The Curse of Oak Island: COMPELLING CLUES Found on Lot 8 (Season 9)

Alright guys, it’s just right up here.
Metal detection expert Gary Drayton, along with Jack Begley and surveyor Steve Guptill, arrive on lot eight, located on the western side of the island. Ladate has continued to produce compelling clues that may be critical in helping to solve the Oak Island mystery.

Alright, so this is the anomaly, okay? As you can see, it’s an indentation. There does seem to be some sort of a depression in the ground. Yeah, so I’m gonna say this is probably one of the most interesting anomalies we’ve had this year, and it’s just strictly based on the data. There is a VLF hit right here, so that just means there’s something going on under the surface. I’m sure we’ll find some stuff here. I’m hoping it’s a big jewelry box down here.

Well, it’s going to be something. Yeah, I mean this whole area is a hotspot.

Alright guys, I gotta run though. Let me know how you invite. Thanks. Cheers.

Alright, let’s start gridding it out.

What it clearly is, is anomalous because of all the finds and because of several things, like LIDAR and Zenith map, and there’s a mag anomaly there too. There’s a lot of iron in this area for sure. All kinds of things that don’t make sense because nobody ever lived there. That makes you wonder what happened on lot eight.

We have gotten it right in the area that Steve last marked. Right there, mate.

We’re trying to understand the whole island, trying to understand everything as it relates to the story, the mystery that is Oak Island.

It’s gonna be tough digging, yeah.

We know the money pit is of interest, and now we have some new research and some new theories that lead us to these other X marks the spots.

It’s out, yeah, and it’s quite a strong signal from the sound of it.

Look at that! You see how it’s mushroomed there?

Oh, but it’s been beat on above, without a doubt, mate. Look, that looks like it’s the end of it.

And the best way of describing this is an iron rod. It could be the top of a chisel.

Yeah, exactly. And when you hold it in your hand like this, you get the feeling that, yeah, it could have been a chisel, mate.

This has got a swages and point chisel feel about it. I think this is a very, very old piece of history rolled in in the ransom.

That’s incredible. Carmen dated the anpoint chisel and the swages back to the Middle Ages.

Oh really? Way back to the 1400s, mate?

Well then, what the heck is going on in this area? I don’t know.

Over the past three years, that looks old to me. That looks unforged, huh?

The team has not only recovered a similar metal artifact near Smith’s Cove on the eastern end of the island, but also two iron tools known as swages here on the western side of the island. These are very, very rare, which blacksmithing expert Carmen Lake believed to be of great significance.

I would say the swages, they were used for major mining or tunneling operations. For tunneling, I would go back as far as the mid-1400s.

Could this iron object that Gary and Jack have just found also be that old? And if so, could it possibly be connected to the large anomalies that have been detected much deeper below ground?

That’s a cool find.

We’re finding more things like swages and rock chisels and other objects that lead to work being done on the western side of the island, previous to the discovery of the money pit.

So how were these tools related, and why were people doing work on the western side?

Marked, I put the flag in.

But you know what, mate? I think we should get this back to the archaeology trailer now so the guys can start working on this right away. We’ll come back.

What a fantastic day.

The following morning, Marty Laguna joins Jack Begley, Gary Drayton, and members of the team on lot eight.

Well, it’s time to dig, our guys. Yep.

After following up with the authorities, they’ve been granted permission to conduct a five-foot deep excavation at the site of the mysterious anomalies.

The OKM says there is an anomaly here at five feet and one at 20. If I can get you down five, that thing might say something.

Oh yeah, this will get us another five. The GPX 5000, it’s pulse induction, mate. This is big.

If they succeed in finding evidence of human activity, they can apply for a permit that would allow for a much deeper investigation.

Alright, what do you say we dig?

Yeah, let’s do it. Okay, mate, I’ll get settled.

What I would really like to see as I’m digging is something that is buried there of significance. So, obviously a chamber of some sort would be fabulous. So, you know, to hit metal, to hit concrete, to hit wood even. To find wood here, say five feet down, would be gigantically significant. It would be hiding something.

And of course, every bucket you’re always looking for signs of treasure.

That’s a heck of a lot of runs.

Alright, nothing but rock.

Yeah, I noticed all those rocks coming up. Looked like someone had filled this area.

All of this here, it all looks like it’s fell. It’s disturbed.

[Music]

It’s just like the paved area. There’s just a big layer of rocks right across this whole area.

Is it disturbed more this way?

Yeah, so I should go that way?

It’s a pretty big rock.

Come out of there.

That boulder is a bit like an iceberg, isn’t it? Yeah, there’s a lot going on down there, wouldn’t you say? It’s almost for sure that’s been dug before.

It looks like it’s been disturbed there.

Oh!

You see all the organics below the boulder? It suggests that somebody dug, then pulled the rock, and put it there.

I just know there’s got to be something deeper. It could be a notch.

This might lead to something much greater. Don’t look like we’re the first ones out here for sure.

Yeah.

The biggest issue is, where did that boulder come from?

If the boulder was placed by human intervention, we’re talking about tunnels or vaults or whatever it could be below that. I think we should dig more around that rock and just go down and see what we got here. So, that’s the plan.

We have a couple of clues that what happened here appears to be so extensive, it could certainly have been people hiding treasure.

So I think we have to dig deeper and find what we’re looking for. It’s unique enough to pursue it.

Below five feet?

Yeah, I’d say you’re at five feet going in.

[Music]

Nope, not hearing anything.

Right inside this boulder?

No.

Quite as a church mouse.

Dang.

It’s worth a try.

Yeah.

Alright, so what does that mean to us in our little treasure hunt here? I’d like to find something.

The surface metal detecting finds tell us someone’s been here a long time ago. Some of those finds were old in this area, and although we haven’t found anything today, I mean, we can’t put an X through this spot.

Yeah, exactly.

We have an anomaly to report in the sense that we have black organic stuff under the boulder.

The deeper one though, I think we’re at the limit, so…

Yep.

Although the team has now dug to the five-foot limit that is possible today, the fact that they unearthed what appears to be a purposely placed paved feature and a massive artificially placed boulder means that they will need to apply for a more extensive permit in order to conduct a much deeper excavation of the lot eight anomalies.

We’ll head back.

We need to report to my brother and then decide what else to do here.

Alright, cool.

Scott, will you fill it in? Yep, so let’s go.

I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of this place.

Yeah, I need to.