03x01 - The Hole Truth

Episode transcripts for the TV show "The Curse of Oak Island". Aired: January 5, 2014 to present.*
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Follows brothers Marty and Rick as they search for the infamous treasure on Oak Island.
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03x01 - The Hole Truth

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it is another year on Oak Island one
that marks a significant milestone for

brothers Rick and Marty lagina and

members of their team because after 50

years of dreaming there we are and a

decade of researching

and processing information it is now

finally the time to dig that's a nice

machine right there

but where and how deep aren't just two

of the questions they will be facing

let's try give one little pull there and

the way you go

because hundreds of others have come

before them and all have failed or died

trying there's been generation after

generation involved in this search and

now it's come to us

looking at all that equipment I have to

admit it's exciting to think you're

digging on Oak Island how can it not be

exciting if you can't get excited leave

you're hoping you're anticipating I can

dig for right here I'm saying I'm ready

to go and then as that first show

hopeful proceeds you want there to be

something when that bucket tips

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 bits of

gold chain a stone slab with strange

symbols carved into it even a 17th

century Spanish coin today 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

[Music]

okay Big Brother well we're coming into

western shore and true to form we have

nasty nasty weather focus on the

positive positive is we're back we're

back we're back

it's an interesting year it's 50 years

since we've read the article is it 50

years ago fears hard to believe it was

50 years ago in 1965 that an article

detailing the legend of the Oak Island

money pit appeared in the January issue

of Reader's Digest it was this simple

five-page article that inflamed the

imagination of an 11 year old boy named

Rick lagina who along with his younger

brother marty was growing up in

Michigan's Upper Peninsula it was also

this same article that caught the

attention of a florida-based contractor

named dan Blankenship Blankenship soon

after moved to Oak Island with his wife

and has spent the past 50 years of his

life obsessed with finding a treasure

here this is a special year look you

know we're at the brink we've just got

the most important data know that Oak

Island is seen in 50 years yeah

and that's what's cool

last year Rick and Marty trying to send

two divers down to the bottom of the

235-foot treasure shaft known as 10x

only to hit a dead end
using scanning

sonar they mapped an underground cavern

that dan Blankenship first discovered

when he dug 10x more than 40 years ago

this is by the lift damn hole they even

gathered data that suggested that Dan's

claims of scene of vertical post

man-made tools and wooden chests might

very well be true

we're almost Eric here's the Cosway

the overriding theme this year is to

cross a few of the more substantive

possibilities off the list

the swamp the money pit 10-x it's time

for us to get some answers let's get to

the bottom of 10-x once and for all

to get to the bottom of 10-x Marty and

Rick have decided on a bold and

potentially dangerous plan they will

send a diver down 181 feet and then

another 44 feet through a narrow 27-inch

hole to what their research has revealed

could be a large underground treasure

chamber but first they will have to

clear decades of rusted pipes including

a badly corroded 10-foot riser pipe the

pipe was originally put there in order

to pump water and hopefully precious

artifacts out of the shaft but now it is

a dangerous obstruction to anyone

attempting to dive

to remove the riser pipe the brothers

will need to descend more than 40 feet

down the possibly unstable

eight-foot-wide portion of the hole OD I

was going you're gonna take care of us

right here in good hands that's what I

wanted to hear right there

we get a little trepidation Parminder

I'm in a suit or a harness and I'm a

human being going down there you know

it's a death trap in there of pipes and

ropes and ladders and rusty stuff

there's a certain degree of danger to

those things here's the deal

you watch him one point of contact one

point of direction whatever he tells you

to do do and that's as simple as that

okay let's go for right my brother and I

started this together and it's nice when

we do things on site together and he

wanted to go down and I was grateful

for Marty this is his first experience

inside the 235 foot deep borehole gone

down

Terrax here we come although the first

181 feet was reinforced with both steel

and concrete to keep it from collapsing

under the enormous pressure

this is Oregon's after 40 years of harsh

weather and churning saltwater tides the

metal casing has become rusted and could

very well be unstable when this cord

10 feet we get down in the shaft and we

each had a different interpretation he

looked at it kind of like a science guy

studying the engineering of it what is

that and I was being a little bit of a

dreamer thinking my gosh they built it

on faith believing there was something

down below going down

you keep an eye on the riser you know

what a setup

oh why wouldn't I get it this thing like

going it we're strapped to it

and k*ll us to be good on in drone

before cutting the rusted pipe Rick and

Marty must first secure it with Rome

that has been tied to the platform by

dave blankenship at the surface this

will ensure that the column of corroded

steel doesn't fall down the shaft and

create an even bigger obstacle later on

what are we gonna get on to get down

there in that gap give it how are we

gonna get done Rick's leaning over the

basket and ever since we've been kids

he's always been more of a risk-taker

than I am truth is I didn't even think

about there you go

what are you planning on doing outside

that bucket

Bobby isn't the safest thing don't do it

the back of the pockets on

alright are you alright Rick lagina has

just had a close call while working

inside borehole 10-x my hardest

got me the ankle removing the corroded

riser pipe is more difficult and

dangerous than either Rick or Marty

expected even though it is 8 feet wide

the 10x shaft is cramped and the

possibility that the rusted metal casing

could collapse is very real sure all

right get back in there with the old

rusted drill pipe securely tied to the

platform Rick and Marty will cut off a

large section obstructing the shaft this

should allow future divers to be able to

maneuver safely during their narrow

235-foot descent down 10x

even though we had it secured by the

rope I was concerned because that pipe

was so rusty and junky that when we cut

it they could completely fall apart

those ready to come out now

success really

now that the potential obstruction has

been caught the team has the difficult

task of figuring out how to safely hoist

hundreds of pounds of rusted steel out

of 10x

are you gonna hook on dude hook it right

here if we can hold it but we're going

to pull this rally-ho

now we can help Gus into here but yeah

but then you're gonna use them full of

railing off that I'm gonna do here is

the problem when we tied off at the

surface we realized that we had to get

the rope off in order to lift the pipe

up and to do that we had to get slack in

it

I can pull it up you can yeah yeah I can

pull it up you got a robber Rick if you

have to do in there to do it yeah I got

I'll have some here soon ropeburn

you know what if you fall in there

you're gonna die don't little quit

everything we do think I would do

something together this blood wait a sec

why don't you sit over there

let's do this

was it heavy yeah it was happy but I

just had enough to get then the slack so

they could hook on to the crane

Oh

after a
day of hard work and a few close

calls the Oak Island team has finally

managed to remove one of the

deteriorating riser pipes from 10x

lovely but the pipe is just the first of

many that will have to be extracted

before Rick and Marty will declare the

235-foot deep borehole save enough for

another attempted dive hey big brother

one small victory one very tiny victory

but we won good way to end the day

anyway

it is morning on Oak Island a time when

results are processed questions are

raised and new information is considered

okay today Rick Marty and their partners

have agreed to meet with father-son

treasure hunters Robert and Bob Leonard

and they're gonna give a presentation

today the pair have traveled all the way

from Texas to present an amazing theory

about Oak Island and what they are

convinced is not one treasure site but

several guys take it away guys

our company utilizes a technology that

is based on satellite imagery that reads

a certain wavelengths of light and based

on that it technology will identify it

almost any kind of thing you're looking

for

it's called nuclear magnetic resonance

imaging

and it can go in and analyze and see

things that we can't see with the human

eye similar to the type of technology

that is used in medical facilities

during an MRI no clear magnetic

resonance can detect subtle differences

in what are called the resonance

frequencies emitted by various

substances when subjected to

electromagnetic radiation according to

the Leonard's this technology when

coupled with detailed satellite imagery

is similar to the type of

ground-penetrating technology currently

being used by the US military to locate

underground w*apon systems and secret

bunkers it can produce a map that

enables them to virtually see beneath

the surface of the earth and precisely

identify objects at various depths all

right so here's the map

your lines are supposed to represent

what tunnels yeah these are tunnels once

the green mean that means it's flooded

with seawater what's the blue me

blue is loaded not flooded got tunnels

we've got old wood so we don't care

about the old wooden that's right that's

right

we've got bronze

we've got silver we've got gold

we've got rubies ivory diamonds and one

part of me says this is completely

impossible on the other hand right

absolutely do this here having some up

with the evidence of treasure in the

ground yes Rick Marty and their partners

have just heard what is perhaps the most

incredible theory in the 220 year old

history of Oak Island you're saying that

you can find objects with info we can

through the magnetic resonance imaging

using a highly experimental and largely

top-secret method father and son

treasure hunters Robert and Bob Leonard

have just presented data suggesting that

a web of underground tunnels each

leading to vast deposits of jewels and

precious metals lies beneath the surface

of the 140 acre island

look I have a high degree of skepticism

okay to some extent you're presenting a

black box technology is no doubt about

it it's hard to explain you are Tartars

we are in the oil business I don't know

how many times so I'm going to show it

up in our office with what we call black

box technology and by that we mean we

don't know what's inside the box we're

not saying that just because you can't

see in there doesn't mean it doesn't

work I mean we want to try everything

you know that has a potential of working

out here you know what strikes me here

is Dan you have long believed how

extensive the tunneling complex hell of

a lot more than that if anyone has heard

every Theory there is concerning Oak

Island it's dan Blankenship in 50 years

he's seen and done more than just about

anyone to try and solve the mystery if

anything the Leonard's incredible theory

only confirms what Dan has long believed

that Oak Island lies atop of virtual

maze of treasure tunnels you have

punched many holes you know trying to

find tunnels cut in over a hundred holes

did you find tunnels or voids under the

ground of course

that's good using an ancient method

known as dowsing where by divining rods

can indicate voids in the ground which

could in turn contain water or even oil

dan has come to believe that various

tunnels exist in multiple locations on

the island it was by dowsing

that Dan was able to find the cavern at

the bottom of 10x some 235 feet under

I mean I find it curious that when the

when they Leonard showed us their map

there were areas that were consistent

with Dan's dowsing this is kind of the

biggest void here it's about 150 160 170

five feet long and about 60 feet wide so

we figured that'd be a pretty easy

target and there is a gold signature in

there and what we're gonna do is try to

prove it a couple of ways we brought

another metal detector and we've also

brought a resistivity machine and if

these two technologies will say that

paints the same picture and then we

would go from there I mean I'm sure

everybody on this side of the table

wants to believe it well they've what do

you think but do you believe in in that

type of tunnel layout I'm hoping Rick

not the question skeptical minutes out

there but prove it my guess is you guys

are raring to go yes why don't we get

them going Jack yeah I'd love to go with

them and check it out and why don't you

get Charles too because he can direct

you we're on the island better go get us

some data while Rick and Marty returned

to their work on 10x Craig stepson Jack

Begley and Island historian Charles

Barkhouse have joined father and son

treasure hunters Bob and Robert Leonard

at the center of the island near the

mysterious triangle-shaped swamp

the Leonard's are planning to run field

tests in order to determine if their

theory that a vast network of treasure

tunnels exists under Oak Island is true

most exciting target is right up the

road over there that's showing a gold in

there a hundred eight feet deep

using their satellite map of the island

the Leonard's have chosen to focus on a

large target with gold signatures

located northwest of the Oak Island

swamp how does this resistivity work

basically we're gonna send electricity

through the ground and if it doesn't

connect then it's hitting a FOID

resistivity works by sending electrical

currents into the ground between two

points or pros as the currents blow they

aren't down into the earth twice the

distance between the probe stems any

breaks in the current or resistivity

would indicate a void or in this case a

tunnel

the resistivity portion of their

investigation is proven technology you

can use resistivity to determine certain

things in the ground using a GPS system

to locate the tunnel coordinates from

the map the Leonard's mark two points

with two electric probes one positive

and one negative right

yeah

all right let's go plug it in okay so

turn on

so we'll be able to see on this little

display here will do a manual scan so

let's see what it says all right that

says ground

which means we're heating all earth so

no tunnel

let's look that's good that pins right

there so we missed it so what we need to

do is move it over about ten feet so

let's run over there and we're gonna

move that state cover so far

the electrical resistivity machine has

revealed no evidence of the underground

tunnels that were indicated by the

satellite data could it mean another

dead end let's go try it and if we don't

get something on this line well I'm just

gonna pack my stuff up and go home I

guess let's kick it back on see what it

says

[Music]

Cave says it right there does it make

any sense at all that there would be a

tunnel over here Courtney what dance

belief is absolute belief that there are

tunnels small through this island that

if you can get down there and find it it

just confers what he's been saying for

50 years yeah so let's pack this up okay

yep

father and son treasure hunters Robert

and Bob Leonard are convinced they have

located a subterranean tunnel filled

with gold near the middle of the island

come out here I'll show you where the

gold spot is perhaps even more

significant it is located just where

their earlier research told them it

should be nearly half a mile from the

money pit and 10x all right guys

x marks the spot this is it that's where

we drill the gold signature that's the

gold signature the remote survey shows

this to be at a hundred and eight feet

and it may have as high as an 18-foot

ceiling in it

oh look you can if there really is a

cavity under here it's a game changer

but I tell you I'm skeptical the only

way to confirm it is to put rod down

hole what if it is it's 220 years of

search and this may be the culmination

of it and our hope is that you are

correct I think I know two guys to be

holding their breath the whole time that

bits going down right could there really

be a maze of treasure tunnels lying deep

beneath Oak Island

unfortunately proving the Leonard's

incredible theory will be both difficult

and expensive it also could be several

weeks before Marty and Rick will be able

to secure the type of drilling equipment

needed to search for and hopefully find


evidence that a vast network of

underground treasure tunnels actually

exists

instant toxicated somebody says on your

property there's gold right here drill

right here

you think yeah why not why not drill a

hole right here but then we can't just

drill a hole wherever somebody thinks it

is so we have to do a little more

diligence on this technology and we

intend to

but following up on the Leonard's

incredible theory is just one of the

many tasks that Marty and Rick will need

to focus on

as another day begins on Oak Island

the brothers focus their energies back

to 10x showed up ordered guys and the

need to figure out how to get someone

safely all the way down the narrow

235-foot borehole

hey guys we have another power chord we

can 100 footer get lots of yeah today

Rick and Marty have invited underwater

visualization experts Brian Abbott and

Nick Burchill to come back to the island

and meet with them at 10x just want to

do quick diagnostic Brian Abbott has had

more than 20 years experience managing

sonar operations for archaeological

investigations police force training and

even projects for the Department of

Homeland Security in 2010 he was part of

an elite team that was the first to map

the wreck of the Titanic using sonar

technology cables coming it was his data

collected last summer that convinced the

Oak Island team that 10x in addition to

the money pit should be the focus of

this year's operations if there's a

great big call in the wood this is a

man-made deal

these are probably the lasers this year

in addition to conducting another more

detailed sonar scan the team will be

using the spectrum 90 high-definition

camera to photograph the areas of 10x

where Rick and Marty will still need to

clear away pipes and other dangerous

debris down can you hold it up so that

the ball can rotate understood with the

ability to withstand depths of up to

1000 feet okay the spectrum 90 can not

only give a 360 degree view of the shaft

it can enlarge images up to 40 times

their size it also features a highly

advanced laser function which will be

able to give precise measurements of any

objects it might encounter
is very good

this doesn't look like vegetation it's

it looks like chemical can it still be

part of it die why not it could be the

green dye still

last summer as part of a test to see if

the underground chambers believed to be

at the bottom of 10x might connect to

the money pit and out to the ocean Rick

lagina and Dave Blankenship poured

non-toxic green dye down 10x

does anybody see any dye coming on it

was a test that had been performed

numerous times in the past with very

results sometimes the dye would seep

into the ocean

sometimes it Morgan's

we have a problem here since it's very

green but now the remaining green dye

presents yet another obstacle for the

team okay keep going

okay here we go this ability down the

shaft is nearly zero stop okay I'm at

the junction now we're directly over the

27-inch shaft

there's a lot of stuff on the bottom

we've got plywood we've got steel

there's rebar down there there's some

chunks of concrete I'd really glad the

divers didn't get down and get tangled

in this we're centered on the hole so we

got a clear shot right where we are

running up and down two feet please Rick

okay keep going please we should just

devote me at the top of the chamber

clearing the shaft we are definitely on

to the pipe and into the chamber I'm

gonna take it down until we see bottom

ah there we are

okay stop and what's that what just

going on there something close

it's gold those do to appear to be

golden oh my god that is weird

gold pieces let's do this appear to be

cool oh my god

while running a high-definition camera

at the bottom of borehole 10-x

underwater imaging expert Nick Burchell

has just made what he thinks could be a

startling find like flecks

naturally occurring but you got to test

own but they're at their golden color

somebody says the magic word the magic

four-letter word gold and you know

initially of course the hairs on back

your neck rise up and then you typical

guilin you get brought back down to

earth no that's just a bright spot in

the end hydrate but it was interesting

how that word changes people I think

that word has changed the dynamic of

this whole place what's to the right

they're almost looking like the column

there that's the post

although the spectrum 90 camera may not

have revealed the presence of gold it is

now capturing an image that might prove

that what dan Blankenship saw at the

bottom of 10x more than 40 years ago was

not just an illusion there's been this

mystery as to whether there's a post

there a big heavy timber that runs from

floor to ceiling to help shore up the

roof if you will of a tunnel and that's

what the conjectures that that's exactly

what that is it was concrete it still

not the best visibility there

there's so much scatter from that green

die green it just throws your perception

off we've got a good

well are we calling it for today yeah

yeah all right coming up everything

hinges upon something that says men were

hundreds of people over on doing

something at surface until you bring

something up or put eyes on it it's all

conjecture

a week has passed and underwater imaging

experts Brian Abbott and Nick virtue

have returned to Oak Island with what

they promised will be the most detailed

information about ten eggs to date okay

amaze us okay so here we have some

imagery from the bottom that's the

bottom of the shaft by now it is obvious

to the team that before another diver

attempts to reach the bottom of the

235-foot shaft it will need to be

carefully checked for stability and

cleared of all obstructions but what is

still unknown is what if anything lies

at the bottom one of the things we were

looking at is the condition of the shaft

itself this looks fairly structurally

sound to me you did a great building

that years ago
I mean I could get down

there when these fellows were here last

year and I saw I'd love to get down

there and do some work we didn't make a

lot of headway with the cameras just

poor visibility it's too green that

being said we went back we did some

really good sonar what we did a little

bit different this year is that we used

a different type of sonar we were able

to get more data points but also more

imaging we've got ten times as much

point data so we can see curves and

squares and rectangles a lot easier so

here's our post

[Music]

Wow wait don't you have to posts there

and all of a sudden yes we were able to

definitively find two posts that are

here we've got better data on that the

acoustic imaging data showed them to be

squared

they weren't circular and they were made

on 14 inches so those targets are there

they're very distinctly two posts or

columns or something that's a sonar

picked up which is weird because there

was only one the first time but now

there are two and you know it was quite

significant to me that the implication

is that there would and he's I think

he's more than 50/50 that there would

those are wooden posts that's it there's

our proof

we did find something I think it's it's

kind of unique there's a structure down

there it's it's right in this area right

here it's roughly two-and-a-half feet by

two feet it's got a nice curved top you

think it's submerged at all and so yes

now I don't know how deep it's buried it

may be deeper in the sediment so maybe

three feet high but it's it's an icebox

that's down there a man-made what we

think this box could be is a possible

chest weight percent confidence that

that is a man-made chest ninety percent

really yeah it's it's a man-made object

now whether it's hollow inside or it

couldn't have come down to 27 inch

because and it's not going back up by 27

you get that from from what we can see

the only way that that could have got

into that chamber is through a tunnel

90% yeah 90% you have to quote you go

ahead a great problem have no it's not

Mattingly frustrating we can tell you

about the outside of it but we can't

tell you what I understand this we're

gonna find out what's inside it let's go

back to this this one I don't know where

to go at this one this one's unique I've

talked with Nick about this part of my

job because I train police and fire

units on how to do evidence recovery

using sonar this is the same sonar so

you're not in your head looking at me

where this is a body laying across here

really yeah there's an object down there

that looks like human remains

I'm saying this is a body laying across

here there's an object down there that

looks like human remains yeah a human

body lying at the bottom of 10-x did you

see a body when you were down there

definitely for decades

dan Blankenship has claimed that he saw

what he believed to be the remains of a

dead body lying at the bottom of 10x

some 235 feet underground this videotape

recorded in 1971 does show a shadowy

image that is eerily consistent with the

one revealed by the scanning sonar

I believe this body is laying face down

and if you look I believe this is an

elbow beers left elbow yeah could a dead

body really lie at the bottom of 10-x if

so how did it get there and how is it

remain so relatively intact after so

long wait a minute you're saying there's

a body in there you're imaging a body he

says there's a body where this body come

from we can't explain what we're seeing

all we can tell you is that's what we're

seeing let me ask you something this is

really weird

and I want to ask you this was his head

on his body or was his head kind of on

the side at least we think we did okay

we hit a lot of team out there we

brought a lot of chains up you brought

chain up did you really so we figured

the body was chained to that post

and we broke the chain one of the many

legends about Oak Island concerns a

sl*ve one of the hundreds that many

believed were forced to dig the massive

network of underground tunnels and booby

traps after trying to escape the sl*ve

was allegedly chained to a post deep

underground and left there to die so

that his ghost might guard the treasure

forever

put the discovery of a dead body on Oak

Island

mean that the centuries-old legend is

true

great what do you think with the daddy

you brought up I mean you're sure

indicating that man was down there man

is still don't there so to me you're

just adding more evidence that we need

to get down there and the big question

for us is how are we gonna do it safely

I agree I'm catastrophic Allah uncatted

tropically the bottom line is Marty you

got a problem

[Laughter]

[Music]

we wanted to exhaust the surface

exploration first do everything we could

from the surface to make those digs or

that dive most safe and most productive

order there now it's time to dig

brothers Rick and Marty lagina along

with their partners are finally ready to

commit themselves to what promises to be

the biggest and most expensive treasure

hunting operation in the history of Oak

Island

there will be setbacks and danger but

the rewards could be great if they can

solve this 220 year old mystery

but what exactly will they find a

priceless cache of pirate treasure

precious religious artifacts

while they discover something

perhaps the proof that what lies buried

on Oak Island was never meant to be

found at all

this season on the curse of Oak Island

to claim this spot we're digging on Olga

@ x marks the spot

isn't that a Templar cross this cross is

Portuguese

we're looking for is the arkla company

Columbus brought it here this was the

work of the Aztec empire

Wow Rick I hate the idea you going down

assh*le I'm willing to take the risk

hey guys you got to come see this holy

there's a wall here if you're gonna find

out what the hell's down there you have

to take a chance

let's get geared up to go diving going

down

give us something

found something Rick

oh that is phenomenal
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