Rick Lagina Left Oak Island After This Terrifying Discovery

The Lagina brothers are working with a group of experts, each with a special skillset that will help them get to the bottom of the curse of Oak Island. It has been over a decade of working on the island and searching the Money Pit. But Rick Lagina had to leave Oak Island after he discovered something terrifying. Could this be what they have been hunting for all along?

Follow the Lagina brothers and their crew as they go where no one else has before. The Curse of Oak Island is a long-running television series that has made the Lagina Brothers into household names. These two treasure hunters had humble beginnings, as Rick Lagina was once a retired U.S. postal worker with a dream. His younger brother, Marty Lagina, was a successful businessman interested in treasure hunting and willing to invest in his big brother’s dream of finding that legendary treasure said to be buried somewhere on Oak Island.

While Marty has always been more down-to-earth and skeptical than his idealistic brother, he never hesitates to join in on the more dangerous aspects of this treasure hunt, willing to go underground and search the depths of the Money Pit for more clues that could answer their many questions about this island. Both brothers have only grown more and more curious as they uncover small pieces of the island’s history. They have made some huge discoveries since their latest season of the show. These discoveries have only spurred them on to keep at their excavations and research.

The excitement they have with every new discovery has not dimmed over the decade they have spent on the island, trying to chip at the mystery piece by little piece. Their plans and dreams have only grown as they launch themselves forward and deeper into the Garden Shaft, which has been renovated just to continue their search. However, going down into the shaft is not an easy matter; they cannot just take an elevator down there. So, they have to get suited up and coached before heading down. Luckily for them, they are always accompanied by a professional in underground digging.

Entering this new season with an optimistic attitude as they tackle this 228-year-old mystery, the Oak Island crew has some amazing finds to keep them hopeful. The Lagina brothers have made headlines with their most impressive finds, which we will get into soon. The first item that we will take a closer look at is the token, which had a connection to Rome.

The Barter Token

The Barter Token was found on Lot Five by Jack Begley and Gary Drayton, two members of the Oak Island crew. Lot Five is on the western side of Oak Island and was undersearched when they first began exploring the area. This small token has gone undisturbed for many years, perhaps even centuries, and it feels like a sign telling the team to slow down and take a closer look at the island around them. Gary and Jack had searched every inch of the island, trying to find any artifact or piece of treasure they could find and get their hands on. The barter token on Lot Five was found due to a great stroke of luck and a lot of experience all mixed together.

The two men had no idea that what they found was going to change everything for them. The metal detector they used had scanned so much of the surface of Oak Island that they did not expect something of this magnitude was just waiting to be found. Gary and Jack can be seen working together often, and Gary in particular is an expert at metal detection. He seemed to sense that they were on to something amazing, and he was right, as the metal detector pinged powerfully over the spot Jack started to dig in. The soil was removed quickly, and Gary hovered his detector over the freshly dug-up area just to make sure they were still searching that area and not the pile of dirt they had created.

When the detector went off in the hole, and they got down to dig with their own two hands, they stopped when Gary’s hand reached out and felt a piece of metal. Lifting up the mysterious artifact, he turned and showed Jack the object. As they examined the piece, they started to speculate that it was made out of lead. The lead disk turned out to be a barter token. The lead token was repeatedly curved, and the outer edges were distinctive, an unusual-looking piece that caught the interest of Jack and Gary. Gary, in particular, wondered why someone would make such a strange coin. The only logical conclusion he could come to was that it was actually a Roman token.

The reason this was a logical and natural conclusion for them was because just moments before, Gary had found a Roman coin in the vicinity. This Roman coin was the beginning of it all for them, as the team experienced a rush of elation and renewed hope to keep searching for the long-lost treasure. The Roman coin evoked a sense of wonder and history that had them feeling more connected than ever to the island and the people that came before them. Gary then suggested that they take the lead disk back to Rick Lagina and the rest of the crew over in the lab. They plan to speak to some archaeologists as well, to get a better read on what the item is.

When they arrive at the lab, they meet up with Rick, Craig Tester, and the archaeologist, Laird Niven. They were waiting in the interpretive center to hear about what Jack and Gary had found in Lot Five. Gary explains that they have brought them a nice lead disk they have never seen before. Laird Niven takes the disk and describes how oily and curved the edges of the disk are, and he notes the many little features it has, like the two holes punched into it. He makes note of how brittle it feels to the touch. What really catches Niven’s attention is how the old lead disk has a fancy design on the back but nothing on its face—unusual but distinctive—leading him to believe it is a bartering token. Another comment he makes about this token is that he believed the outer edges were intentionally carved.

After hearing the preliminary analysis by Laird Niven, Gary asks him if they could do any scans on the lead, and Niven responds positively, saying that they could clean it and take it for an XRF scan to determine its molecular composition. Niven has a plan to perform a long 24-hour scan on the barter token by using Oak Island’s X-ray machine. The X-ray device would use non-destructive radiation on the lead, and the XRF machine would then be able to detail all the elements present in the barter token.

Rick Lagina also has a chance to examine the barter token, and he notes that it could give them a lot of information because it is so unique. Since they have never encountered an object like this before on the island, they think it is that much more important to learn everything about it. To help them with that, they go to the archaeometallurgist, Emma Culligan, for more information. They are also going to consult Dr. Chris McFarlane, a professor of Earth Sciences, who will perform an in-depth scan.

When they ask for the results from Emma Culligan, she explains to them that she was able to expose two different tones in the barter token—a light layer and a dark layer—which she is able to differentiate by the amount of lead in each. She discovered that the light layer was pure lead and the dark layer had part iron, copper, and silicon as well as lead. She explained to the crew that both of the leads in the dark and light layers were naturally occurring. Conducting the XRF scans on the token, Emma said that the initial mineral in the barter token matched samples that were found in mines in Iran. Later, Emma tells the crew that just because the token samples match does not mean they can trace the exact mine, but anything from along that geological belt. This belt goes across Italy, near France, and also Spain. Emma Culligan describes how there is a sample off the coast of Italy that matches the results, which means the barter token comes from somewhere in that region.

The crew wants to know if the scans can tell them anything about the age of the token, and she lets them know that it is difficult to date because it is so pure, but its purity is a hint to how old it is. Emma is able to explain to them that she has gathered a lot of hints that point to the origin of the lead coming from Sardinia, and she notes that there are actually Roman mines there. This supports the belief that the barter token is from Rome.

Next, Dr. McFarlane describes his contributions to the team. He had been carrying out isotope testing to try and figure out what the token was made of, and what he found was shocking. He learned that the composition of the barter token matched the composition of the cross of lead from the 19th century! The entire crew was stunned by this revelation, as the experiments conducted by the doctor suggested that the token could have come from the South of France, which was a popular spot in Knights Templar history. The Templar were a powerful group that has long been speculated to be part of the true history of Oak Island. The theory that the Knights Templar were connected to the island has only grown more popular, and the question of whether this mysterious and powerful group left something behind on the island has only grown stronger. Now there is a new theory: Were the Knights Templar the ones who left this barter token behind?

Barter tokens were first used in ancient Rome as trade tokens, and they were made of both metallic and non-metallic materials. It was largely private entities that were in charge of issuing and enforcing these trade tokens. They were not government-regulated, and they were often used to replace official currency. Many other cultures throughout history have created their own forms of trade tokens.

Despite the doubts that Emma Culligan and Dr. McFarlane have expressed, Gary still believes that the token is connected to ancient Rome, and he is glad that they will be able to analyze the object even more closely. They also plan to go back to Lot Five and search that area for more Roman coins. When they speak to Marty Lagina about it, they explain that they plan to use additional resources to search Lot Five further, believing there might be more to the mystery.

The Finds Continue

This season, the team has made several more important finds. After a high-definition camera was sent down the Garden Shaft, they were able to see the condition of the well at the bottom of the Money Pit. Not only were they able to get some good images, but they also brought the camera down there to confirm the anomalies they discovered using the Muon tomography machine that was able to take a 3D image of the tunnel down in the Money Pit. These anomalies turned out to be pieces of wood.

They also looked at the debris near the object that could be the remains of an old wooden box. This could have been a chest that they have been searching for, and this could be the moment they have been waiting for! When they got an image of the shaft, they saw that the wooden beams inside were still intact. These anomalies have given the team a new hope that they are getting closer to their goal.

After these new finds and the discovery of the barter token, they feel even more certain that they will find the treasure of Oak Island. But there is still so much left to do!