The Curse of Oak Island

Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

It's catching on something.

Look at that thing.

There's something curious

- about this boulder. - That's like

the Nolan's Cross boulder.

This soil is super compact.

This was constructed for a purpose.

- Whoa. - It's an almost exact match

to a Money Pit sample.

Wow.

The association that could be made

is mind-blowing.

- What is that? - Pretty solid chunk of metal.

That could be a piece of the treasure vault.

Yep.

There is an island in the North Atlantic

where people have been looking for

an incredible treasure for more than 200 years.

So far, they have found a stone slab

with strange symbols carved into it

man-made workings that date to medieval times,

and a lead cross whose origin may be connected

to the Knights Templar.

To date, six men have died

trying to solve the mystery.

And according to legend, one more will have to die

before the treasure can be found.

Hey, Paul.

Morning, guys. How's it going?

Well, we're hoping for an update.

So, we finished drilling a couple holes.

- Good man. - As a new day

begins on Oak Island

for brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,

they arrive in the fabled Money Pit area

to check on the progress of an operation

that they hope will finally reveal the answers

to a 229-year-old treasure mystery.

It's getting close.

The first hole, kind of seemed like

it was deflecting off a wall.

Where are we again?

So, that... it would be the north side.

One week ago,

after extending the mid-18th century structure

known as the Garden Shaft down to a depth of 90 feet,

representatives from Dumas Contracting Limited

used a coring drill to penetrate a mysterious tunnel

located at a depth of 95 feet,

which is believed to run due west

toward an area known as the Baby Blob.

It is in this region where water testing

that was conducted in previously drilled boreholes

has detected high-trace evidence of silver, gold and other metals

between 80 and 120 feet underground.

There is a structure of some sort down there,

a wooden structure of some sort, and you're about

- to unearth that, right? - That's right.

Okay. That's enough said for me.

So, today, we put in the landing.

We're adding another set.

Now, after unsuccessfully drilling

into the believed tunnel for a second time,

over the course of the next week,

Dumas will proceed with constructing

the final level, or set, to extend the Garden Shaft

down to a total depth of some 95 feet,

where they hope to intersect the mysterious passageway

and find out what it may contain.

We've invested a lot of time and energy

delineating this tunnel.

And I think there's great anticipation

on everyone's part

to try to, well, to not only put eyes on it

but to see where it may lead.

If the tunnel predates the shaft,

it makes the tunnel far more interesting

than just finding a "previously unknown" tunnel.

- It's all good news. - Yes.

I'm starting to get eager now.

- You've got my toes tickling. - You're so close,

- you can smell it there now. - Yeah, yeah.

All right, let's let him get back to work,

because we're poised to finally do this.

Okey doke.

- Let's go, guys. - Yep.

- Thanks, Paul. - Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Paul.

As the operation

to deepen the Garden Shaft continues...

- Here we are. - Yep.

- We're back at it now. - Yep.

- H-8. - H-8.

Approximately 60 feet

to the southwest,

geologist Terry Matheson

and Oak Island historian Charles Barkhouse

are monitoring a new core drilling operation

in Borehole H-8,

a borehole that was previously excavated in 2017.

This turned into a very, very interesting hole.

- For a number of reasons. - My goodness.

What is this?

After initially recovering pieces

of parchment and leather book binding

with a six-inch-diameter core barrel in H-8,

Rick, Marty and their partner Craig Tester

speculated that they may have encountered

the fabled Chappell Vault,

a seven-foot-tall treasure chest encased in concrete

that Frederick Blair and William Chappell

reportedly drilled into back in 1897

and recovered not only evidence of gold

but also, a piece of parchment bearing the letters "V-I."

Come on, baby.

Make hole!

Incredibly, when the team expanded H-8 by installing

a 60-inch caisson in the fall of 2017,

a large object was encountered at a depth of 170 feet.

He's on something.

He thinks it's perfectly flat.

Wood?

He thinks wood.

Unfortunately,

as the team drove the H-8 caisson deeper,

in the hopes of breaching the vault,

the plug, or earthen spoils inside of it, fell out,

pushing the potential treasure chest

somewhere deeper below ground.

Anyway, today, we're going back down this hole

all these years later.

We did not finish that dig.

So, it's possible that it broke the vault open.

So, this is gonna be a look

at the sediments, or pieces of the plug.

Maybe pieces of treasure, Charles.

Yeah.

Now, after recent water tests

and subsurface scans in this area

have offered more evidence of potential valuables,

it is Rick, Marty and the team's hope

that if they can pinpoint the possible location

of the vault, they will arrange to excavate

a much larger diameter caisson in order to recover it.

The material that fell out of the H-8, caisson

had to have migrated somewhere.

The possibility certainly exists that this is an area

to which the Chappell Vault has fallen.

It could be deeper, and we'll certainly press on.

So anyway, whatever... We-we're in it to win it.

We got to exhaust all possibilities.

Cross your fingers that we hit the right section,

and maybe the best section.

And hopefully today we'll find out where it went.

Exactly.

While the excavations proceed

in the Money Pit area,

in the southeast corner of the triangle-shaped swamp

located near the center of Oak Island...

- This is a great day. - Yeah.

That is impressive.

- That should go the distance. - Yeah.

Metal detection expert Gary Drayton,

Jack Begley and Billy Gerhardt

are about to conduct a new large-scale dig

in a region of the brackish bog

near the potentially 500-year-old stone road.

So, we're gonna be digging

in the deepest part

- of the swamp. - Yeah.

We haven't really done a whole lot of work

in this particular area, and it's surrounded

by really great finds, so...

Yeah. With the stone road

and stone path, this was a work area,

so we got to keep our eyes peeled for anything.

- Right. - Excellent.

Well, should we get stuck in?

Yep.

Of the many remarkable discoveries

that the team has made over the past decade in the swamp,

the stone road, or possible ship's wharf,

may be a critical key to solving the Oak Island mystery.

Look at how beautifully constructed.

It is not only a near identical match

to a road that Rick Lagina and members of the team

saw in 2021 in Alqueidão da Serra, Portugal,

where the Portuguese sect of the Knights Templar

maintained a stronghold

from the 12th to the 17th centuries...

This looks old.

- That does, yeah. - Yeah.

But it is also in an area of the swamp

where they have unearthed numerous clues

such as a heavy chain with a hook,

suggesting the road was created in order to off-load

some kind of cargo onto Oak Island.

All right, first bucket of opportunity is coming up.

Now, it is the team's hope