidence of
them has ever been found again.
But when we come back,
we'll review a discovery
from the Money Pit that
dwarfs the reported size
of those two chests
and another that convinced
a hired worker to try
to buy part of the island.
Don't go anywhere.
Never stops because,
let's face it, the most
compelling signs that there
really is treasure on Oak Island
have been discovered here,
like this next find.
A find that,
if you're not a hardcore Acorn,
you may have neve
you may have
never heard of before.
Number seven:
The Pitblado Pocket Find.
Back in 1849,
when the Truro Company
drilled into those two
stacked chests
below the 100-foot level
in the Money Pit,
a man named James Pitblado
was the foreman
operating the drill.
And when he
extracted the drill rod,
he quickly removed something
from the bit and attempted
to inconspicuously
place it in his pocket.
Now this is witnessed
by one of the, one of
the directors of the company.
And he approaches Pitblado
and says, "What is it?"
And he said, "I'll reveal it at
the next director's meeting."
Now, lo and behold, they have
the next director's meeting,
and in the meantime Pitblado
leaves the island
and never comes back.
MATTY: The only person
Pitblado is believed to
have shown
his mysterious find to
was a local ironworker from
nearby Londonderry, Nova Scotia.
The two of them put in
an offer to buy Lot 18,
where the Money Pit is located,
but were turned down,
even though
they reportedly offered
much more than
what the lot was worth.
CHARLES: So, did he find
a coin? Did he find a jewel?
I mean, whatever it was
that Pitblado found,
and I think it was...
Had to be significant,
because you know,
he threw away his job basically.
He threw away his security,
if you will,
to try to entice someone to go
into partnership with him,
to buy the island
and become a treasure hunter.
A little glimmer that
maybe there's more still
to him than meets the eye.
So, if he did find treasure,
he was certainly smart enough
to not be flagrant about it.
RICK: If he had just been
observed looking at something
and he puts it in his pocket,
end of story...
Okay, fine, it's just one
of the intriguing facts.
But he sets himself on a path
where he ultimately convinces
someone to commit funds to buy
the eastern end of the island.
It makes me believe that there's
something in the Money Pit.
Seriously,
what did James Pitblado
find that convinced him
there was something so valuable
down there that he tried
to buy part of the island?
That is without a doubt
what I like to call
the two-million-pound question.
And as Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team try
to figure that out,
they're also trying to verify
the next sign
of treasure on our list,
one that's not only
reported to be much larger,
but also contain more
than gold, silver or jewels.
Number six: The Chappell Vault.
In 1897, treasure hunters
Frederick Blair
and William Chappell
drilled deeper than anyone
before trying
to locate those treasure chests.
When they reached a depth
of 153 feet, their drill rod
penetrated something they
were not expecting: a believed
seven-foot-tall wooden vault
that was encased in concrete.
When they brought the drill
bit back to the surface,
they were astonished
by what they saw.
Flakes of gold...
and a piece of parchment with
the letters "V-I" written on it.
A major excavation
was immediately instigated,
but once again,
their shaft flooded with water,
caved in and no trace
of the so-called
"Chappell Vault"
would appear again.
JACK:
Well, let's get started.
MATTY:
That is until 2017, when
the Fellowship of the Dig
examined the spoils from
a six-inch borehole they
had drilled known as H-8.
What is this?
From this distance,
that looks a little different
- from some of the stuff.
- It's almost paper-like.
MATTY: Or more like parchment,
which is exactly
what they had found,
just like William Chappell
did inside
the massive vault in 1897.
Come on, baby!
Good day to find treasure.
MATTY: It convinced
the team that it was time
to dig a massive five-foot-wide
steel-cased shaft.
We're hopeful that
we're close to answers.
We spent an awful
lot of effort to bring in
this massive equipment...
and dig in this one spot,
following a well
that produced all kinds
of tantalizing clues.
So, yeah, we're hopeful.
We're getting to the depth
where there should be answers.
VANESSA:
Are we good?
Let's get Marty.
MATTY:
And at a depth of 170 feet,
there was a major development.
DANNY: We're 170,
pipe in the ground right now.
We're definitively sitting on
something that we haven't
cut before,
since we've been on this job.
MARTY: We're in the collapse
of the Money Pit. We're gonna
find what was ever in there.
That's what it means.
RICK:
The oscillator is on a flat,
hard surface.
That's exactly what
we hope to encounter.
Is there a vault below that?
I don't know.
MATTY: There was only
one way to find out.
Working with the team
from Irving Equipment Limited
and ROC Equipment,
they pressed on,
hoping to penetrate
the massive object.
CRAIG:
Digging-wise, it's going slow.
MATTY: But due to all the soft,
wet soils created by
continuous flooding,
the team ran into a problem.
- We're stuck.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah.
- How is that possible?
It's like,
it doesn't make sense.
On Oak Island?
Something doesn't make sense?
Unless it did,
you know, something was
in front of the can,
and we were pushing it
for a while, and it was pushing
all the clay out of the way,
until it hit
something hard and that's
when the drilling got rough.
Oh, it's still in there, then.
That's what you're saying?
Just pushed to the side.
So, the hatch we dug through
has been pushed
- to the side?
- Exactly.
MATTY: Instead of breaking
into the possible treasure vault,
the team believes
they pushed it down
and somewhere off to the side.
MARTY: The roller coaster,
digging where... H-8...
Where we found all this stuff,
it's being pushed ahead somehow.
It's so classic Oak Island.
Okay, good. Let's dig one more
hole while we're in on this!
- Okay?
- CRAIG: Sounds good.
That close brush with
what appeared to be destiny
at the time was hard
for the Fellowship to take.
But it didn't deter them.
In fact, it inspired them
to keep moving forward,
leading to incredible
new finds offering
irrefutable proof that
indeed treasure does
lie buried on Oak Island.
Stay tuned. Those discoveries
and more when we return.
That the next top sign of buried
treasure on our list
was found in 1850.
And although we already
alluded to it earlier,
it's not just a great sign
that the Oak Island treasure
is so valuable that someone went
to great extremes
to keep it hidden;
some believe it even
offers a critical clue
as to what part
of the treasure is.
Number five:
The Flood Tunnel System.
Now, just about the time members
of the Truro Company encountered
those stacked chests
in the Money Pit in 1849,
they also made
an astute observation.
The water level in the pit
rose and lowered with the tides.
After investigating
the coastline of the island,
they constructed an earthen
cofferdam around Smith's Cove
and uncovered the legendary
five stone box drains,
which converged into
a single flood tunnel
at the shore,
leading to the Money Pit.
From then on, it became
the mission of every team of
searchers to either avoid this
flood trap by digging adjacent
shafts to reach the treasure,
or by trying to shut it off.
Everyone thus far has failed.
In 1965, California geologist
Robert Dunfield
even dug a 100-foot-wide crater
trying to overpower
the booby trap,
and that was
a total disaster, too.
In fact,
all it really accomplished
was to cause the location of
the original Money Pit
to be hopelessly lost.
JACK:
Oh, yeah!
You can see it
squirting up like a geyser.
Here, stand where I am.
- CRAIG: Oh, yeah.
- That's frickin' awesome!
MATTY: In 2019, Rick, Marty,
Craig and the Fellowship
attempted to locate
the ingenious faucet of dread
so that they could
follow it back to the treasure.
They did so
by digging a massive hole
about halfway between
Smith's Cove and the Money Pit.
Well, you basically
got a slit down below.
There's wood on the... your left.
And it looks like
a tunnel to me, going that way.
Maybe we cut through
the fabled flood tunnel.
Now we have to follow it back.
It could be yet
another clue as to where
the original Money Pit was.
MATTY: Unfortunately,
that plan didn't work either.
JACK: Oh, wow!
That whole edge is about to go.
- MARTY: Oh, man.
- JACK: Yeah.
- GARY: Yep. Let's go.
- MARTY: Yep.
This is all
getting kind of dangerous.
MATTY:
So, it begs the question.
Just what would be so
valuable to necessitate
such a feat as the flood trap?
In 2016, author and historian
Randall Sullivan
made a compelling case
that this ingenious booby trap
was designed to
protect some of the most
valuable manuscripts
ever written.
The lost original works
of William Shakespeare.
I just find it hard to believe
that people would go
to this much effort to
hide a treasure of gold.
It had to be something
more valuable than gold.
Well, what's more valuable
than gold?
It ain't a bunch of books.
Well, you know, I think you
could find people who would say
that Shakespeare's manuscripts
are more... worth...
- Nah.
- A hundred times per ounce what gold is.
- DAVE: Nope.
- Well, you... you...
- (laughter)
- I'll sell it to them then.
For a hundred times per ounce.
I can sell it to them.
SULLIVAN: If you actually
have Shakespeare's manuscripts,
I would find the gold
and give you the weight of them.
MATTY: It's a theory that
evolved after the parchment
was discovered in 1897.
As it goes, there are those
who believe the actual author
of the works
credited to Shakespeare was
none other than 16th-century
English scientist and nobleman,
Sir Francis Bacon.
Bacon was not only
believed to be the head
of a secret society
with connections
to the Knights Templar
known as the Rosicrucians,
but he also authored
a book wherein
he described how to use water
to protect buried treasure.
When you look at the stuff that
Bacon wrote, one of the sections
in Silva Silvarum is
a description of how to create
a perpetual spring,
and the very first line
of instruction is "dig a pit
upon the seashore."
He's saying find the high ground
near the seashore to start.
And then, you know, the system
of tunnels... I mean, it sounds
like he's describing Oak Island.
Did Francis Bacon
construct the flood system that
protects whatever lies
buried in the Money Pit?
And could it contain
the original
works of William Shakespeare?
Those are two questions
that keep Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team digging
in order to answer.
And is the Money Pit the only
place where treasure
was buried on Oak Island?
That question may have
been answered by the next
top entry on our list.
- (beeping) - GARY: I've
got a good digger with me.
Number four:
The Anthony Graves Enigma.
- That sounds good.
- Yeah, it does.
MATTY: In 2017,
while metal detecting on Lot 8
near the center of the island,
Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton
made a discovery
that had them seeing red.
- (beeping)
- GARY: See?
That was weird. Look.
Look at this, Rick.
We've got it! We've got it.
There was a bit of
metal in the thingy.
- Look at that, that's a beauty!
- Oh, wow. Look at that.
- That is beautiful.
- That is a bobby-dazzler.
MATTY: It was, indeed...
Or more specifically,
a semi-precious garnet brooch.
LEWTON-BRAIN:
Definitely hand-cut.
But also, definitive handmade;
not modern.
- When you say "not modern..."
- At least...
um, 500 years.
- We've got us a gemstone.
- Yes, you do.
MATTY: It was arguably the
first piece of actual treasure
to be visually documented
on Oak Island,
but how did it wind up on Lot 8?
Some have speculated that it
could have been dropped by one
of Oak Island's
19th-century landowners.
A farmer named Anthony Graves.
RICK: To me,
the mystery man of Oak Island
is Anthony Graves.
When Anthony Graves died,
he had amassed huge properties
on the mainland
and on Oak Island.
MATTY:
What is known about Mr. Graves
is that in 1857,
he built his home near
the north shore of
Oak Island at Joudrey's Cove.
What is not known, is where
he got the treasure coins
that he often used
to buy goods on the mainland.
The story goes... and multiple
people relate it... that he paid
with Spanish coins,
silver and gold specifically,
when he purchased
products in the area,
when he went to the bank,
when he went to
the grocery store, when he
went to the hardware store.
When he went
and bought any supplies,
he paid with Spanish coins.
MATTY: Is it possible that
Anthony Graves found another
site on the northern shore
of Oak Island where
a much more accessible
treasure had been buried?
Anthony Graves died in 1887 as
a wealthy Oak Island landowner,
but unfortunately,
he took that answer to his...
well, you know.
In fact,
Mr. Graves isn't the only
mystery man who became wealthy
while living on Oak Island.
When we come back,
we'll continue our
countdown with the story
of someone who may have
learned the truth
about buried treasure,
while serving in
the American Revolution.
Don't go away.
The Laginas and their team
have been unearthing
clue after clue which suggest
one of Oak Island's most
mysterious former residents
likely has a major connection
to the 226-year-old mystery.
An American man born
into slavery in the 1700s,
he would go on to become
one of Nova Scotia's
most prominent figures.
And it's that aspect
of his life which brings us
to our next
top sign of buried treasure
on Oak Island.
Number three: The Mysterious
Wealth of Samuel Ball.
Wow, Laird! You've been busy.
- (chuckles)
- Whoa!
- We're trying.
- Here's the question.
Nothing to link him somehow
to a treasure find?
The biggest questions surround,
why a cellar this big?
Right?
But it may be that he needed
to stockpile stuff in here.
Well, he grew wealthy
through hard work
- and doing the right thing...
- Yeah.
And not being cowed
by adversity.
- That's clear.
- Yeah.
But he might also
have got lucky.
- Yeah.
- (laughs)
MATTY: Samuel Ball
was just 11 years old
when he bravely escaped
the South Carolina plantation
he was raised on in 1776.
He would eventually earn
his freedom by joining British
forces during
the Revolutionary War.
After surviving the conflict,
he fled once again.
However,
this time to Nova Scotia,
where he would settle
on Oak Island in 1786.
It is known that
he established a modest
cabbage farm there
and raised a family.
What is unknown is how exactly
he came to possess nine lots
on the island and over
100 more on the mainland.
ALEX:
Hey, look at this.
MATTY: As I mentioned,
the Fellowship has made
a number of discoveries
that just might explain it.
Like this one,
found by Alex Lagina in 2020
near the foundation of
Ball's former home on Lot 25.
- It's got...
- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- ALEX: A little green.
- Yeah.
Yeah, this looks old. It's got
kind of irregular edges.
GARY:
I know what that is.
MATTY:
Upon further examination,
it was determined to not
be a coin,
but still a potentially
critical clue.
- RICK: What is it?
- GARY: Without a doubt,
that is a British Navy
jacket button.
ALEX: What time period
is this, though?
LAIRD: 1804 to 1825.
Solidly within the Ball period.
ALEX: I think that is gold
or gilding, right there.
LAIRD: I think so.
That would make sense.
That would point to officer
though, wouldn't it?
Yeah, normally the officers had
- the-the gilded buttons.
- Yeah.
MATTY: So, what would a British
Naval officer be doing visiting
the home of a simple cabbage
farmer and former
enlisted soldier on Oak Island
during the early 1800s?
ALEX:
He's in.
MATTY: The team soon started
to formulate an idea
after exploring the waters
surrounding the property.
I hear you, Tony. Over.
ALEX:
Great job, Tony!
MATTY:
Working with Alex Lagina,
David Fornetti
and local treasure hunter
Stuart Wentzell,
diver Tony Sampson
found the remnants
of a stone wharf
just off Samuel Ball's
former property.
A wharf that suggested
major shipping activity
had taken place there long ago.
We were estimating it
to be 75 to 100 feet from shore.
- At least, but you were a long way off shore.
- Yeah.
So, that's a huge, huge wharf.
- Yeah.
- So, I wouldn't
think you'd build a giant wharf
for a one-time transfer.
- No.
- It fits the story of a big excavation
- because of the amount of back- and-forth you'd have to do.
- RICK: Yep.
If that was their purpose,
it would have been to support
the hiding of the treasure.
Not just the unloading.
Not just the transporting.
It wasn't buried
in a ten-foot pit.
To me, it supports the idea
that they did a lot of work.
He's always been the mystery man
of Oak Island
and what's very intriguing
is that
for the monies
that were paid for
the lots that he ended up owning
on Oak Island, he could've
bought hundreds of acres
on the mainland.
Why did he choose
to remain here?
MATTY: Could Samuel Ball
have settled at a location where
treasure was brought to
Oak Island by pure chance?
Did he perhaps learn something
about a buried treasure here
during his service in
the American Revolution?
Or could he have been
assigned to Oak Island as
an agent of the British
military in order to guard it?
Judge DesBrisay's History
of the County of Lunenburg.
- Right.
- Which does have a section regarding Samuel Ball.
MATTY: Another possible
explanation was revealed by
Oak Island historian
Charles Barkhouse in 2016,
when he and Randall Sullivan
reviewed the 1870 publication
known as The History
of the County of Lunenburg.
CHARLES: In the first
edition of this book,
Samuel Ball, he's named
as one of the original
finders of the Money Pit.
And in the subsequent editions,
his name is removed.
And no explanation.
MATTY: If it is true
that Samuel Ball was one
of the three men who first
discovered the Money Pit,
then was he also
the recipient of one of
those treasure chests
that Joan McGinnis referenced
when she shared the gold cross
with the Oak Island team?
ANTHONY: Just being
a cabbage farmer could
never have given him
enough money to purchase
the property that he bought.
All the family knows
of the story of Sam.
It just gives us so
much pride and feeling of
understanding a little bit
more of the legacy that,
that he's left for, uh,
for our family.
Something tells me that
the story of Samuel Ball is
far from being completely told.
And when the Fellowship
returns for Season 9
in just a couple short weeks,
who knows what the next
chapter could reveal.
Don't go anywhere.
When we come back, our top two
signs of treasure on
Oak Island are going to shine.
Borehole C-1 has been home
to some amazing moments
and incredible finds, which
is why it's directly connected
to the number two sign of buried
treasure on our countdown.
It all started
at the end of Season 3,
when the team spotted
something shiny.
Number two:
The Gold Shiny Objects in C-1.
Watch that pipe, Charles!
- Watch that pipe!
- Yeah.
MATTY: In 2015, after drilling
a number of unsuccessful,
exploratory boreholes in search
of the original Money Pit,
Rick, Marty and Craig
turned to Oak Island historian
Charles Barkhouse to
pick the next drilling location.
Hence the name "C-1."
What makes you so sure
it's here?
Everything that I've looked at,
over the years.
I just feel it's over this way.
MATTY: As the drilling operation
reached a depth of 170 feet,
it became apparent
that Charles's intuition
and research might have been
right on the money.
Or should I say,
right on the Money Pit?
No? No rock?
- Zero rock... no rock.
- It's just dropping.
- It's still dropping?
- Yeah.
Still dropping?
Huge cavity!
That is huge!
About 192 to bottom!
- To the bottom?
- Yeah.
171 to 192?
21 feet.
MATTY: Rick, Charles
and Dave Blankenship quickly
brought in
pipe inspection expert
Glen Cornell to get
a look inside the nearly
20-foot void
that C-1 encountered,
and whatever it might contain.
Here we go!
- See how nice that is?
- MARTY: Yeah, that's nice.
Let's see what it looks
like in the water.
Yeah. Let's see
what we got here.
Approaching 50 meters right now.
- RICK: Cavity...
- That's a cavity right there.
CORNELL: I'm thinking
I'm in a cavity there now.
We're about six feet in.
- That right there.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Looks like it might be...
- Looks like shiny, like metal.
Yeah, it looks metallic.
The hell is that?
There's another
piece of it there, too.
Yeah, another piece.
CORNELL:
Look how yellow that is...
- RICK: That's your gold color.
- Yeah, there it is, David.
RICK: I mean,
we've all been fascinated
by the shiny gold object in C-1.
MATTY:
Two years later...
after conducting
an unsuccessful dive operation
to find and retrieve
whatever the object was,
the team reached out
to video enhancement expert
Frank Schiefelbein to see if he
could give them a better look.
This would be the original.
This is the enhanced color.
The contrast brings out
more of the detail.
MARTY:
Holy smokes.
SCHIEFELBEIN: Again, this was
really out of focus, unfortunately.
MARTY: It looks like
it actually has depth now.
- I mean, what is it?
- It looks man-made to me.
- And it's real?
- It's real.
Yeah!
MARTY: The enhanced
images of the shiny gold object
made it look a lot more
like a real piece of metal
and a lot less
like a reflection.
I-I had been in
the reflection camp on that.
I was about ready
to say forget about C-1.
I've always been highly
skeptical that there could have
been people that far underground
in a flooded chamber.
But if there's a gold rod
in there
that is man-made,
well, then I have to,
you know, suspend disbelief.
MATTY: The amazing images
would prompt the team to
further explore the C-1 shaft.
I'm really curious
to get back down C-1.
Yeah. I am too
in a different way.
(laughter)
A warmer way.
MATTY: In Season 8,
they turned to professional
diver and underwater
camera expert Mike Huntley
to see if he and his team could
pinpoint the exact location of
the object in the deep,
underground chamber.
CHARLES: Look how clear that
is, Doug. That's-that's some of
the best views we've had
in a long time. Really.
MATTY: Strangely, the original
object was nowhere to be seen.
- What's that right there?
- I see that, too!
MIKE:
Back up a bit.
MATTY:
But incredibly, something,
or should I say "things,"
were revealed instead.
What's that thing right there?
Right there.
It's kind of like on an angle.
You know?
- MIKE: What do we have there?
- This area right here.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Look, it's almost triangular and it has color to it.
- CHARLES: Yeah.
- MIKE: I can see gold!
Whoop... all stop!
SAM:
Roger. At all stop.
- What's that, right there?
- Yeah, I see that, too.
MIKE: There's another
one right there just off to
- the center of the screen.
- Yup, this area, right here.
We do have more of that
golden color there.
Down slow.
H-Hold on.
Is this another one?
That's definitely
a gold object right there.
A gold-colored object.
- DOUG: Yeah. Yeah.
- I mean, it pops compared to the surrounding area.
- You guys see that there?
- CHARLES: Yeah.
- Yeah. It's pretty bright, isn't it?
- Yeah.
MATTY: Three more shiny,
gold objects were embedded in
the chamber walls
at the bottom of C-1.
I think if, you know,
we put the camera down and we
only saw one thing, I'm not
sure it would warrant a dive.
But we've seen two or three,
four of these shiny gold things.
You know,
that might allow the diver
to be successful,
in terms of retrieval.
They're putting the dive cage
over the caisson now.
Good. Let's do it.
Here we go.
MATTY: More dives were
attempted to find out what
they could be, but poor
visibility made the physical
search a frustrating
dead end, so far.
MATTY: So, could those gold-colored
objects actually be treasure?
Don't go anywhere,
because when we come back,
we'll show you what happened
when the brothers and Craig
took the C-1 search up a notch
by applying some science.
The result was the top sign
ever recorded that treasure
really does
lie buried on Oak Island.
With everything we've covered
so far tonight,
you can see how so many
people believed that
a mother lode of valuables lies
buried somewhere on Oak Island.
But of all the compelling
evidence of treasure that's
been reported
over the past 226 years,
only one has offered
definitive, scientific evidence.
Of course, it was revealed right
here in the Money Pit area.
And it's without a doubt
the top pick on our list.
Number one: The Silver Lining.
Where's all the goods?!
The goods are right here
in front of us, brother.
MATTY: In 2020, Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team drilled
more than 60 new boreholes
trying to locate
the original treasure shaft
and the legendary jackpot.
- CHARLES: Oh! We got wood.
- TERRY: Whoa! Bingo!
MATTY: And across an area
spanning more than 50 feet
between Boreholes C-1
and OC-1...
multiple clues of ancient
man-made workings were unearthed
from possible pieces
of the Chappell Vault...
Did that go right into a full
piece of wood, too?
It looks like.
Yeah, it looks like
a pretty good chunk of beam.
To evidence
of a never-before-discovered
wooden tunnel.
That is wood. We're probably
at the edge of a tunnel.
MATTY:
But as winter was closing in,
proof of treasure
was eluding them.
Dr. Spooner,
I understand you have a concept
for us that may help us with our
sort of quest in the Money Pit.
Because so far,
the drilling has been great,
but it hasn't found us
what we're looking for.
Yeah, basically what we
want to do is help you guys
put an X on the map.
- Okay.
- So, the idea is to look at
water down drill holes
that exist.
Because the water in
those wells should reflect
the chemistry of the ground
that they interact with.
Whether or not
there was treasure.
MATTY: Geoscientist Dr. Spooner
was proposing a simple premise:
If precious metals,
such as silver,
were in fact submerged at
the bottom of the Money Pit,
it would have corroded
over the centuries
and particles of it could be
detectible with water sampling.
So, what I'm suggesting is
just take a look at 12 wells,
in the Money Pit area.
Just see what we get.
Well, Rick, you're firmly
on board with this, aren't you?
This sounds like
a great idea to me.
- No question. Science!
- Okay, well, let's do it!
- RICK: Make it so.
- IAN: Okay.
- Hey, Craig.
- How's it going?
MATTY:
With the help of Craig Tester
and Dan Henskee, Dr. Spooner,
his colleague Dr. Matt Lukeman
and their team did just that.
IAN: We'll go as far as
we can with the bailer.
Oh, great.
And we'll get a sample.
So the very bottom
is the open hole, or...?
- Yeah. You can hear the ball valves in it.
- (metallic rattling)
Yep.
MATTY: Using a dual-valve
sampling bailer,
the team was able
to take uncontaminated
samples from various boreholes
between C-1 and OC-1.
The results gave some
pretty incredible insight
into what ole James Pitblado may
have discovered back in 1849.
So, I've got
one question to ask.
Do you think there is treasure
in the Money Pit?
Oh, I like that lead-in.
(laughter)
No, you know, I'm serious.
- Do I?
- Yeah.
Small chance.
I do. I absolutely do.
I believe that what they
drilled into in 1897 is real
- and I think it's still there.
- Right.
Right. So, Doug, can you
bring up the presentation?
DOUG:
I can.
IAN:
Great.
At the end of the day,
there is every
reason to believe,
down in those holes,
that there is
something close by that
contains a fair bit of silver.
DOUG: I guess I'm still trying to
get a mental picture of how much
silver it would take
to give these levels.
Like, is it a handful
of silver or is it
a Gerhardt dump truck
load of silver?
It's a Gerhardt dump truck.
- MARTY: Oh, baby!
- JACK: Oh, no way!
(laughter)
I'm trying to refrain
from getting too excited,
but I'm starting to.
How rare is this?
- That's what I'm trying... Yeah.
- IAN: Well, it's rare.
I don't think it's a common
thing that I've ever seen
in water samples in Nova Scotia.
MARTY:
C-1 is uncontaminated.
I mean, I can't see how C-1
would have contamination in it.
And it was in that hole that
the shiny gold thing was found,
that we're still
looking for to this day.
If that was
a golden alloy of such,
you know, maybe that was one
piece of what we're looking for.
- Yup.
- IAN: Yeah. There's something down there.
If you took a huge room
like this full of silver,
put it down there,
you would have a similar
signature that you
have here in the water.
DOUG:
Wow.
I think this is great, because
remember where I started.
I started... on this venture
thinking most likely
Oak Island was a big nothing.
Okay, I've discarded that.
It's not.
Something happened here.
But now we have
concrete evidence,
hard scientific evidence,
consistent with
a mass of precious metals
still lying,
hiding somewhere underground.
Biggest thing that happened
this year to me.
Absolutely the biggest thing
because it kind of
validates that it's-it's
still worth looking for.
To me, this is
the first direct evidence...
Direct indication...
Of treasure that we've had.
Yup.
RICK:
I think this is
probably a...
as important a discovery
in the Money Pit, uh,
because it is
based on pure science.
There's no way we're
going to pass on exploiting it.
It's more than significant,
it's an aha moment.
MARTY: Excellent. Excellent
data and honestly really exciting.
You know,
first direct indication
of the metals we seek
and the story they might tell.
So, thanks, and I think
it's time to get back to work.
- Yup, okay.
- Thanks.
RICK:
Thanks, guys.
Rick Lagina has always
believed that
the Oak Island story
is a priceless treasure
all by itself.
It's hard to argue with that,
but when you take
all these incredible signs
of buried treasure into account,
he may be close to
bringing that assertion
all the way to the bank.
Season 9 of
The Curse of Oak Island
begins in just two short weeks.
Will this be the year?
We'll soon find out together.
Thanks for watching.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
possible precious metals...
The hell is that?
RICK:
That's your gold color.
More than 170 feet underground.
- RICK: That is beautiful.
- GARY: Oh, man.
MATTY: A jeweled b
LEWTON-BRAIN:
It's a garnet.
- We got us a gemstone.
- Yes, you do.
Is he slipping or...?
MATTY:
And a concrete-encased vault,
thought to hold history's
most sacred artifacts.
VANESSA: From a drilling
perspective, we would say
- that's about a ten-foot void.
- That's great news.
Come on, baby!
Good day to find treasure.
It's lasted for 226 years;
it's cost millions of dollars;
and it's claimed the lives
of six men, so far.
I'm talking about
the Oak Island mystery.
This 140-acre North Atlantic
island has drawn hundreds
of searchers over the past
two centuries to risk everything
trying to recover a vast...
Possibly priceless... treasure
that they all fervently
believed was buried here.
But in all that time,
with no verified proof
of a vast treasure cache,
why have they kept coming?
Is it a quest for fame
and wealth? Collective madness?
Or perhaps the legendary curse
that draws them in?
The truth is, all of these
searchers, in their own way,
have been building
a mosaic of valuable clues
that suggest they
were right on the money.
And tonight,
we'll be counting down
their most memorable finds.
Get ready. This is "The Top Ten
Signs of Buried Treasure"
on Oak Island.
♪ ♪
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
MATTY: The mystique
of buried treasure captures
the essence of human curiosity.
Who buried it?
What could it be?
Where did they hide it?
And in Oak Island's case,
did they ever
come back to retrieve it?
These burning
questions have continued to
envelop this place
going back over 200 years.
That's when the first
sign of buried treasure
on our countdown
kicked off what has become
a global
and cultural phenomenon.
Number ten: The Money Pit.
It was in 1795
that Daniel McGinnis
and his two friends,
John Smith and Anthony Vaughan
rowed over from the mainland
to investigate
strange lights
they had witnessed.
As they made their way ashore
and hurried through the woods,
they came to a clearing
and found a very conspicuous
13-foot-wide depression at
the base of a mighty oak tree.
MARTY:
They dig.
They find some stones laid in,
they find some planks,
things that would have
to be man-made.
So, they're sure
they're onto something.
It was the end of
the piracy era, right?
So, everybody's
thinking buried treasure.
No matter how deep they get,
they keep finding more planks
that appear to be
concealing something.
MATTY: The pit wasn't
merely concealing something;
it was an ingenious design.
The boys found heavy oak log
platforms at ten-foot intervals,
which they removed
down to the 30-foot level.
At that point,
it is known that they stopped.
Some say it was because the pit
seemed to be going deeper,
and they couldn't
safely continue on their own.
Others, however,
have suggested that
was only one of the reasons.
- CHARLES: Welcome home.
- JOAN: Thank you. Thank you so much.
MATTY:
In 2015, direct descendants
of Daniel McGinnis visited Rick
and Marty Lagina
and the team on Oak Island
to give some never-before-
revealed insight
about the first Money Pit dig.
RICK:
The reason why we're here is
you ladies made a...
a unique offer, that you had
brought something to Oak Island.
Well, it's my pleasure
to show you.
I can see everyone
start leaning in.
MARTY: Yeah, right, exactly.
What have we got here?
RICK: I'm sitting there thinking,
well, could it be this, could it
be that, is it a story,
is it an artifact, what is it?
It was like Christmas morning.
MARTY:
Just the box is very nice.
JOAN: Grandpa Daniel and
his two friends started digging.
They found
three treasure chests.
- Really?
- Really.
- We never heard that.
- No.
CHARLES:
I've never heard that neither.
Daniel took one, Smith took one,
and Vaughan took one.
And what is in this box
is one of the things
that came from that chest.
- Really?
- The one that McGinnis took.
- Let's have a look.
- JACK: Yeah, I got goose bumps.
MARTY:
Wow!
- May I?
- You may.
Oh, my goodness.
That is quite extraordinary.
Have any experts looked at it?
I have taken it
to several jewelers,
and I'm told that it could be
as old as 500 years old.
Doesn't 500 years ago
fit within our carbon dating?
Might even be earlier than some
of those things we've seen,
so yeah, that would
definitely fit into any kind
of theory if it's 500
or earlier.
Mm-hmm.
MATTY:
Although a report of three
treasure chests
being found 30 feet deep
in the Money Pit was quite
a revelation for the Laginas,
it was certainly not
the first sign of
buried treasure on Oak Island.
That would be
discovered in 1804,
and holds the next spot
on our countdown.
Number nine: The 90 Foot Stone.
Daniel McGinnis and his
two friends would return to
Oak Island with
not only new partners,
but a lot more resources
to continue the dig.
Through their tireless labor,
they excavated more
oak platforms every ten feet
down to the 90-foot level.
There, they were stunned
to find a heavy grayish stone
with mysterious carvings
on its surface.
Believing they were about
to reach the mother lode
of riches, they hauled it out.
But rather than opening
the floodgate to treasure,
they had opened a literal
floodgate to the ocean...
An ingenious booby-trapped
tunnel that fed seawater
into the pit
from nearby Smith's Cove.
It drowned these searchers'
hopes of finding it.
But the 90 Foot Stone
offered what many
believe to be
a tantalizing clue.
There have been several possible
translations of the symbols
over the years,
but the most widely reported
reads: "Forty feet below,
two million pounds are buried."
Unfortunately, the stone
was lost in the early 1900s
so any definitive
translation of the cypher
has remained impossible.
However,
there is one variation of
the decoded message
that is especially compelling.
It says: "Ten feet below,
two million pounds are buried."
And the next top sign
of treasure on our list may just
be the proof that is
the correct translation.
Number eight:
The Stacked Chests.
In 1849,
a new group of searchers
known as the Truro Company
conducted a drilling operation
down the Money Pit, hoping
to encounter the treasure.
At a depth of
approximately 100 feet,
the crew was stunned
when their drill rod cut
through four inches of oak,
then 22 inches of metal pieces,
another eight inches of oak,
and then again,
exactly 22 inches
of metal pieces before
a final four inches of oak.
CHARLES: So, it's one
chest on top of the other.
Now, they could hear the sounds
coming up through the water,
right, and they
could feel it going through
what they described
as loose metal.
That's how they described it.
Could those
two chests actually be
the containers for the legendary
two million pounds?
It's a compelling report.
Unfortunately,
subsequent digs and flooding
from the booby traps caused
a catastrophic collapse of
the Money Pit and no evidence of
them has ever been found again.
But when we come back,
we'll review a discovery
from the Money Pit that
dwarfs the reported size
of those two chests
and another that convinced
a hired worker to try
to buy part of the island.
Don't go anywhere.
Never stops because,
let's face it, the most
compelling signs that there
really is treasure on Oak Island
have been discovered here,
like this next find.
A find that,
if you're not a hardcore Acorn,
you may have neve
you may have
never heard of before.
Number seven:
The Pitblado Pocket Find.
Back in 1849,
when the Truro Company
drilled into those two
stacked chests
below the 100-foot level
in the Money Pit,
a man named James Pitblado
was the foreman
operating the drill.
And when he
extracted the drill rod,
he quickly removed something
from the bit and attempted
to inconspicuously
place it in his pocket.
Now this is witnessed
by one of the, one of
the directors of the company.
And he approaches Pitblado
and says, "What is it?"
And he said, "I'll reveal it at
the next director's meeting."
Now, lo and behold, they have
the next director's meeting,
and in the meantime Pitblado
leaves the island
and never comes back.
MATTY: The only person
Pitblado is believed to
have shown
his mysterious find to
was a local ironworker from
nearby Londonderry, Nova Scotia.
The two of them put in
an offer to buy Lot 18,
where the Money Pit is located,
but were turned down,
even though
they reportedly offered
much more than
what the lot was worth.
CHARLES: So, did he find
a coin? Did he find a jewel?
I mean, whatever it was
that Pitblado found,
and I think it was...
Had to be significant,
because you know,
he threw away his job basically.
He threw away his security,
if you will,
to try to entice someone to go
into partnership with him,
to buy the island
and become a treasure hunter.
A little glimmer that
maybe there's more still
to him than meets the eye.
So, if he did find treasure,
he was certainly smart enough
to not be flagrant about it.
RICK: If he had just been
observed looking at something
and he puts it in his pocket,
end of story...
Okay, fine, it's just one
of the intriguing facts.
But he sets himself on a path
where he ultimately convinces
someone to commit funds to buy
the eastern end of the island.
It makes me believe that there's
something in the Money Pit.
Seriously,
what did James Pitblado
find that convinced him
there was something so valuable
down there that he tried
to buy part of the island?
That is without a doubt
what I like to call
the two-million-pound question.
And as Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team try
to figure that out,
they're also trying to verify
the next sign
of treasure on our list,
one that's not only
reported to be much larger,
but also contain more
than gold, silver or jewels.
Number six: The Chappell Vault.
In 1897, treasure hunters
Frederick Blair
and William Chappell
drilled deeper than anyone
before trying
to locate those treasure chests.
When they reached a depth
of 153 feet, their drill rod
penetrated something they
were not expecting: a believed
seven-foot-tall wooden vault
that was encased in concrete.
When they brought the drill
bit back to the surface,
they were astonished
by what they saw.
Flakes of gold...
and a piece of parchment with
the letters "V-I" written on it.
A major excavation
was immediately instigated,
but once again,
their shaft flooded with water,
caved in and no trace
of the so-called
"Chappell Vault"
would appear again.
JACK:
Well, let's get started.
MATTY:
That is until 2017, when
the Fellowship of the Dig
examined the spoils from
a six-inch borehole they
had drilled known as H-8.
What is this?
From this distance,
that looks a little different
- from some of the stuff.
- It's almost paper-like.
MATTY: Or more like parchment,
which is exactly
what they had found,
just like William Chappell
did inside
the massive vault in 1897.
Come on, baby!
Good day to find treasure.
MATTY: It convinced
the team that it was time
to dig a massive five-foot-wide
steel-cased shaft.
We're hopeful that
we're close to answers.
We spent an awful
lot of effort to bring in
this massive equipment...
and dig in this one spot,
following a well
that produced all kinds
of tantalizing clues.
So, yeah, we're hopeful.
We're getting to the depth
where there should be answers.
VANESSA:
Are we good?
Let's get Marty.
MATTY:
And at a depth of 170 feet,
there was a major development.
DANNY: We're 170,
pipe in the ground right now.
We're definitively sitting on
something that we haven't
cut before,
since we've been on this job.
MARTY: We're in the collapse
of the Money Pit. We're gonna
find what was ever in there.
That's what it means.
RICK:
The oscillator is on a flat,
hard surface.
That's exactly what
we hope to encounter.
Is there a vault below that?
I don't know.
MATTY: There was only
one way to find out.
Working with the team
from Irving Equipment Limited
and ROC Equipment,
they pressed on,
hoping to penetrate
the massive object.
CRAIG:
Digging-wise, it's going slow.
MATTY: But due to all the soft,
wet soils created by
continuous flooding,
the team ran into a problem.
- We're stuck.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah.
- How is that possible?
It's like,
it doesn't make sense.
On Oak Island?
Something doesn't make sense?
Unless it did,
you know, something was
in front of the can,
and we were pushing it
for a while, and it was pushing
all the clay out of the way,
until it hit
something hard and that's
when the drilling got rough.
Oh, it's still in there, then.
That's what you're saying?
Just pushed to the side.
So, the hatch we dug through
has been pushed
- to the side?
- Exactly.
MATTY: Instead of breaking
into the possible treasure vault,
the team believes
they pushed it down
and somewhere off to the side.
MARTY: The roller coaster,
digging where... H-8...
Where we found all this stuff,
it's being pushed ahead somehow.
It's so classic Oak Island.
Okay, good. Let's dig one more
hole while we're in on this!
- Okay?
- CRAIG: Sounds good.
That close brush with
what appeared to be destiny
at the time was hard
for the Fellowship to take.
But it didn't deter them.
In fact, it inspired them
to keep moving forward,
leading to incredible
new finds offering
irrefutable proof that
indeed treasure does
lie buried on Oak Island.
Stay tuned. Those discoveries
and more when we return.
That the next top sign of buried
treasure on our list
was found in 1850.
And although we already
alluded to it earlier,
it's not just a great sign
that the Oak Island treasure
is so valuable that someone went
to great extremes
to keep it hidden;
some believe it even
offers a critical clue
as to what part
of the treasure is.
Number five:
The Flood Tunnel System.
Now, just about the time members
of the Truro Company encountered
those stacked chests
in the Money Pit in 1849,
they also made
an astute observation.
The water level in the pit
rose and lowered with the tides.
After investigating
the coastline of the island,
they constructed an earthen
cofferdam around Smith's Cove
and uncovered the legendary
five stone box drains,
which converged into
a single flood tunnel
at the shore,
leading to the Money Pit.
From then on, it became
the mission of every team of
searchers to either avoid this
flood trap by digging adjacent
shafts to reach the treasure,
or by trying to shut it off.
Everyone thus far has failed.
In 1965, California geologist
Robert Dunfield
even dug a 100-foot-wide crater
trying to overpower
the booby trap,
and that was
a total disaster, too.
In fact,
all it really accomplished
was to cause the location of
the original Money Pit
to be hopelessly lost.
JACK:
Oh, yeah!
You can see it
squirting up like a geyser.
Here, stand where I am.
- CRAIG: Oh, yeah.
- That's frickin' awesome!
MATTY: In 2019, Rick, Marty,
Craig and the Fellowship
attempted to locate
the ingenious faucet of dread
so that they could
follow it back to the treasure.
They did so
by digging a massive hole
about halfway between
Smith's Cove and the Money Pit.
Well, you basically
got a slit down below.
There's wood on the... your left.
And it looks like
a tunnel to me, going that way.
Maybe we cut through
the fabled flood tunnel.
Now we have to follow it back.
It could be yet
another clue as to where
the original Money Pit was.
MATTY: Unfortunately,
that plan didn't work either.
JACK: Oh, wow!
That whole edge is about to go.
- MARTY: Oh, man.
- JACK: Yeah.
- GARY: Yep. Let's go.
- MARTY: Yep.
This is all
getting kind of dangerous.
MATTY:
So, it begs the question.
Just what would be so
valuable to necessitate
such a feat as the flood trap?
In 2016, author and historian
Randall Sullivan
made a compelling case
that this ingenious booby trap
was designed to
protect some of the most
valuable manuscripts
ever written.
The lost original works
of William Shakespeare.
I just find it hard to believe
that people would go
to this much effort to
hide a treasure of gold.
It had to be something
more valuable than gold.
Well, what's more valuable
than gold?
It ain't a bunch of books.
Well, you know, I think you
could find people who would say
that Shakespeare's manuscripts
are more... worth...
- Nah.
- A hundred times per ounce what gold is.
- DAVE: Nope.
- Well, you... you...
- (laughter)
- I'll sell it to them then.
For a hundred times per ounce.
I can sell it to them.
SULLIVAN: If you actually
have Shakespeare's manuscripts,
I would find the gold
and give you the weight of them.
MATTY: It's a theory that
evolved after the parchment
was discovered in 1897.
As it goes, there are those
who believe the actual author
of the works
credited to Shakespeare was
none other than 16th-century
English scientist and nobleman,
Sir Francis Bacon.
Bacon was not only
believed to be the head
of a secret society
with connections
to the Knights Templar
known as the Rosicrucians,
but he also authored
a book wherein
he described how to use water
to protect buried treasure.
When you look at the stuff that
Bacon wrote, one of the sections
in Silva Silvarum is
a description of how to create
a perpetual spring,
and the very first line
of instruction is "dig a pit
upon the seashore."
He's saying find the high ground
near the seashore to start.
And then, you know, the system
of tunnels... I mean, it sounds
like he's describing Oak Island.
Did Francis Bacon
construct the flood system that
protects whatever lies
buried in the Money Pit?
And could it contain
the original
works of William Shakespeare?
Those are two questions
that keep Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team digging
in order to answer.
And is the Money Pit the only
place where treasure
was buried on Oak Island?
That question may have
been answered by the next
top entry on our list.
- (beeping) - GARY: I've
got a good digger with me.
Number four:
The Anthony Graves Enigma.
- That sounds good.
- Yeah, it does.
MATTY: In 2017,
while metal detecting on Lot 8
near the center of the island,
Rick Lagina and Gary Drayton
made a discovery
that had them seeing red.
- (beeping)
- GARY: See?
That was weird. Look.
Look at this, Rick.
We've got it! We've got it.
There was a bit of
metal in the thingy.
- Look at that, that's a beauty!
- Oh, wow. Look at that.
- That is beautiful.
- That is a bobby-dazzler.
MATTY: It was, indeed...
Or more specifically,
a semi-precious garnet brooch.
LEWTON-BRAIN:
Definitely hand-cut.
But also, definitive handmade;
not modern.
- When you say "not modern..."
- At least...
um, 500 years.
- We've got us a gemstone.
- Yes, you do.
MATTY: It was arguably the
first piece of actual treasure
to be visually documented
on Oak Island,
but how did it wind up on Lot 8?
Some have speculated that it
could have been dropped by one
of Oak Island's
19th-century landowners.
A farmer named Anthony Graves.
RICK: To me,
the mystery man of Oak Island
is Anthony Graves.
When Anthony Graves died,
he had amassed huge properties
on the mainland
and on Oak Island.
MATTY:
What is known about Mr. Graves
is that in 1857,
he built his home near
the north shore of
Oak Island at Joudrey's Cove.
What is not known, is where
he got the treasure coins
that he often used
to buy goods on the mainland.
The story goes... and multiple
people relate it... that he paid
with Spanish coins,
silver and gold specifically,
when he purchased
products in the area,
when he went to the bank,
when he went to
the grocery store, when he
went to the hardware store.
When he went
and bought any supplies,
he paid with Spanish coins.
MATTY: Is it possible that
Anthony Graves found another
site on the northern shore
of Oak Island where
a much more accessible
treasure had been buried?
Anthony Graves died in 1887 as
a wealthy Oak Island landowner,
but unfortunately,
he took that answer to his...
well, you know.
In fact,
Mr. Graves isn't the only
mystery man who became wealthy
while living on Oak Island.
When we come back,
we'll continue our
countdown with the story
of someone who may have
learned the truth
about buried treasure,
while serving in
the American Revolution.
Don't go away.
The Laginas and their team
have been unearthing
clue after clue which suggest
one of Oak Island's most
mysterious former residents
likely has a major connection
to the 226-year-old mystery.
An American man born
into slavery in the 1700s,
he would go on to become
one of Nova Scotia's
most prominent figures.
And it's that aspect
of his life which brings us
to our next
top sign of buried treasure
on Oak Island.
Number three: The Mysterious
Wealth of Samuel Ball.
Wow, Laird! You've been busy.
- (chuckles)
- Whoa!
- We're trying.
- Here's the question.
Nothing to link him somehow
to a treasure find?
The biggest questions surround,
why a cellar this big?
Right?
But it may be that he needed
to stockpile stuff in here.
Well, he grew wealthy
through hard work
- and doing the right thing...
- Yeah.
And not being cowed
by adversity.
- That's clear.
- Yeah.
But he might also
have got lucky.
- Yeah.
- (laughs)
MATTY: Samuel Ball
was just 11 years old
when he bravely escaped
the South Carolina plantation
he was raised on in 1776.
He would eventually earn
his freedom by joining British
forces during
the Revolutionary War.
After surviving the conflict,
he fled once again.
However,
this time to Nova Scotia,
where he would settle
on Oak Island in 1786.
It is known that
he established a modest
cabbage farm there
and raised a family.
What is unknown is how exactly
he came to possess nine lots
on the island and over
100 more on the mainland.
ALEX:
Hey, look at this.
MATTY: As I mentioned,
the Fellowship has made
a number of discoveries
that just might explain it.
Like this one,
found by Alex Lagina in 2020
near the foundation of
Ball's former home on Lot 25.
- It's got...
- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- ALEX: A little green.
- Yeah.
Yeah, this looks old. It's got
kind of irregular edges.
GARY:
I know what that is.
MATTY:
Upon further examination,
it was determined to not
be a coin,
but still a potentially
critical clue.
- RICK: What is it?
- GARY: Without a doubt,
that is a British Navy
jacket button.
ALEX: What time period
is this, though?
LAIRD: 1804 to 1825.
Solidly within the Ball period.
ALEX: I think that is gold
or gilding, right there.
LAIRD: I think so.
That would make sense.
That would point to officer
though, wouldn't it?
Yeah, normally the officers had
- the-the gilded buttons.
- Yeah.
MATTY: So, what would a British
Naval officer be doing visiting
the home of a simple cabbage
farmer and former
enlisted soldier on Oak Island
during the early 1800s?
ALEX:
He's in.
MATTY: The team soon started
to formulate an idea
after exploring the waters
surrounding the property.
I hear you, Tony. Over.
ALEX:
Great job, Tony!
MATTY:
Working with Alex Lagina,
David Fornetti
and local treasure hunter
Stuart Wentzell,
diver Tony Sampson
found the remnants
of a stone wharf
just off Samuel Ball's
former property.
A wharf that suggested
major shipping activity
had taken place there long ago.
We were estimating it
to be 75 to 100 feet from shore.
- At least, but you were a long way off shore.
- Yeah.
So, that's a huge, huge wharf.
- Yeah.
- So, I wouldn't
think you'd build a giant wharf
for a one-time transfer.
- No.
- It fits the story of a big excavation
- because of the amount of back- and-forth you'd have to do.
- RICK: Yep.
If that was their purpose,
it would have been to support
the hiding of the treasure.
Not just the unloading.
Not just the transporting.
It wasn't buried
in a ten-foot pit.
To me, it supports the idea
that they did a lot of work.
He's always been the mystery man
of Oak Island
and what's very intriguing
is that
for the monies
that were paid for
the lots that he ended up owning
on Oak Island, he could've
bought hundreds of acres
on the mainland.
Why did he choose
to remain here?
MATTY: Could Samuel Ball
have settled at a location where
treasure was brought to
Oak Island by pure chance?
Did he perhaps learn something
about a buried treasure here
during his service in
the American Revolution?
Or could he have been
assigned to Oak Island as
an agent of the British
military in order to guard it?
Judge DesBrisay's History
of the County of Lunenburg.
- Right.
- Which does have a section regarding Samuel Ball.
MATTY: Another possible
explanation was revealed by
Oak Island historian
Charles Barkhouse in 2016,
when he and Randall Sullivan
reviewed the 1870 publication
known as The History
of the County of Lunenburg.
CHARLES: In the first
edition of this book,
Samuel Ball, he's named
as one of the original
finders of the Money Pit.
And in the subsequent editions,
his name is removed.
And no explanation.
MATTY: If it is true
that Samuel Ball was one
of the three men who first
discovered the Money Pit,
then was he also
the recipient of one of
those treasure chests
that Joan McGinnis referenced
when she shared the gold cross
with the Oak Island team?
ANTHONY: Just being
a cabbage farmer could
never have given him
enough money to purchase
the property that he bought.
All the family knows
of the story of Sam.
It just gives us so
much pride and feeling of
understanding a little bit
more of the legacy that,
that he's left for, uh,
for our family.
Something tells me that
the story of Samuel Ball is
far from being completely told.
And when the Fellowship
returns for Season 9
in just a couple short weeks,
who knows what the next
chapter could reveal.
Don't go anywhere.
When we come back, our top two
signs of treasure on
Oak Island are going to shine.
Borehole C-1 has been home
to some amazing moments
and incredible finds, which
is why it's directly connected
to the number two sign of buried
treasure on our countdown.
It all started
at the end of Season 3,
when the team spotted
something shiny.
Number two:
The Gold Shiny Objects in C-1.
Watch that pipe, Charles!
- Watch that pipe!
- Yeah.
MATTY: In 2015, after drilling
a number of unsuccessful,
exploratory boreholes in search
of the original Money Pit,
Rick, Marty and Craig
turned to Oak Island historian
Charles Barkhouse to
pick the next drilling location.
Hence the name "C-1."
What makes you so sure
it's here?
Everything that I've looked at,
over the years.
I just feel it's over this way.
MATTY: As the drilling operation
reached a depth of 170 feet,
it became apparent
that Charles's intuition
and research might have been
right on the money.
Or should I say,
right on the Money Pit?
No? No rock?
- Zero rock... no rock.
- It's just dropping.
- It's still dropping?
- Yeah.
Still dropping?
Huge cavity!
That is huge!
About 192 to bottom!
- To the bottom?
- Yeah.
171 to 192?
21 feet.
MATTY: Rick, Charles
and Dave Blankenship quickly
brought in
pipe inspection expert
Glen Cornell to get
a look inside the nearly
20-foot void
that C-1 encountered,
and whatever it might contain.
Here we go!
- See how nice that is?
- MARTY: Yeah, that's nice.
Let's see what it looks
like in the water.
Yeah. Let's see
what we got here.
Approaching 50 meters right now.
- RICK: Cavity...
- That's a cavity right there.
CORNELL: I'm thinking
I'm in a cavity there now.
We're about six feet in.
- That right there.
- Yeah, exactly.
- Looks like it might be...
- Looks like shiny, like metal.
Yeah, it looks metallic.
The hell is that?
There's another
piece of it there, too.
Yeah, another piece.
CORNELL:
Look how yellow that is...
- RICK: That's your gold color.
- Yeah, there it is, David.
RICK: I mean,
we've all been fascinated
by the shiny gold object in C-1.
MATTY:
Two years later...
after conducting
an unsuccessful dive operation
to find and retrieve
whatever the object was,
the team reached out
to video enhancement expert
Frank Schiefelbein to see if he
could give them a better look.
This would be the original.
This is the enhanced color.
The contrast brings out
more of the detail.
MARTY:
Holy smokes.
SCHIEFELBEIN: Again, this was
really out of focus, unfortunately.
MARTY: It looks like
it actually has depth now.
- I mean, what is it?
- It looks man-made to me.
- And it's real?
- It's real.
Yeah!
MARTY: The enhanced
images of the shiny gold object
made it look a lot more
like a real piece of metal
and a lot less
like a reflection.
I-I had been in
the reflection camp on that.
I was about ready
to say forget about C-1.
I've always been highly
skeptical that there could have
been people that far underground
in a flooded chamber.
But if there's a gold rod
in there
that is man-made,
well, then I have to,
you know, suspend disbelief.
MATTY: The amazing images
would prompt the team to
further explore the C-1 shaft.
I'm really curious
to get back down C-1.
Yeah. I am too
in a different way.
(laughter)
A warmer way.
MATTY: In Season 8,
they turned to professional
diver and underwater
camera expert Mike Huntley
to see if he and his team could
pinpoint the exact location of
the object in the deep,
underground chamber.
CHARLES: Look how clear that
is, Doug. That's-that's some of
the best views we've had
in a long time. Really.
MATTY: Strangely, the original
object was nowhere to be seen.
- What's that right there?
- I see that, too!
MIKE:
Back up a bit.
MATTY:
But incredibly, something,
or should I say "things,"
were revealed instead.
What's that thing right there?
Right there.
It's kind of like on an angle.
You know?
- MIKE: What do we have there?
- This area right here.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Look, it's almost triangular and it has color to it.
- CHARLES: Yeah.
- MIKE: I can see gold!
Whoop... all stop!
SAM:
Roger. At all stop.
- What's that, right there?
- Yeah, I see that, too.
MIKE: There's another
one right there just off to
- the center of the screen.
- Yup, this area, right here.
We do have more of that
golden color there.
Down slow.
H-Hold on.
Is this another one?
That's definitely
a gold object right there.
A gold-colored object.
- DOUG: Yeah. Yeah.
- I mean, it pops compared to the surrounding area.
- You guys see that there?
- CHARLES: Yeah.
- Yeah. It's pretty bright, isn't it?
- Yeah.
MATTY: Three more shiny,
gold objects were embedded in
the chamber walls
at the bottom of C-1.
I think if, you know,
we put the camera down and we
only saw one thing, I'm not
sure it would warrant a dive.
But we've seen two or three,
four of these shiny gold things.
You know,
that might allow the diver
to be successful,
in terms of retrieval.
They're putting the dive cage
over the caisson now.
Good. Let's do it.
Here we go.
MATTY: More dives were
attempted to find out what
they could be, but poor
visibility made the physical
search a frustrating
dead end, so far.
MATTY: So, could those gold-colored
objects actually be treasure?
Don't go anywhere,
because when we come back,
we'll show you what happened
when the brothers and Craig
took the C-1 search up a notch
by applying some science.
The result was the top sign
ever recorded that treasure
really does
lie buried on Oak Island.
With everything we've covered
so far tonight,
you can see how so many
people believed that
a mother lode of valuables lies
buried somewhere on Oak Island.
But of all the compelling
evidence of treasure that's
been reported
over the past 226 years,
only one has offered
definitive, scientific evidence.
Of course, it was revealed right
here in the Money Pit area.
And it's without a doubt
the top pick on our list.
Number one: The Silver Lining.
Where's all the goods?!
The goods are right here
in front of us, brother.
MATTY: In 2020, Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team drilled
more than 60 new boreholes
trying to locate
the original treasure shaft
and the legendary jackpot.
- CHARLES: Oh! We got wood.
- TERRY: Whoa! Bingo!
MATTY: And across an area
spanning more than 50 feet
between Boreholes C-1
and OC-1...
multiple clues of ancient
man-made workings were unearthed
from possible pieces
of the Chappell Vault...
Did that go right into a full
piece of wood, too?
It looks like.
Yeah, it looks like
a pretty good chunk of beam.
To evidence
of a never-before-discovered
wooden tunnel.
That is wood. We're probably
at the edge of a tunnel.
MATTY:
But as winter was closing in,
proof of treasure
was eluding them.
Dr. Spooner,
I understand you have a concept
for us that may help us with our
sort of quest in the Money Pit.
Because so far,
the drilling has been great,
but it hasn't found us
what we're looking for.
Yeah, basically what we
want to do is help you guys
put an X on the map.
- Okay.
- So, the idea is to look at
water down drill holes
that exist.
Because the water in
those wells should reflect
the chemistry of the ground
that they interact with.
Whether or not
there was treasure.
MATTY: Geoscientist Dr. Spooner
was proposing a simple premise:
If precious metals,
such as silver,
were in fact submerged at
the bottom of the Money Pit,
it would have corroded
over the centuries
and particles of it could be
detectible with water sampling.
So, what I'm suggesting is
just take a look at 12 wells,
in the Money Pit area.
Just see what we get.
Well, Rick, you're firmly
on board with this, aren't you?
This sounds like
a great idea to me.
- No question. Science!
- Okay, well, let's do it!
- RICK: Make it so.
- IAN: Okay.
- Hey, Craig.
- How's it going?
MATTY:
With the help of Craig Tester
and Dan Henskee, Dr. Spooner,
his colleague Dr. Matt Lukeman
and their team did just that.
IAN: We'll go as far as
we can with the bailer.
Oh, great.
And we'll get a sample.
So the very bottom
is the open hole, or...?
- Yeah. You can hear the ball valves in it.
- (metallic rattling)
Yep.
MATTY: Using a dual-valve
sampling bailer,
the team was able
to take uncontaminated
samples from various boreholes
between C-1 and OC-1.
The results gave some
pretty incredible insight
into what ole James Pitblado may
have discovered back in 1849.
So, I've got
one question to ask.
Do you think there is treasure
in the Money Pit?
Oh, I like that lead-in.
(laughter)
No, you know, I'm serious.
- Do I?
- Yeah.
Small chance.
I do. I absolutely do.
I believe that what they
drilled into in 1897 is real
- and I think it's still there.
- Right.
Right. So, Doug, can you
bring up the presentation?
DOUG:
I can.
IAN:
Great.
At the end of the day,
there is every
reason to believe,
down in those holes,
that there is
something close by that
contains a fair bit of silver.
DOUG: I guess I'm still trying to
get a mental picture of how much
silver it would take
to give these levels.
Like, is it a handful
of silver or is it
a Gerhardt dump truck
load of silver?
It's a Gerhardt dump truck.
- MARTY: Oh, baby!
- JACK: Oh, no way!
(laughter)
I'm trying to refrain
from getting too excited,
but I'm starting to.
How rare is this?
- That's what I'm trying... Yeah.
- IAN: Well, it's rare.
I don't think it's a common
thing that I've ever seen
in water samples in Nova Scotia.
MARTY:
C-1 is uncontaminated.
I mean, I can't see how C-1
would have contamination in it.
And it was in that hole that
the shiny gold thing was found,
that we're still
looking for to this day.
If that was
a golden alloy of such,
you know, maybe that was one
piece of what we're looking for.
- Yup.
- IAN: Yeah. There's something down there.
If you took a huge room
like this full of silver,
put it down there,
you would have a similar
signature that you
have here in the water.
DOUG:
Wow.
I think this is great, because
remember where I started.
I started... on this venture
thinking most likely
Oak Island was a big nothing.
Okay, I've discarded that.
It's not.
Something happened here.
But now we have
concrete evidence,
hard scientific evidence,
consistent with
a mass of precious metals
still lying,
hiding somewhere underground.
Biggest thing that happened
this year to me.
Absolutely the biggest thing
because it kind of
validates that it's-it's
still worth looking for.
To me, this is
the first direct evidence...
Direct indication...
Of treasure that we've had.
Yup.
RICK:
I think this is
probably a...
as important a discovery
in the Money Pit, uh,
because it is
based on pure science.
There's no way we're
going to pass on exploiting it.
It's more than significant,
it's an aha moment.
MARTY: Excellent. Excellent
data and honestly really exciting.
You know,
first direct indication
of the metals we seek
and the story they might tell.
So, thanks, and I think
it's time to get back to work.
- Yup, okay.
- Thanks.
RICK:
Thanks, guys.
Rick Lagina has always
believed that
the Oak Island story
is a priceless treasure
all by itself.
It's hard to argue with that,
but when you take
all these incredible signs
of buried treasure into account,
he may be close to
bringing that assertion
all the way to the bank.
Season 9 of
The Curse of Oak Island
begins in just two short weeks.
Will this be the year?
We'll soon find out together.
Thanks for watching.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.