The Curse of Oak Island: Evidence of Secret Operation on Lot 8 (Season 10)

Gentlemen, we’re
on our way back.
Yeah.
I want to get to the
bottom of it this year.
Said it before, but
this year I mean it, OK?
We got to get it done, guys.
We got to get it done.
Absolutely.
I think it’s going to be
a good year, very good year.

NARRATOR: Summer has arrived
in Western Shore, Nova Scotia.
It’s about time
to figure this out.
That’s for sure.

NARRATOR: And with it,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina,
their partner Craig
Tester, and their team
have returned with
renewed determination
to solve the 227-year-old
Oak Island mystery.

MARTY LAGINA: Gonna
find some today?
GARY DRAYTON: Oh, we are, mate.

NARRATOR: Marty Lagina
joins metal detection expert
Gary Drayton on
Lot 8, located west
of the triangle-shaped swamp.
I’ve been looking forward
to coming back here.
And this is what brought
us here, this depression.
I love this tree.
Yeah.
We found some cool stuff here.
Yes.

NARRATOR: Of Oak Island’s
32 four-acre lots,
Lot 8 has produced some of the
most significant clues that
could potentially help the team
solve the 227-year-old treasure
mystery.
Look at that.
That is a bobby dazzler.

NARRATOR: It was here
in 2017 that Gary
and Rick Lagina discovered
a semi-precious red garnet
brooch.
GARY DRAYTON: We
just found a jewel.
RICK LAGINA: That’s gorgeous.
I know you keep referring
it to it as a brooch.
I have a different
possible interpretation.

NARRATOR: However, one year
ago, the team was astounded
when 32nd degree Freemason
Scott Clarke suggested
that the garnet may be
connected to one of the most
sacred missing treasures
ever associated
with the medieval order
of the Knights Templar.

SCOTT CLARKE: This garnet was
actually the perfect color,
size, and general shape
as one of the stones
from the Masonic Royal Arch
High Priest breastplate.
The breastplate was used in a
specific Masonic ritual meant
to mimic the retrieval of
the Ark of the Covenant
from a secret vault underground.
Wow.
Well, it’s time
to dig, huh, guys?
Yep.
Let’s do it.

NARRATOR: Following
Scott’s presentation,
Marty and the
members of the team
unearthed a potentially
manmade feature
constructed of large stones.
Just a big layer of rocks
right across this whole area.
I think we need
to go that way.
OK, mate, we’ll go straight
line towards the ocean.
OK.

NARRATOR: Now, Marty
and Gary are hoping
to find clues that might
explain the purpose
of the mysterious
stone feature, as well
as evidence that
something of great value
could be buried in the area.
Yeah, that’s a
diggable target.
[beep]
Should be right there.
Try that.
[slow beeping]
[high-pitched beep]

• We’ve got it here.
  Mm-hmm.
  No, look at this!
  It’s a ox shoe!
  Well, what the hell?
  There was never any
  occupation on this lot.
  Yeah.
  And it doesn’t exactly look
  like farmland, does it?
  Well, this may be more
  substantive here than perhaps
  elsewhere, because if that
  spot there has significance,
  then hauling things
  could have been
  occurring between the
  water and back there.
  So it’d be good to know
  what that thing tells us.
  Yeah.

NARRATOR: Because Lot 8 was
never inhabited by farmers,
could Marty’s assessment be
correct that this oxen shoe may
be evidence of an
operation to haul
cargo from the ocean to
somewhere in this area
long ago?
If so, what kind of
cargo could it be?

• Good start, mate.
• Yep.
  OK, bag it, and
  let’s keep going.
  OK.
  Right.
  Continue the line.
  [slow beeping]
  Proceed, partner.
  Yep.
  [slow beeping]
  [beeping intensifies]
  Yeah?
  Yep, small target
  or a deep target.
  [high-pitched beeping]
  Just here, mate.
  There’s a root here,
  Gary, or something.
  Yeah.
  I have to sort
  of do it this way.
  That will look like–
  it should broggle it out, mate.
  Try that.
  [beeping]
  [beeping intensifies]
  Ooh.
  Is there a big
  piece of something?
  I’m not sure.
  Come on out, you little bugger.
  Wait.
  It feels like a handle.
  Ooh.
  I got it.
  I got it.
  Oh, my goodness.
  What the hell is that?
  [beeping]
  That’s it.
  What is that?
  I have no idea, mate.
  We find some unusual things,
  especially at this site.
  Back in business.
  All right.
  [inaudible]
  Yeah.
  It’s a mystery find.
  We could be looking
  at corrosion, right?
  I mean, it could
  be inside there–
  Oh, it definitely is, mate.
  I mean, this is a prime
  candidate for the CT scan.
  We can see straight
  through this.
  That’s why I couldn’t describe
  it when I got me hands on it,
  and I’m like, what?
  Yeah, you said it
  feels like a handle.
  Yeah.
  Yeah, because that’s
  how I pulled it out.
  I put me hand around
  it, and I think, [gasp]..
  I was thinking it was a pistol.
  Oh.
  I was hoping.
  But my hope is that
  this is somehow
  connected to the musket.
  You know, Gary, it’s possible.
  I mean, just looking
  at this butt end here,
  it’s possible this is
  a portion of a pistol.

NARRATOR: A metal fragment of
a possible pistol or musket?
One year ago, while
searching this same area,
Gary and Marty discovered
an iron flintlock
from a musket that
may potentially date
back three centuries or more.
This end feels a little
lighter than that end.

NARRATOR: Could
this be another part
of that same ancient weapon?
If so, just who left it here?
This is fantastic.
It’s cool, though.
Bag it and tag it.
Put that in your top pocket.
You’re going to be bent over.
Yes.
Next lane coming up.
Yes, sir.

CARMEN LEGGE: Come in.
RICK LAGINA: How are you?
CARMEN LEGGE: Oh, not too bad.
Yourself?
RICK LAGINA: Good.

NARRATOR: At the Oak
Island Research Center,
Rick Lagina, Jack
Begley, and Craig Tester
meet with blacksmithing
expert Carmen Legge to get
his assessments of the
mysterious artifact
found one day ago on Lot 8.
We’ve got a bit
of a puzzle for you.
That is this object right here.
My brother and Gary found it.
It was found on Lot 8.
And we have run some geophysical
investigations there,
and they’re showing
some anomalous feature.
Oh, OK.
So they found that.

NARRATOR: Earlier today,
archaeologist Emma Culligan ran
the artifact through the
team’s state-of-the-art
SKYSCAN 1273 CT scanner.
The device emits non-destructive
X-ray radiation that penetrates
encrusted materials
that build up
over time on an object’s
surface to reveal a computer
image of its finer details.

RICK LAGINA: Heavily encrusted.
That’s why the CT
scan should help.
[laughing]
That is what the
CT scanner showed.
Oh, yeah.
And that helps you?
Yes.
Interesting.
What would be
their typical use?
Like hauling wood out or also
hauling ground material up?
Lifting cargo?

NARRATOR: A bunk hook used
for lifting and hauling
logs or heavy cargo?
Could Marty and Gary
have found more evidence
that something of potential
value could be buried on Lot 8,
as theorists such as Freemason
Scott Clarke have suggested?

So it’s somewhat
of a unique design.
So I’ve never seen
one in the modern era.
RICK LAGINA: Oh, really?
OK.
So then this is probably
older than 1795 then?
Personally, I can’t
come up with any activity
that we know of that
would necessitate
a hook such as that.
Oh, wow.
7 to 8 tons is a lot.
Well, what’s this
doing on Lot 8?
We’d expect something on
the east drumlin like this.
How much hauling and work do
we know that was done on Lot 8,
like in our records of
the history of Oak Island?
Whether it was from the
searchers or depositors,
I mean, that’d be a
useful hook to have.
But this was found in
the middle of the lot.
Interesting.
RICK LAGINA: I see.
RICK LAGINA: I see.
We would have to
have this conserved
before it could go in the
XRF, since it’s so heavily
encrusted with something.
We will definitely put a
location on here, and–
Very interesting.
That could date back quite
old and give us great evidence
for the Lot 8 area.
I mean, we found some
weird things around there.

RICK LAGINA: When you have an
item that, according to Carmen,
the design could be as
far back as the 1500s,
we know it was used for
extremely heavy loads.
Why not try to gain a further
understanding of not only
that particular item,
but what other items
we might find in the lot?
There’s only one way
to figure that out,
and that’s to devote
the assets and the time
necessary to try to figure out
what that mystery might be.
There’s more work to do.
It’s an interesting
item, certainly found
on a lot we don’t know
a whole lot about,
and we need to know more.
So thank you for
the information.
We appreciate your time.
Appreciate your insight.
Very good.
All right, see you later.
RICK LAGINA: Thank you.
CRAIG TESTER: Thanks, Carmen.
RICK LAGINA: Appreciate it.
CARMEN LEGGE: See ya.