The Curse of Oak Island (2014) s02e02 Episode Script

1
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 war 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 gang 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