What happened at Oak Island? Internet slams 'The Curse of Oak Island' team for failing to predict Hurricane halting work

'The Curse of Oak Island' team was criticised for not foreseeing Hurricane just before the decisive action
UPDATED FEB 28, 2024
'The Curse of Oak Island' team slammed for failing to predict Hurricane just before final steps (X/CurseOfOak)
'The Curse of Oak Island' team slammed for failing to predict Hurricane just before final steps (X/CurseOfOak)

NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA: 'The Curse of Oak Island' team had to gear up themselves as they found themselves in the path of a devastating hurricane. The long-running History TV series gave viewers a taste of optimism last week with a teaser of the crew closing in, but many were outraged following the February 27 episode, which showed everything coming to a halt due to a hurricane.

Tuesday's episode is titled "Dark and Stormy," an obvious allusion to the hurricane coming down on the island. Unfortunately, the Oak Island crew is susceptible to Mother Nature's whims, and the often severe weather frequently stops them in their tracks.

'The Curse of Oak Island' team go down the Garden Shaft (History)
'The Curse of Oak Island' team go down the Garden Shaft (History)

The squad suspends activities every winter as the cold weather sets in. The guys have already dealt with water damage at the Garden Shaft this season, and now they have to cope with a hurricane.

This might have been Hurricane Idalia, which slammed Nova Scotia last August, or Hurricane Lee, which hit in September. In the most recent episode, Rick Lagina asserted emphatically, "There’s no denying it. This could be the most dangerous day on the island."

On X, fans reacted to the Hurricane, as most question, "It’s not like the hurricane popped up in 24 hours. They had two weeks notice. The drama is a little." Another user asked, "Well after some good progress last week, this episode was blah. Yeah great a hurricane, we have to spend the whole episode on this?"



 



 

Others snarked, "Yes the curse sent the hurricane. Alright the weather time, its all the fellowships fault." A fourth user wrote, "Hurricane Lee is COMING!!! Maybe if you didn’t waste time in the Swamp & lot 5 & the rest of your idiotic rabbit holes you’d find SOMETHING.. not junk.."



 



 

A user also quipped, "Of course we all know that we're going to get to this tunnel only for the hurricane to come wipe all of this out..." "Holy sweet baby Jesus. Please let a hurricane hit me....this is PAINFUL," cried another.  



 



 

However, the preparation work continued, and viewers witnessed a lot of digging in the swamp. Last week, Billy Gerhardt's digger began ripping out a large number of ancient tree stumps, adding fuel to the argument that the swampy region was purposefully constructed.

'The Curse of Oak Island' team spots wooden tunnel underneath Garden Shaft (History)
'The Curse of Oak Island' team spots wooden tunnel underneath Garden Shaft (History)

Rick and Marty Lagina together start drilling at the bottom of the Garden Shaft

Last week, Rick and Marty Lagina went down the shaft and tried their hand at drilling. Marty joyously informed the camera that they were returning to their routes, since their grandpa had first gone to America to work in Michigan's mines.

The Laginas had a terrific time down there, albeit it was taxing; "no job for old men," commented Marty with a wide grin. They weren't just playing, though; at the conclusion of the episode, they discovered wooden beams, which they deduced were the tunnel leading to the Baby Blob.

The timbers looked to be rounded, implying an earlier structure, and historical texts indicate rounded wood beams in the original discovery of the Money Pit. Rick smashed one of the beams with a metal rod, concluding that there was a hollow area beneath it, maybe the tunnel.

The lads are fairly convinced they've finally found an original treasure depositor structure, only to be slammed by a hurricane this week. This, paired with Dr Ian Spooner's work on water samples, which shows valuable metals are buried between 80 and 120 feet in the Baby Blob, has left the researchers excited and the viewers intrigued.

'The Curse of Oak Island' team called out for 'sloppy' work leading to flooding the Garden Shaft (Instagram/curseofoakisland)
'The Curse of Oak Island' stars Marty and Rick Lagina (Instagram/curseofoakisland)

'The Curse of Oak Island' team suspects the Swamp was made in 1200 AD

During the episode, geoscientist Dr Spooner estimated that the wood could date from 1200 AD, making it the same age as the paved area. One idea places Nolan's Cross in the same era.

That would place the stumps in the same time frame as the Templar Knights. Also on Tuesday's episode, the crew had another specialist in the War Room who was evaluating samples from the Money Pit region.

The "samples" he was referring to were the proto-mortar soil samples recently discovered at Lot 5 and previously from the Money Pit.

The Lagina brothers and their team are ready to find the buried treasure on Oak Island (Instagram/@curseofoakisland)
The Lagina brothers and their team are ready to find the buried treasure on Oak Island (Instagram/@curseofoakisland)

'The Curse of Oak Island' team hopeful as Nolan’s Cross points to Garden Shaft

Rick informed the group that a third drilled stone had been discovered in 1895 in the Money Pit region, but it has since been moved. Normally, the boys would thank the expert for their advice at this point, and that would be the last thing we heard about it, but not this time.

Surveyor Steve Guptill started walking the line and measuring the distances right away. Steve discovered that the location of the second drilled stone was precisely midway between the Garden Shaft and Cone C on the seashore.

It fell just above the tunnel leading to the Baby Blob, however it was somewhat off-center from the Shaft itself.

Nolan's Cross found by Fred Nolan (YouTube/History)
Nolan's Cross found by Fred Nolan (YouTube/History)

New episodes of 'The Curse of Oak Island' Season 11 air on Tuesdays at 9/8 pm Et/Pt on History.

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