This week on The Curse of Oak Island, the guys made some significant finds. However, there was also another tinge of disappointment as the location of the elusive Money Pit continues to remain a mystery.
The team was focusing on locating shaft 6, the searcher tunnel built back in 1861 that supposedly links to the Money Pit. With their heavy drilling equipment ready to go, they watched patiently as the 8-foot wide steel shaft was driven into the ground.
Their target depth, to begin with, was approximately 100 to 120 feet. At 101 feet, there was an increase in pressure, meaning they were likely cutting through a structure, probably wooden.
And sure enough, the giant hammer grab started pulling out large beams of wood — ax cut wood too — right at the depth where Shaft 6 was supposed to be.
The guys were ecstatic, “this should be the money tunnel,” someone shouted.
Jack Begley and Steve Guptill were tasked with sifting through the small dirt that was pulled up from over 100 feet below ground. They found pieces of leather followed by what looked like an old hinge, possibly from a chest.
Alas, no gold or silver coins. Not yet anyway.
An ancient booby trap protects the treasure
Gary Drayton finds what looks like an ancient iron spike or needle, he speculates that it might be for sails on a ship.
They take the find to expert blacksmith Carmen Legge who initially said he didn’t know what it was, “no idea what it is, what it was doing down there.”
Carmen then said these were sometimes placed as booby traps.
“Why else would this be underground,” he said. He argues that it looks like it was inserted into a wooden structure, intending to cause maximum damage to human flesh.
He has more; he dates it to between the 1500s and the mid-1700s. Therefore, this could be a 400-year-old booby trap.
Carmen said that as a tool, it has “no practical” value, so the original owner must have had something “real valuable [they] want[ed] to protect.”
Wow! This is a clear indication that something valuable was buried on the Island at some point, and that the flood tunnels weren’t the only device used to keep people away.
The Oak Island drill reaches 150 foot in search for Money Pit
Meanwhile, the drilling had reached 150 feet. The pickings were becoming slim, the wood had petered out, and the hammer grab was just pulling up muck and water.
Veteran treasure hunter Dan Henskee said, “I’m not sure what the advantage is in going deeper.”
And that was the cue to call it a day and switch off the drill; the disappointment was etched on the guy’s faces.
Marty Lagina said, “We found evidence of a collapse zone, but not enough to be sure it is the collapse zone of the Money Pit.”
As always, the team never gets discouraged, and now they’ve learned to point the drill in another direction.
All that dirt that was brought up still has to be sifted through too; fingers crossed it contains a gold coin or two.
The Curse of Oak Island airs at 9/8c on History.