Original subtitles

From an indigenous legend that a Templar knight

was worshipped as a god...

I believe that it's bulletproof the Templars went to America.

- That's a cross. - to medieval artifacts

- from across the ocean... - I've seen that shape before.

Where do you think you've seen it before?

In France, in the Templar prison in Domme.

to man-made structures

that could re-write North American history.

This is the paved area. There's the dates we're getting.

- What are they? - Around 1200 AD.

(chuckling)

And ancient maps that reportedly

document a secret journey.

The revelation during Season Eight

of The Curse of Oak Island that precious metals

do in fact lie buried in the Money Pit...

means that Rick and Marty Lagina and their team

may be closer than ever

to recovering a massive treasure buried on Oak Island.

And with every major discovery they unearth along the way,

they're also zeroing in on who buried it here

and engineered the ingenious workings that have

kept it so well hidden over the centuries.

Pirates, European militaries

and early North American settlers remain

on the whodunnit list.

But tonight we'll be counting down the best clues

that this team, well-studied theorists,

and even science have produced that

keep pointing to other, more incredible suspects.

I'm talking about the medieval

order of the Knights Templar.

Sound crazy? Well, check out our list

and decide for yourself.

This is "Oak Island's Top Ten Templar Ties."

♪ ♪

According to documented history,

no one sailed to North America from foreign lands prior

to Christopher Columbus' journey in 1492.

But many Oak Island theorists believe Columbus

may have been on a follow-up voyage.

They point to the flag that graced the sails

of his ships as a curious clue.

It was actually the cross of The Knights Templar.

It's pretty wild, right?

In fact, the very first discovery

that kicked off the Oak Island mystery back in 1795 is believed

by some to be a direct sign of Templar activity.

And tonight, it kicks off our list

of the top ten Templar ties.

Number ten: The Money Pit.

When searchers first uncovered a 13-foot-wide

depression on Oak Island,

they were stunned

by the extensive oak platforms

uncovered every ten feet down to a depth of 90 feet.

And in that ninth layer, they found the legendary

olive-colored stone with mysterious carvings that,

when removed, caused the pit to flood from an ingeniously

designed flood trap connected to the ocean.

So who could have achieved such a design?

And why nine levels? To get to the possible answer,

we have to go back all the way to the 12th century.

In 1118 AD, the military order of monks

known as the Knights Templar was established

in Jerusalem to protect the lives and property

of Christian pilgrims as they journeyed

to the Holy Land during the Crusades.

Their headquarters were established

on the historic Temple Mount,

the original site of the temple of King Solomon.

Beyond the idea of some kind of bodyguard for

pilgrims to the Holy Land,

it's been suggested that they had this immense

and ambitious program in mind.

Which would involve excavating and basically looking

for knowledge and looking for power

wherever they could find it.

Some researchers believe that deep below the Temple Mount,

the Templars excavated down through nine levels

of hidden chambers where they discovered lost religious texts,

golden treasures and holy artifacts that may have included

the Ark of the Covenant.

But then suddenly in 1128, they became the richest

people in the world, absolutely massively wealthy.

The King of France considered the Templars

to be enemies because it was convenient to do so.

Because that gave him permission to steal their...

their treasures and their-their wealth.

SANFORD HOLST: The king of France

then leaned on the pope to back him up

and press charges against the Knights Templar.

And here the pope was siding with the king of France,

turning all of his people over to be imprisoned

and burned at the stake, and they felt horribly betrayed.

In 1307, Pope Clement V ordered the Knights Templar

to be disbanded and King Philip IV

of France had many of them imprisoned.

They were tortured in an effort to reveal

what they had found, and, along with their Grand Master

Jacques de Molay, brutally executed.

However, a number of the order

reportedly escaped to Scotland with their secret treasures.

And, according to some Oak Island theorists,

eventually journeyed across the Atlantic to what would

become Nova Scotia in order to build a "New Jerusalem."

I hate to do this to you, Marty,

but the prophecies about the New Jerusalem say

that the New Jerusalem will be built

on an island of swamp.

In 2014, the Laginas--

Along with Dave Blankenship and Charles Barkhouse-- met

with authors and Oak Island theorists

Kathleen McGowan and Alan Butler

in Scotland and were given an incredible presentation

on the design of the Money Pit.

When I read the account of how McGinnis and his friends

first started to dig at the Money Pit,

the first thing they came across,

a couple of feet under the turf, was a platform.

This rang a bell in my mind. It's got to do with a particular

part of Freemasonry which, is called the royal arch of Enoch.

There are many connections between the Knights Templar

and the fraternal order of Freemasonry, who many believe

descend from the Templars themselves.

But a central figure in Masonic worship is

the biblical figure Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah.

According to Masonic texts

and the Dead Sea Scrolls,

Enoch was the first to build a temple

in Jerusalem at the location of the Temple Mount.

And he was the one who constructed

the nine underground chambers

to protect all the important knowledge and treasures

of the world before the great flood

was unleashed on mankind by God.

When the Knights Templar were eventually able to...

build their own New Jerusalem on Oak Island,

the Money Pit was a deliberately constructed copy

of Solomon's Temple and the chambers of Enoch.

Could the Money Pit really have been built

by members of the Knights Templar?

To not only hold sacred and valuable treasures,

but also symbolize the legendary Enochian Chambers?

It's an incredible theory, but the Money Pit

had an incredible design.

It really makes you wonder just what type of treasure

would justify such an elaborate effort.

But let's be honest, a theory is just a theory

until you can prove it.

And that brings us to the next entry on our list.

And it's a find that just might be

connected to the 90 Foot Stone.

Number nine: The Hand Point Chisel.

All right.

This looks like a good area.

- Yeah. - All right, here we go.

(beeping, blipping)

Music to my ears.

At the beginning of Season Seven,

metal detection expert Gary Drayton and Alex Lagina

were searching on Isaac's Point, near Smith's Cove.

It was just after a long winter

and Gary was hoping that the harsh seasonal erosion would

have helped stir up some top-pocket finds.

(blipping, beeping)

I'm getting a signal here, Alex.

It's just underneath that rock there.

All right...

There it is. I see it.

- You do? - An iron spike.

- Where? - Just here.

- Yep and look at this. - There it is.

- Huh. - That could be an old, crude spike.

That looks old to me. That looks hand-forged.

That's nice. The fascinating thing

about this, Alex, is it

don't compare to other spikes we've found.

This is a totally different one.

Gary was right.

When he and Rick Lagina took it to blacksmithing expert

Carmen Legge, they were stunned by his assessment.

I was thinking it's something nautical.

It does serve a purpose, but it's not on a ship.

That is definitely a hand-point.

- What's a hand-point? - It is a tool.

They are used to detail or carve rock or stone.

How old?

14th century.

Were there any, um, rocks or stones carved on the island

or found on the island?

There are more than a few, but the, you know,

the significant ones from the historical record,

of course, are the 90 Foot Stone in the Money Pit,

which had a line of carvings on it, hieroglyphs.

You might have the very, uh, hand-point that did that.

Gary might have not only found the tool used to carve

the 90 Foot Stone, but if Carmen Legge

is correct that the chisel dates

back to the 1300s, more than a century before Columbus,

it just may provide another critical tie between

the Knights Templar and the Oak Island mystery.

Now the theory that the Knights Templar deposited

a vast treasure on Oak Island

long before the 15th century is

for sure one of the most incredible ever contemplated

to try to explain the 226-year-old mystery.

And that's why Rick, Marty, Craig and the team

treat every clue or find with total objectivity.

I think if you could fill us in

on where your research has led us.

I think that's where we should start.

Yeah.

So in 2017,

Rick, along with his nephews Alex

and Peter, travelled to Southern France to meet

with researcher Nichola Lewis...

I think I did find a connection.

where she presented the next

top Templar tie on our list.

So that's the H+O stone there.

Number eight: The H+O Stone.

In 1921, treasure hunters discovered

a large boulder covered with mysterious carved symbols

on Oak Island's north shore.

They were hoping that it might be covering a treasure vault,

which led to a pretty unfortunate

method of investigation.

They blew it up with dynamite.

No treasure was found below it and although many

of the large fragments have gone missing over the years,

one was photographed bearing an "H," a small cross symbol,

and an "O" - hence the name: the H+O stone.

What these symbols represent has remained a compelling curiosity.

I found two Templar chapels in the Charente,

in the area where we are going and one has wall paintings.

It's a fantastic painting.

And this is a Templar going off to fight.

But on his shield, he's got this cross, which is exactly like

the H+O stone with the cross in the middle

and dots around the cross.

R Oh, yes, very similar.

Absolutely.

I think we are gonna find some very

interesting bits of information.

And for me, this has always been and will continue

to be an information hunt every bit as much as a treasure hunt.

I want some answers. I think we all do.

- Yup. - Yeah. - Let's make that happen.

Later during their trip, Rick, Alex and Peter also

visited with researcher Jerry Glover at a 14th-century

prison in the town of Domme, where Templar knights

were once imprisoned by the French King Philip the IV.

Come in.

Oh, wow.

It was here that Jerry showed them even more

authentic Templar clues that were literally carved in stone.

It's certainly interesting that the cross at the center

with the pellets is indicative

of graffiti crosses

carved by Crusading knights.

You see similar ones,

uh, here in the guardhouse at Domme.

Really? Where are those?

There's some over here.

Here's a good example.

Oh, yeah.

One, two, three, four...

- Well, no... - You can see it better on the top one.

Oh, yes. Yes.

The symbology we're seeing on the walls,

and the H+O stone-- Very, very similar.

I mean, they couldn't be more similar.

So it's a direct connection, but what does it mean?

Does that mean that Templars did both?

I don't know.

I mean, it's a clue.

It-it surely opens the door to possibilities.

So if these stunning connections between the Templars

and Oak Island are legit, just when did they make

that clandestine journey across the Atlantic?

Well, the next top Templar tie on our list

may offer a possible answer.

Number seven: The Legend of Prince Henry Sinclair.

- Look at that. - Absolutely magnificent.

Yeah, that is beautiful.

Back in 2014, just before the Laginas

and Craig met with Alan Butler

and Kathleen McGowan in Roslin, Scotland,

they first visited one of the most mysterious places

ever associated with both the Knights Templar and their

descendants, the Freemasons-- Rosslyn Chapel.

Wow.

Oh, my God.

Amazing.

Constructed in 1456

by Freemason William Sinclair,

whose family also had well-known Templar ties,

the chapel features thousands of carvings.

Many researchers believe that some of these carvings represent

clues of a journey made to North America

more than half a century earlier

by William Sinclair's grandfather.

Templar Knight Prince Henry Sinclair.

According to some in the indigenous Mi'kmaq

community of Nova Scotia,

in 1398 Henry Sinclair arrived with a fleet

of large sailing vessels and shared new methods

with them for fishing and navigation.

His impact on their culture was such

that he came to be worshipped as a god known as Glooscap.

However, many researchers also believe that he carried out

another profound agenda as well, by burying

Templar treasures on Oak Island.

Henry Sinclair is often said to have made the journey

to Nova Scotia, but I think he had

a particular purpose in mind.

D One theory is that, uh, he was known to be

a very enthusiastic member of the Knights Templar.

And there's great speculation--

And I'm going to use that word strongly, speculation--

That he was looking for a place to hide, uh, the great treasures

that the Knights Templar supposedly had acquired.

Although proof of that remains to be verified,

many believe "rock-solid evidence"

that the journey took place can be found

carved into the ceiling of Rosslyn Chapel.

The legend here is that Prince Henry Sinclair,

in 1398, sailed to the New World.

And brought back with him... corn.

And if you look up here,

there is what may appear to be

maize or, as we have

called it, Indian corn.

This chapel was built

well before Christopher Columbus went to America.

Honestly, it looks like

- you can see the little corn kernels. - Yes.

And there are other carvings such as the aloe vera

and trillium, which again, is a North American plant.

And, interestingly, our botanist believed that

the trillium was trillium.

So we have to believe that

the people who carved this chapel were far-traveled.

Corn is a new-world crop.

And one of the key things is that there appears

to be a carving of a trillium.

Trilliums would have been unknown to the people

who built that chapel had they not been to North America.

In recent years the Mi'kmaq adopted a cross as their

ceremonial flag, which is actually a mirror-image match

of the Knights Templar battle flag.

Coincidence? You be the judge.

When the legendary land surveyor, treasure hunter

and Oak Island resident Fred Nolan first arrived here

back in 1958, he had no idea

he would later discover one of the most

compelling possible connections

between the treasure mystery and the Knights Templar.

Not only is it one of the largest man-made

features on the island, but it was also hiding

in plain sight for centuries.

Number six: Nolan's Cross.

Although he originally hoped

to look for treasure in the Money Pit,

after being denied access by lot owner M.R. Chappell,

Fred purchased eight lots in the middle of the island,

where he spent years surveying the acres for possible clues.

This led him to find what he believed to be

a number of man-made stone markers.

In 1981, he was stunned to realize

that five massive, cone-shaped boulders

he had plotted on a survey map

formed a megalithic symmetrical cross

measuring 720 feet wide

by 867 feet long.

Curious about what might be at its apex, Fred performed

a shallow dig and unearthed

a sixth boulder carved into the shape of a human head.

The symbol of the cross immediately gave credence

to the idea that the legendary

Oak Island treasure might be of a religious nature.

But in 2018, Oak Island theorists Gretchen Cornwall

and John Temple shared their research on how

it might also be another key tie to the Knights Templar.

The Templars-- When they were outlawed

in 1307 to 1312--

They weren't just going to disappear into

a puff of smoke because a king in France wanted them to.

- Yeah. - No, they took to the seas.

Some of them became pirates.

What's your theory on this?

St. John the Baptist is

the patron saint of the Templar Knight order.

And, of course, he was famously beheaded.

Yeah.

And that's how the Jolly Roger

became a pirate symbol.

It's actually originally a Templar symbol.

And it represents John the Baptist.

And it is our thought that

the Money Pit is Templar in origin.

Why do you draw an inference that, uh,

there's a Templar connection to the Money Pit?

Oak Island would be a safe

and a secure, hidden place to put sacred relics.

The Templars were great engineers.

They would have left a physical

stone key and marker.

And that's how the Templars passed down information:

graffiti marks, uh, stone,

buildings, architecture.

So, fast-forward

to the Nolan Cross.

Your headstone--

Uh, the skull.

The head of the Nolan Cross is a huge signpost,

if you will, that the Templars were there.

The Nolan Cross being, literally,

the skull and crossbones.

On its face, Nolan's Cross is undoubtedly a compelling feature

that might tie to the Templars.

Unfortunately, you can't date stone.

I'm gonna zigzag along this track.

However, other clues have been found on the island that can.

That leads us to the next item on our list,

and potentially more evidence that the underground

workings on Oak Island go back to Templar times.

Number five: The Iron Swages.

(beeping)

- That sounds good. - Yeah, that sounds good.

Here's the center, mate.

In 2019, while metal detecting on Lot 21,

which was once owned by Daniel McGinness,

Rick Lagina, along with Gary Drayton and Dan Henskee,

made these incredible finds.

Is that it?

I don't even know what that is.

Wow.

Look at that.

That looks like it was used for hammering that way.

It looks like it was made for the wooden shaft to go in.

I mean, that is a meaty piece of iron.

Oh, yeah.

You think it's very old?

Yeah, I couldn't put a date on that.

I've seen some old, old tools.

And I've found medieval tools

but I've never found anything looking like that.

Yeah, I believe that this would be a top-pocket find.

(laughter)

I need a big top pocket, mate.

Strong pocket, yeah.

That first discovery was certainly encouraging,

but just a few yards away, they were stunned to find another,

even bigger identical object.

Wow!

It's another hammer.

It looks like a hammer head.

Look, it is, it's got that same end as well.

And this is even bigger, look.

It's twice as big as the other one.

Feel how heavy that is, Rick.

Wow. Wow.

Let's have a look at that other one, Dan.

Let's see if it's similar.

Wow. So we got two of them.

When you're looking for what could be a priceless treasure,

having great experts to analyze possible clues

is pretty priceless, too.

And, once again, blacksmithing expert

Carmen Legge delivered a stunning assessment.

All of these things were found on the island.

So let's get to it.

What do you want to start with?

And I should tell you when we first found these,

we thought they was like stone mason's tools.

Mm-hmm.

They're not? Oh wow.

Dating back to as early as the 12th century,

swages were commonly used by blacksmiths to mold and sharpen

tools too intricate to be formed by a hammer alone.

Tools that had a very specific purpose.

For tunneling?

Have you ever seen any of these in this area?

Is it possible that the Oak Island team found some

of the actual tools used to dig an elaborate treasure vault?

One that was designed to possibly hide

priceless religious artifacts

and also thwart anyone who dared try and retrieve them.

Now, even though the proof of who's truly behind

the Oak Island mystery and what they brought here

will be ultimately revealed by what the Laginas and their team

dig up, we've already seen just how important the help

from devoted theorists and researchers has been.

Well, one of these folks produced some documents that

not only purport to explain the origins of the mystery

-but is also -(line ringing)

The next top Templar tie on our countdown.

Hi Zena, it's Doug.

Number four: Zena Halpern's Maps and Cipher.

In 2016,

the late author and former member

of the New England Antiquities Research Association,

Zena Halpern, presented the team with three documents

that she believed had been created

by members of the Knights Templar.

The map that's dated in the upper right-hand corner

seems to be dated 1179.

In all, Zena presented a map of Mahone Bay dating

all the way back to the late 12th century,

another map of Oak Island dated to 1347

with certain locations labeled in French writing...

and a cipher dubbed "La Formule," with a number

of symbols that matched those reported on the 90-foot stone.

Really?

If all of the Zena Halpern

data is correct,

that there was a Templar voyage to Oak Island,

it would be wildly significant.

Those are the kind of things I've been looking for

since I got involved in this, some hard data that says that

there was substantial undertakings here prior

to the discovery of the Money Pit.

Digging deep into her research,

Zena was not only able to put a reported date

on the first Templar visit to Oak Island,

but she also revealed the identity of the man

who she believed to have been behind the entire operation.

A Templar Knight named Ralph De Sudeley.

Originally from Hertfordshire, England, Ralph de Sudeley

was not only on the front lines fighting

for Christian causes during the Crusades,

but he is also believed by some to have discovered

both the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail

below the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

The revelation that the Oak Island mystery

could possibly date all the way back to the late

12th century was certainly incredible to contemplate.

But could any physical evidence be found to back it up?

Well, that segues perfectly into the next item on our list.

Got something here!

Number three: The Paved Area.

In 2019, Rick Lagina and Craig Tester asked

professional diver Tony Sampson

to check out a possible anomalous hard feature

they had previously detected

while investigating the so-called

Mercy Point in the Oak Island swamp.

Eight feet that way is the solid platform.

The hard bottom you're describing, you believe is

rock, not just hard bottom?

No. No, it's rock. Yeah.

- Pretty amazing. - Wow.

The Fellowship then drained the swamp and began a rigorous,

but careful excavation from the area known

as the Eye of the Swamp all the way to the Eastern border.

They were amazed by what they kept finding.

Uh, there's these layers

of stone above the till

that have no clay around them,

and yet have swamp sediment around them.

It has to be manipulated.

I can't find a natural process that would've led to this.

It's a manipulated site.

To me, it's like somebody came in and put

the small rocks on the bottom, just like a building a road,

and then put the bigger rocks on top of that.

It's that... I think, precise.

I'll be honest, my eyes

and boots perspective-- It's man-made.

- I don't know. - Well...

if you go seaward...

We're on a line. Like, if you have the eye...

as a excavated site.

If you have this paved area as a filled-in site,

maybe trying to make a platform.

Something solid. And then if you go seaward,

you have the deepest portion of the swamp,

where it was actually an inlet.

It all lines up with the peninsula

cutting through it.

And, so, was this some kind of work surface if people

brought boats in?

The paved area all but proved

that the swamp was man-made.

But man-made by who? And when?

- Hey, guys. - Gentlemen.

A few weeks later, Dr. Spooner got the answer

after carbon dating organic materials

found within the feature.

The results must have had

Zena smiling down from above.

The dates are rather extraordinary.

There's the dates we're getting.

- Wow. - Yeah.

What are they?

Around 1200 AD.

- Medieval. - Medieval, baby!

- (laughter) - You know,

1200 AD? People working in a swamp on Oak Island?

It's crazy.

There's a wonderful story written here.

I've always wanted to turn the last page on Oak Island.

And it's certainly not there yet.

We're but chapters in, after all this time.

- We're just beginning. - Oh, yeah.

Unbelievable! That's what comes to mind.

Unbelievable. This is great, Dr. Spooner.

- Thank you very much. - Oh, you're welcome.

Now, so far, we've drilled down into a number of theories,

discoveries and even documents that directly tie the medieval

order of the Knights Templar to the Oak Island mystery.

Well, what if some Templar treasures were deposited

many centuries later by descendants of them?

Let me explain with the second-most compelling

item on our countdown.

Number two: The Rochefoucauld Connection.

So, we have your map that shows Nova Scotia.

And we have a map that seems

to be a French map of Oak Island.

This Oak Island map that you're showing us--

It seems to indicate that

someone came here in 1347.

Circling back to Zena Halpern's map

of Oak Island that was dated to 1347,

the date wasn't the only thing that caught intrepid

Oak Island historian Doug Crowell's attention.

After doing some digging in the Nova Scotia archives,

he made another incredible discovery.

I found eight pages

of a ship... what looks like a ship's log.

These eight pages that I found, I made a transcript, guys,

of what the log actually says.

What's really interesting is it appears to be a ship's log

that indicates that they were here in advance

of the French fleet that was coming over in 1746

to take back Acadia.

In 1746, the French Crown sent an armada

across the Atlantic Ocean,

hoping to seize Nova Scotia

and parts of the Northern American colonies

from the British.

Led by an admiral named Duc d'Anville,

it was not only the cargo he was reported to be carrying,

but also his lineage that caught Doug's eye.

Interestingly enough, the Duc d'Anville--

His real name was

Jean-Baptiste Louis Frédéric de Rochefoucauld.

It's the Francis Rochefoucauld on Zena's map

that's given information about Oak Island and-and what

looks like a buried treasure.

It's the Rochefoucauld connection.

The Rochefoucaulds were a powerful family

of French nobles who could trace their lineage

back to the ruling class in the holy city of Jerusalem

during the Crusades,

and are believed by many to have close ties

to the Knights Templar.

So, on September 6, the ship's log was:

"At mid-day we reach a deep bay

"with several hundred small islands wooded to the shore.

"The great quantity of treasure on this vessel makes it

unwise to jeopardize it in any engagement with the enemy".

"September 8. It has been agreed that

"a deep pit be dug and treasure securely buried.

"The pit to have a secret entrance

"by a tunnel from the shore.

"On September 13, down 67 feet,

"pit seemed damp from seepage of sea water.

Have decided to go deeper to dry soil."

And it ends.

And that's where it ends.

CRAIG: But it is amazing. I mean, a great quantity

of treasure, and... and that they appear to be in this bay.

As the

ship's log unfolds,

it describes a construction of a shaft.

Very similar to the descriptions

of the original find of the Money Pit.

I think it's-it's... it fits.

The thing about this that-that makes it exciting

is that it fits really well.

Could it lead to some more

investigative work?

Absolutely.

Doug, this is, uh, incredible.

Incredibly fascinating.

And, whether it ties or not,

it's a really interesting bit of history.

The historical evidence

found in Nova Scotia potentially

connecting the Rochefoucauld family to Oak Island

is what set the stage for Rick and his nephews'

journey to France that we covered earlier.

As our countdown tonight has firmly established,

of all the theories put forth about the possible origins

of the Oak Island mystery, it's undeniable that science,

expert analysis and even historical documents could

suggest a potential Templar tie.

But of all those clues,

this next and final one still hails

as king of the Templar ties.

Number one: The Lead Cross.

So you're thinking between the beach and the old

- cofferdams, this is a perfect spot? - Yeah.

Let's see if we can find something.

Gary Drayton has established a nice cache

of catch phrases like "top-pocket finds"

and "bobby-dazzlers."

- Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! - What?

- I don't see anything. - I see something.

But this discovery made in 2017 with Rick at Smith's Cove

was most appropriate for a potential Templar tie.

- Holy... - Holy sha-moly, all right.

- It's a cross. - That's a cross.

There's a square hole.

Yeah, right there. How old?

This is the type of thing

I'd expect to find in Europe.

When I first saw it, I thought that looks like medieval.

A medieval cross.

I've seen that shape before.

I swear that'll tell the tale how old it is, that shape.

Where do you think you've seen it before?

You know, when I was in France,

I saw a carving like that

in the Templar prison in Domme.

It's an incredible structure.

So were they housed here for seven years?

Yes, they were, yes.

As we saw earlier, Rick, Peter

and Alex not only saw images that resembled the carvings

on the H+O Stone when researcher Jerry Glover took them

to the 14th century Templar prison in Domme, France,

but he also showed them numerous religious carvings

that the Templars went to desperate measures to create.

How would they have carved this?

They surely would not have had implements?

It's said that, because

their weapons would have been removed from them

when they were imprisoned, they would have

had to have maybe used their teeth

or their fingernails.

And one of those carvings was an exact match

in design to the cross found at Smith's Cove.

So that is

the cross.

Yeah, very nice.

Seeing is believing, but objective science

is a worthwhile backup when you're trying to solve

a centuries-old mystery.

Rick, Marty and Craig Tester then had laser ablation

conducted on the cross to extract lead isotope samples

at the University of New Brunswick.

If you can, uh, ring Tobias up?

Those samples were then sent to the German Mining Museum

in the city of Bochum where chemist Tobias Skowronek

was able to compare them with historically-documented

lead mining data throughout Europe.

So Tobias, as you can probably understand,

we're somewhat on pins and needles, uh,

hoping to hear what you have to tell us, so...

if you'd be, again, so kind, uh, we're very anxious.

Yeah, so, I compared the lead isotope data

of the cross that you gave me with my database

of ore bodies and metals here.

And I think I got some pretty interesting results for you.

So, comparing the data,

I noticed that the lead isotopes

of the cross are somehow related to European deposits.

But I did not find

any match with the quarries that were

used in the 15th to 17th centuries.

I, therefore, went on and compared

the lead isotopes of the cross with those of deposits

where archeologists

know medieval mining took place,

and I think I found a match there.

- Really? - Yeah!

And, time-period wise, you think

- it's pre-15th century, then? - Um...

I think it's pre-15th century, yes.

- Wow. - You nailed it, Gary.

- Yep. - But where the heck did it come from?

The data of the cross

is very consistent with the area of Southern France.

Wow.

Look at him. Look at him.

(laughter, clamoring)

Grinning like a Cheshire cat over there.

I knew it. That's fantastic.

That cross is associated with the Templar

influence region in France.

It's certainly the time of the Templars--

1300s, 1400s--

Um... or even earlier.

It's a piece of data. I can't disregard data.

Here's a piece that does support

a very ancient landing on this island, at least.

I mean, if it was made pre-15th century

and it was deposited

near the time it was made, it is probably the most

historic thing that's maybe ever happened in North America.

- Yeah. - That's incredible news.

R The hunt continues.

Now, until a vast treasure is finally unearthed

from Oak Island, perhaps we'll never know

who was behind the mystery.

But what we do know is this:

somewhere deep below where

I am standing right now in the Money Pit area,

a vast cache of silver

and perhaps other precious metals lie buried.

And in three short weeks, when season nine

of The Curse of Oak Island begins,

Rick, Marty, Craig and the rest of the team

will objectively follow the evidence as they drill

and dig to reveal the truth.

Stay tuned, Acorns.

The answers are closer than ever.

As always, keep the faith. We'll see you soon.