EPISODE 21

The Curse of Oak Island

Season 7 - Episode 18

RECAP: Season 7, Episode 18

"The Turning Point"

    • We got some action on the causeway starting out…we’ve got swamp action, we have anomalies showing up on display screens with treasures being discussed in Samuel Ball’s property aka Lot #25… and we got some cans that are about to be slammed, the largest can slamming up to this point in Oak Island history….!!!!

    • ARE YOU READY? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED???

    • Let’s Go

  • CAUSE WAY INTRO/MONEY PIT:

    • Rick, Marty, and Dave open up this episode standing on the War Room porch watching the cans roll in …

      • Vanessa Lucido and the ROC Equipment are on the Island, with the team on site ready to slam some cans, the cans are 8 ft. wide by 26 ft. long steel caissons and to go down more than 200 ft! this allows twice as much digging/spoils to be explored this go round, so going large will hopefully cover that potential area that they may miss by the one inch or 3 inches that the previous cans or other digs may have missed (think of the logistics again to move this equipment to the Island)

        • Vanessa notes she was excited to get back and get after that Money Pit, recall they found that hand hewn piece of wood that could go way back to the beginning of this adventure

        • The size of just the platform they show moving into position via crane is impressive

      • They show the scene of the new spherical grab with Doug and Steve with Rick @ the drill site OC1 as it is now known as

      • So far we have cans, we have the Hammer Grab, but we need something to oscillate the cans once they have started penetrating the OC1 ground…and then we see the next large piece of equipment roll up 60 ton oscillator made in South Korea (remember when we had FOTP Mr. Clotworthy noted at that time when he saw some large equipment roll up from what he though was South Korea..well..this is it) Rick notes: So all the master blaster data, the analytics, narratives, and to me what has to me massive amount of money and time… all that leads to this point on the ground and a large dig and hammer grab in hopes of finally putting some eyes and hands on what has been left behind underground

  • SWAMP :

    • We see Rick, Gary D., Steve Guptill, and Dr. Spooner, and Mr. Billy Gerhardt investigating away at the mysterious walk way..remember those large boulders they had recently uncovered in the Eye of the Swam area, which is Northern area in Swamp, Dr. Spooner gives Rick a piece of the earth he dug up, notes how compacted it is, which means the boulders may have come in later and smashed those layers of swamp/dirt into what they are holding, which may fit into the theory of old swamp & newer boulders

    • He then notes the core samples they reviewed had at the bottom of them high mercury and lead readings at their base, which speaks to human activity with that type of data, …and the Francis Bacon connection noted again here , the 1620 work Novum Organium detailing document preservation via mercury application

      • Dr. Spooner notes significant human activity caused this type of result….but (insert the whistles of a show down) we have another archaeologist on the Island, (whistles) Aaron Taylor, an archaeologist at St. Mary’s University, a colleague of Dr. Spooner’s, has entered the scene.. and who shakes his hand at this time, well the ol’ current Island archaeologist, Sheriff Niven, welcomes this mysterious guest onto the Island…this new guest archaeologist is going to try and assist with the coastal and wetland area review as he is a specialist and this swamp obviously is fitting into those classifications

      • Mr. Taylor jumps info the hole, no stumps, no soil, no nothing, no other place like it in the swamp…he does note When in Doubt, Excavate! So Billy starts clearing another layer or 5 off..and notes it is not 10,000 years old..Marty flat out asks what is this: and his response is intentionally made by man, too level to be natural

      • Marty shows him the other spot over at the Eye of the Swamp, recalling the blue clay previously located which was also found in the Money Pit years ago, and the tree stumps found around the Eye area, Dr. Spooner throws out a theory here: the Eye was an area specifically used for clay collection, mining for clay, the clay is heavy, so how does one move clay out of there? Level paths anywhere for horses and carts anywhere? nearby?

      • They show another scene where Jack, Gary, Billy, and Rick continue to explore the paved walk way and as Billy is clearing out scoops, the water coming into the hole is shown, and the comment is made that the swamp is thought to have many underground springs to flood tunnels for the Money Pit and those booby traps

        • They do end up taking a sample of the water but… instead of laboratory testing.. we get immediate Lagina testing with a Testor named Craig right next to him, after Rick takes his swig of swamp stew, Craig about pukes..but what good quick test data!..”little salty” Rick notes! Brackish! The next day Rick and Dr. Spooner are back and Rick doesn’t look like that shot of swamp sludge has caused him to be sick

        • Trying to determine paved area boundaries, this is all new info so they have to keep looking at how large this paved walk way is? Dr Spooner’s comment is the best summary yet: It is beginning to be a conundrum

§ Samuel Ball/Lot #25: Ground penetrating radar aka GPR experts Steve Watson and Don Johnston are on site and talking with Charles, Steve, and Laird..Larid starts talking to them about Samuel Ball

§ Laird comes though with a permit to allow these gentlemen to scan Mr. Ball’s Lot #25..scanning data to try and answer old questions and interpretations for modern day review, Mr. Watson and Mr. Johnston find what could be walls? Showing on the radar results? Is there another entrance to this area? What is going on under here?

§ Gotta excavate as Laird says, there are multiple data points to try to go after another permit to be able to dig at Samuel Ball’s property! Laird is going after it again! ALL HAIL LAIRD!

§ FINAL SCENE BACK AT MONEY PIT/ROC EQUIPMENT/LARGE CAN AREA/OC1… DAN HENSKEE READY TO HIT THE START BUTTON With Dave Blankenship at his side lowering the can! about 150 years between these two have been spent on this Island looking for answers…the day is here!

NEXT EPISODE: “ LORDS OF THE RING “

Swamp

The paved stone area looks to be larger than previously suspected.

Digging for answers.

Scrapping away layers in the swamp.

The "eye of the swamp" may have been used as a clay mine.

Money Pit

The big equipment finally arrives.

Diagram of the oscillator.

Simply arranging the equipment is a a logistical challenge.

8 foot diameter hammer grab.

Lot 25 - Samuel Ball Property

Samuel Ball

Lot 25

One of several owned by Ball

Tid Bits, Pop Culture, & More

Cheers - proper etiquette according to the Greeks

A new search begins in Michigan by a retired Jeweler


Above, you have the original scene from Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars. Below you have the scene from Back to the Future 3. Of course, the idea was planted in Back to the Future 2. Now, if you really want to get crazy, the true origin can be found in Kurosawa. Many a film maker found inspiration in Akira Kurosawa - absolutely in the top 10 director's of all time.

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