All language subtitles for The UnXplained S01E09 The Oak Island Curse 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DDP2 0 H 264-NTb_track4_[eng]

There is an island

in the North Atlantic

where people have been looking
for an incredible treasure

for more than 200 years.

Hold back!

Oh!

SHATNER:
To date,

six men have died
trying to solve the mystery.

- And according to legend...
- [explosion]
- Whoa!

- SHATNER: ...one more
will have to die...
- [crow caws]

...before the treasure
can be found.

Treasure?

Curses?
[chuckles]

Sounds like the stuff that would
ignite the imagination

of your average teenage boy.

And that's exactly what happened
more than a half a century ago,

when two brothers--
Rick and Marty Lagina--

read an article
in Reader's Digest magazine

that changed their lives forever.

But is there really a vast
and incredible treasure

buried somewhere on Oak Island?

And could that treasure
really be guarded

by a deadly curse?

Well, that is...

what we'll try and find out.

♪

SHATNER:
On this small island

just off the coast
of Mahone Bay,

the Lagina brothers--
Rick and Marty--

along with their partners,

have invested thousands of hours

and millions of dollars
to find a treasure,

and in doing so,
solve a centuries-old mystery.

MARTY:
We hope to find the treasure.

Either find
some fabled treasure,

or figure out
what happened here.

Either one of those
is a success.

That's what we're hoping for.

RICK:
Mine is, find the one thing

that opens the door on the first
page of this wonderful story.

Find the one thing.

SHATNER:
But believe it or not,

even with all the heavy
equipment they've brought in,

and despite finding a number
of compelling clues,

and even several
intriguing artifacts,

not one piece
of genuine treasure

has ever been found
on Oak Island.

Even after centuries

of digging and drilling,
and after the loss

of no fewer than six lives,
there has never been any proof

that a treasure
was ever buried there.

So then, why do the Laginas
and their partners keep at it?

According to legend,

the story began one night
in 1795,

when 18-year-old Daniel McGinnis

noticed strange lights
coming from nearby Oak Island.

Deciding to row across
the frigid waters of Mahone Bay

to investigate,
he brings with him two friends--

Anthony Vaughan and John Smith.

After reaching the island,

the three young men race
toward the source

of the strange lights.

But what they find

when they get there
is equally mysterious--

a ship's block and tackle

hanging from the limb
of an oak tree,

and just beneath it,

a large, circular depression
in the ground,

as if something was recently
buried and then covered up.

PAUL TROUTMAN:
Daniel McGinnis

had known about the folklore
of pirates being in the area,

so he was suspicious that maybe
there was a treasure here.

They came back the next day
and started digging.

They started digging down,
and they found a row of logs.

And every ten feet,
they kept digging,

and they went down
to as far as 30 feet.

And they found putty
and charcoal,

and figured that there was
something to this mystery.

SHATNER:
Convinced that no one would go
to the trouble

of constructing such
an elaborate underground pit

unless it was to bury something
of tremendous value,

for the next nine years,
they dug deeper and deeper,

until, in 1804, when they had
reached a depth of 90 feet,

they made
a remarkable discovery.

One that seemed
to confirm their belief

that they were on the brink of
finding something extraordinary.

There,
embedded in the wooden platform,

was a large,
rectangular slab of granite

on which was carved
a number of strange symbols,

almost like
Egyptian hieroglyphs.

But when
they pulled the stone up,

they were met
with another surprise.

The hole they dug quickly
flooded with seawater,

as if by removing the stone,

they had sprung an
ingeniously-designed booby trap.

The event thwarted
all subsequent attempts

to dig in the area,

which was now known
as "the Money Pit."

DAVID WHITEHEAD:
For the next 200 years,

flooding would hamper
any attempt

to uncover
buried treasure there.

Until the flooding problem
is solved,

there is very little likelihood

that any treasure
will be found there.

SHATNER:
When the symbols on the stone
slab were later translated,

it was believed to read,

"Forty feet below
two million pounds lie buried."

But many Oak Island theorists
weren't so certain

this translation was accurate.

After all, who said it was meant
to be translated into English?

French, Spanish,
Portuguese pirates were known

to frequent these islands
ever since the 1600s.

Some believed the translation
offered instructions

on how
to shut off the booby traps,

while others insisted

the symbols were placed there
as a deadly curse,

daring anyone who continued
the search for the treasure

to proceed
at the risk of their life.

D'ARCY O'CONNOR:
There's been stories

of the curse of Oak Island

going way back,
even before 1795.

People believe
this island is cursed,

that if you get
a little too close to the truth,

to the treasure,
your life was in danger.

We don't know how curses work
or if they work.

Is there some kind
of metaphysical power?

Or is it the power
of suggestion?

Perhaps it's self-fulfilling.

Somebody hears about the curse,
and so, it has effect.

Maybe you're not
a superstitious person,

you don't believe in curses,
but just,

it's not unusual

that even if you think
something's impossible,

still a lot of emotions
are just driven

through unconscious processes.

And knowing
that you're in a place

that is cursed might make you
feel bad and uneasy.

So when we talk
about a curse on Oak Island,

is the curse manifested in some
sort of supernatural element,

or do people just feel
that their luck isn't there?

DOUG CROWELL:
The island has a long history

of something happening

just when you're on the cusp

of retrieving the treasure
or getting the answers.

SHATNER:
But were the stories
of curses justified?

After all, what good is a curse
without a victim?

That question
was brutally answered

on a hot summer's day in 1861.

TROUTMAN:
There was a man that was working
at the Money Pit

with a steam boiler.

[steam hissing,
rhythmic whooshing]

The boiler overpressurized
and exploded...

[loud explosion]

...and apparently,
scalded him to death and injured

a few others.

Unfortunately,
we don't know his name

because the death records
weren't kept

until 1864 in the province.

SHATNER:
On March 26, 1897,

tragedy struck again,

when 47-year-old
Maynard Kaiser,

while working for the island's
new owner, Frederick Blair,

became Oak Island's
second human casualty.

They had a pit nearby
the Money Pit

that they were using
for fresh water.

And they would put the buckets
down there and bring them up.

And one of the buckets
had become disconnected,

so Maynard Kaiser went down
on the rope

to reconnect the bucket.

And as they were coming back up,

the weight of the water in the
bucket and the additional weight

from Maynard caused the rope
to unspool.

- [man screaming]
- And he fell to his death,

some 80 feet down.

The aftermath
of this unfortunate incident

is that many of the workers,

being quite superstitious,
it is said,

refused to go back down
in the pits.

In fact, they quit their jobs,

and work came to a standstill
on the island.

SHATNER:
Maynard Kaiser's body
was never recovered,

as if devoured
by the Money Pit itself.

Oak Island now had a curse,

and its second taste
of human blood.

But was there a treasure?

And, if so, who buried it there?

What group of people had
the kind of skills

needed to booby-trap

something buried at least
ten stories underground?

For many,
the answer was simple...

pirates.

SHATNER:
On a humid summer day in 1969,

Oak Island land owner and
treasure hunter, Fred Nolan,

makes a remarkable discovery.

While investigating the island's
triangle-shaped swamp,

he unearths compelling evidence

that a large ship might have
been buried there.

Fred actually retrieved
ship artifacts from the swamp.

There's was a ship's mast,
there was ship's scuppers.

Did he suspect there was a ship?

The answer would almost
certainly have to be "yes."

SHATNER:
The find serves to confirm

what Fred Nolan has believed
for some time:

that the Oak Island swamp
is man-made,

and that it was created
to hide a large sailing ship.

But why?

Well, the main thing
that supports the idea

that Oak Island was two islands

is that one end of the island
is made of granite,

and the other is sandstone,
limestone, crumbly rocks.

They're two completely
different compositions

on one end of the island
and the other.

So it-it almost seems
like they're two...

two separate... islands.

Fred's theory
that somebody sailed a boat

into the waters, you know,

between these two
very close islands and sunk it

with a treasure on it was, like,
it was one more outlandish idea,

until people started pulling

pieces of an old Spanish ship
out of the swamp.

[chuckles]: So... it looks
like a ship was sunk there.

[crow cawing]

SHATNER:
Fred Nolan's discovery

also seemed
to validate the theory,

held by Daniel McGinnis
back in 1795,

that not only was
an incredible treasure buried

somewhere on Oak Island

but that it was put there

sometime
before the 18th century...

by pirates.

SULLIVAN: It was a time
when pirate treasures

or caches of gold coins

were being discovered
all over Nova Scotia.

A lot of them buried by pirates.

And so people

were actually digging up
treasures occasionally.

Naturally, that's what people
would imagine first

about Oak Island, because
it was the only known theory

of people laying in treasure,
uh, and it persisted

because nobody came up
with any alternatives.

CROWELL: I think one
of the reasons it's so easy

to associate pirate lore
with Oak Island

is that Mahone Bay
was unpopulated at that time.

So, I mean, this was
a very secluded bay,

a perfect haven for pirates

that wanted to be out of the way
of prying eyes.

TROUTMAN: Several pirates
have been credited

with possibly depositing
the treasure here on Oak Island,

including Peter Easton...

Blackbeard...

and William Kidd.

In the early accounts
of the Oak Island mystery,

it was often told that...

a dying man
in the New England states

said he was a member
of Captain Kidd's crew

and that he had a treasure map

to where Kidd's treasure
was buried.

Many historians will tell you
that Captain Kidd

never visited Nova Scotia,

that he never got further north
than Boston.

There is a lot of local lore
here in Nova Scotia, though,

that he did.

MARTY: My favorite pirate
of all time is, uh,

is Peter Easton,

who was based up here
in Newfoundland,

and he had a fleet of something
like 14 or 17 ships.

They called him
the Pirate Admiral.

CROWELL:
He often...

stuck close to Newfoundland

and preyed on the trade routes
from there.

Once a year,
the Spanish galleons would come

from South America
back to Spain.

He would prey on them.

He amassed quite a fortune.

I've heard it said
that Peter Easton amassed

two million pounds.

That is really interesting
when you consider

what the solution to the cipher

that was
on the 90 Foot Stone said,

which was: "Forty feet below
two million pounds are buried."

Edward Teach,
known as Blackbeard,

had said, before he was hung,

that he had buried
his treasure somewhere

where "none but myself
and the devil can find it."

He claimed to have hidden
the treasure somewhere

in the New World,

so people made the connection
between Teach and Oak Island.

SHATNER:
The Pirate Admiral,

Captain Kidd

and Blackbeard.

Did these infamous buccaneers

really bury their stolen
treasures on Oak Island?

And even if they did,
where did they get

the incredible
engineering skills

that would have enabled them to
bury a treasure so ingeniously,

complete with booby traps?

You know, when I was first asked
whether it was possible

pirates could've constructed
the Money Pit, I scoffed.

You know, I mean,
because pirates would,

what would they do
with their booty?

They'd dig a hole ten feet deep,

bury it and come back
for it when they were ready.

But I didn't know then about the
works that pirates had created

at, uh, Port Royal in Jamaica
and on Tortuga,

which are incredibly elaborate
systems of tunnels and vaults

that more than match in scope
what's been done on Oak Island.

So there clearly were
pirate engineers,

and I couldn't be as dismissive
of the pirate theory after that.

SHATNER:
But even if pirates did hide

an incredible treasure
on Oak Island,

is it really possible that
it would bear a deadly curse?

There are some Oak Island
historians who are convinced

that the answer
is a disturbing yes.

In pirate folklore,
it's a common thing

that they would bury somebody
that was alive

to guard the treasure
as a spirit

so it would be cursed
and haunted,

so nobody would be able
to get access to the treasure.

That seems to play
into a lot of the myths

regarding the-the curse
on the island.

One of the stories
is that pirates may have buried

their treasure on the island
in treasure tunnels.

And they had slaves
digging for them.

And in the process,
they left them there to die.

[screams]

And as they knew
they were dying,

those slaves cursed
those pirates

and cursed that treasure, and
by extension, the whole island.

[wailing, chains rattling]

Sometimes those near the tunnels
late at night

could hear the rattling
of chains.

Perhaps that's the energy
we're dealing with today.

It is like a time bomb,

something that goes down
through the ages.

The idea that Oak Island
might be haunted by the souls

of those who dug the treasure
tunnels had a chilling effect

on pretty much
everyone who came there.

So far, two men
had died horribly.

But Oak Island's reputation as
cursed didn't really take hold

until a man came to the island
claiming that he and he alone

could solve the mystery.

It was a notion that would
ultimately cost him

and three other men,
including his son, their lives.

SHATNER: An article appears
in Coronet magazine

called "The Buried Treasure
of Oak Island."

It attracts the attention
of a former motorcycle daredevil

named Robert Restall.

Having professionally toured
Europe and North America

with his wife Mildred
throughout the 1930s and '40s,

Robert was now a man
who struggled to find work

that earned him enough
to provide for his family.

But now, after reading about the
possibility of a vast treasure

buried deep beneath the surface
of a small Canadian island,

Robert became convinced that he
had both the engineering skills

and the determination
to solve the Oak Island mystery.

Robert Restall
got involved in Oak Island

like so many others have,
by reading a magazine article.

So when he read
about Oak Island,

he got every single available
document, book, you name it,

maps, charts,
and studied Oak Island.

It was his passion.
He would stay up at night

reading, like,
the survey maps of Oak Island

and looking for clues
and codes and things.

SHATNER:
After making a deal with the
owner of the island Mel Chappell

on October 15, 1959,

Robert Restall moves
his family onto the island

and takes up the search.

RICK RESTALL:
I was just a nine year old boy.

It was, uh, it was like
leaving the city

and arriving in some paradise.

It was just full
of life, color, nature,

and, uh, I couldn't
have been happier.

For almost two or three years,
I think,

I was the luckiest kid
in the world.

Many people talk about
the treasure of Oak Island,

but the treasure to my dad
was not so much the money,

but it was being the one
who was able to unravel

the mystery of the island.

RICK: The men were
always busy digging...

...or writing letters
to investors

or working
on a piece of machinery

that was becoming problematic.

Or as Bobby did, uh,

making maps and drawings
of the work that was ongoing.

LAMB:
My dad was totally innovative.

And he knew what
the others had done

and where they had fallen short.

Up to that point,
people didn't really trust

the work of the person
ahead of them.

But Dad wasn't gonna
make that mistake.

He was going to take everything
just the one step further.

That's all he had to do.

It wasn't a big deal.

And he really believed he could
do it in about three months.

SHATNER:
Unfortunately
for Robert Restall,

three months eventually became
five long years,

during which his family endured
the harshest of conditions.

Bitter cold in the winter,

sweltering heat
during the summer.

For Robert Restall,

determination eventually
turned into desperation.

And desperation into obsession.

If you're trying
to understand the mindset

of a treasure hunter,
it's actually very useful

to try to understand
the psychology behind gambling.

Sometimes gamblers will spend
many, many hours

at the same slot machine,
and in a sense, you could say

that's like a microcosm
of what's happening

with very obsessed
treasure hunters.

In the case of either
treasure hunting or gambling,

if the person is failing
after many repeated attempts

and not getting any reward,

most often, people will
eventually give out.

But that's what separates
these obsessive personalities

from the ones
that will just quit.

And they will keep
on chasing that rush

and building up
that anticipation

until they get rewards.

I think obsession
is the salient characteristic

of what happens on this island.

I really, really do.

And knowing
that that condition exists here,

I think
it's something to be wary of.

I think it's easy
to become obsessed with this.

I feel that the treasure is here
and that we can get it,

and we're going to stay here
until we do.

SHATNER:
By 1965, Robert Restall
had poured everything he had

into Oak Island.

He couldn't leave empty-handed.

And then, on August 17, 1965,

Robert Restall,

his eldest son Bobby,

and two of his coworkers

would become part
of Oak Island history.

But not in the way
they had hoped.

That afternoon,
Robert had intended to travel

to the mainland
to visit the bank.

But he took one last walk
to take another look

at their current work.

And while he was looking
in the shaft,

he tumbled in.

♪

His son Bobby saw his father

tumble into the shaft,

and quickly went to his aid.

Carl Graeser
was very close behind,

Cyril Hiltz, Andrew DeMont

and Leonard Kaizer

also followed them down
into the shaft.

Of all the individuals
that entered the shaft,

only two were saved.

They all seemed
to have been overcome

by some gas in the shaft.

SHATNER:
By the end of that tragic day,

Oak Island's deadly curse
had added the names of four men

to its list of victims:

Robert Restall,

his son Bobby,

Cyril Hiltz

and Carl Graeser.

And in a morbid twist
on an already sad tale,

a rumor was being spread

that not only was
the Oak Island curse real

but that one more
would have to die

in pursuit of the treasure

before the Oak Island mystery
could be solved.

The idea of seven people dying
seems to have come

from a 1967 article
in True magazine.

It was attributing this
to a local legend

that said seven men have to die

before the treasure
will be found.

SHATNER:
But is the notion of an
Oak Island curse simply made-up,

the product
of a pulp writer's fantasy?

Or is it real?

There are many who insist
that not only is it real

but that its origins

stretch back
long before the days of pirates,

all the way back

to the days
of the Knights Templar.

♪

SHATNER: Smith's Cove,
October, 2017.

I mean, this is
an ideal situation, Rick,

because, obviously,
it's low tide.

- RICK: Mm-hmm.
- We got these rock pools.

RICK:
So, you're thinking between

the beach
and the old cofferdams.

- This is a perfect spot?
- Yeah.

So, let's see
if we can find something.

SHATNER:
While searching

along a stretch
of Oak Island's shoreline,

Rick Lagina and metal detection
expert Gary Drayton

make a shocking discovery...

[beeping]

That's worth digging, Rick.

SHATNER: ...one that would
ultimately shed light

on the Oak Island curse.

Whoa, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

What?

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

[beeping]

Holy...

Holy schmoly, all right.

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

There's a square hole.

Yeah, right there.

It's heavy, too.

Oh, my gosh. I mean,

that is an old, old cross.

I didn't really know

what it was until I pick it up

and I can see

this is a religious artifact.

I could tell straightaway

that this cross is
probably hundreds of years old.

This isn't a modern design.

I got to be honest,
when I first saw it,

I'm thinking medieval.

Sweet!

Gary was extremely excited.

More excited than anything
he's ever found on the island.

GARY:
This is the type of thing
I'd expect to find in Europe.

I would say that is somewhere
between 1200 and 1600.

RICK:
It's really that old?

Yeah, that is old.

That is really old.

I've seen that shape before.

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

- That shape.
- Yeah.

Where do you think
you've seen it before?

You know,
when I was in France,

I swear
I saw a carving like that

in the Templar prison in Domme.

♪

SHATNER:
Incredibly, it was while
on a research trip to France

one month earlier

that Rick Lagina was shown
a virtually identical carving

etched into the wall
of Domme Prison,

a 13th-century fortress

where 70 members of the Knights
Templar were imprisoned

and tortured

- prior to execution.
- [distorted shouting]

But could the striking
similarity between the cross

found by Rick Lagina
at Smith's Cove

and the carving on the wall
at Domme Prison suggest

that some members of the Knights
Templar actually made

their way across the Atlantic
to North America

centuries before Christopher
Columbus' historic voyage

in 1492?

The Knights Templar were founded
in the 12th century,

and they were
the world's first combination

of warrior and monk,
a security force

of a sort
that would assist pilgrims

on their journey
to the Holy Land.

And one of the services
they provided

was they would hold on to
and-and give safekeeping to any

of the relics that pilgrims
would have gathered

on their journey.

They were the guardians
of a lot of the treasures

of various kings
and popes and monarchs.

And because
of their amazing reputation,

they became known as the world's
first international bankers.

YOUNG:
The French crown

had borrowed a great deal
of money from the organization,

and so to get out
of paying back the order,

the king of France decides
they are Satanists,

and they're defiling the church.

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.

SHATNER:
On Friday 13, 1307,

Pope Clement V
ordered the imprisonment

of the Knights Templar,

including their grandmaster
Jacques de Molay.

Of the Templars
who were able to evade capture,

many fled to Scotland,

and as far as some
Templar scholars are concerned,

successfully made their way
across the Atlantic

to North America.

But if such an audacious theory
is correct,

is it also possible that
the Templars brought with them

many of their riches
and religious artifacts

that they rescued
from the Holy Land?

The Knights Templar were formed
during the first Crusades,

after the Christian knights
had come to the Holy Land

and captured Jerusalem.

And it's believed that possibly
they found the Holy Grail.

They may have found
the Ark of the Covenant.

COPPENS:
The Ark of the Covenant holds

the covenant from God to man--
and that is, physically,

the two tablets representing
the Ten Commandments.

If the Templars were carrying
this extraordinary treasure

to a place where
they wanted to be safe

and create a New Jerusalem,
Oak Island makes sense.

SHATNER:
The Ark of the Covenant.

Is it possible that this most
sacred of all religious objects

was brought to Oak Island
and buried,

along with other
Templar treasures,

in a booby-trapped vault
deep beneath the ground?

It may sound
like a far-fetched notion,

but according to both Oak Island
and Knights Templar researchers,

the best proof of this theory
may be something

that both the island
and the Templars have in common:

a deadly curse.

COPPENS:
When Jacques de Molay,
was brought to the stake,

he gave a very powerful
and impassioned speech

about his innocence and the
innocence of his entire order.

It was a very dramatic speech
that to this day

is talked about in France
and elsewhere.

As Jacques de Molay stood
at the funeral pyre

waiting for the flames
to consume him,

he cursed the king
and he cursed the pope.

And he said that both of them
would be called before God

before the end of a year
and a day.

Within a year, the pope dies
of a prolonged illness.

Within a year,
the king dies of a stroke

on his way to go hunting.

But it doesn't end there.

Over the course
of the next 14 years,

the king of France's line,
his three sons and his grandson,

all die in somewhat
mysterious circumstances.

YOUNG:
There is the kind
of curse that carries over,

that has long-lasting
implications.

When de Molay was killed
by the French crown,

there was a curse-- perhaps on
France, perhaps on the materials

or the wealth of the Templars--
that goes down through time.

And anybody who recovers this
or has some interest

might be hurt by them.

Is it possible that the curse
somehow carried over

and is protecting
whatever is buried

in the Money Pit on Oak Island,
which some researchers

have speculated is actually
the resting place

of the Ark of the Covenant?

Could the fabled riches
of the Knights Templar

really lie buried

in an elaborately constructed
treasure vault on Oak Island?

There are many
who believe the answer

is a profound yes

and that these riches
are still being protected

by Jacques de Molay's
deadly curse,

one that was designed
to keep the treasure hidden

at all costs.

SHATNER: Shortly after
performing the ancient practice

known as dowsing,
which entails using metal rods

to detect underground voids,

treasure hunter Dan Henskee

is suddenly overcome
with a strange

and disturbing sensation.

I don't actually know
if what's happened to me

on Oak Island
was real or imaginary.

It was quite strange.

It involved
what appeared to be possession

by a spirit
of someone long dead.

I thought that the spirit
of a dead priest

had entered my body

and that the priest
had his throat cut.

[man screams]

- [heart beating]
- I do remember falling down,

feeling that I was
experiencing the death

of this person.

SHATNER:
After Dan was able
to regain control of himself,

he was left
with a daunting question:

Was his experience
just a trick of his mind?

Or could it
have really happened?

Now, what makes this
really interesting

is the fact
that he was able to determine

that the entity possessing him

was that
of an allegedly murdered priest.

[man screams]

Now, you might be wondering,

how did he come by
this information?

It's entirely possible

that whatever
had been interacting with him

literally just told him
that this is who I am

and this is what happened to me.

SHATNER:
While many think

that Dan's story
is too bizarre to believe,

it's not an isolated event.

Throughout Oak Island's history,

tales of frightening,
mystical phenomena

are as numerous as the theories

concerning
the legendary treasure.

One of the more interesting
extreme reports

comes from a man
named Fred Nolan.

He was convinced

that the ravens on the island
were possessed

by the souls of former slaves

who had helped in digging
the pits and the flood tunnels.

[squawks]

There have been
all kinds of stories

about a dog with fiery eyes.

[growling]

People have told me

stories of their father
or their grandfather

wandering across the island
and seeing this dog.

Red glowing eyes
have also been reported,

uh, in another story.

After the Restall Tragedy,

one of the people that worked
for them, Jim Kaizer...

He often worked
as a night watchman.

One night, he was staying
in the Restalls' cabin,

and he woke up to a feeling

of a great weight on his chest.

He had these two red eyes
staring at him in the dark,

and he heard a voice tell him
to leave the island

- and never come back.
- [indistinct whispering]

And in the morning,
when he woke up,

he had bruises all over him.

Jimmy Kaizer
was a real stand-up guy,

an unshakeable sort,

and this particular event,
I think,

from all accounts,
really affected him

for the rest of his life.

SHATNER:
Although most would agree

that Oak Island
is an unusual place,

could any physical evidence
exist to support the notion

that there really is
a supernatural presence

on the island?

[squawks]

For many, the evidence lies

in the unusual
electrical activity

that regularly happens there.

One of the first things

is people here will have
brand-new cell phones,

and the batteries
will constantly drain out.

There is a Bermuda Triangle
for Oak Island

that occurs between Apple Island
and Frog Island

coming up to Oak Island.

[engine whirring]

Everything will go dead, you
will lose power in your boat.

It's happened to several people
in this particular spot.

There's no explanation for it
or the reasons why.

SHATNER:
But are strange
electrical anomalies

really evidence of a curse?

Isn't it more likely
that the bizarre occurrences

experienced on the island have a
perfectly rational explanation?

Perhaps.

But as far as two of the
islands' owners are concerned,

the notion that dark forces
might be at work

is not so easy to dismiss.

You know, I'm a skeptic
about paranormal stuff,

[laughs]: but I spent,
but I spent one night--

I said, "I'm gonna go
check this out myself."

So we drive out,
it's dark as can be,

and it gets, um,
sort of, like, misty.

A lot of fog and stuff,
you know.

It's a spooky--
It is a spooky place at night.

Rick walked off,
and I'm kind of sitting there

thinking, "Well, this is silly."

And I got out of the car,
and I'm kind of leaning

against the car-- it's pitch
black-- and all of a sudden,

I heard the nastiest scream
you've ever heard in your life.

I mean, a bloodcurdling scream.

[laughs]:
Scared the bejibbers out of me.

I jumped back in the car
and I took off.

And-and I almost ran him over.

So, uh, intellectually, I don't
believe that sort of thing,

but you know, emotionally,
it seems to happen.

And there have been
plenty of instances

where that exact thing
has done-- has happened.

And there's no logic
to why they happen.

That's what's... strange.

♪

SHATNER: Is there really
an Oak Island curse?

There are many who believe
the answer's yes,

but they'll also tell you
that it isn't a curse

that involves dark forces
or threats of death.

They believe it's the one
that takes root in the mind

of every would-be
treasure hunter.

There are many psychological
processes that could explain

why a person actually spends
years searching for something,

doesn't find it and keeps
doing it for even more years.

So, one explanation
is this sunken cost fallacy,

and the idea there
is that if you think

you've already invested
a lot in finding something

or pursuing something,

then you don't want that
investment to go to waste,

so you're willing to put in
more investment

into the pursuit of the thing
that you still didn't find.

And additionally,
they're often very worried

that if they leave
this treasure hunt site,

someone else might come
and swoop in right after them

and benefit from all of the work

they have been doing all this
time and get the big rewards.

I don't know what it is
about the island

that so captivates people.

But I do know
that it really does.

It really does,
and it goes beyond reason.

RICK:
I can see the fascination.

If the accident
hadn't happened when it did,

and I had come
to the age of 16 or so,

I can see myself
taking shovel in hand

and becoming so upset with
the cursedness of this mystery

and going after
the answer myself.

CANO:
Perhaps the legend of a curse,

the reason for it existing
is to hide something.

And the fact that people
are searching,

people are actively saying,
"I'm gonna go against this

and I'm gonna
look for it anyway,"

that inherently gives the curse
a reason for being.

There is a definite presence
on Oak Island,

and I don't know
if this feeds into the curse,

or if this is something
completely different.

Or manifested because
of the general knowledge

that there may be
a curse on the island.

I think the island is cursed
or there at least

is some negative energy around
the multiple layers of history.

I think the curse
shows up in many forms,

whether it's greed, obsession
or financial difficulty.

And I think something is still
unresolved and unsettled.

The curse is the way Oak Island
swallows people's lives.

It consumes their fortunes,

and in many cases,
destroys their sanity.

The curse of Oak Island
is that once you get in,

it's really hard to get out.

Brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
and the other members

of the Oak Island team
are risking

an incredible amount
of time and money

looking for a fabled treasure
on Oak Island.

But are they also risking
their lives?

See, one thing is certain:
so far, six men have died

searching for the answer.

And according to legend,
one more will have to die

before what lies buried there
can be found

and the Oak Island mystery
will no longer be among

The UnXplained.