This week on The Curse of Oak Island, the team learned of a previous landowner with connections to the Freemasons, who may have sought out the Ark of the Covenant on the island.
Digging at the Money Pit is still in full swing, and the team is hopeful that shaft number 4, DMT2, is narrowing in on the Chappell Vault, but this week on Oak Island, the most interesting action was actually happening on Lot 8 and in the War Room.
As the guys have expanded their search around the island they started to make some interesting observations about Lot 8 on the west of the island. This area has never been inhabited, which adds to air of mystery surrounding it.
Last year, surveyors performed an underground survey of Lot 8, which indicated that there was a large metal object buried under the ground. And just last week, ground-penetrating radar indicated the possible presence of a shaft at 20 feet below the surface. Gary Drayton’s metal detector has also picked up several old artifacts.
These factors, combined with Zena Halpern’s map of the island, which was allegedly created by Templar Knights and points to a mysterious “hatch” in the vicinity, all led to Marty Lagina trundling into Lot 8 with a mini digger. The Nova Scotian government had given the guys a permit to dig down five feet; better than nothing.
But, if they found evidence of human activity within those five feet, then they could apply for another permit to dig deeper. Unfortunately, Gary didn’t detect any metal (he had been hoping for a “nice jewelry box”), but they did find what looked like a paved area just under the surface.
It also appeared as though somebody had purposefully refilled a hole or shaft with rocks. Will it be enough to get a permit for further exploration? The guys hope so.
Researcher has new theory connecting Oak Island to the Ark of the Covenant
Meanwhile, in the War Room, Oak Island researcher and Freemason Scott Clarke was back with a stunning new theory. He had examined a brooch that the team found three years ago, and he reckoned it was not a brooch at all but one of twelve jewels from the breastplate of a masonic high priest.
There’s more. Scott has identified Melbourne “MR” Chappell, a former Oak Island landowner and son to famous treasure hunter William Chappell, as a Freemason. The Freemasons are suspected of being descended from the Templar Knights, who the guys believe may have buried ancient religious relics on the island.
Scott believes that the younger Chappell may have been conducting an ancient ritual used in ancient times to locate no less an item than the Ark of the Covenant. He was unable to tell the guys if MR Chappell was looking for the ancient relic or if he had it stowed somewhere on the island. Needless to say, the guys will investigate further.
What’s happening at the Oak Island Money Pit?
At the Money Pit, drilling in the DMT2 shaft continued at breakneck speed. The guys are following in the footsteps of Erwin Hamilton’s dig of 1940 and Gilbert Hedden’s dig of 1937, both of whom excavated deep shafts in the area.
Hedden got to a depth of about 124 feet before running out of funds, but he was convinced that the Chappell Vault lay 30 feet further down. Last night’s episode saw the guys basically follow the Hedden shaft down to 120 feet, where they came across a large metal sheet, which was Hedden’s protective shield.
This shield protected Hedden’s team from floodwater and cave-ins. The guys are now hopeful that all they need to do is dig a little further down to about 153 feet, where they’ll find the treasure vault. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until at least next week for that.
The Curse of Oak Island airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on History.
I have trouble believing that the Ark of the Covenant is buried on the Island. In the Bible anyone who touched the Ark died immediately. That’s why it was always carried on poles.
You should have trouble believing anything of value is buried on Oak Island. It’s a hoax and always has been. No doubt after leaving the dig site because it was getting dark… which is a similar tale told over and over again with this farce… there’ll likely be some setback next week, like why didn’t they stay and dig in the dark. They were so close…
For a better history of the hoax, see Richard Joltes’ most excellent site:
http://www.criticalenquiry.org/oakisland/index.shtml
The templars found something during the crusades under the old Temple Mount during excavations, it was enough to abandon the temple and Jerusalem altogether.
Within 3 months the pope ordered all templars to be killed on Friday the 13th.
Many don’t know that at least 1/2 of the templar order were “Vikings”. Well descendants of the Vikings.
The Vikings had settled in Nova Scotia about 400 years before the crusades, and they still knew of this location through oral and written history.
The theory is that the ark was found during excavation and hurriedly taken to oak island, buried there and the island was marked by planting oaks, this is the only island in a chain of hundreds that has any trees. The local native band has a white band flag with a red circle and cross, the only native band in North America with a cross on it, but the same as a Swedish sect of templars, which also went missing with ships for 2-3 years after the popes order of elimination.
Combined with the exotic coconut fibres found and the religious iconography and the complexities of the money pit, that’s been found on the island would lead a reasonable person to believe there is or was significant relics, or something of great value hidden with extreme care within that hole.
The Ark is one of the things that would threaten the power of the papacy, and require such extreme measures to keep concealed.
Who else had the knowledge and would go to that specific island, engineer this modern feat of tunnelling and traps, far greater than any tomb or treasure of any leader in history, to the point they still can’t get to the bottom, 600 years ago?