Original subtitles

Tonight on the curse of oak island...

We're now gonna move to the swamp.

- See this log here? - Yeah.

Somebody built this with purpose.

What in the heck is going on?

I think I found something kind of cool.

No way, moya.

We came across a really interesting artifact.

It's venetian.

So that feature is much older

- than we thought. - Yeah.

- We got wood. - Wow.

I think we have found the money pit.

- That's amazing. - It's all coming together.

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 a stone slab

with strange symbols carved into it,

man-made workings that date to medieval times,

and a lead cross whose origin may be connected

to the knights templar.

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.

Here we go.

Let's do it.

You know, we've done a lot of survey work out here.

We've done a lot of drilling trying

to just figure out what's going on underground.

This is one of the few boreholes where we get to say

that there's a potential for treasure coming up,

- without it being an accident. - Yep.

It is the start of a potentially significant day

on oak island for brothers Rick and Marty lagina

and their team, as the answers

to a 230-year-old mystery,

as well as a vast cache of treasure

may finally be within their reach.

So today we've moved a little north

of where we've been drilling, d.25-6.75.

And the goal today is to hopefully slide

into the wall where-where the original money pit was,

and go all the way down to 150 feet

- where we're hoping to find the vault. - Okay.

And the tunnel that we hit last time is at...

It is at 109 to 117.

We could be very, very close to the original money pit.

One week ago, the team

drilled a borehole known as e.75-5.6

in a region of the fabled money pit area

where new groundwater tests have

identified high traces of gold

more than 100 feet deep.

This could be the bottom of our tunnel right there.

Incredibly, as the coring drill reached

a depth of 109 feet... There's a core.

It penetrated what appeared to be

a mysterious nine-foot-high tunnel.

Okay, we got a little bit of wood here.

- We got wood! - Huge wood.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa! Absolutely. - We got a lot of wood.

But as the team drilled deeper,

reaching a depth of over 150 feet,

they may have encountered something that has remained

one of the greatest oak island legends for more than a century.

It looks like we have two small beams

sandwiching a very large beam.

To me, this sounds like the chappell vault.

In 1897,

treasure hunters Frederick Blair and William chappell

drilled through a reported seven-foot-high wooden chest

at a depth of 153 feet.

When they extracted their drill bit,

they were astonished to find it covered

with small flecks of gold,

as well as a tiny piece of parchment

bearing the letters "vi."

Primary target today is a vault

at 155 plus or minus five feet.

Yeah.

Today, the team is drilling borehole d.25-6.75,

located just a few feet to the northeast

to confirm the existence of the mysterious tunnel

at 109 feet deep,

and the chappell vault below that, some 155 feet underground.

If successful,

they will install a massive steel caisson

in order to retrieve the legendary treasure.

The historical narrative indicates

that there might be a vault

within this horizon, 150 to 160.

We have retrieved wood from this depth,

so, there's every hope that we will find a structure.

I think, the hope today, Alex, is to...

To hit the vault, pull up a coin, a Jewel,

and then you can go and put that in Rick's hand.

Fingers crossed on that.

So that's exciting. Let's get going.

Here we go.

As the core drilling operation proceeds

in the money pit...

It's a pleasure to see a full war room.

Because lately, we've been extremely busy, all of us,

doing a bunch of different things.

Alex lagina and Steve guptill join Rick,

Marty, Craig tester

and other members of the team in the war room

to discuss another critical search operation

that they are about to begin.

We went scouting today in the swamp, and

I don't know about anybody else, but I smell swampish.

And I'm sure Marty misses that.

I'm certain of it.

- I do. - So, at this point in time,

we're now going to move the large-scale efforts

to the swamp, because there's a lot

of opportunities there yet, even after

all these years.

For more than a decade,

Rick, Marty and the team have been investigating

the mysterious, triangle-shaped swamp

based on the research and past discoveries

of the late landowner and treasure hunter Fred Nolan.

After unearthing potentially ancient survey stakes

and pieces of a large sailing vessel

in the brackish bog back in the late 1960s,

Fred came to believe

that the swamp was artificially made

in order to hide important clues

and possibly, valuables.

- This is really cool. - It's impressive.

This is mondo cool, isn't it?

And in recent years, the team has uncovered

numerous artifacts and structures in the swamp

that suggest Fred may have been correct.

These discoveries include

a potentially 500-year-old stone road

in the southeast corner,

an adjacent cobblestone pathway

that leads up toward the northern border

and a massive, stone-paved feature

near the center of the swamp

that geoscientist Dr. Ian spooner

has carbon-dated to approximately 1200 ad.

Let's start by getting Steve to bring up the permitted areas

that we applied for this year.

So we started off this winter making plans

of what we wanted to accomplish this year.

We have come up with four areas.

Permit area one to four, and

- let's start in permit area one? - Sure.

Down in the southeast corner,

we have the stone road.

We want to get back into that

and do some more work in there.

We go further up, we have permit area two.

We have the paved area.

Hopefully, find an artifact or something, and, you know,

get a real answer on who may have built that feature.

Permit area three.

That includes the stone path,

which Rick is eager to get back and do.

He loves being on his hands and knees in the muck.

So, the fourth permitted area

is what we call the north bog.

That's on the north side of Tom's road,

and I know Tom is eager to get in there

- and see what he can find. - Yeah. 100%.

So, we've been pumping the swamp now

for about two weeks.

You know, we've managed to dry up the...

The northernmost part of it.

Once we can get in there,

we can start taking off some of the surface cover,

getting down to what hasn't been seen before.

Yeah. There's a lot of work to be done,

but I'm confident we can do it.

We'll-we'll get it done.

If I could just suggest something for discussion.

Since the most under explored area is in something

my big brother's been wanting to do,

forever, is north of the road,

what about starting there and then coming back to this?

Cause what I hear

is everything is dry, everything looks good.

- Yeah. - I, for one, would be

most disappointed if we somehow didn't get to that.

There might be a real "aha" there.

To me, the northern end of the bog contains some secrets.

It's something that we should devote time and energy

and resources to, to see if something is still there.

I mean, it's a big area. It's gonna take a lot of work.

It's gonna take a lot of eyes on the target.

All right, look, this is exciting stuff.

I'd never thought I'd say it, but I do want

to get out there and see and feel and smell,

along with you guys.

So

I think it's time to quit talking and get after it, right?

When can we start?

As soon as we go outside, we'll go at it.

Great!

Okay, I'm all excited to get into the swamp.

Yeah. Let's go get dirty.

Later that afternoon... I think she's going in.

While the core-drilling operation

continues in the money pit area...

There's got to be something here.

We're really close to the shore

in an area with a lot of history,

and we know there's been a lot of activity.

Yeah.

Rick, his nephew Alex,

metal detection expert Gary drayton

and Billy gerhardt prepare

to begin excavating near the mysterious, cobblestone pathway

in the northern region of the swamp.

Which side are you going to put the spoils on?

Probably over this way, I think.

Okay, mate. We'll get ready for 'em

and count all those silver coins.

All right, get ready for the spoils.

Smells like treasure.

That's how you know we haven't dug here before.

Yeah.

It's important to understand the swamp.

And there are some answers in there. I truly believe that.

I mean, how do you deny that there are some sort of

answers there that will affirm the fact

that this may have been a multigenerational attempt

to hide something on oak island?

What's that board there?

Is that an old plank, Rick?

It looks like it.

Yeah, it's been notched.

Notched out right here.

That does not have the look of a new board.

A hand-cut plank?

Could Rick have merely uncovered a piece of discarded lumber?

Or could it be part of yet another

previously unknown structure

that was hidden long ago in the swamp?

It's old. It's not dimensional lumber.

You might want to haul that out later and take a look at it.

Hold up, bill!

See this log here?

Yeah.

And then there's

a couple more here running this way.

Big ones.

Yeah.

So somebody was out here doing something.

It's curious.

And these are some pretty big logs to haul down here.

And even just a couple inches down,

- that could last a long time. - Yeah.

While investigating the northern region

of the oak island swamp,

Rick lagina has just uncovered what appears to be

a large wooden structure.

Somebody was out here doing something,

and they-they installed that

- right on the subsoil. - Yeah.

- Well, let's keep looking. - Yeah.

Yep.

These logs are massive.

There's a strong hint that there are certainly some answers

or at least some clues at the bottom of that bog.

And... If it is associated

or can be associated with original work,

it's incredibly important.

See right there?

There's a bunch of big logs going this way.

I see that log.

- Yeah. - That we should reveal

and see if Tom remembers his father building

- something like that. - Yeah.

If he doesn't, then that makes that all the more interesting.

Right.

It's possible that it's much older than we think.

Yeah.

This-this log structure that we're uncovering here.

Yeah.

There's the bottom.

Lot of rocks there.

Boulder under that wood there.

Stone in there, in amongst the...

Yeah, I see that.

This is a lot like the cobbles from the paved area.

- Same kind of rock. - Yeah, same kind of rock.

Which you don't really see on the beach.

Yeah, I don't know.

A layer of stones

similar to the paved area near the middle of the swamp

and which is believed to date back to as early as 1200 ad?

If so, could the team have just uncovered

another key clue that could help them solve

the 230-year-old mystery?

That's right at the edge of the swamp.

They may even have introduced material there

to try to build a platform.

Yeah, no, this is... Curious.

Things are built upon other things.

So did the cobble represent an older path,

an older structure?

There's all kinds

of possible explanations for these two things,

and we need to slow down and take a real good look at them.

It might be a platform, but that's

Tom would have an idea of what his father did

- or did not build out here. - Right.

Small cobble rocks are interesting because...

We have seen that on the stone road.

We saw that on the stone path.

We need to try to understand

what that may or may not represent.

It's quite a collection of rock though.

- Yeah. - What have we found?

Well, we don't know. There's that log embedded north-south.

And then there's some big timbers running east-west.

Appears to be on top of it.

Right, and then also in the corner down there,

there's all those rocks on top of each other.

No material in between 'em.

I remember when Dr. Spooner looked at the paved area,

he said that's not common in nature.

I mean, there's a lot of questions here.

Let's stand down and figure out a way to-to take advantage

of what-what we might be seeing.

But first we need to see what Tom says.

So... Okay.

Let's, stand down for now.

Stand down for now.

- But there's other work to do. - Yep.

While the investigation continues in the swamp

over near the shoreline of lot 5,

on the western side of the island...

If you start finding any artifacts or anything,

will you tell me? Cause I'm curious.

- Okay. - Archaeologist Fiona Steele,

Jack begley and other members of the team

continue their investigation of a large stone foundation.

A foundation where they have made compelling discoveries

that include venetian trade beads

that may date back to the 16th century,

a mortar-like substance that matches soil samples

collected from over 100 feet deep in the money pit area,

and several iron artifacts

that have been scientifically linked to sir William phips,

the 17th-century English politician and treasure hunter

who some believe buried a large cache of Spanish gold and silver

in the money pit back in 1687.

Well, it certainly is the gravelly layer.

We have a connection through the soil chemistry of the money pit

and the construction over on lot 5.

I want to find something that really helps us explain

what went on here.

It certainly suggests that, efforts made

by whoever inhabited lot 5

had something to do with...

Perhaps the construction of the money pit.

We're hoping that lot 5 helps us solve

the whole mystery here.

Hey, Helen, Jack,

I think I found something kind of cool.

What is it?

- I think it's a bead. - A bead?

- No way, moya. - Yeah.

And it's smaller than the ones from last year.

My heavens, it's tiny.

- Yeah. - Wow.

The red's a very stark color

- against the... - Let me see it.

Dirt.

Look at it.

Do you think that could be another venetian bead?

We need to get it cleaned up

and have a really good look at it.

Great find, moya.

That's the third bead that we've found

- on this lot. - Yeah. And the other two were white.

Remember, they were the venetian glass with the stripes.

With the red

- and the blue stripes, yeah. - Yeah.

And this one is a solid red.

A possible venetian bead?

In 1470,

specialized glass bead jewelry was created in venice, Italy,

and soon became a highly valuable form of barter currency

along trade routes throughout Europe, Asia,

and ultimately North America.

In 2023, the oak island team was astonished

when they discovered two venetian beads

in the round feature on lot 5.

Laird, want to come and see what moya's just found?

If they have indeed discovered a third venetian bead,

could it offer more evidence that this feature was created

in order to hide valuables?

And if so, just what else might they find

as they continue to dig?

Wow.

Yeah.

Looks like two colors, glass.

Yeah. Looks like

there's, like, a black ring on the inside.

Yeah.

So it's either part of the firing process

or it's different glass in the interior.,

but that looks to be a venetian bead to me.

Yeah. The other two we found

weren't too far from where we're at right now.

The presence of beads in the round feature

on lot 5 can be a really important find.

We're finding enough artifacts that are...

Enigmatic and intriguing.

Hopefully we'll find the answer to what it was used for

and who was using it.

Perhaps the xrf will tell us

- and compare the beads. - - Yeah.

That'd be cool. Right?

- Good job. - Thank you.

Fantastic find of the day.

As a new day begins on oak island...

If he can stay straight, it's gonna be a good day.

While the core-drilling operation proceeds

in the money pit area...

- Hey, Billy. - Hey.

I brought reinforcements.

Well, I think we need 'em, by the looks of that.

Rick lagina and fellow landowner Tom Nolan

join other members of the team

in the northern region of the swamp.

That long beam is the first thing we exposed.

Rick is eager to have Tom examine

the mysterious wood and stone feature

that was uncovered just one day ago.

It's at least 14 feet, I would guess.

We never really found that end,

and we never really found this end.

It's underneath a substantial root structure.

I don't think it was done by us, or my dad.

You know, to get those size logs out here

is quite a... quite a job.

You know,

I can't imagine how somebody really did.

The other thing is

we got rocks in a row underneath you here.

Yeah, that's almost a perfect line.

Yeah.

If you're saying that probably not your dad's

and that he didn't know of it,

then it makes it certainly very interesting.

Now that Tom has confirmed

that his late father Fred Nolan did not build this feature

during his extensive investigations in the swamp,

the burning questions that remain are who did,

why, and might it be another critical discovery

that will help the team finally solve the oak island mystery?

Want me to take a little off this end

so you can try to find the end, or...?

Okay, but let's be patient with the dig.

If you see anything here

beyond what we're seeing here, call me.

- I'll come back. - Okey doke.

Good luck, and we'll see you guys in a bit.

Thank you.

There might be something significant here,

so we need to go slow, approach it

from an investigative process

and an intellectual process,

meaning, what is the purpose of it.

You can hear clanging on rocks.

Right now, there's...

Just in this little area, there's one,

two, three, four, five, maybe six logs,

just from here to here.

- Half a dozen more over there. - Yeah.

So, the hope is, Billy just exposes it.

We may be able to see how long and how big this thing is.

- Right, Billy? - Yup.

It's very apparent from the first log

we uncovered is that it's well made.

Right here.

That's not a small log there.

What in the heck is going on?

There are two parts of the construction.

There are what I call the "carry logs."

They are the support of the structure.

And then there are what I call the "platform logs,"

which sit on top of the carry logs.

And there are multiples of those.

There's one here, running this way,

and there's another one there, running that way.

And it was Alex who noticed the cobbles

at the bottom of the dig.

An intentional layer of cobble laid down for some purpose.

I don't know its relevance

to furthering our understanding of the mystery,

but it's definitely quite large.

- This is a mystery. - Yeah.

- And its massive. - Yeah.

I mean, this would carry

a tremendous amount of weight.

I think you're right.

What do you make of it, laird?

It's odd.

That's not sufficient.

We have enough for Dr. Spooner

to make a pretty good evaluation right now.

- Yeah. - I think we get Dr. Spooner in, and

he can take these organic samples that we can date.

This is unique.

But Dr. Spooner can maybe tell us exactly what happened here

and what progression of time.

So, we're done for the day.

It was a cool day, though.

- Interesting day. - Yeah. - Yeah.

A new discovery on oak island.

It's a great day.

Later that afternoon...

We have a core!

In the money pit area... Maybe this will be 99.

Is this the core of interest?

It is.

Charles barkhouse,

Steve guptill and Jillian Parsons

continue monitoring the drilling

of borehole d.25-6.75.

- What do you got, Steve? - 99.

99. That's what I thought.

A borehole that the team hopes

may be on course to pinpoint the legendary chappell vault

and the source of precious metals

that have been detected below a depth of 100 feet.

- I thought we had wood. - We do have wood.

How does it look?

- Good. - Yeah, we got wood.

I mean, we have wood here, here.

Yeah.

- There's a big piece of wood there. - Ooh.

These are some of the biggest pieces

- we've found in this borehole. - In this borehole,

and in particular, when we've been looking for the money pit.

Yeah. I mean, finding wood at this depth,

- in this hole, is amazing. - Yup.

We're in the right depth for the original level of the money pit.

Finding wood at this depth, in this hole, is amazing.

Well, you know what? We're in the right depth

for the original level of the money pit.

It is a surprising

and thrilling moment in the money pit area

for members of the oak island team.

That's a good sign.

Although they were hoping to encounter

a mysterious tunnel at a depth of 109 feet

in borehole d.25-6.75, they have just encountered

a different wooden structure at a depth of just 100 feet.

You know what that reminds me of?

- This borehole is close to caisson t-1. - Yeah.

There's a reason we keep drilling around t-1,

which is an old caisson... it's from 2016.

You know, it's some of the oldest wood

- we've ever found in the money pit. - Yeah.

It dates back to the late 1600s.

Yeah.

X marks the spot.

T-1. Tester-1.

In 2016, Rick, Marty, Craig and the team

installed a 40-inch-wide steel caisson

that was located less than five feet to the south, known as t-1.

Although no treasure vault was ultimately found

during that excavation, at a depth

of 102 feet, a massive, hand-cut timber was unearthed,

which was carbon-dated to as early as 1670.

What if this is part of the money pit?

We should actually take that back sooner than later

- and get Emma testing it. - Yeah.

Is it possible

that the team has once again found the same

potentially 17th-century structure,

which they believed could be the original money pit,

less than five feet north of t-1?

If so, could that mean

that they are now finally on course

to pinpoint the legendary treasure vault?

So, this is good news.

Very good news.

If this is the money pit,

then we got a good shot at hitting the vault below.

Yeah.

- Hey, guys. -Hey, guys. - Hey.

So I'm wondering if you want me to push it

to at least till 150, right?

Let's just keep on going.

- Okay. - That's what we want, right?

That's the vault level, so that's where we want to be.

Yeah. Okay.

The preponderance of the evidence

is that the t-1 area is

the area of the original money pit.

This one can go.

Based on the water sample testing alone,

I think that the area could be a possible

treasure location.

It's also the area where the soils

from the money pit

have a significant match to the clays found

in the lot 5 feature.

So, for two reasons, this is an area of significant interest.

So that wood that we were holding in our hands

that could have been part of the original money pit?

Absolutely possible.

That's amazing.

We got another 50 feet, and we're at target depth.

If there's a treasure to be found, it's there.

As the core drilling operation advances deeper

in the money pit area...

Thank you, guys, for coming.

We've been working down on lot 5,

and we actually came across

a really interesting artifact.

Rick lagina and other members of the team

meet in the oak island laboratory,

regarding the small, but potentially valuable bead

that was discovered just one day ago

near the rounded foundation on lot 5.

How the heck did you find that?

I've been used to finding, like, bricks

and red coarse earthenware, so I kind of had an eye out

for, like, a red color, so I managed to find it.

But, yeah, it's tiny.

It's what we call a "seed bead," for obvious reasons.

- I can see why, yeah. - Yeah.

- Are they pretty durable? - Yes.

- They are? - Yup.

They'll come out of the ground looking like

they just... they're brand-new.

So, it could have been around for a long time?

Yeah. We have the circular feature.

It was found in the southwest exterior.

So this is coming from the yard.

Not from the fill.

So in terms of context, this is coming

- from a much better context. - Is it venetian?

We did find two venetian glass beads last year

so I did run a compositional comparison.

Prior to their meeting,

archaeometallurgist Emma culligan

scanned the small glass bead

using the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, or xrf,

a device that uses gamma ray radiation in order

to not only identify the elements

that make up an object's composition,

but potentially help determine when it was created.

So, here are the venetian

glass beads that we found last year,

and it's in the same kind of cluster, compositionally.

And that one is also matching with the coloring

from last year's beads.

So, all in all, it's coming from a similar batch.

But it is, yes. It's-it's venetian.

So, for the red coloring.

So there's no selenium, no gold,

but there is copper, and I think that is an indicator

that the red colorant is...

Early 1700s and before that.

- So early 1700s -into the 1600s. - And pre. Yeah.

That's pretty interesting.

Pre... pre-money pit.

Yeah.

Bingo.

That's fantastic.

The red colorant is early 1700s and before that.

- Pre-money pit. - Yeah.

In the oak island laboratory,

laird niven and Emma culligan have just informed Rick lagina

and other members of the team

that the glass bead found one day ago

near the rounded stone feature on lot 5

is, in fact, the third piece of venetian jewelry

that they have discovered in the area,

and may predate the discovery of the money pit

by more than a century.

So how do we explain that being there?

They could have been trading from there.

This is another piece of evidence

that dates from the mid-1700s into the 1600s.

So it's kind of reinforcing my gut feeling that we have

an earlier structure on-site

that was repurposed at a later date.

And the 1600s date

lines up with some of the wood we found in the money pit.

Yeah.

Is it possible that the team has now found more evidence on lot 5

suggesting a connection between the rounded feature

and the money pit?

Could that explain why the team has uncovered

a mortar-like material in the feature

that matches soils collected from more than 100 feet deep

in the money pit area?

And if so, could that help explain the wooden timbers

that were recovered in the t-1 caisson back in 2016

that were dated to 1670?

Lot 5 is starting to play a pretty significant role,

both in terms of the story and perhaps the treasure

or the remnants of the treasure.

There's lots of evidence of people being here

way before people from Europe were supposed to be here.

So I want to keep investigating.

It surely gives us a clue

that corroborates your intuition that that feature

is much older than the current inventory of artifacts

- are telling. So... - Yeah.

Moya, congratulations.

- I would not have found that. - Thank you.

Thank you very much. Very interesting. All right.

As Rick lagina concludes the meeting in the lab...

We have a core.

Back in the money pit area...

What do we got, Leighton?

That's 159.

Members of the team anxiously monitor the progress

of the core-drilling operation in borehole d.25-6.75,

which has now reached a depth of nearly 160 feet,

the target depth where they are hoping to encounter

more evidence of the fabled chappell vault.

Here you are.

Great, thank you.

That's a pretty stark transition.

Sand?

Yeah.

It's a lot of sand.

- Hey, Charles. - Hey, Steve.

That's about as Sandy as you can get right there. Look.

You know, obviously we have back fill here

- and we have it here. - Yeah. Yeah. -Yeah.

But I'm not seeing any wood.

No.

That's the depth we expected to see something.

But we didn't hit the vault. So we might be sliding back

into the old caisson.

Yeah.

This hole is ticking all the boxes

that there's something deep down there.

Unfortunately, we hit caisson back fill.

It was just... Extremely disappointing for us.

Frustrating.

With this Sonic drill, we're getting pulled

- to the path of least resistance. - Yeah.

Just when the team believed that they were on track

for a major breakthrough,

what they discovered instead is gravel back fill

from one of their previously excavated steel caissons.

This means that an obstruction, such as a Boulder,

diverted the coring drill off course

and to the side of its intended target,

which in this case may have been the legendary treasure vault.

We didn't get to where we wanted to be,

which was a straight hole

- all the way to 160. - Yeah.

We are in the right location.

We are just pulled in the wrong direction.

Right. 100%.

It's a bit disconcerting to have all these clues

and all this data

that strongly hint that this area is significant

but not having made a proper discovery.

I have hopes that if there is something to be found,

it is within this general area.

You don't give up.

You follow it to the end.

We've got to find a way to get back into that vault

- without getting pulled into a caisson. - Yeah.

Let's all head back to the research center.

Yeah.

Okay.

The following morning...

Figure it out yet?

Almost.

Yeah. Okay.

I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to look like this.

While members of the team

plot the next course of action in the money pit area,

Rick lagina and geoscientist Dr. Ian spooner

join Rick's nephew Alex,

Gary drayton, and Billy gerhardt

in the northern region of the swamp.

They are eager to have Dr. Spooner assess

the recently uncovered wooden structure

that sits atop a layer of cobblestones.

You seen anything like this before, Ian?

No. No, I haven't.

And, I haven't seen a platform like this.

I wonder how it extends back towards land.

Well, these are the platform logs.

But if you see here... Yeah. Yeah.

So there's this one

- and then there's that one. - Yeah.

And it looks like it keeps on going into land there.

It's almost like this is a...

- A ramp, right? - Yes.

Yeah, this is a ramp. I have no problem with that.

The-the amazing thing is

how big this structure is.

Yeah.

This was meant to carry extremely heavy loads

or to be very stable for something very, very heavy.

If you just wanted access out here,

you're not doing this.

You know, for me, it's... this is built with purpose.

But to what end?

There's a lot going on here. I mean

I think I'm more interested in what's going on down lower

than up top. You know,

why is everybody so interested to get out to this point?

There's something right here that somebody was chasing.

- That's what I would say. - Strangely,

it seems to point towards the eye of the swamp.

Yeah.

We're only about 60 feet away from the eye.

- Yeah. Yeah. - So

I know the eye is a human-built feature.

Yeah.

It's entirely plausible

those same people built this feature here.

The eye's right there, which we know was

a man-built feature.

It's entirely plausible

that this was part of that same interest in this environment.

Right.

You just don't do this kind of stuff.

In the northern region of the oak island swamp,

geoscientist Dr. Ian spooner has just suggested

that a newly uncovered wooden structure

and cobblestone pathway

I have no clue what this is.

May be directly connected to another man-made feature

known as the eye of the swamp.

It's the first thing that we ever have found

that points directly to the eye in a structure.

And we have Dr. Spooner that did work in that.

His cores show industrial activity way back.

This is a very puzzling feature here,

this eye of the swamp.

The all-seeing eye.

In 2019, the oak island team

investigated a mysterious circular formation

in the triangle-shaped swamp

where vegetation would never grow.

Wow. That is massive.

That's-that's a big Boulder.

Incredibly, after draining the area

and discovering a man-made formation of boulders,

they dubbed it "the eye of the swamp"

due to its eerie resemblance to the masonic symbol

known as the all-seeing eye.

This is quite a provocative site.

And after analyzing organic materials

within the feature,

Dr. Spooner presented the team with astonishing data

about when it was likely created.

I'm very confident we're looking at 1680 to 1700

that that disturbance took place.

Really interesting.

I just want to take a look at the stone,

at the bottom of it.

Is it possible that this wooden ramp

and cobblestone feature were constructed at the same time

as the eye of the swamp?

But if so, by who and for what purpose?

This kind of stuff always intrigues me.

See that rock?

This little rock here

was wedged between this piece of wood here and that rock.

So if we date that lowest piece of wood

that's sitting right on the rocks,

we know that the rocks were put there

before the age of that piece of wood.

- Yeah. - If this feature

is the same age as the eye of the swamp,

that lines up with the William phips theory.

Right.

We know that phips found silver on the concepción.

Since 2021,

the team has been investigating the theory

that the 17th-century English treasure hunter

and politician sir William phips

and his masonic associate captain Andrew belcher

buried a vast cache of treasure in the money pit.

In 1687, at the direction of the English crown,

phips conducted two salvages

of the famed Spanish treasure galleon

known as the concepción

which sank in a hurricane near the Dominican Republic

in 1641.

In a controversy that bewildered many,

phips delivered less than half

of the 100 tons of silver and gold

that were recorded on the ship's manifest.

Now, after previously finding iron tools

in the round feature on lot 5

that have been scientifically matched

to the birthplace of William phips,

could the so-called eye of the swamp

and perhaps these two additional man-made features

offer more compelling evidence that this theory is true?

I would just send these out for dating.

- We're absolutely gonna do that. - Yeah.

And some of these logs are

- sufficient size to facilitate that. - Yeah.

Whole area seems to have some sort of reason.

If you're moving through a bog,

you-you would have to have a platform from which to work.

If it were 1680 dates or thereabouts,

you know, certainly one of the possible theories

might be a phips connection.

So, we got a plan.

I think we just keep pulling down this line.

Yeah. And we start finding some metals

and some Bobby-dazzlers and top-pocket finds.

- Yes. - Hopefully.

There are still answers down there.

Yeah.

Whatever may lie deep in the money pit,

perhaps within a seven-foot-high vault,

remains elusive.

At least for now.

But as Rick, Marty, Craig, and their team unearth more clues

all across oak island

and keep zeroing in on the original treasure shaft,

just how much longer

can the answer to this 230-year-old mystery

stay buried?

Next time on the curse of oak island...

- What is it? - These are bricks.

That's looking pretty structure-like to me.

- What a perfect place to hide something. - Yeah.

Ooh!

That has got a good chance of being gold.

We see the ct scan.

My gosh.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that.

As I was going down,

there's definitely nothing solid there.

Like, totally open?

- Yeah. - That sounds like a void.

It could be the treasure chamber.

Captioning provided by a+e networks