The Curse of Oak Island guys have been exploring castles, abbeys, and underground tunnels in Europe that have provided more compelling clues that the Templar Knights may have traveled to Oak Island.
Oak Island researcher and author Corjan Mol and his buddy, historian Jacquo Silvertant, took Rick and Alex Lagina, along with Peter Fornetti and Doug Crowell, to an underground stone quarry hidden in the Dutch countryside.
Jacquo claimed construction had begun on the quarry in the 13th century, around the time the guys believe the Templars secretly transported ancient religious relics to Oak Island.
Corjan and Jacquo led the guys through a maze of huge underground cavernous tunnels, which they think were used by the Templars to hide and temporarily store their treasure in the 13th century.
These tunnels were all hand-dug, which gave us a good idea of the engineering expertise of people from centuries ago.
At a section of the quarry shaped like a cross, the experts showed the Oak Island team a series of drawings on the ceiling they believe were created by Templars. These consisted of a series of Templar symbols, including a cross with four dots, a marking the guys have seen before from the HO stone found on Oak Island.
Corjan suggested these tunnels were along the route Templar Knights may have used to transport the treasure from the Holy Land to Oak Island.
The guys also visited a Cistercian Abbey and a castle in northern Italy. According to Professor Adriano Gaspani, the Cistercian Order was founded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who was also a founding member of the Templar Knights.
The guys found multiple symbols linking European Templar sites to Oak Island
At the Abbey, the guys found more symbols and crosses that matched those they had previously found on Oak Island and across Nova Scotia.
Rick even spotted a wall marking consisting of oak leaves, possibly suggesting the artist had knowledge of Oak Island.
The team also learned that the Cistercians excelled at studying architecture, engineering, and navigation and that many Templar Knights studied at the Abbey.
Adriano claimed that this ensured the Knights’ knew how to sail to Oak Island and how to build the Money Pit. It was here that the Knights also learned how to construct Nolan’s Cross in alignment with the stars.
The guys did not really learn much of concrete value, but there were certainly plenty of clues and hints that suggest the Templars may have gone to Oak Island. The team will stay in Europe for another week, so we may all learn more in the next episode.
Oak Island archaeologists find a medieval button on Lot 5
Meanwhile, back on Oak Island, where the real hard graft continued, archaeologist Moya MacDonald uncovered an unusual artifact on Lot 5. She found a fragile button with a strange starburst design.
As well as an unusual decoration, the button had an interesting combination of lead and tin, making it quite rare. Laird Niven later said he had found examples dating back to the 13th century. Once again, that particular date keeps coming up.
Many fans will also be cheered to learn that Dr. Ian Spooner has been put back to work checking water samples for precious metals in the Baby Blob area. This is being done to commence core drilling in that area.
Unfortunately, there are only three more episodes left this season, so the guys will have to get a move on if they plan to find anything substantial.
The Curse of Oak Island airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on History.