The Curse of Oak Island

Tonight, on the curse of oak island...

We found these in the garden shaft.

It's very old.

It definitely wasn't used to put together structures.

It could be off boxes from the treasure.

There's a wall in the swamp.

It could be related to the stone road.

That red stuff is what's underneath the stone road.

That will place that wood structure further back in time.

Vikings had knowledge of North America

with contacts to early templars.

They could have had knowledge of this area.

That's correct.

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, guys. - Hey.

- Hey. - Hey, guys.

I can't wait to show you guys this.

Let's flip the plastic off. We'll show these guys

what we've got.

It's amazing what you guys managed to get

- out of the garden shaft there. - Yeah.

It is the beginning

of another hopeful week on oak island

for brothers Rick and Marty lagina and their team

as they continue a quest to solve

a 229-year-old mystery.

We did a lot of work to get these timbers out of there.

First thing I'm gonna say

is this is the strangest thing

that I think we ever could have encountered down there.

We cannot find any sign of walls or a ceiling.

However, in the money pit area,

what appeared just a few days ago

to be a major discovery some 100 feet deep

at the bottom of the 18th-century structure

known as the garden shaft,

has only left them with more questions.

It's strange. It seems to be collapsed.

So, who knows what happened down there?

Look at that. Right there. Wow.

Those are big beams.

Last week, after nearly two years of tireless work,

representatives from dumas contracting limited

were finally able to expose

what the team believed to be a seven-foot-high wooden tunnel.

If this is original depositor, there's a good chance

that there may be treasure at the end of this tunnel.

Yep.

A tunnel

that the team had previously drilled through

on several occasions and determined

that it ran due west into the so-called baby blob

where high-trace evidence of precious metals

have been detected between 80 and 120 feet underground.

Every one that we pulled out, we did a visual look underneath

to see if we could see the wall timbers hanging down.

There was nothing.

It's like somebody just removed them

and left the floor intact.

However, after removing a number

of large, hand-cut wooden timbers,

as well as two iron artifacts,

the team was stunned to realize

that the section of the believed tunnel

that they exposed beneath the garden shaft

has either collapsed or was partially dismantled

sometime in the past.

We found part of a tunnel,

but the rest of the tunnel is missing.

So, that's disconcerting.

But I think we could learn a lot from these pieces of wood

because this could really be the first time

we found a depositor tunnel underground.

And if it is original works, where was it going and why?

And as you can see, there are some beautiful...

- Yeah. - Handwrought, square nails there.

This one here is loose.

You can see the head right here.

Now, while dumas works to uncover more

of the mysterious tunnel

in the hopes of finding an intact structure

that may lead to the source of the valuables

that have been detected nearby...

- There you go. - Look at that.

The team will be carbon-dating the wood timbers

and analyzing metal fasteners found inside of them

in an attempt to confirm

that it was built prior to the discovery

of the original money pit in 1795.

- What do you think of that, laird? - Yeah.

That's what I'd want to see.

- So... - Yeah. The handwrought nails.

It's a Rose head.

How old?

See how nice and slim it is?

I would put that in the 1600, 1700s.

You've got to admit this is one of the most promising finds

we've had so far on the island.

It is exciting.

It feels like we're getting closer.

It is a total collapsed feature

and we were hoping there would be evidence

that it was partially open.

But all information underground in the money pit

is incredibly valuable information.

So, I absolutely hope that this leads us

to finding the treasure.

Let's learn as much as we can

from the items we have retrieved at depth.

Look, kudos to everyone.

This might be a pivotal moment

in the oak island treasure hunt.

So, the nails:

I think we should pull all of them,

and the boards as well. Take multiple samples.

Set them aside.

There's a lot of work to do. So, let's get going.

- Sounds good. - All right.

While the operation continues

in the money pit area

later that afternoon...

- Hello, guys. - Hi, Marty.

- Hey. - Hey, Marty.

So, gentlemen, we have a guest today:

Dr. Doug symons.

Rick and Marty have gathered members of the team

in the war room to hear a highly anticipated presentation

from Dr. Doug symons, a retired professor of psychology

from acadia university.

I find it very intriguing about the possibility

of viking-templar connections.

Doug, if you want to give us a little background and then...

Sure.

Dr. Symons and I met through Dr. Spooner, actually.

We had discussions in the evenings

over those provocative dates in the swamp

of around 1200 ad, and the stone piles on lot 15

- were likely created after Nolan's cross. - Yeah.

One week ago,

Italian archaeoastronomer professor adriano gaspani

presented the team with his scientific analysis,

and belief

that the megalithic stone formations,

which have been found on the surface of oak island

known as Nolan's cross,

the stone triangle and five stone piles,

located on lot 15,

were all constructed in the 13th century

by members of the knights templar.

And, curiously, in recent years,

the team has found two lead artifacts

that have been scientifically traced to scandinavia.

Dr. Symons has delved deeply into that subject.

Now, based on these findings,

Doug crowell has reached out to Dr. Doug symons,

who published his research in may of 2020

suggesting that the templar order

and the medieval Scandinavian culture,

known as the norse, or vikings,

may both be connected to the oak island mystery.

So, Dr. Symons, if you'd be so kind.

Thank you.

So, I became interested in the European voyages

that could account for these oak island finds.

You've got Nolan's cross

and also the swamp itself dates back to 1200 ad or so.

And my research took me to this time frame.

The 1000s to 1200s.

So, vikings, they settled the Faroe Islands,

Iceland and Greenland.

And St. Anthony, new found land.

And I'anse aux meadows, new found land, around 1000 ad.

Which gives them knowledge of the area.

It is well documented

that members of the viking culture

explored and built settlements in North America

as much as ten centuries ago,

reaching as far south as I'anse aux meadows,

a location in modern-day new found land, Canada

that is approximately 625 miles northeast of oak island.

However, it has been speculated by many academic researchers

based on the 13th-century writings

known as "the viking sagas"

that they may have visited areas

much further to the south.

Now, what becomes important about I'anse aux meadows,

was from I'anse aux meadows, it's easy

to sail down the west coast of new found land

with land in sight.