02x02 - Return To The Money Pit

[bunniefuu]

previously on the curse of Oak Island

the hell is that it's a Spanish maravedi

there is some sort of date 1652 we have

an indication that we have a hard target

we can't get in there and dig it rent a

friggin block you won't believe this

bill becomes law the province would call

dibs on some discoveries made it okay so

this could also impact your permits

so the meantime let's go and do a little

exploration at the money pit there is an

island in the North Atlantic where men

have been looking for treasure for more

than 200 years so far they have

uncovered tunnels booby-traps

carved stones with strange symbols even

a 17th century pirate treasure coin six

men have even lost their lives trying to

solve the mystery

according to legend one more will have

to die before the treasure can be found

you know people

the deeper they get before they hit a

boulder better it's a tubers I'm where

one starts bouncing England bubbles

long he's going down it's going down

solitaire

brothers Rick and Marty lagina are about

to take on oak islands most difficult

and potentially costly challenge they've

decided to locate and hopefully excavate

the world's most notorious treasure

vault the money pit that is if they can

find it we're trying to find a clue that

leads us to the actual money pit so

we're gonna drill it we're gonna core it

we're gonna have a look and see if we

can get some evidence since its

discovery in 1795 the money pit has been

thought to be a hiding place for

everything from pirate treasure to the

Ark of the Covenant and even the Holy

Grail it is protected by booby traps and

a curse that warns seven men must die in

pursuit of the treasure before it can be

found

for the laginas and their partners

finding the money pit will literally be

like looking for a needle in a haystack

although they know the general location

of the original treasure shaft centuries

of digging drilling and even dynamiting

have left the precise spot virtually

lost to time

for this reason they will have to drill

a series of test holes using a rig

designed for this very purpose first

after reaching a target depth of

approximately 140 feet a steel casing

will be inserted into the hole to keep

it from collapsing then a two-foot-long

hollow coring bit will extract a sample

of earth

and any other objects present if the

coin bit can retrieve any wood planking

or other artifacts that can be dated to

before 1795 then the laginas and their

team will have found the money pit

this is kind of a bad sign what the hell

is the deal

hey guys why the quiet we hit something

down there

yeah girls steal in advance yeah

no fun for about 20 minutes on it and it

didn't budge Oh deep are you that's 53

feet from that grade right there and it

was good rolling and then it just

stopped there really isn't a decision

here right you got to come on

I can't advance I mean that was 25

minutes there and it didn't budge so

yeah okay yeah typical of Oak Island

experience it started off great we think

we have the perfect spot and then 53

feet bit plugs up don't know what the

problem is

typical Oak Island why do people think

that what lies buried on Oak Island can

be found at a depth of 140 feet

in 1804 Daniel McInnis one of the three

young men who had discovered the monk

pit nine years earlier was a part of the

search team that was able to reach a

depth of 90 feet when they suddenly

encountered a strange flat stone

embedded in oak planking upon removing

it they noticed that the stone was

etched with an elaborate series of

shapes and symbols suddenly the 90-foot

shaft began to fill with seawater as if

some kind of booby trap had been sprung

efforts to continue digging ground to a

halt and the search for treasure on Oak

Island was abandoned at least for a

while in the mid 1800s area college

professor James Lee sh-t is reported to

have used a simple deciphering system to

translate the markings found on the

mysterious stone slab it read forty feet

below two million pounds are buried

but if translating the stone was

relatively easy reaching the bottom of

the shaft has so far proved to be

impossible

she was chewing on something only that

phone that oh there you go I think you

hit some wood and she's back in your

production area complicating Rick and

Marty's efforts to find the location of

the original money pit is the enormous

amount of debris left behind by

generations of Past treasure hunters all

had tried to reach the underground

treasure vault by digging a number of

wooden shafts and tunnels in hopes of

avoiding the booby traps it didn't work

there are 44 shafts dug in around this

area all those were backfilled and you

can picture the nails and the wood and

the detritus from people digging so

really it was sort of predictable we'd

have trouble yeah there we go that's

what got you you know I think it's a

combination of granite and wood in

between the two of them to come you up

would it be exciting that we hit wood it

would be if we knew who were in the

original Money pit shaft yes I think we

give her another fight ironically even

if the laginas and their partners do

successfully locate the original money

pit there's still no guarantee that

anything of value actually lies buried

there ever since the money pit was first

discovered in 1795 only a 17th century

Spanish coin fragments of what appeared

to be a gold chain a tiny piece of paper

and a few antique tools have ever been

documented as being found at or near the

so-called treasure site

broke Island has always been a financial

risk/reward problem if we knew there was

a dollar and the money it would we risk

50 cents to go get it yes but we don't

know there's a dollar in the money pit

so why have the laginas and their

partners spent millions of dollars

chasing a dream and why are they willing

to risk millions more to excavate the

original money pit in 1897 at a depth of

approximately 140 feet a team of men

drilling at the site found evidence of

what appeared to be a cement-covered

vault and in it is something described

as loose metal pieces could this have

been the actual treasure vault the one

which according to the coded message was

filled with two million pounds worth of

gold unfortunately the treasure hunters

never did find out

while drilling another hole seawater

once again flooded the shaft and from

that point on reaching the mysterious

concrete vault and avoiding the booby

traps has been long thought to be

impossible

she could take a walk Upton but now it

is the laginas turn and they-- and their

partners-- are determined to succeed do

you understand the meaning of that movie

Carrie

[Music]

coming up you hit a lot of this there's

no way of pulling your foot we have a

film not many people have seen we're

looking for a simple an eight-sided star

see that there

[Music]

okay that's exact same spot jack stain

Rick Marty and their partner craig

tester find themselves at a standstill

while trying to locate the original Oak

Island money pit the drill is stopped at

53 feet unable to advance through the

more than 200 years of debris left

behind by past searches Dan's coming out

you want to go talk to him sure what he

thinks yeah

dan Blankenship has been living on Oak

Island and searching for its treasure

for nearly half a century yeah he is

perhaps the only man in the world who

knows every inch of this 140-acre

landmass both above ground and below

love the wood yeah that's what's coming

up from the core of the Chappell shaft I

did you smell it

of all the abandoned treasure shafts dug

since 1795 only two are believed to have

come closest to reaching the original

money pit the Chappell shaft dug in 1931

and the Hedden shaft dug in 1937 if the

team has excessively located one of

these long-abandoned shafts

it means they could be very close to

finding the original money pit shaft for

Chappell shaft that's spruce and that's

what Chappell who was using was spruce a

lot of this there's no way of going

through it in my opinion you're not

gonna get nothing there that's for sure

as soon as I saw where he was drilling I

mean I thought they were gonna put the

hole in the northwest corner if you want

to try and get in between the Chappell

shaft and the Hedden shaft I would move

back maybe four feet and that way at

least six feet well then I say we need

you go with his experience rather than

our calculations yeah

[Applause]

about time we brought the brains out

here as far as Dan's participation and

all this we're fools really not to

engage with him at every step

because he has almost 50 years of

experience and sometimes we get sold off

focus that we go to books we go to

archival information we've got a living

archive rating pharmacist and sometimes

we just plain forget

with Dan Blankenship's help the team

chooses its next drill site but it is

not without risk hitting rocks metal

objects or other buried debris could

severely damage their drilling equipment

and force a setback both in time and

money

okay here we go again welcome to okay

ever

while drilling continues in the area of

the money pit Rick Marty and the team

assemble in what they call the w*r room

they are meeting with Paul Troutman

whose father James had worked alongside

dan Blankenship in the mid-1960s their

importer was one of the most determined

of all the Oak Island treasure hunters

Robert Dunfield so your father was a

partner in the deal my dad was here in

1965 and he met you as well as Robert

Dunfield as one-third partner in

exploring Oak Island how did you father

get interested in the island how he

became interested was through an article

which most people have senior digest

yeah Reader's Digest Dan remembers that

this article is amazing because it is

tied you my father and you as well as

Dunfield all to the islands on January

29th 1965 a few weeks after the

publication of the article about Oak

Island in The Reader's Digest treasure

hunter Robert Restall published an

article in the Hamilton Ontario

spectator entitled the riddle of Oak

Island the 59 year old motorcycle

daredevil indicated that he was just

weeks away from solving the Oak Island

mystery

the article attracted the attention of

robert dunfield a california geologist

who was eager to invest $5,000 in

restall's activities but on August 17th

tragedy struck when Robert rest all

along with his son and two others died

after being overcome by toxic h2s gas

emanating from a treasure shaft not

willing to lose his investment Robert

Dunfield quickly took over the Restall

contract and during the next year

oversaw an aggressive series of

drillings and excavations we have a film

that my dad took in 1965 I'd like to

show this to you not many people have

seen this film okay oh it's in color yes

it is a color film where are we right

here we're near the money pit you can

already see some of the destruction that

happens dirt being moved around

everywhere

Robert dunfield's approach to getting to

the bottom of the money pit would prove

to be the most controversial in the

islands history

he bulldozed Smith's Cove trying to

cover the flood entrances he dug the

money pit out to 100 feet wide and more

than 100 feet deep

in process many of oak islands landmarks

along with what are now believed to be

precious clues were destroyed

watching Paul Chapman's movie of his

father's time on Oak Island you're

watching history come alive

it looks radically different than it

looks right now

Robert dunfield's strategy not only

proved to be destructive it was also

hugely unsuccessful on January 1st 1966

the massive hole dug at the site of the

money pit collapsed due to flooding

after running out of both money and time

the geologists turned treasure hunter

left the island in April 1966 never to

return

I should tell you this here your dad

would substantiate it

Dunfield made a hell of a lot more

enemies that he made friends yes he did

I get it I can just see the mentality it

would be I'm going to find it doing this

so none of this stuff matters well then

he didn't find it in the clues mattered

but they were gone yeah exactly yeah

everybody who's had possession of this

island moves the throne he just came in

on a massive scale I don't think there's

any blame being associated just doesn't

make our job and easier meeting with

Paul Troutman and seeing his father's

incredible home movies has helped

validate many of the stories Rick and

Marty have heard about Oak Island this

is my father and he's actually going to

be pointing at something which is kind

of interesting something that they had

uncovered here which you'll see here in

a minute that little piece of wood that

you're if your dad took a picture over

the one Valley he did it for a reason I

know he did and he stood in front of the

camera at the point where it was there

pointing to things that we no longer

have access to they were holding in

their hands a wooden piece of a

structure that had dovetails on both

ends that looked like it had numerals

engraved in it what was it what was it

used for where was it found at what

deaths so much information lost

coming up it's been spinning and it's

just not proceeding it's not advancing

when he's stopping the drilling you

think it's a new day on Oak Island and

at the money pit area Rick lagina and

Craig tester are still trying to locate

the original 18th century treasure shaft

right hey did the new bid arrive we got

her this morning yeah sit on the end

there today they're planning to use a

stronger drill bed one designed to cut

through layers of rocky soil roots and

other debris as one of Rick and Marty's

business partners Craig tester brings to

the island decades of experience as an

engineer in the energy business I think

this will run through it without any

problem I'm more concerned about being

able advance that casing any further I

can strictly put down my smaller stuff

okay he is known to be highly successful

at finding and retrieving valuable

minerals and other substances deep

underground but even for him

Oak Island represents a daunting

challenge we're drilling down to try to

find a part of the original money pit we

don't know exactly where it's at because

over the years there's been multiple

shafts and they caved in on each other

that's very frustrating

hopefully this new bit will lead the way

and we can get down to the one hundred

and thirty five hundred and forty foot

level and start bringing up samples

blood samples these sounds bring up some

gold

we get thirty more feet we should be in

somewhat virgin ground and then we won't

be dealing with these obstructions

ultimately what we want to see is the

vault or something man-made below 135

feet

meanwhile at new by Smith's Cove Rick

and Marty's nephew Peter Fornetti

along with veteran Oak Island treasure

hunter dan henskee join author and metal

detector expert Gary Drayton for a day

of looking for potentially significant

artifacts

that's either my finger we'll try this

rocky area okay a professional treasure

hunter for more than 20 years Gary

Drayton has been invited to Oak Island

to search for evidence of human activity

that predates the discovery of the money

pit in 1795 that's a live signal using

the CTX 3030 metal detector which can

discriminate between ferrous and

non-ferrous metals Gary will try to

identify not only metal artifacts but

who would have brought them here and

what those persons might have been doing

on Oak Island in the first place

Gary is an impeccable hunter of coins

he's highly respected in that field and

he's provided results I'll be getting

close there's an old saying that

treasure runs from the Seekers maybe

these Queens travel a bit as well

I like detecting the waters edge yeah

that's a good signal

well Sabu

so looks like an old button as well

yeah seen this done Wow yeah that's an

old book no about I can imagine that on

a uniform maybe of soldiers uniform

that's a flatboat that's one two

seventeen hundred's you know an old

military button

but what kind some have speculated that

the money pet was actually constructed

in the late 1600s by the English captain

Sir William Fitz to hide a vast cache of

gold silver and Chinese porcelain from

the wreck of the Spanish treasure ship

to concepción

are you gonna keep hold of that yeah

keep it's antastic oh sweet

hey Ryan good news right not the news

that I like to carry it's been spinning

and it's just an operating it's not

advancing in how deep did you get with

the casein 105 feet as the day wears on

Rick lagina and Craig tester have still

not been able to get a drill bit to

reach the desired depth of 140 feet

every hole they drill cost thousands of

dollars and if they don't make progress

soon they may be forced to abandon the

project altogether please please tell me

some good news Craig the Sun is out it's

not raining that's good news okay and

we're out of good news after that you

got a core no no oh you mean no casing

hung up at 105 what is stopping the

drilling you think it's debris mixed

debris if I had to diagnose the problem

I'd say this rig doesn't have enough

pump for rubble the only thing it can be

you know I get a junk over the hole and

that's not your fault it's just not

enough pump that little coring rig is

designed for a specific application and

if you don't remove the material you're

grinding up you can't make progress

now you're just mulching it and REE

mulch it I think that's what was

happening Craig we are not gonna give up

in our own field of expertise I mean I

understand you get you guys aren't gonna

make it with this rig but goldang it

lets get a bigger rig in here I'm

getting tired of this island kicker but

you know what let's bring in the

horsepower and do it I'm getting

irritated although they are just 35 feet

short of reaching their target death

Rick and Marty are forced to suspend the

day's operation the drill rig they're

using is just not powerful enough to cut

through nearly two centuries of rock

rotted wood and man-made debris a new

one will have to be brought in but that

could cause a delay of several days once

again Oak Island has claimed a temporary

victory over those who would dare to

discover its most highly guarded secrets

oh I'd say I'm discouraged here today

the old saying you know sometimes you

eat the bear sometimes the bear eats you

I'm feeling sort of like bear poop today

but we're not gonna give up we're gonna

keep after this thing

coming up second say oh we have located

a symbol that directly connects King

Solomon's
this is an interesting area

Wien tribe that yeah sure

leaving Smith's Cove peter fornetti dan

henskee and gary drayton continue their

search for evidence in a wooded area

just a stone's throw from the money pit

site and a good feeling about is because

it's close to the money pit if anyone's

gonna be working on the money pit I'm

sure they're gonna be camped out in this

area if Gary's hunch is correct then the

team may be able to find a connection

between the items found at the site and

the people who dug elaborate shaft more

than two hundred years ago

Oh

I like that sound yeah

what I'll do is I'll cut a plug and then

make it easier

one very deep on the gays

oh well I think I can see it

Oh oh wow that's crazy

looks a lot like penny-size doesn't it

yeah that's probably it's just some

little squiggly it's not a perfect

circle which is good it might be a Ameri

VV hmm it's the size of a two maravedi

yeah that's a beauty it's an old Spanish

poplar coin if Gary Drayton is correct

the unearthing of another 17th century

Spanish coin would be a huge discovery

not only would it add even more

convincing evidence that Spanish

explorers did in fact visit Oak Island

in the 1600s it would suggest that what

lies at the bottom of the Oak Island

money pit may very well be a pirate

treasure

so gentlemen you are the treasure force

guys right welcome to Oak Island after a

long day of work and exploration Marty

and Rick lagina gather their team at the

fo'c'sle Tavern in nearby Chester to

review the day's findings and joining

them are professional treasure hunters J

Hutton Pulitzer and his cousin Aubrey

Raiford they have been invited to share

what they claim is evidence of yet

another incredible theory the world's

longest treasure hunt you're not part of

it and of course you've heard about the

seven guys right they told you about

that didn't it we drew strong
you guys

are in the same business we are but you

bring some stuff that maybe we don't

have one of things we've got Gary

working on is is doing he's a you know

world-class metal detector he can run

that gizmo over stuff and decide whether

it's nails or something better so he's

been scouring the island didn't yeah

we've had a pretty good stuff

in fact amazing start for the first day

we walk into the woods and the first

signal was this it's probably a two

maravedi

Wow yeah I find that actually super

significant because we were wondering

about the first one but now you have to

I mean you have to start thinking

yeah II need can we clean it up give it

yeah we get a date I'll call ya and you

can see the symbols typical symbols and

some Roman numerals then on the other

side just normally a crown Wow you said

you're here for several days right yeah

I'm expecting more so you're sure that

some of the things you found predate the

beginning of the treasure hunt itself

yes we have located a symbol and Nova

Scotia that we believe a hundred percent

has to do with al-qaeda more importantly

this symbol directly connects to the

transportation of what would have been

coming out of King Solomon's Temple when

it was sacked

King Solomon's Temple the original

Hebrew temple built in Jerusalem nearly

3,000 years ago which housed a golden

chest called the Ark of the Covenant

that contained the original Ten

Commandments according to most scholars

the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar

invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the

Temple of Solomon sometime around 597 BC

but if as Hutton Pulitzer suggests

precious objects from the temple were

rescued as early as the fifth century BC

who could have done it and how did these

objects find their way to a remote

island in the North Atlantic

I'm going to show you a symbol that

uniquely ties back to the Holy Land if

the symbol is correct along with this

symbol will be a language that should

not exist in stone writing in Nova

Scotia and it directly ties to the

island

that would be very exciting something

historically significant in a big way we

want to unravel this thing we want

unravel this mystery so let's move

forward let's figure it out here's the

figure you know Cheers their treasure

coming up we're looking for a symbol

about the size of a dinner plate see

that there that's what we're looking for

there's the connection and why we think

this is important to Oak Island

as they wait for a new drill rig to

arrive Rick Marty and their partner

Craig tester have agreed to take a brief

trip off-island with J Hutton Pulitzer

and his cousin Aubrey Raiford they are

going to look at physical evidence that

supports Pulitzers incredible theory

that what lies on Oak Island may very

well connect to the legendary treasures

of King Solomon's Temple we've heard

rumors of a particular glyph carved in

stone that's right here not too far from

Oak Island now you know that the native

people here in Nineveh they consider

their most ancient symbol which they say

this is the symbol for people in 1983

strange stone carvings or petroglyphs

were discovered at a rock outcropping in

the area known as the Bedford Barrens

some 40 miles northeast of Oak Island on

land claimed by the native Mi'kmaq

tribes people as the first known native

inhabitants of North America's

northeastern region the Mi'kmaq people

had their first recorded contact with

Europeans in the 15th century but recent

evidence suggests that significant

contact with them may have occurred

hundreds and perhaps thousands of years

earlier I think we're gonna be able to

tell you the who the when and the where

and because of what we have we have a

very strong indication as to the what

geez Rick that's your big speech right

there all the time

the

the what the where the when the why the

why and the how of what happened on Oak

Island that's what drives me that's only

you reason ascribe news cases we'll need

the laptop from the black case with the

silver scanner in it what do you have to

do we're gonna take full spectrum

photography of it and then we're gonna

lift it off the rocks in 3d and model it

if our understanding and research is

right we're all gonna be collectively

looking for us a symbol that should be

about the size of a dinner plate okay

let's go

I try and go into everything with an

open mind obviously Hutton has done an

enormous amount of research on the

island so I went into the sort of little

quest with an open mind you want to

believe but no khylin it's not that easy

of a nut to crack

pardon the pun you know it's a pretty

tough ACORN and I don't know that he has

all the answers at least not yet there's

something here okay okay okay give me

the space g*ng hang on see that there

you know that's what we're looking for

okay you can definitely deal it's

irregular man are you serious look at

that nothing like that I don't really

know I've not seen anything if we're

right and this is what we believe it is

and if it's tied to the people we

believe it is I can connect every single

dot here for you

so Isaiah pentagram looks like a

pentagram well we've got one two three

four five six seven eight points

surrounded Center gather me some water

real quick

can you give that a pump or two there

mr. tester let's go

spring it lightly all the way around wet

it down see how it starts to reveal

there you go

so you've got one two three four one two

three four

the nickimja in their culture they claim

this is their oldest petroglyph but it's

interesting because this eight-sided

Star comes from what used to be part of

the Holy Land

that's quite significant

this eight-sided Star comes from what

used to be part of the Holy Land author

and professional treasure hunter J

Hutton Pulitzer has just shown Marty and

Rick a strange rock carving of an

eight-pointed star although it is

believed to predate the indigenous

Mi'kmaq people by centuries the design

has also been found at various ancient

sites throughout the Middle East but if

this unique symbol wasn't carved by a

member of the MiG Monde nation who

carved it and how long ago this is

distinctly an ancient Biblical land

symbol here's what's really interesting

you've got cross cross cross cross cross

cross see it yeah what would make me

impressed is that this wasn't carved by

somebody fifty years ago

no sir but we have to know that yes yeah

okay here's what I'm gonna do I want to

scan this and show you it in 3d let's

get one here what about maybe one here

the 3d scanner works by projecting a

coded light pattern onto the petroglyph

which conforms to every groove and

marking in the rock it then scans the

pattern like a barcode creating a

real-time 3d model of the scanned

surface on a computer screen

so what I'm doing here is this is

actually scanning the rock face we're

basically painting the rock botton has

the most interesting gizmos what a great

thing to be able to scan an inscription

and then turn it to the inverse and flip

it around and manipulate it here's what

we think this particular glyph is

important to oak island now think of the

stone at 90 feet C's boxes dots angles

the symbology or the language on the

stone at 90 feet matches the origins of

the eight-sided star all right look if

the symbols really are from an ancient

language and that's verifiable he has to

be a monumental coincidence that

somebody just picked them at random I

can't believe that could it be that the

inscription on the mysterious stone slab

wasn't encode at all but in an ancient

language as J Hutton Pulitzer is

suggesting

and could that language when translated

connect Oak Island to the lost treasures

of the temple of King Solomon perhaps

even the Ark of the Covenant Rick

impressed not impressed they're just

going to the petroglyphs with Hutton was

pretty impressive our whole deal since

we first came here was look we don't

know everything you know new research

new involvement new ideas always welcome

we've got a few more things we want to

wrap up send the data we collected today

let's send it back to our research team

let's correlate it and then let me just

present it to you in a linear fashion

point by point by point and we'll

connect the dots for me I love that idea

let's do it let's go

he is kind of a mix of me and Rick and

me certainly got Rick's passion and

belief no he's he's just convinced as

Rick is that there's something

historically significant here and I

guess he's like me in the sense that he

wants to make sure we apply all the

science we can

this week Rick Marty and the other

members of their team believe they have

made good progress in just the past few

days they found what they believe to be

another 17th century Spanish coin one

that might validate ancient legends

about pirates burying treasure on the

island they also have just seen an

ancient carving one that could connect

Oak Island to the lost treasures of King

Solomon's Temple possibly even the Ark

of the Covenant and regardless of the

setbacks the team is still determined to

locate and investigate the islands most

carefully guarded secret the money pit

but when they find it will it contain

precious religious objects 17th century

pirate treasure

or will it be something even more

extraordinary for now they are content

with simply solving the mystery and

avoiding the curse that is so far

claimed six lives
next time on the curse

of Oak Island we're talking about a

voyage traveling from the Holy Land to

Nova Scotia Oh year 596 BC we need to

get down to the money pit this rig will

get down on it there are inherent

dangers this is a British coin a 1770

wall bring us back tomorrow that's a

gold baby

you never rewrite history