The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
In this week’s episode, “Straight as an Arrow”, we are first taken to the Research Center, where the Oak Island team is meeting via teleconference with researchers Corjan Mol and Emiliano Sacchetti. The team is discussing the current state of research regarding the island and Rick mentions that it is starting to look like possible “Who” and “When” questions are becoming clear. It is suggested that a trip to areas of interest in Europe could confirm this research and begin to answer other questions. He adds it might be beneficial to the team’s work to make such a trip. This leads to the alleged Templar/Viking association involving Oak Island that has been repeatedly mentioned this season. The idea that the Vikings/Norse helped the Knights Templar hide artifacts on Oak Island continues to be speculated. It is also mentioned that Nolan’s Cross seems to be important and areas where possible stellar associations are present would be helpful to visit.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
We then move to the northern portion of the Swamp at the “Tiferet” location where the Oak Island team is investigating. This location was originally suggested by Petter Amundsen and has been put forth again by researcher John Edwards as a possible area of a treasure deposit. The Oak Island team believes there has been a disturbance under the large boulder found at this location that they believe suggests it has been moved by man. It’s noted that surface cobble is present, and a stick is found between the boulder and the sediment. The stick will be C-14 tested to determine its possible age, which the team hopes suggests when this work was done. It should be noted that this same methodology was used at the stone road feature and does present some issues regarding when the feature was actually constructed. Based on this excavation, it appears that someone was working in this area and dug into the glacial till. The team suspects that this work improved water drainage and may have been completed to change the water level in the area. They noted this is not a natural feature in their opinion and needs more work.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
The scene continues at the northern Swamp location as the Oak Island team continues to excavate this area. The team notices a large tree stump in the excavated soil which draws a quick comparison to the tree stumps found in the southeast corner of The Swamp shown in previous episodes. Just like that area, it is surmised that this northern section of The Swamp was not marshy land at one point, and where trees and foliage grew. As the work continued, Jack Begley discovered a log that appeared to be axe cut. It also appeared that there is an alignment of stones in the feature with a rock lined depression. The Compendium wonders if this feature could be related to the feature that was on Lot 5 that was a circular depression of stones. More on this possibility will be coming soon in a special report by Compendium Investigations.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
We were then taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Rick Lagina and Doug Crowell traveled to visit Eric Wroclawski. Eric is the son of the late Paul Wroclawski who was a well-respected Oak Island Researcher. The team was there to view an artifact that was given to Paul which is now in the possession of Eric. It is an alleged crossbow bolt that was given to Paul by the late Robert Dunfield II. Robert Dunfield apparently found the speculated bolts in a piece of wood during his Money Pit excavation in 1965. It is mentioned that three of them were found and Paul was given one and the whereabouts of the two are unknown. Permission is asked to test the bolt for composition to help aid in dating it. Eric agrees and it is mentioned that his father would have wanted that to happen. It should be noted that Paul Wroclawski was initially offered the job as the Historian on The Curse of Oak Island and turned it down. He cited his fear that real Nova Scotian history may be tainted and obscured by Hollywood’s involvement in the Oak Island Mystery. As for the crossbow bolt, the Compendium recognizes this artifact as it has been written about at length by the original Compendium/Blockhouse Blog and Jovan Hutton Pulitzer. Compendium Investigations will bring you more information on this alleged crossbow bolt that our readers will find extremely interesting coming soon.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
The action shifted back to the north Swamp location where Dr. Ian Spooner and more members of the Oak Island team gather to hear his opinion of the area. It’s stated that the area looks to be a one-over two-over one level construct and no metals have been detected thus far. There seems to be uniformity of the stones in this area. Dr. Spooner said it its “Unique” and suggests collecting a core sample to test for composition. He mentions that it appears to be a man-made ring feature of stones that is unrecorded. It’s also mentioned that the feature collects freshwater very quickly. Surveyor Steve Guptill measures the pit area and mentions it is the same depth as the paved area, one foot below sea level. The axe cut wood logs appear to be similar to the "survey spikes" that Fred Nolan found in The Swamp" during his work. The team will wait until the results are received from the testing before proceeding further.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
Our analysis concludes at the War Room where researchers Corjan Mol and Emiliano Sacchetti rejoin the Oak Island team to discuss plans for a road trip for the fellowship to Europe. Corjan Mol mentions that he would like the team to visit two sites in the Netherlands. The first is described as a stone quarry system that has hundreds of charcoal drawings that served as a hideout for the Knights Templar. The Compendium believes this is called Caestert Stone Quarry. He also mentions the catacombs of a ruined castle that has Knights Templar symbols similar to ones found on Oak Island. This appears to be Valkenburg Castle. Sacchetti proposes the team visits Northern Italy in the Milan region to see a Cistercian Abbey that is connected to astronomical research. This appears to be Morimondo Abbey. He proposes Professor Adriano Gaspani joins them so he can present some further research that he has completed. At this time last season, Sacchetti mentioned that he was planning to visit the Vatican Library to find information about transatlantic voyages during the medieval period by the Knights Templar. Apparently, that was unsuccessful. Until next week.
Good day from the Compendium!