The Curse of Oak Island: The One With the Lead Cross

A new day begins on Oak Island.
Rick Lagina and metal detection expert Gary Drayton are taking advantage of an all-too-rare moment of free time to explore an area of Smith’s Cove.

“So much work has been done down here,” Rick says. “Between Dan, rest stops, every company that came out tried to figure out what was going on with the saltwater in the Money Pit.”
“I mean, this is an ideal situation right now because obviously, it’s low tide,” Rick continues. “We got these rock pools—if anything got washed in and out of here, it’s gonna get trapped in these rocks. This is an ideal situation.”

“So you’re thinking between the beach and the old copper dams, this is a perfect spot?”
“Let’s see if we can find something.”

Gary responds, “When Gary decides he wants to investigate an area, I defer to him. He has an incredible amount of experience, and beaches are fascinating. The intertidal zone may be the ground in Smith’s Cove has been disturbed enough that maybe something has come close to the surface.”

“What we’ll do is go up and down in this little area, then work our way toward the rock.”
“Okay, it’s good. Depth is saying 10 inches.”

“Whoa, I see something!”

“Oh, Alicia moly, all right! It’s a cross. That’s a cross, the square—oh yeah, right there. It’s heavy too!”

“Oh my gosh, I mean, that is an old, old cross.”

A cross located in the same area where the team found French drains at Smith’s Cove—but how did it get there and how long did it lie buried?

Gary was extremely excited—more excited than anything he’s ever found on the island.
“He’s found coins from the late 1600s, but those finds pale in comparison to this one in terms of his excitement level,” Rick says.
“So I’m excited because Gary’s excited, and that’s the truth of it.”

“It looks like it’s LED,” Gary exclaims. “Oh, look at that!”
“Oh my gosh, that is… that’s really old!”

“This is the type of thing I’d expect to find in Europe,” Gary says.
“When I first saw it, I thought that looks like a medieval cross.”

“I mean, you know, I mean, this is old. I don’t know how old, but I would say somewhere between 1200 and 1600.”

“What makes you say that?” Rick asks.

“Because of the cuteness of it and the style,” Gary replies.
“I mean, you don’t normally see this kind of style.”

That cross turns out to be between 1200 and 1600 years old, which makes Gary more convinced that something significant happened at the site—perhaps even predating the original depositors.
For Gary, it’s a big deal.

Rick adds, “Look, it’s very curious. It’s singular—there’s no question about that.”
“It’s all the more reason to follow wherever the search leads, wherever the information trail leads, regarding that cross.”

“Everybody, but everybody, came here looking for treasure. You come, and you find something possibly even predating the original depositors. That makes it all the more imperative that we try to figure out what that is.”

“I think it makes it almost a foregone conclusion that we have to get back out there.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Wait a day. That was fantastic!”