The Curse of Oak Island: HAMMER CLAW Discovery Linked to Knights Templar (Season 10)

This is going to be a great day, yeah.
Metal detection expert Gary Drayton and Jack Begley arrive at Lot 8, located on the western side of the island.

“Well, it just keeps producing every time we come back here. We’re finding artifacts, mate. Yeah, there’s about to be something in this area, mate. Let’s go have some fun. Let’s get stuck in, mate.”

Although it’s more than half a mile from The Money Pit, in recent years the team has made a number of potentially important discoveries on Lot 8. These include a semi-precious garnet gemstone that some believe could have come from a ceremonial Masonic breastplate related to sacred treasures of the Knights Templar, as well as a bunk hook that may date back more than four centuries and was designed for lifting heavy cargo.

And just one week ago, it was here that Gary and Jack unearthed a copper artifact featuring strange handcrafted symbols.

“It’s some sort of ornate metallic cover to an object—an artifact that archaeologist Dr. Edwin Barnhart believes could possibly be another significant clue. It does have some iconography on it, so it could be some sort of religious object, really.”

“Oh, little screamer.”

“Just a sweet sound, yeah, it really is.”

[Applause]

“That’s a plug.”

“And it’s still in the ground. I bet we’re just missing it. Maybe it might be after this.”

“Wow.”

“Wow. Oh, see if I can winkle it up.”

“Yeah, that is it.”

“That is a part of a claw hammer. I don’t know how old it is, but I do remember Pete and I finding an old claw hammer. I think it was Lot 40 or 15 over there. It was an oldie.”

“Oh, a claw hammer.”

One year ago, while searching on Lot 15 for evidence of a mysterious stone pathway running between the swamp and The Money Pit, Gary, along with Rick and Marty’s nephew Peter Frenetti, found a nearly identical tool.

“Hello, Dr. Brussels. Hi, everyone. How’s it going?”

One that chemist Dr. Christopher So believed could predate the discovery of The Money Pit by nearly three centuries.

“This type of hammerhead has been known since the 1500s. Very interesting.”

But what made this find particularly interesting is that it potentially dated to the same era as the stone road found two years ago in the southeast corner of the swamp—the same stone road that was nearly identical to one Rick Lagina and members of the team were shown in Portugal one year ago, where the Portuguese sect of the Knights Templar maintained a stronghold between the 12th and 16th centuries.

“That could’ve been here, and it all has to do with the socket shape. Is it possible that Gary and Jack have just found another clue that could connect the religious order of the Knights Templar to the Oak Island mystery?”

“Now, you know, it’s how small that is. If you’re bringing a tool kit ashore, it’s all going to be portable stuff. It might be a good indication that we’re coming into an area that there was work done.”

“Yeah, okay, mate, we’ll bag it, keep moving.”

“Any place we find anything on Oak Island, any of the lots, could be the thing that unlocks Oak Island. Any item we find on any of the Lots—Lot 8 is no different. Lot 8 might be even better for one simple reason: it was never occupied. There was never a house there, so if there’s something that tells a story on Lot 8, then it means something else happened there.”

“And the next flag may be over there.”

“Yeah, the guys in the lab are gonna love that.”