This episode of The Curse of Oak Island: Drilling Down serves as a recap of The Curse of Oak Island’s Season 3, Episode 11: Sword Play.
Matty Blake sits down with Craig Tester to talk about the ‘Roman sword’ debunked in Season 3, Episode 11 of The Curse of Oak Island. Tester expresses his disappointment at the evidence showing that the sword is a relatively modern creation, and states that it will likely remain in the Oak Island museum as a reminder that “you’ve got to follow the clues.”
Next, Blake meets with the executive producer of The Curse of Oak Island, Joe Lessard, along with Rick and Marty Lagina. It is revealed that “Marty occasionally will take over as director of shoot” due to his frustration with the degree to which filming cuts into treasure hunting time. However, the Lagina brothers acknowledge that their treasure hunting crew and Lessard’s film crew are all part of the same team.
Next, a pre-recorded video shows several Lagina family home movies from the 1950’s and ‘60’s, when Rick and Marty were kids growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The video is overlaid with a narration by Rick and Marty’s older and younger sisters, respectively: Marianne Gardiner and Therese Fernetti. Marianne and Therese also talk about their feelings regarding Rick and Marty’s treasure hunt and The Curse of Oak Island. One fraternal anecdote the Lagina sisters relate involves an incident in which Rick and Marty were both asked by their parents to mow the lawn. According to Rick’s version of the event, Rick did all the mowing while Marty “would kinda lay down on his back and look at the clouds.” After the video has finished playing, Blake asks Marty whether his version of the event is congruent with Rick’s. Marty concedes that Rick’s account is indeed accurate, adding “I was a dreamer, and he was a doer, and that just hasn’t really changed, you know.” He also states “I’ve come his way, I suppose, and he’s come mine.”
In the next scene, Matty Blake reminds us that the Oak Island mystery has, over the years, captured the interest of a number of world-famous famous celebrities, including John Wayne, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Errol Flynn. He then reveals that Ross Valory, the bassist for the rock band Journey, is another such high-profile Oak Island fan. A pre-recorded video shows Valory, who appears to possess an impressive knowledge of treasure hunting and Oak Island history, touring the island with Rick and Marty Lagina and his friend Pasqua. In the War Room, he discloses that one of his brothers has an uncanny knack for dousing, the controversial process by which Dan Blankenship first discovered Borehole 10-X, and agrees to ask him to help with the treasure hunt. When Marty expresses his skepticism towards dousing due to the mystery surrounding its mechanism, Dan Blankenship says “not everything in this world has a plausible explanation, Marty. Period. There are some things you just have to believe in.”
Back on the stage, Blake asks Rick, Marty, and Dave Blankenship several questions put forth by fans of The Curse of Oak Island.
One fan asks “What is preventing the excavation of the swamp…?” Rick explains that, due to provincial law, they are unable to dig in the swamp until they have a very specific “hard target”, which they currently lack.
The next question, directed at Dave, is “Would you do anything different if you could go back in time on Oak Island?” Dave replies that, if he could go back in time, he would keep better records. Rick, lamenting that he and the current Oak Island crew are guilty of the same mistake, ads that Oak Island Tours Inc. ought to hire an archivist.
Next, a pre-recorded video plays highlights of British Columbian engineers Mike and Shaun Herold’s visit to Oak Island in Season 3, Episode 11, during which the two men presented the late Laverne Johnson’s Oak Island theory.
Another video reveals that, in order to access the ‘X-marks-the-spot’ prescribed by Johnson, Rick had to clear a patch of forest with a chainsaw.
Another pre-recorded video shows Rick and Marty Lagina and their nephew Peter Fornetti perusing the museum in the Oak Island Visitors’ Centre. Peter expresses doubt that his uncles will find treasure on the island, saying “at some point in time, there might have been something here. There was a lot done to this island. I don’t know if there’s anything here now.” However, after Rick and Marty show him some of the metal items discovered in 10-X by Dan Blankenship, he suggests that his uncles had better dig up something to add to the collection.
In a final pre-recorded video, Craig Tester makes an intriguing revelation. He states that a sample of eelgrass discovered beneath Smith’s Cove, believed to have been part of the Smith’s Cove filter, was carbon dated from 1470-1650 with a 95% probability.
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