The Curse of Oak Island (2014) s03e01 Episode Script

1
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 kill 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 weapon 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
slave 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 slave
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
asshole 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