If you’re a fan of The Curse of Oak Island, you’re going to love this news — History is set to air a new show called The Curse of Civil War Gold!
A promo for the series which aired at the weekend shows COOI star Marty Lagina on the phone to Kevin Dykstra, who previously revealed that he and his team believed they were close to finding $2million of gold bullion in Lake Michigan.
In the trailer, Marty says: “Couple of weeks ago I get approached by a fellow who tells me about somebody they need to fund a treasure hunt.”
He then asks Kevin on the phone: “You really think there’s Confederate gold at the bottom of Lake Michigan?” Kevin replies: “From one treasure-hunter to another, I’m 100 per cent certain!”
The trailer also shows metal-detecting expert Gary Drayton, who features on The Curse of Oak Island, helping take part in the search.
What is The Curse of Civil War Gold all about?
By the looks of things, the show is going to be about the hunt for $2million of Confederate gold thought to be at the bottom of Lake Michigan.
The bullion is thought to be housed inside a boxcar — a type of railway freight wagon — launched off a ferry into the lake in the 1800s. Boxcars are known to have been pushed off ferries at the time to lighten the vessels’ loads during storms to stop them sinking.
It’s believed the gold may have been looted from the Confederate treasury during the capture of Jefferson Davis in 1865, and then transported — possibly by Colonel Robert Horatio George Minty — to Michigan after previously being buried in Lincoln County, Georgia.
Dkystra has previously told how a piece of Confederate gold that turned up in Traverse City, Michigan — coincidentally where Marty Lagina’s oil and gas business operates from — was examined by three experts who said it “could only have come from the Confederate gold that was taken down in Lincoln County, Georgia.”
Dykstra added: “I know the gold is out there in Lake Michigan waiting to be found.”
Dykstra’s treasure-hunting partner Frederick J. Monroe told local television station WWZM13 in 2015 how he first heard about the apparent treasure in 1972.
He said: “I was sitting down and talking to a friend of mine, and all of the sudden he says, ‘Fred, you’re just the person I want to see with your diving experience,
“My grandfather told me a story that he heard from a lighthouse keeper, who originally heard it during a deathbed confession, that there’s 2 million dollars of gold bullion inside a boxcar that fell off a ferry into Lake Michigan.”
Dykstra and Monroe later found out that the deathbed confession was made by a man called George Alexander Abbott, who was a prominent banker before he died in Michigan in 1921 and also Colonel Minty’s brother-in-law. Abbott’s sister Grace Ann Abbott was married to Colonel Minty.
Dykstra has previously revealed how during a past search for the boxcar he and his team uncovered a coal car in the bottom of Lake Michigan.
Then in April 2015, Dykstra and Monroe uncovered a shipwrecked 70ft tug boat near the city of Frankfort — with a safe inside.
They said at the time that they believed the discovery boost the theory about the boxcar containing gold bullion, because Monroe had also been told a story about a sunken boat that had a safe on board containing jewellery, gold and silver.
When does The Curse of Civil War Gold premiere?
According to the trailer, the new series will premiere on March 6 at 10/9c on History. That is the same night and immediately after The Curse of Oak Island Season 5 finale.
According to Michigan Live, History were in the state filming for the new series in October. The Curse of Civil War Gold is believed to be being produced by Prometheus Entertainment, the same production company behind The Curse of Oak Island.
The tagline on the trailer reads: “From the producers of The Curse of Oak Island comes…the next big search.”
The Curse of Civil War Gold premieres Tuesday, March 6, at 10/9c on History.