The Oak Island Season 13: “Keep On Rockin’” — A Trail of Clues Emerges as the Fellowship Faces Setbacks and Surprises

Season 13 of The Curse of Oak Island marches forward with Episode 5, “Keep On Rockin’,” a chapter that delivers frustration, unexpected breakthroughs, and new evidence hinting at a far older story beneath the island’s soil. While the Money Pit continues to challenge the Fellowship at every turn, the swamp and Lot 5 reveal clues that may redefine the island’s true history.

This week’s episode pushes the narrative deeper into engineering mysteries, medieval technology, and enigmatic stone structures—leaving fans with more questions than answers.

---

Money Pit: Another Blow to the Solution Channel Theory

The episode opens with the team focusing on borehole G-4.5, their latest attempt to chase evidence supporting the Solution Channel theory—the idea that treasure or debris from the original vault fell into a natural void beneath the Money Pit centuries ago.

The drill reaches 168 feet early in the episode, aiming for a projected depth of around 212 feet. Spirits are high; previous data suggested this borehole could intersect loose material, possibly the long-theorized fallen treasure.

But Oak Island has never made things easy.

At 206–208 feet, the team finally recovers core samples. Instead of loose fill or organic debris, the core contains dense, compact material—by all appearances, natural and undisturbed. A pinpointer scan reveals no metal, crushing hopes of recovering treasure-related artifacts.

Geologist Terry Matheson confirms the bad news. The team decides to abandon G-4.5, closing yet another chapter in the increasingly frustrating Money Pit saga.

The setback hits Rick Lagina particularly hard. For a moment, he withdraws to sit alone at Smith’s Cove, staring into the ocean. But Marty reminds him that the science still supports their theory, pointing to earlier gold and silver anomalies. His optimism pulls Rick back to center—at least for now.

---

A Bombshell in the Lab: A Medieval Hand Cannon?

Back in the lab, the island’s scientific team may be dealing with the most important artifact of the season.

The Fellowship reviews a corroded metal object recovered from the Western Swamp, initially suspected to be part of a firearm. Emma Culligan, the show’s metallurgist and archaeologist, performs XRF testing and CT scanning, producing surprising results:

What Emma finds:

• The metal composition is consistent with older European manufacture

• The CT scan shows a clear touch hole, confirming the artifact as a type of hand cannon

• The weapon could date from the late medieval to early modern period

In the War Room, Maltese historian Matthew Balzan analyzes the artifact via video call. He agrees: this object resembles a medieval hand cannon, potentially used between the 1200s and 1500s—centuries before the colonial era.

But he raises a striking possibility: the device may not have been used for combat—it may have been used for breaking rock, hinting at early engineering or construction activity on the island.

This single artifact suggests that the Western Swamp may hold far older European activity than previously believed.

---

Western Swamp: A Road Beneath the Mud?

Meanwhile, Gary Drayton and Derek Couch uncover new clues in the swamp’s western sector:

• A shaped, bark-stripped log

• Multiple wooden stakes

• Iron artifacts including a possible chest buckle and a slender iron rod

The log in particular appears to be part of a corduroy road, a type of timber road used in pre-industrial North America—and also in Europe.

The more the team digs, the more the swamp looks like a site of engineered infrastructure, not a natural basin.

---

Lot 5: A Mysterious Stone Circle Links to Nolan’s Cross

Archaeologist Laird Niven continues excavation at the newly discovered circular stone feature on Lot 5. The formation shows unmistakable signs of deliberate construction:

• Carefully stacked angular stones

• A distinct circular boundary

• A central split stone set upright

• A key measurement: 72 inches

That number immediately catches the team’s attention—72 is a central measurement in the layout of Nolan’s Cross, one of Oak Island’s most debated geometric formations.

The possibility that Lot 5 contains a marker structure tied to Nolan’s Cross sends a ripple of excitement through the team.

---

Conclusion: A Tale of Two Islands

“Keep On Rockin’” leaves the Fellowship with a striking contrast:

• The Money Pit remains stubborn and unrevealing, a graveyard of failed boreholes.

• The Swamp and Lot 5 are exploding with clues—medieval weapons, engineered logs, geometric stone structures.

The deeper the team digs outside the Money Pit, the clearer it becomes:

Oak Island’s most important answers may be hidden in places no one expected.