The Curse of Oak Island (2014) s04e11 Episode Script

Tonight on
The Curse of Oak Island
Everything's going in
that dumpster.
There's something that comes
from below, we'll find it.
I think there's
something in the airlift.
Look at that. That's a bone!
Dan believes that there is
a body down there.
Back on the hunt, in 10-X.
We know that FDR was interested
in the treasure hunt
here on Oak Island.
I was able to find the
president's personal file.
Guess what I found in
that folder?
Whoa that's remarkable.
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.
How much water you got?
You're at two foot, nine inches.
Okay.
Down just a bit more.
It is the beginning of another
momentous day on Oak Island
I think that's good.
As Rick Lagina,
along with other members
of the Oak Island team,
begin pumping thousands of
cubic feet of air into
borehole 10-X in an effort to
flush what they hope will be
important artifacts up to
the surface.
Everything's going in
that dumpster.
There's something that comes
from below, we'll find it.
Well, that's for sure.
The airlift works by inserting
a pipe some 230 feet to
the bottom of 10-X.
Then a large volume of
compressed air is pumped
down to force water,
sediment, and any objects
back up through
the pipe to the surface.
The sediment,
otherwise known as "spoils", is
then deposited into a container
and searched for potentially
important artifacts.
Airlifting 10-X is
the right thing to do.
I think the massive size of this
equipment and the air
we're gonna put to it,
we're gonna bring up
anything that's in that
chamber that's worth seeing.
I really believe that.
Let's crack some more air.
Try giving it just
a little bit more.
That's good!
You're sucking dirt now.
How'd you like to have some
of this equipment
when you and I was working?
I wouldn't know what to do
with it all.
First drilled by
Oak Island treasure-hunter,
Dan Blankenship in
the early 1970s,
10-X was intended
to be something of a
"back door" into the so-called
Money Pit.
Although Dan hit a
booby-trapped flood tunnel
at a depth of 60 feet,
he kept drilling and digging,
ultimately making 10-X the
deepest borehole on the island,
at a staggering depth of
235 feet.
How's the water in the hole?
The water line is good.
You know Dan, I've been
mesmerized by 10-X since I
first saw those photographs.
I wonder if in half an hour
we'll actually hold in our
hands what you saw long ago;
That's our hope.
Well mine, too.
Mine too. Yup.
When Dan put a camera down 10-X,
he discovered what he maintains
is evidence of human activity,
including wooden posts,
a large chest,
antique tools
and possibly human remains.
I I'm on record saying
there's a corpse down there.
- Right.
- Just watch out for bones.
Well, hopefully today we'll
get some answers.
Unfortunately, in the 1980s,
Dan ran out of money
to explore 10-X,
until partnering with
the Laginas ten years ago.
And it has taken him until
now to try and prove that
what he first discovered was
not merely the product of his
wishful imagination.
What's all this about?
This came out of 10-X.
That came out of 10-X.
That came out of 10-X,
and that came out of 10-X.
What more do you want, Marty?
Chain, wire, and that
low carbon steel.
It all tested out as
being made prior to 1750.
All of that came from
the bottom of the damn hole!
All of those things?
All of it came from
the bottom of the hole.
I have a long history with 10-X.
I've always said,
in order to put,
at my brother calls,
an "X" through 10-X,
we need to find something.
Last year, Rick, Marty
and the team arranged
for professional diver,
John Chatterton,
to successfully reach
the bottom of borehole 10-X.
Due to dense layers of clay
and sediment,
visibility in the underground
cavern was virtually zero.
What is that, John?
Even more disappointing
was the report John Chatterton
issued after making
the harrowing dive.
I had a rock that
I would estimate was
10 inches to 12 inches.
I picked it up, I moved it,
it was it was heavy.
To me, that was what gave you
the sonar signal of the box.
Because the data retrieved
from the dive conflicted
with other data,
Rick, Marty and the team are
hoping that today's efforts
to airlift 10-X will
give them a reason
to continue investing both time
and money at this site.
Right now, everything seems to
be working well.
This scares the out
of me, if you know what I mean.
You're afraid the cavity
might collapse, or?
I'm afraid of
I'm afraid that area between 212
and 214 may collapse.
You remember, I told you,
there's a fissure around 212?
Right.
During one of his dives
into 10-X in the 1970s
Dan Blankenship noticed
a large and potentially
dangerous fissure in
the anhydrite bedrock,
starting at a depth of
approximately 212 feet.
If the enormous pressure caused
by the airlift process
triggers a collapse,
the result would
be catastrophic,
as far as any further ability
to explore 10-X is concerned.
Watch the hose, there!
Just see if you can
help Michel out
with that other pump, there.
Suddenly,
something appears to have caused
the airlift to stop working.
Shut her down.
Okay, you turn yours off.
I think there's something
in the airlift
it's thumping.
Let's lift it up, check
if we got a clog.
Let's try that.
You only gotta come up 10 or 15
feet.
I don't know why they pulled up.
Probably what I had feared,
that that damn roof caved in.
If you feel the hose,
it's pounding.
It's like there's something
caught in it.
- We got a plug in there.
- Yeah.
Is it possible that
a large object
has clogged the airlift?
If so, what could it be?
A large rock?
Or perhaps one of the objects
Dan Blankenship claims he saw
some 40 years ago?
So, where are we,
what's your plan here?
So, right now our water
flow wasn't there,
so we think we had a plug
up inside.
We're going to try it again.
I think the plug is cleared
out of the airlift.
So, we'll give it another
kick and see what happens.
All right.
Leave it open.
That's perfect.
All right, we're seeing
some activity here.
Hear the dirt?
There it is.
Working well, now.
With the adjustment having been
made by the team from
Irving Equipment Ltd.,
the airlift process resumes.
We just want to get our
water flowing properly here,
and once we get that going,
we want to lift for maybe
another 20, 30 minutes,
and then we'll
drain that out and see
what's in there for sediment.
It's going to be interesting.
- It's hard to say.
- Hope we find something.
I hope so, too.
As we move forward with
the airlift in 10-X,
it's exciting.
We've worked out the kinks in
the system and now the airlift
should be able to proceed
uninterrupted.
The whole idea, of course,
is to get the material
off the floor in 10-X.
And I think, at this point,
we'll be successful.
Let's shut down and we'll
drain that out.
Close it.
Whatever materials are on
the bottom of 10-X should
now be in that dumpster.
After draining
the water from the inside
of the metal container,
the Oak Island team can
now begin their inspection
of the 10-X spoils.
I don't know what to
say about it;
- I was expecting a lot more.
- Yeah.
Rick, Charles and
Jack will first
empty the contents
of the container
into the 21.5-ton
front-end loader.
From there, the spoils can be
deposited at a neutral location
to be meticulously
searched for artifacts,
or potentially valuable clues.
Jack! Right here.
Jack, that looks interesting.
I'll bag it.
This I think this is
I don't know what that is.
It's not steel.
Jack, you got another bag?
Several pieces came up
out of the hole.
Incredibly blackened,
I don't think it's wood,
I have no idea what it is.
Rick! Come here!
Look at that.
That's a bone.
A bone?
Found in the mud and sediment
that Rick and the team just
pumped out of borehole 10-X?
Can kind of still feel
the marrow in there
Jack, come here!
You got a baggie, Jack?
We got a bone here.
You gotta come see it.
- All right.
- You got a baggie?
Could Charles Barkhouse have
just found evidence
of human remains?
Whoa!
Perhaps validating what
Dan Blankenship claims he saw
four decades ago?
It's black.
Charles found a bone.
At that point,
is it human or animal?
Human or animal?
If it's a human bone,
wow, what does this mean?
That needs to go to a forensic
pathologist.
Exactly.
We're gonna, pretty much have
to sift through here.
- Absolutely.
- Yeah.
It's gotta go through a
fine-tooth comb, no question.
And get every bone
we find tested.
Everything. Every wood fragment.
If any of
them turn up to be human,
- that will be big.
- That would be big.
It will prove that there was
a body down there.
You're right.
We bag and tag everything.
But, let's get this cleared
out for now.
- Well, that's our plan, then.
- That's our plan.
Jack's gonna be in charge.
He'll build a screen,
put the sediment on a little
bit at a time,
wash the material
and then visually inspect it.
It's gonna be very tedious,
but Jack's up to the task
and he's excited about doing it.
After spending
the last several days
collecting and sifting
through the spoils
from the bottom of 10-X
- Ready?
- Is the hose powered on, still?
Yep.
Jack Begley along with
his stepfather, Craig Tester,
are nearly finished searching
them for valuable artifacts.
Alright, this is the
last load of 10-X.
- Hopefully there's a
- A coin?
A coin in here, yeah.
We have this diamond mesh
trough that we pour
the spoils out onto,
and then spray 'em
down with a hose
to get the clay off quicker,
and hopefully reveal as much
man-made stuff as we can.
I'll get this out of the way.
I do about half,
and I just kind of let yeah.
Beat it on the side
a little bit.
That's probably good.
There's a chunk of wood.
Did you find anything this big
before?
No. Here, let me clean that off.
Now, is this the dimension
that was in Dan's films?
It's so hard to tell,
because there's no good,
you know,
focus on, or how
far away it was.
You can definitely see it's
cut here
But it doesn't look like
a circular saw.
No, by no means. No, this is
Older, then.
- Hopefully.
- Yeah.
This wood looks like some of
the wood that I saw
on Dan Blankenship's film
back when he
originally went down in 10-X.
It looks really old,
and you can see
the handsaw marks on it.
I think it's some great
information.
Look at this. Black wood
with that-that tar stuff.
- That tar stuff?
- Yeah
I mean, does this look
like pitch to you?
Could be.
I know they used to use
pitch blend as a sealant on
ships and other places.
Original people here,
because they came in ships,
they would have had access
to it.
The use of pitch,
also known as resin,
dates as far back
as the third millennium BC,
to ancient Egypt,
where it served as caulking
between the wooden deck planks
of sailing vessels.
It was later used as a sealant
for waterproofing
wooden chests.
- That same material.
- Yeah.
- Maybe the same material.
- I think it's the same.
Based upon what
Craig and I found in the 10-X
spoils, it's encouraging.
Not only is it stuck onto rocks
and other things,
- but onto that wood.
- Onto that wood, which is
Because we could
date that, yeah.
Yep.
There's several items
that seem that they could
be from original people,
and we're gonna have to show
this stuff to Dan Blankenship
and to the rest of the group,
'cause there's a lot of stuff
in here that could prove whether
or not 10-X is worthwhile.
- We got a bunch of bags full.
- Yep, definitely.
Think this'll do it.
Okay, well let's take a few
of the more interesting things
and show 'em to the guys.
Sounds good.
The agenda is what we've
done at 10-X
and, everyone knows
that we tried to airlift.
After nearly a week
of sifting through
the hundreds of pounds
of sediment
that the airlift brought up
from the bottom of borehole
the Oak Island team has
gathered in the War Room to
assess their most
interesting finds.
I mean, as the process
was going on,
we could hear the material
rattling through that pipe,
and we shoveled it out.
Jack, I don't know, you've
gone through it.
You and Craig have gone
through it.
What'd you come up with?
Um
pieces of wood.
Would these have been anything
that you dropped into the hole?
Hell, no, because this is
deteriorated so much.
That's older than I am.
'Cause, I had wondered if
this is possibly original.
That's old!
There's no question about that.
But in the same token,
that's the first man-made wood
that I've seen come out of 10-X.
And you can see the cuts, too!
There's no question that
was cut with a handsaw.
But you know that you
didn't put or use any
wood like that around 10-X?
I know I didn't!
I wouldn't have a saw
that would make that cut.
Well, that's not that's not
all we found, though.
We also found wood with some
sort of black substance.
I found it on a couple different
items that were brought up.
Could the original people
have used this for
some purpose in 10-X?
I don't know.
Did you use anything like that
when you were working in 10-X?
Hell, no.
No, I know that's
not from mine
- No. Jack, we drilled.
- Why are we throwing in?
Dan was sitting right there
and he said,
"we didn't put these in there."
He couldn't think of anything
he would have put in.
I took him to mean
the entire hole.
Let me see that.
In other words, nothing like
that could have
fallen in there, even.
- Okay, let's get it dated.
- Absolutely.
We have to do that.
Yeah, for sure.
Without a question,
this is not something that
was dropped in the hole by
- Us.
- Well, then that's great news.
I am very satisfied with
what we did in 10-X.
We've got a bunch of
things to run tests on,
and if they come back,
you know, as an "a-ha!" moment,
then yeah, then 10-X is right
back on the list.
Okay, so there's not quite
an "X" in 10-X,
that's what we're saying here.
Right.
- You agree to that?
- I'll agree to that.
- Not quite.
- Okay.
All right.
One day after
the team's decision to maintain
their search operation
at borehole 10-X,
Rick, Marty and the team
are about to begin another
major operation at Smith's Cove.
They are hoping to discover one
or more of the box drains,
which are believed to fill
the booby-trapped flood tunnels
in the Money Pit
with ocean water.
If successful,
they might be able
to turn off the water
before they begin digging
their third major
exploration shaft in the area.
Okay guys, here's the guy who's
going to be
in charge of the layout of
the bladder,
- Jeremy.
- Morning!
- He's our boss this morning.
- Okay.
All right, what's gonna happen
here is we're going to go out
and survey the water
just to make sure
there's no shar-sharp
objects or stuff.
Anything that's going
to interfere
I thought you were going
to say sharks.
I did, too.
But, then we're going to roll
out our first dam,
and we'll fill it up, so we're
gonna get fairly wet.
So not only is this a practical
application of your product,
but history in the making.
- Sounds great.
- Okay. Let's do this!
It was at Smith's Cove in 1850,
that treasure-hunters
from the Truro Company
reportedly uncovered five
intricately constructed
stone box drains,
which seemed to converge
into a single tunnel.
The drains were covered
by layers
of coconut fiber and eelgrass,
which acted as a filter
to keep out sand and debris.
It was this system
that was believed to be
feeding ocean water
into the booby-trapped
flood tunnels that had
thwarted efforts to dig
in the Oak Island Money Pit.
The temporary cofferdam
will be composed
of four 100-foot inflatable
bladder sections,
which will be connected to form
an arc around Smith's Cove.
Once the cofferdam is
installed, Rick, Marty,
Craig and the team will be able
to pump water out of
the enclosed area,
in order to do a safe and
thorough search for any
portions of the original
box drains
that may still be intact.
So, the middle of that would
correspond pretty much
to where we want the main
excavation.
Around this here. Okay.
Dan Henskee located
the area of interest,
and Dan believes, and I believe
in Dan, that there
is a small undisturbed
section of the box drains,
or the booby-trap system,
or the drain system,
however you want to define it.
I think it still exists.
So, we'll start with the
50-footer right here,
work our way down to the bank,
and we'll get to Marty
and the excavator situated just
over here so that he can
swing them out as we need them.
So, I'll pick up this first one
and go plunk it in the water.
- Yes.
- Okay.
I think the Smith's
Cove work is every bit
as exciting
as the Money Pit work.
And, the Smith's Cove work,
deals with the original story.
Where do you want it?
Right there, we'll float it
around.
We just gotta turn it around.
Whoa!
That could've hurt!
Are there really box
drains in Smith's Cove?
We know there's coconut fiber.
Dated very early.
But there are no photographs
of the box drains.
So, if we find a box drain,
it's surely historically
significant.
And for that to happen, for us,
at this time frame,
it's very important.
Watch yourselves.
We're already half-way done.
Or almost.
Okay, that's good for now, guys.
Let's get one person on the
other side of this tube here.
Just gonna fold it back.
Look, it's unrolling itself.
I'm very anxious,
and very hopeful about the work
we're about
to conduct in Smith's Cove.
Answers, I think,
are waiting for us
behind that cofferdam.
If that drain system is still
there, it proves,
or goes a long way to prove,
that Oak Island is real,
to the most hardened skeptic.
The pumps are working
and water's coming in.
We've already got a little bit
of growth in the dam down here.
This one won't take that long
to fill, because it's all on
the slope, right?
Using a pump, each section
of the bladder will be inflated
with 120,000 gallons
of seawater,
ultimately forming an
8-foot high barrier.
It's probably almost full
by now.
Yeah.
I guess we'll know once
and for all if the flood tunnels
or box drains are really here.
Yeah. That could be before
the end of this week.
- Yeah, could be.
- We're due for a success.
No! It burst!
- We got a big leak.
- Whoa!
You're losing water!
It's pouring out over there!
We got a rupture!
That is not good.
Why would that happen?
At Smith's Cove,
the water-filled cofferdam
that Rick, Marty and the team
are installing has inexplicably
split wide open.
What happened, do you know?
She ruptured.
It's a gaping hole like that!
The sudden failure
of the cofferdam,
which is made of highly durable,
layered polypropylene plastic,
deals a devastating blow to
contractor, Jeremy Frizzell.
In fact, after witnessing
more than 100
successful prior installations,
he has never seen
anything like it before.
- You think it was damaged?
- It's stretched.
Yeah, you can feel that.
- It's stretched.
- Yeah, you can feel
It's unusual. Must have been
I don't know what it
It's hard to say
She blew out with
considerable force.
Yeah, she did.
I've never, ever, seen that
before.
There have been multiple,
multiple equipment
failures on this island,
things that just should
not go wrong, go wrong.
Over the past two centuries,
treasure hunters on Oak
Island have been plagued by
countless equipment failures
and hundreds of bizarre,
sometimes fatal,
freak accidents.
Such was the case
on March 26th, 1897,
when a pulley system at the
Money Pit suddenly broke loose,
causing a worker named Maynard
Kaiser to fall more than
100 feet to his death.
Shortly afterwards,
rumors of a deadly curse
began to circulate,
including one which states
that seven men must die in
active pursuit of the treasure
before the Oak Island mystery
can be solved.
It could be weeks before
I get a replacement.
We'll get her done.
You may be not used to this,
but we're used to it.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, I'm definitely
not used to it, so
- We'll keep moving forward.
- Okay.
Although this latest
setback will cost.
Rick, Marty and the team both
in time and money,
they are committed
to making this year
the most successful one yet,
as far as their efforts to
solve the mystery
are concerned.
There's lots of what ifs
and who knows
going on at this point,
but, we are a
community of people,
committed to one
single endeavor,
and that is to solve
the Oak Island mystery.
We will lock arms
and get that done.
So, I think everyone knows
Doug, and Paul, of course.
The next day,
as the team awaits news
concerning their prospects
of replacing the ruptured
cofferdam,
Rick Lagina has invited
researchers Doug Crowell
and Paul Troutman to
the War Room.
Paul is the son
of James Troutman,
who worked on the island
for Robert Dunfield in 1965.
That's strange, look at
these rocks right here,
look at the heat coming
off these rocks.
That is incredible.
Like his father,
he is also committed to helping
solve the Oak Island mystery.
Paul, you've done some
interesting work,
so I'll let you dive right in,
and let's see what you've got.
Well thank you, Rick. I've found
some very interesting material.
Through some certain
circumstances,
I actually found a letter
that actually was for FDR,
from, Duncan Harris
was his name.
He was a personal friend
of the Roosevelt's.
Yep,
and he apparently was
the point man for FDR,
on Oak Island, and a
secretary for him.
Of the hundreds of people over
the past two centuries who have
searched for treasure
on Oak Island,
one of the most intriguing
is none other than.
U.S. President,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
As a young man, FDR was
a member of
the Old Gold Salvage and
Wrecking Company that launched
a major search operation
on the island in 1909,
under the leadership
of Captain Henry L. Bowdoin.
Although Roosevelt later went on
to become
President of the United States,
he never lost his interest
in the search
for treasure on Oak Island.
I went through the archives
and I actually pulled his folder
from the president's
personal file.
And guess what I found in
that folder.
Lots of Oak Island information
and letters.
There's a letter from
Gilbert Hedden in there.
That's a picture of Bowdoin,
and a salvage operation.
Now this one will be of personal
interest to you, Charles.
This actually confirms that FDR
was a masonic member, actually.
Yes, so was Erwin Hamilton,
so was Gilbert Hedden.
The list goes on and on.
This is a folder called
"Knights Templar,"
and the masonic
people were actually writing
to him as "his excellency."
There are many who
believe that the mysterious
order of warrior monks known
as the Knights Templar
took possession of priceless
religious objects
during the Crusades
and hid them away,
perhaps on Oak Island,
sometime around the 14th
century.
It is also believed that,
in recent years,
the society known as
Freemasons continue to maintain
many of the Templar traditions
and sacred responsibilities.
Could Paul Troutman be
on the verge
of a major discovery linking
the Oak Island treasure
to the 32nd President
of the United States?
So, this whole archive is
filled with letters,
photographs
You ran across a treasure trove
of documents, in its own right.
I did. There is a lot
of material
to look through, which I'd love
to show you.
Would you be interested
in joining me in going
to the archives?
- No.
- I'm in.
- Of course, we would!
- Okay, okay.
I figured you might be.
FDR's involvement is well
documented
on Oak Island, his belief in it,
even in his latter years.
There's probably documents
in the library.
Is it a place that I would
like to go?
I'm sure we all would like
to go.
This is an information hunt
every bit as much as
a treasure hunt.
- You've always said that, Rick.
- I've always said that.
Let's go,
and let's get this done.
You'll not get a "no"
from any of us.
- Let's go.
- Let's do it.
NToday, it really is,
like I've always said,
an information hunt.
While awaiting the arrival
of the new cofferdam system
at Smith's Cove,
Rick Lagina and his nephew
Alex have traveled nearly
700 miles,
on their way to join
researcher Paul Troutman at
the FDR presidential
library in Hyde Park, New York.
I don't think people,
possibly no one has ever
gone there before us,
looking for Oak Island
research in the museum.
It would be interesting to see,
you know,
who FDR was communicating
with about Oak Island,
and maybe other subjects
as well.
That would be cool.
Any more evidence is great
that you know you can count on,
as you know, there's
thousands of theories.
- No shortage of theories.
- No shortage of theories.
So, you can start plugging
in to stuff,
the info that you trust,
and eliminating some of those
theories, and I guess
you can make progress that way.
The hope is, you know,
we'll find some sort of
documents,
or, and/or pictures that will
help us in the search.
As the 32nd President
of the United States,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was
elected to an unprecedented
four terms in office,
serving from 1933 until
his death in 1945.
An avid collector and
historian in his own right,
Roosevelt strongly
believed that the records
he had amassed over his life,
both as a private citizen
and as a public official,
belonged to the American people.
It was in this spirit that he
donated nearly 16 acres
of his family's property
on the Hudson River
so that the first presidential
library could be built there.
The FDR library
houses approximately
17 million documents
pertaining to everything
from Roosevelt's personal
correspondence with the
public
to private letters and
records from his work
as a New York attorney.
Paul Troutman has done very
credible preliminary research
and has indicated
that there may be some answers
at the FDR museum and,
thus the need to go there
and help with that undertaking.
Let me get the door for ya.
I love the information hunt.
It's-it's every bit as important
as digging and drilling,
in my opinion.
- Hello!
- Hi.
Welcome to the FDR Presidential
Library and Museum.
Thank you, appreciate that.
- Hi. Alex.
- Hey, Alex.
My name's Cliff Laube, I'm
the public affairs officer here
at the FDR Presidential Library.
Perhaps you can clue us in,
we're looking for an associate
of ours,
a researcher by the name
of Paul Troutman?
Yeah, right,
he's in our research room,
- I can take you there now.
- Perfect.
It's a beautiful,
beautiful building.
I was thoroughly impressed by
the FDR complex, if you will.
It housed not only
the FDR Museum,
not only the-the research
facility,
but the original home,
the original residence.
And, what it spoke to me was,
what other knowledge,
what other information will
be garnered from this trip?
Will we glean some nugget
of information
about his involvement
with Oak Island?
- Right this way.
- Thank you, Cliff.
Paul.
- Hey, Rick.
- Good to see ya.
- How are ya?
- Thanks for coming.
Thank you.
Researcher, Paul Troutman,
has spent the last several
days scouring the library
for any new information
that might explain
what drove FDR,
an acknowledged member
of the Freemasons,
to devote so much of his life
to the search for treasure
on Oak Island.
Of all the persons
and personalities that were
involved in Oak Island,
surely FDR is probably
the premier persona,
if you will, that became
engaged in that process, so
He's a central figure, no doubt.
For me it's the "why" of
FDR's involvement.
What made him commit
to this endeavor?
What kept him fascinated
by the Oak Island story?
We need to get to the bottom
of it.
So, the reason why I pulled
these boxes, specifically,
is because these are his
personal files.
If there's any reference
or lead,
I would think they would be in
his personal letter collection.
There's a lot of information
here.
17 million pages,
and out of all those 17 million,
they've only scanned 10%.
- Really?
- So,
there's quite
a few things to find.
So, Alex, what do you think?
Obviously, there's a lot of
stuff to go through here yet.
I mean, looks like we've
got our work cut out for us.
What do you say we get to it?
On those computers over there,
you can access the database.
So that may be worth a look,
too.
- Yeah.
- You wanna take over here?
- Yeah.
- Okay.
While visiting
the presidential library
of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
in Hyde Park, New York,
Rick Lagina, his nephew Alex,
and researcher Paul Troutman,
are searching for information
that could explain just
why America's 32nd
President remained
interested in the search for
treasure on Oak Island
throughout his adult life.
There were 17 million
sheaths of documents there.
Most of which have not
yet been digitized,
so it's-it's a difficult
research agenda.
Just to give you a sense of
what this collection is,
it's called a president's
secretary's file,
and these are the documents that
were so secret,
personal or confidential
that they were
kept in FDR's secretary's office
rather than sent down to the
White House filing room.
Interesting. Very interesting.
- Yeah.
- I was hoping to find
something from around the time
when we know he made a
trip to Oak Island.
You know, between looking
through the archives here,
trying to
track down the 90-foot stone,
and even just sifting
through the spoils piles
Okay, why don't we set you up
at one of the tables over here?
Sure.
We're not going to find
what we're looking for quickly.
It's going to take a lot
of work.
- Take a look.
- Great, thanks.
Going through the documents,
it's a very tedious process,
and my hat's off to every
researcher anywhere,
researching anything.
You have to comb through volumes
of information
to get one little treasure.
All right, let me see what
I've got here.
I was able to find
this reference in the database:
It was called "Vertical Folder.
Oak Island, Nova Scotia."
But, I was able to find
some photographs
and some other documentation,
which we'll see here.
Okay, this letter right here,
it actually does mention
Oak Island in it.
There's a man named
Richard Perkins,
from Inglewood, California,
who writes to the President
to confirm
that there was an actual
expedition,
and right here,
the secretary, M.A. LeHand,
is confirming that this was 1909
and that there might have
been more than one expedition.
At least two.
"It is true that the president
visited
"in search for this often-sought
treasure about 1909.
"There have been two
other expeditions, also,
"but the President understands
the treasure has never been
found."
Wow! That's my
first understanding
of that, I've never
heard of that.
That is kind of amazing.
The only one I had heard about
was 1909.
And so, these, you know,
this is kinda
the first anybody is really
seeing these.
Although Franklin
Delano Roosevelt
did help finance,
and also took part in
the search for treasure
on Oak Island in 1909,
his family's involvement
with the mystery goes back
much further.
In 1849, Warren Delano,
FDR's grandfather,
had been an adventurous
entrepreneur
whose investments in goods such
as tea and the opium trade
with China made his family among
the wealthiest in the world.
That year, his interest turned
to treasure hunting,
and Delano became one of
several investors
in the Truro Company,
the same organization
that not only discovered
the box drains at Smith's
Cove in 1850,
but also small bits
of gold chain
while drilling in the Money Pit.
I've always been curious
of the why,
the why of the whole
Oak Island story,
but in particular, why did FDR
choose to engage in it,
why was he so enthralled
of the Oak Island story?
Well, I might have the answer
to that in the next folder.
- Right here?
- Yeah, great.
- Absolutely.
- Scoot in here, Alex.
This right here, this is
a biographer
named Joseph P. Lash.
He wrote a book, two books,
on FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt.
One of the interviews is
with Duncan Harris.
The one that we-we found
the Oak Island material on.
He went to Harvard,
as well as FDR.
It says, "Franklin and I"
went after the Oak Island
treasure together."
He went to Oak Island together,
with FDR.
So, there is a distinct
possibility
that he's actually
in the famous photograph.
Now, of course, here is FDR.
I'm not sure who Duncan
Harris is,
but apparently, he's in
this photograph.
Either on top or on bottom,
but I think he'd be in
the front here,
considering how close of
a friend he was.
And in this statement,
he actually says,
"It all started off for us,
"on the treasure hunting
business,
Franklin" which is F,
"always interested in that.
"He thought they were the lost
jewels of Louis the 16th
and Marie Antoinette."
So, these were
the lost crown jewels of France.
So, he thought it was Louis
the 16th?
That's remarkable!
Well, there's my "why" of it.
Marie Antoinette?
The crown jewels of France?
Of all the various theories,
perhaps none is as audacious,
or compelling, as the one
suggesting that precious jewels
could be buried on Oak Island.
Or the claim that there isn't
only one treasure hidden there,
but several.
And that one of the guardians
of that information
might well have been one
of America's most popular,
and powerful, Presidents.
Next time on
The Curse of Oak Island
They're saying that
the Marie Antoinette jewels
were buried in Canada.
There's more than
just an interesting treasure.
FDR found answers.
I think we're into
something, Rick!
If there's a box drain,
it leads to the flood tunnel.
It's proof that
the original story is true.
Whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait!
Rick, look at this.
That doesn't look natural to me.
If this is the shaft
they found the gold,
I think we should dig
right here.
X marks the spot.