WEBVTT - Season 03 Episode 11: Into the Abyss (RERUN) 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.400 Hello, it's Richard mc lean smith here with Unexplained on 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:05.800 an end of season break. We'll be dipping back into 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:09.240 the archive each week until season nine begins on Friday, 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:13.119 October thirty first. This week's episode takes us to a 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:17.240 windswept island off the coast of Nova Scotia and Canada, where, 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:20.440 in the summer of seventeen ninety five, three young men 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.120 made a strange discovery that would haunt generations to come. 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:28.040 What began as idle curiosity about a depression in the 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.720 earth would ignite an obsession that has endured over two 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:38.400 centuries Since that fateful day. Oak Island has drawn treasure hunters, engineers, 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:42.319 and dreamers from around the world, each convinced they can 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:46.479 succeed where countless others have failed. But the island seems 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:49.800 to guard its secrets jealously, and those who seek to 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:54.720 uncover them soon find themselves confronting something far more complex 0:00:54.840 --> 0:01:00.640 and mysterious than they ever imagined. This is Unexplained, Season three, 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:15.959 episode eleven, Into the Abyss. Maybe it had been the 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:20.600 effects of an unusually dry summer causing unfamiliar variations in 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.920 the color of the grass, or perhaps it was just 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:26.880 the way. The light had fallen that morning, which caused 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:31.280 Donald to take notice either way. If there was one 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.000 thing the three farmers now standing over the peculiar impression 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.160 in the ground could agree on, it was that none 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:42.399 of them had seen it before. Donald had called on 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:45.759 them as soon as he'd found it that morning, suggesting 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:50.200 they come and check it out for themselves. Seemingly manufactured, 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.280 it looked like a thirteen foot wide circle had been 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.640 carved into the ground, positioned in a small clearing under 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:01.760 the bow of a large solitary oak. It was certainly 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:05.240 strange that they hadn't come across it before. Or three 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.360 of them had lived and worked on the island for 0:02:07.400 --> 0:02:10.120 a number of years, and with it being just over 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.280 one hundred and forty acres worth of land, there was 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:17.160 barely an inch of it that they hadn't seen. Being 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:21.360 first and second generation immigrants themselves, the men knew only 0:02:21.400 --> 0:02:25.040 too well how transitory the local population had been through 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:27.800 the years, But since the island was thought to have 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.440 been entirely uninhabited prior to its incorporation only a few 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:34.960 decades ago, they were stumped as to what the strange 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:39.560 marking could be. Maybe it was just a well, or 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.119 some kind of fire pit, suggested one of the men, 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:47.240 that had long since been filled in an ancient burial mound, perhaps, 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:53.400 suggested another. The year was seventeen ninety five, and the 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:57.440 place a two and a half kilometer long island known 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:03.120 locally as Oak Island, situated just two hundred metres off 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:06.080 the east coast of a stretch of land recent settlers 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:11.040 called Nova Scotia. Perhaps it shouldn't have been such a 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:14.480 surprise for Donald to have stumbled on something so strange 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:17.720 that morning, for the island had always been somewhat of 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:23.200 an enigma, a stranger in the midst The clue was 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:28.800 in the name Oak Island, inspired by the interloping evergreen 0:03:28.840 --> 0:03:33.280 oaks that were dotted all across it, reaching upwards of 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:37.000 ninety feet with bare trunks and flat splayed out canopies. 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.480 They dwarfed the many surrounding pine trees that were far 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:45.200 more common to the region. In fact, it is said 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.200 that Oak Island was the only island out of three 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:52.160 hundred sixty four in the surrounding Mahone Bay that was 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:56.520 home to such a species. Perhaps they had pondered on 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:59.400 this when they decided to make a quick excavation of 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.680 the area that morning to see what they might find, 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:08.600 or perhaps they did not. Nonetheless, there was little chance 0:04:08.680 --> 0:04:11.840 they could possibly have anticipated just quite what was going 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:18.880 to happen next. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:32.040 McLean Smith. Into the Abyss Part one. The men had 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:34.640 only made it two feet down when one of them 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.839 struck something hard. Assuming it to be a large rock, 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.120 he tried digging a few feet to the side, only 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:47.159 to hit something similar again. It wasn't until they'd cleared 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.240 more of the earth away that they discovered the entire 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:54.039 area of the circle had been covered over with flat stones. 0:04:55.640 --> 0:04:59.039 After removing the slabs, a few more hours of digging 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.279 revealed some kind of pit that seemed to narrow to 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:06.840 about seven foot in diameter under the flagstones. With the 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:11.039 soil having been obviously displaced and refilled before, it was 0:05:11.080 --> 0:05:15.800 easy to follow the contours of the original dig Pickaxe 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:19.040 markings on the inside of the wall gave further indication 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:25.080 of the previous excavator's work. By the afternoon, having reached 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:28.279 just under ten feet in depth, one of the men 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:33.880 struck something solid again. Clearing the mud away, they found 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:37.400 a layer of rotting timbers that had been carefully positioned 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:41.760 deep below the surface. Believing they might finally have an 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.000 answer to the purpose of the pit, the men pulled 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.080 up the wood, only to find an empty two foot 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:53.880 pocket of air underneath. Undeterred, they continued to dig until 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.159 the early evening, making it a further eight feet down, 0:05:57.680 --> 0:06:03.880 when once again their shovels struck timber. Utterly Perplexed, the 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.960 men pulled up the next row of logs, only to 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:12.919 find nothing but dirt underneath. With the light fading quickly 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:16.120 and not having ladders long enough to dig any further, 0:06:16.839 --> 0:06:21.159 the men call it a day. Any suggestion of the 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:25.640 pit being a burial chamber has been thoroughly dispelled, since, 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:29.120 despite being twenty feet down already, they had found nothing 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:33.160 to show for their efforts. But in the days that followed, 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:38.560 slowly something began to dawn on them, a clear reason 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:41.560 why someone might go to all the trouble of digging 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.960 a secret pit on the edge of a tiny, nondescript 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:56.200 island and fortifying it to keep it safe. Back in 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.640 seventeen oh one, in the city of London, a man 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:03.039 had been condemned to death and eventually hung at the 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:07.080 infamous Execution Dock, located in Wapping on the banks of 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:12.360 the River Thames. His name was William Kidd, and like 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.640 many of the unfortunates for whom Execution Dock would be 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:21.760 their final destination, he was a pirate. There was much 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.680 a victim, as he was a participant of the rampant 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.720 scheming and corruption perpetuated by British gentry in matters of 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:32.800 trade and expansion. Kidd had none the less exhausted all 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.960 favors by the time the noose was placed around his neck, 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:40.440 and though his life would be short, his legend was 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:45.640 only just beginning. It had long been suspected that Captain 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:49.400 Kidd had buried a significant portion of his stolen wealth 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:54.800 in an effort to curry favor lest he ever be captured. Indeed, 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.280 a large stash of it had already been discovered shortly 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:02.920 before his execution on Gardiner's Island, a small outcrop at 0:08:02.920 --> 0:08:06.480 the northern tip of New York State. But few believed 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:10.480 there wasn't more. And if you were looking for somewhere 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.680 to hide a treasure trove of gold and jewels far 0:08:13.760 --> 0:08:16.960 from the usual shipping lanes of the trade, as Donald 0:08:17.280 --> 0:08:20.920 Antony and John would shortly come to believe you couldn't 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:24.320 have found a better spot than the anonymity and seclusion 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:29.240 of Oak Island. Returning to the site a few days later, 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:33.360 convinced of their destiny, the men managed a further fifteen 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:39.160 feet but were left disappointed, finding only another shelf of timber. 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:42.679 Frustrated and realizing they had neither the skill or the 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.240 financial means to carry on, the men were forced to 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.679 bring an end to their adventure, or so they had 0:08:49.720 --> 0:08:54.240 all told each other. In truth, John Smith had very 0:08:54.240 --> 0:09:06.040 different ideas. Over the next few years, Smith surreptitiously secured 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.440 ownership of the pit, buying up the land and a 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.720 number of the plots around it. Finally, by eighteen o three, 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:17.240 along with three other investors, with whom he formed the 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:21.120 Onslow Company, he was ready to tackle the mystery again. 0:09:22.559 --> 0:09:25.559 Before long, they had made it to another five feet down, 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:30.080 where again they find yet another floor of timbers, But 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:33.880 this time there is something else, a layer of charcoal 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:37.960 scattered across the top of it. Since it was common 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.840 to use charcoal fires to draw fresh air into mining shafts, 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:45.800 it was now clearer than ever that a significant operation 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:50.800 had once taken place here the company soon make it 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:55.720 almost ninety feet in depth, uncovering a further four timber shelves, 0:09:56.280 --> 0:10:02.360 each at ten foot intervals, and incredibly layers of cocoanut fibers, 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.679 suggesting that whatever was down there had likely traveled from 0:10:05.760 --> 0:10:12.240 some distance, the nearest cocoanut trees being thousands of miles away. 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.559 Not only that, but as the men well know, cocoanut 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:21.880 fibers were often used to pack precious cargo. Then, at 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:29.560 ninety feet down they find something extraordinary. Having anticipated finding 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:33.199 another layer of wood, the team instead find a thick 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.720 slab of stone measuring two feet long and one foot wide. 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.480 Peeling it carefully from the mud, they are astonished to 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.679 find there is an inscription carved on to its under side, 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.120 Only it's not in any language that they have ever 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:55.120 seen before. Made from thirty nine geometric symbols spaced out 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:58.920 over what seems like eight words, it appears to be 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:04.479 some kind of code. A short time later, the workers 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:08.439 notice water seeping up from under the hole, but decide 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:13.679 to ignore it and continue to dig. That afternoon, at 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:17.400 roughly ninety eight feet, once again, the shovels hit wood, 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:22.360 and a ninth timber platform is unearthed after prising the 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:25.520 logs apart, only to find more mud and clay below. 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.440 The team finished for the day, convinced they are only 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:35.200 feet away from the objects of their wildest desires. Spirits 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.400 are understandably high when the crew return to work the 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:42.240 following morning, only to find a solemn looking John Smith 0:11:42.800 --> 0:11:46.120 waiting for them by the pit, wringing his hat in 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:59.080 his hands. The pit has completely filled with water. All 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.160 hands work fearios to bail out the water, but the 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:07.080 level refuses to budge. With no other option, the company 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.040 pulls the rest of their money and hires a mechanical pump. 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:14.480 The plan works perfectly as the water is soon drained 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:17.840 from the pit, but then, with only eight more feet 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:23.120 to go, disaster strikes when the pump breaks down. By 0:12:23.120 --> 0:12:25.920 the end of the day, the water line is back 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:29.840 to where it started. Believing they knew roughly where the 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.080 treasure might be, the team dig a second tunnel from 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.560 which they planned to dig across to the first one 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.440 once they had reached the required depth of one hundred 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:42.360 and ten feet or so, but the crew only make 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:45.120 it as far as twelve feet before their access pit 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:50.080 is also completely flooded, Having run out of money, the 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:54.040 Onslow Company is forced to give up, and so the 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:57.920 pit's secrets will remain submerged by water for the next 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:04.000 forty years. As for the stone, with its peculiar coded markings, 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:06.800 it is left in the possession of John Smith, the 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:11.880 landowner and one of the pit's original discoverers. However, believing 0:13:11.880 --> 0:13:15.560 it to be worthless, the code is never deciphered and 0:13:15.640 --> 0:13:21.440 the stone soon forgotten about. By eighteen forty five, with 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.280 Donald mc kinnis having died and John Smith vowing never 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:28.599 to waste another cent on the hopeless venture, it is 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.880 left to the third of the original finders, Anthony Vaughan, 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:37.440 to take up the reins. Now in his sixties, Vaughn, 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.760 together with another seven investors, forms the Truro Syndicate, and 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:45.480 by eighteen forty nine finally secures the rights to start 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:50.200 his own attempt to locate the treasure. That summer, the 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:53.720 largest team yet sets up camp and immediately gets to 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:58.120 work draining the pit. After two weeks, they have drained 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:01.680 it to within five feet of the bottom. Returning the 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:05.040 following day, however, the crew is devastated to find that 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:10.040 once again the waters have returned, but this time they 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:15.160 have a new plan. After constructing a wooden platform over 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:19.120 the pit, a large drill is dropped into it, with 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:22.360 the hope of at least determining what materials are buried 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:28.640 further down. They will not be disappointed. Passing the bottom 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.480 of the hole marked by the shelf of timber ninety 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.600 feet down, they drill on to roughly one hundred and 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:39.320 fifteen feet. Deciding they have gone deep enough, the crew 0:14:39.400 --> 0:14:42.760 watch with bated breath as the device is withdrawn from 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:46.000 the depths and pulled finally into the light of day. 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:51.400 Just as the last section is removed, something sparkles in 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:56.040 the light. The foreman hurriedly inspects the drill head and 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.640 is astounded to find three small links of a gold chain, 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:04.840 as well as fibers of oak, suggesting the high likelihood 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.280 that the drill had broken through the walls of some 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:15.160 kind of chest. Finally they had found it. Getting it 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:26.120 out would be another matter, entirely owing to the incessant 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.800 flooding of water. Just as the Onslow team had realized 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:33.720 their best chance was to access it from a parallel shaft, 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:37.480 Believing the treasure to be roughly one hundred and ten 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:41.200 feet down. Incredibly, the team managed to dig a secondary 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.600 channel to one hundred nine feet and are even able 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:49.600 to start tunneling across before disaster strikes again, and just 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:53.840 as if something had been suddenly uncorked, water rushes into 0:15:53.840 --> 0:15:58.560 the pit. But as the team regroups to assess their options, 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:04.360 one of the men notices something interesting. The water is 0:16:04.440 --> 0:16:08.760 rising and falling with the tide. Tasting it, he is 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:13.320 amazed to find it is salty, suggesting that rather than 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.800 being the water table, it must be coming from the sea. 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.560 One hundred meters to the east of the dig site 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:25.920 lies Smith's Cove, named after one of the area's earliest 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:30.280 known settlers, Edward Smith, sometime in the mid seventeen hundreds. 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.840 Being the closest stretch of coastline to the pit, the 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.960 crew naturally assume it to be the most likely source 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:42.440 of the floodwater. With the beach being fairly small, the 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.960 chief engineer suggests they construct a dam to better see 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:50.400 what they are dealing with. Making quick work, it isn't 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.840 long before they have blocked off the cove and drained 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:58.080 it completely of water. What they discover next astounds them. 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:02.600 Or of the inlet is found to be completely covered 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:06.960 with coconut fiber and eel grass, under which they find 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:12.920 beech stones carefully laid out. The cove, it transpires, has 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:18.800 been synthetically constructed and underneath all the rocks. Finally they 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:22.800 find the source of all their problems. It is some 0:17:22.920 --> 0:17:25.680 kind of booby trap made from a series of eight 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.600 inch wide drains of flat stone fanning out like five 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:34.880 fingers into the ocean. Together, the drains converge into one 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:40.040 single drainage channel that disappears underneath the island, heading straight 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:45.320 for the excavation site. The team immediately gets to work 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.600 locating the main drainage tunnel in the hope of blocking 0:17:48.600 --> 0:17:54.000 it off completely. Yet another shaft is dug twelve feet 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.200 to the east of the original, revealing an underground channel 0:17:57.240 --> 0:18:02.240 of water thirty five feet down. Next, timbers are driven 0:18:02.280 --> 0:18:04.800 into the ground to block it off, and when a 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.800 fourth borehole twenty feet to the south of the original 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.600 is dug to one hundred ten feet with no sign 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:15.960 of water, it appears their plan is working finally, with 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.080 no danger of water making it past the blocking timbers, 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.399 the team are ready to dig through to the treasure. 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.800 All is going well when within two feet of the 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:30.760 original shaft. Workers tunneling through the clay on their knees 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:35.119 in the dark, notice the walls have become wet, and 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.840 soon their knees are damp, and before long their feet 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:46.440 and calves are drenched. Two the tunnel is filling with water. Mercifully, 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:49.080 the workers are able to scramble out and get back 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:52.359 to the surface before it is too late, while the 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.480 rest of the team watch with sinking hearts as one 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:59.800 by one the three surrounding boreholes steadily fill up with water. 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:04.600 After trying again to unsuccessfully find the central flood tunnel, 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:09.199 the Truro Company's hunt for treasure is also forced to 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:19.639 come to an end. In eighteen fifty seven, John Smith 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:22.840 becomes the second of the three original Oak Island treasure 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:27.280 hunters to die. Ownership of his land is passed from 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:31.480 his sons, who, having watched the fabled treasure pit steadily 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.679 ruin their father, are only too happy to sell it 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:38.399 on to a Henry Stephen, who in turn sells it 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:44.439 to local landowner Anthony Graves. The Trurou company return in 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:49.080 eighteen fifty nine for one final stab, but their considerable 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:55.199 efforts will once again prove futile. However, Rumours about the 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:59.560 island's apparent treasure are beginning to grow, and within two 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.080 years a new crop of hunters arrive on the island 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:08.840 ready to claim its reward. The Oak Island Association, led 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:12.959 by Jotham McCully, draft in over sixty men and thirty 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:16.880 horses to assist them, as well as employing the latest 0:20:16.920 --> 0:20:21.280 mining technology, from an iron pump engine to industrial sized 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:27.000 winches and pulley systems. However, their heavy handed approach digging 0:20:27.040 --> 0:20:31.160 three further holes and tunnels around the original pit results 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:34.480 in yet more flooding and the eventual collapse of the 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:38.359 original shaft, resulting in only the upper thirty feet of 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:43.840 it now being accessible. In the process of re excavating 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:48.880 the original pit, the pump boiler ruptures, spraying scolding water 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:54.280 onto a nearby worker and burning him to death. But 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.520 what's worse from the perspective of the Oak Island Association 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.199 is that they are running out of money, and with 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:04.920 news of the fatal accident now spreading, there is little 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:09.919 hope of raising fresh capital. A short time later, however, 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:14.560 with work halted, Jotham McCully hears a story about one 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.120 of the first artifacts to be found in the original 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:23.560 pit a mysterious stone inscribed with a strange cryptic message. 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:27.000 What's more, as rumour would have it, the stone is 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:31.080 still on the island, having apparently been integrated into John 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:37.560 Smith's old fireplace. Wasting no time, McCully, whose company now 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:40.960 owns the property, takes a chisel to the fireplace and 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:46.280 sets about removing it piece by piece. He hasn't been 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:49.800 working long when he spots one particular slab a little 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:53.200 smoother than the others, pressed into the wall at the back. 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:58.000 Freeing it up, he turns it around to find, much 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:02.520 to his amazement, a strange cryptic message etched onto the 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:12.399 other side of it. Realizing it might be their last chance, 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:15.800 McCully has the stone loaded onto a horse and cart 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:21.760 and dispatched immediately to Halifax, the nearest major city. For 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.679 the next few weeks, the curious stone is placed in 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:27.639 the window of a bookshop to drum up interest in 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:30.600 the Oak Island treasure hunt in an effort to sell 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:34.920 more shares to keep the company going. Many come to 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:38.359 view the peculiar artifact and attempt to decipher the code, 0:22:38.960 --> 0:22:44.600 but no one can crack it. Regardless excitement generated by 0:22:44.640 --> 0:22:48.000 the stone's mysterious origins is enough to raise another two 0:22:48.080 --> 0:22:53.320 thousand dollars what equates to roughly fifty thousand today, enabling 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:56.560 the Oak Island Association to continue their search for a 0:22:56.560 --> 0:23:00.720 few more years. However, like all all who had come 0:23:00.760 --> 0:23:06.200 before them, the company will fail, becoming the third formal syndicate, 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:09.720 forced to admit defeat in the search for what many 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:13.200 have come to believe is the lost treasure of pirate 0:23:13.480 --> 0:23:19.040 Captain William Kidd. A short time later, the stone is 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:22.399 brought to the attention of James leache, a professor of 0:23:22.480 --> 0:23:29.679 languages at Halifax's Dalhousie University. A keen amateur cryptographer, Leechi 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:33.879 sets about trying to decipher the message, assuming it to 0:23:33.920 --> 0:23:38.600 be a simple substitution code, whereby each symbol simply represents 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:41.760 a letter of the English alphabet. It is not long 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:46.240 before Leechie believes he has cracked the code. The message, 0:23:46.320 --> 0:23:53.200 he believes, reads forty feet below two million pounds are buried. 0:24:00.520 --> 0:24:03.560 It has been some twenty odd years since doctor Leechy's 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:08.000 interpretation of the flagstone code, and the rumors of buried 0:24:08.080 --> 0:24:13.639 riches on Oak Island have reached mythical proportions Due to 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:18.040 complications of ownership. It isn't until eighteen ninety three that 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:20.959 a fourth team are able to secure the thirty thousand 0:24:20.960 --> 0:24:24.159 dollar lease agreement to begin the next assault on what 0:24:24.359 --> 0:24:27.320 many believe to be the hiding place of the long 0:24:27.359 --> 0:24:33.280 lost treasure of infamous pirate Captain William kidd On first 0:24:33.359 --> 0:24:36.280 arriving at the site, the new group of treasure hunters, 0:24:36.359 --> 0:24:39.359 led by a Frederick Blair, known as the Oak Island 0:24:39.480 --> 0:24:44.560 Treasure Company, find it much changed from Donald mc kinness's day. 0:24:45.280 --> 0:24:49.440 The once lush green grove now an open wound, scarred 0:24:49.440 --> 0:24:54.520 and pock marked with numerous holes full of water. Like 0:24:54.600 --> 0:24:58.080 many before them, the company make a start digging fresh 0:24:58.160 --> 0:25:02.440 holes and making industrial strength efforts to drain the seawaters away, 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:09.240 but just as before, the same problems persist. In March 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:13.880 eighteen ninety seven, labourer Maynard Kaiser is helping to drag 0:25:13.960 --> 0:25:16.840 water up from one of the pits when the bucket 0:25:17.000 --> 0:25:21.080 snags on the rope. After ordering the men to stop, 0:25:21.640 --> 0:25:24.920 he is fixed to the pulley system before luring himself 0:25:25.119 --> 0:25:28.840 into the pit, the bottom of which lies somewhere in 0:25:28.880 --> 0:25:34.040 the dark ninety feet below him, carefully easing himself in 0:25:34.080 --> 0:25:38.000 line with the bucket. He has just untangled it when 0:25:38.040 --> 0:25:41.800 the rope gives a sudden jerk, slipping two feet before 0:25:41.840 --> 0:25:46.800 being caught again on the pulley. A greatly relieved Kaiser 0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:50.639 has just enough time to look up before the rope 0:25:50.840 --> 0:25:56.200 jerks loose again, sending the unfortunate Kaiser disappearing into the 0:25:56.280 --> 0:26:01.840 darkness below. He becomes the second man to die in 0:26:01.880 --> 0:26:06.879 pursuit of the supposed treasure of Oak Island. With the 0:26:06.920 --> 0:26:09.760 rest of the team too shocked and saddened to return 0:26:09.800 --> 0:26:13.399 to work, the operation is brought to an immediate halt. 0:26:15.280 --> 0:26:19.240 That night, deep in sleep, one of the workers turns 0:26:19.280 --> 0:26:24.480 restlessly in his bed. Somewhere inside his head, he is 0:26:24.600 --> 0:26:28.800 visited by the specter of Captain Kidd, who delivers a 0:26:28.880 --> 0:26:36.760 terrifying warning cease digging now, or else more will die. 0:26:36.880 --> 0:26:40.560 With news of the nightmare permeating the camp, the crew 0:26:40.760 --> 0:26:44.520 refuse to return to work. It will be a year 0:26:44.560 --> 0:26:47.800 before the Oak Island Treasure Company are able to start 0:26:47.800 --> 0:26:53.399 digging again. This time, the team begins with another exploration 0:26:53.840 --> 0:26:57.320 of the material below the bottom of the pit, the 0:26:57.400 --> 0:27:00.520 discovery of what seems to be loose pieces of metal 0:27:00.880 --> 0:27:04.239 buried at approximately one hundred and fifty feet, as well 0:27:04.280 --> 0:27:07.680 as a small piece of parchment bearing the Roman numeral 0:27:07.880 --> 0:27:11.320 for the number six, only serves to convince the company 0:27:11.359 --> 0:27:14.720 further that they are not on a hiding to nothing. 0:27:22.080 --> 0:27:25.399 Despite extensive efforts to plug the tunnels from Smith's Cove, 0:27:26.160 --> 0:27:31.359 the boreholes continue to flood. In response, an engineer suggests 0:27:31.480 --> 0:27:34.239 putting a red dye into one of the pits so 0:27:34.280 --> 0:27:38.399 they can find out precisely where the waters are coming from. 0:27:38.880 --> 0:27:41.960 With a small team assembled to the east above Smith's Cove, 0:27:42.560 --> 0:27:46.479 the dye is poured into the hole. After nearly an 0:27:46.520 --> 0:27:51.040 hour of waiting, however, they have seen nothing, But then 0:27:51.560 --> 0:27:54.879 one of the crew spots it a garish wash of 0:27:54.960 --> 0:28:00.760 red bleeding into the sea from the south shoreline. Realizing 0:28:00.800 --> 0:28:03.760 they had been plugging the wrong tunnels all along, the 0:28:03.840 --> 0:28:08.040 team undertake a sustained process of dynamiting along the southern 0:28:08.119 --> 0:28:10.680 edge of the dig site in the hope of uncovering 0:28:10.840 --> 0:28:14.840 the real flood tunnel. But just like the many previous efforts, 0:28:15.520 --> 0:28:19.680 having only brought further destruction to the increasingly scarred landscape, 0:28:20.080 --> 0:28:24.720 the company draws a blank. With enthusiasm for the work 0:28:24.880 --> 0:28:29.080 beginning to Wane Company, found of Frederick Blair, buys out 0:28:29.160 --> 0:28:32.760 the remaining shares and in nineteen o five takes full 0:28:32.800 --> 0:28:37.119 ownership of the license to dig on the island. For 0:28:37.160 --> 0:28:40.280 the next twenty five years, he leases it out to 0:28:40.320 --> 0:28:45.280 a variety of unsuccessful ventures, and by the early nineteen thirties, 0:28:45.840 --> 0:28:49.360 as described by Frederick Griffin in the Toronto Star Weekly, 0:28:50.240 --> 0:28:53.680 where once the ground above Smith's Cove was littered with 0:28:53.720 --> 0:28:57.480 the majestic oaks that gave the island its name, by 0:28:57.520 --> 0:29:00.520 now there were barely half a dozen left clinging on 0:29:00.840 --> 0:29:04.880 for dear life. The land has become a battlefield of 0:29:04.960 --> 0:29:10.800 torn earth and empty boreholes. In nineteen thirty five, steel 0:29:10.880 --> 0:29:14.440 magnet Gilbert Headen is the next to answer the siren 0:29:14.520 --> 0:29:18.560 corn of treasure, purchasing half the island and a digging 0:29:18.640 --> 0:29:22.920