The next episode of The Curse of Oak Island sees research surface that points at a “clear pathway” from the Knights Templar to Oak Island, we can exclusively reveal.
The description for the episode, which we were given exclusively by History, also says that new evidence confirms that there were Europeans on the island long before the original Money Pit was discovered in 1795.
That follows the discovery of a British Charles II coin from 1673 earlier this season, which also pointed at there being people from across the Atlantic on Oak Island well before the Money Pit was found.
The next episode, Season 5 Episode 8, is titled Dan’s Breakthrough, with the name thought to be a reference to the role Dan Blankenship plays in starting the machine which drills a huge caisson down into borehole H-8.
The official description reads:
New evidence confirms a European presence on Oak Island 100 years before the discovery of the Money Pit, while new research suggests a clear pathway from the Knights Templar to Oak Island.
We told earlier this month how Rick Lagina had strongly hinted that a big link to the Knights Templar would emerge this season.
More fuel was then added to the fire in comments made by executive producer Joe Lessard in an exclusive interview he did with Monsters and Critics.
As mentioned above, the next episode also sees the team start the process of drilling down into the location of the exploratory H-8 borehole in the hopes that they will find the original Money Pit there.
It comes after several interesting items were found in the H-8 spoils, including fragments of pottery, human bones, and what appears to be part of a historic book.
The sneak peek trailer for the episode sees Rick Lagina tell of his fears that the team could damage whatever is down there as they drill their new hole.
He says: “There’s significant trepidation on my part that we damage something that is irreplaceable.”
Brother Marty jokes: “He doesn’t want the last item in the museum to say ‘Rick and Marty solved the mystery…and destroyed the treasure.”
We know from the sneak peek at the end of last week’s episode that the next episode also sees metal-detecting expert Gary Drayton discover a piece of artillery which it’s believed came from a cannon.
Meanwhile, six pages of a historic ship’s log are also uncovered which talk about a “deep pit” being dug and “treasure securely buried”.
We told yesterday how the next The Curse of Oak Island episode will air on January 2 rather than this coming Tuesday as the show takes a break over the festive period.
The latest episode included one of the most significant findings the team have ever had being revealed — that a bone discovered in what they believe is the original Money Pit is from a person with Middle Eastern origins.
A second fragment they also discovered was found to be from someone with European ancestry.
Watch the sneak peek for the next episode below!
The Curse of Oak Island returns Tuesday, January 2, at 9/8c on History.