The Curse of Oak Island: Oak Island Mystery EXPLAINED *Flashback to the Start* (Season 1) | History

NARRATOR: In February 2013,
brothers Rick and Marty Lagina
traveled from Michigan to an
island in the North Atlantic
in an attempt to solve
a 200-year-old mystery.

MARTY LAGINA: Several
generations of people
spent an enormous
amount of money,
and risked life and limb, and
died looking for something
here on Oak Island.
There’s been a constant
history of people doing that.

I mean, it seems like
each person or group that
gets involved then just doesn’t
give up until they either die
or they go bankrupt.
There’s the famous Oak Island
legend, six people have died
and a seventh has to die–
In search of the treasure.
–in search of the
treasure, and that’s when
all will be revealed.
[children laughing]
[bells chime]
[eerie music playing]

RICK LAGINA: When
I was 11 years old
I read the story of Oak
Island and I was hooked.
I brought it home and
read it to my brother.
Yeah, he shows it
to me and, of course,
it had all the
things people like–
treasure, mystery, booby traps.
It had all the stuff
that interests a kid.
Adventure.
Yeah, it’s your big
brother talking to you, too.
And he knows.
Look what he’s found, you know,
wow, this is going to be great.
[eerie music playing]

MARTY LAGINA: 200
years ago, some kids
find an interesting
spot up on Oak
Island, offshore Nova Scotia.
They dig and they find
some stones laid in,
they find some planks, things
that would have to be man-made,
so they’re sure
they’re onto something.
It was the end of
the piracy era,
so everybody’s thinking
buried treasure.
No matter how deep
they get, they
keep finding more
planks that appear
to be concealing something.
They give up at
about 20 feet deep
because they’re digging by hand.
And then there’s a succession
of people that come back,
and they keep
digging, and they find
more platforms every 10 feet.
And they find more odd stuff–
a bit of change, all kinds of
wood that shouldn’t be there.
Down about 90 feet, they
find a stone that’s inscribed
with strange engravings.
Finally, someone else comes in
and they find that that shaft
was actually
booby-trapped, that there’s
a flood tunnel to the ocean.
And all of a sudden,
water floods it.

So then different people
keep trying and trying–
mining engineers,
business people,
President Franklin
Roosevelt was involved,
John Wayne was involved.
Everyone wanted to
get down to the bottom
of this so-called money pit.
As each successive treasure
seeker goes through the years,
they’ve kept finding things
that kept them going.

RICK LAGINA: Each
time, it appears
like there’s more and more
evidence of man-made formations
underground.
One of the participants noticed
this little pea-sized little
brown ball, and he unfurled
it, and it turned out
to be the little
piece of parchment
with an inscribed V I on it.
And we’re leaving
out coconut fiber.
There’s been massive
amounts of coconut fiber.
I mean what the hell’s
that doing on Oak Island?
[eerie music playing]

We wanted to know
what really happened.
There’s all kinds of theories.
Certain people say that it’s
Knights Templar treasure.
Another theory is
that it’s something
from the Spanish plundering
of the New World.
And then there’s some
people who credibly
believe that it’s the lost
manuscripts of Shakespeare.
But the real core of the Oak
Island story is who, why, when,
where, how?
That’s what really got me,
that’s, for me, that’s–
I was more interested
in the treasure.
[laughter]

How much money do we
have invested in this?
We have millions of
dollars invested in this,
but it’s not just an
economic investment.
I’m motivated by curiosity,
I’m motivated by the hunt,
I’m motivated by doing
something with my brother
that he’s always
dreamed about doing.

RICK LAGINA: It’s about
family, it’s about love.
And I love my brother.
I mean, I wouldn’t want anybody
in this with me other than him.
And, if at some point
we’re not successful,
we know we tried together.