SEASON 13, EPISODE 14, “THE SHINING” EPISODE ANALYSIS BY DANIEL SPINO
- Daniel Spino
- 37 minutes ago
- 8 min read
In this week’s episode, “THE SHINING”, the show began in the WAR ROOM, where the Oak Island team met with Vanessa Lucido of ROC Equipment and Adam Embleton of Soletanche Bachy (SB) Canada to discuss plans on putting cannisters in the Money Pit area. The team tells the two that they need cannisters to go down to 230 Feet. They will need to go through gypsum rock and Vanessa suggested a telescoping method. The first 130 Feet would be a larger can, approximately 8 and ½ Foot in diameter, then at the end a smaller 7 Foot in diameter opening. It is mentioned that they would be using two tools in the operation. An 8-foot auger that will work as a corkscrew to burrow into the Solution Channel. Then a Drilling Bucket with teeth on the end to bring up the soil and any theorized fallen treasure. Marty Lagina mentions they want to get started on the project in the next week or two, and both ROC and SB Canada would prepare the equipment and come to the island.
The action then took us to LOT 8, where the Oak Island Team continued to work on the boulder and surrounding area. Geoscientist Dr. Ian Spooner was brought to the site and explained that he was going to take soil samples from underneath the Boulder with the hope of being able to run tests that will give them a better idea of what happened at the site. He hoped that he would be able to date the apparent human activity after analyzing the soil. He will take his samples to the Lab and begin running his tests to share with the team.
We were then taken back to the LOT 8 where Metal Detectorist Gary Drayton and Marty Lagina have started to work an area that was recently ploughed. It was hoped that by ploughing the area, it would churn up artifacts that were hidden in the ground. This is about 50 yards south of the Boulder. After some searching, Gary Drayton had an iron hit on his detector. The artifact was unearthed and he thought it may be a knife/multi tool used to skin animals from the 1700’s. After some more searching another hit was detected. Gary unearthed what he thought may be a pintel hook or pivot pin from a gate or door hanger. He observed that the iron was hand forged and had a blistering effect which he believed was quite old. The artifacts were bag and tagged and sent to Emma in the Lab for further analysis.
We were then taken to the NORTHERN SWAMP, where the Oak Island team continued its exploration of the area. It was observed that the team had gotten into the cobble and it was speculated that there may be two connected platforms in this area. It was also speculated that there appeared to be a possible path or road that led from this spot to Lots 5 and 8. After some digging, a speculated spike was discovered, but it wasn’t the same as the other stakes that have been found in the area. It was found deep in the dark soil. Gary Drayton then had a metal hit and discovered an iron tool that he believed was possibly a hand chisel. He noted the striations on it and believed it was very old. It would be sent to Emma for further testing.
The scene shifted to the WAR ROOM, where the Oak Island Team met with Dr. Ian Spooner to discuss his testing results of the soil under the Boulder on Lot 8. Dr. Spooner said the sediment was tested and revealed surprising levels of lead. He stated about 140 parts per million which is very high and not natural. He stated he believed this was due to ash from burning coal and a smelting operation for industrial activity. Marty Lagina then speculated that it could have been a ventilation shaft for some sort of tunneling project. What was found indicated the site was manipulated by man. A burning event happened at the location and then the site was backfilled and covered up by the boulder. Dr. Spooner called the boulder the most interesting rock ever discovered on the island. Marty Lagina then reiterated that he wanted the boulder picked up and moved. It was mentioned that a little bit more work needed to be done at the site before the boulder can be moved safely.
The action shifted back to the NORTHERN SWAMP, where the Oak Island Team continued its excavation of the area. After more work it appeared that cobble was at the bottom of the feature with larger rock on the top. This was viewed as strange by the team. It was then speculated that a path/road was created to let people have access and work in the swampy area. Gary Drayton then began to metal detect and had a non-ferrous hit. He unearthed what appeared to be a lead ingot, which he then speculated may be a lead weight. The team mentioned this area was never farmed and left them quite baffled by its appearance. After some visual inspection, the team found two pieces of a keg or barrel in the spoils. This suggests that materials were transported in and out of this area. The artifacts would be sent to Emma for further analysis and probable C-14 testing on the barrel pieces.
The episode concluded on LOT 8, where the Oak Island Team continued to excavate underneath the Boulder. The Archeological Team continued to remove material and were ready to explore further with the snake camera. Archeologist Fiona Steele said that they could now access the back area of the depression and began to lower the camera. It was mentioned they were 2 Feet down and it appeared to be a big void down there. After lowering the camera further, Fiona was amazed by what she saw, revealing what look like gold looking material. She showed the team the images and they agreed that it did look like gold. The archeologists then said they would consent to picking up and moving the boulder and couldn’t do much more work at the site. The team agreed that it was important to do it the right way and would make the necessary arrangements. The show will not be shown for the next two weeks, returning on February 24, 2026, in North America. Until then….
DANIEL’S ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY:
During this week’s episode, the mysterious material under the Boulder which was shown in the Season Premiere of Drilling Down was finally revealed. The team believed that it was possibly gold. This author agrees that this is possible, due to my belief that the island has a natural gold and silver supply associated with it. Of course, the question would be, why wasn’t this gold mined out if someone found it? It was suggested that they may have found it and hid it from sight with plans to come back and get it later. This is surely theoretically possible. Although there are some other possibilities that this author wanted to mention what may explain what was found. The material may be pyrite. Pyrite is in great abundance on the island. It could have been initially thought to be gold, then covered up and hidden to obscure the fact that exploratory mining was happening on the island. It’s also possible that the material may be rust from iron tools that were used and decomposed in the depression underneath the boulder. There appeared to be a tool that was found underneath the boulder which could suggest this possibility. Although, what brought people to this spot on Lot 8?
In this author’s opinion the first Europeans to explore the island noticed that there was what appeared to be gold on the surface of the island. One of their main goals was to find natural resources to utilize. Most likely they found pyrite, that looked like gold. This motivated them to start looking underground for a larger supply of the material. Once underground, at some point it is quite possible that real gold was discovered. Perhaps enough to mine initially but then exhausted. This would explain the underground workings that have been found on the island. This process was not a quick and easy operation. It required time, manpower and money. Someone put a lot of expense into the operation. To find out specifically, you have to follow the money. Who had the money and resources to do this? It would seem to be narrowed down to three suspects. The Portuguese, English, and French. In this author’s opinion the date would have been initially in the 1500’s to 1600’s. Then continued in various forms until the 1900’s. Over time, this activity devastated the geology around the Money Pit area which created what appeared to be booby traps but was really just a deterioration of the limestone and karst topography of the area.
Mixed in with this activity, there were other industrial operations that the island was used for as well in this author’s opinion. Brick making, lime making, tanning of hides, clay mining, farming and other associated activities. All of this evidence is being discovered by the Oak Island Team but creates confusion about the timeline. Add in the possibility that the abandoned underground works were used to smuggle goods and hide cargo from the 1700’s to 1800’s further complicates the story. Was treasure ever hidden there? It’s certainly theoretically possible, but more likely it was smuggled goods to avoid taxes and to help the Americans during the Revolution. The gold mining was kept a secret as well as the smuggling. A treasure narrative may have been created to hide those activities but also provide a framework to continue to look for gold and silver, using investor money for treasure hunting as a vehicle. Also add in the apparent activity of trading that appeared to happen as well, both legal and illegal in this author’s opinion.
Yet there is another layer that suggests that the people who were there were also using the island as a sort of Utopia. That they left their mark by leaving formations on the ground and alignments that had had great symbolic significance and partially based on astronomical features in the sky, as well as esoteric, religious, mathematical and spiritual meaning. Also add a Freemasonic involvement that had great symbolism attached to it. All of this created one of the greatest mysteries of all time. It is this author’s opinion that we are very close to solving the mystery once and for all. Although some will be disappointed if a great treasure is not revealed. It will provide us with one of the greatest stories ever written. If Oak Island could talk it would tell us exactly what happened. It appears the island’s lips are beginning to move, ever so slightly, and beginning to whisper the details.
Please follow our weekly episode analyses during Season 13, along with 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
Please look for some special and exciting features that the Compendium will present to you over the next couple of weeks while the show is in hiatus.
Good day from the Compendium!
Daniel Spino
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