The Curse of Oak Island (2014) s04e05 Episode Script

1
Here we are digging in
the Money Pit.
Nothing like this has been done
since 1801.
- Wait until we hit something.
- You better believe it.
The treasure of Tumbes is
the biggest
missing treasure of gold.
I think it's on Oak Island.
This could be the year, Dan.
We're poised on the vault.
How prophetic is that?
We're feet away
from what we've labored for,
for eight years.
Come on baby.
Wood.
Wood! Well, I'll be damned.
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.
All right, slammin' can.
Oscillate, baby.
For brothers Rick
and Marty Lagina,
what began as a dream
more than fifty years ago,
has finally become a reality.
They and their partners
are digging
in the Oak Island Money Pit.
Andrew! Making hole!
Hey guys. Yes, making hole.
- I love that.
- Sinking casing.
You know, when we first
started doing this,
I'm thinking "man, this is
painfully slow."
But you know what? It's not.
It's almost 20 feet
buried there. Already 15.
Yeah, so we're probably 2 hours
into it and we're down 15 feet.
13 feet inside.
So things are going well.
With the help of a device known
as a casing oscillator,
the first of several
five-foot wide,
30,000 pound steel caissons
is driven
down into the ground.
It is a method strikingly
similar
to the one Dan Blankenship
employed 45 years ago
when he dug borehole 10-X
by using old railway tank
cars welded end-to-end.
And, just like 10-X,
the Valley 3 borehole
will be both wide
and safe enough for a diver,
should one be required when
the team reaches their target:
The Chappell Vault.
In 1897, treasure hunters,
William Chappell
and Frederick Blair
located what they believed to be
a seven-foot-tall wooden box.
It was covered in a type
of concrete,
and located approximately
143 feet deep
beneath the surface
of the Money Pit.
What made their find
even more astonishing
was that their coring bit
also pulled up bits of gold,
along with a small
piece of paper,
on which was written
the letters, "V.I."
Definitely got wood.
See what else we might have.
It was this same wooden vault
that Rick and Craig
believed they located
two years ago.
Concrete and then wood.
That's the description.
That discovery,
coupled with several weeks
of painstaking research,
have suggested to
the Oak Island team
that this is the best location
for their first
major excavation.
We're going to go pick up
the next extension,
24 feet long,
put it in place, bolt it on,
16 bolts,
and we're sinking can,
driving can.
Driving can, sinking can,
making hole.
You know what?
We made substantial
progress here.
And it's basically historic.
Nothing like this has been done,
in my opinion,
since the original Money Pit.
Because everybody else
was guessing.
We know exactly what
we're heading for.
I mean, even Chappell and
Hedden, they were guessing.
So this is the first time
someone has actually
drilled with a target,
I'd say, since 1801 or so.
- Yep.
- It is historic.
Here we are digging
in the Money Pit.
- Finally.
- Yeah, finally!
- Wait until we hit something.
- You better believe it.
As Kent says, keep slamming can.
It's pretty exciting!
You know, nothing's
falling apart.
We seem to be on target.
Something is actually all coming
together on Oak Island.
As the 24-foot long
steel caisson
grinds slowly into the ground,
an 8-ton digging tool
known as a "hammer grab"
excavates the earth.
Each extraction,
also known as "spoils,"
is then loaded onto a truck
and transported
some 1000 yards away
near the middle of the island
on Lot 25.
First, the spoils are unloaded.
Hey Jack, why don't you
grab the back hoe,
and let's spread
these spoils out.
Then, Jack Begley,
and island historian
Charles Barkhouse,
will carefully examine them
for artifacts or bits of debris
that could provide
important evidence.
Down more, there you go,
now just back up.
That's better. Perfect.
As we dig in the Money Pit,
we have to look at what we
are digging up.
Do you want to pick out
any wood that you see?
I'll go over and take a look,
before you go over there.
So we need to keep
those spoils separate,
and we will make sure we
analyze them.
Guess what!
- What?
- Another dowel hole!
I'm coming out.
- What?
- I got one
with a dowel in it, right here.
- Are you serious? Wow.
- See?
There's the dowel right in it.
Wow. Great.
I mean, we gotta do
some research,
see if we can find how
these shafts were constructed,
and maybe we'll know
where these came from.
That's why it's important to
save all this stuff.
Although the team's first target
in the Money Pit, the
mysterious, "Chappell Vault,"
is approximately
140 feet deep underground,
there is no telling
what a search
of the spoils might turn up.
We're finding a lot of wood
from other tunnels,
from other shafts.
It's a possibility it could be
what we call
"the Dunfield spoils."
When Robert Dunfield undertook
a massive excavation
of the site in 1965,
the spoils were never
properly examined.
Although much of the excavated
material was later used to fill
the 135-foot deep hole back in,
valuable evidence
and possible treasure
was lost or destroyed.
You want to get
you metal detector,
start going over this stuff?
There's a possibility that there
could be something in
those spoils,
and the fact that area's
gonna change dramatically,
we have a perfect opportunity
today,
to go through it
and hopefully find something.
Anything, Jack?
Maybe.
Using the Minelab CTX
3030 hand-held metal detector,
Jack Begley begins scouring
the area for evidence.
Look at that.
Wow, that's way above the
line, there.
What do ya' got, Jack?
Is it a nail?
There it is.
It's a bullet!
You know what? You're right.
It's a shell casing.
A shell casing? From a bullet?
Could this have been left behind
by someone hunting on
the island decades ago?
And, if so, what was the prey?
Was it animal or human?
And we know it came from
down in the Money Pit area.
- Yeah.
- All right.
I'm going to see
if there's anything else.
That sounds different, Jack.
Yeah, we got something.
Yeah.
This is very curious.
What ya' got, Jack?
Take a look at that.
I got a really weird
hit off this.
When you say "weird," you mean
weird good or just weird?
Well, it started off
looking like silver.
It could be.
A silver object?
Found in the spoils
of the Money Pit excavation?
I mean, look at how
perfectly round it is.
Could Jack Begley
and Charles Barkhouse
have just found
an important clue?
Something previously
overlooked by Robert Dunfield?
It looks really weird to me,
though.
It does look weird.
Or could they be
looking at something
even more significant?
Perhaps even a small piece
of the treasure itself?
I have no idea what that is.
It's very curious,
no question about that.
- It's very dense.
- Yeah.
Whatever it is, it's very heavy.
Wow, it is.
Okay, Jack, I'm going to put
this in a bag.
Alright, we're almost done with
this first pile, Charles.
Yeah, I know.
Like all of the
artifacts found on the island,
the metal object Jack
discovered must be cleaned,
photographed, weighed,
and analyzed to see
if it has any significance,
either geologically
or historically.
Charles, we're done
with pile one.
- Okay, man.
- Let's move on to pile two.
Sounds like a plan. Let's do it.
Coming up
momentous operation
at the Money Pit continues
Rick, Marty and their partners
gather at the nearby
Atlantica resort
and await the arrival
of a special visitor.
So, Randall Sullivan,
I think Charles,
do you know of him?
Yeah, he wrote the article
in Rolling Stone magazine
a number of years ago,
and he's doing a little research
in the area.
In January of 2004,
investigative journalist
and author, Randall Sullivan,
published an article in
Rolling Stone Magazine
entitled "The Curse
of Oak Island."
It featured a detailed history
of the search for treasure
on the island,
as well as compelling interviews
with rival treasure hunters.
Fred Nolan and Dan Blankenship.
Now, more than a decade after
his article's publication,
Randall Sullivan has returned
to Nova Scotia
in hopes of writing
the Oak Island mystery's
final chapter.
Five or six feet per day.
Randall!
Nice to meet you, finally.
- Good to meet you.
- How are you?
This is my brother, Marty.
- Hi, Marty.
- Nice to meet you.
- Have a seat.
- Have a seat.
So, I just, I just want
to say one thing:
I loved that article.
I thought it was absolutely
phenomenal.
- It was well done!
- Well done, very concise.
I have two copies still at home.
Thank you.
Investigative journalist is
the way to describe yourself?
Well, yeah, I'd say my books
either fall into
one of two categories,
investigative journalism,
or literary journalism.
What was the response
to that article?
You know, it was
it astonished me how many people
didn't know about the story and
were completely entranced by it.
The story just didn't go away
because the mystery's not
gone away.
It's never been solved,
and the feeling that
you walked away
or I walked away from something,
it wasn't done and I wasn't
done with it.
Finally, I had a free moment
and my publisher was finally
ready to say,
"Hey, you should do a book."
Which is why I'm here.
Really, you're writing
a book now?
I am.
Well, I'm not writing it yet.
I'm researching it.
You're researching it!
What do you find is the most
intriguing aspect of the search,
from an informational
point of view?
You know, I completely dismissed
the pirate theory because,
you know,
pirates would dig a hole
maybe 10 feet deep
and come back
when they were ready.
But I didn't know then about
what the pirates did in Tortuga,
where they created a system
of tunnels
that rivals what's
been done on Oak Island.
So there were pirate engineers.
Of the many theories
concerning treasure being
hidden on Oak Island,
perhaps the most popular
and persistent
is that it was most likely
the work
of Spanish
or Portuguese pirates,
who were known to sail
the waters
in and around Nova Scotia during
the 17th and 18th centuries.
But those who doubt
that a sophisticated system
of underground flood tunnels
and booby-traps
could be engineered by rowdy,
rum-soaked buccaneers,
might be in for a surprise.
The popular notion that pirates
were swarthy illiterates
who sported peg legs
and eye patches is largely
a fiction.
Some, like Francis Drake,
were highly respected noblemen.
Others, like Henry Morgan
and Captain Kidd,
were educated seamen
and shrewd businessmen.
Just as sophisticated,
were many members
of their crews,
who often included doctors,
masons, carpenters,
and experts in almost
every profession.
What tags into people
about this mystery?
I think it's 'cause Oak Island's
not just a search for treasure.
It's also a search for meaning.
And nothing engages people
like the search for meaning.
And that's actually what engages
me in terms of writing the book.
I mean, I hope you find
the treasure,
but to me it's the story
and the mystery of it
that is really compelling.
Well, you two share that.
Yeah, my impression is you
feel the same way.
Your story was named
The Curse of Oak Island.
- Yeah.
- Do you believe in the curse?
Well actually,
one of the things that really
struck me deeply
when I was here those years ago,
on Oak Island, it was misty and
foggy and damp the whole time,
but I just
The place felt haunted.
The reason for, you know,
the Curse is that
so much has been lost there
and when Dan first took me
to the Money Pit area,
the first thing that struck me
was all the wrecked equipment,
'cause back then it was just
Scattered all over.
All over the place, you know?
And it's sort of almost like
the history of the failures
of these different expeditions,
which in many cases, you know,
devastated lives.
I mean, people couldn't
let it go.
- Yeah.
- I'm hoping that we're gonna
have a, a
mutual assistance league here.
- Of course! Yeah.
- So, I'm picking up
that the Money Pit is the focus
of what you're doing?
- Absolutely.
- Yep.
I mean, we have to
You can't leave that island
without digging
in the Money Pit.
I understand, I understand.
It's got so much history.
If I was you guys I would wanna
find out what's down there.
It's hard to overlook it.
Yeah, you gotta know
what's down there.
I tell you what, why don't
you come on over
to the island and have
a look around.
You haven't been, yet, right,
not in how many years?
- 13 years.
- All right, it's time.
- It's time.
- You will find the Money Pit
much changed.
- Much changed.
- I'll bet.
This goes up to our big project,
where we built this
big platform.
This is where things are
going to look
a lot different to you.
Here you go, this is it.
I mean, and it's-it's big.
- Let's go have a look.
- Not even close to recognizing
You know, I'm thinking that
Randall's going to
have a little gasp,
or a little hiccup in his voice,
because it's radically changed.
Man I mean, it's
I'm just looking at it,
I mean when Dan brought me
back up here 13 years ago,
this was, you know,
patches of grass.
But you did feel all this
history, you know.
You did feel the layers of all
these things that happened.
Stop now, right?
You're gonna get right
to him if you do that.
That's what I hope.
We have not, quote-un-quote,
"buried history."
Nature will reclaim
that so fast,
and it'll look just the same.
I mean, you have a choice,
you're either going to
preserve a museum,
or, you know, dig.
Enact a search agenda.
Absolutely.
Not to put you in the same
category with Dunfield,
but this is the biggest
excavation,
first major excavation
since him, right?
It is. Absolutely.
This is so much different
than Dunfield.
Dunfield's methodology,
this is surgery
compared to what he did.
Just imagine if the ghosts of
the 19th century could see this.
I mean, it would be
There is something here.
Call it what you will,
but there's a wonderful
story written beneath our feet.
I want to follow that story,
and hopefully some of what I
learn will be of use to you.
As far as Randall is concerned,
I think it's going
to be helpful.
He comes from an investigative
journalistic background,
and, you know, you set,
you set his nose to something,
and he's going to follow
the trail as far as it goes.
So, that's gonna be very,
very helpful.
Randall Sullivan is
clearly a good writer
and a talented
researcher and if he can
unearth something that's
helpful to us,
we're
Wide open arms, bring it!
Okay, well here's the deal,
when you write it, make
us look good, okay?
The tough-mind
The tough-minded Marty,
and the chivalrous Rick.
I think it's going
to lead us somewhere.
I think we're all going to be
very, very surprised.
I'm already very surprised.
The massive amount of
work you've already done,
and the massive amount of work
you're still gonna do;
I sure hope it pays off.
Me, too. I like that thought.
Coming up ur sledg?
Yeah, I grabbed some rebar,
and some mallets,
and a sledge.
Okay. Let's go see
if it pounds through.
As operations
at the Money Pit site continue,
Rick Lagina, Craig Tester,
and his step-son Jack Begley,
return to the area on
the western end of the island
where just a few weeks
earlier
Yeah, think this is it here.
They found what appeared
to be a mysterious hatchway
carved in stone.
Holy smokes.
If this is a hatch,
it would be a way in,
a vertical shaft,
to enter something.
That's very, very odd.
The hatch was located
with the help
of what is reportedly
an ancient map,
which was provided to the team
by New York based writer
and researcher,
Zena Halpern.
It was during this meeting that.
Halpern shared with the team,
not only the map,
but two other documents
that she claims were hidden
in a book,
and which she believes
connect Oak Island
to the activities
of the Knights Templar,
as far back as the 12th century.
When Jack Begley later
superimposed Zena's map
with a photograph
of Oak Island
Look at the top of that.
It follows it perfectly.
The location of the hatch
lined up almost exactly
to a place on the island
where Dave Blankenship had
noticed a deep impression
in the ground near his property.
This hatch lands kind
of where David said
- The hole is.
- Yeah.
- Well, it's not sunk.
- Yeah, surprisingly.
Ever since Zena's map
surfaced about the hatch,
we need to decide,
does it lead somewhere,
is there really a tunnel
underneath that or not?
Is it a doorway
to an underground complex?
We need to decide that,
yes or no.
After obtaining a permit to dig
at what might very well be
an important archaeological
site,
Rick, Craig and Jack have
returned to see if the hatch
might possibly be a back door
or gateway into the Money Pit.
I'm an old man.
You understand that, right?
Yeah.
You see it slip, you let her go.
- Is it still going down?
- Nope.
Nah, it's kind of stopped
there now.
I'd say he got close
to a foot down
before it really
hit something hard.
If a man dug here,
it would've had to be at least
a couple feet wide,
I mean two or three feet
in length or something,
so let's probe around.
So we got to here, right?
- Somewhere in there?
- Yeah.
Why don't we try a couple
more little holes?
Yeah, there it's
looks like it's stopped.
Same depth. We got to here.
It could be stopping because
it's hitting
a solid piece of slate
like this.
If this fills up with water,
which it should every time
it rains,
it's going to deteriorate
the bottom,
so it's going to be softer
to start off
and then you'll hit
the hard stuff.
You have to have a way down.
You have to have a man-size
opening, and
- At least!
- It's only going uni
That depth and no further,
everywhere you've put it so far.
I think we found the bottom.
I mean, I definitely
think this is man-made.
Yep. I do, too.
I mean, you want something
to be something so badly,
i.e., I want it
to be soft material,
and we dig our way down
into something.
But it sunk uniformly
across the bottom
of the so-called hatch.
At that point you have to assume
that it's just bedrock.
Is there a possibility
there was already something
here, and it was dug out?
There is theories,
I mean Fred felt there was
chests all around the island.
Multiple treasure chests that
had been retrieved.
I think he thought there were
eleven sites
where shallow
treasures were recovered.
"Shallow treasures?"
Is it possible
that what the team believed
could be an entrance
into the Money Pit was actually
a hole where treasure was
once buried,
and later filled in after
the treasure was retrieved?
Could it be? Yes.
Do I want to say that?
No, because that's one
less thing we can recover.
But again, it's the "why" of it.
This whole the whole island is
a one big question mark.
And the biggest question is,
"Why?"
- Yeah.
- Well, we're due answers soon.
Today we surely didn't say,
okay, this isn't worth
exploring,
this isn't worth pursuing.
We surely didn't cross it off
our search agenda, so you know,
again not to use a pun,
but the door on the hatch
is not closed.
- Okay.
- Great attempt, time to move on.
You need to keep
doing your work.
- A-A right.
- Okay.
This island,
I've said it innumerable times,
if this island is
about nothing else,
and it's about many things,
one of which surely is:
This is an island of
possibilities.
Might that be the hatch?
Sure, it might.
Coming up
and the team from
Irving Equipment Ltd.
Arrives on schedule.
As the giant casing
oscillator continues to grind
the steel caisson
into the rocky ground,
the Oak Island team is now
just a few precious feet away
from reaching their target:
The mysterious wooden structure
that lies 143 feet
beneath the surface
of the Money Pit.
Meanwhile, on the western
side of the island,
author and investigative
journalist, Randall Sullivan,
along with Charles Barkhouse
After you.
Have arranged a meeting
with veteran treasure hunter,
and local legend,
Dan Blankenship.
- Hey.
- Hi, Dan.
- How are you?
- I'm good.
- It's good to see you.
- Long time no see.
- It has been.
- You look as good as ever.
It is the first time
Randall and Dan
have met since Randall's story
about Oak Island first appeared
in the pages of Rolling Stone
more than ten years ago.
Long time no see.
- 13 years.
- Right.
Lot of water's gone
under the dam,
- that's for sure.
- Yeah.
When I was out here before,
it was just you and me
and your wife.
And now so much has happened
and Rick and Marty have
opened new doors.
I was really
happy to see what Rick
and Marty were doing
in the Money Pit.
Hopefully, this year we'll
maybe get you some conclusions.
Hopefully!
I've been here for a long time.
I'd like to have some positive
- answers one way or the other.
- Well
- This could be the year, Dan.
- Yes.
What brought you here?
Well, the article wasn't enough.
- I decided I need to do a book.
- Yeah.
- So I've come back to
- You still in the business?
That's what I do.
Dan, I was always really
dismissive of the pirate theory.
What-what exactly do you mean?
From the coast of Brazil
all the way to Newfoundland,
there were pirates all
along here.
Yeah, they used they used
the northern hemisphere.
- Yes.
- This part
of the northern hemisphere.
Would any one pirate group have
accumulated enough treasure
to be worth what was
done on Oak Island?
You know, I've always had a hard
time believing that this
amount of work was done
to keep it secret,
unless there was something
really profound and important.
Well, that-that observation
you made is a good one.
How much research have you
really done on the ancient
history of the possibilities of
whatever was done on Oak Island?
A fair bit.
- Have you?
- Yeah.
Well, then you're well aware of,
of Pizarro coming back
from from Spain
to sack Peru.
And, at that time when he left,
they were eating out of
gold plates in Peru.
- Yeah.
- And when he came back,
even though he left
a Spanish missionary there,
- everything was gone.
- The treasure
- You aware of that?
- Yeah, I'm very aware of it.
That-that treasure, the treasure
of Tumbes is the biggest
missing treasure of gold.
There's no doubt there was
an enormous fortune in gold.
In 1524, Spanish
explorer Francisco Pizarro led
led an expedition to Peru,
where he encountered the people
of the great Inca Empire
in the ancient city of Tumbes.
Pizarro was astonished
by the Inca's vast amounts
of gold and silver used
to make everything
from dishes to garments
by the native people.
Pizarro returned to Spain
and convinced King Charles V
to allow him more ships and men
to conquer the city of Tumbes
and bring the vast riches
back home to the crown.
However, it has been reported
that when the conquistador
and his fleet returned to the
Inca city several years later,
they found it in ruins,
and the vast treasures of Tumbes
had vanished without a trace.
There's a lot of credence in it,
because according to
what I've read there had to be
a sizeable fortune, you know.
There's a convincing
historical record
that that treasure existed,
because Pizarro
wasn't the only one who saw it,
there were other witnesses.
I mean, I don't think there's
any question
that there was basically
a city of gold in Tumbes.
It is the single greatest
missing treasure,
but it's hard for me
to believe they could
have gotten that from Peru
to Nova Scotia.
Why would it be any harder
to believe that
than to believe whatever
is-is-is out there, you know?
Well, I'm not ruling it out.
It does defy the imagination,
don't misunderstand me.
There's a lot of very
possible theories
of what could be buried here.
I know, you have your theory,
Fred had his theory,
there's a lot of theories
out there.
I have no conclusions, though.
- No, but just a theory.
- There's still theory.
Absolutely.
Dan, grateful for your time,
you know so much,
you are living history.
Always a pleasure, Dan.
Always a pleasure.
- Any time, Charles.
- Okay. You take care.
You, too.
Nice meeting you again.
So where are we?
How close are we to target?
Um, about four feet I think.
From our old ground level,
we are at, 137 with the casing.
If Craig Tester's
calculations are correct,
the Oak Island team is
within minutes
of reaching the place
where two years ago
he and Rick Lagina found what
appeared to be wooden planks
which matched the descriptions
of the so-called,
Chappell Vault, first discovered
more than 100 years ago.
Look, we're very close.
We're feet away
from what we've labored for.
This is as close
as anybody has gotten.
You know, we're on the edge
of our seat.
Didn't get a hell of a lot
that time.
The first sign that we
have reached the vault
should be that we start
bringing up
some significant
quantities of wood.
That's what we expect, um,
that's what we anticipate.
So far, Rick, Marty, Craig,
and the Oak Island team are
justifiably anxious.
We better find some wood.
The Money Pit operation has
cost them more than
$2 million so far,
and the spoils brought
to the surface
by the hammer grab consist
only of soil,
rocks, and other,
natural materials.
So right now, we're 22 inches
with our casing, from vault,
and 14 inches with
our excavation.
14? Okay, you gonna lower
the casing one more time?
We're going down 12 inches now,
so that'll put the two
at the same elevation,
and then we're gonna be roughly
a foot away.
Okay. It's moving pretty
quick through here.
- We'll see.
- Let's let 'em do it.
Now that the massive caisson
has nearly reached what could be
the so-called "Chappell Vault,"
the team from Irving
Equipment Ltd.
Is drilling,
and digging, at a slower rate.
This is done so that potential
damage to the target will,
hopefully, be minimized.
But, if located, what could
the mysterious box contain?
Pirate gold?
Priceless religious artifacts
like the Ark of the Covenant,
or the Holy Grail?
Or could it contain
the lost treasures
of the ancient Incas?
It's the deepest
Deep as 14 inches.
- Yeah.
- 14 inches away from an answer
or another question,
why didn't we hit it?
Yeah.
As the hammer grab emerges
from the hole with only mud,
the Oak Island team becomes
increasingly concerned.
Come on, bring up a skull
or something.
Could they have miscalculated
the precise location of the
mysterious wooden structure
they located two years ago?
Okay look, here's what I think,
I think this is going perfectly.
I mean, I know we're on pins
and needles because 12 inches
or so we should set
down on wood.
That's what we're hoping, right?
- Yeah.
- It's almost inconceivable
to think that we're not going
to touch wood.
We're going to, Rick!
We're going to,
I have confidence.
You know what, I'm usually
the skeptic,
but we're going
to find something made
of wood at 140 feet,
because we know it's there.
- Yeah!
- And I think that's what's
going to happen, I do.
- I love your attitude.
- I do!
- Yeah.
- There. You feel better?
I don't feel bad.
This is typical Oak Island.
There will be an answer there
or there won't be.
The drill has now
reached its target depth,
but there is still no sign of
the mysterious wooden structure.
How you feeling?
I'd-I'd be willing
to go to one, like, 145.
145, there's nothing there,
then,
then you gotta say you know
what, we misinterpreted,
we mis-calculated.
Yeah.
We believe, we certainly believe
that there's something there.
Now, is it the vault?
I don't know.
I mean, I've been
on this roller coaster,
Oak Island, right, we all have,
for a long time.
But we believe at this point
that we're very close to
- An answer.
- An answer. Exactly.
See any wood, do you?
- No wood, no wood.
- No wood.
Come on, man, where's my wood?
Just more sludge.
Thinking we should have already
hit the wood?
I can't believe we haven't
hit something yet.
It's okay. It's there.
Come on, baby.
- Wood! Wood!
- We got wood.
I'll be damned.
Look at that.
Yeah!
- Yeah, I think it is.
- I think so.
Has the steel caisson
finally reached its target,
and located the mysterious
wooden structure Rick Lagina
and Craig Tester discovered
two years ago?
When that hammer grab gets
past the casing,
all eyes are on that target.
I think everybody's going,
"My goodness."
Because you can see the wood
coming off of it.
There it is. It's right there.
I'll be damned. Look at that.
- Wood!
- We got wood!
We got wood.
It's within a foot
of where we believed it to be.
Where the historical
record says it should be.
And there's wood.
Okay, so the wood is right
on schedule.
- Did anybody doubt it?
- Never for a minute.
Yes, it's exciting.
But, I want to be absolutely
certain we've hit the vault.
I'm positive at this point
we've hit what we cored,
whatever that is.
We're about to find out
if it's the vault or not.
Okay, let's dig.
Wait, we want to keep digging
now?
Yes! We found it,
let's dig it up.
Now we have to be very careful
at this point.
No we don't. We need that thing
back in the hole.
Rick, it's already been
breached.
We know it's been breached with
drill holes.
Several titis. I know.
We're not going to wreck
anything.
It's been breached.
At this point I'd like
an "all stop" moment,
because I do not want
to blow into this thing.
I believe in my heart of hearts
that it's something
that is very significant
historically and
archeologically.
And I think we need
to take a deep breath,
a long deep breath.
It's all elementary is my point,
I'm not expecting to enter
like a nice,
pristine cave, are you?
- I don't want to be a smart-ass.
- We need we need clarity,
and right now
we don't have clarity.
We need to proceed slowly.
Well, let's just quit, then.
Right now we fall into
two camps.
Should we aggressively
excavate this thing
or shall we try
and be less invasive?
And it bears saying,
this is hideously expensive.
We have a lot of equipment,
people,
and they need to get paid
whether they're running or not.
That's the rub.
What do you think?
What do you need to say,
"all stop."
Or go to a different method.
I-I think if you
have some definitive proof
that you're sitting on cement.
I don't think we got that.
There's never been a better time
to keep digging than right now.
- You say?
- It's your call, so
After making a discovery
that they hope will help
solve the Oak Island mystery,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
now find themselves
at a crossroads.
Should they use the giant
hammer grab to lift up
whatever lies within
the wooden box?
Or should they wait,
and explore the area
more cautiously,
so that the possible contents
of the box might remain intact.
What would you do?
You know the historical context,
you know how important this is,
you know, you have a sense.
It's been breached before,
though, you need to know that.
By an inch and a quarter core.
There's no way there's an intact
vault there.
I would suggest that we
push on it first,
before we keep cutting,
and see what it does, see if it
gives us that resistance,
and if it does, then
we know we need to look at other
options of excavating out,
or, you know, protecting it.
That's you guys, make that call.
Many people disagree sometimes,
and Rick has a long history
of disagreeing with me.
But I learned a long time
ago that what Rick said is wise,
is smart, and that is to stop,
don't worry about the expenses
for a little bit,
take a deep breath, and think.
If you have to walk off
and be by yourself
or with our group in our case,
and think it through,
that's just smart.
My angst comes from where it
has always come from.
That I think something amazing
happened here
and I don't wanna just
brute force it.
The wonderful thing is
that we have,
obviously, several options.
That's where I'm at.
You know, we could think about
it, so
Okay, so I say we go
kick this around.
Yup. Yeah.
So let's go back
and talk about it.
- Okay. All right.
- Let's be done.
I'm happy with that decision.
It's an emotional
roller coaster,
and I try not to
let myself ride it.
But, we do ride it,
because we're just humans.
All right, shut down for
tonight?
- Done for the night.
- Good day.
Excellent day, man, well done.
Well done, you guys.
It is a time of both excitement
and satisfaction on Oak Island.
Okay, let's go.
As Rick, Marty, Craig,
and the team decide to suspend
operations after making what
looks to be a huge discovery.
This is the most momentous
decision we need to make.
It's tangible now.
We're within arm's reach
of a box, vault, whatever.
We mustn't make a mistake.
Up until now,
the goal of the team
has been to find out what
lies buried in the Money Pit.
Now that they may have
found something,
they have yet another
problem to solve:
What do they do next?
Next time on
The Curse of Oak Island
There's something very
significant in there,
and I want to proceed slowly.
I don't wanna do that.
We have to find something.
I say drill a hold through
the thing.
That wouldn't scare me.
- Whoa!
- It's a coin!
Wow, look at that.
It's over 200 years old.
There's a lot of uncertainty.
Are we really gonna destroy
whatever it is down there?
That ain't good.
We think there's almost 3,000
gallons in that hole.
And now we don't know
what to do.