The Curse of Oak Island: ASTONISHING DISCOVERY Linked to Knights Templar (Season 10)

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They flagged right up here.
Yep.

NARRATOR: Metal detection expert Gary Drayton and Jack Begley arrive on Lot 8, located nearly 1/2 a mile away, on the Western side of Oak Island.
With all the finds we’ve recovered on Lot 8, mate, it makes sense to have this area cleared.
You’re right, it has been so thick in the middle of Lot 8.
This is the middle.
Yeah.
And we really haven’t hunted in here yet.
Yeah.

NARRATOR: Lot 8 has become a key location for the team in recent years, after a number of compelling discoveries were made here.
These include a semi-precious garnet gemstone, believed to be connected to the Knights Templar, as well as a mysterious formation of paving stones similar to the 12th-century paved area that was discovered in the swamp.
And just this year, they unearthed a bunk hook, a tool designed for lifting heavy cargo, which has been dated to the 16th century or earlier.
Let’s strike up the magic wand, mate, and let’s put this area on the map– the treasure map.
Yeah.

NARRATOR: Now, after Billy Gerhard has cleared trees and heavy foliage from the lot where Gary has already scanned and flagged a number of metal targets, with archaeologist Leonard Niven’s permission, Gary and Jack are hoping to find more clues that might explain just who visited Lot 8 prior to the discovery of the money pit, and what else they may have left behind.

[beeping]
Oh, music to my ears, mate.
Good-sounding signal, right there.

[music playing]
[beeping]
Ooh, it’s in the top.
All right.
Oh.

[beeping]
Had a nice ring to it.
Oh.
Oh, wow.
Bit of chain, mate.
This could be the missing link.

[beeping] That’s what that is, mate, a bit of chain.
Hey, do you know your date ranges for chains at all?
I know that the older chains have got an oval link, and these have got oval links, it looks like it’s hand-forged.
So what would a chain that thin be used for?
Well, if you’ve got a chest or a box, like a strongbox, they used to put chains about this size around there, to secure, then they’d lock–
Just to keep it closed?
Yeah.

NARRATOR: Could Gary be correct, that this chain link might not only be ancient, but was also designed to secure a strongbox or chest?
Could it be related to the bunk hook recently found nearby?
And if so, could they both be connected to the semi-precious garnet gemstone as well?

Lot 8 throws us another artifact.
Lovely, mate.
Let’s bag it.

Now we’re way out in the middle of the island, on Lot 8.
I’m hoping that this chain link is somehow involved in hauling– hauling treasure.

Well, mate, next flag’s over there.
See what we’re sounding like?
Sounds like a good-sounding signal.
Just there, mate.
Dig us something good up.
Oh, it’s coming up.

[grunts]
Thank you, sir.

[beeping]
You might have moved it there.

[beeps]
It’s that.

JACK BEGLEY: Whoa.
GARY DRAYTON: I’m not going to mess with this too much.
JACK BEGLEY: No, no, don’t.
GARY DRAYTON: Look at that.
JACK BEGLEY: Whoa.
GARY DRAYTON: Brilliant, mate.
Wow.
JACK BEGLEY: There’s markings all over the front and the back.
GARY DRAYTON: Yeah.
JACK BEGLEY: Both sides.
Then you can tell by, like, that blue-green look–
Yeah.
–that it’s got copper in it.
Yeah.
That looks really old.
It looks like a highly decorative piece.
It could be a large brooch.
Could be a belt plate.
Could be a headdress decoration.
It’s got to be down on the ground for like, a couple hundred years I think, to get a patina like that?

No, a lot longer than that.
A lot longer?
Believe me, yeah.

Wow.
I’ve found Roman coins that come up looking like this.
And I’m hoping that this is the same date range as that garnet brooch that we found not too far away from here.
I know you keep referring to it as a brooch.
I have a different possible interpretation.

NARRATOR: One year ago, Rick Lagina and members of the team met with 32nd-degree Freemason Scott Clarke, who presented them with his belief that the garnet gemstone, found on Lot 8 by Rick and Jerry back in 2017, was once part of a Masonic breastplate, used in a profound ritual connected to the Knights Templar.

SCOTT CLARKE: 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.

NARRATOR: Is it possible that Jack and Gary have just found another clue that could help validate Scott Clarke’s theory?
And might it also explain the oval chain and bunk hook that were discovered on Lot 8 as well?

GARY DRAYTON: Thanks.
Right, let’s see, without damaging it too much.
JACK BEGLEY: We need to get this right back to the lab, immediately.
GARY DRAYTON: I’m in agreement, mate.
Straight back to the lab.
Here you go, mate, if you look after that.
Wait till they see this in the lab.
[laughs]

NARRATOR: After finishing their search on Lot 8–
Hey, smiley guys.
Yep.
Wait till you see what we found.

NARRATOR: –Gary and Jack meet with Rick Lagina, Craig Tester, and archaeologists Laird Niven and Emma Culligan, in the Oak Island Interpretive Center.

GARY DRAYTON: OK, it’s Lot 8.
Looks really, really old.
It’s got a lovely patina on it.
But the design is spectacular.

Oh, wow.
Put it under the microscope.
Let’s check it out.

NARRATOR: Using the Fisherbrand 425 series microscope and a C-Mount 10 megapixel digital camera, Laird will be able to take photographs of the magnified artifact and its finer details at a resolution of as much as 90 times their actual size.

GARY DRAYTON: Wow, look at that color.

LAIRD NIVEN: You can tell there’s got to be copper in there.

Yeah.
Zoom out a bit.

RICK LAGINA: Can you turn it over?
Oh, it’s relatively thick, isn’t it?
There you go.

LAIRD NIVEN: Now you can see it’s got markings on it too.
Yeah.

GARY DRAYTON: Just got an old look, an old feel about it.
But that’s a raised something right there.
Yeah.

RICK LAGINA: Well, that patina is brilliant.
What’s your first thought?

LAIRD NIVEN: My first thought, when I saw it, was that it’s military.
But why is it here?
It shouldn’t be on Lot 8.
And neither should have that brooch, which was recovered not far away from us.
Yeah.

Do you mind if I pop it in the XRF real quick?
All right.
Hopefully we get some nice surprises with the metal readout.

NARRATOR: In order to confirm the metal composition of the artifact, Emma is now using the X-ray fluorescence device, which emits non-destructive radiation.

OK.
The scan is done.

Well, you’ll see the copper alloy’s way up there.

EMMA CULLIGAN: It’s 95% copper.
So if you look at the iron component, it’s almost as equal as the zinc.
And it is pretty small levels.
So it could be old.

Boom, baby.
Yeah.

LAIRD NIVEN: It’s mostly copper.
There’s zinc in there as well, and iron.
Which makes it definitively a copper alloy.
Which has been used for thousands of years.
This piece is so unique, and potentially very old.
I think next steps are to CT scan, based on the XRF results.
Clean it very delicately, so we can get a better look at it.
Yes.

NARRATOR: In an effort to obtain much clearer images of the artifact, and hopefully identify what it could be, Laird will now place it in the computed tomography, or CT scanner, for up to 24 hours.
By emitting non-destructive radiation, the device can penetrate the corrosion that has built up on the object over time to reveal its finer details.

RICK LAGINA: This thing is strange.
And I don’t want to get too excited, but it’s definitely different.
Lot 8 seems to be where we make very interesting finds.
That makes it curious what activities were conducted on Lot 8.
I think we just need to use science to determine whether or not there is some sort of connection between all of these artifacts.
Would we like them to tell that story?
Yes, we would.
It’s a very curious piece.
Yep.

You guys need to go and find some more.
Yeah.
Coil to the soil.