The Curse of Oak Island

Tonight on The Curse of Oak Island...

This is the year. Let's do it.

...a special two-hour premiere.

That story can be finished, and I'm committed

-to doing that. -Amen. Let's go.

I want to throw every resource we can at it this year.

So, this location's where the treasure could be.

We're clearly into a collapsed

chamber of some sort.

The scientists say metals are coming out of here.

That's a big enough box for an offset chamber.

Marty. -What do you think it is?

Could be a trapdoor.

-Wow. -Yeah!

It's a coin!

That is fantastic.

Good luck, Tony.

He's getting right down into it.

He's got his head into something now.

Yeah.

Oh. No, that's not modern.

This is probably BC.

Holy smokes.

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.

Well, how does everybody feel about being back?

How can you not be excited?

Yeah. I've had the feeling

that we're about to find the treasure this year.

Jack, let's have a little optimism here.

The most highly-anticipated and potentially historic chapter

of the 228-year-old Oak Island mystery

is about to begin.

I want to throw every resource

we can at it this year, because

I think we're closer than we have ever been.

We'll do whatever it takes this year.

-There you go. -Yeah.

Dating back to 1795,

generations of determined searchers

have found startling clues

that suggest a vast treasure could be buried

in a more than 100-foot-deep

booby-trapped shaft known as the Money Pit.

And after spending more than a decade

on their own quest for answers,

brothers Rick and Marty Lagina have returned,

along with their team,

to fulfill the dream

they've shared since they were just boys.

All right, there she be, guys, in all her glory.

Oak Island.

As I drive up to the island,

my expectation is that this year we will figure it out.

The main reason is that the data supports that.

And a lot of data points to gold and silver

in the water in the Money Pit area.

So, I do feel in my heart that this has to be the year.

Big brother, let's get 'er done.

Let's do it.

There's a wonderful mystery here ensconced

within an island in the North Atlantic

that has endured centuries long.

Okay, guys. Let's go see the team.

And my expectation is...

...that we'll be able to solve it.

That's my hope.

Hey, guys.

Gentlemen.

-Hey, guys. -Hey.

We're back.

We are all together,

all of us, the whole team.

The fellowship is striving to-to make that happen.

Well, welcome, everybody.

I see we have the rest of the team up on the screen there.

Which has grown to be quite a group. Some new faces.

And so, the purpose of this meeting is to get us

all together again and get us all on the same page.

-So, let's get to it. Before we get too far

into talking about this year, what about last year?

Well, that is a perfect segue, because last year,

at the end, what happened, Gary?

Down at the bottom of that Garden Shaft

and getting those nonferrous hits,

and then having to leave the shaft...

...I mean, oh, my God.

Although the 82-foot-deep structure

known as the Garden Shaft

is not believed to be the original Money Pit--

which was lost in the 19th century

due to constant digging by previous searchers--

last year, after wood samples from the structure

were scientifically dated to 1735

and water samples produced high-trace evidence of gold,

the Oak Island team commissioned

a mining company named Dumas Contracting Limited

to remodel the shaft for further exploration.

Oh!

That's the best-sounding target.

-That's nonferrous. Really?

-Yeah. Just before they were forced to halt

their search operations due to the onset of winter...

That's a screaming large hit, isn't it? Yeah.

...Rick, Marty, and metal detection expert Gary Drayton

identified nonferrous-- or precious metal-- targets

just below the bottom of the Garden Shaft.

Now, once new permits can be secured,

Dumas will return to deepen the shaft by 20 feet,

with the potential to construct lateral tunnels

depending on what is encountered below.

Well, I'm hoping we get down there again,

because we know those hits are there.

Yeah, plans have been laid for that.

-Right. -So, I'd like to hear,

uh, Ian, from you.

I've been a big believer in this methodology--

the gold in the water, the silver in the water--

for a long time, and those seem to be concentrated there, too.

-So, why don't you kind of give us a recap on that? Yeah.

You know, I'll pull Fred in--

he's the real expert here-- but, uh,

last year, we were able to concentrate

and be very confident in the Baby Blob area.

That's right.

All right, that's the last sample.

Over the past two years,

geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner and his colleagues,

including hydrogeologist Dr. Fred Michel,

have been analyzing water samples from numerous boreholes

that Rick, Marty, Craig and the team have drilled

over the past decade in the Money Pit area.

Incredibly, these tests have identified evidence of gold,

silver and other metals between depths of 80 and 120 feet,

with the highest concentrations in a zone

they have dubbed the "Baby Blob."

which sets just several feet west of the Garden Shaft.

It is also within this zone that the team has encountered

a believed tunnel at a depth of 95 feet

that appears to run almost directly below the Garden Shaft.

I think what's got us particularly excited

is that we've got the area of interest

narrowed down to about a 20-foot radius

around the Garden Shaft.

-Well, that's a good start. -Yeah.

Well, as some of the drilling takes place this year,

and looking at the data from last year,

I think we might be able to narrow it down a bit more.

Right. Well, that I consider

-very good news. Yeah.

Okay, so,

we're gonna chase these metals until they--

-we figure out what they mean. We got that. -Mm-hmm.

We haven't given up yet on the sonic drilling, too, right?

Yes.

-Right. -So, if we can continue

to narrow down this radius that we've been supplied with

from Ian and Fred,

we can really narrow in on the Money Pit.

While the team awaits

the return of Dumas to deepen the Garden Shaft,

they will continue with their strategic

core-drilling program throughout the surrounding area.

If any new boreholes produce physical evidence of valuables,

Rick, Marty and the team will have exact locations

for where tunnels can be extended

from the bottom of the Garden Shaft

to hopefully solve the Oak Island mystery.

Right now, we've got the drill out there

waiting for us to pin our first location.

And that's gonna give us great information

to where we need to tunnel to.

Okay. Well, let's move on

to something that was exciting last year.

So, Laird, why don't you bring us up to speed

on what you've planned this year, archaeologically.

And-and your team.

Well, we have lots of new members.

We have Emma, of course.

Uh, in the middle, we have Jamie Kouba

and to the left is Moya MacDonald.

Up above, we have Helen, who's come back.

And then Danny Hennigar, who's a Oak Island historian.

You got enough trowels?

-We bought more trowels. -More trowels?

Although the search

for the legendary treasure vault

remains focused in the Money Pit area,

last year, archaeologist Laird Niven and his colleagues

helped the team make several stunning revelations