The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
In this week’s episode, “A FLOOD OF SECRETS”, we are first taken to the War Room where the Oak Island team is meeting with Geophysicist and Ground Penetrating Radar expert Dr. Jan Franke. Dr. Franke has worldwide experience, including the pyramids in Egypt, using GPR and has been brought to the island by Craig Tester to see if he can detect any voids or chambers using his equipment. Dr. Franke uses a 100MHZ cylindrical sensing tool that he will put down a borehole and see what can be detected. Dr. Franke goes on to say that he could detect a vault that is most likely filled with air or water and the apparatus will detect its depth and distance.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
We are then taken to Smith’s Cove where the Oak Island team is continuing their excavation to try to locate the mythical flood tunnels leading to the Money Pit area. A piece of wood, apparently part of a shaft, was exposed at the end of last week’s show. The team is investigating this area for a possible structure. More of the wood is exposed and then a section of trench surrounding it started to collapse and cave in. After more searching, another piece of concrete was found. It resembles a board, and the edges and thickness are not uniform, suggesting it was made by an amateur. A large beam is also unearthed and appears to be hand cut and it is speculated it was too large for the Restall’s to have used.
Then the action shifted to the Garden Shaft Area where Dr. Franke was beginning to start his collecting of data from his radar testing. The device was put down Borehole HN16. As he lowered down the device, it was activated and he took his first readings. The team is exploring the theory that an offset chamber exists that contains treasure. Dr. Janke finished his work and will then analyze the results and present them to the Oak Island team.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
We were then taken to the War Room, where the Oak Island team is meeting with Archeometallurgist, Emma Culligan, who briefed the team on her analysis of the cement samples taken from the Smith’s Cove excavation. Emma stated that the XRD revealed Portlandite, which is Portland Cement that is very common. There were two sources for this cement, one in Quebec and British Columbia. Emma believes it was from Quebec, and she ascertained it was from the 1920’s to the 1970’s in origin. This suggests it was probably from the Restall’s. It was also mentioned that this confirmed that a Flood Tunnel System is real, but this writer is quite perplexed by such a conclusion.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
The action then took us back to Smith’s Cove where the excavation work continued. The team found what appears to be rock filled holes and small boulders in this digging. They have reached about 30 ft in depth and believe they are closing in on a vertical shaft and mythical Flood Tunnel system. More wood planking is uncovered which suggests there was some structure at this location.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
The scene shifted to Lot 5, where the team is investigating the continuation of the stone foundation at the circular feature. Archeologist Moya MacDonald unearthed what appeared to be a piece of a bottle rim, which she believed was a wine bottle. After more work, a piece of metal strapping was found. The strapping seems to have been bent at a 90-degree angle. Moya suggested it was from a barrel or a box. Jack Begley quickly pointed out that because it was bent it must be from a chest or box. Archeologist Helen Sheldon inspected the two finds and stated that the strapping could have been damaged and that was why it was bent but could hypothetically be from a box. It seems more likely it was a piece of barrel strapping. She also mentioned that the wine bottle piece was from a bottle of French wine. She stated they had found other French bottle pieces in the area. This keeps the theory of Emiliano Sacchetti in play of the structure being a church and the team has unearthed a stash of communal wine hidden by the Knights Templar.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
The action then took us back to Smith’s Cove where the Oak Island team noticed some interesting features. They noticed that there was water at the bottom of the excavation with rock cobbles. They noticed there were boulders lined up which seemed to suggest something unusual at this location. The team believes this was part of the vertical shaft. Below the 30ft level, they found more boards and fist size rocks. The team believes this is a manmade feature that was intentionally placed there. It was mentioned that it seems to line up with a line that could indicate a hypothetical flood tunnel running to the Money Pit area.
The Curse of Oak Island – The History Channel
The episode concluded at the War Room, where the Oak Island team assembled to talk to Dr. Franke regarding his test results. He stated that his testing revealed what appears to be a void at the 127ft level from the surface. It appears to be a void, open cavern, or structure. The team speculates it could be the source of precious metal readings. Dr. Franke mentioned it is a discreet target about 3 to 4 feet from the borehole and could be full of water. Jack Begley asked if it could be a flood tunnel, but Dr. Franke said no, it appeared to be fresh water. He was asked if it could be an offset chamber, and he said he didn’t know and could only say what he saw. The team plans to investigate the spot after conferring with Dr. Spooner.
ANALYSIS:
Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey
Oak Island is made up of what is called Karst Topography. Karst Topography is a type of landscape where the dissolving of the bedrock has created sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, springs, and other characteristic features. Karst is associated with soluble rock types such as limestone and gypsum. This is the type of rock found on the eastern part of the island, where the Money Pit is located. Caves, caverns, natural cavities, tunnels and other features are found in this landscape. It is very possible that the anomalies found on the radar testing are in fact just natural formations. It is also very possible that the original Money Pit location was called a Ponor. A Ponor is a natural opening or portal that is formed in Karst landscape. Ponors come in forms of large pits and caves, large fissures and caverns, networks of smaller cracks, and sedimentary, alluvial drains.
It’s quite conceivable that a ponor developed on Oak Island that led to an underground cave system. It’s also quite possible that this was discovered and then used to hide and smuggle various goods throughout the course of history. It is also quite possible that this ponor and underground cave system was manipulated and made to look like Enoch’s Vault with Masonic symbology. It’s quite possible that this whole thing was hidden in plain site and a calling card was left by the same people who used the feature, then buried and concealed it. Then to explain it, an elaborate hidden treasure story was used to obscure the truth that persists to this day. Please watch for more details in an upcoming investigation by Compendium Investigations.
Please follow our weekly episode analyses during the season, along with our Throwback Thursday articles from the original “Compendium/Blockhouse Blog”, and special investigations and features involving Oak Island. Feel free to reach out to us for questions, comments, information and any theories to our email, theoakislandcompendium@gmail.com
Good day from the Compendium!