12x03 - The Saga Continues

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island...

LORETTA: L'Anse aux Meadows
is a Norse base camp.

MARTY: We suspect the Norse
brought the Knights Templar

-to Oak Island.
-Have a look at this.

-Wow.
-Whoa!

We have steps, then a
chamber. What if it's a church?

This lot is becoming
more interesting by the day.

We believe there's some kind
of a tunnel in the Golden Egg.

TEDFORD: It's
getting really loose.

TERRY: So it's
possible we're close

-to a structure.
-Yeah.

NARRATOR: 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.

♪ ♪

CHARLES: Good morning, Alex.

TERRY: Hey, Alex. How you doing?

Good. We set up on the hole?

-We are.
-ALEX: Perfect.

NARRATOR: An
exhilarating new morning

has begun on Oak Island

for brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina

and their team...

So we're on EN-14,

which is in the Golden Egg.

We are. Yeah.

NARRATOR: ...because
in the fabled Money Pit area,

they have good reason to believe

that a vast treasure
may lie buried

directly below their feet

along with the truth behind
a 229-year-old mystery.

ALEX: Any hole that
we drill in this area

could be the source of
the metals that we're seeing

-in the water. -Exactly.
-Yeah.

And we're looking
for an indication

that we're next to a feature,

so soft material
coming out of the core

just like we saw in EN-13.

Yeah.

TERRY: Adam, what do you got?

-89. -89.

NARRATOR: One week ago,

the team drilled a borehole
on their strategic grid

labeled EN-13 within
a 30-by-15-foot region

dubbed the Golden Egg.

It is here that recent
groundwater tests

have indicated gold, silver

and other metals
have been detected

between 80 and


That seems to change. Right?

It got soft right at the bottom.

NARRATOR: And curiously,

at a depth of some 95 feet,

soft, disturbed
soil was recovered,

suggesting that a
structure or container

of some kind may lie nearby.

There's nothing that
from the historical record

that we know actually
occurred in this area.

NARRATOR: Today,
the team is drilling

a new borehole known as
EN-14, just five feet to the east

in the hopes of pinpointing

the possible man-made
feature and determining

just what it may contain.

It's getting really loose.

-TEDFORD: Hey, Terry!
-Mike, how's it going?

It definitely got
disturbed there.

Really?

TEDFORD: Yeah. Like,
the whole run is pretty soft.

Okay. Interesting.
We'll take a look.

ALEX: What's up?

So, uh, 69 to 79 he
said looks really soft.

Oh.

TERRY: So it's
possible we're close

to a structure
again, at this point.

Hey, Adam.

-79. -79.

-79. -Thank you.

NARRATOR: More evidence
of a potential structure?

And just feet above
the target depth

where water testing has
identified precious metals?

TERRY: Hey, Rick.

-Hey.
-Hi, Rick. How you doing?

-How are we doing?
-Well, we're going down

to 79 and Mike says we got

definitely a disturbed area,

so we're taking a
look at it right now.

Thank you, Adam.

Let's see what it brings us.

So some potential interest here.

All right.

Just a little softer here.

-You figure?
-I think so.

TERRY: Yeah. It's
a little soft up there,

but we're not really seeing
any structure or material in here.

So another core,
core and a half?

Yeah.

RICK: Soft soils implies

men were underground working.

-ADAM: 89. 89.
-ALEX: Okay.



RICK: So the hope is
that we might be in the area

of a structure in this proximity

and that might lead
us to the treasure.

It's a little soft, but
not really markedly.

Yep.

I don't know, guys.

Well, we certainly didn't
hit what we were expecting.

-No. -RICK: But you never know.

Fingers crossed.

-Yeah.
-We got some soft area.

Not as soft as in EN-13,

so maybe we're close to
something we don't know about.

NARRATOR: Is it possible

that the drill may
have, once again,

narrowly missed the
source of precious metals

that have been detected in
the so-called Golden Egg?

We know that this
area is interesting.

-Yes.
-So I think we stick to the grid,

we try to understand
what it means.

-Yeah.
-RICK: I'm gonna stay extremely hopeful,

and I know you guys will, too.

But we just got to keep going.

TERRY: Absolutely.

NARRATOR: As Rick and
members of the team continue

searching for the legendary
treasure on Oak Island...

...approximately 625
miles to the northeast

in Newfoundland, Canada...

-MARTY: Hello! -LORETTA: Hi.
-KEVIN: Hi there.

Welcome to L'Anse aux Meadows.

I'm Marty. I have brought

-the Oak Island contingent here.
-Oh, lovely.

NARRATOR: ...Marty Lagina

along with researchers
Doug Crowell

and Emiliano Sacchetti,

archaeologist Laird Niven

and archaeometallurgist
Emma Culligan

are meeting with Loretta Decker,

a manager for Parks Canada,

and archaeologist Kevin Smith

at the national historic site
known as L'Anse aux Meadows.

This is, as you know,

L'Anse aux Meadows
national historic site.

So L'Anse aux Meadows
is the very first evidence

of European presence
in North America.

The Norse here were
coming from Greenland

around the year 1000.

NARRATOR: Encompassing
nearly 31 square miles,

L'Anse aux Meadows is currently

the only verified Viking
settlement in North America.

Since its discovery in 1960

by Norwegian explorer
and writer Helge Ingstad,

nearly 800 Viking
and Norse artifacts

have been discovered here

in addition to the
remains of eight buildings,

including a forge

for the purpose of
producing iron tools.

The reason we
came here is because

these two gentlemen went
on an expedition to Europe

and they sort of did a kind
of an east to west passage.

It led to Scandinavia

and they found evidence

that the Norse might have been
somehow involved on Oak Island.

We followed the
trail as far as Iceland.

So we thought the
logical place to pick it up

was here in Newfoundland.

Makes sense.

RICK: How are you?

-[Emiliano laughs]
-Good to see you again.

NARRATOR: In 2023,

Doug, Emiliano and
other members of the team

traveled to medieval
sites in Italy...

-ALEX: Oh. Look at these.
-PETER: Oh, wow.

NARRATOR:
...Denmark and Iceland...

Wow. Look at this.

NARRATOR: ...to investigate
an incredible theory:

That during the
early 13th century,

Norse descendants of the Vikings

helped members of
the Knights Templar

transport priceless
religious treasures

from Europe to Oak Island.

You see the Templar cross?

NARRATOR: Incredibly,
at numerous locations

where researchers believe
that both groups intermingled,

the team saw a number
of symbols and artifacts

that are identical to others
that have been discovered

over the past two
centuries on Oak Island.

Now, Marty and the team
are looking for more evidence

at L'Anse aux Meadows
that may also help connect

the descendants of Vikings
and the Knights Templar

to the Oak Island mystery.

LORETTA: We know
from evidence here

that this would
be like establishing

a base camp on the Moon.

This is essentially a base
camp for resource extraction.

They're coming here

because there's
resources in this region.

Not just the L'Anse
aux Meadows area

but this entire region.

Well, that sort of segues
nicely into why we're here.

It's not disputable
that the Vikings

-or the Norse were here.
-Mm.

What we're trying to figure
out is where they might

-also have gone.
[chuckles] -[laughs]

-Right.
-Specifically, on Oak Island.

-LORETTA: Yes.
-You know,

I mean, did-- could
they have visited?

Could they have been
part of what went on there?

They may not have been
here during the summers.

-This is the wintering camp.
-Mm-hmm.

This is probably
where everybody is

congregating to in the fall...

-Mm-hmm.
-...after they come back from the expeditions,

which led them further south.

Okay. This is the only
proven site in North America.

Do you believe there are others?

The sagas talk about
another place called Hóp.

Hóp was the place where
they worked in the summer.

So yes, I do think
there was at least Hóp.

And that's not been identified?

That's not been
identified yet. No.

But it's supposed to be
somewhere to the south of here.

NARRATOR: Icelandic manuscripts

known as sagas are a
collection of poems and stories

authored during the


that describe historical
events surrounding the Vikings

that are believed to
have actually taken place

between the ninth
and 11th centuries.

[shouts]

NARRATOR: While some
describe the culture's conquests

throughout Europe,
others describe

their explorations
of North America.

So the other
interesting thing, though,

we know that they're going
further south because we have

butternuts and a butternut
burl here in the collection.

They were found just nearby.

So in case you're wondering,

butternuts have
never grown here.

Right.

What geographic area are
they known to have grown in?

The furthest north is

in that Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick region.

Never here.

That proves they
did go as far south

-as Nova Scotia, for certainty.
-Yeah. Yeah.

DOUG: The butternut seed infers

that the Norse explored
much further south...

...because that
butternut seed only grows

between New Brunswick
and New England.

And that's important to us,

because in order to
obtain that butternut,

they may have
came to Oak Island.

You said that Hóp was,
um, the summer camp...

-Yes. Yes.
-...mentioned in the sagas.

So, could Hóp be where
they found those butternuts?

-Or...
-Certainly.

-...could that be Nova Scotia?
-Certainly.

Certainly.

-That's real interesting.
-LORETTA: Yeah.

MARTY: That means
they could have gone

as far south as Oak Island.

Yeah. Yeah.

So, could Hóp be Nova Scotia?

-Certainly.
-LAIRD: If they could travel

from Greenland to here,

it's reasonable that
they could travel

to the Nova Scotia area as well.

NARRATOR: At the 11th-century

Viking settlement known
as L'Anse aux Meadows

in Newfoundland, Canada,

manager for Parks
Canada Loretta Decker

and archaeologist Kevin Smith

have just presented Marty Lagina

and other members of the
team with evidence that suggests

members of the Viking culture

may have traveled
hundreds of miles

further south of
Newfoundland to Nova Scotia,

and potentially Oak Island
over 1,000 years ago.

It all starts to make sense.

NARRATOR: But if
so, could it also be true

that descendants
of the Viking culture

helped members of
the Knights Templar

bury a vast treasure there

sometime between the


If it were other Europeans
that were on Oak Island--

-I mean, people have said the Knights Templar...
-LORETTA: Mm.

-...the people who might have brought them here...
-Yeah.

-...who knew how to cross the ocean at that time...
-Right.

-were these people, right?
-Right.

DOUG: Speaking of
possible connections between

the Viking descendants
and the Templars,

-we know the sagas even state that the Norse visited Rome...
-Yeah.

-...to meet with the Pope, right?
-Yeah.

The Templars were
a Catholic order,

and that put the Pope
in direct control of them.

-Yeah.
-KEVIN: Right.

I think all of those
sagas, they all--

when you see
when they're written--

they all-- especially
the ones dealing

with this area-- they're
all linked into the Church.

-They were claiming land to the west.
-Yeah.

-Yeah.
-DOUG: On the island,

we've gotten some results
in the past that indicate

-European activity in the 13th century.
-Yeah.

-Which is weird.
-Yeah. So, when you hear those dates,

you automatically
begin to think the Norse.

-Yeah.
-NARRATOR: It is well-documented,

the Vikings began
converting from paganism

to Christianity as
their trade routes

expanded into Christian
regions across Europe.

In fact, during the
late 11th century,

descendants of the Vikings
helped the Catholic order

of the Knights Templar
defend Christian interests

in the Holy Land
during the Crusades,

when many researchers
believe that the Templars

discovered a number of
priceless religious treasures.

But what make these
historical connections

compelling to the
Laginas and their team

are the potentially 12th-century
structures on Oak Island

such as Nolan's Cross

and a stone-paved
feature in the swamp,

as well as the lead cross
that may be directly related

to the Templar order.

And incredibly, they
have also unearthed

a number of artifacts,
such as a pickax

from deep in the Money Pit area,

that have been scientifically
traced to Scandinavia.

DOUG: It's because of
those discoveries on the island

that we're exploring
this avenue of possibility,

as far as who may have
done the work on Oak Island.

When you look at the timeline

that's starting to materialize,

we're seeing a
coalescing of history,

in that the Templars
were thought

to have a great treasure,

they were interacting
with the people

that had the means
and the knowledge

to sail across the Atlantic.

So, it's very likely

that it could well be the
descendants of the Vikings

who helped them
reach Oak Island.

This is all incredibly
interesting,

and we are very
keen to learn more.

So, what's next?

LORETTA: Well, come
with me and I'll show you.

NARRATOR: While
Marty and the team

continue searching for clues
at L'Anse aux Meadows...

-GARY: Wow, look.
-PETER: It looks a lot nicer.

Yeah. Look how
it's all smoothed out.

NARRATOR: ...back
on Oak Island...

I'm hoping we can
find that little diamond

-in the rough.
-Hope you're right.

NARRATOR: ...Gary
Drayton and Peter Fornetti

have arrived on Lot 4

to search through
spoils that were removed

from a mysterious
circular stone feature

located several yards
to the east on Lot 5.

A stone feature that
has yielded artifacts

from vastly different eras,

such as a 17th-century
cut silver coin,

a lead barter token,
which may be related

to the 14th-century lead cross,

along with a
mortar-like substance

that nearly matches other
man-manipulated soils

found beneath Cone E

of the potentially


and, also, from
approximately 118 feet deep

in the Money Pit area.

[detector beeping]

Good signal here, mate.

-Right there?
-Yeah.

Sounds really good. Rock-solid.

-Just there.
-Okay.

[detector beeping]

That's a good signal, mate.

[high-pitched beeping]

-Hey, hey, hey!
-What do you got?

It's a chunky coin.
We've got a coin.

That's what that is.

-Oh. That's a big coin.
-Ooh. Look at that.

GARY: Look at that
patina. Look at that green.

That's been in the
ground a long time.

-Yeah.
-That is a nice,

-chunky copper, by the look of it.
-Mm-hmm.

NARRATOR: Another coin,

discovered in the spoils removed
from the round feature on Lot 5?

Could it be related
to the cut English coin

that the team
recently uncovered?

Or might it be much, much older?

GARY: Obviously,

-the earlier the better.
-Mm-hmm.

-GARY: But I'll take any of them, mate.
-Yeah.

Good find.

Yeah. Brilliant.

-You know where that's going.
-Top pocket?

Oh, a top-pocket
find, for sure, mate.

-All right.
-PETER: Let's find more of its friends.

GARY: That's
what we're here for.

NARRATOR: As the search
for valuables continues on Lot 4...

TEDFORD: Might get wet.

ADAM M.: Oh, yeah.

NARRATOR: ...and in the
Money Pit area on Oak Island,

more than 600 miles northeast

in the province
of Newfoundland...

LORETTA: Everybody,
this is Ragnar.

-Good day.
-BOTH: Hello.

-Also, my real name is Mark. Uh...
-[laughter]

NARRATOR: ...Marty Lagina
and other members of the team

continue their tour of the
historic Viking settlement

known as L'Anse aux Meadows.

I've been trained in
the Viking Age aspect

of blacksmithing, and
I've been working here

for 25, uh, seasons now, yeah.

To give you some
insight on why we're here,

in our quest, you know,
down in Oak Island,

we are starting to suspect
that somehow, the Norse

may have had something to
do with what happened there.

DOUG: Last year, we
managed to reacquire

an artifact that was said
to have been found in a dig

in 1965,

and it's this item
here that Laird has.

We showed that to an
archaeologist over in Denmark,

and she thought it
was very reminiscent

of the Viking time period.

NARRATOR: In 1965,

geologist Robert Dunfield

conducted a massive
excavation in the Money Pit area

which was thwarted when seawater

caused his nearly


to cave in.

Although he was unable
to recover any valuables

on Oak Island,

he reportedly discovered
an iron arrowhead.

And in 2023,

Rick, Doug and
members of the team

shared images of it with
historian Ane Jepsen Nyborg

at the Ladby Viking Museum
in Kerteminde, Denmark.

NYBORG: This is
very interesting to me,

because this is
the type of artifact

that I could find tomorrow

in a, in an archaeological
dig around here,

and that could date
from the Vikings.

DOUG: Do you think
that weapon point could be

made using your
authentic, early techniques?

Uh, it's possible.

I've made arrows with
Viking Age techniques

that look like this.

MARTY: Excellent.

DOUG: Do you think that
could be made using your...

techniques?

It's possible.

I've made arrows,
uh, look like this.

NARRATOR: At the L'Anse
aux Meadows national historic site

in Newfoundland, Canada,

blacksmithing
expert Mark Pilgrim

has just confirmed
that an iron arrowhead,

reportedly found on Oak
Island nearly 60 years ago,

could be of Viking
design and origin.

Have you tested
anything with it? Or...

EMMA: I've done XRF scans on it,

and it's definitely
not, like, 1700s post.

So, the scans are ready.

NARRATOR: In 2023,

Emma Culligan analyzed

the arrowhead in
the Oak Island lab

using an X-ray
fluorescence spectrometer,

a device that emits
nondestructive radiation

in order to identify
the elements

that make up an
object's composition

and which can help to
determine their age and origin.

EMMA: I think these
levels would indicate

like, pre, you know, 1600s.

DOUG: It may be supportive
of these other dates

from our other
findings on the island

that we have in a
medieval context.

Yeah. Exactly.

MARTY: He was pretty good?

The guy who made that?

Yeah, he was pretty good.

[laughter]

Yeah.

MARK: So, this stuff on
the rock here that you see,

I can pass it around to you.

All right, and you can spread
it around, spread it around.

There you go,
just pass it around.

-That's bog ore. Okay?
-Yeah.

Generally, what bog ore is,

there's two major components,
there's ferrous oxide and sand.

Where you find this
stuff is actually in the bog.

So, it's prevalent in
this kind of environment.

A little bit closer
to Nova Scotia,

Oak Island has a swamp, as well.

NARRATOR: Bog ore is a
naturally forming iron deposit

typically found in
swamps or rivers,

and has been used across Europe

in order to forge
tools and weapons

dating as far back
as the fifth century BC.

It was also a material
commonly used by Vikings

and their descendants.

Is it possible that
the iron arrowhead

was also made with bog ore?

And if so, could it help prove

that the artifact is of
Scandinavian origin?

We have some bog iron
that's taken from the region

that we can give you,
Emma, for testing.

Yeah, I'm really excited
to collect any kind of data

of bog iron and...

in the future, I could
compare Oak Island artifacts

to potential bog iron.

Oak Island has become so
complex in this time we've spent there,

and with so many
different possibilities,

that we're just trying
to eliminate some.

Or gather some.

So, this is-- this is excellent.

I'm pretty charged up.

I think Rick's gonna be
very interested in the results

of our mission to
L'Anse aux Meadows.

The trip was
absolutely worth doing.

Mark, many thanks.

This has been very
informative. Really good stuff.

Loretta, Kevin,
thank you very much.

We've got a lot of data here.

We're gonna get back to
the island and go through it.

-LORETTA: Thanks for coming.
-KEVIN: Absolutely.

NARRATOR: As Marty
and the team finish their visit

at L'Anse aux Meadows...

[metal detector beeping]

GARY: Oh!

Now that is a
banging signal, mate.

Oh. It's got everything
going for it, mate.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: ...back on Oak Island,

Gary Drayton and Peter Fornetti

have just detected
another potential clue

in the spoils that
have been removed

from the nearby circular
stone foundation on Lot 5.

-[beeping steadily]
-I think it's out.

[beeping rapidly]

Hey, hey, hey!

-We've done it again, mate.
-I see roundness.

Yeah, I see the edge of it.

Oh, it is! It's a coin!

PETER: Okay!

GARY: That is a
big copper again.

-Now, this looks a little bit smaller...
-Yeah.

...than the previous one.

I'm hoping this is an oldie.

And what I love about
these type of coppers, mate,

they predate that


NARRATOR: Another copper coin?

Could Gary Drayton be
correct that it predates

-the discovery of the Money Pit in 1795?
-Beauty.

NARRATOR: If so, just when
was it brought to Oak Island?

And might it be
another important clue

to help determine just who
created the feature on Lot 5,

as well as the
original Money Pit?

We've already found that clay
that matches the Money Pit.

Now we're finding
coins pre-Money Pit date.

PETER: We have three
different types of coins in this area.

GARY: Yeah.

Is that a normal thing
to have that type of find?

I'm glad you brought that up,
because we don't really know

-where this coin is from, or the other one.
-Yeah.

We have found
Roman coins on the lot.

People would have had various
denominations of coins on them.

It potentially speaks to these
people, whomever they were,

going to different
countries, different empires.

And then finding their way here.

For what purpose? We don't know.

NARRATOR: In
addition to the 18th,


century discoveries

that the team has made on Lot 5,

over the past two years,
they have also discovered

five Roman coins
in the area that,

according to numismatist
Sandy Campbell,

date back to between


So, here we have the Roman
coins that have been found in Iceland.

NARRATOR: And in 2023, when
Rick and members of the team

visited the National
Museum of Iceland

to investigate the theory
that Viking descendants

and members of
the Knights Templar

might be connected to
the Oak Island mystery,

they were shown nearly
identical Roman coins

that the Norse culture
was trading as currency

as much as 1,000 years ago.

It's just evidence of an
interconnected nature

of everything much
earlier than we had thought.

That, in my mind, makes
the Norse exploration

more important to our
investigation on Oak Island.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the numerous Roman coins,

the nearly


and potentially Scandinavian
and Templar-related artifacts

that have been
found on Oak Island

offer evidence that this
incredible theory is true?

And also explain the high
reading for precious metals

that have been detected
across the Money Pit area?

GARY: Into the top
pocket this is going.

Brilliant, mate.
That's a two-coin day.

Can't go wrong with that.

Those are rare on Oak Island,
but they need to be more common.

Yeah. And they will be, mate,

the more we go
through all these spoils.

Okay, mate. I'll
put it in the bag.

NARRATOR: As a new
day begins on Oak Island,

while the core-drilling
operation continues

in the Money Pit area...

MARTY: I have a report
because we had a field trip.

I highly enjoyed it,

but it was also really
informative, I thought.

NARRATOR: ...in the
w*r room, Marty Lagina,

along with Laird Niven
and Emma Culligan

are meeting with Rick Lagina
and other members of the team

to share what they
learned during their trip

to the L'Anse aux Meadows
national historic site.

My conclusion is that
I think that trip made it,

in my mind at least,
a lot more plausible

that the Norse could
have visited this island.

We don't have a smoking g*n.

But what we did get
is a lot of various facts

that would indicate
that they clearly had

motive and opportunity,
let's say, and ability.

Perhaps over a period
of a hundred years,

-on and off.
-Well, see...

The genesis was, uh,
at L'Anse aux Meadows,

but they didn't stay there.

They moved, and
they moved south.

So, one of the things
that adds credence

to the Norse coming
down this coast

is when you look at how far
they traveled from Greenland

down to L'Anse aux Meadow,

it's really just a little short
journey to get to Nova Scotia.

Kevin said that
hierarchy in the Church

was very interested
in claiming lands.

So, that that means that
the Roman Catholic Church

almost certainly knew
way before Columbus,

way before, that
there was a continent.

-Very interesting.
-Isn't it? Yeah.

That was an eye opener.

Well, if the Church
knew, the Templars knew.

The Knights Templar,
who were in the Middle East

and descendants of Vikings

are in the Middle
East with the Templars.

You have a 300-year window

when this information
could've been passed down

that there's land to the west

and here's how you get there.

Like I said, if the Church
knew it, the Templars knew it.

And if they were
looking for some place

to take away some
relics that they recovered

from the Temple Mount...

Nothing we found
would rule that out.

The Norse knew
how to leave Europe

to come to North America
and get back again.

The Church was very interested
in the North Atlantic area.

So, we can continue to research

the descendants of
Vikings connection

with Templars
and their evolution,

because this is important
to understanding Oak Island.

At the end of the
day, on what level

can you say to yourself,
"You know what?

The East-to-West connection
is now established"?

LAIRD: I've always
been a big supporter

of the Norse coming
to Nova Scotia.

I think visiting
L'Anse aux Meadows

kind of reinforced that.

What I'm hearing is, it's
harder now for you to argue

they were not here than
to argue that they were.

-Stopped by.
-A-And that's quite a step.

-LAIRD: Yeah. Yeah.
-EMMA: Mm-hmm.

It was a great trip

and we'll process what
we heard here today

while we look for more
evidence on the island.

-LAIRD: Let's go.
-RICK: Thank you.

NARRATOR: Following
the meeting in the w*r room...

STEVE: FN-14 is dead
center in the Golden Egg.

So, there's some hope for today.

TERRY: 89 to 99 is coming up.

-That's our sweet spot, right?
-Yeah.

NARRATOR: ...surveyor
Steve Guptill arrives

in the Money Pit area
to check on the progress

of the core-drilling
operation in borehole FN-14,

a borehole located in
the so-called Golden Egg,

where the team has
detected high-trace evidence

of precious metals between


TERRY: Thank
you. Got a big slice.

Yep.

Clay horizon.

Pretty firm stuff.

CHARLES: Great to
tunnel in, but no tunnel.

Yeah, unfortunately,
we got no structure here.

RICK: Unfortunately, we've
not yet been able to find

some sort of a structure
in the Golden Egg,

but that doesn't mean
we're gonna stop.

The preponderance
of the evidence

suggests that the
treasure could be

somewhere within
this designated area.

So, we persevere and
you just got to keep going.

We're starting to
weed things out,

because once we've drilled them,

we know they can't be
there, so we've X'd them off.

We want to make sure
that there's no place

a treasure chest or a
treasure vault can hide.

Doesn't mean it's
not down there.

-It just means we haven't found it yet.
-Yeah.

TERRY: Not this
one. Maybe next one.

NARRATOR: As members of the team

move forward in
the Money Pit area,

later that afternoon...

RICK: Every time I come
here, it gets a little bit bigger.

NARRATOR: ...on Lot 5, located
on the western side of the island,

Rick Lagina, Doug Crowell
and Emiliano Sacchetti

have arrived to inspect
the stone foundation

near the shoreline
after being alerted

that Laird Niven and
his team have uncovered

even more sections of
the mysterious feature.

You know, we have
some burnt soil.

It appears to be burnt soil

in that test pit, test pit 20,

which we interpreted as
natural, because there has to be

a blacksmith around
here somewhere.

This lot is becoming, uh, more

and more interesting by the day.

EMILIANO: It's a bit too
early to jump to conclusions,

but we have steps going down,

then something that
looks like a-a chamber

or a room.

If it's true, that
whoever came here

in the 13th century
to build Nolan's Cross

was a very religious person,
or a group of individuals.

And they must have had,
uh, a place to worship.

So what if...

uh, it is the apse of a church?

This could've been
a-a ritual place.

The idea that it's a church is
interesting on several levels.

Really amazing.

What we've just got
back are some results.

What we're seeing in the water

is just not naturally
occurring metals.

There's something in
that Golden Egg area.

Excellent.

EMILIANO: This could've
been a ritual place.

Or some place to worship.

The idea that it's a church is
interesting on several levels.

NARRATOR: On
Lot 5 of Oak Island,

researcher Emiliano Sacchetti

has just shared his
theory that the design

of the newly uncovered sections

of the mysterious
circular stone foundation

near the shoreline

suggests it could possibly be

the remains of an
ancient place of worship.

I like Emiliano's
thought, you know.

Are there any
consistent measurements

associated with a
construction from say that era?

The problem with that is

we don't quite
have the north wall...

-Mm. -...and the east wall.

DOUG: And there's so
many strange things, right?

When we first talked
with Professor Gaspani,

we gave him the
coordinates for Nolan's Cross

and we gave him coordinates
for other features around,

just to see if there was
alignments with everything.

The only other significant
alignment he found

was with the center of this pit.

-BOTH: Yeah.
-And he felt that this site

really had something
to do with Nolan's Cross.

-Absolutely.
-Yeah.

NARRATOR: In 2023,

Italian archaeoastronomy expert

Professor Adriano Gaspani
shared his research suggesting

that based on their
historical alignments

with certain stars
in the night sky,

man-made features on Oak Island

such as the megalithic
formation of boulders

known as Nolan's Cross,

the five stone piles on Lot 15,

and the stone foundation on
Lot 5 may have been created

in the 13th century by members

of the Knights Templar.

EMILIANO: I mean, the first
photo I saw about this site was

a pile of stones or whatever.

Look at-- look at it now.

I mean, it evolved
into something

way bigger, way more complex.

-Yeah.
-We should excavate

more in order to see,

because maybe there
are surprises under there.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that Emiliano Sacchetti may be

correct about the origin
of this structure on Lot 5?

If so, would that explain
the lead barter token

that the team found
here two years ago,

which has been
scientifically linked

to the believed Templar cross

that was unearthed
at Smith's Cove

in 2017?

It's incredibly interesting.

It continues to evolve.

I think there's some
answers here, but...

-it's too early yet.
-LAIRD: Yeah.

RICK: You have to keep your
mind open to the possibilities.

Emiliano's opinion that
this structure, perhaps,

is a church, was
quite interesting.

I have always
believed that this was

a concerted effort
by a group or groups,

possibly Templars, to hide
something, safeguard something.

So it supports that theory.

Thus the reason, obviously,
to continue the work here.

You know, the more
you go on digging,

there will be something
interesting coming up.

Yeah, we should probably
go exploring it further.

You're gonna find
something definitive,

but you got to find it first.

LAIRD: Yeah.

ALEX: We'll get back to it.

RICK: Good luck.

NARRATOR: Later
that afternoon...

RICK: Dr. Spooner
and Dr. Michel are here

with the latest water
sample testing results.

NARRATOR: Rick, Marty, Craig
and other members of the team

are meeting to hear
a new scientific report

from Dr. Ian Spooner and
Dr. Fred Michel regarding

their ongoing
ground water testing

in the Baby Blob and Golden Egg,

within the Money Pit area.

So I just want to
make everybody aware

that we did drill

the first "X marks the
spot" in the Golden Egg.

Alex and I were up at
the drill table last week

and at EN-13, right around...


four-feet section there that

was certainly a much softer
area than above and below.

So we might be
close to something

and we don't know what it is.

IAN: Yeah, you
folks have decided

to drill in this area,
'cause it really...

may answer a ton of questions

with respect to why
we're getting this persistent

anomaly of these metals in
what we call the Baby Blob

and the Golden Egg.

And what we've just
got back are some results

from the last week and a half.

For the most part,
most of the wells

showed no evidence
of metals in the water,

except in two wells
that have persisted

in having anomalous amounts.

Those two wells are GN-10.5

and B.5N-11.

STEVE: So they're both on the
north and south end of the Baby Blob.

So we're almost certain
what we're seeing in the water

is just not naturally
occurring metals.

And this is, I think,
an important thing,

is that it's not everywhere
in the Money Pit.

FRED: And if I
can jump in there.

So, there's-there's
certainly a source

that includes silver in the Egg.

IAN: Therein lies our interest

in the area we're
calling the Golden Egg.

We're trying to understand why

the metal anomaly
seems to be in that area.

We believe there has
to be some kind of a shaft

or a tunnel we don't
know about in there

where these metals exist.

MARTY: Wow.

IAN: If there's a tunnel
and a chamber in the area,

there has to be something
or we believe there has to be

something unique in that

-Golden Egg area.
-Good.

NARRATOR: In the
Oak Island w*r room,

Dr. Ian Spooner and
Dr. Fred Michel have just

shared new scientific
data affirming

that the legendary
Money Pit treasure vault

may lie buried somewhere
within the so-called Golden Egg.

A 15-by-30-foot region
where the team's core-drilling

operation has recently
yielded evidence

of a nearby tunnel or structure
some 100 feet underground.

We're glad you're drilling
the Egg, the Golden Egg.

We'll sample water
vigorously as that happens.

Because if we disturb
the source of the anomaly,

it's gonna show up in our wells.

And we're hoping to have
some kind of report soon.

Okay. Hope springs eternal.

[laughter]

Yeah.

Let's hope the Golden
Egg lives up to its name.

Yeah.

-SCOTT: Bingo!
-ALEX: There's wood.

RICK: We found
some evidence that

there were man-made
workings in this area.

-All right.
-That's the last sample.

RICK: We have the high
anomalous metals values,

so I think it warrants,
uh, continuing the dig.

IAN: Okay.

There's certainly
significant interest here,

but at the end of the day,

a theory is only a theory
or a belief is only a belief

till you hold the
proof in your hand.

I'm chasing the
metals in the water.

We started out doing
brute kind of things.

-Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Sorry.
-Yeah, sure.

Good thing my cat-like
reflexes came in handy.

We were schlepping
plywood around in the swamp.

We were digging with
our own hands more.

We still do.

Okay. Are we ready?

We're ready.

MARTY: But we got more
and more sophisticated

by applying technologies
to where we are running

a very scientific
operation right now.

[drill whirring]

Every time we dig,
that data will actually

help us find this treasure.

And, hopefully, we get
to the bottom of it all.

So what I'm hearing
is there's still hope

that we could find the source
of these metals yet this year.

We're doing everything right.

-Yes.
-Excellent.

Okay, well, you have work to do.

I have work to do
right now, so yeah.

Bye, guys.

JACK: Thanks, Dr. Michel.

RICK: All right,
see you, take care.

NARRATOR: For Rick,
Marty, Craig and their team,

another week of diligent
exploration has produced

new, compelling evidence
that a vast treasure

may lie buried in
the Money Pit area.

But as the digging continues,

are they narrowing
in on a discovery

that will change
history as we know it?

Or is the secret that Oak
Island has kept hidden

for more than two centuries

simply too precious to let go?

Next time on The
Curse of Oak Island...

This is the Golden Egg, where
precious metals are coming from.

It could literally be gold.

Could be. We're due for a win.

RICK: The Restalls
were convinced

that they found the flood
tunnel down in Smith's Cove.

If there's something
here, we should find it.

-Cement.
-GARY: Wow, there's a chance we've hit

the flood tunnels?

I did do a CT scan
of the surface image.

-What do you think that is?
-It's related to gold.