On this week’s episode of The Curse of Oak Island, there’s a problem. A big problem. An oscillator drill has malfunctioned.
When the pressure exerted by the rotating oscillator shot up more than two times its normal operating pressure, one of the steel braces that attached the equipment to the crane broke off.
“It’s disconcerting,” said Rick Lagina.
Questions surrounding this predicament abound.
Can the rig be fixed? And can the rig be fixed before the onset of the harsh Nova Scotia winter?
Also, what on earth was the rig drilling up against that caused such a massive amount of pressure to build up?
Could the oscillator drill have possibly been grinding against a treasure vault?
What exactly is down there that would cause this massive piece of machinery to break and shift like it did? #CurseOfOakIsland pic.twitter.com/LSjhxOWfEQ
— Curse of Oak Island (@CurseOfOak) April 20, 2020
On last week’s episode, fascinating new evidence emerged when expert Geophysicist Jeremy Church told the guys that the seismic scanning done earlier in the year had logged an anomaly at 160 feet below the surface.
Its diameter is apparently 13 feet by 13 feet, the exact dimensions of the original Money Pit.
After the team repositioned the drill over the spot beneath the anomaly, the tool started pulling up massive hunks of wood, including old beams marked with Roman numerals. The guys were apparently on the right track.
The Oak Island team find an underground tunnel
The team also discovered a tunnel. It’s unclear from the episode preview if that tunnel is in the Money Pit area, but considering that this is now the main focus, viewers can assume that the treasure vault area is nearby.
As the guys peer at an image generated from an underground tunnel, Marty Lagina says, “No doubt this is a man-made tunnel.”
It feels like the team is getting really close to a breakthrough.
The network blurb teases that the “ultimate breakthrough” might be on the horizon.
“With time running out, the ultimate breakthrough may finally be within the fellowship’s grasp and new evidence suggests Samuel Ball was guarding something of great value.”
Did former slave Samuel Bell find the Oak Island treasure?
There’s also the tantalizing hint that the guys uncovered evidence that the 18th Century Oak Island landowner and former slave Samuel Ball might have been onto something big.
In 1765, Ball was born in South Carolina. After the American Revolution, he relocated to Oak Island where he owned 100 acres. In fact, he was so wealthy that many believed he had discovered the Oak Island treasure.
Also on this week’s episode, Alex Lagina and Craig Tester take a find to expert Blacksmith and know-it-all genius Carmen Legge, telling the guys they have discovered an artifact from the 1700s.
Stay tuned for what else the team found.
The Curse of Oak Island airs Tuesday nights at 9/8c on History.