WEBVTT - S03 Episode 11: Into the Abyss (Pt.2 of 2)

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<v Speaker 1>That's allbrds dot com you're listening to. Unexplained into the

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<v Speaker 1>Abyss Pop two. It has been some twenty odd years

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<v Speaker 1>since doctor Leechy's interpretation of the Flagstone Code and the

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<v Speaker 1>rumors of buried riches on Oak Island have reached mythical proportions.

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<v Speaker 1>Due to complications of ownership, it isn't until eighteen ninety

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<v Speaker 1>three that a fourth team are able to secure the

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<v Speaker 1>thirty thousand dollar Least agreement to begin the next assault

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<v Speaker 1>on what many believed to be the hiding place of

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<v Speaker 1>the long lost treasure of infamous pirate captain William Kidd.

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<v Speaker 1>On first arriving at the site, the new group of

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<v Speaker 1>treasure hunters led by a Frederick Blair known as the

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<v Speaker 1>Oak Island Treasure Company, find it much changed from Donald

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<v Speaker 1>mckinness's day. The wants lushed green grove, now an open wound,

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<v Speaker 1>scarred and pockmark, with numerous holes full of water. Like

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<v Speaker 1>many before them, the company make a start digging fresh

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<v Speaker 1>holes and making industrial strength efforts to drain the sea

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<v Speaker 1>waters away, but just as before, the same problems persist.

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<v Speaker 1>In March eighteen ninety seven, laborer may Not is helping

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<v Speaker 1>to drag water up from one of the pits when

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<v Speaker 1>the bucket snags on the rope. After ordering the men

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<v Speaker 1>to stop, he is fixed to the pulley system before

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<v Speaker 1>lowering himself into the pit, the bottom of which lies

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<v Speaker 1>somewhere in the dark ninety feet below him. Carefully easing

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<v Speaker 1>himself in line with the bucket, he has just untangled

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<v Speaker 1>it when the rope gives a sudden jerk, slipping two

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<v Speaker 1>feet before being caught again on the pulley. A greatly

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<v Speaker 1>relieved Kaiser has just enough time to look up before

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<v Speaker 1>the rope jerks loose again, sending the unfortunate Kaiser disappearing

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<v Speaker 1>into the darkness below. He becomes the second man to

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<v Speaker 1>die in pursuit of the supposed treasure of Oak Island.

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<v Speaker 1>With the rest of the team too shocked and saddened

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<v Speaker 1>to return to work, the operation is brought to an

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<v Speaker 1>immediate halt. That night, deep in sleep, one of the

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<v Speaker 1>workers turns restlessly in his bed. Somewhere inside his head,

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<v Speaker 1>he is visited by the specter of Captain Kidd, who

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<v Speaker 1>delivers a terrifying warning cease digging now, or else more

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<v Speaker 1>will die. With news of the nightmare permeating the camp,

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<v Speaker 1>the crew refused to return to work. It will be

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<v Speaker 1>a year before the Oak Island Treasure Company are able

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<v Speaker 1>to start digging again. This time, the team begin with

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<v Speaker 1>another exploration of the material below the bottom of the pit.

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<v Speaker 1>The discovery of what seems to be loose pieces of

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<v Speaker 1>metal buried at approximately one hundred and fifty feet, as

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<v Speaker 1>well as a small piece of parchment bearing the Roman

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<v Speaker 1>numeral for the number six, only serves to convince the

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<v Speaker 1>company further that they are not on a hiding to nothing.

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<v Speaker 1>Despite extensive efforts to plug the tunnels from Smith's Cove,

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<v Speaker 1>the boreholes continue to flood. In response, an engineer suggests

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<v Speaker 1>putting a red dye into one of the pits so

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<v Speaker 1>they can find out precisely where the waters are coming from.

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<v Speaker 1>With a small team assembled to the east above Smith's Cove,

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<v Speaker 1>the dye is poured into the hole. After nearly an

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<v Speaker 1>hour of waiting, however, they have seen nothing, but then

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<v Speaker 1>one of the crew spots it a garish wash of

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<v Speaker 1>red bleeding into the sea from the south shoreline. Realizing

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<v Speaker 1>they had been plugging the wrong tunnels all along, the

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<v Speaker 1>team undertake a sustained process of dynamiting along the southern

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<v Speaker 1>edge of the dig site in the hope of uncovering

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<v Speaker 1>the real flood tunnel. But just like the many previous efforts,

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<v Speaker 1>having only brought further destruction to the increasingly scarred landscape,

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<v Speaker 1>the company draws a blank. With enthusiasm for the work

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<v Speaker 1>beginning to wane. Company found of Frederick Blair buys out

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<v Speaker 1>the remaining shares and in nineteen o five takes full

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<v Speaker 1>ownership of the license to dig on the island. For

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<v Speaker 1>the next twenty five years, he leases it out to

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<v Speaker 1>a variety of unsuccessful ventures, and by the early nineteen thirties,

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<v Speaker 1>as described by Frederick Griffin in the Toronto Star Weekly,

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<v Speaker 1>where once the ground above Smith's Cove was littered with

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<v Speaker 1>the majestic oaks that gave the island its name. By

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<v Speaker 1>now there were barely half a dozen left clinging on

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<v Speaker 1>for dear life. The land has become a battle field

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<v Speaker 1>of torn earth and empty ball holes. In nineteen thirty five,

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<v Speaker 1>steel magnet Gilbert Headon is the next to answer the

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<v Speaker 1>siren corn of treasure, purchasing half the island and a

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<v Speaker 1>digging lease from Blair. After three years and fifty thousand

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<v Speaker 1>dollars just under a million today, Heddon's team make a

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<v Speaker 1>number of interesting discoveries, finding a minus oil lamp, some

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<v Speaker 1>dynamite buried at sixty five feet, as well as an

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<v Speaker 1>as yet undiscovered chamber that appears to have been one

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<v Speaker 1>of the original flood tunnels. The problem being it is

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<v Speaker 1>almost impossible to tell if any of these artifacts had

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<v Speaker 1>been left prior to seventeen ninety five. It has also

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<v Speaker 1>become impossible to tell which hole exactly was the original

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<v Speaker 1>pit that started the whole adventure off in the first place.

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<v Speaker 1>Heddon gives up in nineteen thirty eight. When Frederick Blair dies.

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<v Speaker 1>In nineteen fifty one, the sight lease reverts to mel Chapel,

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<v Speaker 1>who had been a partner of Blair's twenty years previously.

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<v Speaker 1>Chapel had also been one of the diggers who witnessed

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<v Speaker 1>Maynard Kaiser fall to his death. Though it was said

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<v Speaker 1>the Chapel had once himself seen gold flakes coming off

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<v Speaker 1>a drill during one of the earlier excavations, he had

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<v Speaker 1>no interest in seeking the treasure, remembering all too well

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<v Speaker 1>the warning from his colleague that death stalked all who

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<v Speaker 1>sought it. It was in nineteen fifty nine that Robert

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<v Speaker 1>and Mildred rest All negotiated a deal with mel Chapel

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<v Speaker 1>to try their luck at cracking the mystery. In the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen fifties, Robert and his wife Mildred worked a traveling

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<v Speaker 1>show called The Globe of Death, which involved the married

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<v Speaker 1>couple riding motorbikes around a metal sphere at sixty five

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<v Speaker 1>miles per hour. The pair traveled the world before settling

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<v Speaker 1>in Canada. It was at some point in the nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>fifties that the Dare Devils got wind of the intriguing

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<v Speaker 1>treasure hunt occurring on Oak Island. Soon after agreeing a

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<v Speaker 1>lease with Chapel, Robert and his son Bobby moved to

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<v Speaker 1>the island to begin work, and are joined by the

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<v Speaker 1>rest of the family soon after. The following year, they

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<v Speaker 1>succeed in pumping out almost all the water from the

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<v Speaker 1>main shaft. For the next five years, however, the family

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<v Speaker 1>struggled to keep the water held back long enough to

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<v Speaker 1>make a thorough exploration of the site. Once again, the

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<v Speaker 1>treasure remains tantalizingly out of reach. In August nineteen sixty five,

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<v Speaker 1>Robert and Mildred are preparing to head to near by

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<v Speaker 1>Chester to run a number of errands, where Robert heads

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<v Speaker 1>to the side to make a final check on a

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<v Speaker 1>new gasoline pump. The pump had been installed next to

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<v Speaker 1>one of the new shafts that they had been digging

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<v Speaker 1>at Smith's Cove. Telling him not to take too long,

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<v Speaker 1>Mildred watched her husband as he stepped into the muggy

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<v Speaker 1>afternoon air and made his way down to the cove.

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<v Speaker 1>A few miles away on the mainland, Jim Kaiser, one

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<v Speaker 1>of the rest All's key laborers, was carrying out some

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<v Speaker 1>chores at home. Though he wasn't scheduled to work that day,

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<v Speaker 1>he had the most peculiar desire to stop what he

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<v Speaker 1>was doing immediately and head to Woke Island, back above

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<v Speaker 1>Smith's Cove. As Robert nears the shoreline, he is overcome

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<v Speaker 1>by a strange smell of rotten eggs. It seems to

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<v Speaker 1>be emanating from one of the newly dark pits. Robert's

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<v Speaker 1>son Bobby, is helping to burn waste materials when he

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<v Speaker 1>looks up to see his father peering down at something

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<v Speaker 1>from the edge of the pit, before going stiff and

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<v Speaker 1>falling straight in. Bobby tears down to the cove, only

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<v Speaker 1>to find his father's lifeless body floating in the water

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<v Speaker 1>at the bottom of the pit. Moments later, everything goes

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<v Speaker 1>black as he too loses consciousness and falls straight into

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<v Speaker 1>the hole. Another worker, Karl Grazer, who had witnessed the

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<v Speaker 1>whole thing, races to the edge of the pit, seeing

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<v Speaker 1>the two bodies in the water. He has only just

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<v Speaker 1>reached the top of a ladder descending into it when

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<v Speaker 1>he becomes the third man to lose consciousness, falling from

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<v Speaker 1>the ladder with a splash into the hole. He is

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<v Speaker 1>in turn followed by worker Cyril Hilts, who has made

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<v Speaker 1>it halfway down the ladder before he too succumbs to

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<v Speaker 1>the strange fumes in the pandemonium. A further two workers,

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<v Speaker 1>Andrew Dumont and Leonard Kaiser, attempting to rescue the others,

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<v Speaker 1>make it as far as the water before their bodies

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<v Speaker 1>give up. Two incredibly New York firefighter, Captain Edward White,

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<v Speaker 1>who just happens to be visiting the dig sight at

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<v Speaker 1>the time, is miraculously able to pull Kaiser and Dumont free,

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<v Speaker 1>but for the others, it is too late. Back at

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<v Speaker 1>Jim Kaiser's home, there is a frantic knock at the door.

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<v Speaker 1>He opens it to fight his uncle in a desperate

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<v Speaker 1>state with some terrible news. Jim immediately races to Oak

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<v Speaker 1>Island to find a team of fire fighters assembled at

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<v Speaker 1>the top of Smith's cob trying to figure out the

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<v Speaker 1>safest way to retrieve the bodies. Without thinking, Jim borrows

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<v Speaker 1>a vintage Second World Wore gas mask from one of

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<v Speaker 1>them and jumps straight into the hole. One by one,

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<v Speaker 1>he pulls out the dead bodies of his friends. Are

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<v Speaker 1>you always taking care of your family? Do you often

0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:19.400
<v Speaker 1>take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time

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<v Speaker 1>Download the app, or visit teledoc dot com Forward slash

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<v Speaker 1>Unexplained podcast today to get started. That's teladoc dot com

0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:24.000
<v Speaker 1>slash Unexplained podcast. The tragic death of the men, especially

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<v Speaker 1>both Robert and Bobby Restall, marks the end of the

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<v Speaker 1>Restall involvement with Oak Island, with Mildred having no interest

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<v Speaker 1>in pursuing what is starting to look increasingly like a

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<v Speaker 1>cursed errand ownership of the lease is transferred to Robert Dunfield.

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<v Speaker 1>In the summer of nineteen sixty five, the bullish Dunfield

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<v Speaker 1>wastes little time in bulldozing twelve feet away from the

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<v Speaker 1>surface of the original pit, and uses the resultant clay

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<v Speaker 1>to clog any tunnels coming up from Smith's Cove. Next,

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<v Speaker 1>hen structs a causeway joining the island to the mainland

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<v Speaker 1>for the first time. Back in nineteen sixty three, businessman

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<v Speaker 1>Fred Nolan discovered that, unbeknowns to rest All and Robert

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<v Speaker 1>Dunfield at the time, a few minor lots of Oak

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<v Speaker 1>Island were still available to purchase. After swiftly buying them up,

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<v Speaker 1>he undertakes a few minor excavations, which finds little of interest. However,

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<v Speaker 1>with the construction of Dunfield's causeway, Nolan is excited at

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<v Speaker 1>the prospect of getting better equipment to continue his search,

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<v Speaker 1>but Dunfield refuses to let him use it. What he

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<v Speaker 1>hadn't realized, however, was that Crandall's Point, the land abutting

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<v Speaker 1>the causeway, was also still available to purchase. When Nolan

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<v Speaker 1>finds out, he buys it immediately denying all access from

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<v Speaker 1>the causeway. The petty stalemate was results in Dumfield quitting

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<v Speaker 1>the project for good and returning to his native California.

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<v Speaker 1>Some might say he got off lightly. Only a few

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<v Speaker 1>weeks prior to Dumfield's voluntary eviction, Jim Kaiser, who had

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<v Speaker 1>stayed on to assist Dumfield, is spending the night at

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<v Speaker 1>the dig side in the old Restall family home when

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<v Speaker 1>he wakes to find the whole cabin shaking violently, while

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<v Speaker 1>having the sensation of a heavy weight on his chest.

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<v Speaker 1>Looking up, moments later, he was confronted by a pair

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<v Speaker 1>of red eyes staring at him from out of the darkness.

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<v Speaker 1>Running from the bed in terror, he heads straight outside

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<v Speaker 1>into the cold night air, but finds no sign of anybody.

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<v Speaker 1>The next morning, having finally got back to sleep, Kaiser

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<v Speaker 1>finds his body covered in bruises, including five on his arm,

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<v Speaker 1>long and thin, as if a hand had gripped him there.

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<v Speaker 1>It wasn't long after that reports of a genuine curse

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<v Speaker 1>first came to light that warned specifically that seven treasure

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<v Speaker 1>hunters would have to die before the island gave up

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<v Speaker 1>its treasure, with the construction worker scolded in eighteen sixty one,

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<v Speaker 1>and Maynard Kaiser's fall of eighteen ninety seven added to

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<v Speaker 1>the horrific quadruple tragedy of the Restall operation. So far,

0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:56.240
<v Speaker 1>there had been six by nineteen sixty nine. In the

0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.960
<v Speaker 1>one hundred and seventy four years since Donald mckinnis, John

0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:04.520
<v Speaker 1>Smith and Anthony Vaughan first uncovered evidence of a potential

0:17:04.560 --> 0:17:08.879
<v Speaker 1>treasure pit, not one person had succeeded in digging down

0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:12.439
<v Speaker 1>any further than the ninety foot bottom carved out by

0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:16.720
<v Speaker 1>the Onslow Company in eighteen oh three. But all that

0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:21.560
<v Speaker 1>was about to change. It was in April of nineteen

0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:26.880
<v Speaker 1>sixty nine that businessman Daniel Blankenship and David Tobias formed

0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:30.920
<v Speaker 1>the Triton Alliance, buying up the majority of the island

0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:35.760
<v Speaker 1>and moving in at the first opportunity. In what was

0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:40.240
<v Speaker 1>by far the most sophisticated operation to date, The Alliance

0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.960
<v Speaker 1>begins by digging sixty different boreholes close to the original

0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:48.320
<v Speaker 1>pit to draw up a detailed plan of the geology underneath.

0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:53.320
<v Speaker 1>They soon discover the bedrock to be located at roughly

0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:58.040
<v Speaker 1>one hundred and sixty feet below, but incredibly the rulso

0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.119
<v Speaker 1>seems to be some kind of wooden lay forty feet

0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:07.480
<v Speaker 1>below this. The following year, laborers uncover evidence of what

0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:11.320
<v Speaker 1>could well have been the original dam constructed at Smith Cove,

0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:16.159
<v Speaker 1>to create the original flood tunnels, a set of logs

0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:19.480
<v Speaker 1>laid out in a U shape with Roman numerals carved

0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:24.960
<v Speaker 1>into them. They also discover a litany of artifacts, including

0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:29.080
<v Speaker 1>wrought iron scissors, an iron ruler, and a wooden sled

0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:34.159
<v Speaker 1>that predate the time before Donald McKinnes first spotted something

0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:38.840
<v Speaker 1>in seventeen ninety five. But the best is yet to come.

0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.560
<v Speaker 1>Since there was no way of preventing the sea water

0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:47.399
<v Speaker 1>flooding the now myriad tunnels and boreholes, and with the

0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:52.040
<v Speaker 1>risk of structural collapse too high to send people down them,

0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:56.320
<v Speaker 1>the team construct a vast twenty seven inch diameter steel pipe,

0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:00.800
<v Speaker 1>which they hope will allow for direct access to underneath

0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:05.720
<v Speaker 1>the dig site. In spring nineteen seventy one, the team

0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.679
<v Speaker 1>choose a borehole numbered ten X for the purpose and

0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:12.680
<v Speaker 1>proceeded to carve it out to a depth of two

0:19:12.800 --> 0:19:16.399
<v Speaker 1>hundred and thirty five feet before threading the pipe down

0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:22.000
<v Speaker 1>it all the way to the bottom. What made ten

0:19:22.160 --> 0:19:24.960
<v Speaker 1>X so special was that they had good reason to

0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:29.600
<v Speaker 1>believe it led directly to an artificial cavity that had

0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:34.040
<v Speaker 1>at some point been dug out of the bedrock. Before

0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:38.840
<v Speaker 1>sending anyone down However, Blankenship and Tobias decided to use

0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:43.600
<v Speaker 1>a camera to first investigate what was down there. With

0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:46.399
<v Speaker 1>the team set up on the edge of Borehole ten X,

0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:50.679
<v Speaker 1>they gathered excitedly around a bulky TV monitor. As the

0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:56.080
<v Speaker 1>camera was slowly lowered down, They watched with profound anticipation

0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.600
<v Speaker 1>as it dropped deeper through the casin, through the pitch

0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:03.439
<v Speaker 1>black of the water, and finally out into the open

0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:08.960
<v Speaker 1>of the chamber below. Squinting at the monitor, they see soft,

0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.800
<v Speaker 1>angular shapes beginning to emerge from out of the darkness,

0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:18.159
<v Speaker 1>things which seemed foreign to the surrounding geology, all covered

0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:22.440
<v Speaker 1>over in a thick layer of silt, and one shape

0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.080
<v Speaker 1>more recognizable than the others, protruding from out of the mud,

0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:33.960
<v Speaker 1>the arm of a skeleton. Believing they had finally unearthed

0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:38.639
<v Speaker 1>the location of the fabled treasure, the Triton team employ

0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:43.040
<v Speaker 1>a diver to take a closer look. In October nineteen

0:20:43.119 --> 0:20:48.399
<v Speaker 1>seventy one, Alan Sagar, a retired lieutenant commander and former

0:20:48.480 --> 0:21:02.359
<v Speaker 1>demining expert, answers the corn with the casing too narrow

0:21:02.480 --> 0:21:05.960
<v Speaker 1>to where an oxygen tank Segar is forced to hug

0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.320
<v Speaker 1>a small bottle of compressed air to his chest as

0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.080
<v Speaker 1>he is lowered manually on steel cable into the pipe,

0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:18.119
<v Speaker 1>and with no radio communication, Segar and the crew have

0:21:18.280 --> 0:21:20.920
<v Speaker 1>only the cable with which to give each other signals.

0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:25.399
<v Speaker 1>At ninety feet down, feeling the chill of the water

0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:28.919
<v Speaker 1>at his feet, Segar tugs on the cable for the

0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:33.879
<v Speaker 1>winch team to stop adjusting his mouthpiece. He gives another

0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:39.000
<v Speaker 1>two tugs and is soon descending again, dropping steadily until

0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:43.560
<v Speaker 1>he is completely submerged under the water in total darkness.

0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.040
<v Speaker 1>He soon descends past the hundred and fifty foot level,

0:21:49.840 --> 0:21:53.840
<v Speaker 1>then two hundred feet, until finally he emerges out the

0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:59.960
<v Speaker 1>bottom end and into the cavity. Segar takes a moment

0:22:00.040 --> 0:22:04.160
<v Speaker 1>to compose himself before turning on the camera, the images

0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:06.880
<v Speaker 1>of which are being fed back live to the surface,

0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:11.919
<v Speaker 1>and points it into the space. Turning on his torch,

0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:21.400
<v Speaker 1>he directs it into the gloom. Suddenly he can see everything. Unexpectedly,

0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:25.359
<v Speaker 1>the cabin that stretched off at some distance behind was

0:22:25.440 --> 0:22:29.440
<v Speaker 1>much bigger than had been first assumed. On the floor

0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:33.240
<v Speaker 1>of it, just as the previous footage had revealed, there

0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:36.960
<v Speaker 1>appeared to be a number of oblong containers and a pole,

0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:40.600
<v Speaker 1>perhaps the handle of a tool poking up from out

0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:44.320
<v Speaker 1>of the soft mud, and sure enough, there to the

0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:47.800
<v Speaker 1>side of it, the arm of a skeleton reaches up

0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:52.879
<v Speaker 1>out of the silt. Back on the surface. Crowded around

0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:56.720
<v Speaker 1>the monitor, a nervous excitement is spreading throughout the team

0:22:56.760 --> 0:23:02.280
<v Speaker 1>as they struggle to contain themselves. But then Sega takes

0:23:02.280 --> 0:23:06.119
<v Speaker 1>a step forward into the cavern, instantly sending a vast

0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.760
<v Speaker 1>cloud of silt billowing up into the space, blocking out

0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:15.159
<v Speaker 1>the light. Realizing he can no longer proceed, Sega has

0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:17.960
<v Speaker 1>little choice but to get back into the pipe and

0:23:18.119 --> 0:23:23.040
<v Speaker 1>head back to the surface. Once in place, he tugs

0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:26.440
<v Speaker 1>twice again on the cable and is greatly relieved when

0:23:26.520 --> 0:23:30.399
<v Speaker 1>moments later he feels it taking his weight and lifting

0:23:30.480 --> 0:23:36.080
<v Speaker 1>him upwards, but just over half way, with Saga still

0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:40.439
<v Speaker 1>submerged some distance under water, he has the strange sensation

0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:45.040
<v Speaker 1>that he is being pulled back into the pipe. He

0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:49.040
<v Speaker 1>realizes with horror that it is the suit, caught on

0:23:49.040 --> 0:23:53.080
<v Speaker 1>one of the welds in the pipeline. Unaware of what

0:23:53.160 --> 0:23:56.960
<v Speaker 1>has happened, the workers above continue to winch him up,

0:23:58.040 --> 0:24:01.840
<v Speaker 1>but with Segar's body unwilling to budge, the suit is

0:24:01.880 --> 0:24:07.119
<v Speaker 1>beginning to pull apart, and now the breathing apparatus is

0:24:07.200 --> 0:24:13.119
<v Speaker 1>coming undone as well. Sega pulls furiously on the cable

0:24:13.560 --> 0:24:19.720
<v Speaker 1>while simultaneously struggling to free himself, when finally something dislodges

0:24:20.200 --> 0:24:24.600
<v Speaker 1>and he is suddenly free, once again being pulled steadily

0:24:24.760 --> 0:24:37.199
<v Speaker 1>up to the surface. After Segar's close call, nine are

0:24:37.240 --> 0:24:40.960
<v Speaker 1>the divers aretasked with helping to retrieve the apparent items

0:24:41.000 --> 0:24:43.320
<v Speaker 1>from the cavity at the bottom of hole ten X,

0:24:44.119 --> 0:24:50.040
<v Speaker 1>but none are successful. In nineteen seventy six, Daniel Blankenship

0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:54.640
<v Speaker 1>tries to enter the cavern himself. However, having only made

0:24:54.640 --> 0:24:58.959
<v Speaker 1>it halfway down the pipe, Blankenship hears the ominous sound

0:24:59.160 --> 0:25:02.879
<v Speaker 1>of creaking deal which is followed by a cascade of

0:25:02.960 --> 0:25:08.439
<v Speaker 1>debris falling on his head from above. Sensing imminent danger,

0:25:09.000 --> 0:25:15.040
<v Speaker 1>Blankenship demands an immediate evacuation. Miraculously, he has pulled free

0:25:15.520 --> 0:25:20.280
<v Speaker 1>just as the casing collapses completely below him. When the

0:25:20.320 --> 0:25:23.680
<v Speaker 1>twenty seven inch wide steel piping is dug out later,

0:25:24.440 --> 0:25:27.720
<v Speaker 1>they discover a section of it has been entirely closed

0:25:27.760 --> 0:25:32.359
<v Speaker 1>in to some The cavity at two hundred and thirty

0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:36.800
<v Speaker 1>five feet deep, and the items allegedly spotted in it

0:25:36.840 --> 0:25:39.920
<v Speaker 1>is the strongest evidence that a genuine horde of treasure

0:25:40.400 --> 0:25:44.960
<v Speaker 1>has been stashed away on the island. Others have questioned

0:25:44.960 --> 0:25:48.360
<v Speaker 1>whether it may have in fact only been created by

0:25:48.440 --> 0:25:51.639
<v Speaker 1>dynamiting that had been carried out by the Triton Alliance

0:25:52.200 --> 0:25:58.640
<v Speaker 1>some time prior to its discovery. Either way, like all

0:25:58.720 --> 0:26:03.240
<v Speaker 1>others before them, Blankenship and Tobias will leave the island

0:26:03.359 --> 0:26:08.679
<v Speaker 1>empty handed, and though many others even to this day

0:26:08.720 --> 0:26:12.800
<v Speaker 1>have since attempted to unlock the island secrets, it resolutely

0:26:12.840 --> 0:26:16.879
<v Speaker 1>refuseth to give them up, or so it was thought.

0:26:27.840 --> 0:26:31.440
<v Speaker 1>In a startling revelation that has only recently come to light,

0:26:32.359 --> 0:26:36.040
<v Speaker 1>it was claimed by Fred Nolan that in nineteen eighty,

0:26:36.600 --> 0:26:39.439
<v Speaker 1>whilst digging in a region just above the south shore

0:26:40.119 --> 0:26:44.760
<v Speaker 1>known as the Swamp, he discovered three old and empty

0:26:45.000 --> 0:26:51.119
<v Speaker 1>oak chests. Then something else came to light thanks to

0:26:51.119 --> 0:26:53.919
<v Speaker 1>the extensive research carried out on the subject of the

0:26:53.960 --> 0:26:59.040
<v Speaker 1>Oak Island treasure by the Fantastic Blockhouse Investigation Team, it

0:26:59.160 --> 0:27:03.840
<v Speaker 1>seems those empty chests just might have been rediscovered before.

0:27:05.119 --> 0:27:08.960
<v Speaker 1>In fact, all the way back in seventeen ninety five.

0:27:10.600 --> 0:27:14.000
<v Speaker 1>According to Carlmoscha, who had taken part in some of

0:27:14.040 --> 0:27:20.080
<v Speaker 1>the earlier excavations. In nineteen twenty five, his grandmother Lucy Vaughan,

0:27:20.720 --> 0:27:24.200
<v Speaker 1>a descendant of Anthony Vaughan, one of the first discoverers

0:27:24.200 --> 0:27:27.439
<v Speaker 1>of the pit, had taken him into the basement of

0:27:27.480 --> 0:27:31.000
<v Speaker 1>her home and shown him an old looking chest made

0:27:31.000 --> 0:27:35.600
<v Speaker 1>of oak. Opening it up, it was revealed to contain

0:27:35.800 --> 0:27:41.720
<v Speaker 1>twenty five white canvas bags, each stuffed with gold coins

0:27:41.760 --> 0:27:46.479
<v Speaker 1>that she said had come from Oak Island. And then,

0:27:46.760 --> 0:27:50.600
<v Speaker 1>in a two thousand and seven newspaper interview, a descendant

0:27:50.600 --> 0:27:56.119
<v Speaker 1>of Donald mckinnis made a similarly startling revelation. In the

0:27:56.160 --> 0:27:59.240
<v Speaker 1>weeks after Donald uncovered the first signs of the pit

0:28:00.040 --> 0:28:05.240
<v Speaker 1>seventeen ninety five, he John Smith and Anthony Vaughan had

0:28:05.320 --> 0:28:10.639
<v Speaker 1>in fact also uncovered three separate chests stuffed full of loot.

0:28:12.280 --> 0:28:15.480
<v Speaker 1>It had long been believed in the McKinneys, now known

0:28:15.480 --> 0:28:20.200
<v Speaker 1>as McGinnis family that on finding the treasure, the men

0:28:20.400 --> 0:28:23.880
<v Speaker 1>had sworn to secrecy, agreeing never to reveal the truth

0:28:23.920 --> 0:28:28.280
<v Speaker 1>of it to anyone. After all, there's no telling what

0:28:28.440 --> 0:28:31.880
<v Speaker 1>lengths people will go to when told there is treasure

0:28:32.320 --> 0:28:41.200
<v Speaker 1>to be found. Thank you to Andrew Maddocks for bringing

0:28:41.200 --> 0:28:45.120
<v Speaker 1>this fantastic story to my attention. If you enjoy listening

0:28:45.120 --> 0:28:48.320
<v Speaker 1>to Unexplained and would like to help supporters, you can

0:28:48.360 --> 0:28:52.160
<v Speaker 1>now go to Unexplained Podcast dot com Forward slash Support.

0:28:53.280 --> 0:28:57.600
<v Speaker 1>All donations, no matter how large or small, are massively appreciated.

0:29:01.400 --> 0:29:04.920
<v Speaker 1>All elements have Unexplained are produced by me, Richard McClain smith.

0:29:05.280 --> 0:29:07.960
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0:29:07.960 --> 0:29:10.360
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0:29:10.360 --> 0:29:13.200
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0:29:13.240 --> 0:29:15.920
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0:29:15.920 --> 0:29:18.720
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