03x05 - Disappearing Act

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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03x05 - Disappearing Act

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Tonight on the curse of Oak Island

someone used this to berries extremely

high-value cargo this will be the first

remote operated vehicle in the cavern we

have expectations that we're going to

see man-made objects

we're in the cavern now there's three

square pretty square I mean what is that

if they're wooden that's irrefutable

proof that changes everything

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 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 Marty

and Rick lagina turned their attention

to this year's all-important goal to

find a diver experienced enough and

brave enough to get to the bottom of

borehole 10x hey Brad hey guys

to this end they along with dive expert

John tapper have arranged to meet with

certified saturation diver Brad Stabenow

so Brad I understand you have a lot of

experience with some of the things we

need low vis deep water cold water yeah

done a lot of deep stuff confined space

have you seen this before not this close

Brad Stabenow has worked as a

professional Salvage diver

in over 20 countries he's also used to

dive in utilizing the trimix breathing

system which combines oxygen with

nitrogen and helium to ensure a diver

does not experience the kind of narcotic

effects associated with diving at

extreme depths

so you've done saturation diving oh yeah

how long you don't forward a given time

loggers run with 74 days Oh 74 days of

kind of pressure yep Wow what's

incredible Brad Stabenow he's been to

800 feet we're only asking him to do 160

foot dive he has years of experience at

those depths far exceeding those steps

so what's the status of what we have

here right now right now you have this

size casing and concrete yeah that goes

all the way doing 181 feet at the bottom

you've got 27 inch pipe then you go down

47 feet to the top of a cavern that we

know is there okay and then there are at

least three targets in there that we

would like a human being to tell us what

they are

one is a post one is potentially a chest

and the third believe it or not possibly

a body they keep me leave that alone but

you've got a cavity that's roughly ten

foot by eight foot sort of elliptical

but irregular okay and the other thing

is is that there are two tunnels or we

think are two tunnels you mean down

below the case in the cabin the cavity

and those would need to be explored as

well okay before we do this dive we're

gonna have an ROV come out to check out

whatever can be done remotely and we'll

have that information before you would

go in there okay clearly there is a risk

of a fatal event in diving that deep in

a skinny hole with no visibility so we

have to reduce that to an acceptable

risk or we're not gonna do it okay so do

you want to do this

yeah okay doesn't bother you the 27 it

doesn't bother no it's pretty straight

there's your answer

all right did he drop from heaven I

don't know but he's perfect gentlemen

all right Cheers

all right we will get it together guys

an important decision has been made

Brad Stabenow will attempt the dangerous

dive to the bottom of 10-x but not

before Marty and Rick bring in an ROV or

remote operated vehicle to get solid

images of the 27-inch hole and the

mysterious cavern below

while Rick and Marty arrange for an ROV

team to come up to explore 10x their

partner Craig tester along with his son

Drake and stepson Jack Begley are

searching for clues and possibly

treasure near the center of the island

on the area known as lot 6

hey guys let's get our equipment we'll

head out on to lot six and see if we can

actually find something when the 140

acres of Oak Island were offered as

parcels for sale by the British crown in

1762 it was broken up into 32 for acre

lots for more than two centuries the

faithful treasure sites had been thought

to exist on lot 18 lot 19 and on lot 20

in addition to the swamp and the area

known as Smith's Cove

but today crack Jack and Drake have

decided to explore one of the lots that

has never been associated with the Oak

Island mystery lot 6

where the clearing is here you can see

more of an opening that is the border

between lot 5 and Lodge 6

lon 6 is also of interest to the team

for another very intriguing reason

what's this Samuel Boggs property yeah

Samuel ball was born into sl*very in

South Carolina in 1764 just ten years

before the start of the American

Revolution after fighting on the side of

the British forces they won his freedom

before emigrating to Nova Scotia in the

late 1700s

in 1786 ball purchased four acres of

land on Oak Island for eight pounds

sterling a huge amount for what was

considered nothing more than rocky farm

and grazing land

what makes Samuel ball story of

particular interest to treasure hunters

is that at the time of his death in 1845

the former sl*ve turned cabbage farmer

had purchased several more acres of land

both on the mainland and oak island

including lot six

in fact samuel ball became one of the

richest men in nova scotia

but how could he have found part of the

Oak Island treasure

some two hundred years ago okay well

let's get after it just looking for

anything old whether it's a structure

rocks anything we're hoping to find gold

and something very old but anything that

that takes us the next step forward

towards finding the treasure would be

great

I got something here okay let's dig her

up it's down like in one of the ruts

cracked underneath the tree yeah seems

like it's grown like into the tree just

watch out man just make sure you're not

behind me there we go

Wow

nothing is huge

think of that we make what's on the tip

of it

the head of it then the other and what

the other end yeah well looks like a

hexagon yeah it does do you think it's a

steak or do you think it used to be some

sort of bolt oh it's like a steak I

think the iron nail and obviously

significant but is it fifty years old or

is it two hundred and fifty years old

should I keep moving just move back in

that way a little bit clear it out okay

suddenly jack gets another hit on his

metal detector and this time it's

indicating the presence of a non-ferrous

or possibly precious metal such as

silver or gold

Hey found something beside tired

good come in alright okay it's not

conductive great about here how deep six

inches okay

yeah there you go great right there get

it what is it

what is it I'm not this on lot six near

the center of Oak Island Craig tester

his son Drake and his stepson Jack

Begley have made an exciting discovery

maybe a piece of chest hinge handle

maybe yeah some sort of handle it looks

like yeah there's a handle good call

okay let's keep checking that area a

little bit if Craig and his sons have

found an object that was once owned by

Samuel ball it could be that there are

others in the vicinity if so perhaps

they will provide important information

about the former American sl*ve who

became one of oak islands largest and

wealthiest property owners

the other side to that gonna be possibly

yeah all right look at that Craig

it's definitely curved you know it's a

little bit ornate not nothing super

fancy but some sort of handle buckle

something along that line okay let's hit

it with the metal detector it's hard to

tell exactly what we found but to me it

looked old so we're hoping we find

something here that tells us the who in

the wind but but we don't know hey Craig

yep

come here getting hit I just haven't

seen this before it looks a lot like

rock wall so

got a boulder here Boulder there and it

looks like it's kind of going off right

along the lot line

zero Chris don't wall that's supposed to

be here not that I know of

look at how sharp this corners that's

like cut Craig dig it up a bit

yeah it's a straight edge on this other

side too I'm not finding it yet their

study was a small rock this time what's

up with train give me a box around here

so it's a triangle-shaped Rock could it

be a natural formation or might it be a

clue one of many triangle-shaped

formations that have been found

throughout the island

watch out anything no obviously a huge

difference between this side in the

other side they're completely flat on

one side and then the opposite side I'd

say this is not natural

according to many Oak Island theorists

the presence of pyramid-shaped markings

and stones is significant some even

suggest that they offer proof of a

direct connection between Oak Island and

Freemasons who often use the symbol of a

triangle to represent the Great Pyramids

of Egypt as well as a symbol for the

Great Architect of the universe is it

possible that Craig and his sons have

located a clue that will help them solve

the Oak Island mystery

should we just stop where we are now

Phil back in the hole I think we ought

to get back to show them what we've

found all right

before the end of what has been a long

and productive day Rick and Marty lagina

have one large task to perform for

safety reasons they need to fill in the

20-foot deep hole they recently dug in

order to find the head and shaft so we

00:14:32,299 --> 00:14:33,929
know exactly where the head and shaft is

which should help us orient as we

further explore where the original money

pit was for brothers Rick and Marty

lagina the recent discovery of the head

and shaft the searcher shaft dug by

treasure hunter Gilbert Hedden in 1937

has become one of the team's biggest

accomplishments so far

looks like it's right here there's a

beam that Rick is amazing we have found

it that is clearly the exterior wall of

the old head and shaft because the head

and shaft was known to be in close

proximity to the original Oak Island

money pit

finding it confirmed what Rick and Marty

discovered last summer when drilling

core samples in the area

to a depth of an estimated 145 feet they

found evidence of a wooden box covered

in what looked to be a kind of concrete

that's deathly cement upon closer

examination the box seemed to match the

description of a 7-foot tall so-called

treasure vault first reported by

treasure hunter William Chappell in 1897

concrete and then wood that's the

description that's what they found in

the top of the vault

finding both the head and shaft and

evidence of the mysterious wooden vault

confirmed that Rick and Marty have found

the exact location of the money pit a

location which because of excessive and

careless digging during Prior

excavations had been lost for more than

100 years all right

let's fill it back in coming at you big

boy

to properly excavate the money pit will

mean digging a hole that will need to be

approximately 40 feet wide and 150 feet

deep

and with equipment much larger than what

the team currently has at their disposal

they will also need to shore it up in

such a way as to prevent the kind of

flooding and Cabot's that have plagued

treasure hunters on the island for more

than 200 years

so we got this filled back in yeah but

we still need to explore this bugger

this went into a cavity covered by a

cement like material so we need to image

it yeah

Brian has to come back and Brian Abbott

the sonar guy yeah absolutely

Rick and Marty are hoping a sonar scan

of the money pit similar to the one

Brian Abbott did of 10x earlier this

year will verify once and for all that

there really is a treasure vault buried

some 145 feet below

we need to get that down there I mean

look I got high hopes the only way it'll

be worth digging here to 145 feet as if

we see something otherwise we're not

we're not doing it

as the Sun sets on Oak Island Rick

lagina joins up with Dave Blankenship

jack begley Oak Island historian Charles

Barkhouse and veteran treasure hunter

dan henskee at the nearby fo'c'sle

Tavern okay guys I don't know about you

but I'm glad to be here right now it's a

long day you know Jack's you guys

actually did some work on lot six right

yeah I mean as you know we've been

running some pretty strict grids trying

to figure out if we can pinpoint a spot

where there could have been the supposed

encampment yeah well let me let me stop

you there because lot six we've not

looked at this is the first go-round for

a lot six so you know the progression of

ownership

well the AH we do know that at one time

was Samuel ball home lot six yeah kind

of primed it here have you fallen as I

was saying I started looking for

anything non iron move the detector

around and got some more hints raid in

the general area we finished digging

everything up and at first we thought

well maybe these are just pieces of some

old nails right now where all these

phones in one spot yep in the same hole

well maybe that's just a bent nail

we found another one from the pieces we

found I think it looks like some sort of

a chest handle the handle jack

that's what inside the trousers well I'm

doing my best David well let's get a

little bit better than that those fines

like this tie into you know your

understanding of log six but as far as

we know no one's ever done anything I

don't know we just found it

the curious thing you know you've told

us some of the Samuel ball story but

it's quite singular in the history of

the island that this person comes you

know freed slaves and at some point he

becomes probably one of the largest lent

order something yeah right no he wants

the fact that he's associated with that

is is interesting why was a lot six left

undisturbed might that have been his

treasure vault I don't know none of us

know and thus we're looking was there

anything else over there jack

yeah there was this pyramid or

triangular shaped rock that came up and

we dug it up I don't know if it's a

stone marker or if it's significant or

not but it was surrounded by a bunch of

granite boulders and then this stone was

different and it looked like it may have

been man-made

you to investigate that rock whatever it

is

okay see if you think it's relevant you

know dance theory a little bit of frets

that are either that these markers

stones if you will are important to the

so called map above the ground so go

back the three of you investigator you

come up with

we will sounds like a plan what do you

what is Nova Scotian sir sociable

sociable

it is the start of another day on Oak

Island like most it is filled with the

promise of new information and possible

discovery so we're at lot 6 and there's

there's a couple stones that we found

and it's an odd shape well let's have a

look at it all right

Jack Begley and Charles Barkhouse have

returned to lot six with Stone

researcher and area historian Terry

Deveau they are hoping that Terry can

tell them whether or not the

triangle-shaped Rock they found is a

natural formation it's just right up

here all right or if it might have been

intended as some kind of ancient marker

one that will help them solve the Oak

Island mystery

we were running lines back and forth

with the metal detector and clearing

them a lot of brush away and as we were

clearing the brush I saw this point

sticking out okay

and I came over and dug it up this type

of greywacke which is common in this

part of Nova Scotia does tend to

naturally fracture with this type of a

prismatic shape and to make very clean

cleavage at times is there anything that

stands out to you this one is pretty

interesting because there there seems to

be kind of an added piece to it this is

almost like a cast of some kind that's

been added on to make a point an added

piece one design to make the stone form

a perfect triangle could this strange

triangle-shaped stone really be some

sort of clue that's interesting yeah it

doesn't it might have been used for a

marker of some kind

couldn't rule that out stone markers are

usually not just one stone they're

usually a pile of stones for example

what about this stone over here there's

no yeah it also has a flat surface if it

was used either as a cover over here or

as the back wall and then somebody later

took it apart to see what was in there

if there was anything in there with what

stood out to me was that this was a

depression right and that it was

surrounded by rocks right someone may

have come here and used this to bury

treasure or something valuable we do

know that there was a lot of smuggling

going on both during the American w*r of

Independence and the w*r of 1812 this

was the hot spot of smuggling was Mahone

Bay absolutely yeah if it was a

smuggling type cache it would have to be

an extremely high-value cargo if I had a

treasure or something that I wanted to

bury in the ground I'd be looking around

for a spot like this

throughout the 17th and 18th centuries

and even much earlier the area in and

around Nova Scotia was notorious as a

haven for smugglers and privateers

numerous small islands just off the

mainland provided cover and offer the

perfect places to bury and hide stolen

goods and even treasure with little fear

of detection or discovery

Jack have you run the metal detector

through here yep

and funny thing not a thing I don't know

exactly what a treasure cache would have

looked like you know some people have

the idea there were several of them all

around the island just small caches here

there and this really could be the

remains of one of those when Samuel ball

died on December 14th 1845 he left

behind a wife and grandson but curiously

he left his property on Oak Island to

his servant Issac Butler along with a

series of instructions that Butler was

ordered never to reveal could it be that

both Baal and Butler knew the secret of

the Oak Island mystery a secret they

ultimately took

to their graves

today Rick and Marty lagina are hoping

to take another important step forward

in their goal to get a diver to the

bottom of 10x but before letting

professional diver Brad Stabenow make

the difficult and dangerous descent down

the narrow 235 foot deep borehole they

have decided to take one more

precautionary measure I'm Craig they've

hired Jake McNaughton and larae Davies

from Dominion diving in nearby Dartmouth

to send the video ray pro for remote

operated vehicle or ROV to the bottom of

the 235-foot deep shaft armed with a

high-definition camera as well as sonar

the ROV will for the first time be able

to capture high-quality images of any

dangerous obstructions that could

undermine a dive

it will also be able to move freely

throughout the mysterious underground

chamber and photograph any evidence of

man-made objects or tunnels as we

contemplate putting a diver in the hole

they're gonna want every little bit of

information possible that we can give

them the ROV insertion is simply

gathering more data

why wouldn't we try it these are the

whites I take it yep

the LED lights camera here and there

okay great

and your highly skilled and can do

acrobatics with it and everything right


yeah

the whole thing is all controlled from

this okay the ROV will use its

horizontal thrusters along with vertical

propellers to navigate down the eight

foot wide portion of 10x and then

through the narrow 27-inch section all

the way to the bottom this is exciting

let's do this hey yeah I'm good to go

okay

let's put her in we haven't had ROV data

in the past this will be the first

remote operated vehicle in the cavern

we're gonna get a state-of-the-art

machine in there and let it tell us what

it can tell us just the boat you've gone

it's an order

I suppose though in the water down

lights on okay

from our standpoint we'd like to see

some distinctly man-made artifacts in

there heck we'd like to see a treasure

chest in there dan thinks there's one in

there we'd love to see it that's pretty

good visibility yeah it's a lot better

than I thought it was gonna be standing

platform

1:32 yep going around

we're out 150 in here keep going down

alright well there's some debris

it's 181 old better let's stop there all

right take a look see

Walter debris down here there seem to be

a lot of boards going across or steel or

hey won't you look directly down

that's a 27-inch yeah that's it right

there

that Kermit that's what I'm thinking

yeah good turn right here yeah that's

the twenty seventy right on top of it

there is that do your figure that's the

edge of the hole there that tight space

I'll just put it in there okay here we

go here we go

given Dan's belief and stories about the

whole and our expectations I think we

both have expectations that we're gonna

see man-made objects down below where

we're in the 27-inch right now is wait

what's that that's metal for sure what

is that though is that a droplet is that

the drill bar David is that the drill

bar looks like in the 1970s when Oak

Island resident and treasure hunter dan

Blankenship was digging 10x a member of

his crew dropped an approximately 20

foot long drill bar down the 235 foot

board

despite many attempts to retrieve it the

drill bar was never found

and opinions had varied on where it

could be and many believe it could be

lodged in the 27-inch Y hole but no one

has tried to enter the cavity since the

bar was dropped if it turns out that the

drill bar is blocking the narrow shaft

and cannot be removed it would end any

notion of sending a diver down to

explore the mysterious underground

chamber the drill bar is just such a

complicating factor for this whole thing

because it's bad enough we got a 27-inch

hole we have a drill bar which is

basically a four inch piece of more or

less solid steel 20 some feet long

wedged in there

so it's off to the side right it's not

in it's not in his way it could be

no I think we're in the cavern now we're

in the cavity this is a big open space

what's that

there's something

something there's some right there

that looks pretty straight yeah three

square it's pretty squared I mean there

could be your public prick over the post

and could be the pouch

there could be a boat wreck over the

post at 10x an ROV in the two hundred

and thirty five foot deep chamber has

just revealed something of potential

significance to Rick and Marty lagina

and members of their team the image of

what could be a man-made wooden post

that's metal for sure there is also a

second vertical structure which appears

to be an old metal drill pipe can you

follow that up yep what is that that's a

piece of pipe coming out from the roof

of the caverns at the top yep yep

Wow was that a clear image there very

distinctly two posts or columns and

certainly they didn't grow there and I

thought that they were almost certainly

pipes Rick is convinced they're not

pipes so that's another mystery we have

to pull those things out and see whether

those are our posts are on if they're

wooden and appear to be placed there

without coming down that 27-inch hole

well then that's irrefutable proof of

workings there there it is on this sonar

yep well if there's indication that that

post goes up into the ceiling and it's

embedded in there well then that's

indicative of the first real thing

that's reinforces that there's any

man-made Association down there

it looks square yeah it definitely looks

square suddenly the post like object and

the metal drill pipe disappear from view

we've lost the post

okay go find it again where's our posts

I don't know why it's so hard to see I

mean it was so obvious where I'm sitting

according to this owner the post should

be just off to my left right right how

come they're not showing up yeah I don't

know they'd have to be pretty proud like

all the way top to Bob they were yeah

they were in this owner unless we pulled

that pipe and that's all there was

well it can't be we didn't that's not in

the cavity no no we pulled that

eight-inch that was in there could be a

few weeks ago the team removed three

rusted riser pipes out of 10x is it

possible that the two posts they saw in

the cavern were simply old riser pipes

if that's true then why did one look

square and even more curiously where did

they go

Daniel come on and set eyes in your

cavern

for 92 year old dan blankenship the man

who constructed 10x with the help of his

son Dave and friend dan henskee today's

activities mean more to him than anyone

I know you don't want to but I insist

because for him finding something of

value at the bottom of the 235-foot

borehole would serve as a validation for

his more than 50 years of dedication and

hard work trying to solve the Oak Island

mystery

any certainty of things that tunnels

have you seen anything that makes you

think those are there not yet if I've

headed towards them with the sonar and

it always just seems to end up in the

corner big key is to find it on the

sonar and then ya swim towards it right

out of time what's that can you go in

there

there's a wall though tunnels it's

impossible to be a man-made no no

question about that they come through

the fissures in the rock

absolutely they didn't come from the

surface we see openings here right like

right there now I'll turn and go towards

I

it kind of looks like a defined tunnel

heading off right now that's a wall

again I don't see anything that makes it

seem like it's a man-made structure down

there so far aside from maybe a little

bit of concrete over port looks like a

natural cavern that's been scoured

that's probably gonna be it for the day

then isn't it I would say so the ROV

results were you know I hate to keep

using the word disappointing because

it's probably the wrong word they are

what they are the driver of the ROV did

bounce it off all the walls best he

could well you think Brett so our

purpose in this is to kind of ascertain

whether there's anything down there

between me and you that's been my quest

for the last 10 years I would love to

find something on this island that

definitively says that there were

man-made workings underground prior to

1790 yeah that's what I've been looking

for for 10 years potentially a wood post

which we haven't seem to be able to

locate potentially yeah

nothing's indicating it so far that

we've seen here so

how does that impact you the bread I

wouldn't put anybody in the water here

so let's see what Big Brother's doing

over here what started out as a simple

operation to confirm information about

10x has suddenly brought the entire Oak

Island treasure hunt to a standstill

because diver Brad Stabenow did not see

any evidence of man-made tunnels or

structures at the bottom of 10x he has

informed Rick and Marty that there is no

reason for him to make such an expensive

and potentially deadly dive but Brad

felt that there was an insufficient data

revealed to warn a dive and I kind of

felt that way too I had said but my

feeling is that what I saw today does

not warrant putting a human being down

there what do you guys think there's

nothing I could get excited about that's

for sure well we didn't see the floor

you can't make that statement he ran

into the wall everywhere he went

and the rover I mean it water kept

getting clear clear this is a problem

obviously but I just I don't see risk in

a human life to get on there right now I

don't

died sad in a sense but I'm saying I'm

seeing 10x off the list that's what I'm

seeing I didn't see enough to say cross

it off to me the answer is not

definitive as that was always the

criteria it's never gonna be definitive

you can always make up some plan you

know I disagree I think what's gonna

have to happen is what I said was gonna

have to happen long ago or is gonna have

to be humanized in that cavity I think

we should get David in on the

conversation too I would be fine with me

David what we're debating what we should

do next with 10 acts what you see that's

just it not what we expected to see you

willing to cross this off I don't know

Rick I really don't know could the ROV

data be enough to convince the team that

the search for what might be at the

bottom of 10x should now be abandoned

I'm close to crossing it off because

where are the tunnels they're not under

sediment where were the tunnels you

absolutely convinced there were no

tunnels

I don't know we can see the column we

didn't see the tunnels we didn't see the

chests we didn't see any story you know

he's anybody's when it's anybody's from

my perspective I seem to see that it was

basically showing the same area in the

cavity all the time

and I never saw the floor or very rarely

saw the floor I think it was an

incomplete study if you will the data

was insufficient surely it's sufficient

for me to say we're done here

we're all saying we've postponed the

dive at least that's it for me and I'm

really close to putting an X in 10x and

saying we did our job that's wrong I

know I'm not there Larry said we have a

disagreement I'm not there I'm not

willing to do what he's willing to do

put an action through that shaft

I'm not 10x X I'm not I'm close we have

a disagreement we'll work it off exactly

I come as far as we can today let's call

it a day

what say you I say the operative word is

today I am not finished with 10x he's

never varied from where he's been I've

never buried from where I've been which

is show me concrete evidence of human

activity pre 1795 and then my my

enthusiasm level goes way up but it's

his passion and part of my

decision-making process involves what

matters to him you know Rick Mathers

but with Brad out of the picture we're

looking for a new diver

for Rick and Marty lagina and their

partners the Oak Island mystery remains

just as complex today as it did when it

began in 220 years ago although they

continue to make progress at the money

pit they have for now had a major

setback and getting to the bottom of 10x

but will bringing in a new diver helped

the team get the answers they're looking

for will it force them to turn their

attentions back to the money pit the

swamp or other even less likely places

on the island or a mysterious treasure

may lie hiding next time on the curse of

Oak Island

that famous stone is it on the island it

was in concrete when I saw if these are

part of a bigger puzzle we've got three

new pieces let's see what we found here

an X right Wow these two pieces seem to

be part of the same stone well you could

probably smash them right up what we

gonna find when we drill these holes the

chambers were the real treasures hit he

put an X on the spot this was to work at

the Aztec empire
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