In last week's episode, "Hi Ho Silver," researcher John Edwards shared his theory that Nolan's Cross is part of a larger feature and could be the key to finding the Ark of the Covenant. In this week's episode, "Wet and Wild," Edwards rejoins the team to provide more information. With this new lead, the Fellowship proceeds to investigate. RUNDOWN The episode begins with blacksmith expert Carmen Legge analyzing two metal artifacts which were recovered from the swamp. Legge identified the first as a backing bolt which would have been used on ox hitches. He further identified the backing bolt as French in origin and dating as early as the 1600s and no later than 1760. Such an artifact is indicative of hauling cargo. The southeast corner of the triangle-shaped swamp, where it was found, is the location of a stone road and a causeway where ships would have docked to load and unload cargo which may have included treasure. The second artifact was identified as a wharf pin predating the 1700s. Based on its metallic composition, archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan traced its origin to Sweden, further connecting the Vikings to Oak Island. As mentioned above, researcher John Edwards revisited the War Room to present his recently gathered information on Nolan's Cross and the possible location of the Ark of the Covenant. As other researchers have pointed out, Nolan's Cross was designed using sacred geometry, with all measurements equalling, and divisible by, numbers of significance to the Knights Templar and the Freemasons who would later follow. He shared information on the structure of the Kabbala Tree of Life, of which the Nolan's Cross feature may be a part. The Tree of Life is made up of numerous points called Sefirot (see my diagram below). Edwards directed the Fellowship to specific Sefirot that could reveal the location of the Ark of the Covenant. Billy Gerhardt, Jack Begley, and Gary Drayton set out to the northern area of the swamp where a marker indicating the Sefirot of Tiferet should be located. We'll have to wait until next week's episode to find out what they had uncovered. Back in the War Room, new information regarding a copper artifact recovered by Begley and Drayton in 2022 on Lot 8 was presented. Researcher Doug Crowell shared his findings of an Icelandic astronomical manuscript depicting symbols matching those on the copper artifact, indicating more Viking connections! He also shared information on a French astrolabe dating between 1291 and 1310 which also featured the symbols. Since astrolabes were used in navigation and construction, it is possible that such tools were used by the Vikings and Templars in sailing to Oak Island and in constructing Nolan's Cross/Tree of Life. The information will be sent to archaeoastronomer Prof. Adriano Gaspani for evaluation.
Lastly, there was good news and bad news regarding the excavation of the Garden Shaft. The good news is that representatives from Dumas Contracting, Ltd. have begun horizontal probe drilling at the bottom of the Shaft to find an adjacent tunnel. The bad news is that in doing so, a leak was sprung and rapidly began to flood the Shaft. The Garden Shaft was evacuated and no one was harmed. Tasting a sample of the floodwater, Rick Lagina noted its salinity, suggesting that they could have encountered one of the flood tunnels, a booby trap previous search teams had encountered. CONCLUSION I am curious to see what will be revealed about the Kabbala Tree of Life connection and what the Fellowship will uncover at certain points across the island that mark the Sefirot. In regards to the Garden Shaft, I am wondering if the flood tunnel could be sealed in the same way as another section of the Shaft was to prevent leaks. Could it be the tunnel they were searching for that itself was flooded? I'll be tuning in next week to find out and post my Rundown with all my thoughts! Share your theories in the comments and thank you for reading!
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The search for the Oak Island treasure gets more exciting with every episode, and this week's installment, "Hi Ho Silver," is no exception. There have been numerous theories regarding what the treasure is; everything from holy relics to pirate booty to the original manuscripts of William Shakespeare have been posited. Now, the Lagina brothers and their team may just have received confirmation on what the treasure is. Enter the Fellowship of the lost Ark!
RUNDOWN The major takeaways of this episode for me come from the research of John Edwards and a silver artifact uncovered in the stone foundation on Lot 5. It is no secret that the Knights Templar are said to have recovered such relics as the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, and King Solomon's Menorah during the Crusades to Jerusalem. Neither is it a secret that there is a strong Templar connection to Oak Island. While it has been speculated that the Templars' treasure is buried on the island, that theory may just soon be declared as fact. In a War Room meeting, researcher John Edwards shares information he had gathered from deciphering texts of the Freemasons, and by extension, the Knights Templar. Edwards concludes with confidence that the decoded text indicated that the Ark of the Covenant is hidden somewhere on the island. Regarding its location, he said that Nolan's Cross is the key to solving that mystery. He also notes that the cross feature is likely part of a bigger construct: the Tree of Life, a theory I had put forth in my first "Oak Island Rundown" post (February 15, 2024). The Fellowship granted Edwards permission to inspect Nolan's Cross, which will be covered in next week's episode. While excavating the stone foundation on Lot 5, archaeologist Jamie Kouba, MA, RPA discovered a gold-plated button and a silver artifact. After further analysis in the lab, the button was suggested to be of English origin. The silver, Rick Lagina theorized, may very well be among the silver valuables Sir William Phips salvaged from the wreck of the Spanish ship Concepcion. In a previous episode, Scott Clarke, a 32nd degree Freemason, posited that Sir Phips had indeed secured his silver treasure on Oak Island. You may recall that the Lot 5 foundation dates back to the time of Sir Phips, so Lagina's theory is plausible. Adding credence to the theory, Jack Begley notes that treasure may have been housed in what was once a building on Lot 5 before being buried in the Money Pit; it was revealed in another past episode that the stones used to construct the Lot 5 feature are of the same composition as those found in the Money Pit, and putting two and two together, one can infer that the rocks quarried from the would-be Money Pit were used in the Lot 5 foundation. CONCLUSION More loose ends are being tied as the Fellowship of the Dig put names to faces and dates to events. If the highlights for next week's episode are any indication, they will face another challenge in recovering the treasure. As they have proved, nothing, not even a curse, will stop them from accomplishing not just their quest, but the quest of those who came before them. As mentioned above, learning that the treasure could be the Ark of the Covenant was among the highlights of this episode since that is what I've always thought was buried on the island. Not to mention, Giorgio Tsoukalos of Ancient Aliens fame told me a few years back that the Ark is what he believes is on the island! We have a whole week before we find out what has happened since John Edward presented his findings in the War Room. Until then, as Matty Blake says, "Keep the faith, Acorns!" One would assume that with each discovery made, another question is answered. As any Acorn (fan of The Curse of Oak Island) would know, that is not the case regarding the titular island. Every discovery made on the island asks more questions than it answers. This week's episode, "May the Norse Be With You," has asked one of the biggest questions the Fellowship has ever faced.
RUNDOWN The possibility of a Viking-Templar connection was first posited in last week's episode and addressed in my Season 11 Episode 17 post. Investigating this collaboration has brought researcher Dr. Doug Symons to the War Room to share his findings. He points out that the Vikings were active in L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, which is northeast of Oak Island, in 1000 AD. Interestingly, Vikings were present in the Holy Land in 1110 AD and interacted with the Knight Templar. This was during the time of the First Crusade, and as legend goes, the Templars recovered holy relics including the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, and King Solomon's Menorah. Research suggests that the Templars came to Oak Island to secure their treasure, but perhaps they were not alone; perhaps they were accompanied by the Vikings. With the Vikings' knowledge of North America and their seafaring and navigational skills, I say it is not only possible, but true. Note my observation from my previous "Oak Island Rundown" post in which I suggest that the Vikings could have constructed some of the stone features on the island, particularly the stone triangle which archaeoastronomer Prof. Adriano Gaspani said could only have been built by someone knowledgeable in both astronomy and geometry, i.e. a navigator. While every discovery is exciting, the Viking-Templar connection is one of my favorites! Blacksmith expert Carmen Legge met with members of the Fellowship to analyze two iron artifacts discovered by metal detection expert Gary Drayton at the bottom of the Garden Shaft. He concluded that they date between the late-1400s to the mid-1700s. This timeframe further suggests the Shaft's construction of pre-1795, the year Daniel McGinnis and companions first discovered the Money Pit. Speaking of the Garden Shaft, representatives from Dumas Contracting, Ltd. had recovered the wooden planks found at the bottom of the Shaft, approximately 100 feet deep. The planks were surmised to be the top of the tunnel the team had detected, but as it would appear, such a tunnel may have collapsed or filled in. Regardless, the team will continue to investigate. Excavating in the southeast corner of the triangle-shape swamp, Billy Gerhardt uncovered a wooden structure. He theorized this could be the same wooden feature discovered 30+ years earlier by the late Oak Island treasure hunter and landowner Fred Nolan. It was Nolan who posited that this area was dammed to create the swamp in an attempt to hide something. The who, what, and when remain to be seen, but at the rate the Fellowship is going, those questions may soon be answered. Geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner suggested that the feature could also have been used for the loading and unloading of ships. CONCLUSION The timeline of the history of the activity on Oak Island is broad, encompassing a range of 500 years if not more. The timeline of the history of uncovering the island's secrets dates back 229 years to 1795. Before, we could only speculate to the best of our knowledge who was on the island, what their business entailed, why they came to the island, etc. Now, though there are still many questions to be answered, the pieces are beginning to come together, questions are being answered, and the missing pages of history are being restored. With faith and determination, no storm, no expense, and no curse can stand in the way of Rick and Marty Lagina and their whole Fellowship and the adventurers who came before them. The last few minutes of last week's episode of The Curse of Oak Island saw the Fellowship preparing for the onset of Hurricane Lee and what setbacks it could bring to their quest for the long-lost treasure. I was expecting the worse in this week's episode, "Piling On." My biggest concerns were the stone feature on Lot 5 being battered by the storm and the possible flooding of the Garden Shaft. The condition of the former was not addressed and the latter was, thankfully, not affected. The triangle-shaped swamp was flooded, leading Rick Lagina, his nephew Alex, and Jack Begley to start the pumps to begin the process of draining the water.
RUNDOWN In the War Room, the Lagina brothers and members of the team engage in a video chat to speak with archaeoastronomer Prof. Adriano Gaspani who in 2022 dated Nolan's Cross to 1200 AD. When asked about the age of a feature consisting of five pyramidal stone piles, Prof. Gaspani, noting its alignment with the sun and the moon, deduced that it was constructed in 1250 AD. He was then asked to provide information regarding a stone triangle. The triangle's geometry and astronomical alignments with the summer and winter solstices suggest that someone such as a navigator could have built it. Prof. Gaspani further suggests the Knights Templar. The information provided by Prof. Gaspani led Gary Drayton and Jack Begley to metal detect the area for artifacts. While searching Lot 15, they uncover a lead artifact which archaeometallurgist Emma Culligan pointed out as similar in composition to another lead artifact which was found two years earlier on nearby Lot 13 and of Scandinavian origin, hinting at the Vikings. Since the Vikings and the Templars were contemporaries of the 13th century and, as research suggests, operated in the same waters, could there be a Norse-Templar connection? Did they know each other? As always, more questions than answers arise. I must point out that the Vikings were skilled navigators, so perhaps they had a hand in constructing the aforementioned stone triangle which Prof. Gaspani indicated must have been built by someone skilled in astronomy and geometry, i.e. a navigator. While working at a depth of around 100 feet in the Garden Shaft, representatives of Dumas Contracting, Ltd. uncover wooden planks which could be the top of a tunnel and/or another level of planking which early descriptions of the Money Pit note as occurring every 10 feet. One of the planks was brought to the surface where, upon closer inspection, it was revealed to have been cut by hand (adze-cut) as opposed to power saw, a clear indication that this was pre-eighteenth century and thus the work of the original treasure depositors rather than the later searchers. CONCLUSION It's exciting to see the progress the team is making and I am eager to see what other secrets are revealed. It's no doubt that the discoveries made on Oak Island will rewrite North American, and even world, history. Neither is it a question that whatever is buried on the island was of such great significance that the depositors went to extreme lengths to keep it hidden. Oak Island's discoveries are a hydra: answer one question and two more will take its place. The island's revealed history tells us that the English, French, and Portuguese were present on the island. Could there have been a Viking presence on the island, too? It wouldn't surprise me in the least and I think it's highly likely. Who do you think was conducting secret operations on Oak Island? What do you think could be buried in the Money Pit? Do you think there is a curse? Sound off in the comments and thank you for reading! |
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