13x09 - So Close, Yet Sonar

[bunniefuu]

[narrator] Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island...

- [Katya] Oh, wow.
- [Derek] What is that?

That's exactly like the stakes
we found near the vault.

[Rick] I truly believe there's
still another vault there.

- [Adam M.] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [Terry] There it is,

- the void.
- [Charles] That's right.

Is that natural
or is that an open cavern?

Only a sonar
could tell you that, really.

All right.
Well, that's what we'll do.

Hopefully,
we find the one thing.

Cross your fingers.

- We're in the cavity.
- [Terry] Yeah. You're in.

[Rick] We'd love
nothing better than to see

a man-made cavern or vault.

- [Ken] We've got an opening.
- This is not natural.

[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.

♪ ♪

As a new day begins
on Oak Island...

[Terry] Here we go. BN-13.5.

This is an area that
we really haven't looked at

very much and certainly
haven't been to the bottom

of the solution channel
in very much.

[narrator]
Rick and Marty Lagina

and their team are shifting
their strategy

to look for treasure

more than 200 feet deep
in the Money Pit area.

[Terry] We're right in the heart
of the Peacock.

-[Steve] Yep. -The Peacock
is a real phenomenon.

It's a loose, slushy area

-leading down into
the solution channel. -Yep.

[narrator] They are drilling
a borehole known as BN-13.5,

located 45 feet northeast
from recent drilling locations

and in an area dubbed by
Marty Lagina as "the Peacock."

So, right at 55,
it's like the bottom

dropped right out of her.

[narrator] It was here
where, three years ago,

the team drilled through
heavily slushy material

between 55 and 150 feet deep

before entering
the solution channel

at a depth of nearly


Now, in order to explore another
area of the solution channel,

where new water tests
have revealed more evidence

of precious metals,
the team is once again

drilling down
through the Peacock.

[Steve] The Peacock, it's almost
like the solution channel

sitting on top
of the solution channel.

It's a very low-dense area

of what I'm gonna call, Terry,
a "higher mud river."

We've never really drilled
to the bottom

as much as we should have,
I believe.

[Rick] The Peacock is an area

of significantly
unconsolidated soils.

Terry Matheson,
our resident geologist

can't explain
how that can exist.

There may be a tunnel
or a shaft in close proximity,

which has caused
the soils to destabilize.

But the historical record
does not indicate anyone

being in this area,
i.e. searchers.

So what happened here?

What is the story
and where is the treasure?

I think we're in a really good
area here. I really do.

There's probably multiple number
of holes we could put here.

[Scott] I agree with that 100%.

And you know,
until we actually hold

treasure in our hand,
I'm not willing to rule out

any areas as possible.

[Rick] I totally agree.

[narrator] While the
core drilling operation

continues
in the Money Pit area...

[Katya] Wow.

- Made some good progress.
- Yeah.

[narrator] ...Katya Drayton
and Derek Couch

join Billy Gerhardt
in the southwest corner

of the swamp.

[Billy] All right,
we'll open this up a little bit

to give us room
that maybe you can get down

and detect around a little bit.

So, I'll start over here.

Yep. I'll see where you dump
and then I'll move there.

[narrator] The team
is searching for artifacts

that might help identify
who built a stone formation

uncovered in this area
three weeks ago,

as well as
a possibly related stone road

that was unearthed
several yards to the north.

Both of which were lined
by wooden survey stakes.

[Derek] What is that?

[Katya] Oh, wow.

We've just found another stake.

- Oh, good.
- [Derek] That's quite something.

- [Billy] In place as well.
- Oh, my gosh.

How many sides?

[Katya] Four cuts.

It looks like one side
is unfinished,

but this reminds me
of the five-sided stake

we found earlier.

This has been in here
for a while.

[Billy] And what's most
impressive of that one, is that

this stake was still standing at
a very deep point in the swamp,

so it's exactly
where somebody put it.

There's three feet of stuff
on top of that, right?

- [Katya] Yeah.
- It's cut with purpose.

- [Billy] Yeah. And it's axe-cut.
- [Katya] Mm-hmm.

[Billy] You can see there,
now it's a round pit

down there which is
pretty hard to do with

the square excavator
buckets, so...

As you were digging,
it just kept falling in there.

- Right.
- [Derek] So, it-it does give you

the inclination there's
something down there.

[Billy] Right.
I just pushed my bucket,

and the stuff fell in,
but now, you can really see

the shape of what it was
when it was dug.

So, somebody dug a pit there,
and it wasn't me.

Yeah.

[Billy] Maybe that stake
marked why they dug there.

You know, who and why, right?

Yeah.

[narrator] Could Billy
be correct

that someone previously dug
in this area

and then marked it
with a wooden stake?

If so, could this stake
be an important sign

of what else
the team may uncover here?

Rick told us
to keep an eye out for these,

and we'll definitely have to get
Steve out here to pin this.

I think with
the dating of the wood

and the depth that we had it
when Steve pins it,

that Dr. Spooner
might be able to put

a date on, but that stake
has to go back a long time.

Hopefully, there's more there,
but that is a great start.

Maybe we can find an answer
instead of a question.

Yeah. So, it would be nice
to find some answers.

We'll keep going.

- [Derek] All right.
- [Katya] Yeah.

[narrator] As the dig
in the swamp continues...

[Rick] Gary had done
a complete scan of the Lot 5

spoil piles, and lo and behold,
this item was found.

[narrator] ...Rick and
other members of the team

join Laird Niven
and Emma Culligan in the lab

for a report on a folded
copper coin, or token,

found one week ago in spoils
that were removed

from the round feature on Lot 5.

-You were quite excited
about that. -Yeah.

When it came out,

I'm thinking,
"Oh, it's some kind of, like,

folded coin," I'm hoping.

These are unusual.

I have found these type of finds
in England metal detecting.

And they're normally,
like, talisman

- or...
- Yeah.

[Gary] ...good luck tokens

they put out there, sometimes,

to ward off even bad luck.

But it was good luck for us
because we found it.

- Yeah.
- [Rick] Does it cross

cultural lines
or religious lines?

Meaning one faith might be more
accepting of it? Maybe more...

I mean, Catholicism for sure,
I would think.

It's interesting
because this tradition,

I think the first recorded one
in England

is like 1290.

You fold a coin and pray
to a saint for a miracle.

-And that's how
this all started. -Yeah.

[narrator] The team has found
a number of potentially

religious artifacts
in the round feature,

such as the 14th-century
lead barter token

that may be linked
to the Knights Templar.

They have also found
Venetian trade beads

and two ornate buttons

that could be connected
to the Knights of Malta,

an order with known ties
to the Templars,

who built a stronghold
in Nova Scotia back in 1632.

We need to know from you
what you think it is

and what it represents
and how old it might be.

Okay.

So, for the CT scan,
I guess the main question

that first needs answering
is whether or not

there's any reliefs
or signs that it is a coin,

and immediately, I'm gonna say

there's nothing that
I can really see so far.

I mean,
we can't definitively say

it's a coin,
but if we look at why

coins were traditionally folded,

it needs to have some value

to give literal,

like, weight to the talisman.

So, we can assume it was viable

to somebody at some point.

And then the triple folding

- is quite unusual.
- [Gary] Yeah.

We thought it would be
fairly straightforward.

Yeah, we did.

What does the data tell you
the age of this item is?

So, based on the composition,

it is a copper alloy
with a zinc content.

Zinc being an alloying element.

It's definitively post-medieval

and pre-mid-1800s.

There's the arsenic

and lead content
as an alloying element,

as well, which is from at least

around the time of, like,
Industrial Revolution

of mid-1700s,
potentially earlier.

And then, the arsenic
could push it to the late 1600s.

And then, the arsenic
could push it to the late 1600s.

[Emma] The arsenic
could push it to the



[Gary] The fact that someone

took all that time to fold it
over three times...

[Laird] I mean,
it is significant.

It is a-a meaningful artifact.

[narrator] In the lab, Emma
and Laird have just revealed

that the folded copper artifact

found in the Lot 5 spoils

may hold religious symbolism
and date back

to more than a century before
the discovery of the Money Pit.

[Gary] And sometimes, if there
was disease, they'd put

- a bent-over coin or token...
- Yeah.

- Uh, to ward off the disease.
- Yeah.

[Rick] Somebody went
to some pains to do it then.

Yeah. To me,
it looks quite well done.

Yeah.

We're on an island,
but it's a big province.

Have you ever found anything
like this on digs?

Or know of any
other archaeological

digs where they found
these type of offerings?

Not that I can remember
specifically in Nova Scotia,

from archaeological contexts.

[Gary] Of course,
we're on an island.

Sailors came to the island.

They were all superstitious,
especially in 1700 or 1600s.

[Rick] True.

Oh, there are
a lot of possibilities.

Obviously, the first one is just
preparing for your voyage.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

Coming here from Europe
was not an easy thing.

- Right? Yeah.
- Exactly.

My suspicion
is that's intentional.

- It's folded perfectly.
- [Laird] Yeah.

And maybe-maybe
three folds means

something different
than two folds.

Yeah, our research
hasn't gone that far yet.

Given the enormity of finds

that date to the 1600s,
there are buttons.

Then you have
the trade beads, right?

The dates you're implying
are highly suggestive

of the connection
to the Knights of Malta.

Their attempt to either
create a colony here or

- to do "something else."
- Something else. [chuckles]

[narrator] Given the potential
symbolism of this artifact,

could the team be correct

that it might be related to the
buttons and ornate trade beads

that have been
potentially linked

to the order
of the Knights of Malta?

[Rick] The folded coin is
certainly the first of its kind

on the island,
but it's just a puzzle piece.

How do you connect all of the
artifacts in the Lot 5 feature?

It's starting to build
a body of evidence,

but I think in order
to fully understand

what happened on Lot 5,

there's a lot more work
to be done.

But at some point,
with enough puzzle pieces,

then you can tell
the complete story.

I'd just love to know
what's on the inside.

[Rick] And I'd like to see
the puzzle completed.

[Laird] It's one of those
little, innocuous-looking things

-that has a great story
behind it. -Mm-hmm.

It was good luck
that we found it.

[Rick] I think there's
a lot of information

that we can learn
because of its uniqueness.

-[Laird] Yeah. -Yeah,
and don't forget Sandy Campbell.

- That's good thought.
- Yeah.

[Rick] With Sandy, he's not
just a numismatist,

- he's a historian.
- Yeah.

And he might know the history

- of these coins.
- [Laird] Exactly.

[Rick] So, I look forward
to what we uncover.

Or what we unfold.

[laughter]

- [Rick] Pun intended.
- [laughs] All right.

- All right, see you.
- All right, see you.

- Thank you.
- Buh-bye.

[Derek] Keep your eyes
peeled here.

[narrator] Meanwhile, in the
southwest corner of the swamp,

Katya, Derek and Billy

continue to search
for more artifacts

near the stone formation.

Yeah, Katya, there's a funny
piece in that last bucket.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

[Billy] That's a something
there, yeah.

- [Derek] Piece of planking?
- This is strange.

[Billy] The top looks
maybe cut, but it's...

it's wide and it comes
to a point like a wedge.

- No, it does. Yeah.
- [Billy] Yeah, it's tapered.

So, you know,
somebody spent some time

to-to make it for a very
special purpose, I would say.

[Katya] It's got
a great groove right there,

a bunch of little dents in it.

I'm thinking it might be
an oar or a paddle

just because of the shape.

[Billy] Yeah. They're so close
to the ship's rail, and it...

and maybe we get it tested,
it's some part of the same ship.

If we find more pieces
of the same one,

that would be pretty telling to
what actually went on in here.

Yeah.

[narrator] A possible piece
of an oar?

Could Billy be correct
that it may be related

to the piece of a ship's railing

found just a few yards
to the east back in 2020,

which was carbon dated
to as early as the 7th century?

If so, might all of
the artifacts that the team

is finding in this area
be connected

to the nearby stone feature?

[Billy] I think somebody
will be able to look at that

and look at the taper,
whether it is an oar or wedge

or whatever it is,
doesn't matter.

[Derek] Connect some dots.

Yeah. We'll put this
to the side and...

-Definitely an
interesting piece. -Yep.

[Rick] It's what Marty
says all the time,

"You know,
facts are stubborn things."

Like the ship's railing,
going back into the 600 ADs.

It's very confusing.

And we have data
across the-the board

from, literally, from the 1200s,

uh, right up through, uh, 1750

in the bog with the types
of constructions

that have been found.

[Derek] That looks like
another stake.

Billy, got another stake
right under you.

[Billy] All right.

My hope is that, as the work
continues in the bog,

the gaps in that information
will be filled in.

-[Derek] That is one of those
big round ones. -Whoa.

This is probably one of the
biggest stakes I've ever seen.

We have one, two, three,

four, five, six, seven, eight.

Eight sides.

That reminds me
exactly of the stakes

we found near the vault.

[Derek] Definitely something
going on here.

[narrator] The team
has found dozens

of wooden stakes
across the swamp

that have featured different
numbers of cuts at their points.

But when they uncovered
the empty slate and brick vault

in the northern region
one year ago,

it was after following a trail
of eight-sided cut stakes

that lined a cobblestone path.

Is it possible that
this eight-sided stake

could be connected
to that vault-like feature?

And could it mean another one

that may still contain valuables
is hidden in this area?

It looked like it was about four
feet down in that sand there.

Yeah.

The eight-sided ones
are almost all that same...

that really big circumference.

The more sides that it has...

based on the testing
that we did in the island...

the older that they tend to be.

- Yeah.
- [Billy] Every bucketful now,

we're finding something.

There was a ton
of activity right here.

I'm sure we'll have
a bunch of stuff to take back

to the lab
for everybody to look at.

Well, that's another good find.

[Katya] Well, I'll put it over
there and then we'll keep going.

- Good eye, Derek.
- [Derek] That's cool.

[narrator] As the sun rises
over Oak Island...

[Terry] You ready to rock,
Charles?

[Charles] Yeah. Here we go.

[narrator] ...in the Money Pit
area,

Terry and Charles monitor
the core drilling operation

in borehole BN-13.5 as it

sinks deeper
into the Peacock area.

[Adam M.] Whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.

We've never had
this much fall out.

- [Sooley] No.
- [Adam M.] Yeah.

It's too hard to tell if it's
a void or if it's just

- water gravel.
- [Sooley] Yeah.

Okay, Charles,
it looks like he lost the core.

It's gone out
the end of the core barrel.

[Charles] Okay.

Here's Adam now.

-[Terry] Hey, Adam,
you lost that, right? -Yeah.

- And no recovery? Oh, man.
- No recovery.

We pushed from 148 to 158,

and the rods are sinking
when I run the casing.

They were, they're sinking.

We're in pretty
loose material, obviously.

It's loose. We're right
in the heart of the Peacock.

-[Charles] Yeah. -[Terry]
So, you're just gonna try

and push to 168
to try and get something solid?

- Yeah.
- [Terry] Excellent.

Great stuff. Thanks a lot.

- Good.
- [Terry] Appreciate it.

Interesting to see what
we come up with on this one.

[Charles] We're excited about
this because we're in the area

where we got the gold
and silver in the water.

And you know,
as we're drilling down,

the mud and the muck
is very loose and-and sloppy.

- [Adam M.] Oh, yeah.
- [Charles] Is it loose because

of high activity by humans?

- That looks promising.
- Yeah.

[Charles] Is it possible
that this could be

an opening that was man-made?

If it is, it's something
we didn't know existed.

- Whatever was there, we got it.
- Right on.

[Adam M.] But it got hard
at the bottom.

Very sloppy at the top.
[grunts] Okay.

All right, let's carve this up.

Okay, this is the firm bottom

of this area of the Peacock,
right here.

-Yeah. -And the bottom here
is limestone-rich material.

-It's really only ten feet
of recovery... -[Charles] Yeah.

[Terry] ...for a whole


all the way from 148 to 168.

Definitely,
we've got an effective

water-filled void from
about 148 to 158 below grade.

-Yeah. -[narrator]
A possible ten-foot void

above the solution channel?

If so, is it simply
a natural feature?

Or could it be
a man-made chamber?

- I got to go.
- Okay.

[Terry] What is a surprise
is when we encounter

a relative void,

and you think human activity
in that area.

This is shaping up to be
a really interesting hole.

- Hey, Terry. How's it going?
- [Terry] Steve, how you doing?

Uh, we're loose
from between 148 and 158.

Relatively loose,
washed-out material like

-what you'd expect down inside
the solution channel. -Okay.

[Terry] Relatively high,
but this is possibly a void.

Now, is that natural or is that
an open man-made chamber?

- We don't know. Also...
- Yeah.

We're getting elevated
results for precious metals

associated... uh, copper,
lead, zinc-type of things...

that are associated with
the treasure in the Peacock.

So, yeah, for me,
I've always been a believer

that there's an offset chamber
in the Money Pit.

And if there is an offset
chamber, it makes sense

- it would be in this area.
- Exactly.

[narrator] The Oak Island team
has long suspected that

whoever built the Money Pit,
may have not only buried

treasure at the bottom
of the shaft,

but also constructed a tunnel
away from the main shaft

to hide a cache of treasure
in an offset chamber.

Is it possible
that this theory could explain

the potential ten-foot void that
the team has just encountered



[Terry] So, what we found

was an area with possibly
a water-filled void.

-That's a candidate for a sonar,
don't you think? -I think so.

Adam!

Quick question.

- What's up?
- We had a bit of an open area,

- which I think of as a void.
- Yeah.

Is it a void?

-Only a sonar could tell you
that really. Right? -Yeah.

-All right, well,
that's what we'll do. -Yep.

[Steve] So, if this
proves fruitful,

I can see this being
a caisson location.

Yeah. We're not done
with the Peacock.

[Steve] Yep. Absolutely.

[narrator] As the team
arranges to look deeper

into borehole BN-13.5...

[Rick] I want
to thank you for coming down.

This, when Gary found it,
it was coin-like.

[narrator]
in the research center, Rick

and other members of the team

meet with coin expert
Sandy Campbell...

-It's very peculiar,
again a one-off. -Yeah.

[narrator] ...to have him
examine

the folded copper artifact
that was found on Lot 5.

Never found another one
of these on-on the island.

So, I don't know. I'm hoping
you can help us here.

Okay.

[Sandy] Yeah, this is
extremely interesting.

Uh...

And it is a coin.

Folded three times.

You know, when they first
started folding coins

was early medieval times.

[Laird] It represents a ritual

- that's thousands of years old.
- Yeah.

It was thought that,
when you folded a coin,

you could trap, you know,
the evil inside the coin.

And-and at some point,
when that evil is passed,

if you pass the coin on
or if you buried it,

there was no more risk
to you from that evil.

- Hm.
- And it relates to

Christianity, the Crusades,

you know,
even the Knights Templar.

However, because of
the size of this coin,

it's not likely medieval.

And this is probably


Really?

[Sandy] But I think it still
has the same religious

and spiritual meaning.

[Rick] Fascinating.

This is probably 1600, 1700s.

But I think it still has
the same religious

and spiritual meaning.

- It's an interesting piece.
- Yeah.

[narrator] In the research
center,

Sandy Campbell has confirmed

that the folded artifact found
near the round feature on Lot 5

is indeed a coin,

and may be a 17th century
religious symbol

connected
to the Knights Templar.

Trapping evil. It seems like
a strange ritual, right?

It's a bizarre ritual, but...

you know, copper was really
a show of wealth,

and it was also
a show of strength

- to anybody in medieval times.
- [Rick] Hmm.

So, the only folded coins
you will see from that period,

you're not gonna see
folded silver or gold.

They're always gonna be copper.

- Really?
- [Sandy] Yeah.

Folding of coins
was also a ritual

- to honor saints.
- Hmm.

The Knights Templar,
they-they worshipped both

Saint George and Saint Bernard.

- Yeah.
- And...

there was a ritual
with folded coins,

where you would fold the coin,
trap the evil,

toss it away as a...
an homage to those saints.

- Hmm.
- So...

it's bizarre that you have
this piece on the island.

I guess that ritual
continued into the 1600s.

- Really?
- [Sandy] Yeah.

So, you feel that
this is probably 1600s?

At the earliest.

So, my mind always goes
to Knights of Malta...

Interesting.

Which is one of
our suspects on the island.

That falls right
in that time period.

Mm-hmm.

[narrator] Is it possible

that this folded copper coin
might offer another key clue

that sacred treasures
of the Knights Templar

and the religious order
of the Knights of Malta

may be connected
to the Oak Island mystery?

[Rick] Sandy Campbell's
statement

that the trifold
goes back to medieval times

during the time of the Templars,
it's very curious.

We have proven, in fact,
that the Knights of Malta

had interactions
and even through families

of great importance
with the Templars,

and there was a connection
between the two.

So, there is
a possible tie there.

There's more research
to be done.

It's strange because
there are some, I believe...

Laird, correct me if I'm wrong...
but that feature

-that you've uncovered,
-Mm-hmm.

It's basically east to west,
is it not? Its orientation.

- The long axis.
- [Rick] We know, we know

from the churches we visited
and the historical places

when we went to Europe,

all Templar-associated
buildings and constructions

were east-west orientation.

It-It's interesting, different,
and adds to the mystery.

There's no way to unfold
that coin, physically unfold it?

My initial response is, you-you
folded it to-to capture evil.

- [Sandy] Yeah.
- So, if you back it up,

- you-you release it.
- Yeah, you're on your own there.

-[laughter] -[Sandy] I don't
know what's in there.

[laughter]

You know, it-it's unfortunate

that we can't
learn more about it.

You know, the hope is,
as the work continues on Lot 5,

'cause you're not done,
um, we find others.

And-and hopefully,
they'll be able to tell us

something a little bit more than

-what's currently
in front of us. -Exactly.

So, we thank you
very much for coming down.

- No, I appreciate it.
- [Rick] Appreciate it.

[narrator] After the meeting
in the research center...

[Fiona] I'm really
expecting to find

some good things in here.

Then this really
should be a potential

for a high-traffic area.

[narrator] ...while members
of the team search

for more clues
in the round feature on Lot 5...

- We'll see what today brings.
- [Ethan] Yeah. Let's see.

[narrator] ...Rick and Katya
arrive on Lot 8,

located on the western side
of the island.

- [Katya] All right.
- [Rick] Let's have at 'er.

High five before we start.

- [chuckles]
- [narrator] Two weeks ago...

- [Ethan over radio] Perfect.
- [Steve] All right, Gary,

- here's our first location.
- [Gary] Okay, mate.

[narrator] ...while the team
searched for clues

on a straight line that led away

from a potential 12th-century
marker stone on Lot 5,

Gary and Peter found part
of a possible barrel on Lot 8.

Now, Rick wants to see
if that find

might be related to something
more valuable buried nearby.

[metal detector beeping]

Oh.

[device beeping]

- That's a hit.
- [Rick] It is?

[sustained beep]

- Right there?
- Right there.

[exhales]

[Katya]
It's looking to be iron.

- Let's see.
- [rapid beeping]

[Rick] There you go.

[Katya] Oh.

Look at that.

What is this?

[Rick] I don't know.

Looks like two holes in it
right there.

Yeah.

[Rick] Not heavy enough
to be a tool, though, is it?

[Katya] I think this
might be a knife handle,

'cause there's
another hole down here.

- Oh, really?
- Yeah,

you'd possibly have,
like, another side to this.

- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
- And then you'd have

- the blade starting up there.
- Oh, the... yep. Yep.

You can really see how

both of the holes
are square on each side.

[Rick] Your father
has always said

that square holes imply "older."

- Mm-hmm. Yeah.
- Right?

[Rick] Well, I know one thing.
I'd like to see that

- on a CT scan, right?
- Mm-hmm.

I would definitely
agree with you.

-Well, we'll bag this,
tag it. -Yeah.

-All right. -[Rick] There are
all kinds of questions

about Lot 8.

In this particular location,

there is no data or no record

that people were in this area
doing something

following the discovery
of the Money Pit.

- All right.
- Okey doke.

It's a good start.

So, anything you find,

uh, almost literally anything,

is an important clue

in terms of who might
have been there and when.

[device beeping]

- This one looks good. Yeah.
- Yeah.

- Oh, yeah.
- [sustained beep]

- Right there.
- Two-way repeatable.

- Right?
- Yep.

[Katya] That was
a beautiful plug.

[beeping]

- Oh, yeah.
- Even I know that's a good one.

[rapid beeping]

Now, that
is an interesting piece.

[Rick] What is that?

[Katya] I've never found
one of these before.

- This is a lead bag seal.
- Bag seal, maybe.

This is great.

[narrator] On Lot 8
of Oak Island,

Rick and Katya have made
what could be

an important discovery.

[Katya] This could
possibly be a tail

- coming out of it.
- Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.

That would have been,
probably, from the bag

-or whatever it was
being attached to. -Mm.

[Rick] Yeah, yeah. Your dad
has found other bag seals.

One on 32.

- Mm-hmm.
- One on Lot 5,

down by the ocean,
and yet, here we are...

[chuckles] in the middle
of nowhere...

- Mm.
- You find a bag seal?

[narrator] First developed
in Europe in the 13th century,

bag seals were fasteners
used to secure

large quantities of goods
inside cloth packaging.

The Oak Island team
previously found

one of these items on Lot 5

that was British and could
date back to the 16th century.

However,
they uncovered another one

near the shore on Lot 32

that was a scientific match
to the 14th-century lead cross

which may be connected
to the Knights Templar.

Is it possible
that Rick and Katya

have just found
a similar artifact?

To the best of my knowledge...

- I don't think there was
a homestead here. -Mm.

I just, for the life of me,

I can't understand
why it's here.

Just doesn't make sense to me.

I cannot explain

why this bag seal has been found

almost in the middle
of the lot...

not in proximity
to the open ocean.

Everything prior
to the causeway construction

in 1965,

things would have had
to have come by the sea.

By way of the sea.

So, why it was lost
in the middle of the lot,

I cannot explain.

Look, it's a great find.

I'm more curious about this one

than I am about bag seals
found there and there.

-Really? -Because if it had
something to do

with a work area,

- Mm-hmm.
- Then whatever was inside

- would have been needed here.
- Hmm.

[Katya] I'm really hoping
that Emma and Laird

can find a maker's mark
or moniker on it,

and we could really
trace this back

- to where it came from.
- Yeah.

Let's get it analyzed,

see if there is a maker's mark
or something.

- I agree. Yeah.
- Yeah. Good find.

- Well, congratulations.
- Thank you.

You found something you always
wanted to find. Well done.

- [Rick] It's cool.
- [Katya] Right?

- [Rick] Let's keep looking.
- Yeah. Let's do it.

[narrator] The following
morning...

- [Rick] Let's find something.
- [Craig] Yeah.

[Terry] Oh, hey guys.
How you doing?

- [Rick] Morning. -[Craig] Hello.
- Hey, Craig.

- Rick.
- You about ready?

Yeah. Just about.

[narrator] ...while they wait
for analysis

on the new find from Lot 8,

Rick, Craig
and other members of the team

meet with underwater
imaging expert Ken Deboer

in the Money Pit area

to investigate
the possible ten-foot void

nearly 150 feet deep

in borehole BN-13.5.

We're gonna try
the camera first,

so we can see if we can
get an image down there.

- Sure.
- And then put the sonar down.

Can you explain it, Terry?

Can I explain it geologically?
Not really.

No, I mean, I'm looking
for beams and posts here.

That's what I'm gonna
look for in the pictures,

it's what I'm gonna look for
in the sonar imaging as well.

-Cool. -And-and perhaps, a
little chest over in the corner.

[laughter]

- Cross your fingers.
- [Charles] That would be nice.

- Ken, it's up to you.
- [Scott] No pressure.

-No pressure. -No pressure
at all. -No pressure.

All right.

It's very interesting.
I mean, we're in the area

of high-metal values.

Uh, in my opinion,
this would be an offset chamber.

- Potentially, yes.
- Yeah. That's true.

It's quite interesting,
so I-I'm ready to go.

- [Terry] For sure.
- Let's have a look.

-Let's get the camera
down there, then. -[Rick] Okay.

Let's get at it.

[narrator] Before running
a sonar device

down the borehole,

the team will insert
Ken's high-definition camera

capable of operating
in low-light conditions

with a lens
that he can rotate 360 degrees.

[Steve] I'll take it
to 150 feet,

- so we're into the hole.
- [Charles] Okay.

[Terry] Traveling downward.

-[Scott] And you're touched down
in water. -[Steve] Water.

[Rick] We'd love
nothing better than to see

a man-made cave, cavern, vault.

Anything man-made, really,
at that depth, in that location.

I don't know what to expect,
but I'm very eager

to find out what's down there.

How deep are we, Charles?

You're 32 feet right now.





[Terry] That's close
to the top of the chamber.

- [Scott] 100.
- Okay, hold.

[Terry] Okay,
there's a silt cloud

coming up from around, uh,

looks like
a boulder or something.

Oh, that... oh, could be a beam.

- [Scott] Wow.
- Oh, wow.

[Scott] There's something
in there.

[Terry] Steve, come up, like,

- about an inch or two.
- Okay.

- [Scott] Whoa.
- [Terry] Whoa. That's good.

[Scott] You can make out
almost like

a wall or something
like that there.

When you move away from it...

we go... kind of go
into more an opening here.

[Rick] Really?

[Terry] Now, that's interesting.

[Scott] There's definitely
some sort of opening there.

Yeah, for sure.

[Craig] Yep.

- [Scott] Right there.
- [Ken] Right there.

[Scott] Just staring
into the abyss.

[narrator] In the Money Pit
area,

the Oak Island team
investigates a strange cavity

some 150 feet underground.

Steve, do you want
to just take us up slowly,

- kind of inch by inch?
- Yeah, sure will.

[Steve] Tell me when to stop.

[Scott] Oh, oh.

You see that?

Turn that way.

Hold it there for a second.

[Steve] Okay,
I'm gonna steady it.

[Terry] That looks
like something.

I mean, you see the potential

of having boulders
on top of one another.

But I mean,
just off to the left or right

could be the original
man-made structure,

- holding those boulders out.
- Yeah.

[Scott] If there was a collapsed
offset chamber down there

or a tunnel, I mean,
we're gonna see bare earth.

But it looks like it has depth.

- That's interesting.
- [Ken] Yeah.

[Terry] But we do see
some potential

boulder on boulder again.

We're towards, kind of,
the-the rock-facing wall,

if you will,
side of the borehole.

[narrator] Could Terry
be correct

that the team is looking
into a man-made structure?

If so, could it be connected
to the precious metals

that have been detected
in this area?

If we rotate around this way...

we see we start opening up here,

back into that cavity area
right here.

[Terry] That's just
very surprising.

Is that what you're seeing Ken?

Yes.

[Rick] I'd put the sonar down
and try to define the cavity.

That's a great idea. Yeah.

[Rick] We can actually see
some things,

but it's difficult
to understand scale.

It's difficult to get
a-a real interpretation of

what you're looking at.

So, the next step here
is to introduce the sonar

and see how open

and how big, how wide,
how long this area is.

[Ken] So, what we have here
is a scanning



- Mm-hmm.
- The cable's marked,

so we'll know
where that 150 foot is.

Okey doke.
Keep your fingers crossed.

[narrator] The Blue Robotics
Ping360 sonar device

emits a sound wave that reflects
off of objects and barriers.

- [Steve] We're in water.
- We're in the water.

[narrator] This will produce
full-scale images

of the underground void
or possible cavern.

Show me the money.

So, we're in the cavity
as of right now.

-[Ken] Well, there's
the opening. -[Terry] Yeah.

[Terry] You're in,
you're in. Okay, okay.

- Right there.
- [Charles] Here we go.

[Ken] This darker red line
is the opening.

You can see how rough it is.

And the yellow
is lower density returns

and backscatter caused
by particles in the water.

[Terry] Right.

- Go down just a little more?
- [Steve] Yep.

[Craig] Oh, that's
popped out farther.

Is that an opening now?

It looks like around the hard
return, we've got an opening.

Oh, two directions, too.

- [Rick] Oh, yeah?
- [Terry] Looks like it's open.

[Craig] Wow.

[Ken] To me,
this looks very linear,

like, with an opening here.

So, it's two feet
from side to side right now.

[Charles] If this is
not natural,

it could have been a larger
cavity that has collapsed

- around it, so...
- Mm-hmm. -True.

I mean, the...
just out to the left or right,

we might encounter
what we're hoping for.

Yeah.

[Rick] This hole
shouldn't be open.

There's no reason for that.

Geologically,
there's no reason for that.

We found gold
in the water in the area.

Right.

[Craig] It's open down there.

There's no reason
for it to be open,

uh, unless man was down there
doing something.

We have precious metals
and high silver

in the Peacock,

and greater depths
in the solution channel.

We've always speculated
that there was more than,

call it an offset chamber
or multiple vaults.

Maybe we've just found
one of them.

This is a priority target.

Now that we have video,
let's contact ProHawk,

a company that enhances video,
to, uh, have it analyzed.

We will incrementally
pursue this because

-we're trying to find
the treasure, right? -Yeah.

There's every indication
here that that could be

in this specific area.

Yep. We have a few more holes
to drill in this area.

- Good deal.
- [Rick] Okay.

- Right on.
- Let's make it so.

[narrator] The more Rick,
Marty, Craig and their team dig,

the deeper this


After making intriguing
new discoveries on Lot 8

and in the swamp,

has the team finally located
a treasure vault


in the Money Pit area?

But if so,
is that the only place

where Oak Island is hiding
its most precious secrets?

Next time
on The Curse of Oak Island...

- I got a signal.
- Aha!

What have we got here?

I recognize this seal.

So, it could date to the 1300s.

That large boulder
looks intriguing.

[Fiona] We've uncovered
a big void right there.

[Rick] What is underneath
that boulder?

We put cameras in BN-13.5.

[Bob Brown] What we found
suggests

- human origin.
- [Jack] It really seems like

- it's depositor.
- Wow.